Trends In Marketing

Change is the dominant?fact of life in every business today. And the ability to master and exploit change has become one of the most sought-after skills. This is particularly true in marketing, where the very tempo of change is constantly quickening.

Not all changes in marketing, of course, are equally significant. Some are confined to particular industries. Others are broader and more functional in nature. And among these broader trends, there are six whose effects, I believe, will be felt by all Brand Managers.

The supremacy of the consumer :

It is nearly a true that the needs and wants of the consumer are the critical issues today in creating new products and services, and developing the accompanying plans to sell them at a profit. The need to understand and anticipate future customers is bound to become even more essential than in the past, because the end users of almost every company’s products are shifting in makeup, location, and number at an ever-increasing rate.

Consider a few of the changes in the nature of consumers and markets:

• A whole series of demographic changes hold significance for the producer of consumer goods—in particular, the explosive growth of the teenage and young-adult market, the migration of?blue-collar workers to the suburbs, the increase in per capita income, and the ever-growing mobility of our population. To the consumer-goods manufacturer, the wholesaler, and the retailer, this means there is no such thing as stability of customers.
• People’s tastes are becoming more varied, flexible, and demanding. As just one example, consider the demand for Paints products. The traditional Paint manufacturer now produces and sells a multitude of products that were virtually unknown 20 years ago—and all because product research teamed up with marketing to develop products that people wanted and were willing to buy.

Another important result of this growing consumer dominance is that today nearly all sales potentials are segmented. Today such a consumer, or such a company, hardly exists. In short, the company that is not alert to the customers’ needs and the changing complexities of marketplaces is inviting disaster

The spread and rise of marketing research & Analysis

The second trend is the increased use of marketing research—in terms of both quantity and scope. To an important degree, of course, this trend is a response to the first. If knowledge about future customers is essential, and if the quality of the marketing output is materially affected by the caliber of the informational input, then marketing research is bound to increase in use and contribution as the interest in more scientific marketing grows.

The rise of the computer, Mobile (Smart Phone) and other digital media

The third major trend marketing must consider is the emergence of electronic data-processing equipment as a major tool of scientific marketing not only for reporting data but also, more importantly, for planning and control by every marketing managers.

Generally speaking, I think it must be conceded that companies have dragged their feet in taking advantage of electronic data-processing analyses, online/Digital communications/Messaging, and information-retrieval systems as tools to help make marketing more efficient.

Inflated use of test marketing

A fourth important trend, in my opinion, will be toward more controlled experimentation to narrow the odds of an error in making marketing changes.

Two major influences emphasize the need for further expansion of test marketing. The first is the rising cost of marketing changes: the costs, for example, of introducing new products and packaging, of developing new advertising and promotional programs, and of retraining salespeople.

The second influence is the mounting investment in product research and development.

What kind of projects should be considered for test marketing? Here are a few examples:

• Evaluating new products and new product features or services in relation to market potentials.?
• Assessing the advantages and disadvantages of new packaging.
• Evaluating the effects of a new sales-incentive plan.?
• Evaluating the effectiveness of alternative advertising media and approaches.

An ever-broadening application of the marketing concept to worldwide markets is the last of the four broad trends that I believe will change the face of marketing in the next few years. To keep pace with these changes, and to play the strong role in the future that I believe to be the key challenge to marketing executives, the face of the marketing function will have to change accordingly.