Introduction
Marketing is a generalizing concept that defines a company’s place in the market relative to its competitors, its advantages, and its choice of promising market segments it plans to serve. It includes the relationship with customers, who are members of those market segments that have been selected (Frig, Fougere, Lijander & Polsa, 2018). Any company’s marketing goal is to maximize its opportunities with high rates of benefit and customer satisfaction. The company has a marketing strategy of three parts: mission, competitive advantage, and target market segments (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Marketing reflects the overall attitude of the company in the chosen activity. Companies face several of the most severe mistakes when approached incorrectly.
Consumer Orientation
The problem of insufficient consumer orientation is the most widespread. The authors define it as one of the ten deadly sins of marketing, and for the most part, this is true: if companies do not act when mistakes are identified, they will collapse (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Many large corporations are still not marketing-oriented and are skeptical about developing marketing competencies. Only in the ’90s of the last century did corporations move from being competition-oriented to consumer-oriented, which required the development of marketing competencies of the company (de Vries, Gensler, Leeflang, 2017). However, companies are still too interested in competition instead of getting closer to the consumer.
Characteristic signs of this sin are the lack of training in the culture of communicating with consumers and the lack of incentives to treat them better. The company has little interest in customer satisfaction and discounts this work to lower divisions. It is paramount to ask: Whose interests does the company seek to satisfy first? It is possible to sell well and please the client only through constant contact through surveys, focus groups, research in outlets, “mystery shoppers,” and modern technologies (Frig, Fougere, Lijander & Polsa, 2018). To solve the problem of insufficient orientation to the consumer, it is necessary to build a clear hierarchy of values of the company and demonstrate that each employee impacts customers. Managers should also spotlight advances in customer satisfaction and train employees in customer service.
The Clear Line of Competition
A good forward-thinking company is in a permanent state of development, restructuring, and data analysis, and it is constantly watching its competitors. Another marketing sin is failing to identify competitors and track their actions (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Competition is a form of conflict that lies in the search for a compromise solution or a complete takeover of competing companies (Chuang & Thomson, 2017). Competition is the result of the influence of the economic power of firms. Companies interested in fair competition should properly analyze the market and evaluate their actions (Pridmore & Hämäläinen, 2017). The lack of a prominent position in competition leads to a constant lack of data on competitive firms, concentrating on the wrong competitor.
The solution lies in organizing departments that will collect information about competitors. This department will develop a new competitive strategy that will produce unique offers to attract competitors’ customers (Binbin & Xiaoyan, 2017). It is also essential to learn new technologies and use them if they are helpful to the company. For example, using the Internet to analyze user queries: key queries are a bridge between the company and potential customers. Competitive relationship managers can optimize sites and make them more attractive to customers.
The Imperfection of Marketing Plans
The ninth sin of marketing is planning, unwillingness, or inability to do it. It should be competent, consider contingencies, and be based on actual financial situations. The marketing plans should be realistic, and their use should be justified (Kaiser, 2019). The imperfection of plans comes from the lack of information, and the inability to process and analyze it. Such programs do not contain specific components and logic; they do not consider contingencies. In addition, planning managers do not include modeling the financial results of alternative strategies (Hwang & Kim, 2018). Such tactics and the exclusion of essential points from plans can lead to inefficient turnover and, as a result, reduce the company’s appeal to consumers.
It is necessary to act in two directions: standardization and stimulation to solve this problem. Firstly, it is essential to introduce a standard plan, including situation analysis, issues, tactics, strategy, budgets, tasks, and goals. Secondly, companies should stimulate departments to constantly analyze, plan, and prepare reports for further practical use. In addition, it is necessary to appoint managers to control the execution of the points of the plan. The correct organization of work will significantly contribute to the improvement of marketing.
Weaknesses in Communication and Brand Building
The brand is strengthened by advertising and other means: quality, reliability, service, delivery, feedback, and the ability to go above and beyond. If a customer has ordered something and received a broken item, a quick response and offer of compensation will help ensure that the customer’s opinion of the brand is not too diminished (de Vries, Gensler, Leeflang, 2017). A brand is a collection of actions around a product, but if a company does not engage the consumer, it is unlikely that its products will be bought. The target audience has little awareness of a particular company and cannot determine why they choose it. It is a wake-up call because it shows a weakness in communication channels (Whitler, 2021). The company probably also communicates little with suppliers and distributors, and there is a slight variation in budget allocation across industries.
Executives should optimize brand-building strategies and rethink measuring results to strengthen the brand. In addition, a manager should reallocate funds to the most effective marketing tools. Marketing professionals should probably undergo additional training that will enable them to change their thinking toward financial categories (de Vries, Gensler, Leeflang, 2017). With their help, they will estimate the amount of profit that is expected from the capital invested. To strengthen communication channels, managers should develop the right strategies. These strategies should focus on supporting the company internally and communicating externally with consumers.
Failure to Benefit from New Technologies
Many global companies have been in the market for a long time: they stood at the beginning of the formation of marketing and, therefore, now have a hard time perceiving technological progress. Such firms use traditional ways of attracting potential customers, which are already ineffective (Kaiser, 2019). Companies are falling behind technologically by not using online channels and automating processes, making them no longer competitive (Frig, Fougere, Lijander & Polsa, 2018). Marketing departments need to develop dashboards, but companies find them unnecessary. Companies should make the most of the Internet and optimize their sales system to avoid lag. In addition, online promotion specialists can help address low targeting and improve consumer perception of the company.
Conclusion
Marketing is a way of organizing the production and marketing of products based on studying the market need for goods and services. When companies choose the wrong marketing strategies, they can suffer significant losses. The problem of low customer orientation can be solved by training employees and reviewing the hierarchy of values. The lack of a distinct competitive line can be changed by developing new strategies and creating competitor intelligence departments. Imperfect marketing plans are solved by standardization and incentives. Weak communications and the inability to build a good brand can be strengthened by reallocating funds to the most effective tools. Many companies still refuse to use new technologies, so we need to change attitudes toward Internet marketing and make the most of it.
References
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