Introduction
Tremendous advancements in technology characterize the modern societies. The advancements have had a pronounced effect on all the areas of human engagements. Among the areas affected by the advancements is marketing and consumer behavior. Presently, several consumers use digitalized media of communication, and thus, organizations have to comply with the new developments.
The switch in consumer behavior has led to changes in organizations as they attempt to digitalize their marketing so that they reach the potential consumers. La Roche-Posay (LRP) is one of the organizations affected by the advancements. Apparently, several potential consumers of LRP have switched to the digital media, and therefore, the marketing strategy required needs to be digital. Therefore, the essay explains the digital innovation strategy used in consumer recruitment, attraction of consumers to LRP brand, development of a lasting consumer brand relationship, and the next technological and digital disruption of LRP.
How to Recruit the New Generation of LRP Consumers
Digital Innovation Strategy for LRP
Fundamentally, the world is fast moving towards digitalization and a number of companies that fail to cope with the advancements have exited the market. According to Goyal, companies such as Kodak have become victims of the fast changing technological advancements (69). It is important to explain that the advancements affect all parts of an organization. For instance, in LRP, the advancements affect all areas right from manufacture to product distribution.
Therefore, a practical digital innovation strategy is core in ensuring that the company stays in course, attracts, and retains the new generation of digital consumers. In essence, digitalization has influenced the way in which companies manufacture their products, supply them, and even reach out to their consumers. In the words of Hanna, the influence occasions because majority of the new generation consumers have switched to online digital platforms (236). Being an international firm, LRP Company has to ensure that its strategy focuses on the diverse demands advanced by the international consumers.
The new generations of LRP consumers are among those that have switched to online and digital platforms. Remarkably, the implication of consumer switch is that the company has to utilize the expertise of digital innovation in order to reach out and communicate to them. Marketing campaigns, advisements, and awareness creation need to be digital. Moreover, issues relating to supply and distribution of products need to adopt the digital models. Vaughan underscores the fact that the importance of adopting digital models transpires because it gives a company an edge over others that offer similar or substitute products (58). To ensure that the digital strategy is effective and yields the desired results, LRP Company needs to develop an efficient distribution system and a well-designed strategy that is online and targets the potential consumers.
Consumer Recruitment
Consumer recruitment in LRP has to follow the digital innovation strategy. The need to follow the strategy is because the digital platform is helps the company reach out to the modern consumers of beauty products supplied by LRP. Imperatively, since these consumers are dynamic and communicate through social and online platforms, going digital using the strategy helps the company conform to the trends and retain its markets share. Principally, contemporary individuals, who are potential consumers of products manufactured by LRP, communicate, share their opinions, and voice their grievances using digital platforms.
Therefore, by developing a good digital strategy, an organization can interact and exchange ideas with its potential consumers, a factor that amplifies its market share and consumer base (Nylén and Holmström 21). The recruitment process has to be swift and organized. By using the digital innovation strategy, the organization acquires a better understanding of consumer demands, market dynamics, and conforms to the prevailing market trends. It is important to elucidate that when LRP conforms to the trends and consumer demands, the amount of sales increases simultaneously with the scale of consumers.
By using a well-designed digital platform and a superb distribution systems, LRP can effectively communicate with its potential consumers, persuade them to make purchases, and eventually deliver the products to those, who want to purchase the products. Although the company may not supply the products directly to all the consumers in their places of work or residence, the products should be within their convenience. The implication of convenient reach is that the distribution points have to be in places that consumers can access without lots of stress and cost.
Apparently, several consumers, who love and purchase beauty products, are frequent visitors of online marketing sites that help them search products that are high in quality and cost effective. Therefore, a good digital innovation strategy should be one that best meets consumer demands in relation to quality and cost and persuades them to purchase the products. Moreover, a good digital innovation strategy that focuses on consumer recruitment needs to have a set of objectives. Among the set of objectives is awareness creation on the products provided by LRP and achievement of consumer loyalty. By attaining these objectives, the company not only enjoys increased sales, but also enjoys long-term relationship from consumers, who associate with the LRP brand.
Attracting Consumers to LRP Brand
To attract LRP consumers to the brand and products manufactured by the company, the marketing team has to institute a practical digital platform. The practical platform should focus on the needs of consumers, market dynamics, and trends that characterize modern societies. Notably, modern consumers are quality and price oriented. Therefore, these consumers make their purchases basing on the quality derived from the products and their prices. Those products deemed to be expensive and low in quality usually initiate declining sales.
As such, the digital innovation strategy that the company needs to employ in order to attract the potential consumers of LRP to the brand has to be one that identifies their needs and delivers products that match their demands. Hanna elaborates that companies, which fail to deliver products that consumers demand in the market do not live long before exiting the market (117). A good digital innovation strategy should be one that uses the digital platform to engage in activities such as interacting with potential clients, sharing their views concerning their desired products, and assessing market dynamics.
By engaging in these activities, LRP can convert client needs into finished products and use the same platform to communicate to the consumers about the new products, a factor that increases the amount of sales and market share. When LRP develops a practical innovation strategy, which identifies consumer needs and converts them into finished products, consumers are likely to associate with the brand. Association with the brand is a good recipe for progress and long life of the company. Morabito explains that when an organization develops a well-designed digital innovation strategy, it can easily attract the potential consumers to its brand and products (104). As a result, LRP needs to go digital and create convenient platforms where they can exchange ideas with their potential clients. Platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are among the social platforms used by the new generation of LRP consumers.
When an organization uses online platforms to monitor consumer trends and behavior, it is in a better place to adjust and deliver products that match consumer expectations. As such, LRP needs to monitor the trends in the market and adjust on time so that it continues delivering products that consumers expect. With the current competition, which is cutthroat, consumers are likely to switch and change if a company does not deliver what they expect, a factor that leads to diminished sales (Hanna 33).
Therefore, to ensure that LRP enjoys a long life, increased consumer base, and an amplified market share, the marketing team needs to develop a smart digital innovation strategy. The strategy should be one that not only communicates to potential consumers on the company products, but also persuades them to purchase the products. By matching consumer requirements and persuading them to purchase the products, LRP Company acquires the much needed consumer loyalty and brand recognition.
Consumer Path and Creation of a Long Term Relationship with LRP Brand
Consumer path implies the steps that the digital innovation and marketing department of LRP need to employ in order to attain the much needed consumer relationship with the company brand. Among the steps that comprise consumer path and should be part of the procedures followed by the digital innovation department of the company include identification of consumer needs and conversion of the needs into finished products. Notably, besides the steps that entail need identification and their conversion into finished products, another step concerns evaluation of product performance in the market. Apparently, when the company undertakes a process of consumer identification using the digital platforms, it gets insights into the core requirements of consumers in relation to the products delivered by the company.
It is important to explain that although consumers may demonstrate homogeneous needs, they are indeed heterogeneous and each one has a unique set of requirements. According to De, Castro, development of a booklet that discusses the various products manufactured by LRP is one of the best steps that are core in creating awareness amongst the potential consumers of LRP (57). Therefore, the digital platform should seek to address the specific needs advanced by individual consumers. Hanna asserts that leading brands such as apple are companies, which ensure that they meet the individual needs of consumers. By personalizing production and delivery, companies win the hearts of consumers, a factor that translates to loyalty and improved relationship with the brand. Since LRP provides diverse products, it has to ensure that the products address individual consumers in a personalized manner.
Conversion of needs into finished products is another step that the digital department can utilize in its quest to amplify the relationship that the consumers have towards the company brand. After listening to the ideas, opinions, and suggestions that consumers present through the digital platforms, the company has to engage in the process of converting the needs into tangible products (Nylén and Holmström 63). When the company converts the needs into products and communicates to the clients, they feel that the company values their opinions, a component that augments the love and relationship among them and company brands.
It is important to explain that after releasing the product into the market, the company needs to monitor and evaluate the performance. The need to evaluate and monitor the product performance transpires because the department has to ascertain if the personalized products match the expectations of consumers in the market. A good monitoring and evaluation process helps the company to make timely corrections in case of a mismatch and deliver what is best for consumers. Consequently, by engaging in the steps, LRP can successfully win the hearts of consumers, increase the relationship with the company brand and consumers, and extend its life cycle.
Digital Services, Tools, and Online Communication Campaigns to Include in Recruitment Strategy
Digital Services, Tools, and Online Communication
Currently, organizations can provide numerous services to their potential consumers online. Some of the services include creation of efficient websites and online platforms, regular and timely communication, as well as feedback and use of messenger services to acknowledge important events in the lives of existing and potential consumers. A good example is evident with apple, a company that sends timely messages to its clients using mail services (Nylén and Holmström 57). It is fundamental to explain that by using these services, LRP can successfully win the hearts of its potential and existing consumers.
When the company uses the digital services to address and respond to the needs of consumers, they not only amplify the relationship between them and the clients, but also lead to an enhanced brand development. Importantly, in the contemporary world characterized by ever changing and dynamic trends, adoption and use of digital services is core. In actual sense, a timely feedback and regular communication with clients is an aspect that promotes the reputation of an organization. As such, companies need to utilize digital services such as development of efficient communication platforms, which facilitate productive exchange of ideas among them and their prospective clients.
On the other hand, digital tools encompass the facilities used in online and digital communication. Smartphones, computers, and other gadgets that are useful in digital communication are among the digital tools. It is chief for LRP to understand the variance existing among their consumers and develop sites, which are accessible to a number of gadgets regardless of their connectivity scale. Apparently, some organizations develop sites that can only be accessible using high end and expensive gadgets.
Essentially, a site that cannot be accessible using several gadgets limit the traffic to the site and reduces the amount of potential clients, who can purchase the company products from the site. Morabito explains that for a company to succeed and progress, it has to ensure that its tools are effective and not vulnerable to frequent malfunctions (41). The malfunctions take place because, while some tools are very effective, others are disappointing when used.
Digital communication is the ultimate objective of several companies in cotemporary world. The essence of digital communication stems from the switch in client behavior, an aspect that compels organizations to adopt the type of communication. Initially, a number of organizations such as Kodak were reluctant to use social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to market their products (Goyal 81). Experts from the companies overlooked the role that the sites played in sales and marketing. Conversely, the notion has changed and companies are increasingly using the sites to communicate to their clients and market their products. For LRP to continue enjoying the progress and increase its market share, digital communication is inevitable.
The need to go digital and communicate using online media is because of the several consumers found in social sites. When an organization posts an advert in a social site, the numbers of consumers, who come across the advert, supersede those accessed in the absence of digital communication. It is notable to explain that international companies like LRP can use the digital communication to market their products to consumers all over globe easily, quickly, and conveniently. As a result, digital communication is not only becoming a basic element in marketing and organizational development, but is increasingly becoming one of the essential components that organizations like LRP need to incorporate into their initiatives.
The Next Technological and Digital Disruption of LRP
Marketing Strategy and the Use of 4ps
To improve the quality of its products and increase the market share, LRP has to institute an efficient marketing strategy. LRP needs to use a marketing strategy that helps it focus on client needs and deliver them on and when required. In effect, a good marketing strategy is one that is useful in assessing the marketing environment of the company. The strategy should provide a clear focus on the internal and external variables that influence consumer behavior and organizational performance.
In the words of Goyal, marketing strategy is crucial in assessing the marketing environment and ascertaining client expectations (93). Consequently, the 4ps, which espouse place, price, product, and promotion, are part of the marketing mix and are vital in progress of LRP. Since majority of modern consumers use online platforms, LRP can utilize the platforms and implement the provisions entailed in the 4ps to deliver high-end products. When LRP utilizes the 4Ps in an innovative manner, its product pricing, product quality, and distribution or placement channels match client expectations. Moreover, the organization can utilize online platform to promote its products to the right set of prospective consumers.
The marketing strategy utilizes the LRP product portfolio. It is important to understand that the main products offered by LRP are beauty and skin care products, which boost the health of the users. With its diverse distribution channels, which are online and offline, LRP needs to employ an efficient digital and online promotion strategy that communicates to prospective clients in the international market. The strategy also needs to communicate the essence of the brand to the potential consumers.
By communicating the essence of LRP brand, the company builds a reputation and a strong base in the minds of the target clients found in the international markets. With an efficient strategy that is applicable in the international market, LRP will be in a good position to understand the competition advanced by those, who offer substitute or similar products in the market. Therefore, the strategy needs to act as a compass and help the organization devise ways, which can be useful in outshining these competitors. Imperatively, the strategy should be within the operating budget of the company and should eventually provide the expected profit within the provided period.
Conclusion
The digital move witnessed in modern societies is a factor that has led to significant changes in the setting of various companies. Notably, the move initiated a switch in consumer behavior to online platforms, a factor that compelled organizations to adopt the platforms in their operations. The role played by digital platforms in present societies is one that needs close research and evaluation. Imminently, by undertaking research and evaluation of digital roles in relation to consumer behavior, organizations can better understand the needs that diverse consumers advance, a factor that facilitates achievement of client loyalty.
Works Cited
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Goyal, Anita. Innovations in Services Marketing and Management: Strategies for Emerging Economies, London: McGraw-Hill. 2014. Print.
Hanna, Nagy. Mastering Digital Transformation: Towards a Smarter Society, Economy, City and Nation. New York: Wiley and Sons, 2016. Print.
Morabito, Vincenzo. Future of Digital Business Innovation. Springer International Publishing, 2016. Print.
NylĂ©n, Daniel., and Jonny Holmström. “Digital innovation strategy: A framework for diagnosing and improving digital product and service innovation.” Journal of innovation, 58.1 (2015): 57–67.
Vaughan, Jason. Technological Innovation: Perceptions and Definitions. Chicago: ALA TechSource, 2013. Print.