Executive Summary of Marketing Myopia

In this paper, Marketing Myopia of Kodak is discussed as the company made a classic mistake because it focuses more on selling products rather than a business. Theodore Levitt in Harvard Business Review provided the concept of Marketing Myopia that businesses should adapt to the requirements of the market which Kodak did not and “Kodak failed to adapt to a new marketplace and new consumer attitudes” (Dan, 2012). However, Marketing Myopia is the term that could be referred to as an inward-looking approach to marketing. There is no fulfillment of the immediate needs of the company but there is focusing on marketing from the consumer point of view. Consequently, Marketing Myopia of Kodak is explained in the paper as the company concerned more on sales rather than marketing as well as knowledge about the consumer’s preferences according to advancement. However, in this paper, there are also recommendations that how Kodak or other companies need to focus on marketing strategies including entrepreneurial greatness and innovation in today's marketplace.

1) Marketing Strategies that lead to Marketing Myopia

Marketing Myopia of Kodak could also be described as the narrow-minded marketing approach of the company that does not focused on the actual demand of the customer and just on quality. There was a focus on the short term goals rather than long term goals. Marketing Myopia of Kodak focused on the mass production without knowing the demand of the customer (Pahwa, 2019). Marketing Myopia could be explained as the planning of short-term goals only; these companies fail to adapt trends of the market as well as the preferences of the customer’s choices. However, in order to get safe from Marketing Myopia; the companies should focus efficiently on the target audience, their wants and needs and the company should be more customer-oriented. Marketing Myopia is explained as the longsighted nature of marketing, which should be dealing with the help of good management for the long-term benefits (Kerin & Hartley, 2015).

Market Domain of Marketing Myopia

            In the late 1980s, Kodak was founded and it became a renowned organization in the industry of photography. Its market domain was photography industry and as it continued to operate, it faced several challenges. One challenge was quite significant and it led the organization to bankruptcy. For almost ten decades, the organization was at the forefront and leader of photography with numerous inventions and innovations, making this art affordable and accessible to the customer. In 1889, the Eastman Kodak Company was founded by George Eastman and the first Kodak camera was introduced by it. It took only a little time for the camera to become famous among customers and achieve success. In the industry of photography, the organization not only introduced an innovative product but also built its name by effective marketing.

            Eastman had a firm belief in making the art of photography available to almost everyone and he sought to do this by innovating the manner in which photographs were taken by people. By developing the Kodak camera, he made it possible for any person to take pictures without any assistance. This was the opportunity that was utilized efficiently by Eastman and he marketed the product right to increase its sales.

Figure 1: Wikipedia.com

            In the above figure, the advertisement of the Kodak camera is portrayed. The marketing message targeted at the consumers relays the information that customers don’t have to rely on any other person to take photographs. By using this camera, people can easily take photographs and this advertisement proved to be quite effective as sales grew rapidly for Kodak. Similar advertisements were used by the firm and it resulted in an immense increase in sales. In 1962, the sales of Kodak reached more than one billion dollars.

Marketing Mix Analysis of Myopia

Figure 2

Following is the marketing mix utilized by Kodak:

Product of Myopia

            As explained above, Kodak is one of the leading brands which focus on imaging devices, printer, and digital cameras. In the marketing mix of the organization, there is a broad range of products. Currently, the organization offers products in the form of digital enterprise and offerings which includes printing equipment, inkjet printers, and its associated accessories. Digital printing solutions are offered by Kodak in terms of commercial systems of printing and press feeds such as commercial sheet feeds, VersaMark, and Prosper. Some of the most important products of Kodak include Kodak PalmPix, Kodak DVC series, Easy Share Series of Kodak, and DC series of Kodak.

Price of Myopia

            When it comes to pricing, Kodak has been a leader in the photography industry. A significant strategy which is implemented by Kodak is razor and blade for all of its printers. In this strategy, the printer prices would be higher but the cartridge ink would be lower. This was a significant strategy that led to marketing myopia.The printer’s prices has actually been higher in comparison with its competitors but has been lower in terms of ink. After venturing into the segment of digital photography, Kodak has always been a follower of market because of increased competitors by renowned players in the sector of photography. Generally, a multipoint strategy of pricing has been adopted by Kodak in its marketing mix.

Place of Myopia

            Kodak actually has a powerful network of distribution over the world and has a unique brand image because of its fame in the segment of photography. For Kodak products, there are several distributors and retailers which also involve the market of films and printers. Another significant area which has bene utilized by Kodak for selling products include the online website and ecommerce. This proved to be quite beneficial for the organization.

Promotion of Myopia

            The brand of Kodak has significant popularity for products associated with photography and has utilized this popularity in several advertisements, promotions, and campaigns. All media forms have been utilized by the organization for communicating its message with the public. The major targeted audience for its photography has been photography enthusiasts and youth. In order to lead the “So Kodak” campaign, various artists were engaged by it who have a large following base. Through the use of these strategies, Kodak has been effective in increasing the sales of its products and attracting customers (Kerin & Hartley, 2015).

STP (Segmenting-targeting-positioning)

Following is the STP for Kodak:

Segmentation: There are three marketing segmentations utilized by Kodak for attracting customers and selling its products. These include demographic, psychological, and geographic segmentations. Kodak targeted families and young people who liked taking photographs but could not take them without the assistance of an expert. Considering the psychological segmentation, those people were targeted who had families, needed to store memories with them, and those people who just liked taking photographs. The market was segmented based on demographics as well. For instance, the first country which was targeted by Kodak included the United States of America. With time, its reach expanded and it began to sell products in other nations as well.

Targeting: Kodak targeted two types of people including families and young people. Families were targeted by Kodak who needed to take photographs with their children but could not do it because taking photographs was not easy. In addition to families, young people were targeted by Kodak who had an interest in photography. These were the only two types of customers targeted by the firm. Children and old people were not targeted by the firm as they could not use cameras but the firm had certainly made it easier for the firm to take photographs without needing assistance.

Positioning: Out of all the components in marketing process and STP, two components played the most important parts. These elements included positioning and price due to which Kodak not only lost its position but also became bankrupt. The price was kept significantly high for its products while positioning had become weak with the emergence of Fuji. Although the marketing of company had been effective in the past, it had become weak when Fuji emerged because it offered cheaper prices for its products compared to Kodak. The quality was same and the price was cheaper for Fuji products. Due to it, the positioning of Kodak grew weak and it began to experience a decline in the sales (Baker & Saren, 2016).

Marketing Strategy of Myopia

            The marketing strategy of Kodak was effective until the emergence of Fuji which provided similar quality products at a cheaper price. For instance, consumers began to purchase products from Fuji because the color film produced by Fuji was twenty-percent cheaper than color film of Kodak. Instead of competing with Fuji by decreasing the price, Kodak continued to launch new products while its sales were not increasing and it only led to the downfall of the organization.

            In addition to not decreasing the costs, Kodak also didn’t take the advantage of social media. It launched Ofoto for printing digital pictures but it was ineffective because rather than serving for the purpose of sharing pictures, the organization tried to not benefit the people but increase its sales and this intensified the marketing myopia. Individuals realized what the organization was attempting to do and its sales were decreased even more. With the introduction of online photo sharing, Kodak was inefficient in realizing that this was a method of opening a new business and not expanding the business of printing. Since the organization didn’t realize this and continued to use this as a method of increasing sales. This strategy proved to be ineffective and the organization didn’t change it.

            Even with the support of marketing, Kodak couldn’t increase its sales and acquire the trust of their customers. Even with new innovations, the sales couldn’t increase and this resulted in its bankruptcy. Rather than changing its strategy, the firm continued to produce products on the same strategy and it proved to be inefficient (Baker, Marketing strategy and management. , 2014).

Source: Slideshare.net

2) Recommendation and Lesson to Avoid Marketing Myopia

Providing the value to customers of Myopia

Successful companies require getting safe from the Marketing Myopia; several strategies can be focused by the companies so that there may not be issues and companies get the benefits in the future. However, through providing the value to the product and through focusing on the customer choice it is better to shifting company perspective. In this way, the product and companies can be successful in the market.

Don’t adapt just yourself but also your product, there is the need to provide value to the product or service to market so it can be useful to people and the product should be according to the requirement. As in the case of Kodak, there was only focus on the product but not on the customer mind as they wanted the advancement in the product. There should be increased in the product’s value for the consumer

Develop buyer personas of Myopia

There should be semi-fictional representations of the product as the product should have more detail and features that are important in the market. Personas may be identified as the customer demographics and geographic data including their choice about the products related to their place. However, it is needed to focus that how to identify the customers and how to reach them. While developing the new feature of the product there is the need to focus on the demand that how the consumers think about the product. There could be a focus on the gender, age, and location of the customers (Levitt & Levitt, 2008).

Future challenges, goals, and needs of Myopia

There is the need to focus or keep an eye on the future; for example, there is the need to focus on the future aspects that how the product can get success in the market. If competitors company change or make advancement in the product then what can happen to the demand. In this way, it could be said that Kodak did not focus on the future aspects while offering the services of the product; the company did not shape the strategy according to the future aspect. The company initiated sale processes just to sell the product; there was no focus on the market-leading business B2B etc.

Shape your marketing strategy according to the digital age

In this way, the best example of Kodak’s largest retailer photo finishers, which was an electronic camera, can be given. As the company didn’t focus or concerned about digital photography like other companies and did not accept the digital age as required (Mui, 2012). Therefore, issues faced by the company relevant to the digital age. The products need to be faster or more convenient. Digital means disruption, it means that the company needs to add the features and need to make the product through focuses on the fresh changes. Moreover, learning new skills need to be identified that should be successful in social media platforms and help the brand to position itself in the consumer's mind.

Never Stop Evolving of Myopia

There is the need to evolve and explore new options example, the companies who want to get safe from the Marketing Myopia should admire the changes according to the trends, and competition, keyword popularity, etc. as there should be focus on the product that how it could get famous by the introduction of new social media platforms. There should be a focus on social media algorithms so that maximum customers can know about the products and relevant services. Online content, paid search engines and social media are the best options.

Listen to the Experts of Myopia

Experts should be hired for the development of the industry communities, websites, and blogs so that the product becomes up to date and become famous in the people or customers. There is a need to get adapted or customized recommendations from the experts so companies get safe from the Marketing Myopia and can make improvements according to customers' demands and web marketing.

Recommendations of Myopia

There is some recommendation for marketing myopia. From the example of Kodak, it can be seen that this company was completely unable to move with the new market trend. This company was just focusing on its sales, not on the demand of the customer. If any company wanted to stay in the market, then they must have to move with the new trends. The company has to follow such trends that will give a huge advantage to the company in the future. Furthermore, the company has to make a suitable changing according to the demand of the customers. If your company is focusing on the demand of their customers and making changes according to them, then it will be extremely easy for them to stay in the market for a long period of time. Another thing is that the company must have to focus on the quality of its products. If they are underestimating the quality and just focusing on the sales, then it will put an end on the company’s future sales. Therefore the company has to maintain the reasonable quality of their products.

Conclusion of Myopia

It can be concluded that Marketing Myopia of Kodak was the classic mistake by the company because the company focuses on selling products rather than a business. However, there was only focus to make the sales and in this way, Kodak failed to adopt the new consumer attitudes to a new marketplace and was focused on the inward-looking approach to marketing. Analyzing the marketing mix, it is known that the company focuses on the higher prices in comparison and focused on several advertisements, promotions just to make the profit rather than attracting the customers and making long-term rapport with them. It is concluded that if the company need to increase its sales and if want a long-term relationship with customers then there should focus on the learning new skills and stay in touch with the social media to get consumers and position itself efficiently in the consumer's mind.

References of Myopia

Baker, M. J. (2014). Marketing strategy and management. . Macmillan International Higher Education.

Baker, M. J., & Saren, M. (2016). Marketing theory: a student text. Sage.

Dan, A. (2012). Kodak Failed By Asking The Wrong Marketing Question. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/avidan/2012/01/23/kodak-failed-by-asking-the-wrong-marketing-question/#49273edc3d47

Kerin, R., & Hartley, S. (2015). Marketing: the core. McGraw-Hill.

Levitt, T., & Levitt, T. (2008). Marketing Myopia. Harvard Business Press.

Mui, C. (2012). How Kodak Failed. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/chunkamui/2012/01/18/how-kodak-failed/#837adc76f27a

Pahwa, A. (2019). Marketing Myopia. Retrieved from https://www.feedough.com/marketing-myopia/