By Jala Azizova, Veyseloglu Group of Companies
68% of consumers believe that a company’s behavior is as important as its products and services. This is the main conclusion of a survey conducted recently by EY – one of the world’s largest consulting and audit firms. It’s becoming increasingly clear that companies should consider moving away from their short-term revenue growth tactics. They should instead focus on what is known as purposeful growth.
It appears that today’s growth-at-all-costs model is no longer viable. We have to look at the world around us and listen to consumers. After all, they’re the ones that determine how well businesses do.
So, let’s try to redefine growth. I personally like the term ‘a purposeful growth’. But what does it mean? In short, it’s a behavior in which companies deliver value for everyone. In other words, it’s a win-win model for all the stakeholders.
This may sound like a vague statement, but let’s think about it: imagine a business model that is grounded in authenticity of purpose and long-term value. It’s a model in which a company thinks not about the turnover in the next calendar year, but the impact it’ll be making in 5 or10 years’ time.
What do consumers get?
I have been long observing and analysing customer attitudes and behavior - in Azerbaijan and during my trips overseas – out of professional interest and as a curious human being. It’s not a secret that marketing professionals have used social media and shrewd tactics to attract customers and drive short-term revenue growth.
“Best sandal models for the summer…!”, “Why you can’t live without…”, “Top Five swimsuit brands…” — social media feeds are full of these clickbait headlines. Consumers dislike them because they’re often misleading. Companies love them because they apparently work. These, of course, are the mostly frustrating but otherwise harmless approaches companies use to lure in consumers.
Companies have been using these tactics to attract customers and drive revenue growth. It’s a ruthless, winner-take-all model, driven by digital technology and designed to meet quarterly earnings targets and shareholder expectations. In the process, consumers become lifeless commodities from which to extract and exploit the maximum amount of data solely for the organization’s gain.
What do consumers really want?
Until now, this is an approach that has worked. But it’s becoming obvious to me that people want a change. Customers are demanding more and better from the companies they do business with. For example, there’s more and more talk about consumers expecting sustainable products and services, for instance. Consumers are tired of hearing about the brand’s virtues, instead they wish a human-centric customer experience.
These are not just my subjective reflections, since it appears that I’m not alone. In the latest EY Future Consumer Index survey, 68% of consumers think the company’s behavior is as important as what it sells, while 69% say brands must behave ethically and in line with community expectations. Yet only 38% think the positive actions brands are taking are good enough.
The race for survival has tainted good intentions
It’s easy to understand why companies have followed the growth-at-all-costs path: they are in a race for survival. Their preoccupation with gaining a market share within their industry and among their peers is quite understandable.
At the same time, customer, employee and investor expectations are changing as rapidly as the world around them, and especially digital technology, is enabling them.
In response to these pressures, many companies say they have put purpose at the center of their transformations. They talk about long-term value, which seeks to measure their performance well beyond only financial results. These new measures include good governance practices, transparency and ethical attitudes to people – customers and own staff. Businesses are increasingly talking about looking after local communities and our planet.
As customers increasingly look for better experiences and choose brands that align with their values, a growth-at-all-costs mindset becomes unsustainable. We at Veyseloglu Group of Companies have most certainly managed to sense this shift in consumer attitudes. As marketing professionals, we translated this notion to the rest of our organization. I’ve set out to write this piece without an intention to promote the company I work for. Yet it pleases me to see efforts within our Group that are aimed at building a reimagined operating model that can help transform business for growth where everyone on the market wins.
About the author: Jala Azizova is seasoned public relations and communications professional with experience in Telecom and Retail industries. She’s currently in charge of public relations and corporate communications function at Veyseloglu Group of Companies. She’s an avid reader, interested, inter alia, in various factors that influence and shape consumer behavior.
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