Essay on "Marketing Industry Introduces People"

Quoted Instructions for "Marketing Industry Introduces People" Assignment:

Question 1 Problem recognition takes place when consumers experience a disparity between what they have and what they want. Using relevant examples, critically discuss the differences among needs, wants, and opportunities. _______________________________________________________________________

General advice You are asked to critically discuss the differences among needs, wants, and opportunities using relevant examples. The first step in attempting this question is to understand that problem recognition takes place when consumers experience a disparity between what they have and what they want.

Needs A need is a fundamental physical or psychological state of felt deprivation. When consumers? desired and actual states are relatively close together, no problem is recognised. However, when consumers? actual states fall below their desired states, needs emerge. Needs are not created by marketing efforts directly. Needs could be perceived as internal states that fall below a threshold of acceptability. Consumers possess a variety of needs, such as the physiological needs of hunger and thirst. When you feel hungry or dehydrated, you experience a basic physiological need. While marketing cannot make you hungry or thirsty, marketing activities can remind you of your deprivation. Likewise, when you feel deprived of love or affection, you are experiencing a fundamental social need. In the same way, marketing activities cannot directly withhold love and affection from you. These are gifts that come from people. However, marketing activities can indirectly influence perceptions about your current state of belonging. If you perceive personal neglect in your attitude toward conserving the environment, then you are probably experiencing a psychological need, i.e., a gap between a current and desired way of thinking. Marketing is not capable of dictating your thoughts, but marketing activities often trigger latent psychological problem recognition.

Wants When consumers? ideal states rise above their actual states, wants occur. Wants are needs satisfiers that are shaped by a consumer?s personality, experiences, and culture, including marketing. In fact, marketing activities deliberately create wants. The distinction between needs and wants is important. Needs occur when consumers? real conditions decline while their desired conditions remain stable. On the other hand, wants occur when consumers perceive an increase in their desired states while their actual states remain constant. Wants represent a consumer?s perceptions that they can improve their current situations by obtaining better products. Needs are perceived as informational motives because they are negatively reinforcing, i.e., the motive is to remove something negative. In contrast, wants can be perceived as transformational motives and positively reinforcing. Here, consumers are driven to purchase products and services that will produce benefits beyond their normal states. Marketing activities deliberately influence consumers? perceptions as to what their ideal states should be through advertising, promotion, product endorsements, product placements, and buzz marketing.

Opportunities When a consumer?s ideal and actual states move simultaneously in opposite directions, opportunities emerge. This combination creates a sizable want-got gap. In a market context, if a consumer?s favourite running shoes split and separate and at the same time, Nike introduces shoes with more advanced features and improved durability, the consumer may feel motivated to pursue the new product offer. In this sense, an opportunity can be viewed as a chance to dramatically shift a consumer?s actual state to an elevated and ideal state. Firms also spend considerable time and effort creating opportunities in the marketplace. For example, Americans have repeatedly indicated their interest in fitness and health and at the same time, have reported feeling time-impoverished. Consequently, smart marketers now offer time-saving, low-calorie foods and home fitness equipment to close the want-got gaps. In sum, opportunity creation represents the joint interplay of needs and wants because consumers? actual and ideal states diverge concurrently.

Your answer should begin with an introduction that will outline what materials you will cover and what your basic argument will be. When planning and writing your essay, remember that argument and critical evaluation will attract more marks than a descriptive essay. This essay does ask for some description but it goes on to ask for more analytical, argument-driven material and this is where marks are to be earned. Remember to cite your sources and provide complete references to them.