Err.. My brand is not my type..

Yes. This is for those brand managers who for many reasons might not be the consumers of the brands that you handle. It could be biological reasons, a male brand manager handling sanitary napkin brand or a female brand manager handling condoms. The reason could be purely by choice, a brand manager who handles alcohol who is a teetotaler!

There is one more type.. Brand managers who are consumers of the category but buy into a different segment say for eg. A premium product user of the category but handles a mass brand in the same category.

As I see it, these situations are a blessing in disguise. Many a times, otherwise, as a consumer your unconscious biases might play up in your choice making as a marketer, you might not be even aware of it, but it could happen. Hence in these scenarios with no intuition, you have to work your way up to build your intuition. Wanted to share a couple of things, which helped me when I had to face similar situations.

Consumer consumer consumer

Like the rules in Fight Club, the rule is only one,and that's consumer.

Yes,there is absolutely no shortcut for this,but really got to understand the consumer as much as possible. Really dig deep, see from all possible angles, study him/her like a specimen. Grab all possible avenues to know him/her and their life. The more you dig deep the better it is, go beyond your category, be a curious cat! Look at him as a human, what drives him/her what motivates him/her. Then look at him/her as a consumer, why does he/she consume a particular category, which brand, why, how does he/she consume. Look at him/her as a shopper, how does he/she make his/her choice at time of purchase. Look closer with all possible questions. And adopt all possible ways possible ways to get that knowledge, observe consumers, be a fly in the wall. Do secondary research, do in depth interviews, do consumer immersion, read reports. Basically just consume as much as you can and continue doing that. There is no fixed regime I can recommend apart from saying there is no concept of "too much" in this!

As you start doing this you will realize that at some point you start building some level of confidence on your consumer, you start feeling that you understand this consumer. That's great. Keep at it! Don't stop. But be assured you are on the right track.

The Possible Trap of 'aham brahmasi'

Excuse the philosophy, but that's a possible trap we all walk into, thinking you know it all. Resist the temptation of thinking you know your consumer. Don't start off creating something for you or your team, always keep in mind, its for that one man/woman who is buying your brand/category. Hence don't pretend to know, if you don't know that consumer. Once you feel a bit comfortable, knowing the consumer always evaluate strategy/campaigns from his/her shoes, not your shoes. In this case you need to be humble and put your consumer ahead of you. It all starts with you being aware that you are not supreme and you don't know it all, your choice is not your consumer's choice. Once you accept you will be much more open to learn and to practice stepping into the consumers' shoes.

When in doubt "call a friend"

And yes here your friend is your consumer. No prizes for guessing that right! When you are not sure just do a quick check, ask him/her what does he/she thinks, what does he/she understand. It doesn't have to be formal and with a quantitatively valid sample size(Don't act surprised we do that all the time), just an informal quick check. He/she might not give you a definitive answer but trust me it really helps. Also be ready to be uncomfortable, he/ she might be brutal in his or her honesty. The more honest they are, the more it helps. All this again adds back to your learning of your consumer.

Now the last situation when you are a user of the category but not the brand,now this is a tricky one because you have some pre-conceived preferences in the category. Many of us face this challenge as marketers I would say, you got to be extra careful. Tread the path with caution, be conscious of your biases. That's the most important for us and the rest of the rules apply as is.

That's all the gyan I got for now on this. To conclude, it's perfectly okay if your brand is not your type :)