Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow Hierarchy of Needs

Various theories in psychology discuss how human beings grow at different stages in life. Abraham Maslow developed the theory that describes what people need at different stages of growth. He designed a pyramid which shows the universal needs of people at the base progressing upwards until an individual attains the self-actualization. People must satisfy various demands in life, at the workplace, and in society for them to feel successful. At the workplace, managers are striving to coordinate various specialists to deliver the required set target of the business organization. Maslow’s theory plays an essential role in determining the need for people at different stages of the pyramid. Marketing and research teams can extract crucial information that will assist in developing goods and services that confirm the customers’ satisfaction. Marketing includes a variety of factors, for example, determine prices of products and services, creating goodwill between the business and society, distribution of products and services, continuous advertisement, and performing sales promotion. Maslow theory of Hierarchy of needs facilitate marketing department plan on what the community wants, need, demand, and ways of motivating employees to achieve it. Established business organization applies Maslow’s theory of Hierarchy of needs in performing various functions, for instance, selecting employees, determine the quantity and quality of goods, motivating employees to mention a few. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs is discussed as follows to marketing.

Physiological needs are the foundation of aspects that human beings require to survive in a competitive economy. At this stage, most people are striving to meet basic needs, for example, clean water, adequate food, sleep, clothes, shelter, homeostasis, health, and excretion. People must satisfy this stage before it motivates them to the next step. Most of these individuals are living in underdeveloped third world countries. People are struggling to get enough food, a place to build houses, clean water, and many necessity factors. Individuals at this level are low income earning class who encounters necessary disasters, for example, poor infrastructure, insufficient transport, and communication systems. They cannot afford to purchase quality products. A business organization cannot carry aggressive marketing to people at this stage. Marketing requires people to be able and willing to buy a product. Individuals will be ready to purchase some products, but they cannot afford it. Demand is void if customers cannot be able to buy a product at the current price. In marketing to be proficient, there must be an exchange of goods and services with money or anything with equal value. According to Calvo and Stanton, demand exists when consumers can pay for the products that they are willing to buy (25).

The safety stage. After satisfying physiological needs, an individual desires to have financial security, emotional security, an excellent place to live, and a conducive working environment. This class entails a considerable population of people. Individuals are struggling to meet better health care, relevant education, and a great home to live. People are earning unstable income, and they are striving to make ends meet. Marketing is appropriate at this stage. There are many consumers of products created. The business organization makes strategies to confirm market needs and wants and the social preference and taste (Calvo and Stanton 35). Companies can aggressively advertise their products to potential clients through personal selling, social media, mass media, for example, Television and radios, newspapers, magazines, and journals. People at this level are motivated to progress as they are involved in business activities like investing in income-generating activities like acquiring fixed, current, and savings accounts. The marketing team should formulate strategies and tactics to create goods and services that are in alignment with this social group.

Social belonging. People at this stage are paid well, reside in well-refurbished homes, have sufficient savings, are well educated, and have enough money to spend (Awdish 5). These individuals feel to be appreciated in society as they strive to participate in community development programs. Participate in church activities, community sports, and reside in a place where a relevant class of people lives. Marketing is done aggressively at this group of quality as they have enough money to spend—information dissemination through social media, mass media, magazines, newspapers, and journals. Companies strive to meet customer’s satisfaction as they differentiate the existing products, introducing new goods and services to confirm customers’ needs, and creating a loyal customer experience. A business organization needs to carry out extensive marketing research that enables them to produce quality products that are acceptable in society (Calvo and Stanton 33). The marketing department designs concepts on how it avails the products to consumers. Some business organizations offer after-sale services, for example, installation, transport of goods to clients, repair and maintenance, and customer advice. The marketing department should cost their products to ascertain the appropriate market value that consumers can buy while making reasonable profits.

Respect and self-esteem. Maslow identified two versions of self-esteem that include low and high self-esteem (Kotler para .4). A small version dictates that people want to be respected by others as they obtain popularity, attention, recognition, and fame. The high version highlights how an individual has self-respect because of competence, intelligence, mastery, and independence. These people have enough wealth that enables them to do what they want—a luxury class of individual who requires their status to be recognized and appreciated. Few individuals attain this stage in society. They provide a market for quality goods produced and services rendered. Mostly, they emphasize quality rather than prices. Business organizations choose more concerned about this group of people as they have enough financial ability to spend. The research teams have to design an appropriate approach to bridging the gap between quality produced and customer expectations. More resources in business organizations are diverted to marketing research to obtain essential information on how to improve the existing products and develop new products. Continuous advertisement is done to this social class to inform, persuade potential clients, and maintain current customers. Business design flyers and brochures that they distribute to this group of people develop a customer care unit that solves customer’s dissatisfactions. Strategies are in alignment with customer expectations, thus constructing a good relationship with clients.

Self-actualization. The final stage of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. Individuals have accomplished their goals and pursuing tough challenges, nurturing talents, raising families, and developing abilities (Campton para 3). This class of people up to a few people in the society. The marketing department can also invest in this group of people as they have enough money to spend. They own expensive properties, for instance, big houses, fancy cars desire to travel to different countries as tourists. The business organization should carry out the frequent advertisement to inform this social class of people that their favorite products still exist. These individuals like hobby-related activities like doing business, playing golf, riding a bicycle, and playing pool. Companies should cultivate in producing these products to meet the client’s expectations. In parenting, the marketing team should brand their products as there is a market for their products. There should establish learning institutions that enhance them to develop their learning skills.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs provides vital information that guides marketers on which products a business needs to produce and carry out marketing. At a physiological level, less advertisement is done as people have inadequate resources to purchase and own a product. Less marketing is done as customers are not able to buy standard goods. They demand inferior rights that are inexpensive. At safety and social belonging, there is an aggressive advertisement as potential customers can purchase goods. At self-esteem stage, is the peak point of marketing the business organization products. Information collected from this class helps the business to design products, develop proper communication channels between the company and clients, and to perform market orientations efficiently.

In conclusion, Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs model provides relevant information that guides the business in gathering accurate information about a particular class of people. Production is a diversion to a specific group whose data is collected and analyzed. Different stages of the pyramid consume various standards of a product. At a physiological level, they consume inferior goods which are inexpensive while at the self-esteem level, they consume expensive products, thus require aggressive marketing.

Work cited

Awdish, Rana L. “The Sherpa meets Maslow: Medicine and the hierarchy of needs.” Patient Experience Journal, vol. 5, no. 1, 2018, pp. 5-6.

Calvo, Porral C, and John Stanton. Principles of Marketing. Madrid: ESIC Editorial, 2018. Internet resource.

Compton, William C. “Self-Actualization Myths: What Did Maslow Say?”Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 2018, p. 002216781876192.

“Summary Principles of Marketing (Kotler) Summaries and Study Notes.”WorldSupporter, 6 Feb. 2017, www.worldsupporter.org/en/chapter/41634-summary-principles-marketing-kotler.