How Marketers Shape Consumer Wants and Must-Haves

Definitions

Nowadays, marketing is one of the essential parts of developing a product that will be both revenue-producing and highly scalable. Marketing is defined as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” (American Marketing Association, 2017). Marketers conduct consumer research and examine the expectations and need to optimize the product and make it more appealing to target audiences. However, marketing can also be used to dictate trends to popularize certain products or services.

Marketing professionals

Marketing professionals try to predict consumer needs by using personal identification (age, culture, hobbies, socio-economic background) for assessing purchasing behavior. Influencer marketing, peer recommendations (online reviews), and word of mouth are some of the most effective strategies developed by marketers based on the knowledge that customers usually consider other people’s opinions before buying a product. Customers’ tendency to evaluate outcomes leads to the increase of marketing strategies focused on demonstrating positive results after using a product.

Regulating the market

Regulating the market is a way for companies to assure consumers of the value of a certain product by calculating a proper emotional appeal. For example, at the beginning of the twentieth century, companies that produced razors for men wanted to expand their market and attract a new customer group. Marketers created a narrative that shaving for women was trendy and could save them from embarrassment (Edwards, 2015). Another gender-based example would be the ‘feminization’ of cigarettes as companies started to use slogans like ‘Reach for a Lucky instead of a sweet’ to establish an association between cigarettes and slimness (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015).

Marketing professionals influence consumer purchasing behavior through a detailed assessment of customers’ expectations and needs based on numerous unique factors, including age, nationality, and financial situation. Furthermore, markets are constantly shifting for companies to expand and cater to new groups. As a result, marketing becomes a combination of customers’ real wants and those carefully planted by marketers.

References

American Marketing Association. (2017). Definitions of marketing. Web.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2015). 2001 Surgeon General’s report highlights: Marketing cigarettes to women. Web.

Edwards, Phil. (2015). How the beauty industry convinced women to shave their legs? Vox. Web.