Postmodern Marketing Cultural Shifts and Technological Implications on Marketing - Essay Example

Postmodern marketing cultural shifts and technological implications on marketing Postmodern marketing cultural shifts and technological implications on marketing Introduction Marketing has evolved over the years. The different ways of marketing are fast emerging. Businesses are striving to make profits. This requires intensive marketing campaigns, which will draw customers in the businesses. Technology has affected how businesses market in the postmodern era. Consumers form a major part of the marketing strategies when they are actively involved in marketing. According to Firat and Dholakia (2006), the conceptual structures of marketing, which had crystallized in the 1960’s and 1970’s have strained. This is because of both postmodern cultural shifts and momentous technological development. This paper examines the modern and postmodern cultural changes and how they have reshaped marketing and how technological advances has affected the way businesses market themselves. Modern and postmodern marketing Modernization has been a major factor that the affects the human history. Technological advancement and transformation of culture are major factors in changes in contemporary human history. Cultural transformations are shifting from modern to post modern. Technological changes have largely affected the way transactions and communications take place, and the transformations have been accelerating technological advancement. Postmodern culture concepts have continued to spark debates across fields such as humanities, social science, and physical sciences. The debates have influenced business disciplines, particularly marketing, organizational studies, and consumer research. Challenges faced are as result of wiping out the traditional perspectives on marketing and replacing them postmodern marketing approach. Modern marketing found its feet in the second half of the 20th century. The basic principles that defined modern marketing emerged in these decades. The marketing concept articulates the place of marketing in the modern order of things in human history. It prescribes the relationship that institutions have with consumers and other stakeholders. These relationships have further grown and extended to the firms, government agencies, arts, and religion. The marketing concept has spread its wings further from marketing discipline thereby affecting the modern culture completely (Firat and Dholakia, 2006). The marketing orientation has sparked debates in politics, the relationships at work between employers and colleagues and the views of people on how they think of themselves. Modern marketing has grown tremendously. It has become a principal mode of business relationships and further broadened to all institutions and clients. The marketing culture revolutionaries have affected both modernism and democracy. The idea of institutions serving citizens and meeting their demands is in line with the marketing concept. Modern marketing is a way institutions could serve their customer right with an aim of making their lives better. Modern marketing is also known as modern culture par excellence. The success of modern marketing is a pillar and principal mode in which institutions can construct a lasting relationship with their consumers. Modern market is a core value in contemporary culture. Even though the tradition logic of marketing has disappeared, the central principles of modern marketing have been the same. Marketing is still viewed as the appropriate way of giving consumers what they need with a view to meet the ever-changing consumer demands (Firat and Dholakia, 2006). The postmodern ideas challenge central principles of modern marketing. It is necessary for marketing academics and practitioners to understand the challenges and find an appropriate way of dealing with them. This is a three-part process; First, those who are not familiar postmodern will be briefly introduced on postmodernism and the postmodern debate. Second, are the theoretical and philosophical effects of modern and, postmodern debates as well as problems they cause to the marketing practice, organization, theory and, relationships. Third, are the responses to the emerging challenges and new directions marketing has taken. How information technology played a role in re-shaping the postmodern marketing. Consumer relationships and management concept Over the years, the concept of relation management (RM) and customer relationship management (CRM) have generated significant body of both academic and managerial literature. This academic interest reflects in the implementation of relation management and customer relationship management and the practices within different organization, for example banks and retailers, Inland Revenue and local government. This has sparked debate on the definition, applicability and the role of these concepts (Boulding, 2005) The importance of consumer relationship management lies in not only its individualization of marketing and the objectification of the consumer, but it tries to encourage the consumer through formation of consumer communities they can identify with. The aim is to give the consumers the power to govern themselves through the associations supported by the producers. The concept of mass marketing The existing regimes are largely to blame for marketing problems. Questions arise on how they shape the conduct of consumers and its effect on the markets. Traditional marketing concept and techniques calls into question the conduct of producers and consumers. The construction of the regimes of govern mentality can trace back in the USA, where producers and retailers faced the problem of oversupply and saturated consumer markets (Antony, 2011). The response was to find ways of stimulating demand, reached at by drawing technologies, techniques, and knowledge into the regime of govern mentality termed as mass marketing. Mass marketing entails mobilization of number of interrelated practices, which can identify and satisfy human needs. This includes the use of market research, splitting of consumers into groups. These groups targets consumers and make improvements on products that suit individual needs. The objective of mass marketing is to generate high levels of market share, which gives producers an opportunity to grow and reduce the cost focused pricing strategies. It was a better way of increasing the market share for producers to sell as many products as many products as they can. The problem with is method is it tends to generalize consumer by assuming that their needs are the same. It is hard to determine consumer’s individual preferences. It fails to recognize the heterogeneity of individual consumers. Mass marketing has the following shortcomings. It fails to identify consumers individually; second, it fails to recognize the differences in profitability between loyal and non- loyal consumers and its ineffective means to engage customer through dialogue. It is necessary to create a relationship between the producer and individuals. Through these interactions, the producer will indentify the varying needs between individual consumers and if necessary come up with customized products to suit the difference tastes of consumers. The technological concept in marketing Technology has revolutionized marketing industry and affected every aspect of it. The most notable change is the reduction of the costs involved in marketing through use of digital media as such Radio, TV, and print. The technologically advancements have made it easier to electronically track information on consumer attitudes, sales and overall result. As a result, marketing has moved to a very responsive model, where it is easier to get feedback and thoughts from consumers, as well as encourage specific behaviour through interactions (Paperchase, 2012) Technological advancements have enabled Baynote to be a powerful online marketing analysis tool. This is a revelation that marketing has changed from the modern to postmodern ways. Marketing now heavily relies on technology in collection of view and data and it has proved to be an effective means in making marketing decisions. Most of the businesses thrive online and consumers are increasing preferring online stores and businesses in finding information and making decisions on items they need. When using technology as a marketing tool, the aim is to understand how to track consumers and how to use the data in analyzing the consumer market. Analyzing online activities of consumers can reveal more information about the consumers and their interests. This can be beneficial to smaller companies because it gives them a chance against bigger companies if well capitalized. If they compile information about their consumers effectively, their companies can grow and expand to places where they never imagined (Mary, 2013) Social media has become a popular marketing tool in businesses. Businesses have now capitalized on this marketing strategy through social media platforms. Through social media, businesses can boost their traffic on their website and capture the attention of potential customers. With these marketing strategies extending to social media, businesses have an opportunity to compete for their brand awareness. The marketing tools in social media continue to develop more rapidly (IMS, 2013). Technology gives people a new way of thinking. Technology has a major role in changing and creating people’s perceptions. Clearly, technology increases productivity, the speed in which information is processed and it expands the access to information. The digital revolution is changing how people conceptualize the possibilities at their disposal. The interactions between consumers and marketers have proved to be vital in digital revolution. People have changed the way they looked at advertisements years back. They are willing to inquire for more information, this information is important in analyzing the markets and noting the changes. People want to see freedom in engagement in every aspect of their lives. That is what makes customer service an important aspect in business. People want to communicate and get necessary assistance from the businesses. Digital technology has embraced video and has made marketing to move away from text rich format. More videos and other visualization techniques are now widely used. People prefer videos, which is a disadvantage to websites that prefer text rich format. The speed has also become a factor. People are used to digital technology, which operates in instantaneously and this make people to lose patience with anything that operates slow. Communication has advanced with the real time systems. Technology is a tool of empowerment. More information shared today is through technological gadgets such as mobile phones, tablets, and computers. Technological changes have affected have largely how people relate and the way they prefer to talk to talk to the organizations and businesses around them (IMS, 2013). The impact of the technology on brand marketing involves more than advertising products in media. Technological changes continue to redefine marketing and it has expanded the power in people. How marketing has changed The changes in tools used in marketing mean that your initiatives have to change. Now the number of people using smart phones and video cameras in communication has been on the rise. Customers always want an immediate respond to the questions they ask. The preferred communication mode is where consumers get instant feedback. Technology advancements have made it possible through websites, blogs, forums, mobile phones, video chats. Consumers can write reviews to products on the web, share with friends and family, as well as recommend the changes or improvement they expect on a product. Marketers can use these forums to analyze how new products have been received in the market. Some websites provide consumers with an opportunity to rate new products. Incorporating such technological advancement will give businesses an edge over competitors. The focus should not be only on words, but also make a richer visual content. Markets changes quickly due to the stiff competition that means your marketer should be good in conducting frequent research. For example, research on how people use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn is necessary. The market team should evaluate and budget for intensive marketing campaign. The technology advancements means businesses may spend money on web based application design and improvement of their websites appearance and design. It is necessary to find an agency that could help businesses in making the right marketing decisions at the most prudent cost (Mary, 2013). Conclusion I believe that marketing has changed over the years. The new changes in marketing strategies are relevant in ensuring that business stay up and make profit relevant. The competition in business world is very intensive and it requires an effective strategy for a business to survive. Social media remains a preferred platform on which businesses can capitalize on. The technological tools that are emerging have made market advance in leaps and bounds. Businesses should invest more money on marketing research and ensure that they get right data, which can be analyzed and improve the products sales. The marketing team should have skilled researchers, who can collect the information from different platforms, especially online surveys from different websites and tracking of customers activities on the web. This data is important for the analysis of consumer needs, which are constantly changing with time. The data is also important in evaluation of competitors who sell the same products. It is important to learn how competitors approach the marketing campaigns so that you can strategize to get an advantage over them. The traditional marketing techniques methods are ineffective in postmodern era, especially with the fierce competition for the market share. The incorporation of consumers as an aspect of production can go a long way in ensuring that the businesses are viable. Consumers should have a say on how they want the product improved. The demands and satisfaction of the consumer is vital. Therefore, organizations should treat consumers as people who can add value to the products. Consumers opinions on the products should be reviewed by both marketing and production team. I have learned that consumers are keen to give information that can improve the products, which will meet their tastes and desire. The notion that consumers are controlled by objects they buy is no longer applicable. Consumers have an eye on quality goods, which satisfy their needs. However, consumers sometimes come up with demands that are hard for businesses to attain. Moreover, it becomes hard to convince that it was in best interest of the company to turn down their recommendations. At times companies are under pressure from the consumers until they give in. Without proper evaluation, it could result to a loss if it turns out that it was bad ideas to adapt the recommendations consumers made. The company shoulders the burdens of such losses since they cannot put the blame on customers. Small businesses will struggle in this marketing strategy, since consumers expect their products match with quality brand from bigger companies. The insatiable nature of human beings will make them to keep complaining about a slight mistake. Therefore, if every wish of consumers is considered, it will make it more expensive to come up with products that satisfy every consumer. The interaction between businesses and consumers creates bonds consumers and the businesses. Consumers will feel proud if they can closely associate themselves with a product. It creates a sense of belonging to the business (Smith and Higgins, 2000). This means that the team that has direct contact with consumer should be well versed in customer service and public relations. Businesses need to hire staff that will add value to the marketing of the businesses. However, this means that businesses will incur more expenses for the additional staff. For a small business, it can be hard to manage the growing wage bill. Small businesses may risk trying this route, but they are likely to struggle, as they are more likely to face the risk of collapsing in future. It is important for businesses to wait until there is significant growth to sustain the growing wage bill (Hackley, 2009). Social media is preferred way of marketing products and interacting with consumers. It is cheaper, especially in popular sites, for example, Facebook and twitter. Other technological ways may cost a significant amount of money to set up. Businesses that do not have many resources can effectively market on social network. The marketing staff can evaluate the responses from social media platforms and content as well as manage the content posted on social media sites. It may require hiring of additional staff, but still the marketers can be directly be involved in discussions and surveys on social media platforms. The downside is this method requires a business to create a name before it gets the attention of social media. Bigger companies have a bigger following on twitter and Facebook. Small companies will fall behind bigger companies in social media ratings. As much as the responses from social media are important, not all the information you find here will be useful. Social media network is awash with irrelevant information, which at times can hurt the business. When a page has grown, it becomes harder to manage growing numbers and many responses. Customers may feel neglected, especially when it becomes hard to respond to their specific needs. 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