It can be argued that much consumer dissatisfaction
with marketing strategies arises from an inability to aim
advertising at only the likely buyers of a given product.
There are three groups of consumers who are affected
(5) by the marketing process. First, there is the market
segment—people who need the commodity in question.
Second, there is the program target—people in the
market segment with the “best fit” characteristics for a
specific product. Lots of people may need trousers, but
(10) only a few qualify as likely buyers of very expensive
designer trousers. Finally, there is the program audience
―all people who are actually exposed to the
marketing program without regard to whether they need
or want the product.
(15) These three groups are rarely identical. An exception
occurs occasionally in cases where customers for a
particular industrial product may be few and easily iden-
tifiable. Such customers, all sharing a particular need,
are likely to form a meaningful target, for example, all
(20) companies with a particular application of the product
in question, such as high-speed fillers of bottles at brew-
eries. In such circumstances, direct selling (marketing that
reaches only the program target) is likely to be
economically justified, and highly specialized trade
(25) media exist to expose members of the program target—
and only members of the program target—to the
marketing program.
Most consumer-goods markets are significantly
different. Typically, there are many rather than few
(30) potential customers. Each represents a relatively small
percentage of potential sales. Rarely do members of a
particular market segment group themselves neatly into
a meaningful program target. There are substantial
differences among consumers with similar demographic
(35) characteristics. Even with all the past decade’s advances
in information technology, direct selling of consumer
goods is rare, and mass marketing—a marketing
approach that aims at a wide audience—remains the
only economically feasible mode. Unfortunately, there
(40) are few media that allow the marketer to direct a
marketing program exclusively to the program target.
Inevitably, people get exposed to a great deal of
marketing for products in which they have no interest
and so they become annoyed.