What Are The Elements Of Modern Marketing?

Marketing has a bearing on everybody's life these days, even though we might not always realize. It is almost impossible to walk down the street, get on a train, open a magazine or watch the television, without a company attempting to sell us something.

Initially, this type of marketing and advertising was always rather straight forward and un-apologetic. Adverts were placed in obvious places and there was no hiding the fact that their main objective was to sell you something. In more recent times though, marketing has changed slightly to a more subtle approach, so the consumer or potential customer is not always aware that they are being targeted.

There are several examples of this:

• The subliminal approach. Many people expect to open a gardening magazine and find an advert for a lawn mower or grass seed, but we now see adverts cropping up in places we never used to see them such as gas pumps and inside taxis.
• Companies will now target the customer in a way they never used to be able to do. Advances in technology means that potential customers' cell phones and computers can be targeted with emails and text messages.
• The sharing of information is now easier to carry out than ever. Every time someone uses a credit card or debit card, their details are activated and this allows stores to log their purchases and approach them with future offers from that shop.
• Sponsorship is more evident now as it has ever been. While sporting events are sponsored as they have been for many years, now so are the half time shows and end credits. Sports stadiums are also selling their names to companies to be renamed after a product or service such as the Staples Arena or Emirates Stadium.