Marketing is the invention of the 20th century, and for last 80 years, its goal has been to infiltrate consumers’ mind and change their thinking. Since the beginning marketing’s goal has always been to build the relationship between buyer and seller. This relationship is more important in this ever dynamic business environment. Today, technology is playing an important role in building a better buyer and seller relationship.
Caught in the interlacing Web of interrelationships, traditional marketing is evanescing for simple reason that its tasks are being automated and assumed by the mysterious and hidden power of information technology. All traditional marketing functions are replaced by the technological functions by creating an impression that marketing has turned out to be a technology.
Origin of Marketing
Marketing as an element of business originated in early 20th century, but its roots reach back to the industrial revolution. It idealized the importance of relationship between producer and consumer. McKenna says development of marketing has gone through three distinct ages viz., the age of reach, age of push and age of total access.
Age of Reach and Age of Push
No one knows who first coined the term ‘marketing’. In early 20th century, marketers identified the term with distribution, wholesale and retailing. Later in 1920s Procter and Gamble established ‘Brand management system’, which can be identified as a period of branding at very same time Edward Bernays was working on the concept of ‘Public Relation.’ The 1950s has established and popularized the concept of 4Ps which was followed by segmentation, mass production and mass marketing.
Role of Technology in Marketing
Technology has always played an important role in the development of marketing. In early 20th century, development of rail-roads and Henry Ford’s invention of ‘model T’ has helped companies reach their customers better and faster. In 1920s, Radio emerged as the major technological breakthrough to create a perception that marketing as a function can change consumer behavior. It remained an efficient broadcast medium for two American generations. Post World War, Television came in as a new technological development changing the marketing landscape. Post 1950s, advertisers relied more on television than radio; This new push medium has consistently influenced viewers with a repetitive, consistent and entertaining message. This helped marketers change consumer behavior from ‘I need factor’ to ‘I want factor.’
Total Access
Just like an era of reach and push, new technology, new marketplace, new consumer and competition are once again changing the assumptions of customers and marketers. Now customers are telling what they want companies to do instead of companies suggesting their customer what they need. Total Access is not a broadcast model. Rather, it is an environment where consumer experiences multiple and simultaneous competitive buying opportunities. Internet is seen as one of the greatest technological innovation of the last century. It has made availability of information easier and cheaper. Internet has successfully laid the seeds of Total Access which flourished with mobile technology. Mobile market has improved customer’s comfort level and once again changed the customer behavior. These two technological break throughs have not only changed customer behavior but also changed the way market behaves. It is evident from the changed classification in era of Total Access. In the era of Total Access, customers can be divided by four parameters—the information explorers, the information active, the information followers, and the information passive. Technology has changed at an unprecedented pace in the past few decades. It has changed business landscape many a time in last twenty-five years. It has enabled farsighted business to outpace their competitors by creating new products and services, by managing business process and by operating business more efficiently. Law governing these technological innovations is also seen as the law of new marketplace.
Every business is wired today, marketers and academicians in this increasingly networked business environment is writing the new rule of marketing. These new laws of marketplace are playing on important role in developing marketing strategies.
Branding Lost its Meaning!
The marketing function disappears into a network of relationships and responsibilities between man and machine throughout the value chain. For marketers, the end goal changes from creating brand awareness to satisfying customers. In today’s network economy, brand itself becomes a ‘persistent presence’ which sustains the customer dialogue whenever the customer chooses. Branding is all about customer loyalty. It is always seen as a result of customer-producer relationship. In the era of total access, this relationship is becoming more transactional than personal. In total access environment, many consumers will choose a brand for pragmatic reasons rather than emotional. The ever changing marketplace and shifting consumer loyalty is creating challanges for producers. Few of the challenges for producers are:
Changing Symbol: Technology has changed the way people perceive things, which in turn, has changed business practices. Today, ATM has emerged as a symbol of trust in consumers’ conscious mind replacing old economy bank infrastructure.
Impact of Technology: Building brand in technology business is building alliances and relationship. It is seen that in technology market, developing brand is all about developing industry standard.
Hidden Choices: The component of the end product is mostly unknown to the end consumer. Consumers often do not know with which producer they are dealing with. Intel and Visa are the diffusion distributors of Dell, Compaq, and Bank of America. The erosion of brands has evolved from technology, social and cultural influences. An easy access to information and power of choice has converted one-time “brand loyal” to “brand switcher”. Today, consumers have choice to select from wide variety of offerings, hence user preferences vary from situation to situation. In the last two decades, consumer preferences have changed.
Few people confuse preferences with values. Preferences change with time and vary widely with the changing social and economic context of a particular market. It changes with changing technology, but values do not. These changing preferences give marketing a new dimension of mass customization and self service. The business is looking for lasting market presence and sustaining brand. There are two keys to it: Point of access and marketing architecture network.
Persistent presence
Market is changing its dimension at the speed of thought. This dynamic change is changing consumer’s preferences and perceptions. Today, every business has persistent presence. In fact, in this competitive market, it is a must for the very survival of any business. Persistent presence is consumers, consistent and reliable experience with the producer or retailers. A logistical system that focuses on operational system and communicational system of any company is the backbone of the persistent presence. Natures of business, market condition, company’s competitive position are few of the factors which help any company in achieving persistent presence. It is possible in many ways:
• Presence through digital network e.g., ATM, e-broking
• Physical presence: Location, Access e.g., Starbucks has more than 3,000 points all over the world.
• Embedded presence e.g., Intel
• Presence through services e.g.,E*TRADE, Yahoo!, Citibank
Company can establish persistent presence in many ways. It all depends on the nature of the business and environment the company is operating in. McKenna suggests a few key points to establish persistent presence:
• Market Architecture Approach to Total Access e.g., Dell, Wal-Mart
• Beef up your customer’s support infrastructure e.g., Coca-Cola
• Think Total Access e.g., AOL as a total Internet venture to AOL as an entertainment and media company which provides total access option.
• Invest in Time, Money are customer Relationship e.g., CRM initiatives
The Market Architecture
Market architecture is the functional relation of inbound and outbound functions. In transactional working environment with shortened product life cycle, changing technology and shifting channels, and increased competition, marketing architecture has become dynamic. Apart from technological innovations, human interactions also play the key role in defining marketing architecture.
Shared Creativity: In the B2B market place, to gain market share, companies work closely with their customers to know their needs and demands better. Few of the innovations driven by customer needs are Apple II personal computer, Microsoft MS-DOS.
Keeping Customer Trust: To build or sustain customer trust, marketing architecture must perform as per acceptation of the customer and respond consistently to their queries and problems. Business earning customer trust can retain it either by meeting or exceeding expectations.
Nurturing Change: The Organic Factor- Marketing architecture is dynamic. The ability to respond to the new customer information and changing business and social need is yet another important aspect of marketing architecture. IT is playing an important role in the development of dynamic marketing architecture, and also in the relationship development between the producer and consumer. In a situation, when information related service has shifted from retailers or distributors to producers enterprise architecture approach in marketing becomes important. Marketing architecture by learning how to better interact with itself in response to the environment and in connection with the customers’ needs and wants. The important factors for successful marketing architecture are: Customer satisfaction, developing different channels for different needs, identifying value of connected partners, and developing the strategic framework.
Total Global Access
Internet has changed the definition of the market infrastructure. Effective communication and transport methods have narrowed down the gap between the supply and demand time giving a new dimension to the global marketing. Growth in market economies, deregulation, privatization, and new global consumers has all created a new global market.
The focus in this wired world is changing from ‘think globally but act locally’ to ‘act globally connect locally’. World Wide Web helps business in connecting all channels. It also connects people across border and helps them come closure to market and increase their interaction. Internet has helped developing total global access environment. With total global access, it is felt that the world has become more culturally diverse. In this changed business circumstances, marketing executives need to take a comprehensive world market view to respond to increasingly competitive environment where customers have access to all possible information and are looking for local source and solutions. This global connectivity has increased with mobile commerce giving birth to a new set of consumers, ‘mobile global consumer’. The global e-commerce is focusing more on establishing global persistent presence and developing global brands.
Roles and Responsibilities
The rise of Internet and total access has created a self service model for marketing known as ‘production by masses’. This model works by providing customer with information database and allowing them to design their expectations consistently and reliably.
The rise of Internet and total access has made marketing as everyone’s job. It is the matrix of responsibilities shared by—CEO who is seen as chief strategist, who also work as a chief marketing executive of the organization. He integrates all the resources that enterprises need to invest and design to build a global infrastructure strategy.
• CIO is seen as chief total access architect. He possesses required skills, to be the interface between the customers’ needs and company’s response.
• Director of R&D is seen as the chief novelty officer. Customer preferences change fast in total access era and it is the duty of the Director, R&D to come up with innovative products.
• Vice president of operations and logistics helps meet customer delivery expectations.
• Vice president of marketing takes care of demand and supply factors and other traditional marketing functions.
Corporate Creativity
Market impatience, competitive intensity, volatile market reaction and high expectations from customers and investors are few of the factors which have created competitive environment. In this competitive environment, to gain edge over other players, companies have to work on corporate creativity. More creative the company is throughout its entire enterprise, the more successful the company will be in sustaining the growth.
BOOK SUMMARY
Book: Total Access, Giving Customers What They Want in an Anytime, Anywhere World,
Year: March 2002
Author: RegisMcKenna
Pages: 240
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
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