Brands should be people centric, not customer centric — Ozone Mbanefo
By Zion Rufus
CEO O2 Academy, Ozone Mbanefo has reemphasized the need for brands to be more “people” centric in their marketing strategies than “customer” centric.
Reiterating this during the MARKETING EDGE Fireside Conversation themed “Marketing and brand positioning in a digital age”, Ozone submitted that a people centric brand will go beyond the transactional relationship to developing a more emotional involvement with their consumers, in order to build a lasting relationship with them even after a purchase has been made.
He said: “The customer is the person who pays for the product the consumer consumes. However, where there is no consumption, the customer has no reason to pay for your product. And this is where you realize the power of the consumers, and why brands need to be more people centric.”
According to the Provost of the leading brands and advertising school in Nigeria, a people-centric marketing shouldn’t just end in promotional materials. It should be consistent in the mind of the brand and the minds of the people interacting with the business.
Becoming people-centric requires that brands ditch the product-driven and sales-driven marketing strategy to become more consumer-centric in all their dealings, by focusing their marketing strategies on providing a positive personal experience for their consumers through getting to know their customers, understanding who they are, their buying behavior, carrying out researches on what they need, and also launching platforms that enable personalised interactions and feedbacks.
Ozone further emphasized that becoming people centric will drive profit for the brand as it will enable them to gain a more competitive advantage over others, and as well enable a continuous cycle of engagement, consistent patronage, awareness, loyalty, and even emotional attachment from the consumer to the brand.
In his final submission, he buttressed the significant impact of “word of mouth” and how far it can go beyond creating the perfect ads, sharing that a true people-centric marketing strategy should start outside of a campaign and inside the business through feeding the consumers with the motivation and support they need by reminding them that there is a brand that cares for them and identifying their needs without simply relying on the products to tell the brand’s stories.
“Design thinking is the best thing that can help a brand builder to navigate his consumers. You must understand the pain points and passion centers of your consumers,” he concluded.
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