What is Resultant Marketing and Why Does it Matter?

Online media has introduced a number of new marketing concepts — one of which is resultant marketing.

Resultant marketing is the marketing value that inadvertently occurs from a brand freely adding value to the consumer.

Brands that have created a social culture of giving, where the consumer comes before the bottom line, are more likely to employ a resultant marketing strategy. When the brand dedicates itself to putting the consumer above all else, it creates an atmosphere where the consumer puts the brand first.

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Understanding The Shift in Marketing Thought

Social media marketing strategies started a paradigm shift in marketing thought. The strategies introduced a need for transparency, brand personality, and an online presence. A number of companies, including Comcast and Dell, have shown that this shift will continue. As more companies move online the use of resultant marketing will become more evident.

Consider Comcast’s twitter account, @comcastcares. The main purpose was not to market the company, but offer faster customer support. Customer saw the public custom service as an incentive and a value-added. It became a secondary marketing campaign.

Another example highlighting the marketing shift is Dell’s Social Media Facebook page. The purpose of the page is to position Dell in front of small businesses by offering social media resources and news.

By offering resources, Dell hopes the small business will become a fan of the brand. The connection makes it easier to market products to them in the future. The jump from information seeker to brand fan is a resultant effect of the resources.

Unlike the Dell example, for most brands resultant marketing occurs naturally without realization. Whenever a brand gives information to the consumer for free it has setup a situation for resultant marketing. To fully take advantage of resultant marketing the brand must be able to identify these opportunities and use them to their benefit.

Exploring Social Media’s Role

Social media has introduced new possibilities for resultant marketing. Facebook pages, Twitter updates, and blogs can be used to teach and help consumers. By primarily offering information, lessons, and content – brands are able to tap into resultant marketing.

Consumers no longer need coupons or discounts to feel like they got a deal. Information can give the same affect.

Imagine a detergent brand that has an expensive product and a cheaper product. What if the brand wrote an article outlining extra steps a consumer could use to make the cheaper product work as well as the expensive product? Would you say that the article hurts the brand?

The truth is that neither product is damaged. Consumers that want to save money believe they got a deal with a cleaning product that cleans as well as the expensive one. The consumers that want to save time now realize how much time they are actually saving.

The informational article the detergent brand publishes is not technically a marketing piece. Nonetheless it could convince a consumer to buy a product and therefore adds marketing value.

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The Importance of Resultant Marketing

But why take advantage of resultant marketing? Should brands dedicate time and money to giving away resources to their consumers?

Resultant marketing is powerful because of its subtlety. Consumers begin to trust brands when it seems like the brand has their best interest in mind. Trust equals sales.

Consumers have grown distrustful of direct advertising, both online and offline, and need something more to act on them. A study conducted in 2007 by the ad firm JWT found that 84 percent of Americans believed ads to “over-hype” things. As consumers become more and more distrustful of attention grabbing advertising, resultant marketing gives brands a way to get consumer interest without using advertising.

A good product is no longer enough to get a consumer to buy. Brands need to give customers another reason to complete the purchase. Social media has made adding that value easier.

We’ve seen this phenomenon with campaigns that use charities or social good as a marketing draw. “A 2002 Cone Corporate Citizenship Study, which reported that 84% of Americans agreed that they ‘would be likely to switch brands to one associated with a good cause, if price and quality are similar.’” (Citation – PDF).

Brands can replace charities or social good with some kind of consumer selfish value. The brand is able to take advantage of the above phenomenon by giving the consumer something in return.

It is important to note that a brand cannot bribe the consumer and give them money or discounts. Although these work in the short-term, they do not build trust.

Good resultant marketing will give consumers something that either informs, connects, or builds trust with the brands. These create long lasting value that convinces consumers to not only buy once, but to also become returning consumers.

Resultant marketing is an indicator of a larger shift in consumer buying trends. Customers expect more from you than just your product. They expect personalization and to feel special, they want something more than what they can get from a competitor.

Consumers want to know the brand has their best interest in mind, and they want the brand to show it. So what are you giving your consumers to prove your worth?

Tagged as: innovation, resultant marketing

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