Market Research and Marketing Myopia

Marketing is the process by which organisations develop a distinctive selling proposition (USP) to their customers that convinces them to make a purchase. In business the term marketing is used to refer to the science of creating new potential customers. The objective of marketing is to create in prospective customers a need to purchase a product or service. Marketing therefore involves the design, development and testing of a marketing strategy aimed at creating a need for a product or service. The development of marketing is an ongoing process, but marketing concepts are generally consistent and repeatable.

Marketing refers to the act or process by which an organisation undertakes to engage with its target audience, create a strong bond with them to obtain value for money, and create awareness among them so that they are prepared to purchase goods or services. Therefore, marketing is not a one-time activity but involves regular activities over a period of time. Marketing helps to advertise the products or services of a company by communicating with the prospective customers. It can be classified according to different approaches such as mass marketing, direct marketing, and online marketing. Mass marketing, also called ‘push marketing’, refers to an advertising practice in which the advertising message is delivered to potential consumers when they use certain prescribed channels of telecommunication such as newspapers, push pins, automatic teller machine, and television.

Direct marketing refers to selling directly to consumers, for example by setting up an appointment with them to discuss and buy a particular product. This is the most common practice of marketers who rely on consumers to spread the word about their products. Marketers use techniques such as advertising on television, magazines, newspapers, billboards and other print media. Direct marketing strategies have helped marketers to reach a greater number of consumers at lower cost. However, many marketing strategies have been tried and tested and have been found to be quite successful in gaining consumers’ attention.

Marketers who are operating in a global context should be conscious of the fact that they have to adapt to the changing norms of the marketplace. Moreover, to make the business thrive, marketers should be aware of various marketing concepts applicable in the domestic market as well. Social marketing management refers to any kind of marketing process which is undertaken for building the reputation and for creating consumer awareness. Examples of social marketing concepts include the following: community marketing, branding, brand positioning and community selling. There are several organizations that help communities and businesses in promoting and marketing their products or services using social marketing management concepts.

The marketing management concept of selling according to consumer orientation is also referred to as the BSC model. It is a proven approach that has helped to maximize sales potential of a product or service. It was first introduced in Australia in the year 1982. The strategy enables a company to ascertain the target group or customer base before determining the marketing mix. This way, the marketing mix would be aligned with the target group. It is a comprehensive and flexible marketing management concept that helps to determine the most profitable approach to selling.

Apart from the above-mentioned marketing concept, there are several other marketing concepts that help marketers in their quest for growing the business. Marketing myopia is one such concept. This refers to a buyer’s blindness towards all the marketing aspects because of the presence of many marketing elements around them. In the simplest form, it could be said that marketing myopia results in missing out on potential customers because marketers are concentrating too much on the sales aspect. As such, it becomes necessary for marketers to evaluate marketing factors from a buyer’s perspective, which includes the availability of the product or service, its price, its promotions and marketing strategy.