Ideas for Marketing and Promotion

Marketing forces shape many parts of our daily lives. We make decisions about where to live, work, and travel largely on the basis of the marketing and promotional efforts of the companies that seek our business. But we also decide what we eat, what we wear, and what entertainment we will enjoy on the basis of the marketing that companies use to reach out to us. The modern western civilization cannot function without marketing.

You may not know this, but there is a continuous flow of new science into how marketing works and what it does to us. For example, a recent study on food marketing reveals that the same companies that entice us to eat calorie-rich foods also have the power to help us choose to eat healthier -- and they would be able to make as much profit as by sellling us less healthy foods. Another study suggests that in-store marketing affects children's eating habits more than anything else; hence, food retailers can help fight the childhood obesity epidemic by promoting healthier foods and eating styles.

Market research is not only conducted by scientists. Now companies can monitor online discussions in forums and social media to see what consumers say about their products and services. Tuning in to what customers want, like, and hate about companies is considered an important arm of marketing research. But business researchers can still use a little help. For example, another study says that while companies are trying to understand how viral sharing works on the Internet, the difference between failure and success may simply come down to what consumers think is relevant to their friends and relatives.

Old school marketing practices like advertising on television and radio are still popular, as is the use of branded pens where companies emblazon their logos or product slug lines; not to mention on clothing people wear in public. But these old methods don't translate well to the world of the Internet. Unless you can get someone to wear your customized polo shirt in their viral video it's more a treat than an enticement. But some advertisers display their products online with graphic ads, and clothing is frequently featured in advertising.

However, even online advertising has to match consumer ideas and expectations. Whereas women are more likely to respond to "manly men" in advertising, research suggests that most men react negatively to the "ideal man" image used in a lot of advertising. Marketers who want to reach the average man may need to show the average man in their advertising.

But our marketing needs today are complex. Many traditional businesses with offices and storefronts still rely on old fashioned signage to attract attention from the street. And yet, as more consumers use the Internet to find businesses in their vicinities they are frustrated by poor signage that fails to stand out in a very noisy sign-filled landscape. Hence, all your online marketing efforts may pay off in frustrated customer experiences.

On the other hand, companies that do business primarily online cannot afford to stop marketing once the customers show up and make purchases. Researchers have now determined that allowing free returns is better for future purchases than imposing strict return guidelines and fees. The online consumer expects convenience and marketers therefore need to compete in the arena of consumer expectations, both by projecting the right image and by ensuring that companies service departments understand how much their processes affect consumer buying decisions.

At the end of the day we have to live with marketing practices influencing our decisions -- but clearly the marketers also have to live with our choices. The endless cycle of reaching out to consumers so that consumers can make important choices isn't really changing. We're just getting a better feel for how the cycle works, even as it moves into new venues that speed up the process.