Introduction
Consumer needs satisfaction has continued to grow over the past years. It is within the companies’ main agenda to satisfy these needs. With the growing competition, companies must work extra hard to fight for consumers’ limited resources. Companies attain this by implementing techniques, which can draw the consumer’s attention to their products. Firms can achieve this by coming up with marketing techniques that respond to consumers’ needs and want (Clemons and Spitler, 2004). This paper will discuss the techniques and responses that companies have undertaken to respond to how consumers try to satisfy their own needs and want. The techniques under our scope may include hyper differentiation, resonance marketing, and consumer ‘informedness.’
Modern Marketing Techniques
Hyper-differentiation concerns the production of goods according to the customer’s needs. This results in the knowledge that customers will want exact products without any compromise whatsoever. This means that important factors such as product color, branding, styling, and image of the product must correspond to the consumer’s preference(Clemons, 2008; Cachon and Swinney, 2011). Clemon and Spitler (2008) explain that hyper-differentiation explains the consumers’ willingness to pay for a product at a given price, with total satisfaction. It is well noted that consumers have different tastes and preferences. Companies that use this strategy focus on the product’s value to the consumer rather than the cost of production. With these, customers are happy with the development achieved by the companies. More sales are made as a result of product hyper-differentiation. The companies can reach a wide range of consumers who, according to Zarantonello and Schmitt (2010), possess different needs. For instance, a market segment that consists of a particular age mate would easily consume a product that identifies with them.
For a company to maximize in this market without leaving the other potential market, it is necessary to produce products which can satisfy all the marketers’ taste. Companies forming product hyper-differentiation include Brown Brothers Milawa Vineyard limited. This company, which has been around for over a century, is a wine agency that serves the Australian market and beyond. Their main drive that has led to their survival for all these years is the fact that they are able to satisfy the consumer needs. This is achieved by providing the consumer with product attributes that meet the desired specifications in terms of branding, the display, and the taste of the product. Coca-Cola Amatil, on the other hand, has been providing soft drinks for the market, and their focus has always been perfect in the eyes of the consumer. With the company being rated as the best soft drink in the world by several organizations, their ability to accommodate different consumers with different tastes, such as diabetic soda, has contributed to their success. Product hyper-differentiation is a very important marketing strategy, and consumers should not use it to their advantage (Clemons and Spitler, 2004).
The next technique that ought to be adopted by companies is resonance marketing. This technique or strategy is a planning process that a company undertakes to make sure that the consumer needs specifications are met (Granados et al., 2011). With the information gathered in the field, a company is able to come up with specifications that enable consumers will have the urge to pay for the product for personal use. Li (2009) explains that for this to happen, attention must shift to the demand side and not the supply side of the company environment. This enables companies to acquire knowledge on what exactly the consumers want and at what price they are willing to part way with. The main aim of the marketing department in any firm or organization is to determine what the consumer is in need of and make sure they only get it through the company without any hesitation (Li, 2009). Love for the product is very eminent for the consumer, and the firm’s representative must know the taste of the particular consumer to meet their need satisfaction. This will let consumers become loyal to the company.
The perfection must undeniably follow this technique to the latter. When consumer loyalty is formed, not even the price change would stop the consumer from acquiring the product from the company (Clemons, 2008). According to Horn and Salvendy(2009), the consumer will certainly feel the need to have the product, specifically from the company to which they feel close. Several companies within Australia has highly benefited from this strategy. Aerosonde Ltd is one of the companies which specifically customize their products to meet consumers’ specifications. The manufacturing company which builds the specific type of vehicles, mainly used by the meteorological departments, has grown its market beyond Australian borders to other parts of the world. This is achieved because they easily understand the consumers’ needs, which for instance, might include the installation of meteorological applications on the vehicles they sell to various meteorological departments. An additional company within this criterion is the Austal Company, which specifically builds aluminum vessels such as the naval ships used in the military. With specifications from different consumers, they customize their products to fit each individual’s specification. This technique is very important, especially to consumers who like products that meet their requirements, of course, without any notable defaults.
Our last discussion technique used by companies is’informedness’ of the consumer. This is the ability for the customers to have knowledge of what is available in the market. This is very important because, without information, it would be impossible for consumers to make a decision to acquire the product from the company. Dennis et al. (2009) deduced the information about the product is very necessary for the consumer. Such information includes the creation of product awareness, the price of the product, and its attributes (Li, 2009). Several avenues of information passing are within reach of companies. With both the traditional and the new methods in place, information is easily passed. This has really brought consumers to the playground since they can easily acquire information and make the best decision to satisfy their wants. The consumer easily compares their preferences and concedes to the most appropriate seller, who offers the best alternative choice (Clemons and Spitler, 2004).
With information online, the consumers easily get attached with the information, say pricing information, and thereby go for the cost-effective product with the best features. However, for the company, the good thing with the internet is that the firm can easily get information about the consumer wants and needs and avail them where they are needed. They can also check on the website and make an informed decision about the product to meet specific conditions (Granados et al., 2011). Zarantonello and Schmitt (2010) identified that with information at hand, the alteration of the four marketing ‘Ps’ is necessary to accommodate consumers’ expectations. For instance, with pricing, before a consumer makes a choice in the purchase, they would go through different products before they decide which product to acquire.
This always prompts the company to act swiftly so that they can easily gain recognition by the consumers (Winer, 2009). The companies which have achieved this strategy in Australia include audio axel holdings limited. The company has really provided information about their products online and over different Medias such as the dailies and the magazines. The company, which deals with sound electronics as featured in many magazines which the company believes will pass out the information. Another example of the company that stresses its marketing through information is the Ansell Company. The company deals with the making of protective gloves used in medical institutions, industries as well as condoms. Consumers always get information about these products from television advertisements and magazine publications as well as the daily newspapers. With the outspread of information in most outlets, companies prove to gain a competitive advantage, and most companies have opted to be informative so that consumers are given information on the existence of the products (Dennis et al., 2009).
Conclusion
With the three strategies discussed, the amount of recognition a firm receives from the customer is important for them to make informed decisions about the products. Providing information also enables the firm to know the needs of the consumer and avail to them the very same needs as desired. Consumers’ diversities are therefore represented, and for this purpose, a pool of different segments of customers is able to identify with the firm’s produce. This technique allows firms to sell a huge amount of products, but most importantly, an increase in profit margins is realized. Some of the Australian companies which have magnificently adopted and benefited from the new strategies include the ‘Coca-Cola Amatil,’ ‘Brown Brothers Milawa Vineyard,’ Aerosonde Ltd, and ‘audio pixel holdings limited.’ They have gained a competitive advantage due to the introduction of these newly acquired strategies. Their operations have been altered to house these new strategies. The most conspicuous of them all is the introduction of powerful technologies within the system to incorporate the storage and to provide information to the public and within the company’s management. Through this, the company is also able to collect information regarding the goods and services that the market really needs and strive to avail themselves for them.
References
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