Current Issues in Marketing

Marketing is the process by which the producer and consumer communicate to enable the producers to sell their products to the consumers. The producers engage in introducing their brands to the prospective or already existing customers, informing them of the various specifications which make their products to stand out from the rest (Jaworski et al. 2016, n.d). Due to the evolution of time, the marketing sector in the business industry is currently facing many challenges with the rise of digitized marketing. The increasing use of social media platforms as tools for marketing has caused a drastic change in the manner of strategies for marketing drawn by various companies (McDuffee 2014, n.d). The revision of the strategies is to ensure that despite the changes, the producers are still able to retain their market share or if better, improve it.

According to Russ Klein, the chief executive officer at American Markets Association, he highlights that the digital transformation in the contemporary marketing world has become a problem, more than it is of benefit (Jaworski et al. 2016, n.d). Digital transformation has contributed much in more in adding to managerial problems due to the narrow perception in handling the transformation. As time goes by, it is not only the marketing strategies that shift but also the manner in which the various businesses handle their issues. Communication methods, internal crowd-source innovation, among others keep changing hence marketing must also conform to the strategies employed by the business in handling its businesses (Jaworski et al. 2016, n.d). Within the same scope, one should also realize that the business models shift with regard to digitization hence marketing of products might not be as simple as it was in the past.

When considering the strategic marketing plan, the company must take into consideration various aspects of the market to ensure that the plan is suitable to counter the competition in play. Previously, planning was based on the positioning statements, proper branding, and the ‘4 Ps’ which are currently being ignored by many due to the introduction of methods such as content marketing, marketing automation, SEM, among others (McDuffee 2014, n.d). The introduction of these methods, particularly social media marketing, has caused a number of people to ignore the basics of marketing, hence drawing plans that might influence negatively on the future. Working without a strategic plan is compared to engaging in the construction of a building without a blueprint and as a result a business may not achieve much (McDuffee 2014, n.d). Every proper strategy should ensure that the business model, objectives, and brands are taken into consideration to pave way for better structured marketing strategies. Currently, businesses are more focused into rushing to social media platforms to make known what they deal in (McDuffee 2014, n.d). such actions make their businesses appear as having become a campaign with no strong basis.

In spite of the modern marketing strategies that are in place, the basics of conducting business have not changed. People engage in the exchange of goods and services, just as before, and as a result the old methods, now termed as obsolete, are still applicable. The improvement in the level of technology in use in conducting businesses has led to the digitalization of every procedure including marketing. In particular, the use of social media platforms is currently a marketing trend that has taken the business industry by storm, yet might not be as productive if other forms of marketing are not jointly involved. To achieve a marketing advantage, the entrepreneur should not narrow their mind to this form of marketing only, but also improve the old fashioned techniques.

References

Jaworski, B., Malcolm, R., & Morgan, N. (2016). American Marketing Association: 7 big problems in the marketing industry. Marketing News. [Online] In http://www.ama.org/publications/MarketingNews/Pages/7-big-problems-marketing.aspx  Accessed 9/1/2017.

McDuffee, B. (2014). Editorial strategy and planning: Go “back to the future” with strategic marketing plans. [Online] Created 14/1/2014. In http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/01/back-to-the-future-strategic-marketing-plan/  Accessed 9/1/2017.