Marketing Symmetry

We can all agree that advertising is a prevalent occurrence in our everyday lives. Just look at your phone now and the company’s logo is advertising in itself.

Increasingly, we as consumers are able to capture more than the basic understanding of a product/service. We are becoming our own producers and want to be part of the process. We have become ‘prosumers’ – eg. video editors, budding photographers and even musicians.

MARKETING SYMMETRY

The futurologist Alvin Toffler, who coined the term ‘prosumer’, was right when he predicted that the role of producers and consumers would begin to blur and merge in his 1980s book The Third Wave. Being able to personalise and customise products/services in today’s climate has enabled consumers to think more, to feel more and to know more.

As marketers, we want to tap into the thoughts and drivers of decisions to an increasingly intellectually aware consumer.

So how do we approach this?

Well, there is no one definitive response or a straight-forward structure but in interrogating a client’s product or service offering, I developed my own visual framework for evaluating business marketing strategies (by no means comprehensive):

I’ve coined it ‘Marketing Symmetry’ as the combination of each element sheds light on the product/service alignment with the business’ vision, mission and goals.

Marketing Symmetry is a conceptual business framework that seeks to capture the present tense of your product or service. By identifying the tangible and intangible elements and their relationship to the business vision, mission and goals, we are able to capture a marketing snapshot.

Marketing Symmetry is consumer-centric – that is, every element addresses the consumer or client as a self-centred entity.

Marketing symmetry leans toward a qualitative assessment of the business as opposed to the quantitative nature of something such as a pricing strategy.

MARKETING SYMMETRY ELEMENTS:

EXPLAIN
(How you use your product/service)
Your product/service should be easily describable.
⇢ What is the primary function of your product/service?
⇢ What are the consumers/clients choices in using your product? Is there only once choice?
⇢ What are other attributes of your product/service?

FEEL
(What’s the sensory feedback when using your product/service)
This area is about how your product/service provokes a sensory response from the receiver. It is important to be able to identify these elements because people subconsciously link these to their emotions and, subsequently, their emotional response to your product/service when frequently used.

Examples:
⇢ Taste: sweet
⇢ Hear: tolerable noise
⇢ See: blocky, thin, colourful
⇢ Touch: solid, porous
⇢ Smell: neutral

Two areas combine to form this element:
⇢ Context
The container of your product/service that holds it together (see Table 1 for example)
⇢ Content
This is the actual substance of your product/service (see Table 1 for example)

KNOW
(How do you know what to do with your product/service)
This element is about being able to engage consumers/clients so that they are equipped with knowing how to use or what to do with your product/service.

Examples:
⇢ Manual/User Guide
⇢ Learning by doing
⇢ Experimentations
⇢ Verbal instruction
⇢ Past experience
⇢ Map
⇢ Path

LINK
(How do you connect with your product/service in the digital space)
As each technological innovation and iteration materialises, it becomes apparent that there is a desire to be able to connect and communicate digitally. If you offer a personal training service but could only produce a business card and a flyer (with no website link) as physical prompts for action, then you’re potential clientele might question the legitimacy of the business, the strength of the service and the direction of the businesses’ vision.
⇢ Without this element, your product/service is disposable. That is, consume once and throw away. If you offer a service, then it’s a once-off service and then no further interactions with the consumer.
⇢ The ability to sync devices and data across multiple platforms is now important
⇢ Synchronisation
⇢ Ability for consumers/clients to link up with your product/service online:

Some examples of this area includes:
⇢ Websites
⇢ Social media eg Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+
⇢ Device connectivity eg. iTunes sync, App store, cloud sync services

PROMISE
(What’s the promise – that is, the expectation of how you support your product/service)
Generally speaking, society is an anxious bunch. Anecdotally, many seek some form of guidance in their everyday lives and others are uncomfortable of sudden changes. How does your product/service provide a sense of reassurance that ‘things’ will be ok? That if they need help, there will be assistance within reach. How can you guarantee this?

Some examples of this area includes:
⇢ Phone support
⇢ Email support
⇢ Online chat service
⇢ Social media contacts
⇢ National and statutory legislation compliance
⇢ Certifications
⇢ Workshops
⇢ Onsite and offsite consulting/training developments
⇢ Remote computer assistance
⇢ Built-in product guide or assistance

You would also want your support systems to be manageable and trackable so that you can identify areas of strengths and future improvements.

MARKETING SYMMETRY (EXPLAIN, FEEL, KNOW, LINK, PROMISE) is relatively proportional to VISION + MISSION + GOALS

The marketing symmetry is proportional to your business vision, mission and goals as it shows you a relational overview of your product/service. That is, the five elements of EXPLAIN, FEEL, KNOW, LINK and PROMISE all respond and conform to whatever statements you have created for your business vision, mission and goals. If, for instance, your vision deviates to another path, then aspects of your marketing symmetry needs to reflect the change otherwise you create tension between what you want for your business, what your business is actually doing and what your business wants to do.

For example, this table shows an update to the Marketing Symmetry.

Go ahead and take a look at your business short-term goals, generate a marketing symmetry and see what part, if any, taps into that area. Are you able to identify? Can you see a relevant area? If there is no association then perhaps your marketing strategy is misaligned with your business goals. It may be an opportunity for you to review your current model.

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