MARKETING 4.0 From Data Driven Consumers to Business Analytic Archeology: A “Smooth like Butter” kind of Marketing Communication

 

I can call him the prophet of marketing management. Philip Kotler revolutionizes the science of Marketing by combining the scientific studies and theories of economics, finance, & management.  He is as well a believer of Peter Drucker the Renaissance man of scientific management. The science of marketing caters the whole communication in the supply chain that MARKETING COMMUNICATION created a huge value in the modern business operations of today.  From Billboards, pamphlets, brochures, radio and Television marketing communication is always recent to the technological advancement in communication technology.  The essential concept that marketing is a process of business communication translating the value of the product through the high technology product used as a tool to serve as the communication aid in relaying the product value information to the consumer.   

This marketing creed created many studies in the world of the academe and business studies. As the modern industries today and the tech savvy consumers are involved in a particular product information education, the demand for companies to thoroughly integrate science and technology information in their marketing operation becomes a race.  Take for example a product that is for consumer to use for his or her day-to-day routine, companies today are intelligent enough to relate the product to a story that is good for the health of the user for example.  The concept of ERGONOMIC PRODUCTS will relate the physiological needs of the consumer even to a certain segment of market for example. I would like to relate this concept of modern marketing in this article to show to the reader that marketing and selling today in the modern market are more reliant to the modern data research analysis output.  

All of the marketing plans and analysis ready for market project implementations are all a combination of data driven analysis using the different theorems accepted in the Scientific Marketing Association. Thus, the AMA or the American Marketing Association amplifies the various empirical studies in marketing from the modern market of America and the emerging markets in Asia and the Euro zone. Philip Kotler, in all of his book series Marketing Management, every chapter case given for the learners to scientifically analyze the immediate business marketing case translated scientifically to the various faculties of business such as Finance, Economics, Accounting, Management, HRM, Logistic, & Business IT.  But with the enormous demand of IT in marketing today. Philip Kotler luckily published this book Marketing 4.0 Moving from Traditional to Digital. Kotler et al. integrated the usage of information technology IT in Marketing knowing that marketing communication is always dependent to the communication technology of the world.  From the old technology of telegraph to the modern DATA REVOLUTION Marketing Communication through PR are one of the most dependent departments in business that utilizes the advancement of communication technology through Internet of today.  

Thus, we can expect that Kotler et al. needs to transport the theoretical knowledge of marketing management since the start of marketing science until to the recent DATA REVOLUTION.  In fact, the Financial Market of New York is one of the first recipient of internet technology used in the high technology financial market of the US connecting the world of International Markets.  Likewise, Kotler conceived the importance of technology transition that as marketing is following the evolution of technology in aiding the marketing communication process, consumer on the other hand needs a transition of embracing the usage of the new communication gadgets offered in the modern market of today.  Just like the transition of telephone technology used in marketing. Telephoning from call centers until the modern computer phones of today using the modern apps offered by Microsoft for example, all these Microsoft platforms can cater the busy supply chain of the conglomerates transmitting the marketing communications across the various levels of suppliers and customers.  

The value chain will have only its value when these new technological discoveries in communication technologies are properly utilized in the business marketing theoretical perspective. DIGITAL ARCHEOLOGY on the other note is not well discussed in this publication but I can get another academic resource from another author that will prove the concept of Kotler that the transition of the communication technology from 2.0-6.0 is a continued evolution both in the communication technology itself and the secondary usage of the communication platforms in marketing science.  This DATA ARCHEOLOGY used in DATA MINING are analyzed and summarized in our modern MARKETING DASHBOARDS today that management decision makings are reliant to these highly data driven outputs.  Thus, Microsoft BI are in a versatile programming platform that businesses can independently design the fundamental structure of a given supply chain design.  Note that different market area and product offered will vary the structure of the value chain.  Thus, Microsoft BI is open for new design from small to a larger scale of business and supply chain.

 

Marketing Communication Power  

Kotler in his first chapter essay portrays the impact of internet in the world economy.  From geopolitical conflicts to economic power grab of the great nations of today, world economy today is a DATA DRIVEN ECONOMY. G20 nations are all in the middle of a data driven world that the whole populace is connected to the different platform of social media.  Economists and politicians are always attentive to the interactive nature of our media platforms today summarized in the data analytics AI machines of google, twitter, and facebook for example.  People around the globe can interact through writing or video speaking clips to address any company or government information inside the social media platform. Thus, social media marketing segment in the company are round the clock attentive in their stakeholder’s feedback and interactions.  These concept today in marketing proves that internet marketing science is grasping the intimate consumer and organization business relationship.  

Many economies of the world are affected with the rise of internet from the elections in the US down to the uprising in Iran, the political landscape that relatively affect the economic and international business and marketing will force the marketing technology applications to shift to the next level of COMPUTER INTERFACE.  The marketing playing field in the new 4.0 market is also shifting from a vertical form of communication towards a more horizontal kind of online interaction that consumer or ordinary citizen can participate in any economic and political interface discussion in social media.  The concept of internet interaction in world politics and economics are identical to the private conglomerates having social media market interaction from Africa, Latin America, Asia, to Europe. 

Though Procter & Gamble and Unilever are having regional office around the globe but the new internet interactions of customers in various social media platforms are creating an intimate impact of customer relationship towards Procter & Gamble and Unilever.  This marketing case scenario are both positive and negative that in a sense, the given companies can straight away interact to the immediate consumer using the product from one isolated corner of the world.  But on the contrary, it is also an avalanche of information both positive and negative that an organic human can’t answer all the isolated questions of the consumers.  Indeed, AI processing are also used in this automated answering machine that by using the marketing information algorithm, isolated consumer case scenario can be addressed with the accurate data offered by AI algorithm.  The concept of Chat GPT used by Microsoft for Bing Browser is the identical concept that automated answering machines of companies used in their websites in the near future.

 Networking and Strong Brand

The Connected Customers

Having said that, consumers today are connected to the hardware of the internet cloud, smartphone connectedness of consumers will allow them to check their product purchased that are still in transit.  The control of consumers today starting from selecting the product online down to paying online accounts, transit of logistics, until the final delivery of goods to the point of destination.  Indeed, control of customers is reciprocal to the organizational control of consumer data. Companies today are clever enough to manage these consumer data for point of sales purposes. Data driven companies and governments are managing their customers and general population in a data driven algorithmic approach.  Most of the new digital native consumers today are knowledgeable in buying the products.  With the meta data search engine available today, consumers can easily compare and contrast the desired product online.  

The rich information from the company websites and the P2P interactions of customers in social media and blog forums, companies are always in a live discussion with all the customer interactions online. According to the text of Kotler, customers today are not passive anymore but rather active in participating the product awareness inside the internet specifically social media. Thus, big companies are utilizing these raw data inputs from consumers in any social media platforms.  All the raw emphatic reactions of customers will guide the marketing management team in their next program approach with the real time guide from the streaming data coming in from the marketing computer screen terminal. On the contrary, Kotler also emphasize the importance of the transition of onsite and online usage both the company and the consumer itself.  The author emphasize that the outmost objective of this technological evolution is the effectiveness of marketing communication.

 

Marketing and the Internet 

New Digital Subcultures   

Since online communication between the company and the direct customer is so interactive now that internet social media is already bridging the gap between the organization and the direct consumer, the role of the middlemen are not needed anymore although some high technology products like the B2B needs product specialist for high technology marketing information and communication purposes. The smooth flow of marketing communication in the supply chain is being realized with the marketing 4.0 internet communication system. This free decentralized flow of marketing communication on the internet will create a subculture of buying behavior inside the web that new groups of buyers will emerge according to the new preferences of this digital subculture customers. Given example in the text is the “Home Schoolers” community in the US that these people are buying online in most of their daily purchases. Since the pandemic a lot of new subculture buyers are starting to emerge inside the internet but not in the real world.  Online buying behavior projects a different kind of marketing atmosphere that marketing professionals should study vividly the new concepts in dealing with these new consumers inside the internet.

 

Marketing 4.0 and The Digital Economy

Kotler further discussed the vastness of internet business communication operation to the whole government economy system. He mentioned further the role of MOOCS (Massive Open Online Courses) in the business industry 4.0 were robotics and the augmented automation will swell in the next few years. Fast supply chain operation is expected to cover the globe using the internet communication used in different departments like logistics, marketing, finance, HRM, Accounting, & Information Technology.  But what is so captivating in his writeup is the AUTOMATION OF KNOWLEDGE. This statement of Kotler regarding the AUTOMATION OF KNOWLEDGE will point to the ultimate program of the Robotics in the 4.0 DATA REVOLUTION.  The 4^th INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION will create a major leap in terms of the flow of information and merchandize inside the supply chain.  

Philip Kotler: E-car, Online Higher Education, Industry & The University Data Highway for Industrial Innovation

Fast transit of goods with low carbon emission is expected to adhere the fundamental program of climate change. The 3 major steps that will answer the problem of climate change without compromising industry production are automation of human resource, transit of goods, & business communications using the various platforms on the internet.  The digital economy will serve as the beacon of our world civilization in this 4^th industrial revolution.  Kotler further emphasize the usage of consumers in different segments of demographics.  This empirical marketing study will take more time as humans and computer interface is still on its evolution.  With this concern, Kotler discussed in this writeup in terms of “moving from traditional to digital marketing. 

Companies must consider the knowledge of consumer in terms of technology machine used like smartphone for example and the usage acceptance of the consumer.  A good example in service marketing that I can give is the service marketing of banks. Commercial banks give various avenues of serving their customers. ATM, Phone App, Bank Book, CARD system and many more.  This kind of service to the customers is giving choices to customers in terms of their technology preferences. Since 4 P’s are the fundamental concepts of the teachings of Kotler, thus the new PLACE that we need to give concern today is the CYBER OR INTERNET PLACE.  These 4P’s will intensify to 4C’s in the cyber supply chain system since this knowledge in virtual communication concept will create a NODE of IDENTICAL KNOWLEDGE that later it will create a CHAIN around the world.  The concept of BLOCKCHAIN and the value of BITCOIN is clearly the objective of Kotler’s book in terms of how marketing should prepare both CONSUMER & the BUSINESS ORGANIZATION in the 4^th INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.