Promotions Mix

The elements of the promotions mix are:
Personal Selling.
Sales Promotion.
Public Relations.
Direct Mail.
Trade Fairs and Exhibitions.
Advertising.
Sponsorship.

The elements of the promotions mix are integrated to form a coherent campaign. As with all forms of communication. The message from the marketer follows the 'communications process' as illustrated above. For example, a radio advert is made for a car manufacturer. The car manufacturer (sender) pays for a specific advert with contains a message specific to a target audience (encoding). It is transmitted during a set of commercials from a radio station (Message / media).
The message is decoded by a car radio (decoding) and the target consumer interprets the message (receiver). He or she might visit a dealership or seek further information from a web site (Response). The consumer might buy a car or express an interest or dislike (feedback). This information will inform future elements of an integrated promotional campaign. Perhaps a direct mail campaign would push the consumer to the point of purchase. Noise represent the thousand of marketing communications that a consumer is exposed to everyday, all competing for attention.

The Promotions Mix details.
1. Personal Selling.
Personal Selling is an effective way to manage personal customer relationships. The sales person acts on behalf of the organization. They tend to be well trained in the approaches and techniques of personal selling. However sales people are very expensive and should only be used where there is a genuine return on investment. For example salesmen are often used to sell cars or home improvements where the margin is high.
2. Sales Promotion.
Sales promotion tend to be thought of as being all promotions apart from advertising, personal selling, and public relations. For example the BOGOF promotion, or Buy One Get One Free. Others include couponing, money-off promotions, competitions, free accessories (such as free blades with a new razor), introductory offers (such as buy digital TV and get free installation), and so on. Each sales promotion should be carefully costed and compared with the next best alternative.
3. Public Relations (PR).
Public Relations is defined as 'the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its publics' (Institute of Public Relations). It is relatively cheap, but certainly not cheap. Successful strategies tend to be long-term and plan for all eventualities. All airlines exploit PR; just watch what happens when there is a disaster. The pre-planned PR machine clicks in very quickly with a very effective rehearsed plan.
4. Direct Mail.
Direct mail is very highly focussed upon targeting consumers based upon a database. As with all marketing, the potential consumer is 'defined' based upon a series of attributes and similarities. Creative agencies work with marketers to design a highly focussed communication in the form of a mailing. The mail is sent out to the potential consumers and responses are carefully monitored. For example, if you are marketing medical text books, you would use a database of doctors' surgeries as the basis of your mail shot.
5. Trade Fairs and Exhibitions.
Such approaches are very good for making new contacts and renewing old ones. Companies will seldom sell much at such events. The purpose is to increase awareness and to encourage trial. They offer the opportunity for companies to meet with both the trade and the consumer.

6. Advertising.
Advertising is a 'paid for' communication. It is used to develop attitudes, create awareness, and transmit information in order to gain a response from the target market. There are many advertising 'media' such as newspapers (local, national, free, trade), magazines and journals, television (local, national, terrestrial, satellite) cinema, outdoor advertising (such as posters, bus sides).
7. Sponsorship.
Sponsorship is where an organization pays to be associated with a particular event, cause or image. Companies will sponsor sports events such as the Olympics or Formula One. The attributes of the event are then associated with the sponsoring organization.
These elements of the promotional mix are then integrated to form a unique, but coherent campaign.

I Thought of this addition because promotion being a intergral part of the marketing mix has a lot of significance attached to it and therefore marketers always take into account what sort of promotion mix to adopt in order to have profits and competitive advantage. For more info see chapter 2 it has much info relating to marketing mix and promotion being its part.

Reference: http://www.marketingteacher.com/

Marketing You!

The First Step to Landing Your Dream Job

By Laura Lake, About.com Guide

In the past I've reviewed numerous resumes for open positions in companies I've worked for. I must admit usually I've found this review process long and boring; very few of the resumes have grabbed my attention. This does not mean that the applicants are not qualified. They have just not taken to the time to create their resumes to grab a potential employer's attention. Are you making that same mistake?

It's a question you must ask yourself; especially when consider many individuals that are in the job market due to the state of our economy. If you are in the job market it is important to realize that your resume is your personal marketing tool; unfortunately very few job seekers treat it as such. Do not fall into the trap of grabbing a resume book and copying your information into a familiar format or just pasting your information into a commonly used Microsoft template. If you gain anything from this article it should be that job hunting is about having the skill to market you.

Take some time and single out the unique qualities and experiences that will make you stand out of the crowd. Remember in today's market an employer is inundated with resumes on a daily basis. However, do not let this be discouraging. You can use common marketing techniques and strategies to get that potential employers attention and land your dream job. If you don't know what makes you unique and you can't showcase the skills and talents that you posses, then how do expect a potential employer to see it when they give your resume a 5-second scan?

In the next ten minutes I will walk you through the process of creating a road map that will help you in effectively marketing yourself in today's job market. Take a few moments to grab a pen and notepad before you continue reading, so that you can answer each question below as you read it. Do not over analyze the question simply write down the first thought that comes to your mind. You can always review later and tweak as necessary.

• Step 1. What is your career goal? What type of job are you looking for?
• Step 2. What qualities have prepared you for this job? Do you possess more education or experience?
• Step 3. Who is your audience? Who are you targeting?
  Make a list of your targeted employers. Keep in mind your message must be designed for your audience. If you are applying for a technical job, they are more than likely not interested in a conversational novel regarding your personality, rather they are more interested in your technical expertise. However, if you are applying for a marketing position, you will spark their interest with a creative and conversational pitch.
• Step 4. Create your personal sales campaign.
  Now that you've listed your specific goal, qualities, and your target it's time to develop your sales campaign. You do this by embedding these components into the writing of your cover letter, resume, and the development of your two-minute pitch.

I posted this info by Laura Lake because its very interesting to know that we can also develop unique attributes to market our own selves which can be very useful when searching for job posts. A planned resume that has all the unique attributes can lift us a long way above the other candidates. Marketing You! seems to be very interesting as its entirely different from regular organizational product and services marketing. A deep understanding of positioning our own selves effectively is very much necessary to understand this entire marketing You! phenomena.

Reference: http://marketing.about.com/cs/marketingjobs/a/marketingyou.html

Social Media Marketing - Is It Right For Your Business?

Is social media marketing right for your business?

This is the question few companies ask themselves before launching into social media marketing. And, as a result, their forays into social media marketing often result in frustration and, sometimes, failure. Not because social media marketing doesn’t work – just because they didn’t do it correctly. Social media marketing is like any other campaign, it must have an objective and a strategy to achieve desired results.

There are many companies that think it's the quick fix to a struggling business or that it will generate revenue that will help them in a difficult economic time. Truth is that social media can, in fact, affect your bottom line – but, it takes time.

Social media has a sequence of events that transpire before it ever affects a company’s bottom line and, when a business understands this before branching out into social media, there is more of a willingness to invest both the time and the patience in that social media requires.

There are two benefits of social media that are important to businesses, they include:

1. Cost reduction by decreasing staff time.
2. Increase of probability of revenue generation.

If these two things are important to you, then social media is a good fit for your busines, but again, this will not happen overnight. It will take smart strategy, dedication, patience and the input of time.

The sequence or phases of social media process looks like this:

• Phase 1 - Your Investment (Time, Money, Resources)
• Phase 2 - Your Action
• Phase 3 - Consumer's Reaction
• Phase 4 - Non Financial Impact Occurs
• Phase 5 - Financial Impact Occurs

Do you see why social media takes patience? It's not an immediate return on your investment! If you are willing to accept that premise, and invest the time, energy and budget dollars needed, social media can be an effective venue and can help in growing your business.

When you begin to see the non financial impact on your business, you know that you have increased the probability of a financial impact on your business.

Non financial impacts on your business that you should look for and monitor include:

• Increase in website visitors
• Increase of impressions
• Positive press mentions
• Click-throughs
• Positive word-of-mouth mentions
• 
  
• Employment applications submitted to your business
• Blog mentions
• Increased followers through social media venues such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn

When you begin to see these things, you know that the probability of financial impact from social media on your busienss has increased. It also shows you that you are, in fact, utilizing social media in the most effective manner. If you are not seeing any of the above and you've been utilizing social media for awhile, it may be time to check your strategy, investigate your tactics and figure out what you could be doing wrong.

All in all, you must understand that social media is not a quick-fix. It takes a level of dedication, determination and resources to be successful. If you understand that concept and are willing to invest those things – as well as a fair amount of patience, chances are good that it will produce some great results for you.

In order to effectively monitor and gauge the return on investment you are getting via social media marketing, you need to create a baseline that includes online activity of your consumers using the impacts listed above and you should monitor each and every one. As I am prone to say, marketing, of any kind, without measuring, is just not good business. And, in order to measure, you must consistently and effectively employ and utilize monitoring tactics and tools.

Monitoring tools that you can use to see what is being said about your business include:

• Technorati
• Google Blog Search
• Twitter Search
• Google Alerts

I believe that cultural and political factors that are a part of major forces of a company's macroenvironment stress on the need to focus on social aspect of marketing as well. Reading chapter 3 of our book relating to the marketing environment i came across this aspect and therefore searched it for a post. Societal well being is always a marketers focus because its very important for objectives completion therefore i think social media marketing has much significance attached to it

Reference: www.about.com

Eight Basic Steps to Marketing Your Nonprofit Organization

Marketing is an unfamiliar concept for many nonprofit organizations. It's important that these organizations understand that marketing is more than just the old sense of making a sale or obtaining a donation. Marketing is a way to satisfying the consumer and donor needs, but where does the nonprofit organization start? Below are eight steps that will get you started in brainstorming marketing ideas that could make a significant difference in the bottom-line of your organization.

1. Define your target market, research similar organizations and associations.
2. Determine the desired outcome of your marketing efforts.
3. Using the information gathered in Step 1 and 2 develop brochures and marketing materials that describe the benefits, services, donation opportunities, and values of your organization.
4. Develop a social media marketing strategy. Social media such as Twitter and Facebook can provide you with ways to reach out to those interested in your organization in a low cost and effective way. Social media works great when it comes to reaching those who are passionate about causes that individuals hold dear to their hearts.
5. Develop and maintain a professional internet marketing presence by creating a web site. You can use a web site as a great resource to display useful information, news, monthly newsletters, events, create community, share alternatives to donating money, and showcase the benefits of your organization.
6. Research and maintain your prospect and customer databases. Do not let these resources be wasted. Use them for special mailings, follow-up telephone calls, event invitations, alliance development, research profiling, and market segmentation.
7. Show and advertise the results and objectives that your organization achieves. You fill find that it is effective to showcase those that are receiving benefits, inversions, activities, and projects.
8. Always actively search for alliances with other organizations, commerce, government, advertising media, and business. This step alone often brings the most benefit to nonprofit organizations.

I made an attempt to develop some sort of understanding as to how to market nonprofit organizations. Its now an established fact that non profit making organizations also use marketing due to its numerous advantages that are useful for long run survival and growth. Nonprofit making organizations use marketing nowadays as result of major trends and forces that are changing the marketing landscape in this new age of relationships. For more info see Chapter 1 page 27.



Reference: http://marketing.about.com/cs/nonprofitmrktg/a/8stepnonprofit.html

Primary - Marketing Research.

Primary marketing research is collected for the first time. It is original and collected for a specific purpose, or to solve a specific problem. It is expensive, and time consuming, but is more focused than secondary research. There are many ways to conduct primary research. We consider some of them:

1. Interviews

2. Mystery shopping

3. Focus groups

4. Projective techniques

5. Product tests

6. Diaries

7. Omnibus Studies

1.0 Interviews.

This is the technique most associated with marketing research. Interviews can be telephone, face-to-face, or over the Internet.

1.1 Telephone Interview.

Telephone ownership is very common in developed countries. It is ideal for collecting data from a geographically dispersed sample. The interviews tend to be very structured and tend to lack depth. Telephone interviews are cheaper to conduct than face-to-face interviews (on a per person basis).

Advantages of telephone interviews

• Can be geographically spread
• Can be set up and conducted relatively cheaply
• Random samples can be selected
• Cheaper than face-to-face interviews

Disadvantages of telephone interviews

• Respondents can simply hang up
• Interviews tend to be a lot shorter
• Visual aids cannot be used
• Researchers cannot behavior or body language

1.2 Face-to-face Interviews.

Face-to face interviews are conducted between a market researcher and a respondent. Data is collected on a survey. Some surveys are very rigid or 'structured' and use closed questions. Data is easily compared. Other face-to-face interviews are more 'in depth,' and depend upon more open forms of questioning. The research will probe and develop points of interest.

Advantages of face-to-face interviews

• They allow more 'depth'
• Physical prompts such as products and pictures can be used
• Body language can emphasize responses
• Respondents can be 'observed' at the same time

Disadvantages of face-to-face interviews

• Interviews can be expensive
• It can take a long period of time to arrange and conduct.
• Some respondents will give biased responses when face-to-face with a researcher.

1.3 The Internet

The Internet can be used in a number of ways to collect primary data. Visitors to sites can be asked to complete electronic questionnaires. However responses will increase if an incentive is offered such as a free newsletter, or free membership. Other important data is collected when visitors sign up for membership.

Advantages of the Internet

• Relatively inexpensive
• Uses graphics and visual aids
• Random samples can be selected
• Visitors tend to be loyal to particular sites and are willing to give up time to complete the forms

Disadvantages of the Internet

• Only surveys current, not potential customers.
• Needs knowledge of software to set up questionnaires and methods of processing data
• May deter visitors from your website.

1.4 Mail Survey

In many countries, the mail survey is the most appropriate way to gather primary data. Lists are collated, or purchased, and a predesigned questionnaire is mailed to a sample of respondents. Mail surveys do not tend to generate more than a 5-10% response rate. However, a second mailing to prompt or remind respondents tends to improve response rates. Mail surveys are less popular with the advent of technologies such as the Internet and telephones, especially call centers.

2.0 Mystery Shopping

Companies will set up mystery shopping campaigns on an organizations behalf. Often used in banking, retailing, travel, cafes and restaurants, and many other customer focused organizations, mystery shoppers will enter, posing as real customers. They collect data on customer service and the customer experience. Findings are reported back to the commissioning organization. There are many issues surrounding the ethics of such an approach to research.

3.0 Focus Groups.

Focus groups are made up from a number of selected respondents based together in the same room. Highly experienced researchers work with the focus group to gather in depth qualitative feedback. Groups tend to be made up from 10 to 18 participants. Discussion, opinion, and beliefs are encouraged, and the research will probe into specific areas that are of interest to the company commissioning the research.

Advantages of focus groups

• Commissioning marketers often observe the group from behind a one-way screen
• Visual aids and tangible products can be circulated and opinions taken
• All participants and the research interact
• Areas of specific interest can be covered in greater depth

Disadvantages of focus groups

• Highly experienced researchers are needed. The are rare.
• Complex to organize
• Can be very expensive in comparison to other methods

4.0 Projective techniques.

Projective techniques are borrowed from the field of psychology. They will generate highly subjective qualitative data. There are many examples of such approaches including: Inkblot tests - look for images in a series of inkblots Cartoons - complete the 'bubbles' on a cartoon series Sentence or story completion Word association - depends on very quick (subconscious) responses to words Psychodrama - Imagine that you are a product and describe what it is like to be operated, warn, or used.

5.0 Product tests.

Product tests are often completed as part of the 'test' marketing process. Products are displayed in a mall of shopping center. Potential customers are asked to visit the store and their purchase behavior is observed. Observers will contemplate how the product is handled, how the packing is read, how much time the consumer spends with the product, and so on.

6.0 Diaries.

Diaries are used by a number of specially recruited consumers. They are asked to complete a diary that lists and records their purchasing behavior of a period of time (weeks, months, or years). It demands a substantial commitment on the part of the respondent. However, by collecting a series of diaries with a number of entries, the researcher has a reasonable picture of purchasing behavior.

7.0 Omnibus Studies.

An omnibus study is where an organisation purchases a single or a few questions on a 'hybrid' interview (either face-to-face or by telephone). The organisation will be one of many that simply want to a straightforward answer to a simple question. An omnibus survey could include questions from companies in sectors as diverse as heath care and tobacco. The research is far cheaper, and commit less time and effort than conducting your own research.

I have given a general introduction to marketing research. Marketing research is a huge topic area and has many processes, procedures, and terminologies that build upon the points above.

Reference: www.marketingteacher.com

International Marketing and Culture

What is the influence of culture on international marketing?

Culture is the way that we do things around here. Culture could relate to a country (national culture), a distinct section of the community (sub-culture), or an organization (corporate culture). It is widely accepted that you are not born with a culture, and that it is learned. So, culture includes all that we have learned in relation to values and norms, customs and traditions, beliefs and religions, rituals and artefacts (i.e. tangible symbols of a culture, such as the Sydney Opera House or the Great Wall of China).

Therefore international marketing needs to take into account the local culture of the country in which you wish to market.

The Terpstra and Sarathy Cultural Framework helps marketing managers to assess the cultural nature of an international market. It is very straight-forward, and uses eight categories in its analysis. The Eight categories are Language, Religion, Values and Attitudes, Education, Social Organizations, Technology and Material Culture, Law and Politics and Aesthetics.

Language

With language one should consider whether or not the national culture is predominantly a high context culture or a low context culture (Hall and Hall 1986). The concept relates to the balance between the verbal and the non-verbal communication.

In a low context culture spoken language carries the emphasis of the communication i.e. what is said is what is meant. Examples include Australia and the Netherlands.

In a high context culture verbal communications tend not to carry a direct message i.e. what is said may not be what is meant. So with a high context culture hidden cultural meaning needs to be considered, as does body language. Examples of a high context cultures include Japan and some Arabic nations.

Religion

The nature and complexity of the different religions an international marketer could encounter is pretty diverse. The organization needs to make sure that their products and services are not offensive, unlawful or distasteful to the local nation. This includes marketing promotion and branding.

• In China in 2007 (which was the year of the pig) all advertising which included pictures of pigs was banned. This was to maintain harmony with the country's Muslim population of around 2%. The ban included pictures of sausages that contained pork, and even advertising that included an animated (cartoon) pig.
• In 2005 France's Catholic Church won a court injunction to ban a clothing advertisement (by clothing designers Marithe and Francois Girbaud) based upon Leonardo da Vinci's Christ's Last Supper.

Values and Attitudes

Values and attitudes vary between nations, and even vary within nations. So if you are planning to take a product or service overseas make sure that you have a good grasp the locality before you enter the market. This could mean altering promotional material or subtle branding messages. There may also be an issue when managing local employees. For example, in France workers tend to take vacations for the whole of August, whilst in the United States employees may only take a couple of week's vacation in an entire year.

• In 2004, China banned a Nike television commercial showing U.S. basketball star LeBron James in a battle with animated cartoon kung fu masters and two dragons, because it was argued that the ad insults Chinese national dignity.
• In 2006, Tourism Australian launched its ad campaign entitled "So where the bloody hell are you?" in Britain. The $130 million (US) campaign was banned by the British Advertising Standards Authority from the United Kingdom. The campaign featured all the standard icons of Australia such as beaches, deserts, and coral reefs, as well as traditional symbols like the Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The commentary ran:
  
  "We've poured you a beer and we've had the camels shampooed, we've saved you a spot on the beach. We've even got the sharks out of the pool,".
  
  Then, from a bikini-clad blonde, come the tag line:
  
  "So where the bloody hell are you?"

Education

The level and nature of education in each international market will vary. This may impact the type of message or even the medium that you employ. For example, in countries with low literacy levels, advertisers would avoid communications which depended upon written copy, and would favour radio advertising with an audio message or visual media such as billboards. The labelling of products may also be an issue.

• In the People's Republic of China a nationwide system of public education is in place, which includes primary schools, middle schools (lower and upper), and universities. Nine years of education is compulsory for all Chinese students.
• In Finland school attendance is compulsory between the ages of 7 and 16, the first nine years of education (primary and secondary school) are compulsory, and the pupils go to their local school. The education after primary school is divided to the vocational and academic systems, according to the old German model.
• In Uganda schooling includes 7 years of primary education, 6 years of secondary education (divided into 4 years of lower secondary and 2 years of upper secondary school), and 3 to 5 years of post-secondary education.

Social Organizations

This aspect of Terpstra and Sarathy's Cultural Framework relates to how a national society is organized. For example, what is the role of women in a society? How is the country governed - centralized or devolved? The level influence of class or casts upon a society needs to be considered. For example, India has an established caste system - and many Western countries still have an embedded class system. So social mobility could be restricted where caste and class systems are in place. Whether or not there are strong trade unions will impact upon management decisions if you employ local workers.

Technology and Material Culture

Technology is a term that includes many other elements. It includes questions such as is there energy to power our products? Is there a transport infrastructure to distribute our goods to consumers? Does the local port have large enough cranes to offload containers from ships? How quickly does innovation diffuse? Also of key importance, do consumers actually buy material goods i.e. are they materialistic?

• Trevor Baylis launched the clockwork radio upon the African market. Since batteries were expensive in Africa and power supplies in rural areas are non-existent. The clockwork radio innovation was a huge success.
• China's car market grew 25% in 2006 and it has overtaken Japan to be the second-largest car market in the world with sales of 8 million vehicles. With just six car owners per 100 people (6%), compared with 90% car ownership in the US and 80% in the UK, the potential for growth in the Chinese market is immense.

Law and Politics

As with many aspects of Terpstra and Sarathy's Cultural Framework, the underpinning social culture will drive the political and legal landscape. The political ideology on which the society is based will impact upon your decision to market there. For example, the United Kingdom has a largely market-driven, democratic society with laws based upon precedent and legislation, whilst Iran has a political and legal system based upon the teachings and principles Islam and a Sharia tradition.

Aesthetics

Aesthetics relate to your senses, and the appreciation of the artistic nature of something, including its smell, taste or ambience. For example, is something beautiful? Does it have a fashionable design? Was an advert delivered in good taste? Do you find the color, music or architecture relating to an experience pleasing? Is everything relating to branding aesthetically pleasing?

I hope this somehow acted as a bridge between culture and international marketing which needs to take into account local marketing as well.

Reference: www.marketingteacher.com

Marketing Plans

Marketing plans are vital to marketing success. They help to focus the mind of companies and marketing teams on the process of marketing i.e. what is going to be achieved and how we intend to do it. There are many approaches to marketing plans. It is contained under the popular acronym AOSTC.

ANALYSIS.

OBJECTIVES.

STRATEGIES.

TACTICS.

CONTROLS.

Stage One - Situation Analysis (and Marketing Audit).

• Marketing environment.
• Laws and regulations.
• Politics.
• The current state of technology.
• Economic conditions.
• Sociocultural aspects.
• Demand trends.
• Media availability.
• Stakeholder interests.
• Marketing plans and campaigns of competitors.
• Internal factors such as your own experience and resource availability.

Also see tools for internal/external audit:

• SWOT.
• PEST.
• Porter's Five Forces.
• Marketing Environment.

Stage Two - Set marketing objectives.

SMART objectives.

• Specific - Be precise about what you are going to achieve.
• Measurable - Quantify you objectives.
• Achievable - Are you attempting too much?
• Realistic - Do you have the resource to make the objective happen (men, money, machines, materials, minutes)?
• Timed - State when you will achieve the objective (within a month? By February 2010?).

If you don't make your objective SMART, it will be too vague and will not be realized. Remember that the rest of the plan hinges on the objective. If it is not correct, the plan may fail.

Stage Three - Describe your target market

• Which segment? How will we target the segment? How should we position within the segment?
• Why this segment and not a different one? (This will focus the mind).
• Define the segment in terms of demographics and lifestyle. Show how you intend to 'position' your product or service within that segment. Use other tools to assist in strategic marketing decisions such as Boston Matrix , Ansoff's Matrix , Bowmans Strategy Clock, Porter's Competitive Strategies, etc.

Stage Four - Marketing Tactics.

Convert the strategy into the marketing mix (also known as the 4Ps). These are your marketing tactics.

• Price Will you cost plus, skim, match the competition or penetrate the market?
• Place Will you market direct, use agents or distributors, etc?
• Product Sold individually, as part of a bundle, in bulk, etc?
• Promotion Which media will you use? e.g sponsorship, radio advertising, sales force, point-of-sale, etc? Think of the mix elements as the ingredients of a 'cake mix'. You have eggs, milk, butter, and flour. However, if you alter the amount of each ingredient, you will influence the type of cake that you finish with.

Stage Five - Marketing Controls.

Remember that there is no planning without control. Control is vital.

• Start-up costs.
• Monthly budgets.
• Sales figure.
• Market share data.
• Consider the cycle of control.

Finally, write a short summary (or synopsis) which is placed at the front of the plan. This will help others to get acquainted with the plan without having to spend time reading it all. Place all supporting information into an appendix at the back of the plan.

This post i think takes all the marketing tools into account and gives practical application to much of the marketing strategies used.
Reference: www.marketingteacher.com

Ryanair Marketing Mix.

Ryanair is the European low cost airline. Low cost or no frills marketing strategies are of great interest to marketers since the marketing mix employed tends to run in opposition to what makes a great brand - and Ryanair is a great brand and a very successful business. In a nutshell Ryanair sells the cheapest tickets that you can buy (on most occasions).

Its charismatic boss Michael O'Leary has a business model with a central focus on cost reduction (and making money of course!). In around 20 years he has taken Ryanair from a single plane company to become the largest airline in Europe. He had a vision and achieved it through masterful leadership. So how did he do it? How does Michael O'Leary retain his narrow cost focus niche strategy in the face of intense competition? The business simply has lower costs and those costs are passed on to their passengers in the form of low fares.

The branded airlines argue that passengers are willing to pay more for a better level of service. You can pre-assign seats. You get food and drink onboard, and can choose a higher level of service e.g. business class. However the large flag carriers have taken notice of the low-cost model and have employed it as part of their own more differentiated business model.

In 2009 the company settled for 30% of its local Irish rival Aer Lingus after a prolonged takeover bid. Tough trading conditions meant that Ryanair made its first annual loss in 2008/9. O'Leary put this down firmly to rising fuel costs (as did British Airways in the same year). The company also needed to take into account the burden of purchasing its stake in Air Lingus. So in reality things are looking good for Ryanair and its budget operation - since the business aimed to fly double the amount of passengers 2009/10.

Let's take a closer look at Ryanair's marketing mix:

Product or Service.

• Low cost, no frills air travel to European destinations.
• There is no free food or drink onboard. Food and drink are income streams. You buy them onboard, or you don't - take your own food and drink if you like.
• There are other income streams - or ancillary revenue. The company has deals with Hertz car rental, and a number of hotel businesses. So Ryanair takes a commission on 'up selling' i.e. ancillary revenue. Other examples include phone cards and bus tickets. About 16% of profit is made this way. This keeps costs lower.

Price

• Ryanair has low fares.
• 70% of seats are sold at the lowest two fares.30% of seats are charged at higher fares. The last 6% are sold at the highest fare
• Ryanair occasionally get in trouble with bodies such as the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK over differences between advertised and actual price - in fairness to Ryanair these are rare mistakes.

Place

• Ryanair does not use travel agents so it does not pay agency commissions. It uses direct marketing techniques to recruit and retain customers, and to extend products and services to them (i.e. Customer Relationship Management). This reduces costs.
• You book online over the Internet. This saves them 15% on agency fees.
• They are based in Stanstead in Essex - which is known as a secondary airport. It is new and accessible. It is cheaper to fly from Stanstead than either Heathrow or Gatwick, and since it is less busy Ryanair can turn aircraft around more quickly.
• Many of Ryanair's destination airports are secondary. For example if you fly to Copenhagen (Denmark) you arrive in Malmo (Sweden) - although it is only a short coach trip over the border. Secondary airports, which tend to be smaller regional airports, depend upon this single carrier - some (it is rumored) paying up to £100, 000 for each additional new route. Costs are lower and aircraft can be turned around faster.
• Keeping aircraft in the air as much as possible is another important part of the low cost jigsaw. However, the company has been challenged by the European Union in relation to anti-competition laws.

Promotion

• They spend as little as possible on advertising.
• They do not employ an advertising agency. Instead all of the advertising is done in-house. In fact O'Leary himself overseas much of the promotion of Ryanair. They use simple adverts that tell passengers that Ryanair has low fares.
• Ryanair employs controversy to promote its business. For example in 2009, the company reasoned that passengers would be charged £1 to use the toilets on board. O'Leary reasoned that passengers could use the terminals at either the destination or arrival airport. This would speed things up. It was reasoned that this is what passengers wanted - since they did not want other passengers leaving their seats and walking the aisles to go to the toilet. O'Leary also argued that larger passengers should be charged more since they took up more room - again it was reasoned that this is what the majority of passengers wanted.
• Some of their aircraft are decorated in the livery of advertisers e.g. News of the World, Jaguar and Kilkenny (beer).

People

• Pilots are recruited when they are young as pilot cadets. They work hard and take early promotions and then move on after 10-years or so to further their careers.
• Cabin crew pay for their uniforms to be cleaned. They invest in their own training. They are mainly responsible for passenger safety as well as ancillary revenues onboard.

Physical Evidence

• They pay as little as possible for their aircraft. Planes are the most expensive asset that an airline can make. They get big discounts on aircraft because they buy them when other airlines don't want them, for example after September 11th, or on the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. Aircraft manufacturers cannot simply stop a supply chain in minutes. If orders are being cancelled or delayed, this is when to buy. It was rumored within the industry that Ryanair was buying Boeing 737s - list price around £40,000,000 (forty million pounds) - with up to a 50% discount.

Process

• There is no check in. You simply show your passport and supply your reference number.
• You cannot select a preferred seat. It is first come, first served. This aids speed.
• There are no air bridges (the tunnel that connects to the side of the aircraft when to board it). You walk or are bused to the aircraft.
• Baggage is deposited directly onto the terminal - it's quick. However if your bag is broken don't expect high levels of customer service.

Beyond any doubt, Ryanair is one of the strategic marketing successes of the last decade. Undoubtedly synergized by Michael O'Leary - the low cost strategy that it employs is remarkable and industry changing. In many ways the business has looked closely at all aspects of it markets and operations to remold the industry and customer expectations in a unique way. This is how Ryanair has applied the marketing mix.

The purpose here in this post was to introduce a company and its various strategies for long run business success. Much of these marketing strategies illustrated are very much applicable to our own mangerial plans as well.

Reference: www.marketingteacher.com

Process and Services Marketing.

Process as part of the marketing mix.

Process is another element of the extended marketing mix, or 7P's.There are a number of perceptions of the concept of process within the business and marketing literature. Some see processes as a means to achieve an outcome, for example - to achieve a 30% market share a company implements a marketing planning process.

Another view is that marketing has a number of processes that integrate together to create an overall marketing process, for example - telemarketing and Internet marketing can be integrated. A further view is that marketing processes are used to control the marketing mix, i.e. processes that measure the achievement marketing objectives. All views are understandable, but not particularly customer focused.

For the purposes of the marketing mix, process is an element of service that sees the customer experiencing an organisation's offering. It's best viewed as something that your customer participates in at different points in time. Here are some examples to help your build a picture of marketing process, from the customer's point of view.

Going on a cruise - from the moment that you arrive at the dockside, you are greeted; your baggage is taken to your room. You have two weeks of services from restaurants and evening entertainment, to casinos and shopping. Finally, you arrive at your destination, and your baggage is delivered to you. This is a highly focused marketing process.

Booking a flight on the Internet - the process begins with you visiting an airline's website. You enter details of your flights and book them. Your ticket/booking reference arrive by e-mail or post. You catch your flight on time, and arrive refreshed at your destination. This is all part of the marketing process.

At each stage of the process, markets:

• Deliver value through all elements of the marketing mix. Process, physical evidence and people enhance services.
• Feedback can be taken and the mix can be altered.
• Customers are retained, and other serves or products are extended and marked to them.
• The process itself can be tailored to the needs of different individuals, experiencing a similar service at the same time.
  Marketing Mix is a set of controllable tactical marketing tools that a company blends to produce the response it wants in the target market and this whole works as a compact process for long run survival and growth.

Reference: www.marketingteacher.com

SWOT Analysis Bharti Airtel

Strengths

• Bharti Airtel has more than 65 million customers (July 2008). It is the largest cellular provider in India, and also supplies broadband and telephone services - as well as many other telecommunications services to both domestic and corporate customers.
• Other stakeholders in Bharti Airtel include Sony-Ericsson, Nokia - and Sing Tel, with whom they hold a strategic alliance. This means that the business has access to knowledge and technology from other parts of the telecommunications world.
• The company has covered the entire Indian nation with its network. This has underpinned its large and rising customer base.

Weaknesses

• An often cited original weakness is that when the business was started by Sunil Bharti Mittal over 15 years ago, the business has little knowledge and experience of how a cellular telephone system actually worked. So the start-up business had to outsource to industry experts in the field.
• Until recently Airtel did not own its own towers, which was a particular strength of some of its competitors such as Hutchison Essar. Towers are important if your company wishes to provide wide coverage nationally.
• The fact that the Airtel has not pulled off a deal with South Africa's MTN could signal the lack of any real emerging market investment opportunity for the business once the Indian market has become mature.

Opportunities

• The company possesses a customized version of the Google search engine which will enhance broadband services to customers. The tie-up with Google can only enhance the Airtel brand, and also provides advertising opportunities in Indian for Google.
• Global telecommunications and new technology brands see Airtel as a key strategic player in the Indian market. The new iPhone will be launched in India via an Airtel distributorship. Another strategic partnership is held with BlackBerry Wireless Solutions.
• Despite being forced to outsource much of its technical operations in the early days, this allowed Airtel to work from its own blank sheet of paper, and to question industry approaches and practices - for example replacing the Revenue-Per-Customer model with a Revenue-Per-Minute model which is better suited to India, as the company moved into small and remote villages and towns.
• The company is investing in its operation in 120,000 to 160,000 small villages every year. It sees that less well-off consumers may only be able to afford a few tens of Rupees per call, and also so that the business benefits are scalable - using its 'Matchbox' strategy.
• Bharti Airtel is embarking on another joint venture with Vodafone Essar and Idea Cellular to create a new independent tower company called Indus Towers. This new business will control more than 60% of India's network towers. IPTV is another potential new service that could underpin the company's long-term strategy.

Threats

• Airtel and Vodafone seem to be having an on/off relationship. Vodafone which owned a 5.6% stake in the Airtel business sold it back to Airtel, and instead invested in its rival Hutchison Essar. Knowledge and technology previously available to Airtel now moves into the hands of one of its competitors.
• The quickly changing pace of the global telecommunications industry could tempt Airtel to go along the acquisition trail which may make it vulnerable if the world goes into recession. Perhaps this was an impact upon the decision not to proceed with talks about the potential purchase of South Africa's MTN in May 2008. This opened the door for talks between Reliance Communication's Anil Ambani and MTN, allowing a competing Inidan industrialist to invest in the new emerging African telecommunications market.
• Bharti Airtel could also be the target for the takeover vision of other global telecommunications players that wish to move into the Indian market.

Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, India's largest integrated and the first private telecom services provider with a footprint in all the 23 telecom circles. Bharti Airtel since its inception has been at the forefront of technology and has steered the course of the telecom sector in the country with its world class products and services. The businesses at Bharti Airtel have been structured into three individual strategic business units (SBU's) - Mobile Services, Airtel Telemedia Services & Enterprise Services.

Reference: www.marketingteacher.com

Advertising

Advertising is an important element of the marketing communications mix. Put simply, advertising directs a message at large numbers of people with a single communication. It is a mass medium.

Advertising has a number of benefits for the advertiser. The advertiser has control over the message. The advert and its message, to an extent, would be designed to the specifications of the advertiser. So the advertiser can focus its message at a huge number of potential consumers in a single hit, at a relatively low cost per head. Advertising is quick relative to other elements of the marketing communications mix (for example personal selling, where an entire sales force would need to be briefed - or even recruited). Therefore an advertiser has the opportunity to communicate with all (or many of) its target audience simultaneously.

Advertising Media
Outdoor (Posters or transport)	New Media - Mobile devices	New Media Internet - websites and search engines
Newspapers (Local and National)	Television	Magazines
Radio	Cinema	Others . . .

Planning for advertising

Advertising agencies and their clients plan for advertising. Any plan should address the following stages:

• Who is the potential TARGET AUDIENCE of the advert?
• WHAT do I wish to communicate to this target audience?
• Why is this message so IMPORTANT to them?
• What is the BEST MEDIUM for this message to take (see some of the possible media above)?
• What would be the most appropriate TIMING?
• What RESOURCES will the advertising campaign need?
• How do we CONTROL our advertising and monitor success?

There are two key categories of advertising, namely 'above-the-line' and 'below-the-line.' The definitions owe a lot to the historical development of advertising agencies and how they charge for their services. In a nutshell, 'above-the-line' is any work done involving media where a commission is taken by an advertising agency, and 'below-the-line' is work done for a client where a standard charge replaces commission. So TV advertising is 'above-the-line' since an agency would book commercial time on behalf of a client, but placing an advert in a series of local newspapers is 'below-the-line,' because newspapers tend to apply their own costing approach where no commission is taken by the agency i.e. instead the agency charges the client a transparent fee.

My aim here was to give much of the needed information regarding Advertising and its various mediums which are very much vital for business organizations.

Reference: www.marketing teacher.com

The Product Life Cycle (PLC).

The Product Life Cycle (PLC) is based upon the biological life cycle. For example, a seed is planted (introduction); it begins to sprout (growth); it shoots out leaves and puts down roots as it becomes an adult (maturity); after a long period as an adult the plant begins to shrink and die out (decline).

In theory it's the same for a product. After a period of development it is introduced or launched into the market; it gains more and more customers as it grows; eventually the market stabilises and the product becomes mature; then after a period of time the product is overtaken by development and the introduction of superior competitors, it goes into decline and is eventually withdrawn.

However, most products fail in the introduction phase. Others have very cyclical maturity phases where declines see the product promoted to regain customers.

Strategies for the differing stages of the Product Life Cycle.

Introduction.

The need for immediate profit is not a pressure. The product is promoted to create awareness. If the product has no or few competitors, a skimming price strategy is employed. Limited numbers of product are available in few channels of distribution.

Growth.

Competitors are attracted into the market with very similar offerings. Products become more profitable and companies form alliances, joint ventures and take each other over. Advertising spend is high and focuses upon building brand. Market share tends to stabilise.

Maturity.

Those products that survive the earlier stages tend to spend longest in this phase. Sales grow at a decreasing rate and then stabilise. Producers attempt to differentiate products and brands are key to this. Price wars and intense competition occur. At this point the market reaches saturation. Producers begin to leave the market due to poor margins. Promotion becomes more widespread and use a greater variety of media.

Decline.

At this point there is a downturn in the market. For example more innovative products are introduced or consumer tastes have changed. There is intense price-cutting and many more products are withdrawn from the market. Profits can be improved by reducing marketing spend and cost cutting.

Problems with Product Life Cycle.

In reality very few products follow such a prescriptive cycle. The length of each stage varies enormously. The decisions of marketers can change the stage, for example from maturity to decline by price-cutting. Not all products go through each stage. Some go from introduction to decline. It is not easy to tell which stage the product is in. Remember that PLC is like all other tools.

All the stages in my opinion are of much significance for managers for planning and designing of marketing strategies.

Reference: www.marketing teacher.com

SWOT Analysis China Mobile

Corporate Overview

China Mobile Limited was started in 1997. Originally it was called China Telecom (Hong Kong) and then China Mobile (Hong Kong) and finally China Mobile Limited as we know it today. Its public offering in 1997 generated capital of USD $2.5 million, and a further massive investment of global capital (around USD $600 million) was made in 2004. Today it trades in 31 provinces of China and essentially offers a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) which covers almost the entire nation. The business makes money from its voice-based services and other value-added services such as SMS text, mobile e-mail and similar services.

Strengths

• China Mobile was listed fifth in Millward Brown's Brandz Top 100 Brands in 2007. This would have be unheard of 10 years ago (or even less). The news means that the company is becoming more than a business since it is now also a brand i.e. possessing brand equity and brand value. Other Chinese brands to break the top 100 were the Bank of China, the Chinese Construction Bank and IBBC. It is argued by many that Chinese companies are not strong in relation to marketing but perhaps things are changing.
• The company has made good profits over recent years.
• China Mobile has gone down the acquisition trail on a number of occasions. In its early days it took over Jiangsu Mobile (1997). Other important acquisitions include Fujian Mobile, Henan Mobile, and Hainan Mobile (1999); - and Beijing Mobile, Shanghai Mobile, Tianjin Mobile and Hebei Mobile (2000). These developments have delivered strong growth.
• China Mobile is number one in the Chinese market. It recorded a 67.5% market share in 2006. It is the world's largest digital mobile company, and serves more customers than any other mobile supplier.

Weaknesses

• According to the head of China Mobile, China's home-grown mobile technology is a few years behind that of its international competitors since it was having problems with handsets. Essentially 3G technology was lagging behind. Part of the problem was the choice to swap to TD-SCDMA's network which many would consider inferior to the 3G technology offered by European and American alternatives (which their competitors have decided to adopt).
• The company is not globally diversified. Telecoms companies tend to trade in more than one country, usually through acquisition, joint-ventures or strategic alliances (for example see the SWOT analysis of Bharti Airtel). This may leave the company exposed if the Chinese market were to go into a deep or sustained decline.

Opportunities

• The Chinese economy has undergone enormous growth, which has lead to the huge demand for mobile telephones, devices and technologies. According to the Chinese Government, China is the world's largest mobile market with 520 million mobile phone users. This number could reach 600 million by 2010.
• Budget users in China are driving growth in the mobile telecoms sector. China Mobile reported a net profit between January and March 2008 of around 24.1bn yuan (£3.4bn; £2.2bn) which is a rise of 37% on 2007 according to BBC News.
• Since the cities have become saturated, much of the new growth is predicted for rural China and it is this segment that is most likely to be targeted by the large operators. 3G technologies provide the largest opportunity for China Telecom.

Threats

• New subscribers are mainly low-use, low-value. So average revenue is falling as the mobile phone market matures and the market becomes more price competitive. So mobile phone suppliers are awaiting the introduction of 3G mobile technologies to rejuvenate the market and stimulate demand as Chinese customers consume the new added value services.
• China Mobile could face more competition in the future as the Chinese Government plans to allow more operators into the market. China Mobile has 70% of the 2G market in China. China Unicom wants to become the biggest 3G operator, and China Telecom aims to win 15% of the 3G market by 2010.
• China Mobile has a number of service obligations under agreements with the Chinese (PRC) Government. So the business may be obliged to provide unprofitable services that pay a social dividend. Added to this the Ministry of Information and Industry has allocated a limited frequency (44MHz) to the company which will not support large numbers of subscribers in the future.

Aim here was to introduce China mobile company and analyze internal and external factors effecting it as a whole.

Reference: www.marketing teacher.com

Modes of Entry into International Markets (Place)

How does an organization enter an overseas market?

Background

A mode of entry into an international market is the channel which your organization employs to gain entry to a new international market. This lesson considers a number of key alternatives, but recognizes that alteratives are many and diverse. Here you will be consider modes of entry into international markets such as the Internet, Exporting, Licensing, International Agents, International Distributors, Strategic Alliances, Joint Ventures, Overseas Manufacture and International Sales Subsidiaries. Finally we consider the Stages of Internationalization.

It is worth noting that not all authorities on international marketing agree as to which mode of entry sits where. For example, some see franchising as a stand alone mode, whilst others see franchising as part of licensing. In reality, the most important point is that you consider all useful modes of entry into international markets - over and above which pigeon-hole it fits into. If in doubt, always clarify your tutor's preferred view.

The Internet

The Internet is a new channel for some organizations and the sole channel for a large number of innovative new organizations. The eMarketing space consists of new Internet companies that have emerged as the Internet has developed, as well as those pre-existing companies that now employ eMarketing approaches as part of their overall marketing plan. For some companies the Internet is an additional channel that enhances or replaces their traditional channel(s). For others the Internet has provided the opportunity for a new online company. More

Exporting

There are direct and indirect approaches to exporting to other nations. Direct exporting is straightforward. Essentially the organization makes a commitment to market overseas on its own behalf. This gives it greater control over its brand and operations overseas, over an above indirect exporting. On the other hand, if you were to employ a home country agency (i.e. an exporting company from your country - which handles exporting on your behalf) to get your product into an overseas market then you would be exporting indirectly. Examples of indirect exporting include:

• Piggybacking whereby your new product uses the existing distribution and logistics of another business.
• Export Management Houses (EMHs) that act as a bolt on export department for your company. They offer a whole range of bespoke or a la carte services to exporting organizations.
• Consortia are groups of small or medium-sized organizations that group together to market related, or sometimes unrelated products in international markets.
• Trading companies were started when some nations decided that they wished to have overseas colonies. They date back to an imperialist past that some nations might prefer to forget e.g. the British, French, Spanish and Portuguese colonies. Today they exist as mainstream businesses that use traditional business relationships as part of their competitive advantage.

Licensing

Licensing includes franchising, Turnkey contracts and contract manufacturing.

• Licensing is where your own organization charges a fee and/or royalty for the use of its technology, brand and/or expertise.
• Franchising involves the organization (franchiser) providing branding, concepts, expertise, and infact most facets that are needed to operate in an overseas market, to the franchisee. Management tends to be controlled by the franchiser. Examples include Dominos Pizza, Coffee Republic and McDonald's Restaurants.
• Turnkey contracts are major strategies to build large plants. They often include a the training and development of key employees where skills are sparse - for example, Toyota's car plant in Adapazari, Turkey. You would not own the plant once it is handed over.

International Agents and International Distributors

Agents are often an early step into international marketing. Put simply, agents are individuals or organizations that are contracted to your business, and market on your behalf in a particular country. They rarely take ownership of products, and more commonly take a commission on goods sold. Agents usually represent more than one organization. Agents are a low-cost, but low-control option. If you intend to globalize, make sure that your contract allows you to regain direct control of product. Of course you need to set targets since you never know the level of commitment of your agent. Agents might also represent your competitors - so beware conflicts of interest. They tend to be expensive to recruit, retain and train. Distributors are similar to agents, with the main difference that distributors take ownership of the goods. Therefore they have an incentive to market products and to make a profit from them. Otherwise pros and cons are similar to those of international agents.

Strategic Alliances (SA)

Strategic alliances is a term that describes a whole series of different relationships between companies that market internationally. Sometimes the relationships are between competitors. There are many examples including:

• Shared manufacturing e.g. Toyota Ayago is also marketed as a Citroen and a Peugeot.
• Research and Development (R&D) arrangements.
• Distribution alliances e.g. iPhone was initially marketed by O2 in the United Kingdom.
• Marketing agreements.

Essentially, Strategic Alliances are non-equity based agreements i.e. companies remain independent and separate.

Joint Ventures (JV)

Joint Ventures tend to be equity-based i.e. a new company is set up with parties owning a proportion of the new business. There are many reasons why companies set up Joint Ventures to assist them to enter a new international market:

• Access to technology, core competences or management skills. For example, Honda's relationship with Rover in the 1980's.
• To gain entry to a foreign market. For example, any business wishing to enter China needs to source local Chinese partners.
• Access to distribution channels, manufacturing and R&D are most common forms of Joint Venture.

Overseas Manufacture or International Sales Subsidiary

A business may decide that none of the other options are as viable as actually owning an overseas manufacturing plant i.e. the organization invests in plant, machinery and labor in the overseas market. This is also known as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). This can be a new-build, or the company might acquire a current business that has suitable plant etc. Of course you could assemble products in the new plant, and simply export components from the home market (or another country). The key benefit is that your business becomes localized - you manufacture for customers in the market in which you are trading. You also will gain local market knowledge and be able to adapt products and services to the needs of local consumers. The downside is that you take on the risk associated with the local domestic market. An International Sales Subsidiary would be similar, reducing the element of risk, and have the same key benefit of course. However, it acts more like a distributor that is owned by your own company.

Internationalization Stages

So having considered the key modes of entry into international markets, we conclude by considering the Stages of Internationalization. Some companies will never trade overseas and so do not go through a single stage. Others will start at a later or even final stage. Of course some will go through each stage as summarized now:

• Indirect exporting or licensing
• Direct exporting via a local distributor
• Your own foreign presences
• Home manufacture, and foreign assembly
• Foreign manufacture

Entry methods are discussed here because Place is a very important element of marketing strategy and mix as well.

Reference: www.marketing teacher.com

Shell Directional Policy Matrix

A Nine Celled directional Policy Matrix

The Shell Directional Policy Matrix is another refinement upon the Boston Matrix. Along the horizontal axis are prospects for sector profitability, and along the vertical axis is a company's competitive capability. As with the GE Business Screen the location of a Strategic Business Unit (SBU) in any cell of the matrix implies different strategic decisions. However decisions often span options and in practice the zones are an irregular shape and do not tend to be accommodated by box shapes. Instead they blend into each other.

Each of the zones is described as follows:

• Leader - major resources are focused upon the SBU.
• Try harder - could be vulnerable over a longer period of time, but fine for now.
• Double or quit - gamble on potential major SBU's for the future.
• Growth - grow the market by focusing just enough resources here.
• Custodial - just like a cash cow, milk it and do not commit any more resources.
• Cash Generator - Even more like a cash cow, milk here for expansion elsewhere.
• Phased withdrawal - move cash to SBU's with greater potential.
• Divest - liquidate or move these assets on a fast as you can.

As discussed above its a sort of extension to the BCG matrix and is a very useful tool for efficient policy making issues.

Reference: www.marketing teacher.com

Public Relations(PR).

Public relations as part of the marketing communications mix.

Public Relations

Public Relations (PR) is a single, broad concept. It is broad since it contains so many elements, many of which will be outlined in this lesson. Public Relations (PR) are any purposeful communications between an organisation and its publics that aim to generate goodwill. Publics, put simply, are its stakeholders. PR is proactive and future orientated, and has the goal of building and maintaining a positive perception of an organisation in the mind of its publics. This is often referred to as goodwill.

Yes it is difficult to see the difference between marketing communications and PR since there is a lot of crossover. This makes it a tricky concept to learn. Added to this is the fact that PR is often expensive, and not free, as some definitions would have you believe. PR agencies are not cheap. Below are some of the approaches that are often considered under the PR banner.

Interviews and photo-calls.

It is important that company executives are available to generate goodwill for their organisation. Many undertake training in how to deal with the media, and how to behave in front of a camera. There are many key industrial figures that proactively deal with the media in a positive way for example Bill Gates (Microsoft) or Richard Branson (Virgin). Interviews with the business or mass media often allow a company to put its own perspective on matters that could be misleading if simply left to dwell untended the public domain.

Speeches, presentations and speech writing.

Key figures from within an organisation will write speeches to be delivered at corporate events, public awards and industry gatherings. PR company officials in liaison with company managers often write speeches and design corporate presentations. They are part of the planned and coherent strategy to build goodwill with publics. Presentations can be designed and pre-prepared by PR companies, ultimately to be delivered by company executives.

Corporate literature e.g. financial reports.

Corporate literature includes financial reports, in-house magazines, brochures, catalogues, price lists and any other piece of corporate derived literature. They communicate with a variety of publics. For example, financial reports will be of great interest to investors and the stock market, since they give all sorts of indicators of the health of a business. A company Chief Executive Officer CEO will often write the forward to an annual financial report where he or she has the opportunity to put a business case to the reader. This is all part of Public Relations.

PR is a very important aspect behind every successful marketing strategy therefore aim here was to discuss PR and marketing mix as a useful combination.

Reference: www.marketing teacher.com

Marketing Control

Measuring and monitoring the marketing planning process.

There is no planning without control. Marketing control is the process of monitoring the proposed plans as they proceed and adjusting where necessary. If an objective states where you want to be and the plan sets out a road map to your destination, then control tells you if you are on the right route or if you have arrived at your destination.

Control involves measurement, evaluation, and monitoring. Resources are scarce and costly so it is important to control marketing plans. Control involves setting standards. The marketing manager will than compare actual progress against the standards. Corrective action (if any) is then taken. If corrective action is taken, an investigation will also need to be undertaken to establish precisely why the difference occurred.

There are many approaches to control:

• Market share analysis.
• Sales analysis.
• Quality controls.
• Budgets.
• Ratio analysis.
• Marketing research.
• Marketing information systems (MkIS).
• Feedback from customers satisfaction surveys.
• Cash flow statements.
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems.
• Sales per thousand customers, per factory, by segment.
• Location of buyers and potential buyers.
• Activities of competitors to aspects of your plan.
• Distributor support.
• Performance of any promotional activities.
• Market reaction/acceptance to pricing polices.
• Service levels.

. . . . and many other methods of monitoring and measurement.

Measuring and monitoring are very much important for every substantial marketing process and is very useful for proper analysis and policy making.

Reference: www.marketing teacher.com

Behavioral Marketing Planning

Marketing Planning and the Individual

Human and behavioral inputs are brought to marketing planning by the marketing manager himself or herself. The driver for the illogical approach of Piercy and Giles (1989) lies with the experience of managers. So where informal marketing planning recognized that there are different approaches to marketing planning, away from the structure and linear process of formal marketing planning, where the behavior of the manager influences the plan, a behavioral approach to marketing planning sees the individual at the center of the marketing plan.

The plan is driven by the individual and his human characteristics influence the plan. Such characteristics include the experience of the manager and the nature of his learning. The relationship between planning and human behavior is recognized in a number of ways. Culture is distinguished from planning techniques and specifications (King and Cleland 1978). Therefore corporate or national culture would influence, to an extent, the individual that plans for marketing. According to Martin (1987), they see that 'human-based culture' at both strategic and operational levels to be an antecedent of effective planning. Recognition of the human nature of marketing planning could dispel the mistaken beliefs that managers have (Piercy and Giles 1998). In contrast, a behavioral view of marketing planning sees fewer stages to the process itself. Strategies may evolve or emerge (Minzberg 1987). Culture influences the behavior of the planner (King and Cleland 1978). Analysis and planning are ongoing, and are not always deliberately written down as a formal 'plan.'

Too much attention is given to the marketing audit, and the audit itself tends to ignore the organizational context of marketing planning i.e. the attitudes of individuals and groups to the process of planning (Martin 1987). The individuals and groups that shape the marketing plan, and their interaction, can affect the attainment of marketing objectives. Such a behavioral process will influence the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing planning. The nature of the marketing environment may also dictate the approach taken by the marketer when planning for marketing. In low change, low complexity situations marketing structure is the most important factor. However in high change, high complexity situations skilled managers secure better results (Bonomo and Crittenden cited in Wilson, Gilligan and Pearson 1992). There is recognition that moving away from structure to the skills of an individual may secure better results. The way in which the skills are applied is down to the behavior of the individual. How these skills are developed are down to the learning of the individual.

How these skills are developed are down to the learning of the individual. Learning and marketing planning begin to demonstrate some common traits. Dispensing with an oversimplified traditional formal marketing planning process sees the emergence of an iterative process (Piercy and Giles 1989). The marketer plans constantly and makes minor improvements as marketing occurs. An iterative marketing planning process is constantly reviewed and fine-tuned. The marketer reflects upon marketing planning and makes changes where necessary. Reflection is a key activity to behavioral marketing planning. Reflection is a key activity to experiential learning (Kolb 1984). There may be a relationship between behavioral marketing planning and individual learning.

Marketing planning is done to target consumers more effectively so that profitability can be enhanced therefore its an important aspect in marketing. Behavioral factor needs much more attention so that planning is successful.

Reference: www.marketing teacher.com

Marketing Audit.

How to conduct a marketing audit.

The marketing audit is a fundamental part of the marketing planning process. It is conducted not only at the beginning of the process, but also at a series of points during the implementation of the plan. The marketing audit considers both internal and external influences on marketing planning, as well as a review of the plan itself.

There are a number of tools and audits that can be used, for example SWOT analysis for the internal environment, as well as the external environment. Other examples include PEST and Five Forces Analyses, which focus solely on the external environment.

In many ways the marketing audit clarifies opportunities and threats, and allows the marketing manager to make alterations to the plan if necessary.

This lesson considers the basics of the marketing audit, and introduces a marketing audit checklist. The checklist is designed to answer the question, what is the current marketing situation? Lets consider the marketing audit under three key headings:

• The Internal Marketing Environment.
• The External Marketing Environment.
• A Review of Our Current Marketing Plan.

1.The Internal Marketing Environment.

What resources do we have at hand? (i.e. The FIVE 'M's):

• MEN (Labor/Labour).
• MONEY (Finances).
• MACHINERY (Equipment).
• MINUTES (Time).
• MATERIALS (Factors of Production).

• How is our marketing team organised?
• How efficient is our marketing team?
• How effective is our marketing team?
• How does our marketing team interface with other organisations and internal functions?
• How effective are we at Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?
• What is the state of our marketing planning process?
• Is our marketing planning information current and accurate?
• What is the current state of New Product Development? (Product)
• How profitable is our product portfolio? (Product)
• Are we pricing in the right way? (Price)
• How effective and efficient is distribution? (Place)
• Are we getting our marketing communications right? (Promotion)
• Do we have the right people facing our customers? (People)
• How effective are our customer facing processes? (Process)
• What is the state of our business's physical evidence? (Physical Evidence)

2. The External Marketing Environment.

As a market orientated organisation, we must start by asking - What is the nature of our 'customer?' Such as:

• Their needs and how we satisfy them.
• Their buyer decision process and consumer behaviour.
• Their perception of our brand, and loyalty to it.
• The nature of segmentation, targeting and positioning in our markets.
• What customers 'value' and how we provide that 'value?.'

What is the nature of competition in our target markets?

• Our competitors' level of profitability.
• Their number/concentration.
• The relative strengths and weaknesses of competition.
• The marketing plans and strategies of our competition.

What is the cultural nature of the environment(s)?

• Beliefs and religions.
• The standards and average levels of education.
• The evolving lifestyles of our target consumers.
• The nature of consumerism in our target markets.

What is the demography of our consumers? Such as average age, levels of population, gender make up, and so on. How does technology play a part?

• The level of adoption of mobile and Internet technologies.
• The way in which goods are manufactured.
• Information systems.
• Marketing communications uses of technology and media.

What is the economic condition of our markets?

• Levels of average disposable income.
• Taxation policy in the target market.
• Economic indicators such as inflation levels, interest rates, exchange rates and unemployment.

Is the political and legal landscape changing in any way?

• Laws, for example, copyright and patents.
• Levels of regulation such as quotas or tariffs.
• Labour/labor laws such as minimum wage legislation.

3. A Review of Our Current Marketing Plan

• What are our current objectives for marketing?
• What are our current marketing strategies?
• How do we apply the marketing mix? (Including factors covered above in (a))
• Is the marketing process being controlled effectively?
• Are we achieving our marketing budget?
• Are we realising our SMART objectives?
• Are our marketing team implementing the marketing plan effectively?

• Levels of staffing.
• Staff training and development.
• Experience and learning.

This entire marketing tool of audit is very much important for profitability and therefore i thought of this addition, which has vital concepts relating to proper marketing audit.

Reference: www.marketing teacher.com

The General Electric Business Screen

GE Business Screen Matrix

The General Electric Business Screen was originally developed to help marketing managers overcome the problems that are commonly associated with the Boston Matrix (BCG), such as the problems with the lack of credible business information, the fact that BCG deals primarily with commodities not brands or Strategic Business Units (SBU's), and that cashflow if often a more reliable indicator of position as opposed to market growth/share.

The GE Business Screen introduces a three by three matrix, which now includes a medium category. It utilizes industry attractiveness as a more inclusive measure than BCG's market growth and substitutes competitive position for the original's market share.

So in come Strategic Business Units (SBU's). A large corporation may have many SBU's, which essentially operate under the same strategic umbrella, but are distinctive and individual. A loose example would refer to Microsoft, with SBU's for operating systems, business software, consumer software and mobile and Internet technologies.

Growth/share are replaced by competitive position and market attractiveness. The point is that successful SBU's will go and do well in attractive markets because they add value that customers will pay for. So weak companies do badly for the opposite reasons. To help break down decision-making further, you then consider a number of sub-criteria:

For market attractiveness:

• Size of market.
• Market rate of growth.
• The nature of competition and its diversity.
• Profit margin.
• Impact of technology, the law, and energy efficiency.
• Environmental impact.

. . . and for competitive position:

• Market share.
• Management profile.
• R & D.
• Quality of products and services.
• Branding and promotions success.
• Place (or distribution).
• Efficiency.
• Cost reduction.

At this stage the marketing manager adapts the list above to the needs of his strategy. The GE matrix has 5 steps:

• One - Identify your products, brands, experiences, solutions, or SBU's.
• Two - Answer the question, What makes this market so attractive?
• Three - Decide on the factors that position the business on the GE matrix.
• Four - Determine the best ways to measure attractiveness and business position.
• Five - Finally rank each SBU as either low, medium or high for business strength, and low, medium and high in relation to market attractiveness.

Now follow the usual words of caution that go with all boxes, models and matrices. Yes the GE matrix is superior to the Boston Matrix since it uses several dimensions, as opposed to BCG's two. However, problems or limitations include:

• There is no research to prove that there is a relationship between market attractiveness and business position.
• The interrelationships between SBU's, products, brands, experiences or solutions is not taken into account.
• This approach does require extensive data gathering.
• Scoring is personal and subjective.
• There is no hard and fast rule on how to weight elements.
• The GE matrix offers a broad strategy and does not indicate how best to implement it.

This altogether is a enhancement of BCG matrix and provides useful information regarding how to manage SBU'S.

Reference: www.marketing teacher.com