Is Mass Marketing Dead?

In a connected world where consumers have an abundance of options available to them, marketers are being forced to re-evaluate the strategies used to attain and maintain customers and clients. Mass marketing, a strategy in which a marketer ignores market segments and instead attempt to appeal to the entire market with a singular offer or strategy, has become less effective and given way to target marketing. The question is: Can mass marketing still an effective strategy in building a brand or is mass marketing no longer a useful tool? While it is my assertion that targeted, personalized marketing has the most impact and yields the best results, mass marketing is not dead. Instead, it has evolved and now occupies a different role.

As companies are faced with heightened competition, marketers are increasingly using targeted marketing strategies in order to engage consumers. Effective target markets requires that marketers carry out the following three tasks:

• Engage in market segmentation by identifying and profiling distinct groups of buyers who differ in wants and needs.

• Determine one or more segments to enter; market targeting.

• Establish and convey the distinguishing characteristics and associated benefits of the organization’s offering through market positioning. (Kotler & Keller, 2012).

The changes in consumer cultures and lifestyles and advances in technology have led to a sense of consumer entitlement to a personalized experience as consumers can now express their needs and wants to marketers more freely and interact with a company in real time via social media. The following infographic provides valuable insight into the transition from an impersonal mass marketing approach to a much more targeted strategy.

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(www.monetate.com)

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Key to the information presented in the infographic is that the culture in which we consume has changed, leading to different expectations. For instance, 85% of consumers surveyed are aware that websites track online purchases and cookies, but accept this on the basis that it allows marketers to present more relevant, personal offers and content to them. Technology has become such a pervasive part of our lives that consumers are willing to accept this silent invasion of privacy in order to have a more positive shopping experience. 75% of people surveyed stated a preference for retailers to use personal information as a means to improved their experience and only 36% reported they did not want their activity monitored. (www.monetate.com)

Generational segmentation is useful to considering why targeted marketing approaches that focus more on content and context are increasingly important and most often, necessary if a company wishes to effectively