Brand or mass marketing is the type of marketing that large businesses and corporations do. Its major purpose is to gain visibility for a product or business and to build the business brand.

However mass marketing is not a good approach for small business owners because:

1. Mass marketing isn’t not targeted to the people most likely to buy what small businesses sell.
2. Mass marketing rarely creates quick sales.
3. Mass marketing requires too many resources.
4. Mass marketing is difficult to design to appeal to a target market.

To illustrate these four reasons, consider a television automobile advertisement.

Reason 1: Mass Marketing Isn’t Targeted To The People Most Likely To Buy

First, television is not targeted to the people most likely to buy a small business’ product or service. In fact television is the broadest of all mass media with millions of people watching television everyday.

True the proliferation of channels has improved targeting to large groups of people sharing broad characteristics, and media research enables some targeting by particular shows. Still television audiences are too broad to reach a small target market, with members ready to buy a small business’ product immediately.

That leads to the second reason why mass marketing doesn’t work for small businesses –

Reason 2: Mass Marketing Rarely Creates Quick Sales

For example, no vehicle marketer believes that a person is going to go right out and buy a new vehicle because of an advertisement. Vehicles are too expensive for spur-of-the-moment purchases. Converting marketing to immediate sales is not the purpose of advertising in mass media.

Instead, the purpose is to get people thinking about the vehicle so that when they are in the market for a vehicle, they’ll test drive the advertised one, giving its sales people an opportunity to sell the vehicle when the consumer is ready to buy.

Thus, the television vehicle advertisement reaches many people who will not be interested in that vehicle at all and more who may be interested in that vehicle, but are presently not in the market to buy.

Reason 3: Mass Marketing Requires Too Many Resources

It requires great resources to air a television vehicle advertisement. A 30-second advertisement in a local market can cost thousands. For a high viewing national program like the super bowl, an ad costs millions.

So mass marketing is too expensive for most small businesses, and the results are too long-term to meet the needs of small businesses. Thus, mass marketing doesn’t offer a good return on investment for small business owners.

Because of the generic nature of the ads, the purpose of building visibility rather than converting sales, and the expense, mass marketing is primarily used by large Businesses.

Reason 4: Mass Marketing Is Difficult To Design To Appeal To a Target Market

Two mass media distinctions make it near impossible to design mass media advertisements for a small business’ target market.

First, marketing is to the masses, and little market profiling is done. So specific characteristics aren’t determined or used in marketing messages.

Second, mass marketing has to appeal to everybody in the mass market. Thus, advertisements are quite generic, promoting features and benefits that everybody considers when buying the product.

For our vehicle example, these are often design and looks, dependability, safety, economy or status. These appeals may attract slightly different markets, but they are still too broad for a target or niche market.

In conclusion, mass marketing doesn’t provide the best means for small business owners to get out messages about their products and services because it’s not targeted to the people most likely to buy. It rarely creates quick sales. It requires too many resources, and it’s difficult to design to appeal to a target market.

Target marketing works better for the exact opposite reasons.

Submitted to ExineArticles.com 3-25-08: Four Reasons Why Mass Marketing
Doesn’t Work For Small Businesses

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