Mass marketing is a market coverage strategy in which a firm decides to
ignore market segment differences and appeal the whole market with one offer
or one strategy. The idea is to broadcast a message that will reach the
largest number of people possible. Traditionally mass marketing has focused
on radio, television and newspapers as the media used to reach this broad
audience. By reaching the largest audience possible exposure to the
product is maximized. In theory this would directly correlate with a larger
number of sales or buys into the product.
Mass marketing is the opposite to Niche marketing as it focuses on high sales
and low prices. Mass Marketing aims to provide products and services that will
appeal to the whole market. Niche marketing targets a very specific
segment of market for example specialized services or goods with few
or no competitors. Background
Mass marketing or undifferentiated marketing has its origins in the 1920s
with the inception of mass radio use. This gave corporations an opportunity to
appeal to a wide variety of potential customers. Due to this, variety
marketing had to be changed in order to persuade a wide audience with different
needs into buying the same thing. It has developed over the years into a
worldwide multi-billion dollar industry. Although sagging in the Great Depression
it regained popularity and continued to expand through the 40s and 50s. It
slowed during the anti-capitalist movements of the 60's and 70's before
coming back stronger than before in the 80's, 90's and today. These trends are
due to corresponding upswings in mass media, the parent of mass marketing. For
most of the twentieth century, major consumer-products companies held fast to
mass marketing- mass-producing, mass distributing and mass promoting about
the same product in about the same way to all consumers. Mass marketing creates
the largest potential market, which leads to lowered costs. It is also
called overall marketing Shotgun Approach
The shotgun theory is an approach of mass marketing. It involves reaching as
many people as you can through television, cable and radio. On the Web,
it refers to a lot of advertising done through banners to text ads in as many
websites as you can, in order to get enough eyeballs that will hopefully turn
into sales. An example of shotgun marketing would be to simply place an
ad on primetime television, without focusing on any specific group of
audience. A shotgun approach increases the odds of hitting a target when it is
more difficult to focus. = Strategy =
All things to all people It is the technique of trying to spread
our marketing message to anyone and everyone who are willing to listen. A
truckload of general advertising is done to the mass market in the hope that some
of them will hit a target. It enables us to reach a wide range of services to
take any job that comes on our way; and ultimately we become a “jack of all
trades and a master of none”. Use and Products Sold
Mass marketing is used to effect attitude change to as wide an audience
as possible. Often this would take the form of selling a product like
toothpaste. Toothpaste isn't made specially for one consumer and it is
sold in huge quantities. A company or individual who manufactures toothpaste
wishes to get more people to buy their particular brand over another. The goal
is when a consumer has the option to select a tube of toothpaste that the
consumer would remember the product which was marketed. Mass marketing is
the opposite of niche marketing, where a product is made specially for one person
or a group of persons. Other products of mass marketing are furniture, artwork,
automobiles, residential communities, fizzy drinks and personal computers.
Typically, things which are perceived to be necessary/essential to the consumer
are subject to mass marketing. Resources of mass marketing provide cost-effective
marketing solutions for small and micro businesses, including start-ups.
Even "products" like politicians and services from professions such as law,
chiropractic and medicine, are subject to mass marketing.
Questions of quality To further increase profits, mass
marketed products touted as "durable goods" are often made of substandard
material, so that they deteriorate prematurely. This practice is called
planned obsolescence. Not only does this lower production costs, but it ensures
future sales opportunities by preventing the market from becoming saturated with
high-quality, long-lasting goods. The forces of a free market tend to preclude
the sale of substandard staples, while disposability, technological
innovations, and a culture of collection all facilitate planned obsolescence.
Many mass marketed items are considered staples. These are items people are
accustomed to buying new when their old ones wear out. Cheaper versions of
durable goods are often marketed as staples with the understanding that they
will wear out sooner than more expensive goods, but they are so cheap that the
cost of regular replacement is easily affordable.
John Watson was a leading psychologist in mass marketing with his experiments
in advertising. Benefits of Mass Marketing
Wide audience - Since the target audience is broad, the number of
successful hits is high despite of the low probability of a single person
turning up. Less risky - If all the efforts in one
particular area goes in vain, still the eventual loss is less compared to a loss
in the narrowly focused area. Production costs per unit are low on
account of having one production run for homogeneous product.
Marketing research cost and advertising cost are relatively low.
Higher potentials of sales volume and efficiency of scale in a much larger
market. See also
Demographic profile Market segmentation
Niche market 'No Size Fits All: From Mass Marketing
to Mass Handselling Precision marketing
Psychographic Target market
References