The new reality that emerged from quarantine has opened up new business opportunities. To use them properly and quickly, on April 17, the Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers, together with Internet marketing experts, hosted a webinar on “The Internet Evolution for the Furniture Business”.

Webinar speakers who provided practical information on using digital marketing tools and answered audience questions:

Valeria Bedim is a digital marketing consultant & strategist at Olshansky & Partners. Works with representatives of Ukrainian omnichannel retail, developers and service companies. Specializes in the development of integrated digital strategies for business and online reputation marketing. The clients include well-known Ukrainian developers, national brands of clothing and jewellery, companies offering SAAS solutions, as well as the capital’s telecom operator and shopping centre.

 

 

 

 

Olga Nemyrivska is a consultant digital strategist and marketer. In the field of digital marketing for about 5 years. She has worked with companies in the fashion and beauty industry, furniture industry, B2C / B2B business, as well as Kyiv and regional developers. Specialization is the development and implementation of online business promotion strategies, as well as the formation and development of personal brands. Able to combine the offline activities of companies with online activities and make it as interesting as possible for the buyer and business.

 

 

 

It is time for opportunities for companies that are sensitive to change and the situation that is happening, that can and are ready to change. To help furniture makers take their positions online and become the first customers to choose from, speakers have offered to deal with tools that allow you to manoeuvre in the wake of a crisis.

Speakers highlighted several threats to the furniture industry and suggested options for reactions to translate them into opportunities.

Transforming threats into opportunities

● Unrealized potential of physical points – Ecommerce development and opening of new distribution channels

● Lack of expertise from employees in online work – Redirecting to new products/services and staff optimization

● Changing consumer behaviour – Shifting the focus of demand on domestic producers

● Disorientation and lack of long-term planning – Ability to respond faster and get around competitors.

“Now is the time to try yourself in different channels, but analytics is very important, ” says Olga Nemirovskaya.

Go to online feeds

● Understand the market situation online

● Your stable competitive advantage

● 2 – 3 portraits of your clients

● Communication scheme – “What, where and who are we talking to”

● Reputation management system

● Properly tuned channels and platforms for the promotion

Having considered the basic, existing points of the algorithm of transition to online, the audience together with the speakers dived into a detailed study of each of them.

What happens to competitors?

The speakers offered the audience an algorithm for competitor analysis:

● We identify direct and indirect competitors online.

● We define criteria and tools for analysis based on the specifics of the business.

● We decompose the strengths and weaknesses of competitors in the scheme: attention, interest, desire, action, retention.

● Identify anchor and related types of competitors’ products/services (if any).

● Identify the main channels and model for promoting competitors online.

It was recommended to identify the strengths and weaknesses of competitors by going through the funnel of attracting potential customers. They drew attention to the importance of competing with, retaining, and calling for action. “Doing this kind of analysis will help you formulate your strategy and gain an edge for your business,” emphasizes Valeria Bedim.

The webinar also looked at existing tools for competitor search query analysis. The speakers drew attention to the importance of tracking the dynamics of requests for seasonal and territorial indicators and the informational background of the responses.

Practical tools of analytics in social networks were considered separately.

In particular, they focused on the use of tools such as SimilarWeb, Serpstat, BuiltWith, Google Trends, Google Alerts, Popsters and SocialBlade.

Google recommends that you understand who you are.

Positioning can be at both brand and product or brand level.

Company brand

● Positioning on the Internet

● Unique properties

● Strengths and weaknesses

Product / TM

● Positioning on the Internet

● Unique properties

● Strengths and weaknesses

Positioning that builds on uniqueness will make you the first to choose

Each business is unique. It may not be straightforward, but it can be found in formulations not used by your competitors.

To properly position yourself and the product you need:

● Discover the unique properties of your product.

● Understand how your client’s behaviour has changed now.

● Be simple and easy to perceive.

● Be frank with the client in communication.

“The crisis and the circumstances in which we will sooner or later end, and the reputation The reputation you build now, it will become the basis of your further business development, the further attitude of the client to your company, so positioning should be honest”, – says Valeria Bedim.

Analyzing competitors will help you understand how to better position yourself in the market.

How to create a valuable offer?

The value should help your client solve their problems, pain and benefit.

It is really important to record:

● tasks that will help solve your product;

● the benefits it will receive from your product;

● Pain that can repel and send your client to competitors.

“There are basic aspects, that is, expected aspects of products, but to gain customer loyalty, we need to exceed expectations,” Valeria said.

Create a client profile

The portrait should be specific and clear to avoid blurring of focus, no more than three portraits should be drawn.

You must start with your existing customer base. Get in touch with them and get answers to the question: Why did they choose you?

Interviews can be conducted on social networks, on the site, on Google forms, in-person interviews.

The questions should identify genuine, genuine motives and objections from your customers. To draw a true portrait, you need to listen to the client very carefully.

What is the true value of your product?

To find the answer to this question, a detailed analysis of the product should be made at the intersection between the benefits factors (how the product helps to bring customer satisfaction) and the help factors (how the product can reduce the client’s pain).

Communication

After creating a portrait and understanding who your client needs to start communication with.

“Communication works only when it is systemic,” emphasizes Olga Nemirovskaya. We need to develop the basic communication of what we say to whom and when. It is important to develop a style of information submitted and to determine the channels of communication, to make a calendar plan.

Communication centre must be the client.

You need to tailor your content to custom content, that is, to put the client’s communication centre, his pain and needs.

It is also important to create your style of communication, which should be used in all points of communication, social networks, sales, shops, wherever you have points of contact with the customer.

There should be a single message in both verbal and visual communication.

Examples of communication in times of isolation

Speakers were advised to carry positive emotions, to call for action, to be concise and understandable, to talk about the benefit or pain of the client. Together with the audience, they analyzed examples of company postings, found errors, and found better solutions for advertising.

Valeria and Olga paid attention to the importance of reputation in times of stress when everyone is focused on tracking the actions of competitors.

Online reputation analysis:

● monitoring;

● feedback classification;

● an action plan.

After the analysis, you need to work with the results through:

● PR;

● management of SERM search results;

● work on problematic issues.

They also disassembled the SERM algorithm to get to the first pages of Google’s search engine. Using this system, you can “prepare the ground” for further development.

Speakers familiarized the audience with the algorithm of working with problematic questions and advised to provide feedback, both with positive and negative feedback.

It was proposed to introduce a loyalty program and a spreadsheet of the model of reaction to the negative.

They talked about the importance of media planning and the importance of the effectiveness of advertising channels. We also looked at channels to get user information for further contact.

During the webinar, Valeria and Olga answered questions from the listeners, engaged in a dialogue with the audience, analyzing marketing examples and cases of companies. At the end of the meeting, Valeria and Olga provided their contact details and offered assistance to UAFM members in implementing online marketing tools outside the webinar.

Speaker contacts and details discussed in the webinar can be found in the presentation at the link.

The webinar entry can be viewed at the link.

Let’s create together the best furniture environment in Ukraine!