Marketing the electrical products has never been an easy job

Tips for marketing the electrical building products for end-users

• Two different channels with two different approaches:

Electrical building products (residential electrical circuit breakers, switches and sockets, cables, wires and lamps, etc.…) usually sold in two main different channels: 

• Project channel: in this case, marketing process goes in the following steps:
•  The consultant engineers announce a specification table.
• Marketers from electrical manufacturing companies can employ specific marketing methods to get the approval, like: 
•  Face-to-face meetings and presentations.
• Qualification and submittal files.

In order to market their products and make sure that their products comply with the requirements  and then once they got the compliance certificate, marketers hand over the flag to the sales team in order to finalize the price and delivery terms.
Although the process may change from country to country but in general it can be described as a clear, straight-forward process.

• The other channel is the non-project or trade channel which usually includes:
• DIY outlets. 
• Electrical outlets.
• Maintenance shops. 

Marketing job in this channel is a complex task since it is a mix of B2B and B2C and the customers are a mix of:

• Contractors who are constructing small projects or homes.
• Maintenance workers (electricians).
• Normal home owners: who are building or refurbishing their own homes…

The contribution of the above customers type in this channel differs according to the country and is strongly affected by population buying behavior.

The marketer in his marketing plan can’t ignore or dismiss any of those audience unless he has a very clear idea about the main customer category and purchase decision behavior.

• How electrical products manufacturers target these segments?

In order to address all customers’ categories, some companies like “Heinrich Kopp- Germany” has developed different offers targeting different segments where the physical product may remain the same “almost” but the packaging and marketing communication is totally different.

Other companies like Legrand and Schneider, they introduce the same range of products to all channels and trying to tackle the different segments by various marketing messages and campaigns and connect these messages to the seasons like holiday seasons or Christmas where people tend to repair or refurbish their homes.

In this article we will brief the main challenges a marketer may face in this specific channel and how he can overcome them and build an effective marketing plan:

1. Right people, right time, right place:

People wouldn’t be interested in this type of products unless they need them, so the marketing tools which are usually used to create needs usually aren’t effective, same scenario is applied on public marketing like TV ads and billboards.
On the contrary, using In-site marketing like:

• POS material.
• Category management.
• On-self advertising.
• Direct emails 

in order to reach to the right target segment exactly at the time when they are looking for these products “ in a real need for them” by this way, the marketing campaign will definitely generate way better ROI.

   

2. Education rather than promotion:

This strategy is usually followed when the company is launching a new product and since the target audience are people who are technically not well educated most likely, you will need to develop a launching campaign with education content.

In addition to the promotional message, the educational part can be covered by developing tutorial videos or POS manuals.

Some companies arrange “factory visits” for the key customers and interested customers in order to ensure full engagement.

“alfanar” is a leading electrical manufacturing in Saudi Arabia and recently acquired both “Contactum” and “Heinrich Kopp” in Europe, arrange frequent factory visits for its customers to showcase its new products and quality control process and increase word-of-mouth in the segment. 

3. Simplify, make it Fun rather than Technical

Communicating the features of electrical products to people who are usually not well educated technically is not an easy job, you need to simplify the message, shortcut it and deliver the meaning.

Companies usually tend to focus on outer shape rather than features by integrating fashion and modern furniture pictures with switches and sockets pictures to show how a switch or a socket can add an elegant touch to your modern furniture…

This method can’t be done with power distribution boards and wires since they are hidden and can’t be promoted by shape or color, here the use of animations, cartoons and emoji can be a good solution to promote safety, quality or ease installation feature of a product or any other technical message in a simple, attractive and funny way.    

4. Strong and reliable warranty will definitely make a change:

Providing a good warranty (long and real) is a major factor to convince or justify a higher price.

“alfanar” is one of its kind on this field where it offers one of the most unique warranty policies ever, they call it: “ Non-question asked warranty” which simply says that whatever problem a customer may have with the product, he can replace it for free regardless the defeat cause.

More than that, alfanar has a customer service team consists of 40 qualified technicians covering Saudi Arabia to solve any technical problem in the customer site free of charge.

One can expect that the policy is risky but the fact is that it generates profit more than it costs.  

More important is to communicate the warranty correctly and make sure the customer understands it by adding a warranty information label on the packaging, brochure, website and POS.

5. Enrich the digital content:

In the digital world where we live today, people are reading in home online before going to buy especially in the electrical products where they need to get technical information before purchasing, so the company website should answer all the questions of the customers.

That can be done by enriching the website with all technical details, HD pictures and arrange simple classification.

The most important part is the naming, the local and common naming which are familiar to the customers must be used rather than technical names.

 Philips and Osram are good examples for such companies where the user or the electrician can find any information he wants on the company website with all required information and pictures

 

It is important to say that once you cover the above points in your marketing plan, you will find many voices which don’t agree with this way of marketing, these voices would prefer more technical oriented marketing which will definitely fail for one simple reason that you will speak a language which customers don't understand.

Finally, by following the above tips, surely your marketing plan will be more effective and generate better results.

Mohanad Sawas

CPM, CPMM Certified