Is Mass Marketing Dead?

Instructions:
With marketers increasingly adopting more and more refined market segmentation schemes – fueled by the Internet and other customization efforts – some claim mass marketing is dead. Others counter there will always be room for large brands employing marketing programs to target the mass market.

Take a position: Mass marketing is dead versus mass marketing is still a viable way to build a profitable brand.

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ANSWER

Is Mass Marketing Dead?

Mass marketing involves organizations appealing to the market as a whole with one offer ignoring market segments. It follows the idea that the message will reach a large number of people, either through television or newspapers. This kind of marketing is slowly dying, especially in the social media era. This is because people are no longer dependent on newspaper ads and radio ads for advertisements (Kotler et al., 2019). The marketing universe has been reinventing itself, and many products and mediums are available to market products effectively. I would not say with confidence that mass marketing is dead as it is still in use, but with the new technology and customers concentrating and moving to market segments, mass marketing is not enough. For example, a company that sells clothes and accessories for the young generation cannot concentrate on mass marketing alone. This is because most young people do not spend time watching television or reading newspapers. Such a company needs to use other methods, such as social media, to appeal to its target market.

One of the reasons mass marketing is no longer as efficient as it was in the past is that the audiences have learned to ignore the ads. For the seller to get to the consumer, they have to personalize messages to ensure that it gets to the target market. Today marketing is not merely bout telling the consumer that the product will make them happy. It is about showing them how the said product will make them happy (Kotler et al., 2019). This means that the messages sent to the consumers must be personalized so that the consumer feels that the product is the right fit for them. In mass marketing, the aim is to reach as many people as possible to get the attention of those who need the product. In the world today, the message is directed to the person who needs the product with a personalized message.

Indeed, mass marketing looks like it is being pushed out of the door, but it is still efficient for some products. Products such as coca cola are still using mass marketing, and they have managed to retain their brand’s appeal. Mass marketing builds brands and reinforces the mission statement. It also ensures that the brand gets the attention of millions of people. Coca-cola uses mass marketing and social media marketing to keep its brand alive. It also uses personalized marketing to ensure that it maintains the image of the brand. An example of a combination of the two is the 2012 share a coke campaign (Vincent & Kolade, 2019). Coca-Cola used personalized marketing and mass marketing to increase the sales of its brand, and it worked as it increased the number of sales.

Mass marketing is not the best form of marketing in the world today, but saying it is dead is not accurate. Mass marketing is still effective for some brands and can still be used with other types of marketing to derive excellent results. Mass marketing is not dead, but it is not as efficient as it used to be in the past.

References

Kotler, P., Kartajaya, H., & Setiawan, I. (2019). Marketing 3.0: From products to customers to the human spirit. In Marketing wisdom (pp. 139-156). Springer, Singapore.

Vincent, E., & Kolade, A. (2019). Persuasive Communication: Semiotic Analysis of “Share-a-coke” Advertising Campaign. World Journal of Innovative Research (WJIR) ISSN, 2454-8236.