Marketing Concepts and Techniques Challenged

The major marketing concept of customer orientation still seems to be a valid reference point. In the contemporary over-informed, over-stressed and hedonistic consumer society the customer is the one who decides to purchase a product, to be loyal to a brand or to switch to a competitor. We may agree, therefore, that "the need for such a [customer] focus has not changed" (Holland and Baker, 2001:44). The exchange value concept, however, might have been rendered obsolete by the "postmodern manoeuvre in marketing and consumer research" (Brown, in Baker, 2003:25). Let us assume that value may be created "during consumption, in sign-value" and not in "exchange-value, as modern economists claimed" (Baudrillard, in Firat and Venkatesh, 1993:235). In such a way the emphasis is on the customer's personal experience and on the view, that "the value of consumption comes from the consumer experience" (Addis and Podesta, 2005:404).
According to the traditional theory, consumers are identified, targeted and acquired through a set of strategic tools such as segmentation, targeting and positioning. Different techniques and approaches based on statistical, "psychological, sociological, and economic principles and models" (Addis and Podesta, 2005:389) have been employed in service of these concepts. While these techniques are still in use, a number of processes and mainly the fragmentation of markets will gradually render the traditional bases of segmentation (demographics and psychographics) questionable and "even the more recent typologies" like VALS will be "less and less useful" (Firat and Shultz II, 1997:196).
Additional challenges faced by marketing research specialists poses the fact that "within the field of qualitative research it is widely recognised that there is no single uniform manner for representing consumer experiences" in postmodern, consumer society (Goulding, 2003:152). The typical roles of researcher and respondent have also changed and the research process is characterised by increased collaboration. Furthermore, the Internet demands that researchers adjust to the new forms of communication by adopting new methods such as "lurking", "online community", "netnography" and others (Cova and Pace, 2006:1092).
As a result, in today's fragmented markets reality where "segments are breaking up into individual customers" (Firat and Shultz II, 1997:196), "the modern tools of sociological analysis" become outdated (Cova 1996:19). While quantitative research is still widely in use, an array of qualitative techniques are been preferred to "fill the gap" in the knowledge about the postmodern consumer. Among the most frequently mentioned are ethnography, fiction, discourse analysis, personal introspection, and in-depth interviewing (Addis and Podesta, 2005:406).
Since purchases, branding and communications are all moving online, scholars have begun defining the Internet Marketing Segmentation (IMS). One such definition follows:
"IMS is the use of current information technology to classify potential or actual online customers into groups in which the consumers have similar requirements and characteristics" (Lin et al., 2004:602).
Definitions of that sort, alluring as they may look, are simply old concepts in new clothes and some make-up. More important is that new approaches like online ethnography, or netnography are being increasingly used as appropriate research methods (Cova and Pace, 2006; Maclaran and Catterall, 2002). Companies would need to resort to guerrilla tactics and employ people proficient in areas such as online community engineering. Phenomena like brand hijack (Cova and Pace, 2006:1094) and decisions on how much power should be given to consumers will eventually speed up the trends that shape contemporary research.
The marketing communication concepts of mass marketing and mass advertising have also been a subject to considerable revision. The so-called mass customisation has been boosted by the use of email marketing, database marketing, RSS and others. The processes of fragmentation and post-consolidation have given birth to new concepts like tribal marketing (Cova, 1996:21). Mass advertising and the one-to-many, one-way linear communications have given way to one-to-one, many-to-many, two-way, non-linear communication flow (Holt, 2002; Maclaran and Catterall, 2002). The Internet has brought also the idea of suck as opposed to the traditional push and pull (Travis, 2001:16). The levels of interactivity have changed "the nature of advertising from persuasion to relationships" (Philport and Arbittier, 1997:75) and the efficacy of advertising itself has been questioned. The title of the article "Stop Advertising - Start Staging Marketing Experiences" by Pine II and Gilmore (Strategic Horizons LLP, accessed 10th January 2009) is self-explanatory.
Schmitt (1999:53) argues that three trends in the broad commercial environment have caused a paradigm shift from traditional "features-and-benefits" marketing toward "experiential marketing":
- The omnipresence of information technology;
- The supremacy of the brand;
- The ubiquity of communications and entertainment.
While agreeing with Schmitt's ideas I would also add to the frame the influence of postmodern consumer behaviour. Therefore, reference points for future research are:
- Postmodern condition;
- Experiential marketing;
- Internet as a new branding tool;
- Customer-based brand equity.
Addis, M. and Podesta, S. (2005). Long Life to Marketing Research: A Postmodern View, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 39. No. 3/4, pp. 386-412.
Brown, S. (2003). Postmodern Marketing: Everything Must Go!, in Baker, M. (ed.), Marketing Book, Oxford: Buterworth-Heinemann, 2005, pp. 16-31.
Cova, B. (1996). The Postmodern Explained to Managers: Implications for Marketing, Business Horizons, Vol. 39. No. 6, pp. 15-23.
Cova, B. and Pace, S. (2006). Brand Community of Convenience Products: New Forms of Customer Empowerment - The Case "my Nutella The Community", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 40, No. 9/10, pp. 1087-1105.
Firat, F. and Shultz II, C.J. (1997). From Segmentation to Fragmentation: Markets And Marketing Strategy In The Postmodern Era, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 31. No. 3/4, pp. 183-207.
Firat, A.F. and Venkatesh, A. (1993). Postmodernity: The Age of Marketing, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 227-249.
Holland, J. and Baker, S.M. (2001). Customer Participation In Creating Site Brand Loyalty, Journal Of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 15, No. 4, pp. 34-45.
Holt, D.B. (2002). Why Do Brands Cause Trouble? A Dialectical Theory of Consumer Culture and Branding, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 29. No. 1, pp. 70-90.
Goulding, C. (2003). Issues in Representing the Postmodern Consumer, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 152-159.
Lin, T.M.Y., Luarn, P. and Lo, P.K.Y. (2004). Internet Market Segmentation - An Exploratory Study of Critical Success Factors, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 22, No. 6, pp. 601-622.
Maclaran, P. and Catterall, M. (2002). Researching The Social Web: Marketing Information From Virtual Communities, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 20, No. 6, pp. 319-326.
Philport, J.C. and Arbitter, J. (1997). Advertising: Brand Communication Styles in Established Media and the Internet, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 37 No.2, pp. 68-77.
Strategic Horizons LLP, 'Stop Advertising - Start Staging Marketing Experiences' by Pine II, B.J. and Gilmore, J. H. Online. Available at: http://directory.leadmaverick.com/Strategic-Horizons-LLP/Akron/OH/10/943/index.aspx (accessed 10th January 2009).
Travis, D. (2001). Branding in the Digital Age, Journal of Business Strategy, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 14-18.
Schmitt, B. (1999). Experiential Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 15, No. 1-3, pp. 53-67.
Boyan Yordanof is in the tourism business since 1996. His main interests are in Internet Marketing and more specifically Branding in the Hospitality Industry. Boyan is an Internet Marketing Executive at RIU Seabank Hotel Malta

Tips For A Successful Internet Business

In the past this took the form of two kinds of traveling salesman (the itinerant traveling salesman, working out of his wagon or truck, who brought otherwise unavailable products to places who simply could not economically travel the distance required to find those products….and the “drummer”, or “route salesman” who went to the various “fixed location” businesses and sold them their “restocking supplies”) and the “fixed location” businesses (stores) who carried a selection of “most needed” products in their store for customers to come in, select from and purchase.
Pretty much this mode of operation stayed true from the mid 1800’s to the late 1900’s. But by 1990 there was a new inroad into this model of business – and business philosophy. Or was there? And just what was that inroad?
The Inroad was “The Internet”, in existence since the 1960’s, started “going commercial” by about 1990. It is now 2005 and this commercialization is an ongoing and evolving process. Business has changed and is changing. Many fixed location store fronts also have web locations and offer home delivery for online ordering, even for local customers. But how about “Business Philosophy”? It is changing, also? Or is it?
Right now internet businesses are proliferating at an alarming rate. I cannot count and possibly no one can count the total number of internet businesses in the world today. There are probably between 100 and 1000 “new” internet businesses starting every day somewhere in the world, and this figure could be much higher. There even is a “new category” of business which has evolved, sort of to keep track of those businesses.
No, it is not the electronic store front which offers products or services to customers anywhere in the world (though this is a major evolution from a standard “fixed location” real store front on your local street), nor is it the “hosting service” which electronically locates and “displays” your electronic storefront for customers to find. They are not unlike the building owner who sublets space for offices and stores. The new type of business is the “search engine” which “locates, catalogues and categorizes” all of these various business enterprises and allows you to find what you are looking for.
It is said that there are hundreds of different search engines out there, proliferating and multiplying like lemmings….and, like lemmings, falling by the wayside for various inadequacies. Except for the best and biggest. The number one “search engine” is probably Google. However, MSN is gaining and Alexa, All-the-Web, Alta Vista, AOL, Ask Jeeves, Lycos, Matilda, Scrub the Web and a few others may be considered the “major” search engines, those which comprise, say, 95% or more of total search engine use worldwide.
There is possible a second type of “new business” brought to us by the Internet. This is the browser. In fact, the browser and the search engine work hand in hand and are completely different entities. Basically, they generally are set to work hand in hand and mutually complement one another. In fact, in my mind, the search engine is slightly more valuable but less independent.
The Number One Browser is likely to be Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. But there are several more “major” browsers, which include AOL/Netscape, Firefox and Opera, as well as many more. These four probably comprise more than 95% of the worldwide “browser use” on the internet.
You could compare them (very loosely) thusly: look at the search engine as an exquisitely detailed map, showing not only everything that is there by business and location, but everything that is inside those locations – the books and other resources within a library, the entire stock of the local store, all the services of a print shop, etc. And look at the browser as the vehicle that gets you from where you are to the resources, products and services you are looking for. It’s nice to have such a detailed map but the map is useless without the ability to go there and see and use what is there.
The search engine, slightly more valuable in a sense, is not a “stand-alone” item. It requires a browser to be truly functional. The browser, however, is a stand-alone item which benefits mightily by the information the search engine provides. Compare the search-engineless browser to a long trip in a vehicle with an occasional rare find – a resource you may or may not have been looking for.
So for you to be successful in your internet business endeavor you must not only be there – on the internet – and accessible to browsers, you must find a way to “be found” by the search engines and mapped so that the people using the browsers can find you.
To do this you must do several things. You must build your web site cleanly and meeting the “search criteria” of the various “search engines”. Ideally you will want to use a pleasing layout, probably a cascading style sheet, optimize your verbal content for the search engine algorithms and engage the services of someone who really knows how to do this kind of work. You must also carefully, very carefully indeed, select the host for your web site. More on this in the next article, but see my #1 web site below.
I personally recommend Lawrence Deon of http://about-businesses.blogspot.com/
I have seen several resources out there similar to what Lawrence Deon provides and they range in price from triple the cost to more than 10 times the cost….and they don’t do anything that Ranking Your Way To The Bank doesn’t do.
Organic Greens dot US ranks right up in the top 10 for nearly 20 different search terms and on most of the world’s major search engines. This is purely thanks to Lawrence Deon. I have this one up and three more right now in varying stages of construction, all with Lawrence Deon’s help. And I have more web sites up which are designed with thanks to Lawrence Deon.

Find The Right Work Home Business Resource

Work home business resources are available to help you decide what type of business you are legally going to form. Is your business going to be a sole proprietorship, a partnership with someone else, or do you wish to be a corporation? A corporation is a legal entity created under law by the state government in which the corporation will do business. A corporation can enter into contracts, be sued, and do the other things necessary to conduct business. They pay taxes differently than individuals and in many cases; this is an advantage. Incorporation can be a complicated process. Don’t try to incorporate by yourself. A work home business resource such as a good lawyer can may this process easier.
For basic bookkeeping and financial considerations, seeking an accountant is a good work home business resource. There are also web-based accounting services you can use to help you set up your books and record sales for tax purposes. Some of the online work home business resources in accounting you can use are: eLedger, QuickBooks for the Web, and ePeachtree. Basic services that these businesses provide includes double-entry general ledgers, invoicing, accounts payable, accounts receivable and financial reporting
Another work home business resource that can help you establish good promotional work is a professional in sales and marketing. The expert advice you can receive from a marketing professional is well work the added expense. The success of your business depends almost entirely on its quality and value. If no one knows about your business, they will never get to use it. Check with advertising companies and web site and find out more about advising opportunities and advice you can receive. On the Internet, many articles are available for free. The Internet itself is an excellent work home business resource.

Business Attorney-Skilled Representation for all your Legal Business Needs

A business attorney practices law in areas such as limited partnerships, franchises, limited liability companies, partnerships, and corporations. The issues that they commonly deal with include stockholders and shares, receivership and dissolution, fiduciary relationships, officers and directors, acquisitions and mergers, antitrust, closely held corporations, liabilities and management duties, franchise relationships and much more.

If you are in need of a business attorney to handle legal affairs of your business, you should hire an experienced lawyer that specializes in the area of law you need. Whether your business legal needs include staring up a corporation or your existing business is considering a merger, a professional law firm can help you make sure everything is in order.

Through proper and professional legal representation, you can get the legal help you need to make your business run efficiently and smoothly. This legal representation can range from helping you avoid issues like the risk of litigation in addition to information on how to manage your employees effectively. These commercial lawyers can make sure your best interests are protected through their skills and knowledge of the business laws of your state.

When it comes to business planning, the hardest part of the plan can be getting it off the ground. Starting any type of business will take financial planning and sound business tactics. You have to be knowledgeable of the right marketing strategy, you will have to create a name, find out about loan information, technology and more. Additional areas that you will have to address include knowing and understanding certain zoning laws, getting proper permits and additional activities as it relates to business planning. All of this can be stressful and if not done the right way, could lead to delays and extra expense. This is where a good business attorney can help. An expert attorney will be knowledgeable of all the laws in your state as they pertain to their particular business law specialty. They can ensure that your business startup will go as smoothly as possible.

Business has changed immensely in the last decade, especially with the rise in the amount of internet businesses that have developed. This brings with it a new set of rules in areas such as intellectual property, sales tax, and direct marketing. Your business law attorney can provide you with the information you need to make sure your internet business continues to increase and grow.

It doesn't matter if you are an experienced business owner or just starting out; at some point you will most likely need a lawyer to help you out with a legal matter. For this reason, it is essential to have a continued relationship with a good business attorney.

When you are looking to hire a business attorney, it's practical to hire one that has an office in your area. When you have found a lawyer that you feel may be right for your business needs, schedule a face to face meeting with a consultation.

Business Help: What You Need To Know And Who Is Giving The Information

In today's world having and running a successful small business is more than ever about having the information on what you need to know and who you is giving you that information. You may say, now wait a minute. I can get the information I need. What is the significance of who I get it from? We'll examine that shortly.
Let's say you have a cash flow problem. There are solutions either you know to implement or you can get the information. Yet, somehow the problem persists. Maybe the first step is to get some education on the various aspects of cash flow. You can read some small business books or a small business ebook.
Yet, after you spend a great deal of time learning about the problem you still have the bigger questions. What area do I attack first? Is it the receivables? Is it the pricing? You get the idea. When you are the sole filter for the information you are receiving and prioritizing what to do first. Since you are uncertain, even though you have your information, you do not take action. The problem remains.
One of the things I have seen repeatedly over the years is that small businesses fail, not because of lack of information but because of lack of action. More often than not, when faced with a problem or challenge, the majority of small businesses opt for self-help. The sad truth is that an expert or someone with an outside perspective is needed to help implement the solutions. The result when small business relies on self-help is like do it yourself heart surgery. It is not very successful.
One thing most small businesses lack is a board of directors. A board of directors for a corporation provides accountability for the CEO and management team. They provide an outside perspective and encourages and sometimes force the people who are in charge to get out of their own way when things need to be changed.
Yet, who forces or encourages the owner of a small business to get out of his own way when things need to be changed. Typically, there is no one. The owner or founder is truly his own consultant. He is the doctor for the problems that occur in his business. Successful business, whether large or small, is about getting out of your own way.
When the small business owners understand that the first investment they should make to have a better business is in themselves then they are more willing to look at having a business advisor, business coaching, small business coaching or business mentoring.
When you understand that one of the most important steps to business success is relying on the help of others then you will greatly increase the probability of having the business and life you desire.