Marketing, Before & Now
Businesses that want to sell something in the market need 2
things. The first is the product to be sold which has to be made
then distributed to places like the grocery, the mall or the
supermarket. The second is marketing which is the vehicle to
carry that message across to the consumer so that people are
aware of its existence then it is purchased.
Marketing has traditionally been done by putting an ad either in
the newspaper, the radio and the television. Lately, efforts
done by marketing to get the message across to the public is not
enough to drive sales.
There are 2 factors that contribute to this;
? A lot of companies have also made similar products making the
playing field more challenging that it was before.
? Also, customers are smarter than ever who not only buy but
first check how this brand fairs over another before deciding
which one to choose.
Changes in technology have also transformed the way companies
want to increase brand awareness. To face the challenges of the
21st century, the best solution will be to evaluate what has
worked not only in one industry but to also know what has worked
in others. This will change the mindset of just using
traditional marketing that most companies use giving one company
an advantage over another.
Buzz marketing otherwise known as word of mouth marketing is a
strong force that has not yet been tapped fully and worth
exploring.
A good example is how some book companies have used talk show
hosts and other personalities in endorsing the product. TV
personalities have become key influencers that tell the people
what to buy or not. When a viewer listens and believes what is
said, there is a high chance that in less than a day or even a
week, that person is now a customer of that brand.
Other industries that have seen the potential of buzz marketing
have followed suit and used it to further expand the market
share of the brand. People who have never heard about a certain
product especially in the health sector either to lose weight or
help one from being sexually impotent have done research and
decided to request more information before finally being
convinced and sold to the product.
Another way of thinking out of the box is through the use of
viral marketing. Given that information in the internet
transfers in kilobytes per second in cyberspace, information
that needs to get to people is faster than ever reaching beyond
state lines to places around the world.
Good examples of this are the various email sites. Aside from
giving people a faster way to communicate with one another, it
offers a free service to people who do not have an account and
sign up to also be an active member.
A more recent phenomenon is pod casting. This refers to how
people have been able to download music; software and give
people time to watch a show that has been missed at the person