“Today’s companies are shifting their emphasis from finding customers to learning how to keep and grow them.” Kotler believes customer care is more important than customer acquisition in today’s market place.
Instead of focusing on the 4 P’s (product, price, promotion and place) we should turn our attention to the 4 C’s (Customer value, cost to customer, convenience and communication.) There should be a collaboration with consumers.
Kotler believes customer retention trumps customer acquisition. Adrian Payne from Cranfield bears out Kotler’s assertion. Payne’s research indicates 80% of all companies spend too much on customer acquisition and not enough on customer retention. As little as 5% increase in retention gives a 35-130% increase in profitability, according to Payne.
CP+B, regarded as one of the most progressive agencies of recent years, seems to have imbibed Kotler’s ideas. Bogusky speaks of a “baked in” strategy to marketing a product, finding the hidden truth of a product and giving it an overdue hug. Bogusky, “What is the DNA of the product and how do we capture it.” Taking examples from Best Buy and Domino’s Pizza we see CP+B using Kotler’s ideas. Best Buy now offers a twitter customer service, which aims to answer customer queries as soon as they arise. Customers ordering Domino’s pizza can track their order from beginning to delivery. The comments Domino’s allowed consumers to vent about their pizza, including describing it as “cardboard,” shows Domino’s new image of reaching out to consumers and helping improve their product with direct collaboration with the consumer.
Marketing and advertising strategy will increasingly rely on Kotler’s ideas of connecting with the consumer in the 21st Century. With all the media platforms available and increased interaction, it would be to the detriment of many businesses if they continue to ignore this fact.
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