Behind the development of brand identities, awareness campaigns and segmentation there lies a core issue, which is not getting any better with the passage of time. The problem is that the, marketing managers of today are refusing to take responsibility of sales and distancing themselves from sales figures. Selling has always been a core function of a business at all times, whether it revolves around building long term customer relations or just one-off transaction based sale. Excessive competitive nature of post-industrial era has seen considerable rise in the demand of certain techniques that can help in targeting the market; or in other words, develop products into brands, matching lifestyle, identity and preferences of the consumer. The promotion of campaigns to achieve these objectives gave an important role to advertising agencies too, making use of creative talent of artists and copywriters, utilizing various types of print and electronic media and maintaining substantial marketing budgets.
Retrospectively, last three years have seen the middle and lower income group, in developing world, moving away from the self-concept at a pace. Priorities have changed, like they were never before. Today, brands are desperate for instant boost in sales, and they are forced to utilize traditional methods of sales promotions such as, reduction in prices, clearance, buy one get one etc. Instead of conventional marketing methods such as building brand associations with consumer while taking into account their self-concept, preferences and lifestyle.
Conclusively, there is one question that comes into mind; how long academics and practitioners would take, to effectively integrate marketing function with sales targets and sales performance; furthermore when would marketers start to emphasize on measurable data and tangible facts since the traditional marketing methods do not seem to be working too well in current circumstances.
MENAHIL ATTA
Lahore
