Introduction
Marketing has experienced radical changes over the past five decades. Soon after the Second World War, there was a serious development in various industries.
During this time, companies would produce goods in mass, and the marketing department had to look for the market. This method of marketing is known as inside out approach to marketing. Emphasis was given to the production and the finance departments. Marketing was considered a unit within the production department.
However, there have been some radical changes over the past decades brought about by technological advancements. Technology has rendered the world a global village. Information can easily flow from one geographical area to another. Technology has also seen rise in the number of companies producing similar products or close substitutes compete for the limited markets available.
Because of this, many companies have realized the importance of marketing. They have realized the need to put to focus the demands of the customer. For this reason, marketing is taking a new shape. It is currently taking the outside in approach. This entails understanding what the customer needs, and producing products that respond to these needs.
Advertising is one major aspect of marketing. It refers to awareness creation or a reminder of the availability and superiority of a given product in a specific market. It is a very important tool in marketing. Advertising of products of a company helps such a company increase awareness of the product in the market, making it familiar with the customers when they visit the market.
Through it, a company is able to alert customers of new products that have been introduced into the market recently. There are various changes in the field of advertisement as companies continue to flood the market, making it necessary to develop superior methods of managing market competition. As technology advances, so are the ways through which advertising is done.
Trends in Advertising
Advertising has undergone a lot of transition over the past decades. Initially, advertising was basically a way through which information about availability of a given product would be passed to the market. This could be done in as simple a way as the trader putting a poster on the store. However, big companies started developing commercials on local televisions and radio.
During this time, there were a number of large soap companies in the United States of America fighting for supremacy. They sponsored serial romantic drama shows that would come at strategic time when the target customers were at home. These shows were very popular and they had a large base of loyal customers. The commercials of the soap companies would then be aired at intervals during the shows. This earned the shows the name ‘soap opera’.
As time went by, companies grew in size and many others came into existence. With improved technology, a company would be able to produce in one country and sell in another. Because of free entry to most markets in various countries, market competition was getting very stiff.
Companies had to find the best way to outsmart competitors. Advertising offered the best way to withstand the market pressure. Technology has opened space and with it, advertising has assumed a new approach. The inception of social media, the World Wide Web and search engines are dictating new ways of approaching advertising.
The traditional way of advertising that laid much emphasis on mass media as the best ways of advertising is fast changing shape. This was witnessed when for the first time in decades; Pepsi Cola skipped the Bowl Challenge Cup, one of the most popular events in America, in2010.
The marketing manager was reported to have said that mass media is fast loosing track as the top contender in the field of marketing. Many companies are taking up new methods of advertising that are responsive towards the inventions that technology has brought.
Future Trends in Advertising
Advertising is taking a new shape. Basically, this new trend is shaped by the increasing inventions and innovations in various fields. The following are some of the factors that are expected to impact on advertisement:
Social Media
Social media has become very popular in the recent past. The invention of the social media has completely changed the way information flows from one place to another. Facebook has a fan base of over five hundred million people accessing it on a daily basis. It is very popular among the youths.
It is estimated that over five hundred million individuals have strong attachment to this social media and they use it to communicate with friends. Coca Cola realized the importance of this media. It was ranked the best advertiser on Facebook in 2010. The target market of Coca Cola Company is the youths. It is therefore easier to reach them through this media.
Tweeter is also very popular. With a fan base of close to 500 million, this social media offers companies opportunity to reach a large customer base in various locations across the world. It allows a company to use words and pictures, just like Facebook to deliver a desired message to the customers.
YouTube offers even a better opportunity to advertise. Unlike Facebook and Tweeter, YouTube allows users to share movies and other audiovisuals. This characteristic makes it possible for a marketer to design commercials like those used in television. This media is even better because the commercial can be designed to be longer.
The Coca Cola Summer Commercial 2010 is such an advert. A keen analysis of this commercial shows the direction that advertising is soon taking. As Kabani (2009) asserts, this media is the new shape of advertisement.
Laws and Regulations
Law is shaping the way advertising is carried out. In many countries across the world, there has been an increasing concern over the content of some advertisements in the mass and social media. Wedel and Kamakura (2000) argue that advertising has been one of the factors that have lead erosion of culture in many societies.
Products like alcohol and cigarettes are advertised with glamour, giving a wrong perception of the same to the society. It makes young individuals believe that such product are attractive and they generate the best out of an individual. This has made many governments to put regulations on advertising such products, especially on mass media.
This therefore demands that as a marketer, there should be a way of reaching intended customers with glamorous advertisement, while still observing the regulatory procedures put in place by various bodies and governmental departments.
Globalization
Globalization refers to the rising global relationship of people, culture and other social-economic factors. The world has been reduced into a small village because movement from place to place is made easier. Communication is also easier through phones and other social media. Because of this, marketing has become even a bigger challenge.
The marketer has a bigger market to cover, though this market is made to look smaller. It will therefore demand that the concerned marketing officer develops ways through which adverts can be used to cover a larger region, but with the impact that would be experienced if the location was much smaller.
Impacts of Future Trends in Advertising on Marketing Mix
These new trends will have major impact on the marketing mix. Because of the radical changes that the above factors come with, there will be a change in the pricing strategy. Customers are faced with many options from which to choose. They are also able to access information as regard to competing companies.
For this reason, marketers will be forced to price their products at the market rate or even lower in order to remain relevant. This may lead to serious price wars in the market. It would therefore demand that the marketer finds a way of handling the market that is increasingly becoming price sensitive and very competitive.
The above factors are breaking the geographical barrier that existed before. This therefore, redefines place as one of the marketing mix. The world is turned into global village. A company located in German can easily access markets in Egypt, which are several miles away.
With communication becoming easier, place in the marketing mix takes a new shape. This comes with advantages and disadvantages in equal measure. To those firms that are able to capitalize on the increased market place, it is possible to advertise on such markets. This would lead to increased market share for that particular firm.
However, those that are slow in response to these changes get swept away. Their current market share may reduce because the market is open to many others from various locations in the world. The place factor will therefore have a complete shift to what it used to be in the recent past.
These changes have great impact on product as an element of marketing mix. Products are no longer determined by manufactures. The market is very sensitive to the products that are availed to them. This is because there are many substitutes available to the customers. Companies must therefore develop products that meet expectation of the market.
To be ahead of competition in the market, firms should design products that are beyond imagination of that market. An example was the iPad developed by the Apple Company. This product was beyond the expectation of the market. It was therefore positively received. It was able to capture a huge market share before other companies could capitalize on the same.
Promotion has received the greatest shift due to the above developments. Technology has redefined the way communication is passed from the source to the target group. Some of the traditional methods of promotion like mass media are becoming less attractive.
Though they still cover well over 50% of the means of advertisement, the current developments clearly indicate that this method may be rendered irrelevant in a near future. People are increasingly becoming connected to the internet and prefer getting much of the information from the same.
In about ten years, advertising will basically be done through internet. With the increasing popularity of the social media in various countries, it will be easier to reach the market with the help of such social media as Facebook, Tweeter, YouTube or search engines like Google, Yahoo and Ask. Mass media will be of limited use to the advertising companies.
References
Kabani, S. (2009). The Zen Of Social Media, An Easier Way To Build Credibility, Generate Buzz, And Increase Revenue. Dallas: Benbella Books Inc.
Wedel, M. & Kamakura, W. (2000). Market segmentation: Conceptual and methodological foundations. New York: Springer.