The aim of every organization is to expand its market and acquire new customers. The organization should ensure that it maintains the current customers as it acquires new customers. The more the customers the organization acquires the more the chances of making more sales, and at the same time making more profits and revenues (Jain 160).
It is important to note that every business has a common objective, which is to make as much profits as it can. The marketing manager and the marketing executives should develop strategies that can be used to get more customers to buy the organization’s products and services. These executives should oversee tactical marketing campaigns that will be effective in gaining more new customers.
Acquisition marketing is advantageous to the organization in a number of ways. However, it is also associated with some disadvantages. This essay will focus on acquisition marketing. The paper will give a detailed definition of this term and then explain the advantages and the disadvantages associated with acquisition marketing.
Definition of acquisition marketing
The term acquisition can simply be defined as the action of taking over something and making it yours. In the corporate world, a company can take over another company through a purchase deal or through any other deal that will change the ownership of the company being acquired and make the acquiring company the new owner (Jain 159).
This is one way through which the company can grow and expand. The term can also be defined in terms of marketing. Acquisition marketing is the type of marketing where the organization markets its products to non-existing customers with the aim of making them or adding them to its consumer base. Acquisition marketing can also be referred to as ‘customer acquisition marketing’.
In acquisition marketing, prospect customers are converted into new customers. The aim of this is to increase the consumer base and increase the chances of making higher sales, consequently increasing the level of sales for the organization. It is possible to get completely new customers, as well prospective ones to buy a company’s products.
The significance of acquisition marketing varies depending on the specific business type carried out by the organization. Basically, the process of acquisition marketing is concerned with issues related to getting new customers to buy the organization’s products and services, and at the same time convert the prospective customers into new customers for the organization. The aim is to acquire as many customers as possible in order to increase the amount of sales.
Several considerations have to be made when deciding to do acquisition marketing. Among the factors include: the marketers should analyse the buying behaviour of customers, establish the ways through which customers are affected by the business environment such as culture, media, as well as business, analyse the level of knowledge and information available to the customer, and find out the strategies that can be applied by the organization to convince prospect customers as well as new customers to buy the organizational products and services.
It is important to note that acquisition marketing strategies are dynamic and they keep changing depending on consumer needs and technological changes (Jain 159). Traditional methods of marketing are increasingly becoming ineffective. As a result, there is the need to keep upgrading acquisition marketing techniques.
Advantages of Acquisition Marketing
As it has been mentioned earlier in this article, the aim of marketing is to convince customers to buy the organizational products and services. On the other hand, a business organization wishes to increase its income through making more sales (Blattberg, Robert and Scott 500). Acquisition marketing is a marketing that aims at finding new customers.
It is, therefore, advantageous since through it the organization is able to get more customers and make more income. A good strategy of acquisition marketing will increase the profitability of the organization. This is advantageous to the various organizational stakeholders such as the managers and the shareholders, as well as the employees. For instance, shareholders’ wealth increases when an organization makes more profits.
As a result, shareholders end up getting more dividends. On the other hand, the managers are employed as agents of the shareholders and their main aim is to increase the shareholders’ wealth. This will be an achievement to them. Employees, on the other hand, are likely to get a higher pay since they will have achieved the objectives of the organization.
The organization promotes its business through acquisition marketing. Business promotion is important since it makes the products recognized, in addition to capturing the attention of the customers. Business promotion is an important aspect of marketing. Customers will only buy a product that they are aware of. The company will be promoting its business in the process of acquisition marketing. Its consumer base is also increased in the process (Blattberg, Robert and Scott 505).
Another advantage of acquisition marketing is that it is a company’s brand image. A competitive brand image keeps the company abreast in the market. In addition, if a company has a strong brand image it becomes easier to market its products since most people are aware of the brand. It is, therefore, easier to acquire new customers. The costs incurred are less compared to costs incurred by a company whose brand is not widely recognized.
Acquisition marketing may involve personal marketing, an activity that is more likely to influence customers compared to other methods. Acquisition marketing is a form of investment since the company has to spend financial resources in the process. This way, the company is able to reap the benefits in the future in terms of profits. Therefore, acquisition marketing as an investment is advantageous since it increase the profits for the organization.
Another advantage is that the organization is able to know the customer needs since it has to analyse the needs in the process of acquisition marketing. In turn, the organization takes the appropriate strategies that can help it meet the needs of its consumers. One of the factors that are important in improving the productivity of a business organization is to ensure that it meets consumer needs.
To do this, the organization has to be creative and innovative. Innovation is the lifeblood of organizations in today’s business environment. It is important to note that innovation and technology go hand in hand (Blattberg, Robert and Scott 496). Therefore, in the process of acquisition marketing, the organization gets to know the needs of its consumer. It, in turn, finds way of meeting the needs, where one of the ways is through innovation. At the end, the organization is put in a position to use technology.
Disadvantages of Acquisition Marketing
One of the major disadvantages of acquisition marketing is that it is expensive to the organization. The company has to spend money in order to reach new customers and convert them into new customers. The company has to spend in the various methods of marketing such as advertisements, promotions, and personal marketing among others. It is imperative to note that acquisition marketing does more than just marketing.
The marketers have to do some data analysis in order to establish the best strategies to convert potential customers into new customers (Blattberg, Robert and Scott 500). The process is time consuming. The marketers and marketing executives are required to collect data and analyse to find out what the customers’ needs are and the number of potential customers in a given area.
In addition, the company has to go where the potential customers are to convince them and convert them into new customers. In any investment, there are risks involved. The fact that acquisition marketing is an investment means that it is a risk to the organization. For instance, the organization might invest in a market and the end result is that no potential customers are converted (Blattberg, Robert and Scott 501).
This becomes a loss of money and time. In addition, it is a waste of time and money if the organization invests in a society whose culture does not accept its products. This highlights the importance of carrying out a market research before embarking on acquisition marketing, thereby making the process more expensive.
Conclusion
The business environment today has become increasingly competitive. As a result, marketing has become increasingly important since it has the ability to give the organization a competitive advantage. There are many organizations that are striving to get a large share of the market.
This has led to the emergence of acquisition marketing, a form of marketing whereby the organization aims at converting the non-existing or prospective customers into new customers. The company should weigh between the advantages and disadvantages of acquisition marketing.
Works Cited
Blattberg, Robert C, Pyŏng-do Kim, and Scott A. Neslin. Database Marketing: Theory and Practice. New York, NY: Springer, 2008. Print.
Jain, Subhash C. Handbook of Research in International Marketing. Cheltenham: Elgar, 2003. Print.