Inform & Educate

Inform & Educate to Grow Your Domestic Market

Consumers today operate in increasingly complex markets, challenged by growing amounts of information and an expanding choice of products. The end-user consumer can be said to be the most important stakeholder in any industry. This does not negate the critical importance of members along the value chain. Your consumer drives the revenue streams along the value chain and ultimately decide what can or cannot work in a market. So the question must be asked, How can we ensure we communicate with our consumers in a manner that is meaningful to them and will lead to engagement and in turn their consumption? . It all starts with understanding and then defining your target market through thorough research, understanding your consumers’ motivations and influences, targeting your message and your delivery.

In this article, we will be focusing on how to craft your message and your delivery – how to communicate, inform and educate.

Often the idea of ensuring all players along the chain understand the value-proposition. A value proposition is a simple statement that summarizes why a customer would choose your product or service. Your value proposition communicates the clearest benefit that customers receive by giving you their business.

The message encompasses what you would like to tell your audience, whilst the delivery is how you get that message to them effectively. The most effective messages take into consideration who the audiences are, what motivates them to make an initial purchase, and equally important, what would move them to keep purchasing. Now when we speak to the target audience, the audience will be different along the chain, so for government entities it may be inclusive of the farmer, the processor and or roaster. For the farmer their key audience is the processor for the coffee shop their key audience is the consumer. This shows that there can be a myriad of audiences all with varying needs, wants, understanding and triggers. Your message must therefore taken into consideration your audience. While the strategy begins with the identification of target audiences, you will need to go a step further by detailing audience characteristics and the possible benefits each group might gain from the product or service.

Refer to the article on Consumer Segmentation to get an understanding of the task of identifying targeting audiences. For information regarding research and analytics, go to the Research & Diagnosis article to get an in-depth review. Once the market is defined and their behaviours/psychological influences clearly understood, you can start structuring your message. The message should relay information about the product whilst also guiding the reader on how to feel about the product. The consumer today is very exposed and demands transparency in information being imparted. Today’s consumer seeks to make choices from an informed perspective. Consumer education is critical in this regard; it can be defined as “a process of developing and enhancing skills and knowledge to make informed and well-reasoned choices that take societal values and objectives into account”. Consumer education is therefore important along the value chain aiding in developing critical thinking and raising awareness, thereby enabling consumers to become more pro-active. Consumer education serves to also increase engagement levels and ‘buy-in’. It is the communication about coffee that will aid in increasing domestic consumption. It is an important vehicle for building the confidence that consumers need to operate in increasingly complex markets. The communication must be diverse, it must include information based on the entity’s objectives. As such it may include information about why employing best farming practices are beneficial or to debunk popular myths about coffee, sustainable consumption, startegies to build a small business and the list goes on.

When we inform, communicate and educate it not only increases the information flow but it builds trust. You must therefore create communications that tie specific product advantages to the interests and requirements of the audience. Use language that describe the advantages to the target audienceInformative bylines, graphics, and accompanying pictures all help to paint a picture and aid in sharing the desired message. The same descriptive language, visuals, and photographs from the marketing message can be used in several media. This ensures that recurring connections remain consistent. Adults have significant consumer education needs, some of which are specific to different societal sub-groups. Adult learning occurs in informal and non-formal settings that are not being fully exploited. Agencies and government bodies should explore how to remain consistent with messaging and supplement consumer education as a life-long process, taking into consideration how communication can be structured to build knowledge in a cumulative fashion over time. For communication to be effective information should be disseminated in a variety of ways, taking advantage of both online and offline resources. When online communication is being used, it is important to take the accessibility of information and communication technology in your country into account, as well as the level of usage and the ability of targeted groups to use it. Sites that draw together different elements of consumer education are important in this regard, as such blogs, you tube and other social media should be considered. Developing effective strategies to attract your audiences to the platform selected is also important. Advertisements work very well to speak openly to your target market. Advertisements can be executed across various medium: print, outdoor media, online, TV, radio, and social media. Communication and consumer education should be viewed as a long-term and a continuous process. A one-off message will not ‘do the trick’. Consumer education plays a critical role in raising public awareness. Having clearly defined strategies can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of communication and consumer education programs. It must however be noted that to enhance coherence, such objectives should be coordinated among market players at the national level as well as other appropriate levels. In addition, outlined objectives, content and delivery must keep pace with innovation in technology, particularly the rapid expansion of mobile technology. Social Media is an extremely engaging method of communicating to your market because it is immediately responsive and allows you to interact directly with your would-be consumers. Real-time interaction and 24/7 discussion can occur with followers re-posting to others. Social media can be utilized (especially blog sites) to conduct market research about target audiences. Social media sites use fun discussions to help organizations build relationships.

The effectiveness of communication is also enhanced with the use of innovative and varied techniques. Interactive events inclusive of supermarket kiosks or festivals give new markets an opportunity to interact with the message, your company and or your brand. Educating your target market about the social impact of patronizing coffee products may increase brand loyalty and in turn sales. Communication may entail educating your consumer about the communities they help, the jobs provided, and the people impacted.

Health benefits can also be very attractive factors for undecided prospective consumers. Another strong tactic is to sell prospective consumers on the lifestyle of coffee consumption.

In conclusion, along with the medium, the content of your message is the deciding factor. Afterall, if a tree fell in a forest and no one heard it, then did the tree actually fall? The communications your organization has with your consumer base is critically important to the success of your business and in turn to the increase of domestic consumption in your country.

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

A PHP Error was encountered

Inform & Educate

Inform & Educate to Grow Your Domestic Market

Financial Considerations

Special Markets

Delivery Modalities

Coffee Considerations

Country Experiences