Marketing’s brave new world

11/4/2010 - Those looking to succeed in marketing must focus on how — not what — consumers are buying, according to Anne Coughlan, the John L. and Helen Kellogg Professor of Marketing.

The “what” can be duplicated in selling, but if you’re very clever in marketing, the “how” cannot be replicated, Coughlan said at a panel discussion Oct. 29 on the recently released second edition of Kellogg on Marketing (Wiley).

Coughlan, one of the book’s contributors, offered textbooks as an example: Because students are easily finding cheap copies of books, the textbook industry must modify its approach to stay competitive.

Other contributors to the book who spoke on the panel were Alice Tybout, co-editor and the Harold T. Martin Professor of Marketing; Brian Sternthal, the Kraft Foods Chair in Marketing; and Lakshman Krishnamurthi, the A. Montgomery Ward Professor of Marketing.

Among some of the panelists’ other highlights: 

• Social media is a critical marketing tool. Most companies can’t afford not to use social media — the question is deciding what type to use, such as Facebook, blogs or discussion forums, according to a chapter Krishnamurthi co-authored in Kellogg on Marketing. “The winners over the next 10 to 15 years will be companies that use this new media to become good listeners, good engagers, and good closers,” Krishnamurthi explained. 
  
• Engaging consumers through media strategies: “moment” and “mindset.” Creative strategies in advertising have become increasingly difficult to use, so marketers are turning to media strategies. The “moment” strategy reaches consumers at the instant they’re interested in something, Sternthal said, such as Starbucks sending a message to an individual two blocks away from a store. The “mindset” strategy involves presenting brand information in a context relevant to consumers. “The premise is that if advertising is presented when people are considering the category and in a context that situates the brand in their lives, they are likely to devote attention to it,” according to a chapter Sternthal co-authored for the book.

First published in 2001, Kellogg on Marketing was revamped because of vast changes in the marketing landscape over the last decade. Sections I and II, which have been substantially updated, explore the development and implementation of a marketing strategy, covering everything from brand positioning to pricing to sales-force development.

The third section, “Perspectives on Contemporary Issues in Marketing,” contains all new material, addressing how to market profitably to consumers at the “bottom of the pyramid,” how to best leverage new social media tools, and how to manage product assortment.