Page 68 - MYM 2016

From Bowling to Pinball
a willingness to engage with a brand that extends beyond just purchase decisions at the point of sale.
According to the 6C model, social media fur- ther extend the conversations between marketers and consumers through a feedback loop, which might happen a er some online conversation (blogging etc.) in the community. A er some time of online conversation, the company may have chats with the online community in hopes of in u- encing purchase decisions. Moreover, social media initiatives provide marketers a glimpse into the world of customer-to-customer communication, which represents a signi cant extension of the more traditional advertising and word-of-mouth communication.
Furthermore, social media provide insights into the behavior of non-customers. Most social media marketers try to trigger buzz among pro- spective customers. is has led to social sharing whereby online community member broadcast their thoughts and activities to strangers all over the world. is social sharing has opened the lives of individual consumers that companies can then exploit to tailor their o erings to better match preferences.
In summary, the traditional one-way adver- tising (mass media advertising like television advertising, newspaper / magazine advertising etc.) represents the “Bowling” approach where the rm attempts to “hit” as many customers with “shotgun” mass media methods. Normally this approach is
a one-way communication type. is is no longer feasible in an environment where customers have become prosumers and where is also an extensive feed-back to the company itself. Consequently, social media marketing like in the pinball model has to strengthen the inter-action with the custom- ers in a positive direction, in order to in uence the customer behavior and build pro table relation- ships. ■
Marc Oliver Opresnik is the Chief Research O cer at Kotler Impact Inc. He is a Professor of Marketing and Member of the Board of Directors at St. Gallen Management Institute in Switzerland.
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Chaston, I. (1998) Evolving “new marketing” philosophies
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Doyle, P. (1995) Marketing in the new millennium. European Journal of Marketing, 29(12), 23-41.
Hollensen, S., & Opresnik, M. (2015). Marketing – A Relationship Perspective, 2nd ed. Munich, Germany: Vahlen Publishing.
Kotler, P. (1997). Method for the millennium. Marketing Business, February, 26-27.
Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., & Opresnik, M. (2016). Marketing: An Introduction, 13th ed. New Jersey: Pearson.
Rust. R. T., Moorman, C., & Bhalla, G. (2010). Rethinking Marketing. Harvard Business Review, January-February 2010, 94-101.
Tuten, T., & Solomon, M.R. (2013). Social Media Marketing, 1st ed. New York: Pearson Higher Education.
Webster, F. E., & Wind, Y. (1972). Organisational Buying Behaviour. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
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