In this world where capitalism is deep-rooted in every single transaction, all we see around ourselves is a bunch of advertisements trying to get us to buy a product or a brand. There is an obvious saturation of information, commodities, as well as marketing campaigns which makes it extremely hard to market new products and items. However, with the help of various cases studies, marketers have proven that even the most boring products can be sold very efficiently if marketed properly.
Marketing, in itself, is a very vast field which encompasses various aspects of advertising like branding, understanding consumer behaviour, and market research. All these combine to a perfect concoction for increasing sales. This process of excellent marketing can be observed in the way water bottles have been marketed to the general masses.
Bruce Clark, associate professor at the Northeastern University, calls bottled sparkling and still water “one of the best and worst things that ever happened in marketing.” He says so because it shows that the power of promotion has reached to the extent where it can commodify a necessity.
According to Clark, a brand image is the first thing a marketer needs to focus on establishing. Brand image is what the consumers perceive the brand to be. It has to be solidified by advertising the values and ethics that the company has or propagates. “A brand name is a promise of value the customer is going to get out of a product”, he said.
This might also lead to false claims being put forward by the company in a reckless effort to make the product more appealing. To counter this, there are a lot of rules that cater to the protection of costumers in these situations. Therefore, companies have to very careful when marketing, keeping in mind their target markets and the consumer behaviour pattern.
Studies have also shown that having a unique feature about your product which sets it aside from its competition yields very positive results. This is known as differentiation, and it helps in creating brand loyalty among costumers.
Therefore, the truth remains that how you market your business determines if the enterprise will be successful or not. Marketing is a tool used to create and maintain demand, relevance, reputation, competition and more. Without it, your business is likely to close down due to lack of sales.
Devika Mulye