What is Undifferentiated Marketing?

Author: Kaitlyn Partington Category: Digital & Social Media, Marketing Date: December 9, 2022

Business owners are currently navigating many challenges. Between inflation, the Great Resignation, supply chain issues, and a potential recession looming, companies are carefully watching their bottom line. Marketing is an essential function of your business to help it continue to thrive, but there are many different approaches you can take. And you’re probably at a point where you’re nervous any misstep could cost you big. Especially in times of economic uncertainty, one marketing strategy many companies often choose is undifferentiated marketing. But what is it, what are its pros and cons, and is it right for you? Let’s explore.

The Definition of Undifferentiated Marketing

All forms of marketing identify a target audience. What makes undifferentiated marketing, or mass marketing, unique is that it categorizes all consumers or potential buyers into one group. Instead of dividing customers into segmented audiences and crafting marketing strategies for each of them, undifferentiated targeting creates one with mass appeal to connect with all of them. This strategy can be effective for products that are widely used where the demographics of the audience don’t have a large impact on their use. These undifferentiated products include things like food, laundry, personal care, and cleaning products.

Examples of Mass Marketing

Many brands you are likely familiar with utilize undifferentiated marketing without you even noticing. These mass marketing examples include:

• Coca-Cola
• Hershey
• Colgate
• M&M’S

Differentiated Marketing vs. Undifferentiated Marketing

It’s important to know the difference between these two main types of marketing strategies to decide which is right for your business. Unlike undifferentiated targeting strategy, differentiated marketing segments its audiences, usually by demographics, and creates targeted marketing strategies for each of them. This approach helps ensure their marketing strategies hit the mark with their target audiences, especially if the product is more niche and appeals to a specific group. However, a disadvantage of a concentrated targeting strategy like this is that it requires more time and resources.

Benefits of Undifferentiated Marketing

There are several advantages of mass marketing, including:

• It gives your brand a broader reach. Undifferentiated marketing is all about quantity of outreach. Considering it can take an average of nine to 13 “touches,” or audience interactions, for your marketing to be effective in building brand trust and creating engagement, high volume can work in your favor.
• It takes less research. To effectively carry out differentiated marketing tailored to your target audiences, you must invest time and money into market research. Mass marketing aims to establish a strategy that will attract the largest number of people, requiring less investigation and analysis.
• It may cost less. Less research and fewer outreach strategies mean less time and fewer resources you must allocate to your marketing.
• It’s easier. The less research you have to do, the less time you have to devote, and the less money you have to spend, the less complicated your marketing is.

 Drawbacks of Undifferentiated Marketing

Even with its perks, there are some disadvantages to using mass marketing, including:

• It is not targeted. The foundation of this approach is based on viewing all consumers the same, but we are not. According to one study, over 40% of respondents prefer the products that are marketed to them to be targeted to their interests rather than randomly. (1)
• It makes assumptions. With less information to build your strategy, you run the risk of making incorrect assumptions about your audience. And we all know what they say about assumptions…
• You may not be targeting, but your competitors could be. If your top competition is using a targeted strategy, you might want to consider it more seriously, otherwise you could be seen as out of touch with your audience.
• Some of your efforts may be wasted. When you are thinking about trying something new, have you ever heard the expression, “Throw spaghetti against the wall and see what sticks?” You don’t have to make a big mess to guess what will happen. Some of it will stay on the wall, and some of it will fall flat on the floor, wasting the time and resources you put into it.

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to marketing. Whether it’s differentiated or undifferentiated marketing, the strategy that’s right for you is the one that is going to help you reach your business goals. At Paradigm, we specialize in marketing strategy development, creating and executing cohesive plans and campaigns that drive customer awareness. We get to know our clients, explore different strategies, and utilize various marketing disciplines and leverage each to achieve business growth and profitability for our clients. If we can help you identify what will work for you, please contact us today.

(1)  https://www.grenismedia.com/blog/45-digital-and-targeted-advertising-statistics/