Marketing of products and services has evolved in the 21st century. Today, marketing is influenced by a series of factors that determine the success or failure of the marketing process. The success of a marketing plan is usually based on how relationship marketing thrives. The levels of marketing include; gender identity, sex and relational orientation. This paper seeks to discuss gender as one of the factors affecting the manner in which goods and services are marketed in the 21st century.
Gender impacts on marketing because consumer behavior is usually the determinant of how a marketing plan succeeds. Male and female consumers have different behavioral tendencies when responding to marketing plans. Research shows that female consumers are more responsive to advertisements as compared to men. For example, women would be more attentive and would react positively to a fashion advertisement than men. This makes marketing in the 21st century more inclined towards feminine practices than male ones. This is because the marketers are gender-conscious. At times, both males and females may be used in the marketing process such as advertisements to make the target audience feel that the product is good for every gender.
The gender relationship between consumers and marketers has also influenced how marketing is done in the 21st century. Past research indicates that male consumers get convinced faster by female marketers while female consumers are easily convinced by male marketers. This cross-gender relationship has led to the adjustment of marketing systems to suit the target consumers. Today, products that are meant for men are mostly marketed by female agents in advertisements while those meant for female consumers are marketed by male agents.
Marketing is also influenced by gender when firms seek to identify the best individuals to be their marketing agents. Females are said to have strong interpersonal relationships as well as brand involvement. Therefore, they make efficient and perfect marketing agents as compared to men. This has led marketing firms to be inclined towards identifying more women than men to be in charge of their marketing programs.
Marketing of products based on gender is also done according to the kind of product being marketed. Men are generally thought to be less emotional compared to women. When a company wants to advertise a product, they want to bring out the emotional and bright side of it. This is why women are preferred to market products more than men. For example, an advertising company marketing would prefer ladies when marketing household products. This is because ladies have the natural ability to convince the public to buy the product.
Gender is critical in marketing because organizations have to demonstrate gender equality. This means that the staff for any organization must have gender parity. Therefore, an organization with both men and women would market its products by ensuring that each gender takes part in the process. For example, an organization with employees of both genders will have to share responsibility on how the marketing process will be conducted.
In conclusion, gender is a critical aspect on how marketing processes are conducted. Gender affects both the consumer and marketer. The gender of the target consumer affects the gender of the marketer. Similarly, the marketers consider other gender impacts such as emotional ability and interpersonal relations when determining how to market their products. However, marketers may overlook gender in cases where other factors such as financial constraints come into play.
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