The foremost and essential step in developing a marketing plan is to identify the target market through market research. Effective market analysis enables companies to save its resources, target individuals as per their need, create value and foster strong relationship with the consumers while successfully managing the competitors. In today’s age of information, there is an increased need for the marketers to use distinctive promotional methods to leave a lasting impression on the customer. One such means is targeting the uninformed consumers which in my opinion is an ethical measure when conducted with caution.
Targeting the uninformed consumers is the right of marketers because it enables companies to present new brands in the market and to secure a wide range of users, therefore establishing successful businesses (Buehler & Schuett, 2014). It is important to inform the customers as it will also enable them to make sensible purchases. It is notable that the least informed consumers are the ones who end up wasting money on high-end brand names over store brands (BBC News, 2014). Target marketing can further enable companies to provide individual support to uninformed consumers therefore, increasing customer satisfaction, ensuring transparency, establishing long-term loyalty and ultimately emerging as market leaders. Informing the consumer also leads to minimizing the number of complaints as educated customers are more skilled in the use of product on their own. Companies can target the uninformed consumers by providing them hand-on experiences, organizing workshops and sharing useful content (Okeke, 2017).
It is not the concept of target marketing that is unethical therefore an avoidance of unethical company practices such as deceptive advertising, approaching minors, older people or people with certain beliefs is imperative to ensure that companies reap long term benefits from its consumer base.
References
BBC News. (2014). Study: Uninformed consumers waste money on name brands. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-28451696
Buehler, B., & Schuett, F. (2014). Certification and minimum quality standards when some consumers are uninformed. European Economic Review, 70, 493–511.
Okeke, K. (2017). Educating your customers: The benefits & how to achieve it. Retrieved from https://customerthink.com/educating-your-customers-the-benefits-how-to-achieve-it/
