Drifting of segments

hey ppl...this i smthin i wrote.... its my perception....so plz read n contribute with ur valuable comments abt what u think.

When we begin to learn marketing, the 1st thing taught to us is the difference between the present and the past marketing scenario. They say, “Back then it was the push strategy, but now it is more of the pull strategy”. That is to say, in very simple terms, earlier marketers took the product to the customer, but now, they get the customer to come to them, by various means. But I ask, how did marketers come with such strategies, which we are taught about year after year, batch after batch? According to me, if u read carefully, you will see that in both the explanations, the marketers know who the customers are; they knew precisely who needs their product and where it will be popular. In short, they knew their target segment. Hence, these strategies were born. Whether pull or push, if they did not know who their customer is, then whom would they pull or to whom would they push their product to?
With this thought, I’d like to ask another question… is the “pull” era still on? What I mean is, customers are becoming really dynamic these days. They are exposed to millions of problems and millions of choices. With increasing technology and awareness, there is no end to a customer’s expectations. They want every facility, whether possible or not! They want convenience and speed because they have no time and they are impatient .They want variety and uniqueness because they loose interest too soon. They don’t want any worries coz they already have enough. They demand something out-of-the-box because they are equally innovative. My point is, if they get what they want, life is ok but they moment they feel something else is better or serves their needs better, they shift.
Hence, as a marketer, if you think you know your market segment then think again coz there is no market segment! It is a rat race, where thousands of products and brands are competing. They are competing on the basis of USP, on the basis of that “something different”. I may love the service of my present reliance phone connection but I may also love my job as a social worker and get attracted to idea just because of their save trees and educated villages ad campaign! This 3-D projection of a product is changing the way customers make decisions. Marketers are trying to promote in every way possible but every viewer is unique and hence each and every interpretation is unique. The part of the brain which gets stimulated when viewing a particular ad is what majorly influences a decision. Like in the above idea example, their target segment is definitely not social workers but it was the emotional values that made them a potential customer. Hence, there is no clear boundary in which your customers live… they have become fluid and are merging.
One example: we all know just dial. Most of us have used it. They give amazing service and it is very convenient any time of the day. So now u can see, directories have disappeared! We used it seldom any ways, but now with just dial who would want to use that 1 kg book with that tiny font to find the number they need?
Similarly, is freecharge.in . It is an amazing venture of accelyst solutions wherein phone recharge is made virtually free by providing coupons worth the amount recharged. The retailers they have partnered with have noticed increased footfalls and hence been positive to this venture. Also people love the word “free” and hence are very attracted to this. Even I am. I do a recharge from this site all the time! Apart from this, it is also easy and trustable. so this is something unique and convenient and is driving people to use it just because its “free”.

So to conclude, I’d like to answer my own question. Maybe today is still the era of “pull”, but not the pull of customers rather pull by customers… customer’s dynamic demands are the modern marketers commands.