The marketing orientation approach is a marketing concept that all modern businesses should consider adopting. The changing marketing conditions over time have made this to be one of the most effective approaches in marketing. The preceding eras in marketing emphasized more on production and sales promotion. As a consequence, the market became saturated with products and the consumers were spoilt for choice. In addition to this, the increased production was not complemented by an increase in the number of consumers. Competition amongst the market players became very fierce and there was therefore a to come up with an approach that would help market players to overcome the competition. It is at this point that the marketing orientation approach emerged. The marketing orientation approach is concerned with examining the needs of the customers and coming up with products that meets these specific needs.
In marketing orientation approach, the marketers seek to replace the traditional approach of customers conforming to the products, to a new approach where the product is designed to meet the expectations of the customer. In this approach, consumer intelligence is critical as it enables marketers to know what is specifically needed in the market. Companies then use this information to develop products that are aimed at meeting the identified needs. Without meeting the customer needs, businesses will find it hard to compete effectively in the market.
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"Marketing Orientation Approach".
In order for a company to understand customer needs, it has to venture into analyzing consumer behavior. There a number of models that help in analyzing why consumers behave the way they do. By analyzing these models, markers will be in a position to get a better understanding of their customers and therefore use this information in developing products that addresses these needs. The process of identifying the needs of the consumers is not always an easy one. The reason for this is because some of the factors that make the consumers to behave the way they do have their basis in psychology. To understand these factors better, there are consumer behavior models that have been developed to try and explain why consumers behave the way they do. There is however some common grounds that try to explain why consumers behave the way they do.
The first important factor in marketing orientation is the presence of a stimulant. There are some products that consumers are likely to buy because they are stimulated to do so. For example, a consumer may not have plans to buy a pair of shoes. However, with the right stimulus such as low price, the consumer can enter into a buying decision. It is the responsibility of the marketers to carry out their research and determine what stimulates their customers into buying their products. One of the most important stimuli is price. Customers are more likely to buy a product if they feel that its price is fair to them. Customers are increasingly becoming rational in relation to prices and they are most likely to buy a brand that is lowly priced. Marketers should therefore offer their products at a price that is likely to motivate the consumers to buy. The product itself is also likely to attract consumers into making a buying decision. Marketers should ensure that their products are made in such a way that they are appealing to the customers.
There are some personal attributes that are related to the consumers and which will affect their buying behavior. One of this is the cultural orientation of the consumer. Culture is an important determinant of whether a consumer will buy a product or not. Marketers should seek to determine the cultural beliefs of a target community before they can manufacture a product for that market. The social considerations are also an important consideration when marketing a product. The marketers should consider the social class of their target customers and present them with products that befit their social status. Consumers will fail to buy products that they feel they do not fit in their social class. For example, a person who belongs to the higher middle class may have little or no interest in a product that targets the lower middle class. Likewise, a person in the lower middle class may consider products targeting the higher middle class to be too expensive for them. Personal factors such as age and life cycle stage, occupation, lifestyle and economic situation are also likely to affect consumer behavior. For example, people are likely to buy different products depending on their current life cycle stage. Marketers should seek to establish these personal attributes and adapt their products accordingly.
The marketing orientation approach is one of the best marketing strategies as it takes into consideration the most important element which is the consumer. This approach seeks to adapt products to meet the needs of the consumer. The emergence of this marketing approach was informed by the changing market needs. The traditional approaches of enhanced advertising and large scale production led to increased competition in the market. There was therefore a need for marketers to come up with a marketing strategy that will give their organizations a competitive edge over others. Based on this fact, it is only prudent for all organizations to adopt this marketing approach as it seeks to address some of the challenges that have been identified in the field of marketing. Any organization that adopts the traditional methods will experience the challenges that the marketing orientation approach seeks to solve.
