This study examines how social media influencers (SMIs) perceive their role in the complex relationships between brands, followers, and society, the moral dilemmas they face, and how they deal with ...them. The results show that SMIs find themselves in different roles depending on which stakeholders' expectations they fulfil. Using role theory as a theoretical framework, we find that the conflicts between extended expectations (commitment, authenticity, and responsibility) lead to various moral dilemmas: non-disclosure, withholding negative experiences, lack of empathy, promotion of products without genuine experience, sharing opinions on socially relevant issues, and promotion of harmful products. Strategies for resolving these dilemmas which help SMIs manage their complex moral obligations include: spotlighting a role, downplaying a role, customizing a role, and resorting to a role.
Marketing of craft producers Mijatović, Matea; First Komen, Ivana
Zbornik Veleučilišta u Rijeci,
06/2024, Letnik:
12, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Craft producers often drive tourist and the overall economic development of small communities; therefore, their business success extends beyond their own benefit. This research was therefore driven ...by the idea to support craft producers in achieving market success. The purpose of the research was to understand how craft producers approach marketing and what their needs are in terms of marketing education. We approached the research by inquiring insights directly from craft producers interested to improve their marketing knowledge and collecting qualitative data by questionnaires with open-ended questions. The results show that surveyed craft producers give considerable thought to developing marketing mix elements; however, mostly miss to approach marketing strategically. At the same time, they believe that they should make a better use of the possibilities provided by the digital media. Considering these results, we recommend that marketing education for craft producers should focus on conceptualising marketing as a process of interconnected decisions that go beyond promotion, and that when approached strategically help to make day-to-day market-related decisions simpler and more efficient. We also recommend that such education include practical knowledge of essential digital marketing techniques. The originality of the research lies in reaching conclusions about the future educational needs of craft producers by not only directly asking interested individuals about their needs, but also by going beyond and analysing descriptions of their marketing activities to better understand the full scope of their educational needs.
Craft proizvođači su često pokretači turističkog i ukupnog gospodarskog razvoja malih sredina pa njihov poslovni uspjeh ne koristi samo njima već i široj zajednici. Ovo istraživanje je stoga bilo motivirano idejom pružanja podrške craft proizvođačima da ostvare tržišni uspjeh. Svrha istraživanja bila je razumjeti kako craft proizvođači pristupaju marketingu te koje potrebe imaju u smislu marketinškog obrazovanja. Istraživanju se pristupilo tražeći spoznaje direktno od craft proizvođača zainteresiranih za unaprjeđenje svog marketinškog znanja te prikupljajući kvalitativne podatke putem upitnika s otvorenim pitanjima. Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da ispitani craft proizvođači ozbiljno promišljaju o razvoju elemenata marketinškog miksa; međutim, marketingu uglavnom ne pristupaju strateški. Istovremeno, oni vjeruju da bi trebali bolje iskorištavati mogućnosti koje pružaju digitalni mediji. S obzirom na ove rezultate, preporuča se obrazovanje za craft proizvođače usmjeriti na konceptualizaciju marketinga kao procesa međusobno povezanih odluka koje nadilaze promociju, a koje, ako im se pristupi strateški, pomažu u jednostavnijem i učinkovitijem donošenju svakodnevnih tržišnih odluka. Također, preporuča se u edukaciju uključiti i praktična znanja o temeljnim tehnikama digitalnog marketinga. Originalnost istraživanja očituje se u donošenju zaključaka o budućim obrazovnim potrebama craft proizvođača ne samo temeljem direktnog ispitivanja zainteresiranih pojedinaca o njihovim potrebama, već i dubljim uvidom, putem analize opisa njihovih marketinških aktivnosti kako bi se bolje razumio puni obuhvat njihovih obrazovnih potreba.
Purpose - The purpose of this study was to uncover potential thematic mismatches between textual comments in online hotel reviews, on the one hand, and rating categories in those reviews, consumer ...experience scales, and marketing tools, on the other; and to draw attention to challenges that these mismatches pose for hotel managers and researchers. Design/Methodology/Approach - An in-depth, qualitative, contextual content analysis of online reviews was conducted. Findings - Thematic mismatches were found for all three comparisons. The textual comments are broader in topic than the rating categories of the platform studied. Conversely, textual comments are thematically narrower than the studied consumer experience scales and marketing tools. These mismatches can lead to suboptimal decision-making by hotel managers especially when they are pressured by a large and increasing number of reviews. Originality of the research - Past research has not drawn attention to the thematic mismatches between textual comments in online customer reviews and other sources of information available to hotel managers, nor has it discussed the challenges hotel managers may face when relying heavily on online customer comments. The findings also provide input for researchers to rethink how best to measure consumers’ hotel experience.
The purpose of this research is to understand how current marketing research conceptualises natural and traditional products – products that strongly attract consumer attention and capture large and ...growing market shares yet remain vague and weakly defined by a regulatory framework. The analysis is conducted on systematically selected research articles published in relevant journals over the past two decades. The results show that the natural products are mostly defined by the way they are produced and the ingredients they do not contain, while no consensus was reached for the traditional products. Furthermore, not only is the concept of traditional defined by an unusually large number of themes, but the themes also vary considerably depending on stakeholder group from which they originate, indicating an inevitable communication problem between these groups. The results also show that despite attempts by marketers to link the meanings of the two types of products, the themes in the definitions of natural and traditional products are different and overlap only sporadically. These findings serve as a step toward creating better academic conceptualizations and a more specific regulatory framework for natural and traditional products that will reduce the likelihood of misleading business practises and confusion among consumers and researchers.
Purpose: Consumers increasingly make conscious choices when it comes to food and choose healthy products that protect the natural environment and preserve traditional habits and communities. This ...study investigates the differences between perceived benefits and willingness to pay for products making different marketing claims yet all suggesting producers’ dedication to protect the health of consumers as well as natural and traditional resources.
Methodology: First, focus groups were conducted to identify food marketing claims (i.e., product types) that are relevant to consumers and empirically validate the relevance of the perceived benefits identified in previous research. Second, questionnaires were distributed to consumers to analyse the differences in perceived benefits and willingness to pay between the identified product types.
Results: The focus groups revealed that apart from natural and traditional products, handmade, homemade, and autochthonous products represent important marketing claims. They also proved that most benefits identified in literature resonate well with consumers of the studied cultural context. Results of the questionnaire show that emotional benefits are not perceived differently for different product types, functional benefits are perceived higher for natural and handmade products than for traditional ones, while convenience is perceived as higher only for handmade products. Willingness to pay is not different for different product types nor benefits.
Conclusion: Since some product types are perceived as providing more benefits than others, small food producers should focus on marketing their products as handmade and natural, rather than traditional. Furthermore, marketing efforts should be directed towards identifying the right consumer segments as those inclined to the protection of traditional resources perceive higher benefits regardless of the product type.
Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je razumjeti kako različiti signali na pakiranju utječu na percepciju potrošača o sigurnosti prirodnih prehrambenih proizvoda. Identificirana su četiri signala koji se ...koriste u sklopu marketinških napora kako bi se potrošačima sugerirala viša sigurnost prehrambenih proizvoda: poznata marka, organska oznaka kvalitete, domaće podrijetlo proizvoda i dizajn pakiranja koji sugerira prirodnost. Kroz eksperimentalni dizajn istraživanja, pet skupina ispitanika evaluiralo je pet različitih podražaja: jedan podražaj za svaki signal sigurnosti i jedan podražaj bez signala sigurnosti. Svaka skupina ispitanika evaluirala je tri kategorije prirodnih proizvoda: med, maslinovo ulje i rajčicu. Rezultati pokazuju da se proizvod bez ikakvih signala sigurnosti smatra znatno manje sigurnim od proizvoda s bilo kojim od promatranih signala sigurnosti. Istodobno, između različitih signala sigurnosti gotovo da nema razlika u percipiranoj sigurnosti. Rezultati daju doprinos u području istraživanja pakiranja kao komunikacijskog kanala i području istraživanja percepcije sigurnosti hrane. Dobivene spoznaje imaju važne implikacije za male proizvođače koji se pridržavaju standarda sigurnosti i proizvode prirodne proizvode jer ukazuju da se signaliziranjem prirodnosti može konkurirati jakim markama u smislu percepcije sigurnosti, ali i za regulatorna tijela jer ukazuju na važnost sustavne kontrole kvalitete.
Cilj ovog istrazivanja bio je razumjeti kako razliciti signali na pakiranju utjecu na percepciju potrosaca o sigurnosti prirodnih prehrambenih proizvoda. Identificirana su cetiri sígnala koji se ...koriste u sklopu marketinskih napora kako bi se potrosacima sugerirala visa sigumost prehrambenih proizvoda: poznata marka, organska oznaka kvalitete, domace podrijetlo proizvoda i dizajn pakiranja koji sugerirá prirodnost. Kroz eksperimentalni dizajn istrazivanja, pet skupina ispitanika evaluiralo je pet razlicitih podrazaja: jedan podrazaj za svaki signal sigurnosti i jedan podrazaj bez sígnala sigurnosti. Svaka skupina ispitanika evaluiralaje tri kategorije prirodnih proizvoda: med, maslinovo ulje i rajcicu. Rezultati pokazuju da se proizvod bez ikakvih sígnala sigurnosti smatra znatno monje sigurnim od proizvoda s bilo kojim od promatranih sígnala sigurnosti. Istodobno, izmedu razlicitih sígnala sigurnosti gotovo da nema razlika u percipiranoj sigurnosti. Rezultati daju doprinos u podrucju istrazivanja pakiranja kao komunikacijskog kanala i podrucju istrazivanja percepcije sigurnosti hrane. Dobivene spoznaje imaju vazne implikacije za male proizvodace koji se pridrzavaju standarda sigurnosti i proizvode prirodne proizvode jer ukazuju da se signaliziranjem prirodnosti moze konkurirati jakim markama u smisiu percepcije sigurnosti, ali i za regulatorna tijela jer ukazuju na vaznost sustavne kontrole kvalitete.
One of the direct ways of influencing emotions and service quality perceptions is by music stimulation. The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of music of different musical elements ...(i.e. sad vs. happy music) on respondents' emotions and their first impression perceptions of a healthcare institution's quality. The research was designed as an experimental simulation, i.e. data were collected in an online survey from respondents randomly assigned to evaluate a presentation consisting of multiple images of a healthcare institution in one of three experimental conditions (absence of, happy, and sad music stimulation). The results, in alliance with previous research, demonstrate a relationship between emotions and first impression quality perceptions and between music and emotions, but no relationship between music and first impression quality perception. The obtained significant results yet again emphasize the importance of inducing positive customer emotions as they lead to positive first impression service quality evaluations that subsequently provide appreciated returns. They also stress the importance of carefully choosing music when inducing emotions as music with different musical elements results in different emotional states. One of the limitations of this research is the non-real life situation experimental setting, which is to be overcome in future research.
Disguised advertising is a modern marketing instrument that is seeing an increase in Croatian business practice but whose application is prohibited by Croatian law. Therefore, the purpose of this ...study is to understand whether Croatian businesses really do use disguised advertising, how they do it either in accordance or in contradiction with Croatian law, and whether there is a need to distinguish among several similar but different manifestations and to terminologically determine each one of these. For the purpose of this study, we explored the theoretical, legal and ethnographic conceptualizations of the term disguised advertising in the scientific literature, Croatian legislation and applied communication in business practice. The results of our research show that: a) marketing literature uses various terms for describing brand usage in program content, among which disguised advertising (prikriveno oglašavanje) dominates, whereas product placement (plasman proizvoda) is not mentioned once; b) the law distinguishes between disguised advertising that is prohibited and product placement, as a practise allowed under certain conditions and the one that is by definition identical with disguised advertising in the manner defined by marketing literature; c) business entities in their communication make a distinction between disguised advertising and product placement, and they are trying to move product placement away from disguised advertising by being mentioned as sponsors/partners of the program. The analysis also indicates three different situations in which brands are used in the program content: contracted and correctly indicated brand usage; contracted but not indicated; and not-contracted brand usage. Only the first situation is considered to be a recommended marketing tool; therefore, it is necessary to differentiate it from the other two by its definition and name. It is suggested that this marketing tool be named: brand placement in both marketing literature and legislation, as English literature already recommends. In the long term, this should lead to a proper use of the term in business practice as well.
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