In marketing, it is critical to understand the difference between the needs and wants of the target audience. Consumer needs are essential for business sustainability, while consumer wants provide important marketplace differentiation for the business itself.
Aspect
Needs in Marketing
Wants in Marketing
Definition
Needs refer to the basic necessities and requirements that individuals or consumers must have to survive, thrive, or fulfill a specific purpose.
Wants are desires or preferences for products, services, or experiences that go beyond basic needs and are not essential for survival or well-being.
Nature
Needs are universal and fundamental, shared by all humans, such as food, water, shelter, and clothing.
Wants are subjective and vary from person to person, influenced by culture, personal values, and individual tastes and preferences.
Motivation
Needs are driven by biological, physiological, or safety factors, compelling individuals to seek solutions to fulfill these fundamental requirements.
Wants are often motivated by emotional, social, psychological, or aspirational factors, reflecting personal desires, aspirations, and lifestyle choices.
Marketing Focus
In marketing, needs are addressed through essential products and services designed to satisfy basic requirements, like grocery stores or healthcare.
Wants are targeted by marketers to create products, services, and experiences that cater to consumers’ desires and preferences, such as luxury items.
Consumer Behavior
Consumers are more likely to prioritize fulfilling their needs over wants, as unmet needs can lead to discomfort or dissatisfaction.
Wants may be pursued once needs are met, and consumers have the capacity to pursue products or experiences that align with their desires and preferences.
Purchase Decision
Buying decisions related to needs are often practical and driven by functionality, affordability, and availability of essential products or services.
Purchase decisions for wants may involve emotions, aspirations, and personal identity, with consumers seeking unique or premium offerings.
Product Categories
Needs-based products or services include necessities like food, water, clothing, housing, and healthcare.
Wants-based products or services encompass a wide range of items, including luxury goods, entertainment, travel, fashion, and leisure activities.
Brand Positioning
Brands catering to needs often emphasize reliability, affordability, quality, and accessibility, focusing on meeting basic requirements.
Brands targeting wants often position themselves as aspirational, exclusive, and unique, emphasizing the emotional and lifestyle benefits they offer.
Advertising Strategies
Advertising for needs may focus on practicality, safety, health benefits, and cost-efficiency, highlighting how products or services fulfill essential requirements.
Advertising for wants may employ storytelling, aesthetics, emotional appeal, and status symbolism to create desire and aspiration around the offerings.
Market Stability
Needs-based markets tend to be more stable and less susceptible to economic downturns, as demand for essentials remains relatively constant.
Wants-based markets can be more volatile, with consumer spending on non-essential items influenced by economic conditions, consumer confidence, and trends.
Economic Impact
The demand for needs tends to be inelastic, meaning that consumers will continue to purchase essential items regardless of price fluctuations.
The demand for wants can be elastic, meaning that consumers may reduce spending on non-essential items during economic downturns or price increases.
Psychological Satisfaction
Fulfilling needs provides a sense of security, stability, and well-being, contributing to consumers’ overall satisfaction with life.
Fulfilling wants can lead to psychological satisfaction, increased happiness, and a sense of accomplishment, as individuals obtain desired experiences or possessions.
Examples
Examples of needs-based products include groceries, water purification systems, basic clothing, and affordable healthcare services.
Examples of wants-based products encompass luxury cars, designer clothing, gourmet dining experiences, high-end electronics, and exotic vacations.
Table of Contents
Understanding needs vs. wants in marketing
A marketingstrategy is the “what” and “how” to build a sustainable value chain framed for a target customer. A powerful marketingstrategy needs to be able to manufacture desire, amplify the underlying value proposition, and build a brand that feels unique in the mind of its customers.
Many businesses sell products or services that satisfy basic human requirements. Cars are one such example since most consumers have a fundamental need for transportation. Companies that sell food, drink, safety, or shelter-based needs also fall under this umbrella. What’s more, they have become highly skilled at extolling the rational and logical benefits of their products to drive sales.
For the most part however, consumers tend to purchase on emotion. In other words, they purchase according to wants. The consumer looking for a new car might want a five-star safety rating, metallic paint, and an automatic transmission. What they need are four wheels and an engine. In a market where every new car satisfies these needs, consumer wants provide an important point of difference in marketing strategies.
For businesses and their marketing teams, understanding the difference between needs and wants is important. Needs represent basic requirements, functions, or features consumers expect to be satisfied. Wants, as we have already discussed, are points of differentiation and are generally not essential to human survival. If used correctly, however, they can turn a satisfied customer into a loyal and devoted follower.
Digital marketing is a sub-set of marketing which uses the Internet, and online platforms to drive a marketingstrategy. Digital marketing channels offer opportunities to reach small audiences with a high degree of personalization, thus growing businesses even with lower budgets and a better understanding of those audiences.
Determining consumer wants
Marketing to consumer wants means first determining what they are.
Businesses with existing products can simply ask their customers why they purchase from them. Why do they want the product? What does it do for them beyond functionality?
When determining wants, emotional triggers are a good place to start.
The car buyer looking for an automatic transmission may want a simpler way to drive in peak hour traffic. Their emotional trigger might stem from feelings of relief and comfort.
The car buyer looking for a five-star safety rating may want peace of mind for their young family. Here, the emotional triggers may be security, contentment, or even fear.
The car buyer looking for metallic paint may want a modern look that does not fade as quickly as other types of paint. They want to feel satisfied, proud, and happy.
A marketing channel represents the set of activities necessary to create a distribution for a product and make sure that the product is delivered in the hands of the right people and that the potential customer is satisfied with it. The marketing channel also needs to be aligned with the brand message of the company.
Demands
Customer obsession goes beyond quantitative and qualitative data about customers, and it moves around customers’ feedback to gather valuable insights. Those insights start by the entrepreneur’s wandering process, driven by hunch, gut, intuition, curiosity, and a builder mindset. The product discovery moves around a building, reworking, experimenting, and iterating loop.
A sometimes overlooked aspect of needs and wants in marketing are demands.
Essentially, wants turn into demands when a consumer has the financial means to purchase a want. Many consumers want a luxury 100-foot yacht, but few could afford the asking price. Nevertheless, yacht companies have responded to the demands of the ultra-rich and made them available for sale.
Demands, like needs and wants, will vary according to the target audience. Demands will also be influenced by societal and cultural norms and market conditions. As a result, marketing teams must craft campaigns that reflect an understanding of who the customer is and what they are willing (or able) to pay for.
Nike vision is “to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.” While its mission statement is to “do everything possible to expand human potential. We do that by creating groundbreaking sport innovations, by making our products more sustainably, by building a creative and diverse global team and by making a positive impact in communities where we live and work.”
Key Similarities between Needs, Wants, and Demands in Marketing:
Consumer-Centric Approach: Both needs, wants, and demands in marketing are centered around understanding and satisfying the desires and preferences of the target audience.
Value Creation: Meeting needs, fulfilling wants, and catering to demands are all focused on creating value for the consumers, which is essential for business sustainability and growth.
Emotional Triggers: Emotions play a role in all three aspects of marketing. Needs can be met through logical and rational benefits, wants are often driven by emotional triggers, and demands are influenced by both emotional desires and financial capacity.
Market Differentiation: Wants and demands provide opportunities for market differentiation and competitive advantage. Understanding consumer wants and demands allows businesses to tailor their marketing strategies to stand out in the market.
Key Differences between Needs, Wants, and Demands in Marketing:
Nature and Necessity: Needs are essential requirements or functions that consumers expect to be fulfilled for survival or functioning. Wants, on the other hand, are non-essential features that enhance the product’s appeal but are not critical to human survival. Demands are wants that consumers have the financial means to purchase.
Purchase Decision: Needs are often fulfilled based on logical and rational considerations, as they address basic requirements. Wants and demands, on the other hand, are often driven by emotional factors and desires.
Product Viability: Meeting consumer needs is crucial for the basic functionality and acceptance of a product in the market. Wants and demands, while contributing to market differentiation, may not always be viable for all target audiences due to financial constraints or other factors.
Customer Segmentation: Needs are often more universal and apply to a broader target audience. Wants and demands, on the other hand, may vary significantly based on individual preferences, societal norms, and financial capacity, requiring businesses to segment their target audience accordingly.
Marketing Focus: Marketing strategies for needs are often focused on highlighting the product’s functional benefits and solving specific problems for consumers. For wants and demands, the focus is on emotional appeal, unique features, and creating a sense of desire and urgency.
Case Studies
Smartphones:
Need: Communication device to make calls and send messages.
Demand: Elite institutions, international schooling, or exclusive courses for those who have the means.
Key takeaways:
In marketing, consumer needs are basic functions or features they expect to be satisfied. Purchases based on consumer needs tend to be logical and rational and represent elements critical to human survival or functioning.
Consumer wants are features non-essential to product function that provide businesses with market differentiation. These purchases tend to be based on positive or negative emotions.
Consumer demands are wants a consumer has the financial means to purchase. Effective marketing campaigns must consider the wants of an individual buyer and whether they can afford to pay for them. Ultimately, this has important implications for product viability.
Key Highlights
Basic Definitions:
Needs: Essential requirements for survival or basic functionality.
Wants: Desirable features or qualities that enhance value but aren’t essential.
Demands: Wants backed by the financial capability to purchase them.
Role in Marketing:
Marketing strategies should address both needs (functional benefits) and wants (emotional appeal) to cater to a broader audience.
Effective campaigns consider the affordability aspect, targeting products or services based on consumer demands.
Consumer Behavior:
Purchases based on needs are often logical and rational.
Purchases influenced by wants are driven by emotions.
Demands bridge the gap between what a consumer desires and what they can afford.
Product Differentiation:
Needs provide the basic foundation of a product or service.
Wants offer points of differentiation in the marketplace.
Catering to demands can boost business profitability.
Examples:
A car is a need for transportation. A sunroof or heated seats in a car is a want. Luxury cars like BMW or Mercedes cater to the demands of higher-income individuals.
Strategic Importance:
Understanding the distinction helps businesses prioritize product features, tailor marketing messages, and segment their target audience effectively.
Market Viability:
While addressing needs ensures product relevance, catering to wants and demands can determine the product’s market success and profitability.
Influence on Marketing Channels:
Digital marketing, especially, can be tailored to target specific wants and demands, leveraging data analytics to understand consumer preferences better.
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interaction with a brand until they become a paid customer and beyond.
Funnel marketing is modeled after the marketing funnel, a concept that tells the company how it should market to consumers based on their position in the funnel itself. The notion of a customer embarking on a journey when interacting with a brand was first proposed by Elias St. Elmo Lewis in 1898.
Funnel marketing typically considers three stages of a non-linear marketing funnel. These are top of the funnel (TOFU), middle of the funnel (MOFU), and bottom of the funnel (BOFU). Particular marketing strategies at each stage are adapted to the level of familiarity the consumer has with a brand.
A go-to-market strategy represents how companies market their new products to reach target customers in a scalable and repeatable way. It starts with how new products/services get developed to how these organizations target potential customers (via sales and marketing models) to enable their value proposition to be delivered to create a competitive advantage.
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Grassroots marketing involves a brand creating highly targeted content for a particular niche or audience. When an organization engages in grassroots marketing, it focuses on a small group of people with the hope that its marketing message is shared with a progressively larger audience.
Growth marketing is a process of rapid experimentation, which in a way has to be “scientific” by keeping in mind that it is used by startups to grow, quickly. Thus, the “scientific” here is not meant in the academic sense. Growth marketing is expected to unlock growth, quickly and with an often limited budget.
Guerrilla marketing is an advertising strategy that seeks to utilize low-cost and sometimes unconventional tactics that are high impact. First coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book of the same title, guerrilla marketing works best on existing customers who are familiar with a brand or product and its particular characteristics.
Hunger marketing is a marketing strategy focused on manipulating consumer emotions. By bringing products to market with an attractive price point and restricted supply, consumers have a stronger desire to make a purchase.
Integrated marketing communication (IMC) is an approach used by businesses to coordinate and brand their communication strategies. Integrated marketing communication takes separate marketing functions and combines them into one, interconnected approach with a core brand message that is consistent across various channels. These encompass owned, earned, and paid media. Integrated marketing communication has been used to great effect by companies such as Snapchat, Snickers, and Domino’s.
Inbound marketing is a marketing strategy designed to attract customers to a brand with content and experiences that they derive value from. Inbound marketing utilizes blogs, events, SEO, and social media to create brand awareness and attract targeted consumers. By attracting or “drawing in” a targeted audience, inbound marketing differs from outbound marketing which actively pushes a brand onto consumers who may have no interest in what is being offered.
Integrated marketing describes the process of delivering consistent and relevant content to a target audience across all marketing channels. It is a cohesive, unified, and immersive marketing strategy that is cost-effective and relies on brand identity and storytelling to amplify the brand to a wider and wider audience.
The marketing mix is a term to describe the multi-faceted approach to a complete and effective marketing plan. Traditionally, this plan included the four Ps of marketing: price, product, promotion, and place. But the exact makeup of a marketing mix has undergone various changes in response to new technologies and ways of thinking. Additions to the four Ps include physical evidence, people, process, and even politics.
Marketing myopia is the nearsighted focus on selling goods and services at the expense of consumer needs. Marketing myopia was coined by Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt in 1960. Originally, Levitt described the concept in the context of organizations in high-growth industries that become complacent in their belief that such industries never fail.
Marketing personas give businesses a general overview of key segments of their target audience and how these segments interact with their brand. Marketing personas are based on the data of an ideal, fictional customer whose characteristics, needs, and motivations are representative of a broader market segment.
Meme marketing is any marketing strategy that uses memes to promote a brand. The term “meme” itself was popularized by author Richard Dawkins over 50 years later in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. In the book, Dawkins described how ideas evolved and were shared across different cultures. The internet has enabled this exchange to occur at an exponential rate, with the first modern memes emerging in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Microtargeting is a marketing strategy that utilizes consumer demographic data to identify the interests of a very specific group of individuals. Like most marketing strategies, the goal of microtargeting is to positively influence consumer behavior.
Multichannel marketing executes a marketing strategy across multiple platforms to reach as many consumers as possible. Here, a platform may refer to product packaging, word-of-mouth advertising, mobile apps, email, websites, or promotional events, and all the other channels that can help amplify the brand to reach as many consumers as possible.
Multi-level marketing (MLM), otherwise known as network or referral marketing, is a strategy in which businesses sell their products through person-to-person sales. When consumers join MLM programs, they act as distributors. Distributors make money by selling the product directly to other consumers. They earn a small percentage of sales from those that they recruit to do the same – often referred to as their “downline”.
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a measure of the ability of a product or service to attract word-of-mouth advertising. NPS is a crucial part of any marketing strategy since attracting and then retaining customers means they are more likely to recommend a business to others.
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Neuromarketing is the domain of large companies with similarly large budgets or subsidies. These include Frito-Lay, Google, and The Weather Channel.
Newsjacking as a marketing strategy was popularised by David Meerman Scott in his book Newsjacking: How to Inject Your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage. Newsjacking describes the practice of aligning a brand with a current event to generate media attention and increase brand exposure.
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Real-time marketing is as exactly as it sounds. It involves in-the-moment marketing to customers across any channel based on how that customer is interacting with the brand.
Relationship marketing involves businesses and their brands forming long-term relationships with customers. The focus of relationship marketing is to increase customer loyalty and engagement through high-quality products and services. It differs from short-term processes focused solely on customer acquisition and individual sales.
Reverse marketing describes any marketing strategy that encourages consumers to seek out a product or company on their own. This approach differs from a traditional marketing strategy where marketers seek out the consumer.
Remarketing involves the creation of personalized and targeted ads for consumers who have already visited a company’s website. The process works in this way: as users visit a brand’s website, they are tagged with cookies that follow the users, and as they land on advertising platforms where retargeting is an option (like social media platforms) they get served ads based on their navigation.
Sensory marketing describes any marketing campaign designed to appeal to the five human senses of touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are enabling marketers to design fun, interactive, and immersive sensory marketing brand experiences. Long term, businesses must develop sensory marketing campaigns that are relevant and effective in eCommerce.
Services marketing originated as a separate field of study during the 1980s. Researchers realized that the unique characteristics of services required different marketing strategies to those used in the promotion of physical goods. Services marketing is a specialized branch of marketing that promotes the intangible benefits delivered by a company to create customer value.
Sustainable marketing describes how a business will invest in social and environmental initiatives as part of its marketing strategy. Also known as green marketing, it is often used to counteract public criticism around wastage, misleading advertising, and poor quality or unsafe products.
Word-of-mouth marketing is a marketing strategy skewed toward offering a great experience to existing customers and incentivizing them to share it with other potential customers. That is one of the most effective forms of marketing as it enables a company to gain traction based on existing customers’ referrals. When repeat customers become a key enabler for the brand this is one of the best organic and sustainable growth marketing strategies.
360 marketing is a marketing campaign that utilizes all available mediums, channels, and consumer touchpoints. 360 marketing requires the business to maintain a consistent presence across multiple online and offline channels. This ensures it does not miss potentially lucrative customer segments. By its very nature, 360 marketing describes any number of different marketing strategies. However, a broad and holistic marketing strategy should incorporate a website, SEO, PPC, email marketing, social media, public relations, in-store relations, and traditional forms of advertising such as television.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
