Just like any other company, Maybelline must carefully assess
and study the external environment in order to create a strategic and
successful marketing mix (Product, Place, Promotion, and Price). There are many
factors of the external environment, factors that are always changing with the
times, and to which companies must quickly adapt. These factors include values,
trends, social media, demographics, and the economy, among other factors. It is
important to know your target market, and what it is that they like, want,
need, and the things they do in their everyday lives. Although Maybelline makes
products for older women, their target market includes young women between the
ages of 16-25. When targeting people of this age group in today’s society,
social media is vital. Maybelline has recognized the need to be active on
social media and has done a great job at targeting its consumers through social
media outlets. Maybelline has nearly 4 Million Likes on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/maybelline),
over 100,000 followers on twitter (https://twitter.com/Maybelline).
Maybelline’s success on social media is greatly due to their extensive
interaction with consumers. Maybelline posts to their social networks daily,
with many posts that ask for opinions on different topics, offer sweepstakes, introduce
new products, and make announcements. For example, today, one of their posts
asked both Twitter and Facebook users to respond to a true or false statement: “I
feel naked without mascara on”. The post received positive feedback with about
7,000 likes, over 1,000 comments, and 52 shares on Facebook alone.
Another very
important factor of the external marketing environment is the understanding of
demographics. In knowing one’s target market, a company must be mindful of who
exactly lies within that target market. Maybelline’s target market (young women
between the ages of 16-25), includes women of all backgrounds: African
American, White, Hispanic, and Asian. Therefore Maybelline must make products
for each of these groups, use appropriate marketing techniques, and be aware of
each of their wants and needs. If Maybelline FIT ME only had foundation shades
for light-skinned women, they would be losing a large portion of their target market.
One way in which they market to all of these ethnic groups is by including
women of all backgrounds, and all shades in their advertisements. The race of
the models companies use in advertisements may seem like a miniscule detail.
However, consumers take notice in this detail. When consumers see diversity in
a company’s advertisements, they are less likely to “identify” signs of
discrimination, and more likely to feel as if they are being appropriately
represented, and feel important to the company.
Products and
their respective advertisements such as the following may make consumers feel
as though Maybelline has something to offer for all women:
Maybe She's Born With It. Maybe Its Maybelline!
No comments:
Post a Comment