Marketing products is easier than marketing services. Products are quantitative. You can measure certain aspects of your product and consumers can have a point of reference to establish value from your product. Services on the other hand are tricky. By definition they are not physical in nature though they can have physical consequences attached to them. The problem with services is you discover the value of the service after the fact.e.g.You discover how good a hair cut was after the shave. Unlike products, services bring a problem when it comes to consistency of quality. For example, the taste of fanta from one bottle is fairly similar to another bottle of fanta but with services the same person doing the same job might vary in performance. This is usually because services are people-oriented and either party might affect the measurement of performance(client or service prodiver).

You can market products on different vectors.It all depends on the market conditions and company goals.Basically it boils down to positioning on price or product differentiation. Service marketing for me boils down to reputation and that reputation is established by the message you send vs the truth of your performance. Be as open and truthful as you can on the services you are offering and try to anticipate any questions or problems that might arise in the process and be able to tackle them from different angles.

Emotional marketing strongest tools are fear and sex/intimacy. Nothing sells like those two. Sex doesn't mean physically it encompasses belonging,love and the such. Fear based marketing,we see it all the time.Condom advertisements are the best examples for that. I don't agree with fear based marketing.Bad tactic.Intimacy,is a strong force. Basically products that promise some sort of social recognition by using or endorsing them. @tycho's example is one. Another classic one, buy the car get the woman live a happy life.

I don't like emotional based marketing in general.For me its where everything went wrong with marketing. For example there is something called the nag factor. A group in the US did a study to find out how many times a child needs to ask a parent for something before the parent buys it for them. Thats wrong in my opinion

@tycho - You're right. This started in the 1920's late 30's and also started planned obsolescence. Manufacturers realized that they were satisfying consumer needs and making products that were very durable thus reducing future potential for markets.It went on till the 1950's and 60's when they changed the focus of marketing from communicating product value to using emotional marketing.Basically use products as an avenue to satisfy emotional desires and as we know human desires can never be satisfied.

Guys, where are the references and citations??? Let us improve the standards of Wazua (and by extension Kenya) by doing the right thing.

How effective is social media marketing in Kenya?

based on this ...how about mobile marketing/advertising...does it have an edge considering that over 20M Kenyans have access to this device?

Not effective at all. This is because marketers don't know how to use it effectively and corporates expect ROI on it. You can run ads on social media sites but the primary reason should be increase brand equity/presence. In my assessment only safcom has utilized it well.


Now another question. In your opinion, do you think advertising in Kenya is creative? Or does it just work work because it's on your face?

@tycho - You're right.Myself I find social media so complex.

@mlefu - Two problems with mobile marketing(text and mobile web): 1. Privacy issues and nagging. 2. The screens are too small. Its a interesting platform but the options and capabilities are still limited. The company or individual who manages to make mobile marketing work will be very rich.

@essyk - Social media is just marketing based on social media sites and platforms. Mostly it's used as a stage to interact with your customers and other stakeholders on a more personal level than just advertising. Its biggest advantage is feedback.You get and give feedback from customers and that can really help in product development. Its disadvantages are plentiful.Biggest one is one dissatisfied customer can influence the rest of the customers. Also competition can attack you through social media sites. Basically its an attempt by organizations to fight the negative effects the internet is having on many organizations.

@2012 - I honestly think its because its on your face.Marketing should at least inform,persuade or entertain viewers.Kenya we just to reinforce the brand. I see concepts of ads copied from other countries being brought here shamelessly. Creativity is not there. In developed countries, art majors, music majors basically the arts are poached into marketing. They literally make masterpieces for viewers.

Brilliant ad.

The way the world is moving is creating ads/experiences/stunts for online media mainly YouTube that are so great customer go searching for after friends recommendations or articles in the papers. Imagine customers demanding for your ad! Some have been watched by numbers close to Kenya's population. We needs to get here.

Here are links to a few examples:

SONY XPERIA

Carlsberg

And my best: TNT

The Return of Dictator Ben Ali

Even as we make marketing decisions at the micro-economic level, we must not forget that there exists another layer of marketing at the macroeconomic level.

That is, there exists a myth that drives the economy. This is the marketing myth.

Successful organizations are those that follow the spirit of the myth most faithfully.

The myth is defined by nature of government, range and nature of political influence, political aims, and knowledge of the nature of man.

Since we can see organizations' marketing behavior and their effects, we can construct this mythology.

Let us now turn to the question of human nature. When we look at records and knowledge coming from our ancestors, we see that the human is supposed to be at harmony with himself, and with others. Nay, we will not fail to hear that humanity is one.

The present world is made of nation states that are constantly pressed to find jobs for her citizens and to accrue capital for a few people who in fact, hold the reins of government.

The nationalist drive must be selfish, hence Adam Smith's role in the mythology we are seeking.

Selfishness is dis- integration of identity. Thus, even the citizen himself has a dis-integrated self.

Given that at the individual is meant to pursue harmony- of mind, body and spirit; any act of dis-integration is corruption.

Cultural rules must create psychological complexes. One needs to watch ntv's 'unspoken' to see this. And one fundamental political decision is what to do with the disharmony.

But because 'selfishness' is at the core of economic system; there'll always be a deliberate policy to promote corruption.

Emotional appeal to a person's regression are deliberate attempts to maintain disharmony/ corruption in the individual and the organizations involved.

The effects of this mythology have been devastating. Endemic poverty, environmental degradation, and perpetual instability and conflict.

We are already bulking at these effects now.

Organizations now stand to lose billions if not collapse all together.

Meanwhile social media is breaking borders and barriers. People are integrating. Political institutions are becoming more pro-identity. Hence the growing trend in social entrepreneurship.

Organizations are now supposed to adapt their strategies to this emerging mythology that will definitely anti nation state.

This new mythology is running on social media.

So the question is, how do organizations re-configure themselves to social entrepreneurship?