According to Eka Ruola, CEO of the Finnish agency Hasan & Partners, the most important are people, and in that regard, B2B and B2C marketing are not as different as it seems.
“Companies have never bought any product or service – decisions are always made by people,” he said, explaining why it is so important to address people and help them understand why your product or service is a brilliant solution to their problem.
“The companies that put people first have done amazingly well,” Ruola said, citing Amazon as an example. “What happens when I go to buy one book from Amazon? I come out with three books and I feel like Amazon saved my day. I did not know before that these other books existed, but they are exactly the books I wanted. What actually happened is that I gave them more of my money, but after placing the order, I really feel that they saved my day,” he gave an example.
Ruola added that as important as the people is what the company stands for. Every company – whether they are big or small and whether their competitors offer similar products – can still have a unique and, so to speak, bigger reason why it was founded. “It does not have to be about saving the planet. It can also be relevant for the brand, the product or the company as a whole,” he said.
Ruola gave the example of Dove, which created one of the strongest goal-based campaigns in history – the real beauty campaign. Dove’s mission was to make women feel beautiful every day by broadening the hitherto narrow definition of beauty and inspiring them to take care of themselves. “They didn’t change the packaging or the product. It’s still a soap, the products are still in a plastic packaging. But they brought out what they stood for,” Ruola said.
In terms of marketing communication, Ruola first recommends providing relevant and inspiring content. This ensures that people pay sufficient attention to the company and provides an opportunity to inform them and engage in a dialogue with them.
In addition to the above, Ruola emphasized another thing without which it is impossible to achieve real success in the world of advertising and marketing – passion. “Show it off,” was his suggestion.
Eka Ruola (Hasan & Partners) will speak at the webinar SURVIVING IN THE TIME OF PANDEMIC, in addition to Britte Maidra (Dentsu Aegis), Andris Rubins (DDB Latvia) and Paulius Senuta (Not Perfect).
Time: April 30, 2020 from 10:00 to 11:30
