Challenges for Marketers
In this era of globalization, improvement of science, technology, society, education and economy has provided people with better living standards and styles. In relation to the purchasing power of the consumers as well as market trends, people have become more concerned about beauty and hygiene. It highly impacts the rapid growth of the beauty care industry, among modern generation. There are various multinational companies who try to enter the market of beauty industry in order to gain as much benefits as possible (Eng, 2015).
The essay discusses about how the marketers face difficulties in understanding the behaviors and attitudes of men over forty years of age, who might not be interested in the men’s skin care products. The objective of the essay is to discuss about how the marketers of men’s skin care products alter the attitudes among men of over 40 years of age, who feels that using the products will question their masculinity. The overall aim is to develop awareness among the consumers, build brand image and loyalty and motivate sales as well.
There is an intensive competition among the beauty care marketers as many companies pay attention in investing in this highly demanding market. Most of the people love to look pretty, beautiful, good looking and healthy. The world in which we are living is full of stereotypical thoughts and patriarchy. The stereotypes exists everywhere, starting from our daily life’s activities to television, commercials, magazines, billboards, at the fashion shows, on the streets and most importantly at schools or workplaces. There is a common belief which plays a major role in every man’s life, that is, using beauty products or men’s skin care products can question their masculinity. This belief has however, affected the market of men’s skin care products to a huge extent (Fischer & Sunduk, 2017).
It is not a secret that famous personalities like male politicians, business leaders, celebrities and actors often depend on their make-up artists in order to look best and presentable, especially in front of camera. Many male artists stilxl finds make-up belonging to the female section of the society. In this globalized world, it is acts as a major taboo, which prevents the marketers in promoting men’s products in an efficient manner. The whole concept of make-up as well as skincare freaks out men. Marketers find it pretty hard to convince men with such mentality, to try and buy men’s skincare products. However, men seem pretty uncomfortable in dolling up themselves; the beauty industry of men is growing day by day. There have been several debates related to this. Some argued that over forty four percent of the Americans use men skincare items which go beyond the common shaving kit. They use moisturizers, eye gels, grooming kits, concealers, anti aging creams and others (Bano & Sharif, 2016).
Marketing Strategies
However, some marketers feel that, there still exist some sections where stereotypical thoughts come in between and change the purchasing behavior of men. The marketers face huge problem on convincing them, therefore, a certain amount of change is needed in their marketing procedure. Marketers need a strong team around them so that they can understand the importance of internet or digital marketing strategy. Professional experts of this genre can help is this field as they know how to deliver the content in a creative and innovative manner. Their knowledge in the technical aspects will help them in generating effective results. In addition to this, they need a team of advisers and capable individuals who have sound knowledge in the field of trading (Anuar et al., 2017).
Taking the concept into consideration, a capable team of internet marketing can assist in working towards the marketing vision. It is important to set up a goal and ensure how to accomplish the targets. An efficient marketing manager should look into more leads and sales which will help them reach the marketing goals and strategies. A marketing agency will help in functioning as strategic advisors. This will help them in filling in the internet team of marketing. Moreover, working within the marketing schedule will help them keep their clients involved in the whole process. The main aim is the spread awareness about the men’s skincare products, which can be achieved if and only if the marketing team is efficient and effective (Goh et al., 2013).
Brand building can be done only after gaining an understanding of the target consumers’ attitudes and purchasing behavior. This can be done through setting up of advertising campaigns and referral programs. Free samples can be given to the customers in order to build a strong customer base. Happy and satisfied customers will spread the word of the products to others. In this way of smart referral program, a strong chain of customer building procedure will be created. Many of them will become aware of the brand too. In addition this, blogs and features can be uploaded on the social networking sites, which will contain the benefits of using men’s products (Kapadia, 2016).
Men need to become more concerned regarding their health. Marketers can choose that segment to promote the skin care products. Skin cancer can be a major issue and moreover, melanoma can cause serious consequences to an individual’s health. Therefore, men should start applying sunscreen before going out. Protecting one’s skin from harmful sunrays is a major reason for men to start thinking about skin care. In addition to this, they should also contact professional dermatologist in order to examine the skin for any kind of suspicious wounds or moles. The concept of men’s skin care products is not a new thing. Many of them hate spending time and money for shopping products that are made for men and also wander if they can use the women’s products. However, the marketers should use this concept of differentiating men’s and women’s products in order to hit the market (Preetha, Kattankulathur & Kumar, 2015).
Building Brand Loyalty
This strategy of differentiation can help them on the long run. Furthermore, many of the male customers are also concerned about their appearances. The marketers can promote on how good skin can reflect an individual’s personality. Creating awareness can also help in motivating the sales and thus, the marketers will be able to achieve their targets and build brand loyalty. It is important to engage the customers, in order to build a brand image and recognition (Safari, 2014). Moreover, feedback forms can be circulated which will help in understanding how much the customer is finding the product useful. This will also assist in gaining an understanding of their purchasing behaviors and the factors which affect their buying behavior (Otterbring, 2016).
Conclusion and Recommendations
To conclude, marketers need to be more active in building brand loyalty among the target customers. In this era of digital marketing, the social networking sites can be used in an extensive manner to promote the men’s products. Moreover, social media contests can be organized, which will help in building awareness. On advertising men’s products, male actors can be used, which will be more impactful for the removal of existing stereotypical thoughts. In addition to this, marketers should also keep a track of their competitors in order to check their strategies. Furthermore, the marketers should always implement new and innovative technology to track their consumers’ attitudes. Building a strong strategy can also benefit in solving the behavioral issues of the consumers. However, further research can be done on how the consumer’s psychological and social factors affect their buying behaviors.
Consumer behavior deals with the study of individuals, groups and organizations that are associated with the usage, purchase and disposal of products and services. The research deals with the impact of social media upon men buying skin care products. The consumer’s decision making processes vary with the nature and importance of the products. Moreover, men have the habit of not using skin care products as they feel that this will question their masculinity (Bashar, Ahmad & Wasiq, 2012). The overall aim of the study is to develop awareness among the consumers, build brand image, loyalty and sales motivation as well, with the help of social media.
According to Fitore (2017), social media has a major impact in the individual’s daily life. It affects their decision making procedures and purchasing behavior as well. In modern days, a website or a web page can be considered as a major platform for marketing the products and goods. The social media contents are regarded as the king. With the usage of social media platforms, viral marketing can be developed in a huge way. This refers to the strategies of luring the visitors for sharing information that are published on the digital media, to their relatives, friends and others. This acts as a way of referring and informing more people about a particular event or product, through the usage of videos or images.
Impact of Social Media on Consumer Behavior
In Kapadia’s (2016) opinion, there are several social networking sites like, microblog, twitter, facebook, linkedin, YouTube and others which help in a huge way on influencing the purchasing decisions of the consumers. With the help of these sites, marketers can promote their products on the global platform. In addition to this using social media sites can also help in saving the time of the consumers, informing them better with more reliable information, reducing the costs, better communication with the companies and reduces price. Today, almost everyone uses Internet as well as social media, in order to gain information about other countries, products, services and more. Marketers can use this segment for advertising the products which will yield better outcome.
According to Ioan?s & Stoica (2014), the beauty industry of women has been growing since a long time, whereas men’s market has flourished off lately. This can be due to the lack of awareness regarding men’s skin care products. Most of the men find it very hard to accept the fact that they will be using skin care products. They feel that it will question their masculinity. The advancement of the men’s fashion magazines have however, emphasized on the importance of skin care. Leading a healthy lifestyle not just only means eating good food or doing good exercise. It also covers the aspect of taking good care of skin and body. Physical appearance adds to an individual’s personality. In addition to this, it also helps in fighting against several skin diseases.
The concept of men using skincare products is not a new thing. According to Hajli (2014), skin care products are not just only for women. There are male celebrities who use make-up to look and feel good. It is not about beauty products, taking proper care of skin can help in leading and maintaining a healthy life style. However, the impact of social media in marketing activities can play a huge role in changing consumer’s decisions. Social media can be regarded as one of the most efficient marketing methods in terms of time and cost effectiveness. With its creative content, it helps in increasing the visibility of the business and in turn, creates a strong customer base of the particular product.
Hudson & Thal (2013) have surveyed that most of the men who uses skin care products got convinced from social media advertisements. It is because of its creative and innovative content. Social media implements innovative and modern strategies which hugely increases the brand recognition and thus, engages them with the product. In order to get started, the marketers must set up profiles or pages of the products and services on the social media websites. This would also help in interacting with the consumers, where they can share their feedbacks. Furthermore, the customers can also share their reaction regarding certain products by liking, sharing and commenting on the pages. This will increase the brand’s awareness and help in building a reputation in the business.
Conclusion
As per the findings, it can be said that men needs to be more concerned regarding their skin care. However, the social media can provide assistance in this by proper marketing and promotional activities. Building brand awareness is a major activity performed by the marketers. Convincing the customers is not an easy task. Many a times, men feel that the products which are advertised are all fake and thus, they may end up not buying that product (Hildebrand et al., 2013). Marketers need to convince them in an effective manner. They must identify the problems and recognize the customers’ needs and desires. In accordance with that evaluation of the product must be done. On the basis of that customers will make a decision of purchasing that item. The task does not end here. The marketers must conduct a post purchase evaluation on the basis of the purchasing behavior, which will help them identify the behaviors of the customers (Luo & Zhang, 2013).
Figure: Consumer Decision Making Process
(Source: Created by Author)
This differentiation strategy can prove beneficial for the marketers on the long run. Moreover, many male customers are also concerned about their appearances and good skin. The marketers can promote on social media the importance good skin can and its relation to an individual’s personality. Creating awareness through social media websites can assist in the sales’ motivation (Hildebrand et al., 2013). Therefore, the marketers will be able to achieve their targets and build brand loyalty. It is important to engage the customers, in order to build a brand image as well as recognition. The social media websites can be used for circulating feedback forms, which will help in understanding men’s perception about skin care products (Balakrishnan, Dahnil & Yi, 2014).
With increased visibility and awareness, marketers get benefitted and gain more opportunities for promotional activities. Each and every blog post, video, comment or images will help the male section of the society gain an understanding regarding the men’ skin care brands and products. Digital marketing will allow the marketers impart a positive impression about a brand, through the help of humanization factor (Bashar, Ahmad & Wasiq, 2012). At times, when the marketers become interactive by sharing comments, replying to the viewer’s feedbacks, customers tend to buy more. Therefore, it is evident from the fact that the impact of social media is higher in case of men buying skin care products (Kim & Ko, 2012).
Conclusion and Recommendations
To conclude, the study presents a brief idea regarding the men’s purchasing behavior of skin care products. Relevant literatures and journals are reviewed in order to support the statements made. However, it is seen that the usage of social media websites can prove beneficial for the marketers on the long run. It will help in building awareness among the male consumers. In addition to this, it will help the marketers directly interact with the male consumers and answer to their queries. Furthermore, the consumers will also build a bond or relationship with the brand, which will benefit the marketers in promoting the brand.
References
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