Question

Task: “The best marketing strategies aren’t top down, they’re outside in, starting with the customers’ needs and wants.” Critically analyse this statement using Amazon as your case study organisation. You should aim to show whether customer voice drives strategic marketing decisions in this organisation making reference to relevant academic literature in the process.

Answer 1

Top down marketing develop their marketing strategies analyzing the total market and the advertisements are intended to attract a mass audience. The message is developed to address the common needs of the customers. The advertisements may address the needs and wants that are common for customers but it may not serve all customers as the individual needs and wants may differ from one customer to another. Hence top down marketing cannot be considered as the best marketing strategy. But outside-in marketing try to understand the individual needs of the customers and develops the message that would ensure customer attention based on their specific needs. In this competitive world it is very essential to focus on individual customer needs to ensure successful marketing. The best marketing strategy should be able to address all the needs and wants of the customers which is achieved through outside in marketing strategy. We can analyze the marketing strategy followed by Amazon. Amazon develops the advertisements and builds messages for individual customers by analyzing their buying behavior. Amazon is accomplishing the same by analyzing the previous shopping history and product search history of the particular customer. The data helps Amazon to identify the needs and wants of the particular customer and the products the customer may be interested in and develops the message accordingly. The use of data in their marketing strategies correlates with the academic literature by Jaworski and Kohli which argues that a customer focused company with long term focus is essentially data driven. Amazon ensures right product recommendations to customers by following outside-in strategy and the data based on customer voice is the major factor which drives strategic marketing decisions in Amazon. The outside in marketing strategy also helped Amazon to identify the chances of product existence in the market for long period along with the evaluation of needs and wants and plan their actions with long term perspective. The long term approach in Amazon correlates with the academic literature by Nerver and Slater which states that a thorough customer focused company always strive to plan its actions in with long term perspective.