Mass marketing most often promotes products in the "need" and not "want" category. It is aimed at everyone and typically focuses on selling "essential" products at a lower price to achieve more sales and get maximum brand exposure. Let's see what it is all about.
As consumers, we have a plethora of options to choose from when making a purchasing decision. Mass marketing benefits from this, as well as the size of the market it advertises in. It can be extremely effective in promoting new products or services, increasing brand awareness, and maintaining a loyal customer base. However, not every company should implement it in their marketing strategy. First, she needs to estimate the demand for a specific product so that her efforts are not wasted and that she can get the maximum return on her investment.
What is Mass Marketing?
Mass marketing is undifferentiated marketing. The goal of this market strategy is to reach as much of the market as possible. All buyers or prospective buyers are treated as a homogeneous group. Reaching as many potential customers as possible is to be ensured by one marketing strategy. Instead of creating different marketing strategies for different segments of society or even different products for different groups. In this way, mass marketing treats all segments of the population the same. This strategy tends to focus on large volumes of sales at lower prices and uses a variety of mass media to get the most exposure for your product. The broad market coverage tactic is the opposite of niche marketing. By offering products that are useful to a wide range of consumers with different needs, it does the opposite marketing segmentation.
Mass marketing is most effective when it is used to advertise products that are considered essential, that is, products that are certain to be bought by a large number of people anyway. Memorable ads build brand awareness (who hasn't hummed a song from an ad with Zenek Martyniuk at least once?) And are aimed at changing consumer behavior, drawing their attention to the product being sold. By producing goods that are needed in a large market and offering them at competitive prices, a mass marketing strategy has one major advantage. It increases the potential of high-volume sales while reducing production costs thanks to mass production.
Memorable ads build brand awareness.
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One of the undifferentiated marketing strategies is the "planned life" of mass-marketed products. What is it for? Lowering production costs and ensuring that consumers have to come back and buy the product again. This is called creating opportunities for future sales. Many of these products are considered basic and are actually bought by customers on a regular basis.
Techniques of undifferentiated marketing
Mass marketing uses a number of techniques to reach the largest possible audience. Perhaps the best known technique is advertising in traditional mass media such as television, radio and the Internet. They contain messages that appeal to a wide range of customers. In undifferentiated marketing, television continues to provide a great return on investment. It is difficult to estimate how it will be in the long term. Currently, however, it is one of the methods of investing in advertising with the lowest risk, with a high probability of returning profit. The probability is 70% over three to six months and 86% over three years.
Advertisers often use a technique called "affective state" where they take a product and place it alongside other things that consumers feel positive about. For example, detergent brands are often associated with children, sun and flowers, even though detergents have nothing to do with them. Repeatedly displaying a branded product alongside feel-good images makes people think more positively about it. Mass marketing also aims to create advertisements that catch the attention of a large market with exciting and memorable messages. The average person is bombarded with more than 1,700 banner ads a month, but he sees half of them. Therefore only engaging advertising campaign it will allow the brand to appear in the customer's mind and stay there for longer.
Advantages and disadvantages of undifferentiated marketing
Companies implement mass marketing mainly to increase the presence and visibility of the brand in the market. The goal may also be to communicate to customers about new products introduced by the brand. Since their price is very close to the price range of other brands' products, customers don't hesitate to try different ones. Take, for example, those who buy X toothpaste. They might as well choose to try Y toothpaste as the price range for both products is roughly the same. With this marketing strategy, ROI is never the goal. Instead, companies prioritize brand awareness.
What are the disadvantages of marketing varied? There are many brands offering similar products, leading to fierce competition in the market. Hence, the odds of losing when using a mass marketing strategy are high.
Table 1. Advantages and disadvantages of mass marketing
Mass Marketing - Examples
For example, telecommunications operators use mass marketing campaigns, because telecommunications services are used by a huge number of people. In addition, mass marketing is used by producers from the FMCG industry, e.g. of soaps or detergents. Many personal care products, such as body deodorants, use this marketing strategy because they are used by people representing a large segment of the market.
Coca-Cola is another good example of mass marketing. TV commercials are designed to appeal to everyone. As Coca Cola is a product that covers various niches in terms of popularity, its marketing campaign has proven to be very effective and successful. To be successful, advertising in mass marketing campaigns must focus on a set of product needs that are common to most consumers in your target market.
An example of how undifferentiated marketing influences the growth of brand awareness is e.g. McDonald's. Their ads can be found everywhere: on the bus, on the train, on billboards, on social media, on TV, spotify and even on the radio. Consistently implemented mass marketing has been used in their marketing activities for decades. This made them a giant in the fast food industry. The developed strong brand image may discourage competitors and new restaurant chains from entering the market.
Mass and relational marketing
The differences between mass and relational marketing are very clear. We can say that each of them is on two sides of the scale. The first thing that distinguishes them is the importance for the organization. Mass Marketing focuses on generating the maximum possible sales through massive marketing and promotional activities. Relationship marketing, on the other hand, is a development strategy relationship with customers in the long run. Companies achieve this by building customer loyalty and offering good-quality goods and services. Another difference is the purpose. Mass marketing is about driving sales, while relationship marketing is about building a strong relationship with the customer. The time perspective is also different. Undifferentiated Marketing is focused on achieving short-term gains while relationship marketing seeks to achieve long-term gains.
In the case of mass marketing, the interaction or communication with customers is very small, and most often one-way. As part of relationship marketing, the company focuses on dialogue with the client and listening to his needs. The goal of mass marketing is to get an order or make a sale, while relationship marketing is to become the sole or preferred supplier in the marketplace. The promotional strategy used in mass marketing is usually to offer the lowest possible price. Relationship marketing, on the other hand, uses loyalty programs, great customer service and a reward system.
Some companies are concerned about using relationship marketing as their only strategy. Why? Because they are concerned about excluding potential customers. It is true that when using relationship marketing, a company targets a much smaller group of people than mass marketing. But target group they are never all of them. If your company's marketing is relationship-driven, it basically only excludes those people who will likely never buy from it. As a result, your marketing budget is not wasted on an audience that does not convert.