To begin with, we want to thank Raja Rajamannar for his powerful input and vision, which lead us to create new technologies to help better our partners.

Quantum marketing — also known as Quantum Experiential Marketing (QEM) — is all about tackling the unpredictability of modern consumer behaviour and buying against a trend of information overload, more discriminating tastes and shorter attention spans.

Businesses must now compete for the consumers’ attention against anywhere between three and five thousand other commercial messages every day on the online platforms where the potential customers are seeking information! Raja Rajamannar nicely pointed out this with his words:

Nowadays, potential consumers check their phones an average of 80 times per day while on holiday. Some check their phone up to 300 times each day and spend approximately 6 hours on different devices, which induce consumers’ attention span significantly and makes it exceedingly difficult to reach the consumer to market your business.

That tremendous amount of overloading information leads the marketing to the new era of Quantum Marketing.

Quantum Marketing is twisting all known marketing shiftings and reshaping them by adopting unused technologies and describes it as a ‘grand unified theory of marketing, a whole new way of seeing the world.

Let’s take a closer look at what quantum marketing means, what it involves, and how it is likely to be applied in your organization.

What we know about marketing until now is called planetary model.

The term ‘quantum marketing’ draws from our changing scientific understanding of how the universe works. Until the 1920s, scientists were delighted to explain things using the planetary model of the atom. It was a simple explanation that made perfect sense at the time. The atom is made up of a nucleus and a bunch of electrons that orbit around the atom. This model is called the planetary model because it is similar to how planets orbit around stars.

However, that theory came crashing down when a new group of scientists figured out that the electrons were not forming neat circles around the atomic nucleus. Instead, the electron seemed to be jumping around randomly in a chaotic electron cloud. It was impossible to predict its future location with precision. Often an electron behaved as though it were in two different places simultaneously.

Researchers described this phenomenon as a ‘quantum state.’

At this point, the quantum model of the atom was born. Just like scientists have been forced to question and glorify their Planetary Models of the physics to Quantum Modele over time, marketers have moved through several paradigms in their understanding of how best to communicate with the potential customer.

Peter Weinberg called this model the Planetary Model of Marketing, which is based on precision, just like the scientists who failed in their theory until the 1920s.

Raja Rajamannar called the new marketing model Quantum Marketing.

Quantum marketing is the latest of these paradigms. We will now consider how marketing practices have evolved and why we arrived at the current state of play.

The marketing journey towards quantum marketing

The marketing industry has already moved through four paradigms.

The first paradigm’s

central focus was the product. Everything was just about the product itself.

The second paradigm

tapped into the emotional domains of consumers. In this realm, people were making a decision based on emotions. That’s why marketers started using celebrities that people emotionally connect to market their business. If a celebrity visits a restaurant, that restaurant would have a queue of people, so in the second paradigm, people were making a decision entirely emotionally rather than rationally.

The third paradigm

was the new field of the internet and the arrival of data-driven marketing, which enabled us to calculate customer acquisition costs for the first time. Every consumer was identified and treated with unique and highly personalized marketing messages, such as direct email marketing. Marketing ROI was now defined with precision, and it was like a paradise for tech-savvy marketers.

The fourth paradigm

entered the field with the power of mobile devices, which have now practically become an extension of the human body. Social media and real-time location technologies signalled a new age of connected consumers. Marketers hopped on board with digital channels and social networks.

The fifth paradigm

is the new era of Quantum Experiential Marketing (QEM), promising a smooth, seamless and non-intrusive means of relating to consumers in a more chaotic environment. It covers everything from upcoming unused technologies to old-fashioned word-of-mouth marketing to improved storytelling to a re-engagement with the hierarchy pyramid of loyalty and embracing the unpredictable marketing approach.

Embracing an unpredictable marketing approach

Many of today’s marketers are still fully invested in the ‘planetary model’ of the buying process. With this approach, the entire process is predictable. A single buyer, a single decision-maker, moves through an orderly buying journey — often described as a classic sale funnel — and sticks to a sequential path. As a result, there is very little room for indecisiveness here.

When we look at our data and monitor how customer behaviours on the search, we see that people’s actions are incredibly chaotic, they request directions to a business on the map, and they change their decision in a minute to visit another place. They love a brand and dislike it at the same time; they forget their favorite place in a second, so it’s impossible to predict what and when they will choose your business to visit or purchase a product. It just looks less like the planetary model and more like the quantum model that replaced it in the 1920s.

What would be the best practice for adopting the unpredictable marketing approach?

Market your business to everyone

If you adopt the quantum mindset in your organization, then you cannot predict who your buyer is. So, if you don’t know who is your potential customer, then you need to re-design your business, your product, services or your menu for everyone who can potentially buy from you. That means you need to broaden your targeting.

Advertising is dying; focus on organic traffic

There is not much to say about this domain. Almost 2 Billion people have downloaded the ad blockers, and none of the ad marketers can reach those people. The rise of ad-blocking software makes it difficult for companies to reach their target audiences through traditional advertising methods. Additionally, consumers are becoming more resistant to marketing messages and are increasingly distrustful of advertising. Focus on organic traffic!

Market your business to machine

It is critical to market to the machine first to get the best brand ranking in an online search. Business owners need to learn how to influence the machine by positioning the brand in a way that makes sense to the algorithm. Google now processes over 3.5 billion searches per day, and 76% of people who search on their smartphones for something nearby visit a business within a day.

Machines are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and businesses need to adapt their marketing strategies to target them. Companies need to understand how to properly market to machines as they are beginning to play a larger role in the purchasing process. For example, when consumers ask their digital assistants, such as Siri or Alexa, for recommendations on restaurants or businesses, the digital assistant will provide results based on certain programmed criteria. If businesses do not understand how to show up correctly, they may not even be listed as an option for the consumer. When you ask for product information from Siri, or Alexa, you usually receive an explicit or implicit recommendation in return. And according to studies, 70 percent or more of people don’t search any further after receiving the results. They simply say, “Buy it.” This new reality means that marketers need to rethink their machine-marketing strategies, algorithms, and content in order to stay ahead of the curve.That’s why at obenan, we create an entire ecosystem to market your business to the machines.

Quantum marketers need to be multi-dimensional.

Your business needs to be on every possible platform where people are browsing. In the Quantum approach, you don’t know precisely where your consumers are; that’s why you need to broaden your presence so you don’t miss a potential user who may come across your business. With obenan local listings technology, we have integrated and distributed each business presence over 136 different online directories and platforms.

Build a brand

Here are four essential steps for building a brand:

1- Brand identity

Building a strong brand is critical for a company’s long-term success. Therefore, business owners need to focus on creating a brand that will be powerful and differentiated. How do you identify your business, and why should people remember your brand?

2- Reputation management

Reputation management is a crucial part of marketing. In today’s world, a single social media post has the potential to make or break a brand. Therefore, marketers must be prepared to defend their brand’s reputation and protect consumer trust. That’s why we created reputation management software that enables you to monitor conversations surrounding your business.

3. Grow your brand

All the marketing activities should be done in order to drive profitable business growth. Business owners must create a long-term sustainable strategy to drive growth and be prepared to fuel the business along the way.

4. Creating a competitive advantage

This is a key part of marketing. Business owners should focus on building a new domain leveraging marketing assets and properties to differentiate the brand and maintain a competitive advantage.

Quantum experiential marketing: stronger focus on customer experience

Focus on the customer experience! There is nothing more powerful than word-of marketing, and one of the unique components of traditional marketing will lead the business to absolute success. Research has also shown that 74 percent of people make their brand choices and preferences based on the recommendation of people in their network who have experience with a brand. Focus on the customer experience!

Re-structure brand loyalty

Why your consumer should be loyal to your brand? The product you sell can not create loyalty alone; as soon as your consumer discover a better product, they will not be faithful to your brand. Raja Rajamannar has beautifully structured the brand loyalty hierarchy into four modules: purpose-driven, passion-driven, relationship-driven, and commerce-driven.

1- Purpose-driven loyalty

This is the highest-burden loyalty, where consumers support a cause such as a climate change, protecting animals, saving nature, and plastic-free or less consumption. What is your brand purpose besides generating revenue and profit? Why a consumer or employee should be loyal to your business?

2- Passion-driven loyalty

Passion-driven loyalty is seen in sports fandom, where people become dedicated fans of a team and show their support by wearing team colors and logos even though the sports team members don’t know the existence of this fan, which doesn’t bother the fan in the least. So what would you do to create a cause for your consumer to become passionate about your brand?

3- Relationship-driven loyalty

Relationship-driven loyalty is mutual, where both parties commit to each other and have reciprocal expectations. So how can you build a relationship with your lifelong consumer to drive loyalty?

4- Commerce-driven loyalty

Commerce-driven loyalty is the most transactional, where consumers exchange something for an incentive or reward. How strong would your product be to create commerce-driven loyalty?

Adopt the intelligent technologies

The rise of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence and other related technologies, such as augmented reality, virtual and mixed reality, and 5G connectivity, will expand marketing into depths and dimensions that will be beyond the imagination. For example, businesses can use AI to automate marketing tasks, such as social media postings and email campaigns. They can also use AI-powered chatbots to engage with customers and answer questions. Additionally, businesses can use AI to analyze customer data and develop targeted marketing strategies. That’s why at obenan, we heavily deployed artificial intelligence to help our partner adapt their business to the new era of the quantum age. AI will probably not replace marketers, but the marketers who use AI will definitely replace those who don’t

The rise of blockchain

The rise of blockchain is a threat to the existing business model of platforms, publishers and agencies. Blockchain will provide transparency. Users will be able to trace the origin of each ingredient and product journey in their food from the factory to the restaurant or shop and beyond. In a world where it’s hard to know who or what to trust, a seal of authenticity could be a huge brand differentiator. But with the rise of blockchain technology, business owners will be able to provide consumers with greater product transparency. In the future, consumers will be increasingly conscious of the origins of their food and other products and will demand proof of authenticity from brands. Blockchain technology will allow marketers to meet this demand by tracking the journey of products from manufacture to the retail shelf to the table. This will create a new level of trust between brands and consumers and open up new opportunities for marketing in the Fifth Paradigm of Quantum Marketing. Business owners need to brace themselves for a world of quantum marketing. A world where every visible surface can be harnessed for use as a modern marketing platform. The new world will place a premium on originality, not just efficiency. As a result, businesses must create an unusual proposition that stands out. That’s why we have created set-of technologies to prepare your business for the new era of the quantum age.