Essay on Marketing Myopia and Marketing Concept

Marketing is a crucial determinant of the volume and value of sales an enterprise makes. Hence, various research on the concept has made it possible that there exist philosophies that guide companies in their marketing and selling initiatives. The focus of this paper is to examine the concept of marketing and marketing myopia. It will discuss the relationship between the two concepts and provide an example of marketing myopia.

Definition of Marketing Concept

According to Kotler and Armstrong (2010), marketing concept is a philosophy were enterprises are required to analyze the needs of their consumers and then make decisions that can be used in the satisfaction of the needs through the provision of goods or services. The decision to satisfy the need should be in the form of a strategy. Ideally, the strategy should be better than that of its competitors. The concept is facilitated through a process where consumers are continuously exposed to advertisements and personal selling promotions in a way that a consumer is informed of the existence of a product. However, prior to the creation of the advertisement messages and promotions, businesses must create a good or service that matches consumer expectations.

Successful and effective marketing occurs under a framework that consists of the identification of a target market and deciding on the appropriate marketing mix to approach the target market while considering factors such as price, place, product, and promotion. A business can select a target market by focusing on a demographic group, the geographical location of consumers, behavioral segmentation and their psychographic. The four factors that are considered are commonly referred to as the 4 Ps of marketing and are often made or tuned to ensure that they meet the preferences of persons in the target market.

Summary of its Relationship to Marketing Myopia

The marketing concept and marketing myopia are partially similar notions. Their similarities are attributed to the fact that the end of result of the ideas is that a consumer will be offered a good or service by a business. Another similarity in inherent in the fact that both concepts incorporate the use of marketing messages and promotional strategies through advertising. Thirdly, they are linked to their ability to convert an advertisement into a sale.

However, the marketing concept and marketing myopia have staggering differences too. As noted earlier, businesses use the marketing concept by initially analyzing the needs of consumers, followed by creating products or services that satisfy the needs and finally sending consumers targeted messages which encourage their purchase. Conversely, marketing myopia is a nearsighted approach to selling services and products where businesses do not see the bigger picture of what customer's desire (Gallo, 2016). Marketing myopia encompasses the lack of insight into what a business is doing for its customers. Unlike the marketing concept, a business that engages in marketing myopia does not invest in time, energy, and money into researching what customers really want. Therefore, a business that engages in marketing myopia is bound to fail regardless of their investment in marketing and advertisement. The reason for the assertion is that consumer purchases are guided by the value and usefulness of the product to him or her. Hence, since the myopic business did not consider how their product or service will be useful to its target consumers, it will not receive meaningful sales.

Subsequently, business is encouraged to apply the marketing concept into their business. The reason is that the marketing concept guarantees that a business will receive returns, unlike marketing myopia which makes a business unsustainable. Thus, businesses should be broad-minded when targeting the market by ensuring that their service or product has used to consumers.

Example of Marketing Myopia

A classic example of marketing myopia in real life can be evidenced by a former pioneer in the photography industry, Kodak. According to Massolutions (2011), Kodak used to be an iconic and successful enterprise in the marketing and sales of cameras, films and photo printing printers through the use of the K logo and public relations campaign. During the period in which it registered success, it provided consumers with product and services that they were in need of. However, technological advancement occurred leading to the innovation of digital cameras that did not require films and rendered Kodak cameras obsolete. Instead of conforming to technological trends, the company chose to retain its traditional business model despite evolving consumer preferences and the adoption of the digital camera. Hence, Kodak continued to market its products to people who did not need them and had instead embraced technologically advanced product and services. Consequently, the company's sales volume began declining to the point that it started making losses (Massolutions, 2011).

Conclusion

It is preferable that businesses embrace the marketing concept instead of marketing myopia. The assertion is backed by the fact that marketing myopia leads to loses as demonstrated by Kodak. In an ideal situation, a consumer would not purchase a product or service they do not need. Hence, myopic businesses make experience declining or no sales at all.

References

Gallo, A. (2016). A refresher on marketing myopia. Harvard Business Review, 1-5. Retrieved January 30, 2018.

Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2010). Principles of marketing. Pearson education.

Massolutions . (2011). Kodak's Marketing Myopia. Retrieved https://massolutions.biz/kodaks-marketing-myopia/