Business marketing strategies and applications

¶ … Smaller and Smaller Niches

In conjunction with macro-level lifestyle changes (e.g., the severity of unemployment, particularly among Boomers and educated sectors, as well as in security about global economic performance), it is the "new" consumer that will challenge manufacturers and retail stores alike as we move into the post-recession period (Alioto, 2009). The recession has changed consumers in many segments and has had something of a grounding effect. Whereas consumers would be more impulsive and make consumption decisions quickly, now many consumers are more prone to delay purchases as well as perform more research to ensure that the purchases they make meet their expectations for value.

One result of this trend is that many consumers are avoiding mass-marketed products and demanding products that are more specifically tailor for their individual needs. One development that has resulted in a new marketing approach known as resonance marketing that focus on a target market "sweet spot" in which consumers are willing to pay a premium price for products that are specific enough to their demands that they meet their value proposition. The vast amount of information available on the Internet has made this kind of niche marketing more important than ever and easier to do; more important because all that information encourages comparison shopping, putting tremendous downward pressure on prices and profits in highly competitive mass market and easier because it eliminates much of consumers' uncertainty about new niche products (Clemons, Nunes, & Reilly, 2010).

The change in marketing strategies will be somewhat revolutionary when compared to mass marketing. Tribal marketing is centered on the idea of community (Cova & Cova, 2002). It is not just putting together a target market based on the idea of the individual. Under existing paradigms a marketer might group together a target market with individuals who have similar demographic or other similar characteristics. Instead of targeting an individual with a certain set of attributes, a marketing campaign may focus on various tribes or groups of people with certain characteristics and these groups can be small enough to meet all the conditions of the movements in the new marketing environment.