The Marketing Strategies of Beauty Companies Like Lux Beauty Soap - Research Paper Example

The practice and discipline of marketing has never denied that it seeks to persuade and change people’s thoughts in order to make them purchase goods and services. Marketers rely on the manipulation of images and messages with the sole intention of creating the desired image. The producers and marketers of Lux Beauty Soap use images of the much-desired beautiful and ideal woman to market their products in order to manipulate potential consumers into buying their products. The promises of getting the best in a product coupled with the promise of resembling the images portrayed by the advertisements are used to lure consumers into purchasing the products marketed by companies. Marketers are tasked with first understanding the target market dynamics, and consumer behavior. The practice of marketing borrows from the animal behavior where members of the herd move together to explain the same behavior in humans who are also animals. This herd behavior in marketing is used in order to understand the dependencies and aping of consumers mutual behavior. This is seen in America where “ The patron saints of the countercultural idea is of course the Beats whose frenzied style and merry alienation still maintains a powerful grip the American imagination”(Maasik163). The adaptive human behavior works for the good of humanity in helping it cope with changes in the environment[ CITATION Tho07 \l 1033 ]. The marketers of beauty products such as Lux Beauty Soap are very aware of the pressure that women are in order to attain society’s ideal of beauty and offers its products as the solution to getting there. Unfortunately, marketers to their advantage can use this capacity by creating an artificial environment through advertising, which puts pressure on the targeted population to change and adapt in order to fit in with the desired ideal norm. This pressure is very subtle and done through displays in shop windows, adverts in magazines and television and even in mobile phones. Marketing triggers, shared mechanisms in order to increase impulse buying and to get people influence each other to buy a product. This is buying more due to responding to the herd instinct. Marketing thrives on the idea buying of products that are perceived as popular initiates herd behavior in buying..., “…a cutting edge manipulation in the film is the central mechanism shaping our culture” (Maasik 86) The marketer takes stock of the demographic forces in a market population in order to best tailor their marketing strategies to suit it. This is manipulation of the marketing environment whether or not it is for its good[ CITATION Mic10 \l 1033 ]. Marketers know that in order for the consumer to be manipulated into buying a product that they need to: “Remember a cultural sign gets its meaning from the system or code in which it appears….the image it portrays….the social context in which the image is accepted….”(Maasik 81). That means that marketers have to stay ahead consumers to be able to predict their wants and needs. In the case of Lux Beauty, soap this means knowing the need of women for beauty and acceptance in a society that adores the beautiful. It is not only important to understand wants and needs but also to comprehend consumers concerns and motivations. This will enable the producers of goods to properly adjust product specifications and tailor them to consumer’s needs. This means that marketers have to research and scan the market so that the continually acquires information on consumers and their response to their products. It is the job of marketers to monitor events that occur outside the product to identify trends, opportunities and threats to the product form competitors or changes in consumer needs. With the onset of globalization, these activities are carried out on a global scale. Lux Beauty Soap is a globally bought product. This has led the company to use different images to portray beauty according to the societal norms of beauty. The marketing process can only successfully manipulate markets by managing factors and forces, which affect a company’s ability in building and maintaining a successful relationship with customers so that they are more favourable to the company’s products. “ Large advertisers and their agencies have evolved the pseudo-scientific method of time purchasing based on demographics with the age and sex of the consumers generally considered as the most important predictor of purchasing behavior”(Maasik 187). The market population consists of different individuals with different wants and needs[CITATION RKe07 \l 1033 ]. The same product has to diversify to suit the tastes of different peoples within the market. This is known as market segmentation. This is the process of dividing a market of consumers into consumers who have similar needs and wants. “The decade to decade shift in American cultural identity …Should be analyzed to understand consumer identity….” (Maasik 85). For instance expensive soaps are marketed to working middle-aged women who most likely have a job. More expensive luxury soaps are marketed to older retired adult’s women who have more to spend due to having less family responsibilities and who most likely want to regain the beauty of youth. Segmentation takes place when two similar products are marketed to two distinct but similar groups of consumers, both with similar needs, traits, and wants. Lux has done this very well with different scents and combinations of the soap products to suit different skin types. The soaps also come in bars and in liquid forms to cater to the different taste preferences of the consumers who have bought into their promise of beauty. The activity of market segmentation enables better allocation of a company’s limited resources, which must be managed in order to realize sales. In doing this, a company is better able to cater to the needs of a multiplicity of new markets on a global scale. “…a cultural system where our identities are displayed in the products we buy” (Maasik 137). This will help a company in positioning; branding and marketing of its products in order to persuade (manipulate) consumers into buying their products. This seeking to persuade in marketing can be viewed as manipulation as it uses images and messages to create a desired image (Kotler). This is the kind of marketing strategies of beauty companies like Lux Beauty Soap. The promise of soft, radiant and beautiful skin is the promise of Lux soap products. These are accomplished through first understanding the target market dynamics. Women have through the ages desired beauty and skin is a very important component in attaining perfect beauty if only it can be soft, radiant and silky. This herd behavior in marketing is used in order to understand the dependencies and aping of consumers mutual behavior. This is seen in America where “The patron saints of the countercultural idea. The marketer takes stock of the demographic forces in a market population in order to best tailor their marketing strategies to suit it (Aaker, Kumar & Day). This is manipulation of the marketing environment whether or not it is for its good. The market population consists of different individuals with different wants and needs. The same product has to diversify to suit the tastes of different peoples within the market. This is market segmentation and Lux as a company has put these factors into good use to become a globally competitive beauty product that caters to different market populations. Works Cited CITATION Tho07 \l 1033 : , (Thomas), CITATION Mic10 \l 1033 : , (Micheal), CITATION RKe07 \l 1033 : , (Kent), Read More