Common Marketing Myopia – Why Marketers Ignore Unseen Customers

Marketing is the interaction of a business with its customers or target market in order to create awareness, provide information, and to promote the product or service. In marketing, there is an emphasis on creating the need or desire for a product or service. Marketing also refers to the cumulative process an organization undertakes in order to engage its targeted audience, develop relationships, earn value from these relationships, and acquire more purchasing power so that they can influence the purchasing decisions of their fellow consumers. Marketing is not only a vehicle for generating sales but also an important contributor to the growth and development of an organization’s performance. Marketing is also a major contributor to organizational and overall cost effectiveness.

The End Result Of Marketing

Although marketing uses different marketing concepts, the end result remains the same—to sell a product or service. It is also equally important to develop and implement marketing strategies to ensure that these objectives are achieved. The marketing concepts that are developed by companies help to shape the type of consumer that will be exposed to their products and/or services. For example, a motorbike brand may want to add their logo to one of the many bike races Las Vegas holds, because that would expose the brand to many prospective consumers. Marketing concepts therefore form the base on which marketing strategies are based.

In order for a marketing strategy to be effective, it should be based on solid market research. Market research helps to understand the customer’s needs, preferences, purchasing power, and other important factors that shape the buying behavior of the target consumer. The importance of market research cannot be understated. Without this step, a marketing activity can be ineffective. The major components of marketing research include product development, market research, and marketing activities.

Understanding Target Consumers

A marketer must understand his or her product and its target customer. This understanding provides the marketer with the information needed to develop a marketing plan that will reach the customer. The major components of marketing research are: analyzing the market, developing a strategy, collecting data on the market, and tracking results. All of these elements are interdependent and each of them requires significant research to be successful.

Competitive Analysis And Other Factors To Consider

Successful marketing strategies need to be based on a comprehensive analysis of their competition and the target consumers they intend to influence. Marketers should also make strategic decisions regarding the marketing approach they intend to adopt. There are a number of marketing approaches that marketers may choose from, including personal selling, demand-pull marketing, and co-registration marketing. Personal selling is the most commonly used strategy in the United Kingdom and United States. This is because personal selling requires the least amount of research and is easy to implement.

Demand-Pull Marketing

Demand-pull marketing concept is relatively new and has been developed by online entrepreneurs who aim to build an influence with their target consumers. In this concept, marketers follow the strategies of distributing “free” gifts to as many consumers as possible, without bothering the customers. This concept works on the basis that the consumers are more likely to buy products that are offered for free. Co-registration marketing is a strategy that uses one’s personal profile in social media sites and other online forums, such as MySpace and Facebook.

In the demand-pull selling concept, marketers concentrate on creating a relationship with consumers, by offering them free unsolicited products or services. Marketers often use this strategy to sell their own products, but more often than not, marketable products are sold in this manner. The most important benefit of this concept is that it does not require consumers to provide the product for sampling or testing. However, some marketers focus on using this selling concept in conjunction with direct selling or cold calling techniques. This can help marketers gather the required information for successfully selling their products to their customers.

Marketing Myopia

Online marketing myopia is the general blindness towards potential customers that occurs when marketing online. A number of Internet marketers fail to recognize the importance of considering a wider customer base. The Internet allows marketers to create a larger customer base, by targeting potential customers through various Internet marketing tools. The Internet also provides consumers with greater options in terms of choosing a marketing concept, which can make the concept more effective.