Maslows Theory of Needs and Its Application to Marketing - Essay Example

?Introduction to the Marketing Concept There are basically five major concepts that the business operates in. These concepts are d as the productconcept, production concept, selling concept, marketing concept and also the holistic marketing concept (Kotler, 2003). Basically this marketing concept includes things like marketing insights, building strong brand names, connection with the customers, shape of the market, deliverance and communication of value, creation of long term growth and the development of marketing plan and strategies. Maslow’s Theory of Needs and its Application to Marketing In case where an individual worker like for example needs more money for meeting his needs it is obvious that he needs to work harder for doing so. According to Maslow there are physiological, safety and security, social, esteem and self-actualization needs that happen to be really important (Adair, 1996). By putting in the hard work the individual can try to meet his need and later can also put in the necessary effort and time to win the desired reward. Here we can also use the Expectancy theory where an individual worker puts in efforts to adjust his personal motivational levels to that of her or his colleagues. Maslow's hierarchy of needs identify five basic areas of needs that most humans experience. First is the physiological or the basic life survival needs then comes the safety and security need after that is the social need that includes belongingness and love after which comes the self-esteem and the fifth need is the self-actualization. Maslow found out that a person moves form one need to another after he has met a need. Like if he meets the needs at level one, then he moves toward the next, and then the next and so on. Maslow found out that decision making and human behaviour are motivated by one of any five need levels in the hierarchy model he presented. If we apply these needs to the marketing theory it will not be wrong to say that the marketers by effectively appealing to one of the motivational drivers can be really successful. The social and self esteem needs can be fulfilled by the marketers by using strong marketing campaigns and building a strong brand image. People are in search of recognition so if marketers fulfil this need they can always make good profit out of their businesses. Maslow's fundamental principles link marketing and human psychology. It is important for the marketer to find out the level of need which the customer is looking to meet, and then market the product in a way that convinces him that he particular need will be fulfilled like that. Performing periodic evaluations of the marketing techniques as the target audience are not likely to stay static is very important. It is very important for the marketers to be aware of the place where Maslow's hierarchy of needs of the customer base is and the place where the product fits in. By paying more attention to this marketing can be more effective. Stages of the Consumer Behaviour Model and its Application to Marketing Researchers have proven that that motivation factors play a significant role in stages of purchasing process and possess positive influence on the internal factors that is the information search, alternatives evaluation, and post purchasing and purchasing. All these internal factors can have an impact on each other in positive direction and are strongly correlated. Consumer happens to be one of the very significant and complicated units of the marketing system. As many external and internal factors impact consumer behaviour within this system, the measuring and evaluating of purchasing process proves to be comparatively difficult. Consumer behaviour is not as straightforward as the purchasing of a service or product by paying its price but at the same time it is a procedure that has post-purchasing dimensions. Understanding of the consumer behaviour in all the stage of consumer behaviour model that consist of recognising the problem, searching the information, evaluating the alternatives, purchasing and also the post-purchasing behaviour contributes to marketers in the developing products that will meet needs of consumers and in attraction of more visitors and creation of consumer loyalty (Demir, 2010). Buying decision is made by consumers every day. Marketers should study the actual consumer purchases for finding out what they buy, where the buy form, and in how much quantity they buy (Nicosia, 1966). It is very important for marketers to find out how consumers respond to a variety of marketing efforts the company uses. If a company actually understands the way consumers will respond to the different features of products, the prices, and the advertisements then that company has big advantage over its competitors. Consumer purchases get strongly influenced by social, cultural, personal, and psychological characteristics which are discussed ahead. Cultural factors put the strongest and deepest impact upon consumer behaviour (Mooij, 2004). The marketers really need to understand the role that the culture plays. Moreover the consumer behaviour is also affected by the social factors, like family, social roles and social status etc. Personal factors also influence the consumer behaviour. The personal characteristics include buyer's age, lifecycle stage, economic situation, occupation, lifestyle, personality and the self-concept etc. Psychological Factors also influence the behaviour of the consumer. The four main psychological factors include perception, motivation, learning, and beliefs and attitudes etc. Overview of the Product in Relation to the Marketing Concept Product Overview The product launched is My Healthy Robot. It is basically a state of the art portable device that possesses the capacity to analyse the health of client by provision of a health report. The mission is provision of in-depth analysis of client’s health and also serving as a guide through their new health journey. On health report, the client can keep track of a few main health indicators like Hormone levels, STD’s, Cholesterol, Heart Rate, Body Mass Index and also the Muscle growth. Moreover the results are reliable and can be shared to the doctors if client wishes for doing so. Furthermore, My Healthy Robot has the ability to function under diverse modes that are in accordance to the needs of the client. Like for instance if the client is looking for to cutting down weight and living a healthier life then it is strongly recommended that she or he chooses the My Lean Mode. The My Lean Mode offers tricks and tips related to developing long-term eating habits. It also offers options for having access to virtual personal trainer to serve the purpose. Other remaining modes include My Baby mode that is basically for pregnant women, then there is My Sick mode and also My Fit mode for clients looking to putting on muscle weight. Marketing Concept Market segmentation refers to such a marketing strategy which incorporates the division of broad target market in consumer’s subset who possess needs that are common and then the designing and implementation of strategies for targeting their desires and needs making use of media channels and other ways that allow reaching them in the best possible manner. The demographical market segmentation is the one that is based upon race, age, sex, level of education, economic status, income level and also employment. In case of My Healthy Robot the market segment includes people ranging from a age group of 30 and above. It is for both the genders. Basically it is for health conscious people and the ones suffering from disease that need time to time check like diabetic patients, heart patients, blood pressure patient etc. The user does not necessarily has to be a patient but as it is a little expensive so generally only a group of health conscious people, obese and patients are going to be its customers. People who will buy this device will be educated as they need to understand how the device works and for a ill-literate person things will be quite difficult. Targeting is basically when a business decides and chooses a customer group to put in its marketing efforts at and it is a good targeting policy that serves as the main element for a successful marketing strategy (Punj, 1987). In case of My Healthy Robot the target market is the middle class or the upper class as they happen to the ones who are health conscious, ready to spend on health and aware of the importance of health due to a higher literacy rate amongst them. There is a lot of competition already available in the market. But the competitive advantage that My Healthy Robot is likely to enjoy is that it is a device with multiple functionalities. It is not just a device that provides a report of the health but at the same time it gives solutions for overcoming the health problems that the user is facing. So there are not a lot of similar devices available in the market but still devices like iHealth’s Blood Pressure Wrist Monitor, Polar FT4 Heart Rate Monitor, Smart Body Analyser etc can be competition to My Healthy Robot as they already have a captured certain market share. Conclusion It is very important for marketers to keep all the above mentioned things in mind. A critical analysis of the market is something that is extremely important for the success of any product or service. The application of several theories and models can be very helpful for marketers to capture a higher market share. References Adair, J. (1996). Effective motivation: How to get extraordinary results from everyone. London: pan Books. Demir, S. (2010) Relationship between Stages of Consumer Behaviour Model: A Study on Turkish Tourists, European Journal of Tourism Research, 3(2), 132-134. Kotler, P. (2003). Marketing Management, 11th edition, Prentice Hall. Mooij M. (2004). Consumer Behaviour and Culture. Sage Publications, Inc, Thousand Oaks, CA. Nicosia, F. (1966). Consumer Decision Process. Englewood Cliffs N.J.: Prentice Hall. Punj, G. (1987). Pre-search Decision Making in Consumer Durable Purchases, Journal of Consumer Marketing, 4, 71-82. Read More