How to identify the best communication model for your target audience

Ours is now a world of explosive change, a fertile ground for innovation, disruption and creative destruction. India too has changed dramatically as a society over the last many years and so has the consumer wants, needs and choices in this country. If there is one fundamental change impacting all of us, due to this, it is the changing fabric of communication models and the consumer’s capricious attitudes towards it.          

Today, the communication model framework is no longer a simple bi dimensional play – video versus print. It has seamlessly straddled across multiple complex dimensions of culture, age, gender, incomes, vocations and ensuing conditioning using sound, visual and verbs is an inseparable continuum. Personal touch has become massively significant than it ever was before.

This is remarkably, though not surprisingly evident, in stark contrasts amongst two distinct consuming classes – the lower segments in the consuming pyramid and the most sought after consumer groups, the Millennials in the upper segments.  By many conservative and not so conservative estimates, both groups represent a cohort of 300 million each and that is half of India or Bharat depending on how you look at it. The Millennials often the most misunderstood or the least understood, react differently to communication stimuli, because most of them have grown in an environment of plenty and liberal freedom to choose and consume what they wish. The lower segments of the pyramid react diametrically because of totally polar circumstances. What a Marketing dilemma!

Not surprisingly then, we have now begun to think of communication models as invasive, pervasive and even an unavoidable partner of our daily existences. Slowly and equally surely then, the communication landscape has changed so much so that most of it is significantly unconditional now.

Expectedly, this has created multiple challenges for marketers who increasingly grapple and continue to grapple with the ever increasing communication fragmentation, multiplicity and niche modes of reaching out to their core constituents.  No so long ago, the mental model of communication was really thought of in pure aggregate and reach terms. You identified your segments and target markets from pure demographics and psychographics and developed your communication frameworks and mass communicated. But is it so simple and extendable in the India of today anymore, across categories, though the data part might still tell you yes.

The rational and emotional model of communication has had multiple paradigm shifts. As consumers we perceive & internalize communication, channels of communications depending on a complex algorithm of factors which is difficult for the most consummate marketers to figure out at times. Even in its most entertaining and educative form, communication must therefore now strive to deliver on multiple counts especially if the product involves a significant quotient of trust.

Let me specifically focus on the lower end of consuming segments in the financial services space who we structurally define as unserved and underserved. At Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, an institution which recently transformed to a bank, the major communication challenge has been to manage the transition complexities of becoming a deposit seeking institution in addition to being a lending institution, while introducing newer class of asset products typically associated with banks

While, this involved changes at the grass roots with a brand new identity of a bank, the bigger and more difficult challenges have been in communicating to the customer in a credible manner that the values of trust, security, safety and assistance which remain at the centre of Ujjivan’s business principles get conditioned further.

While the Brand Marketing strategy has utilized typical mass media for reach, we have been innovative in deploying some very un-conventional communication models, uniquely developed for our target customers and which continues to be built upon.

A unique leverage Ujjivan enjoys as an institution is that we get to meet almost 80 % of our near four million existing customers every month through the microfinance model of a centre meeting. This very centre meeting now re-christened “Bank Meeting” is the staging theatre where the bank officers NOW inform, motivate and even influence prudent financial decisions on a one on one basis with a group of twelve odd customers on the products and services. More than 200,000 such meetings happen every month which is 50,000 meetings a week or over 6000 meetings in a single day!

Ujjivan is exceptionally leveraging this communication opportunity by showcasing its digital & technology prowess of better banking through financial transactions on the handheld device, a machine which brings the bank to the customer and not the other way round. So in many ways, what’s shown now on Ujjivan’s national TV campaign is beautifully translating into credible self-belief when a customer actually gets to see the device in play in front of her own eyes.

In a second form of innovative communication, Ujjivan recently deployed, involves bringing un banked and under banked customers in groups to its various branches on a “guided process tour” where such unbanked / under banked customers get to see various parts of the branch, interact with the staff, and also get the opportunity do transactions on the bank’s biometric ATM’s using their debit cards. This builds solid trust and security in their minds of banking with Ujjivan.

Ujjivan has taken Financial Literacy very seriously and believes significant positive stimuli gets generated when target customers are exposed to messages in an entertaining and informative way. In yet another communication model, we developed an innovative and content rich film which beautifully set the tone for the pre-launch of the bank and announced the arrival in a trustworthy manner to our customer segments. It also helped build a trustworthy Marketing approach for the bank and connected well with the customers. The bank now conducts mass screenings where customers watch the film, understand how Ujjivan can be a bank of difference for them, where they can bank with safety and trust. The bank is seeing build-up of business traction and transaction post the activity execution

Given digital is now all pervasive and impacting the banking space intensely, Ujjivan is also conspicuously working on newer communication models through “Digital Ambassadors” in key branches to start with. They are called Digi Buddies whose primary role is to on-board “digitally dark” or “digitally native “customers into the exciting journey of mobile and internet banking. Through a personal touch and “totally assisted model” a small yet significant step is being taken to bring thousands of customers into the nouveau digital world of banking transactions and disruptions.

(The author is Vijay Balakrishnan, Senior Marketing Leader and the Chief Marketing Officer of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank.)

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