The overall market landscape is rapidly changing all the time, and for CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands that still use traditional marketing methods will just as rapidly get left behind.
These brands need to be open to flexibility in their strategies if they want to keep up with the new ways to communicate and connect with their target audience. But how can CPG brands, particularly in the the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions, do this, and still sell their products to their audience? By making use of digital marketing methods that not only sets you ahead of the rest but still speaks to their audience among the digital noise that they are constantly exposed to.
But while the CPG landscape in MENA has seen its own significant changes throughout the last few years, its rate of change has accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 global pandemic. According to PwC’s recent Global Consumer Insights Survey COVID-19 Pulse Survey, 53% of Middle East respondents increased their usage of mobile shopping due to the pandemic while only 9% of respondents did not report shopping online.
With stores closing their physical doors and regulations encouraged staying at home, consumers found themselves needing to adapt just as quickly to new, digital and technologically-based methods of shopping, and CPG brands had to adapt too.
However, despite this rapid change presenting its own set of challenges to CPG companies that still use traditional marketing strategies, it also presents an opportunity for these companies to proactively change their strategies to meet the ever-changing demands and needs of the consumers, and industry as a whole. This opportunity comes in the form of digital marketing.
Remaining flexible and proactive
Having the right measurement tools will certainly help CPG brands develop marketing campaigns that maximise the resources they have available. Especially with the digital transformation experienced in 2020, marketers need to be flexible enough to identify opportunities where adjusting their marketing strategies is necessary in order to still keep up with their consumers and adapting behaviours. This is where it becomes critical for brands to stay on top their brand performance, and ensuring that you have the right tools to gather accurate data and insight will better inform your digital marketing efforts.
By doing so, CPG marketers will have the accurate insights needed to be proactive in their response to any market and consumer behaviour changes (an ability that will keep them one step ahead of their competitors).
Take PepsiCo, for example. The company saw consumers panic buy in the first quarter of 2020 and increased its advertising spend for products in the snack categories to target consumers who were spending more time at home. In addition, PepsiCo also diverted some funds into reinvesting in it's e-commerce offerings, as more consumers turned to online shopping during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The results saw the company report an increase of 8% in sales during the first quarter of 2020.
Using data to stay attentive to the changing needs and behaviours of consumers helps brands remain flexible yet proactive in not just meeting their needs but having a digital marketing strategy that is current and relevant.
Using data to test new strategies
From the growth in e-commerce opportunities to the recent change in consumer behaviours (prompted by all things digital), the CPG landscape in MENA is changing too, and brands who want to remain competitive within it need to update their strategies to ensure they make an impact on consumers and audiences.
However, before you decide to gather all of your marketing resources and efforts behind new campaigns or strategies, it's important for you to use the data that you have gathered to first test them out so that you can see if your efforts will yield the results you hope to achieve.
Whether you are testing your audience segments or the media channels you hope to use in your campaigns and digital marketing strategies, always test these methods first to give yourself an opportunity to identify what will work best with your audience.
Naturally, when you equip yourself with the right data and insight, you aren't creating digital marketing strategies from a place of uncertainty. You'll know what important sales metrics to use, what KPIs to measure and how to ensure that you are seeing sufficient ROI.
Positively impacting your sales
One of the main objectives of marketing is to motivate customers to take an action after engaging with their marketing activity, and usually, the end goal is to drive revenue. Especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses found themselves cutting as many costs as possible, and the marketing department was no exception to this. But as we move into a a world that has adapted to the consequences of COVID-19, marketers will need to show how their activities and strategies have a direct connection to sales.
This is where having measurement tools will benefit you as a marketer. You want to be able to hone in on the specific changes your business experiences in relation to its consumers - from the online reactions and sentiment of your new product launches to the reviews and complaints your consumers leave on social media, now is the time ensure that you are able to demonstrate how digital marketing can positively impact your sales results.
Showcasing value to retailers
Just as much as marketers need to show how marketing can have a positive impact on the sales of CPG products, marketers also need to showcase the value of digital marketing to their retail partners. Between CPG brands pivoting to more digital and e-commerce platforms, to other retail stores simply closing up shop in light of COVID-19, there is a lot of competition to grab and retain the attention of the retailers that do remain if you want to access their consumer base.
With a MarTech stack that has the measurement capabilities you need to calculate how much your marketing campaigns and strategies have helped increase the sales of the business, CPG marketers are better able to showcase to retailers that investing in the promotion of their products can drive sales for the retailers that do carry their CPG brand.
Proving one's ROI won't always be easy in an ever-changing consumer landscape, but if CPG brands can utilise the right measurement tools to better understand their marketing campaigns and strategies, the challenges become easier overcome.
Now that you have better insight into why CPG brands in MENA can benefit from digital marketing, it's time to put these points to the test to see for yourself. If you want to learn more about how digital marketing can help you prove the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns, contact Meltwater below for a demo today.
