Meta Marketing

Marketing is one of the most important tools that a company can use to communicate its
mission to the customer base. It serves as a means to create value for the consumers. The
marketing strategy adopted by an organization reflects the goals that the organization has set
out to achieve. Being in a world where information is constantly flowing, marketing can be
the driving power behind the success of an industry as it allows the business to form a strong
and enduring relationship with its consumers. There exist different types of markets that
differ in their customer base and sometimes the nature of the seller. These include consumer
markets, the general name given to markets where customers purchase products to use for
themselves instead of reselling. Another type is the global market, within which the goods
and services of one country are traded to other countries. These are just two examples of the
types of markets that operate. We will now look at meta markets, how they work, and why
they can be beneficial to customers.

Meta marketing is "the synthesis of all managerial, traditional, scientific, social and
historical foundations of marketing,” a term first coined by E.J.Kelly while discussing the
issue of ethics and science of marketing Thus, Meta Marketing is an attempt to widen the
horizons of marketing by covering non-profit organizations. The best examples of Meta
Marketing can be selling family planning ideas or the idea of prohibition.

A Meta market will bring all buyers and sellers in one place for one purpose only. Instead of
giving multiple products to one customer, a Meta market brings together different customers
who need not necessarily differentiate between closely related products. Meta market is, thus,
a place, where everything connected with a certain market can be found. Let's say a car seller
in a Meta market would be a website, that sells cars, but you will also find car parts there,
add-ons for cars, colors for cars, mechanic's reviews, etc. So Meta market of a certain market
is a market, where you can find everything about that market and everything about markets
that are strongly connected to that market.

Meta marketing is an approach to the study of marketing and its relationship to every aspect
of life by focusing on all social, ethical, scientific and business experience in marketing, thus
establishing a body of knowledge based on the integration of every facet of experience with
the human personality.

Why are Meta Markets Important?

Meta markets are beneficial for the consumers because they bring one whole category of
products into one place where buyers and sellers can interact comfortably. This means that
consumers will not have to go to a separate application or website which provides products
covering multiple industries. The main problem that consumers see with a general market
space is that the integrity of the sellers, and hence the products being sold by them, cannot be
verified. Whereas in meta markets, since different buyers compete to see who can entice the
customer the most towards their product, the consumers can rest assured that the sellers know
what they are doing and can be trusted.

There can be two different ideologies associated with meta-marketing. One, as described
above, is essentially bringing together closely related industries under one umbrella industry
and the other is as follows:

Even today, marketing is seen by many a CEO as a post-manufacturing activity, simply

because all the elements (packaging, branding, distribution, selling, advertising, sales
promotion), take place usually after the basic product is made. A hangover has remained of a
product centred, rather than the consumer-centred frame of mind.

Until the Seventies, industrialists spent considerably more effort and money in deciding the
investment in plant and machinery rather than the intricacies of marketing. Often, investment
decisions were made pre-manufacturing of the product and hence, they failed to realise that
the full potential of a product being sold can be maximised for customers not just by merely
design and application, but also by integrating closely related products into one industry as a
whole.

Also, the growth phase of many industries acted as a contributing factor as each product, no
matter of what category was selling like hot-cakes. However, today, the situation has
changed vastly. It's all about mapping the customer's brain and competitor's strategies.
Today, understanding and considering the environment in which the industry operates has
also become increasingly important. Business policy makers have, of late, made it very
evident that there is a need for a strategic intent and a single-minded focus on the industry.

Also, both corporate and marketing strategy thinkers, as well as consultants, are
rediscovering the need to "reshape the industry." It can be related to what Joseph
Schumpeter of the Austrian School of economics discovered a long time ago namely, that the
central component and the driving force behind industry evolution was Innovation.

A meta-marketing thinker never replicates the marketing mix of the market leader or

predecessor. Going as far away as possible from the "success secret" may be a less dangerous
route to take. This version of Meta Marketing says that it is better to do something different,
rather than follow what the industry is doing.

As S. Ramachander highlights, “such insight inevitably precedes creating a new competitive

paradigm, including rewriting the rulebook itself and changing the rules of the game. In an
increasingly competitive and transnational arena, marketing companies will have to ponder
more and more about not just an offering that is different or better, but one that is an
expression of a marketing insight.” 
S. Ramchander an important marketing luminary makes a case for metamarkets to emerge in
a big way. He calls for looking at the following aspects:

 The kind of company we want to be (the Why): It covers consumer insights, long-term
vision, intent and directions, as well as organisational issues that cannot be changed easily.

 Managerial practices and systems (the What, When): This consists of integrating the 4 Ps
with growth and market share and the development of long-term plans, which are monitored
by the business.

 Functional knowhow (the How): This covers the whole area of product design, pricing,
channel management, distribution, media planning and sales promotion. In his approach, all
three factors impinge on one another; and hence are different from the conventional
marketing chain, which starts with production and ends with consumption.

Relationships, Market Networks and Metamarkets

Much of strategic marketing literature over the last decade has focused upon companies to
establish strong relationships with customers; underlining the need to retain customers in an
increasingly competitive environment. Lifetime value, satisfaction, customer relationships,
have been adopted as marketing philosophies by almost all types of organizations.
Companies have become more customer-centric and struggle to maximize value, brand and
relationship equities to keep their competitive advantage. Relationship marketing aims to
build long-term mutually satisfying relations with key parties, which ultimately results in
creating marketings network between the company and its supporting stakeholders. It aims at
building strong economic, technical, and social ties among the parties. Companies achieve
this by building superior networks of supporting stakeholders. Strong relationships with
stakeholders are meant to create very strong financial, social and structural bonds between
the stakeholders and companies. Sit is contended that if strong bonds are the concern of every
company, then formalizing these bonds with the help of some profit sharing vehicles such as
referral fees, commissions (already in use) are logical conclusions of formalizing „strong
ties‟. This could be the germination of formal metamarkets spawning metacorporations. Our
case for metamarkets would evolve around the axiom that strong relations ensure future
customers and that companies would prefer to manage its backward and forward linkage
networks effectively in order to operate in future markets. The author makes a tentative step
in the direction of describing a „metacorporation‟ to consciously attempt to „serve a very
substantial portion for the individual customer needs or wants’. This calls for a developing a
„metamarketing framework for companies as depicted below.

Defining Meta corporations

The concept of metamediaries has been adequately defined earlier; the attempt to define
metacorporations is yet to happen. The reason for this could be attributed to

 That the concept of „metamediary‟ came about more as a result of the internet being used
simultaneously as a medium of promotion (company/product information) and distribution
(order booking, delivery tracking). Thus it happened that those service providers who
aggregated and delivered quality information form vast quantities of information
(companies), needed to be specialists. Such entities are termed were „metamediaries‟.

 The dotcom bust led to attention being shifted to other technology related concerns as well
as the realization that markets need more „real‟ than „virtual‟ capabilities to succeed.

 The concept did not have business models to support it.

 The concept will not be extended to companies with core competencies in manufacturing.

Can this concept be further elaborated to cover the ambit of manufacturing, and distribution
to meet customer needs? An attempt at creating a model depicted below. The
„metacorporation‟ could be considered as a strong possibility, if companies look at
configuring themselves more completely round the Customer. For this a “Customer Only”
view of organizations is essential to add flexibility and agility to meet customer demands.
This would call for taking a “metaview” as opposed to the linear view of business. Infact Dr.
Don E. Schultz, Professor of Integrated Marketing Communication, Northwestern
University, USA, even contends that companies may need to increasingly take a Return On
Customer Investment more than Return on Investment as a criterion to decide market

Conceptual Design based on Primary Roles of Business of maximizing Growth, Market Share
and Profitability.

The figure depicts a framework for metanetworks to operate in metamarkets. A Corporation

X finds it easier to service its high value customer in several ways by serving related needs,
thereby ensuring stronger customer bonds. The firm relies heavily on its network to service
the customer. The firm can do so due to its superior virtual and real time delivery strengths.

Advantages of MetaMarketing:

1. Allow you to customize specific aspects of your manual campaign setup. For
example, you can adjust the Detailed Targeting options for your audience.
 2. Can automate an entire campaign flow from beginning to end. It can also automate a
core step of a manually set up campaign, such as placements or creatives. It’s the next
evolution of Facebook automated ads.

Benefits of MetaMarketing:

1. Optimization: Achieving superior campaign results and sustaining them

over time.

2. Personalization: Matching audiences with the right ads at the right time

to create and cultivate a deeper connection between them and the

brand.

3. Efficiency: Saving advertisers time and effort so they can concentrate

on strategic, big-picture work.

Kinds of MetaMarketing strategies:

1. Quality Content: Exemplary text content, internal link architecture, URL structure.

2. SEO Keyword & Targeting: Keyword brainstorming, term and phrase selection, on-

page targeting(Titles, Meta descriptions, URLs etc.)

3. Link Building: Backlink creation, scalable and content-based link strategies.

4. Social: Social Media and Viral Marketing.

5. Data analytics drives brand engagement and fan base growth: Businesses

leverage data analytics and metrics to make content resonate with target audiences

and boost fan base growth. Your businesses can leverage using customers’ data

insights – demographics, geo-locations, purchase channels, customers’ interests and

preferences – to boost brand engagement and fan base growth. There are many

content marketing tactics such as live video content and voice search and numerous
 content marketing automation tools. Content marketing is one of the best-lit pathways

to skyrocket your

business growth. It takes planning, creativity and some experimentation to see what works

for your brand and skyrocket your business growth. Take bold action for our free

consultation on content marketing services.

The consumer business or otherwise must see great value in opting to „metamorphose‟
into metacorporations. The case in favor of this is strong and „doable‟ as long as the
companies show enhanced commitment to view customers as nothing less than lifetime
relationships.