Two of the management gurus Peter Drucker and Philip Kotler have been writing about management and marketing respectively for more than 50 years. Philip Kotler’s books are referred world over. However the meaning and substance of marketing has changed over last 50 years and some of the concepts have undergone change. The main reason for such a change is because of business environment, technology advancement and maturity of the market.
Subtle changes in modern marketing
- There is a remarkable shift in digital marketing
- Marketing is shifted towards social purpose apart from product
- It also depicts as to what are the values of the company and not just features of products.
Modern marketing is just not focused on product but it is also focused on social and environmental factors. It is also approaching the values of the consumer.
Purpose of the modern marketing
The purpose can be defined in following 3 ways.
- Consumer sight – Consumer has become a central point wherein marketing studies his persona and attributes to target the message.
- Consumer foresight – The probability of potential consumers and their behavior patters
- Competition sight / foresight – While you are concentrating on our own company, marketing can not lose the sight of competition.
Time map of development of marketing
Over the years there is time map that has got evolved because of the changes which have taken place over the decades. In one line we can summarize the time map in following manner.
Marketing — Brand and marketing — Marketing, Brand, Digital — Marketing, Brand , Digital, Innovation
Initially there was a focus on marketing which was completely product and its feature oriented. After decades or so companies evolved in to brands and they were then recognized by consumers by the brand names. In the last decade digital face has taken over due to the development in delivery platforms based on technology. However in the coming decade the 3 components namely marketing, brand and digital will get added with one more dimension called innovation.
Features of the modern marketing
- It has become more buyer or consumer centric and not product centric.
- 4 p’s have become very crucial which are product, price, place and promotion.
- It has got focused more towards segment wise growth and it aims to service multiple segments.
- It has to start with market research.
- It has become more target oriented rather than generalistic.
- In any message there is always a element of value proposition.
- It is always implemented with detail plan.
Future trends of modern marketing
- Technology developments like artificial intelligence and augmented reality will get involved more in to marketing. Both these tools help to get closer to consumer and predict his behavior as well. Augmented reality helps to create a almost real life feel for consumer in all goods and services including tangible goods.
- It follows the consumer’s entire journey of buying. It means from the point he makes a buying decision till he actually buys the product he goes through a process and that entire process is considered while developing the campaigns.
- All the touch points by a consumer till he buys the product are touched by various campaigns at those very specific locations.
- It concentrates on the development of consumer , his personality, his behavior patters. The idea is to cater to the need of consumer in making his all round development or give him a feel good factor.
- Content has become more scientific and it is more focused direct towards consumer.
- Influencer marketing has been around for some time and it does create visibility and satisfy the consumer need of esteem. However today marketers are even considering micro influencers and nano influencers.
- Due to technology innovations we have omni channels present in the market. Marketers are ensuring that the message on every channel is same and does not confuse the consumer.
- Today business sustainability takes in to account the social, economic and environmental factors in to consideration. Scientific marketing also takes in to account these factors while creating a marketing campaigns.
Modern day marketing has become more and more complex due to intelligence , market research, multiple channels, multiple delivery tools due to technology advancement. Marketing should be aimed in such a way that sales becomes redundant. It is a challenge for a CMO to address such multiple dimensions.
