Personal Marketing
The writer has to read the instructions very well and most importantly , he has to focus on the following
aspect:
� The role of personalized marketing (sometimes called one-to-one marketing), where companies strive
to create a unique product offering for each consumer.
but must also pay attention to the entire details of the paper read carefully the instructions.
After reading “What is Personalization? A Conceptual Framework,” by Vesanen, consider the following
questions:
� Based on your reading, what is your view of personalization?
� Would personalized marketing benefit companies?
� How should firms go about developing personalized marketing?
After reading “Dynamic Pricing in Internet Retail: Effects on Consumer Trust,” by Garbarino and Lee,
consider the following questions:
� Is dynamic pricing (i.e., individual-level price discrimination) a good idea in personalized marketing?
� If so, what kind of price discrimination (first, second, or third degree) is most appropriate?
� If not, should marketers follow a consistent pricing policy for all consumers?
ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL MARKETING
Using the information you have read and any other outside resources that you have found, prepare a
summary (3 pages minimum) of how these topics relate to the overall subject you are addressing in your
paper. Remember to refer back to the main task of this paper, which is to describe how you believe the
usage of the individual marketing mix variables is likely to change in the future and what companies must
do to adapt their marketing approaches in order to achieve competitive advantage.
ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL MARKETING
Personal Marketing
Introduction
When the term marketing is used the first thing that comes to the minds of many is
advertisements or other related promotional activities conducted by the manufacturer and
distributers of a product with the aim of reaching as wide an audience as possible. In light of this
widely accepted view of marketing the concept of personalizing the process seems at best alien
and completely out of place. Personal Marketing however does just that. Marketing has gradually
been moving from a product or price orientation to a more customer- centered process. Personal
Marketing is the preparation of a product’s design, packaging and promotional activities in a
manner that is targeted at an individual consumer rather than the masses. This can therefore be
said to be the highest form of customer-centric marketing. This is because the marketing efforts
are geared towards enticing a specific prospective or current consumer to purchase a specific
process. This is different from market segmentation or the creation of a niche market. With
personal marketing the target is the individual and not a group of individuals with similar
characteristics of importance to the marketer (Vesanen, 2007).
Personal view of Personalization
According to me, personal marketing is a company’s way of reaching out to an individual client
whose purchase or purchases will bring about considerable benefits to the organization. For such
companies the power of customers is very high in the Porter’s Five Forces analysis. The
transactional behavior of individual customers has a direct impact on the turnover of the business
entity. It is a marketing strategy that needs to be prudently carried out by individuals who have
the perfect mix of product knowledge, creativity and persuasiveness so as to ensure the objective
ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL MARKETING
of this promotional activity is realized. If this mix is achieved proactively, personal marketing is
sure to succeed where conventional marketing has failed to yield fruit. It is important to note that
the individual in this context is not necessarily an individual. It may also be a corporate client
whose purchases are carried out between the entity of the company and the customer as two
parties.
Impact of Personal Marketing to Companies
Personal Marketing is bound to benefit companies since it helps to bolster the relationship that
they have with their customers. On the part of the customers satisfaction will increase and this
improves their perceived value of the product thus leading to more purchases. This then
translates to higher turnovers and increased profits for the companies engaging in personal
selling. The fact that communication between sales persons and the customers is two sided
means that there is a provision for immediate feedback which is quite important to the product
developers and sales department.
The development of personal marketing
The first step that firms need to do in developing personal marketing strategies is to understand
the needs and value systems exhibited by specific customers. Since the marketing is being
formulated to suit a specific customer, it is important to ensure that the product in question meets
all of these needs. These include issues like the quantity, quality standard, timing, pricing,
payment schedule, usability of the product, frequency of deliveries and any other special aspects
of the products that will be relevant to the customer being targeted (Balabanis and
Diamantopoulos, 2008).
Pricing in Personal Marketing
ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL MARKETING
When it comes to the pricing of products in personal marketing, it is necessary to employ
dynamic pricing over fixed pricing. This is because the customer is treated as an individual and
the price plays a large part in this process (Garbarino and Lee, 2003). A customer may be willing
to make bulk purchases so long as the price is within their budget. Other customers will also
determine value by basing it on the price of the product whereby higher prices suggest greater
value. This is particularly important when goods or services of ostentation are involved. At times
the goods being marketed are not necessarily luxurious but highly specific such as military
hardware for a specific government’s army. In such a scenario the price set will depend on the
economies of scale that will be realized by the customer’s orders as well as the budget
(Calantone and Di Benedetto, 2007).
Degree of price discrimination applicable
The most appropriate approach to price discrimination is the third degree of price discrimination
(Avlonitis and Indounas, 2007). This price discrimination method is favorable for personal
marketing since the basis for the setting of the price is based on the customer’s preferences,
geographical location and other subjective factors that can only chance from entity to entity. As
stated above, personal marketing is meant to tailor the promotional effort in such a manner that
elicits a positive reaction on the part of an individual customer rather than an entire group of
potential customers. Third degree price discrimination will be the result of the back and forth
communication between the sales department and the specific customer. The price will be set in
such a manner that it strikes a compromise between the profitability goals of the business and the
ability and capacity of the customer in question.
ANALYSIS OF PERSONAL MARKETING
References
Avlonitis, G., & Indounas, K. (2007). An empirical examination of the pricing policies and their
antecedents in the services sector. European Journal of Marketing, 41(7/8), 740–764
Balabanis, G., & Diamantopoulos, A. (2008). Brand origin identification by consumers: A
classification perspective. Journal of International Marketing, 16(1), 39–71.
Calantone, R., & Di Benedetto, C. (2007). Clustering product launches by price and launch
strategy. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 22(1), 4–19.
Garbarino, E., & Lee, O. (2003). Dynamic pricing in Internet retail: Effects on consumer trust.
Psychology & Marketing, 20(6), 495–513
Vesanen, J. (2007). What is personalization? A conceptual framework. European Journal of
Marketing, 41(5/6), 409–418.
