Developing a consumer-oriented marketing strategy

Not long ago, marketing activities were constructed to simply promote product sales and focus on building market share; strategies that focused on how companies could move the most units of merchandise were considered the right way to go. In today's competitive business environment however, marketing activities are constructed to fulfill the needs of consumers.

Consumer-oriented marketing strategies give the marketing manager the tools required to examine which stores/distribution channels should carry the product; the price-sensitivity of the product or brand, and which segments of the population are the purchasers of the product.

Therefore, for an organization to take on a consumer oriented approach, it will have to ask the following questions:

1. How is the market segmented? For instance, are the primary consumers brand loyalists, cost-conscious, or conspicious consumers looking to purchase luxury items for status?
   
   
2. What is the profitability of each of these segments? Once the segmentation of the market is known, the organization should then determine the size and profitability of each of these segments. The potential for large, underserved segments of the population to exist is there and organizations that have clearly identified these potentially profitable segments can find great success.
   
   
3. What are the common characteristics of the consumers in each segment? Now that the company has defined the segments and the profitability of each one, the marketing management must then look at the characteristics, habits, values, and influencing factors of these potential customers. By doing so, the managers can better predict whether the segment is more likely to grow or to shrink in the future. This will undoubtedly have an impact on future campaigns and marketing strategies
   

A final point worth mentioning is that marketing management should also ask themselves if the existing customers are actually satisfied with the current products and services offered by the organization. Ideally, this is done after the market segmentation has taken place; this way the organization can better tailor its offerings to the needs of specific customers.

By determining who the customers are and customizing and tailoring their offerings to these customers, marketing managers can benefit by: a) fulfilling the needs of underserved consumers; and b) creating long-term value and growth opportunities for their respective organizations.

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