A recent study has shown that marketers believe that their efforts influence buyer’s decision, however; only about half of the consumers that were part of this study trust marketing materials. Instead of relying on social media, word of mouth marketing or customer relationship management, consumers are more likely to trust first hand resources such as friends or family members. In other words, marketers and consumers don’t share the same idea on what is considered effective marketing.
This study demonstrates that marketers should focus less on marketing tactics such as marketing through social media and focus more on providing access to these first hand resources. In fact, this will reduce costs for most companies because content marketing or social media marketing tends to be more expensive. First hand resources such as family or friends or online reviews are easier to access, cheaper and according to the study, more influential.
So are marketers and consumers in different planets? In my opinion, this depends on the consumer. There are certain times were social media marketing is effective but other times were it is redundant and a waste of money. Personally, I also prefer first hand resources before purchasing a product because I get to see the product through the eyes of the customer and not the company. Family, friends and online reviews will point out of the flaws of a product while a company will tend not to do so.
This study implies that many businesses are investing a lot of money in marketing but the return of investment is not adequate. Because of this reason, firms should first consider whether these type of marketing should be done in order to prevent major costs.
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