Sustainability and Stakeholder Marketing

Sustainability and Stakeholder
Marketing

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Sustainability in marketing and consumerism
Marketing in today’s world is not limited to one or two areas or to one country. When we talk
about marketing in 21st century it is mainly concerned with global marketing which is capable
of attracting customers at the global levels and at the limited cost. Sustainability in marketing
has been the major concern of the companies in today’s time. There are various aspects of the
marketing that needs to be dealt when it comes to maintaining its sustainability (Font and
McCabe, 2017). Since the resources are limited hence it has become critical for the marketing
management to look after the sustainability element in marketing. This is not only necessary
for the growth of the organisation but it is also critical for improving the stake of the
organisations in the global markets that too in the long term. Consumerism also has impact on
the ability of the organisations. This essay is going to reduce the sustainability challenges
faced by the organisation of 21st century. At the same time it will also illustrate the way in
which consumerism impact on the ability of the firm to deliver mutually beneficial social,
environmental and economic values.
It is critical for the firms in the modern day business to ensure that sustainability of the firm
remains on the better side and in this regards the role of the marketing has become highly
critical. There are different types of challenges that modern day organisations have to face
when it comes to do marketing. The most likely challenge that is having impact on the 21st
century firms in terms of managing their marketing sustainability is competition (Kumar, et al
2012). The competition in the marketing has gone to much higher levels and due to this every
firm is investing in the marketing in larger amounts. Apart from this the quality of the
marketing has also to be increased. At the same time there are large numbers of innovations
that are going on in different firms due to this companies have to further invest higher on the
marketing (Sharma, et al 2010). The better the innovation capacity of the firm the better is
their chance to improve sustainability of their marketing.
There is a significant increase in the cost of the marketing which is a challenge for the
company. This is because there had been increase in the aggressiveness with which marketing
is done within the organisation. Increasing cost also has impact on the financials of the firm
hence affecting the sustainability of the overall firm. Since companies are planning for long
term sustainability hence they also have to look at improving their financial condition
(Nayak, et al 2019). It is seen that population demands in different parts of the world has
changed and this change in the population demands has critical impact on the way an
organisation is doing their marketing. Since people switch from one company to another

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smoothly as they are highly informed due to modern technologies used hence companies had
to change their marketing campaigns at regular intervals. This has slow but long term impact
on the operations of the firm.
Another challenge is the technologies that are used in the marketing as they are changing at
much faster rate and the costs of these technologies are also on the higher side. The
organisations that are able to upgrade their technologies at regular intervals are able to gain
competitive advantage over the rivals. Hence the technological resources of the firms get
outdated soon which has impact on the sustainability of the firm (Peattie, 2011). Inter-
connected technologies have further escalated the situations to much higher levels as its
utilisation favours and dis favour the organisation on the regular intervals. With
advancements in technologies skill requirements are also increasing and if the company fails
to address the skill related challenges in a better manner then there is a greater chance that
sustainability of marketing done by the firms gets under the question mark.
There are many ethical challenges that are surrounding the modern day marketing of the firm.
Ethical issues that are creating a challenge for the sustainability in the marketing includes
being privacy related to the personal data of the individuals, over peeping in the personal
lives of the people and too much marketing on all the platforms with which the people are
connected. This creates sustainability related challenges in the marketing (Clarke, Hawkins
and Waligo, 2014). This also includes the cultural aspect that is attached with the business. It
can be seen that a marketing campaign that might not offend people from one culture might
offend the other. This can be easily seen in the case when companies use idols in their
marketing campaigns. Sometimes it can go so wrong that people of that culture might not
purchase that product in the future (Rettie, Burchell and Riley, 2012). It is seen that higher
amount of investment is made on the consumer care initiatives and the way in which
marketing is done. This can be understood in terms of the fact that today’s marketing is
focused towards making investments that illustrates the consumer care and not just the lip
service. Walk the talk is not so easier for the firms in today’s time. Marketing must illustrate
the challenges that are faced by the people and the solution that their products and services
are offering with respect to those challenges has impact on the sustainability of the marketing
(Kemper and Ballantine, 2019). Consumerism has also pushed the companies towards ethical
dilemma. For example the people are demanding for the low cost products but for producing
low cost products companies have to reduce the quality yet their marketing needs to show
that they are best. This ethical dilemma is difficult for the firm to manage.