The good part about the marketing industry landscape is that it is ever-changing, in terms of content, reach, insights, technology, etc., expresses Mayuri Saikia, Director of Marketing, Consumer and Small Business, Dell Technologies India, in an exclusive interview with BW Marketing World. The brand, she says, follows a consumer-first mantra, where innovation, insights, omnichannel approach and communication stand tall as its staunch pillars.
Dell Technologies' overall communication is built on local insights and relatability, using technology for human progress. The brand ensures that its messaging is uniform across platforms and campaigns, where digital drives most of its marketing agendas.
Excerpts:
Take us through the present-day contours of the technology landscape in India. How has it panned out in the past few years? How is Dell navigating through the complexities of it, while also remaining relevant, profitable and competitive?
When we look at the landscape, the good part is that it's ever-changing. From a marketing angle, whether you talk about content, reach, insights, consumer behaviour or whether you talk about technology, it is ever-changing. At Dell, what is very important is having a consumer-first approach. When we say consumer first or consumer insights, it is centered around what are they looking for and how we can serve them best. We make sure that we provide the best in innovation and deliver the best service. That is number one, in terms of consumer insight. Second, is the omni-channel journey. Nowadays, content is all across. There is no dearth of information. Research can be done either online or offline, and customers can make purchases from anywhere. Our omni-channel approach is centered around today's generation and their purchase behaviour. We make our products available across multiple forums, whether it's an online purchase, from our Dell exclusive stores, from an LFR, or from an etail partner like Amazon.
Communication, over the last few years, has changed like never before. With digitisation, you have to make sure that you are talking to the audience in the right way and also in a customised way. Reaching them is not just about utilising traditional or digital media anymore. You have to be where they are. This underscores the importance of understanding customer data. Analysing customer data allows us to offer them what they are looking for and improve their overall experience. This is what we keep in mind when we say we follow a consumer-first approach.
Speaking of your consumer-first approach, since the consumers, their behaviours and their patterns are central to your approach, how would you describe your marketing strategies? How have they evolved with time? What are its staunch pillars and how are they inspiring change through technology?
In marketing, we look at what we want to be as a brand. We have been adjudged by TRA as the most trusted brand for the fifth time. We are very proud of that, especially because somebody is recognising our efforts. For us, what matters is that we are the most trusted and desired brand, but there's a lot that goes behind the scenes to secure that. And as I mentioned earlier, any marketing effort is a consumer first, and it is the insights that matter. We get insights in various ways. We understand the needs of different types of consumers; these are mainly students, gamers, or creators. We do focus group discussions to understand the kind of content they consume, where they consume it, and what they are looking for.
Secondly, we study all the comments and feedback that we receive on different platforms including dell.com or through our social channels. We go through it rigorously, every week, to figure out what the customers are telling us, how they are engaging with us and what improvements can be made. This practice is not just limited to marketing, in fact, all functions work together to make the experience better for our customers. In-store promoters and channel partners play a significant role in sharing feedback This is a very critical step for marketing. We also have experts who deep dive to understand the various personas.
All of these elements come together to create effective marketing strategies. The medium of engagement is also dependent on the objective of the campaign. If our goal is brand awareness, then we use a much more comprehensive engagement strategy. If we are engaging with a smaller set of audience, our tools of engagement are customised accordingly.
We also ensure a premium buying experience across all platforms. Through digital channels, we try to create a seamless purchase experience. For offline engagement, we have a rigorous training process to ensure that our in-store promoters are best suited to guide every customer who walks into the store. We have designed our stores to provide a premium experience to our customers. One such example of this is the gaming stores. We have got one in Delhi, another in Calcutta, and the Dell-exclusive stores with designated gaming zones. This has been created solely to engage the community of gamers by giving them unique experiences. It's a platform for community building and a hub for gamers to come and interact. We want them to have a hands-on experience with the latest products and technology. We also have influencers who come in and interact with customers.
How do you ensure a more cohesive experience for all of the consumers who visit you? Whether it’s in an exclusive store or on your online website, how do you ensure that the experience is not only seamless but also personalised?
Our website gives customers a chance to view all the products, prices and offers. If someone wants a more personalised experience, they can connect with our teams who can guide them with what they want. Once they have the information in place, they can seamlessly make the purchase online or offline, based on their preference.
In Dell Exclusive Stores, we have in-store promoters who can assist customers and help them pick the right product based on their needs. Furthermore, if they go to a multi-brand outlet, they can again see our planogram there and decide on a particular product based on their research. Finally, many people go to Amazon and buy it. No matter the medium, we work very closely with these partners to ensure we create a seamless experience for them.
Can you take us through your recent marketing campaigns? How do these campaigns push the broader narrative of Dell forward? Are there any specific themes, ideas or motives that typically work well in your marketing campaigns?
When we talk about our philosophy, it is that we create technologies that drive human progress. While studying audience insights and designing the campaigns, we noticed that children are passionate about doing great things for society. Of the many beneficial activities that the youth take part in nowadays, we have just picked up two in particular, one is cleaning the mountains and the other is the solar lamps. So that is what we got into the film. The films tell the stories of three students who come up with novel solutions to pressing problems.
The first film focuses on a young boy who, along with his friends, is inspired by a story of triumph over adversity to embark on a mission to improve access to light for children in rural communities. Using Dell's G15 laptop, he creates a design for handmade solar lamps and travels to the community with his friends to present the lamps to the children, alleviating their worries about studying without sufficient light.
The second film highlights a young girl who understands the power of teamwork to address the waste issue in the mountains. With the help of Dell's Inspiron 14 Plus, she and her friends created a microsite and designed a logo called ‘Summit Savers’ to organise a clean-up drive. This initiative turns into a success, drawing many participants who come together to make a difference
As an extension of the campaign, we initiated our ‘Doing Good Series 2.0’ in collaboration with radio stations featuring stories of young innovators driving change in various fields. Through this initiative, we connected with over 100 students in tier 1 cities to not only support but also reward their efforts. To enable stronger engagement with the audience, we hosted a cleaning drive in the Aravalli hills to promote mountain preservation and raise awareness among daily visitors.
What mediums have typically worked well for you over the years?
We follow a market mix model (MMM). This is based on what the data throws at us. The data tells us exactly where we need to be, depending upon which is the audience for that particular season. There are key moments that we leverage for marketing, these include the 'Back to School', 'Back to College', and the festive season. Depending on the period, we decide what it will be. For example, if it is school-related, then parents also are involved. We have parents as a target because they are the ones who are deciding. When it comes to college, it is they who decide what they want to buy so our campaign is designed to target just the students. This campaign is usually heavy on digital. Finally comes the festive period, where you're addressing a large audience. This campaign has a more integrated approach. When you look at it from an overall perspective, we are very heavy on digital media. Digital media allows us to reach our customers with a customised message.
Talking of your marketing budget, what would be the split between traditional and digital?
We do not have a particular percentage because it's so different depending upon the objective for that duration. We work quarter-wise, and it all depends on that particular quarter. There are various things to be considered. Whether you're talking about awareness, you're talking about more at the conversion level, which audience, and so on. From a thinking perspective, it is a digital-first approach.
Talking of the different quarters that you just mentioned, a recent report mentioned that the PC market has been sluggish over the past few quarters. Dell too has witnessed a steep decline in its market share. What would be your strategy for the next two years to clock in better numbers and push Dell up on the ladder?
If you look at the IDC numbers in Q1, the total shipments, shipment is around, say, 3.07 million, which is around, say, 2.6 per cent y-o-y growth. In that, the consumer segment growth is around 4.4 per cent year on year. And when you look at Dell, it is at around 20.7 per cent growth for the consumer segment. The commercial is also around 32.1 per cent. This is the data from the latest quarter, from January to March. As I mentioned earlier, we will always keep looking at customer feedback, figuring out what is the best product that can be given to our customers. We also look at how we can further innovate and deliver the best service and a great customer experience. This is so that we can continue to be the most trusted brand. We are also seeing growth coming in from our gaming laptops, where both the gaming community, students and creators are going for the gaming laptops. We are also making sure that we provide our users with the right product across segments.
We are also intrigued to know how you ensure that Dell's global brand image is maintained in all your communications. Are there any challenges? And if yes, how do you address them?
We work very closely with all the global teams. We have very strong guidelines on how we actually project our brand and have great teams globally to support us on this. There is a lot of data which we receive and there are teams working to make sure we have the right insights. From a brand guideline and content perspective, we have global teams working on it. At the same time, we know that India is very different because of the sheer size of our population and the number of languages we have. With the help of the global teams, we develop campaigns that are localised to India. If you look at all our campaigns, they are based on very local insights. Anybody in the country can relate to it, and it’s not related to a specific state. 'Back to School' or 'Back to College' campaigns, for example, are based on insights that specifically relate to Indian consumers. We also ensure that our messaging is uniform across platforms and campaigns. As a brand, we could launch multiple campaigns in various forms, but ultimately, it's the foundation that remains the same. And that foundation is that the technology we build is meant to drive human progress.
