WHY AREN'T THEY BUYING MY PRODUCTS?

Let me explain why this is a problem regardless of how much experience you might have in the industry. You will suffer from what I call the "Creator's Delusion." Think about the first time you write something, or every time you draw your favourite character, or when you design a marketing campaign or product, it looks amazing to you. And this isn't just an individual-centric problem, entire teams can get funnelled into this sort of behaviour as they focus their collaborative effort into one hivemind-esque vision of a product they deem to be perfect. But does this arise only out of ignoring customers? Aren't proper business professionals better than that? Of course they are.

The problem lies in misinterpretation and miscommunication. Let's tackle misinterpretation first. First, let's take a look at a situation — Microsoft and Sony have been battling it out in the video game console market for a very long time. The 8th Generation of Consoles, ushered in by the Wii U and continued by the PS4 and Xbox One, has been undoubtedly dominated by Sony. Sure there were punches thrown in by Microsoft too, but Sony has always had the last laugh.

During 2016, the race to the first 4K resolution-capable console began when Sony announced the PS4 Pro, a more powerful version of the base console that is capable of delivering better graphics. No doubt, Sony did this to bolster its 4K TV sales by piggybacking on its strong video games portfolio and at the same time, giving console gamers a taste of what 4K gaming holds. Sony did the right thing and focused straight on games after the launch of the PS4 Pro, opting to highlight the experiences one can have on the console instead of peddling the power. Microsoft on the other hand, did the complete opposite. With the launch of the Xbox One X, Microsoft showed off its specs like it was the best thing on Earth.

Gamers responded to the hype but now they had a console without exclusives. Meanwhile, Sony released heavy-hitters like Horizon: Zero Dawn, and God of War to further bring in gamers. Xbox fans were left angered.

This is where Microsoft failed to understand what their customer wanted. Sony knew that at the end of the day, gamers want… well, games. But Microsoft thought that having the more powerful console would bring in more people. Truth be told, that would work for the PC market but in the console market, things are very different. People want convenient access to amazing video games and truth be told, Microsoft doesn't really offer anything mind-blowing on their console. So, this mistake by Microsoft caused them to incur another huge dent in their 8th generation fight with Sony. Misinterpretation of your customers' psychographic behaviour can prove to be very costly for a business.

Miscommunication stems from product benefits not being communicated properly. Tell me, when was the last time you went out and straight up bought a phone after you saw a huge billboard on the side of the road? That's right, you can't remember because those direct ads don't work and billboards aren't as numerous in Dhaka as they were before. The normal customer journey for buying a cellphone is simply too long. We might think that the process can be mapped into a linear path, but that's far from the case. The customer will go through at least a gazillion review videos of the iPhone X, talk to his geek friends every day (even when they're busy playing video games), visit the showrooms at least twice before finally settling on getting a Pixel 2 XL. Yeah, that's how this game works. Customers are much more informed nowadays and all pre-purchase communication is two-way and not one-way like the days of old. A company which communicates in a much more compelling manner by guiding the customer through the purchase process, instead of shoving ads in their faces every two seconds, are the real winners.  The trick is to communicate with the certain type of customer in a certain way. Surely we, as marketing professionals, know we can't target every segment. That is how your communication strategy needs to be like for your particular product.

In terms of perfecting communication, big data and content marketing are essential. My good friend and former colleague Rumman R Kalam has written a very educative piece on content marketing in a previous issue of Next Step, so give it a read if you want to get started on your journey to engaging customers with attractive content.

So, get yourselves out of the box of Creator's Delusion and make products and services that change the world. While you're at it, communicate those ideas in a compelling manner.

Shahrukh Ikhtear is a Management Trainee at Grameenphone and former sub-editor of SHOUT magazine. Correspond with him at fb.com/sr.ikhtear