Marketing Myopia
A New Marketing Myopia Led By Customer Orientation A few decades ago, marketing was based merely on products, their specifications and promotions rather than on customers and their needs. This short sighted approach led to a distortion in the strategic vision of business entities and was later on termed as the “marketing myopia�. This idea became the source of our current marketing efforts and activities, making room for customer focused marketing. However, it has been observed that this stringent focus on customer orientation has paved way for a host of issues which may also affect the strategic approach and vision of a company. This new marketing myopia which threatens to limit the function of marketing has been discussed below. While a number of marketers are too busy focusing on the customer needs, they are in actual overlooking the importance of broader societal impacts and contexts that a business may relate to. Business decision making is not merely dependent upon the needs of the target market but also on the societal values, business dynamics and various other external factors. The problem occurs due to multiple reasons but the main reason behind the same is a single minded approach in order to meet the customer needs without adequate attention to the needs and preferences of the stakeholders. In addition, a number of companies are unable to define their customers or their needs in the right context. For instance, too narrow definitions of your target market or specifying their needs into very precise and stringent terms may in actual hinder opportunities for innovation and greater marketing impact for businesses. This is the new marketing myopia which is being faced by a number of customer oriented companies. Apart from hindering business success, this myopia is also responsible for a lack of responsiveness towards societal changes. Companies that fail to interact and build relations with their key stakeholders are also unable to stay updated of the changes in the business environment, competitive forces and the target market. It is worth highlighting that marketing is a domain which must focus on engaging the stakeholders in order to create value for the customers. The best way that marketers can avoid this myopia is by engaging the stakeholder beyond the boundaries of customers in order to facilitate value creation. Instead of viewing customers as the sole partners, companies need to realize the importance of other stakeholders as well. This in turn will help marketers to expand the role of boundary spanning in an organization. Companies can achieve this by mapping their stakeholders and ensuring that the generic descriptions are eliminated for more specific names and their interconnections. The role of stakeholder orientation and broader marketing tactic is the key to survival in a highly competitive and unpredictable business environment. http://www.researchomatic.com/Marketing-48146.html
Marketing Myopia