Weekly Column: 2017-11-24
The first thing I do each morning after I wake up is check my email. As I check my email, I delete each of the advertisement emails, and when I go to listen to some music on YouTube, once again, I encounter advertisements and advertisement videos. Then when I go on Facebook, on my timeline, I see many advertisements on things related to what people are interested in, such as bitcoins and diets.
We live exposed to advertisements every day. The advertisers probably began to advertise their products and services to consumers in the early stages of marketing. However, opposing to their initial aim, many people now consider marketing as nuisance advertisement and consumers are starting to get jaded over the vast amount of repetitive information they see. Especially now that more and more businesses are turning to social media, which were considered private space, as a medium to advertise for the ripple effect, the consumer’s distrust of marketing can be justified. Repetitive exposure may be effective for a brand to become recognizable, but if consumers associate the brand negatively due to its repetitiveness, can it really be considered as appropriate marketing?
As an acting marketing agency for many companies, I also get caught in the dilemma at times. Marketing is about communicating with consumers, and to do that, we must deliver messages to them, but I have the concern that consumers might get tired of it. No matter how good the information is if the consumers are so jaded that they don’t look at it, that marketing strategy has already failed.
Currently, we are engaged in international marketing regarding medical tourism at the Jeju Tourism Organization. At first glance, it seems like it would be easy to get a good response, but from the beginning, it was not easy. If it were about cosmetics or simple sightseeing, there is a lot of content, so marketing would have been quite easy, but medical tourism in Jeju does not have much of a natural advantage. Also, although Jeju is well known in Korea and China, it is relatively unknown internationally, including North America. That being said, there are no special medical facilities in comparison to other countries such as Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc., and there are no geographical advantages, either. Of course, we could simply put out content on the Jeju Island medical tourism for exposure, but consumers are tired of this type of marketing. Putting out information people do not care for may even cause adverse effects.
I feel that marketing is an understanding of people and the relationship between people. We wanted to list the advantages of Jeju Island first, so we began by emphasizing its beautiful nature and weather. The first step was to bring awareness of the mysterious image of the not well-known Jeju Island to many people. We did not stress people to take a look at our contents. With an approach to a more natural exposure, we started by attracting the attention people who are already interested or beginning to be interested. Then, we offer the information to inform them one by one. We exchange information with them, such as good tourist spots, food, must-see places, and events. When they become more invested in Jeju Island, we toss in bits on medical tourism to give it some exposure. In this way, we have come to understand the consumers and are currently more efficient than any other city in Korea in advertising for Jeju Island’s medical tourism.
Joseph Schumpeter, an economist representing the 20th century said, “It was not enough to produce satisfactory soap, it was also necessary to induce people to wash."
Everything has an order. If you have made the proper attempts to produce good products and sell them through marketing, the next step is not to make people buy products they don’t need. The next step is to get into their hearts and make them want to buy the products that they don’t need.
Unlike how marketing was sales-based up until now, by communicating with consumers and engage in marketing that solves problems that they have, consumers will feel compelled to return the favor and give an answer to your marketing.