Marketing Management: Greenpeace - Essay Example

? Marketing in Charitable Organisations Anne Edwards 10th January, There is a myriad of voluntary non-profit organizations (VNOPs) in the UK. Just like in the normal business environment, the organizations have the need to distinguish themselves in the ever competitive world. They therefore adopt different positioning strategies that are unique to their specific conditions and that best exemplify what they stand for. There is limited literature that comprehensively examines the different strategies adopted. However, in examining individual charities, one can uncover elaborate efforts that are aimed at positioning a charity in a particular environment. Charities also do market themselves using planned tactics, elaborate management and positioning techniques. In order to determine how best to market a given charity, a number of factors are considered. Most are pegged on the external environmental forces, the mission that the charity chooses, the resources at the disposal of the charity, increased competition from similar and different charities and the needs of the particular stakeholders including the people who are considered as the most dominant contributors to the charity’s cause. Most of the stakeholders are oblivious of the need for charity marketing and thus managers are challenged to be continuously in sync with their needs and review the strategy regularly to ensure that they are not alienated. Introduction The last decade has seen a change in the operation of the voluntary sector in the UK. The sector is largely affected by the prevailing market forces like recessions much like in the general global economy. Thus, the structural landscape has inevitably changed and more efforts aimed at strategic positioning have been adopted. The external environment has been a major driving force in the shape and nature of the VNOPs in the UK today. The National Council for Voluntary Organizations (NCVO) has reported that the short and long term futures of the charities in the country will continue to be influenced by social, economic and political factors that regulate them (Chew 2005, p. 3). The government adopted the policy of partnering and contracting public service delivery systems which has been a major driver of change in the actions of charities. This action alone has stimulated the need for better means of attracting, allocating and managing resources so as to have a competitive advantage over other charities and also to better further the individual causes while combating the ever increasing challenges. Those VNOPs that are involved in the provision of services to the public via the normal service delivery systems have found themselves with the need to regularly analyze and improve their strategic positioning. Greenpeace UK is anon-governmental and not-for-profit organization that has branches all over the world. The organization does charity work that is entirely based on the environment. The world today is full of environmental challenges. There are many charities that are involved in sensitizing people on the need for preservation as well as conservation of the environment to ensure that future generations do not have any challenges that may be deemed as arising from the mistakes of the current generations. Greenpeace ensures that the public is informed on the importance of conserving the environment for the good of the current as well as future generations. The charity is involved in putting a stop to climate change that is being manifested as global warming, defend the oceans from exploitation including ensuring that the water levels remain constant to prevent flooding in coastal regions as a result of the melting of polar ice caps, protecting the forests from depletion by sensitizing people on their importance in their everyday lives, discovering other sources of renewable energy with an aim of reducing over reliance on oil, elimination of toxic substances that may harm the eco systems including man, flora and fauna, making sure that peace is prevalent throughout the world by reducing conflicts and sensitizing people on the importance of coexisting harmoniously, generating reports on all matters appertaining to the environment and peaceful coexistence of humans with each other and their environment among other global campaigns aimed at creating a better tomorrow for current as well as future generations. Discussion Greenpeace UK aims at fulfilling a number of goals that may be considered as being noble. All these causes can be regarded as being aimed at a sustainable livelihood for human beings and their environment. However, and despite the fact that the campaigns are noble, there is a whole hoard of other charities that aim at the same outcomes. Therefore, there is need for aggressive marketing to ensure that there is support for the cause through this organization and not any other. When one visits the organization’s website, there is a whole list of things that one is expected to do in order to support a certain cause. Among the activities are many that are attractive to human beings and considered to be fun to do. Instead of the organization just advertising its cause, it makes sure that the activities are those that people can enjoy doing. This is a way of marketing for the cause so as to attract as many people to it as possible. Marketing is a precise way in which an organization draws awareness to its products and services usually with the aim of making profits. However, for non-profit organizations, the concept of marketing is not driven by monetary profits but rather by enlisting as much support as possible. The marketing mix usually consists of a product, the price of the product, the promotional methods employed and the place of marketing the product. These precise components may also be seen in charity marketing as much as they may be witnessed in conventional marketing. What is so fascinating about charity marketing? First, marketing generally is focused on the customer needs and their fulfilment. Charity marketing is therefore one step forward from conventional marketing as it is all about the good of the public who may be considered as its customers with no concern for the good of the provider. Secondly, conventional marketing usually tends to concentrate more on where the customer ought to be. On the contrary, charity marketing is more focused on where the customer actually is and aims to better his conditions. For Greenpeace UK, the major focus is on ensuring that the present and future generations have a sustainable environment in which they live in. This means that the central focus of the organization while marketing is not to advance an agenda of gain for itself but rather for all humanity including those who conventional marketers refer to as passive recipients. Moreover, the organization does not have the desire to segment its market so that it can guarantee success. Rather, its marketing efforts are aimed at all human beings with the aim of improving their livelihoods. The product for Greenpeace could be regarded as the activities that are advertised on their webpage as well as on other media. These includes various events that are held with the aim of sensitizing the public and are fun to attend, a shop that has different products that appeal to different people, information on job opportunities as well as volunteer opportunities, the desire to leave a legacy and many more. Charity marketing is based on what conventional marketers refer to as being product or production oriented. The advantage of this kind of marketing is that it increases efficiency. The down side however is that people change as do their needs meaning that the product as well as the process of production become less relevant to them. While analyzing the marketing strategies that are adopted by charities, the fundamental point to remember is that it all boils down to customer satisfaction. The word customer in the discussion on the marketing practices adopted by Greenpeace is used to refer to beneficiaries and supporters. Many citations of the not-for-profit marketing strategies have been limited to areas of fundraising and public relations. This is the case for Greenpeace as the organization seems to be bent on aggressive marketing whenever there is need for fundraising activity or any public relations exercise. Many scholars who support the above perspective associate marketing with the success that has assisted the product oriented industries. Aggressive marketing by these industries ensured that their products became popular with the customers and hence growth has been steady since the 60s. However, the service industries have struggled to acquire the same level of success. Some scholars who have publications on charity marketing seem to agree that charities should dissociate themselves with the word marketing and should use a different term to distance themselves from being seen as being interested only whenever a fundraising exercise is envisaged or whenever public relations is necessary. There are many marketing practices that Greenpeace has adopted. Key among them is the use of social media. This emerging trend has been used successfully by commercial marketers, politicians and other campaigners eager to attract attention in the public sector. This strategy has worked well for Greenpeace as the organization commands a large following in the most popular social media including Facebook and Twitter. The advantage of using this media is that the organization receives feedback from its followers instantaneously whenever it undertakes a given activity. Another advantage is that people can share the information that they acquire with their friends hence ensuring that it is spread to a large number of people. Additionally, the discussions that occur in the social media can be used by the leaders in Greenpeace to better and further their causes. The media also additionally helps in drawing attention to certain occurrences around the globe on which people voice their opinions. In case the occurrences warrant action, then the organization can easily mobilize people to either support or oppose the action. The power of the social media cannot be underestimated as it was the key driver to the revolution that has been witnessed in North Africa and the Middle East. Therefore, it is laudable that Greenpeace uses it extensively as a marketing tool. Greenpeace has formed an avalanche of communities that are aimed at different activities. This ensures that people concentrate on particular activities rather that participating in all of them. Certain people are fascinated and are driven by certain causes and as such, the more causes one has, packaged in different activities, the more people one will attract. This practice is more like the marketing segmentation that the commercial marketers employ. It usually entails the customization of an organization’s products and services for a section of the market done by studying the specific needs of that section. Greenpeace has a newsletter that people subscribe to. The newsletter is aimed at informing the public on the news around the world that centres on the causes that the organization seeks to further. Additionally, there are reports on the organization’s website that people can read and contribute on. The news that is posted on the organization’s webpage is also informative as well as insightful. It is meant to draw different reactions from people and keep them aware of happenings around them that affect therm. Recommendations Greenpeace is without a doubt one of the largest charities in the UK and around the world. The problem that affects most charities is that they do not have well trained marketing personnel. As such, the budgetary allocations are usually minimal and the amount allocated is usually not well utilized. There is need for Greenpeace to invest in the human resources so as to ensure that the organization adopts the right marketing practices that reach the maximum number of the target customers and aid in the creation of awareness among the general populous. Furthermore, there is need for the human resources to send the right kind of message to the general public so as not to create negative publicity. The organization should ensure that results can be seen from the marketing spend in terms of tangible outcomes. The organization has already displayed the desire to have an accountable way of measuring the results of its undertakings and as such should ensure that the outcomes are proportional to the marketing spend. Another major problem that has been noted among all charities is that they spend their resources on specific projects that are mainly centred on fundraising and public relations. However, the recommendation is that less should be spent on specific objectives compared to the larger marketing and communication goals. There is a negative perception in charities that funders prefer to spend their resources on innovation of specific projects rather than on building in-house marketing infrastructure that is durable in the longer term. This should not be the case as the latter is the best fit to assisting in raising the overall profile of the organization that would ensure that it is better placed to be spotted by the public and funders alike. Despite the fact that Greenpeace has capitalized on the internet using its websites and social media, there is the negativity that has plagued many charities aimed at maximizing fundraising opportunities. It is laudable that the organization understands the importance of the internet as a tool of marketing. That is why it has introduced better ways of increasing traffic and attempting to be interactive on the webpage with customers. However, for a large organization like it, more should be done to ensure that the discussions on the webpage can spill into another webpage like that of social networking sites to ensure that there is feedback from all quarters and that the process is interactive. Perhaps the worst problem that dogs charities while marketing is the fact that most of them are dissatisfied with their present performance. Greenpeace has been involved in the creation of awareness on environmental matters and on peace for a long time. However, judging from the performance of its initiatives, there seems to be a large difference between the desired outcome and the actual one. This suggests that the organization does not have clearly defined marketing goals or does not have a clear marketing plan. The organization also seems to lack priorities when attempting to market itself and usually ends up using the marketing methods that have been tried and tested instead of being more adventurous. Marketing plan 1st month: Formulation of marketing goals This will entail the identification of the specific marketing goals and objectives that Greenpeace wishes to achieve before the end of the year. The process of goal identification will include an evaluation of the causes that the organization furthers and the gotten from respondents on different media. 2nd to 5th month: Rallying third sector support The third sector includes volunteers, mentors, contacts, other charities and professional resources. These are the people who have the experience in the causes that the organization seeks to further and also on how to create awareness for those causes. Greenpeace should seek to attract these people and form partnerships with them as this will ultimately help in attracting more support. 6th to 9th month: Building in-house marketing infrastructure This involves the focus of resources on internally improving the organization. Among the activities undertaken should be the training of marketing personnel and the re-evaluation of the different causes that the organization furthers. This will ensure that the causes are well constructed so as to attract the public and funders. 9th to 11th month: Improvement of online presence Once the organization has improved its internal infrastructure, then emphasis should be drawn towards the improvement of the webpage to ensure that it is more interactive and user friendly as well as increasing its presence on other partner websites. Last month: Evaluation This is the stage where the plan is analyzed to decide whether marketing objectives set have been fulfilled. Conclusion It is paramount that charities have an intricate marketing plan. Whereas many have launched marketing campaigns for different reason, it is important that those campaigns be measured against goals achieved and those desired. The initial step towards ensuring that the marketing initiative is successful is to ensure that there is an elaborate marketing plan. The plan should have precise goals that the charity hopes to achieve at the end of a given period of time. The goals should be achievable at the end of the specified period if the plan was well planned. Greenpeace is an organization that has performed well so far in its marketing initiative. Its initiatives have been innovative as the company has a large marketing budget compared to smaller charities. However, with the implementation of the above recommendations and the initiation of the proposed plan, the organization will perform better in its marketing initiatives. References Chew, C. 2005. Strategic marketing planning and positioning in voluntary non-profit organizations: empirical findings and implications for British charitable organizations. Policy Studies and Services Management Group, Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham Read More