Introduction
The argument of whether or not the new marketing paradigm exists seems quite odd, to say the least. The global market is changing, the economies are gravitating towards more efficient practices, and so do the marketing strategies. The following work aims at further expanding on the subject of the new marketing paradigm and explaining some of its features based on the example of a global company compared with a New Zealand-based one.
New marketing paradigm
The new paradigm explained
Where the old ways and terms do not apply, the new ones evidence the paradigm shifts, although they do not nullify the experience of the past. For one, the new paradigm goes from contact-making to asset-building. The old paradigm mostly operated with outreach and frequency, while overlooking the fact that some contacts were harder to reach than the others. The new principle leverages the outreach by applying new techniques like brand engagement and content marketing, with heavy use of digital technology. Second, the new paradigm disposes of campaign marketing and switch to platforms, where the products are less broadcasted and more personalized. Third, a very important paradigm shift has emerged in the way brand-consumer interaction happens. Today, brands actively interact with their consumers, giving them useful advice on how to make the most of the product. Finally, and most critically to market competitiveness, the companies stop raising awareness about the product and start to increase the consumers’ participation through various media, mainly the digital ones (Peppers & Rogers, 2006).
The new paradigm and market competition
The fourth and final component of the new paradigm pertains directly to the competition in the market. The companies used to broadcast to blind their customers with the marketing message and the urge to buy. The simple fact was that they promoted a category of a certain product rather than a specific item, while other companies had a chance to cleverly retarget the broadcasting and get more consumers.
The media activation is the key to increasing competitiveness, thus changing its role from mere voice-sharing to making the customers engaged with a familiar product that is, at the same time, new. The adverts, however cleverly they were designed, had to be reviewed and structured anew to meet the new requirements. Adverts have ceased to be a message concentrated on itself. Rather, it is a means of motivating the customer to act back. The more engaging the ads are, the higher the competitive factor of every individual establishment.
Different views
There is quite a body of research where different authors express their views on each of the components of the paradigm. For instance, Chandler and Lush (2015) support the alignment of channels as assets for an organization and refer to it as value distribution. Klauss (2013) states that the interactivity and engagement are one of the psychological factors of customer outreach, which makes the products and services more competitive in the market. Another view of client engagement is supportive as well; however, the authors O’Reilly and Horning (2013) think that activation as a mechanism is more effective as a tool of fundraising and sponsorship than client engagement. Interestingly, a recent article by Khongorzul, Noh, and Jang (2015) puts a special emphasis on consumer-to-consumer interaction after they have been engaged with the product, specifically in the field of cultural marketing, implying that without such interaction, the paradigm is not quite complete. Finally, the author Kapferer (2012) compiles his views on the new paradigm in a book where he asserts that the most important change this paradigm has brought to marketing is the change of the perception of the brand. The place of the brand, at that, is far from being prime: instead of “managing the brand,” establishments tend to gravitate towards “managing by the brand” (Kapferer, 2012, p.29).
Colloquially speaking, there seems to be no “one size fits all” approach to the new paradigm, although its main features of brand-consumer interaction with a special focus on consumer engagement are approved of by all authors. In addition to contributing to the companies’ competitiveness, such a way of interaction is quite effective in fundraising. These effects can be analyzed in more depth when a case study relevant to the New Zealand market is built.
New Zealand’s YouChooze IT vs. Hailo
As the world goes high-tech, so does marketing. For global companies, expanding into the New Zealand market would be a good opportunity for growth, considering the speed with which a business can be started (three days) and the open-market economy (Stanton, 2016). For an establishment based in Great Britain, for instance, the opportunities would be still more intriguing, given that New Zealand is still part of the Commonwealth and is quite dependent on the import of the goods. Besides, the majority of the population claims to have British ancestry, which could facilitate better engagement.
A British-based company such as this would be Hailo, a taxi-hailing app service. A similar application in New Zealand (Cabchooze) is developed by YouChooze IT company alongside several other mobile apps.
Market commonality
New Zealand’s YouChooze IT is a small-scale domestic company encompassing only the premises of the country (Scoop Media, 2013). Hailo, on the other hand, operates in several countries of the world: Britain, Ireland, the U.S., Spain, and Japan. It is also intending to partner with another similar company – Mytaxi – and extend its service into the markets of Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Sweden (Ribeiro, 2016).
The market commonality at present is, therefore, nonexistent: while YouChooze IT operates nowhere but its homeland New Zealand, Hailo (either in partnership with Mytaxi or taken separately) seems to occupy all other markets. However, if Hailo ever enters the New Zealand market, the commonality will increase because in this case, the global form will be occupying the one market where the domestic firm functions. The importance of its market to YouChooze IT is very high.
Resource similarity
Hailo is a company specializing purely in ride-sharing and upscaling its competency to the point of excellence. YouChooze IT is a developing company, although it specializes in taxi-hailing as well (Scoop Media, 2013). The revenues are not publicly disclosed but the fact that Hailo possesses more of this resource as a global company than YouChooze IT (owned by New Zealand entirely and not operating outside the country) speaks for itself. Hailo’s platform is, naturally, larger than that of YouChooze IT, and the investments count up to $548 million at a time (Ribeiro, 2016). The resources that the companies possess, therefore, are quite dissimilar, although the industry of operation is the same.
Potential rivalry
The factors driving interim rivalry include awareness, motivation, ability, and the difference in resources. Entering the New Zealand market, Hailo will be aware that some competitors exist – and these are not confined to YouChooze IT because Uber and some other competitors also operate within New Zealand’s Borders. Naturally, YouChooze IT will be aware as well. By the scope of operation, and because YouChooze IT has been in the market for just over 4 years and have not seen any tangible development, the New Zealand domestic company is not quite able to represent a rival. The reluctance to develop and innovate can result from the lack of motivation as well, although losing its positions in the market may play its role as the negative motivating factor. The resources are not similar but considering all other factors, YouChooze IT is unlikely to commence an interim rivalry with such a powerful competitor. Besides, New Zealand consumers will probably favor Hailo over the local one because of the global tendency to choose products that are familiar and yet have new features and options differing from what they already know.
Ways of thriving
New Zealand is a mixed economy, which is characterized by its long dependency on imported goods and services such as healthcare and raw food products. It encourages international trade, but although its economic relations with countries such as Australia and Great Britain help boost the overall economic situation, they can be potentially harmful to local businesses.
At this, public sector services like taxi-hailing can be harmed the most if such services are ever outsourced, considering that they constitute a large part of the country’s GDP. Having built a case on YouChooze IT, it is possible to spot two major interdependent discrepancies between how the business operates and what it had better do to strive.
Specialized factor markets
The YouChooze IT business is an entity that already belongs to the specialized factor market in that it differentiates itself from other similar services and thus exploits the added value (e.g., both customers rating different drivers and the drivers rating the customers’ behavior). That the company has developed this feature was probably the reason it was rated among the 25 best New Zealand-based applications for iOS and Android. However, the company has not employed the differentiation strategy any further, which would be only beneficial (Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment, 2013).
Innovation and the right strategy
The innovation factor is densely intertwined with the specialized market where companies have to innovate to strive. YouChooze IT can explore the opportunity and develop a new application – with the deployment of the right strategy. In the context of digital technology, this would be to engage the customers and increasing their participation. The company could start, for instance, by providing them with an opportunity to share their ideas of what they think the existing app should look like or what the new ones could be.
Conclusion
The new paradigm of marketing subsumes that the customers be engaged more actively. At this, New Zealand-based companies such as YouChooze IT could refer to some of the practices outlined within the new paradigm and make it their credo. While the country relies heavily on international trade in its economic operations, the local market could be developed if the specialized services made proper use of the new paradigm.
References
Chandler, J. D., & Lush, R. F. (2015). Service Systems: A Broadened Framework and Research Agenda on Value Propositions, Engagement, and Service Experience. Journal of Service Research, 18(1), 6-22.
Kapferer, J. (2012). The New Strategic Brand Management: Advanced Insights and Strategic Thinking. Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page Publishers.
Khongorzul, G., Noh, J. S., & and Jang, H. Y. (2015). The Antecedents and Outcomes of Art Marketing: Focus on the Moderation Effect of Premium Price. Advanced Science and Technology Letters, 114, 72-76.
Klauss, P. (2013). The case of Amazon.com: towards a conceptual framework of online customer service experience (OCSE) using the emerging consensus technique (ECT). Journal of Services Marketing, 27(6), 443-457.
Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment. (2013). High-growth business in New Zealand. Web.
O’Reilly, N., & Horning, D. L. (2013). Leveraging sponsorship: The activation ratio. Sport Management Review, 16(4), 424-437.
Peppers, D., & Rogers, M. (2006). “A new marketing paradigm: Share of customer, not market share.” Planning Review, 23(2), 14-18.
Ribeiro, J. (2016). Taxi hailing apps Mytaxi and Hailo will merge to counter Uber in Europe. Web.
Scoop Media. (2013). Cabchooze app initial stats from Auckland taxis. Web.
Stanton, N. (2016). Why Expand to New Zealand? Web.