Marketing Professional Practices - Essay Example

?Answer the questions You are the CEO of a large sporting club and are concerned about volunteer turnover. You plan to conduct some exit interviews. What would you ask them and why? What can you think of to retain your current volunteers? Different approaches have been used in the literature for explaining the role and the value of volunteers in organizations of different characteristics. According to Hylton and Bramham, the human resource policies used for retaining volunteers need to be similar to those used for retaining paid employees (Hylton and Bramham, 2007 p. 124). In regard specifically to sports clubs, volunteers working in these organizations have possibly ‘to face the legal consequences of their position, as for example when working as coach’ (Cuskelly, Hoye and Auld 2006, p.39). Moreover, Robinson notes that the ‘background information on volunteers is necessary in order to evaluate their appropriateness for a sports club’ (Robinson 2010, p.95). These issues have to be taken into consideration by HR managers in sports clubs when having to evaluate the suitability and the potentials of volunteers in regard to a particular role. In general, one of the issues that are of critical importance in regard to volunteer turnover is the budget involved. In the case under examination, even if volunteers are not compensated at the same level as ordinary employees, still the costs related to their daily involvement in the club’s activities are high, taking into consideration the club’s daily profits. Reference is made specifically to the funds required for the volunteer’s daily salary but also the funds necessary for the volunteers’ daily food and transportation from home to the club and vice versa. This cost is covered entirely by the club. Therefore, the first issue that needs to be taken into consideration when planning the exit of certain volunteers is the ability of the club to keep a particular number of volunteers. According to its current performance, the club is able to keep just the 60% of its volunteers. The interview planned for evaluating the current value of volunteers, in regard to their contribution in the club’s daily performance, should address the following issues: a) the age and demographics of volunteers; only volunteers that are required for the development of the club’s critical operations should remain in the organization; for example, younger volunteers would be more necessary compared to older volunteers, especially if the tasks involved are quite demanding in terms of physical capabilities; b) the experience of volunteers in similar tasks is important for deciding the continuation of their cooperation with the organization; for example, volunteers that have worked in sports club should be preferred by other volunteers that do not have such experience; c) the potential acceptance of a lower salary would be also an issue that should be addressed in the interviews; volunteers that could accept a reduction of salary, even low, i.e. about 10%, would be preferred, since in this way the organization’s daily costs would be significantly decreased; of course, the other issues, addressed through the interview, should be also taken into consideration for deciding the firing of a volunteer; d) the last issue that should be necessarily addressed in the interviews would be the time constraints of volunteers, meaning especially the social life and the other activities of each volunteer; for example, volunteers that do not have a second job would be preferred compared to volunteers that have to plan their time daily for responding to the needs of two jobs. 2. Given the financial difficulty faced by many non-profit organizations today discuss the opportunity of using social media. How can non-profit organisations use Facebook and other social media? Social media can be used for improving the communication between organizations and their customers. In non-profit organizations, the social media can play a similar role, helping to increase trust between the organizations and the public (Chen 2011, p.185). As also in for-profit organizations, in non-for profit organizations the social media can help to improve these organizations’ image in the market, providing information on these organizations’ services/ products and on their role, as related to the promotion of particular values (Chen 2011, p.185). According to McLeish, the social media can help non-for profit organizations to establish direct communication with their customers (McLeish 2010, p.108). This target can be characterized as quite important taking into consideration the excessive use of marketing by firms of all sizes. Consumers worldwide are likely to receive many marketing messages on a daily basis; the use of social media guarantees that the message of a non-for profit organization will reach its customers and members (McLeish 2010, p.108). From a similar point of view, Kanter and Fine note that the use of social media by non-for-profit organizations can help these organizations to increase the number of their members ‘effectively and inexpensively’ (Kanter and Fine 2010, p.11). It is explained that the value of Facebook and social media for these organizations is verified by the following fact: the last 5-6 years non-for-profit organizations of key value for the international community, such as the ‘American Red Cross and the Humane Society of the United States’ (Kanter and Fine 2010, p.11) have adopted Facebook and social media for attracting people to participate in their initiatives, i.e. for ‘increasing the number of their supporters’ (Kanter and Fine 2010, p.11), a plan that has been proved quite effective. Moreover, DasGupta (2009) explains that the use of social media and Facebook can help the members of non-for-profit organizations to exchange valuable information and to identify solutions in regard to a variety of issues; in other words, in the non-profit organizations the social media and the Facebook can be valuable problem-solving tools, allowing the improvement of organizational operations but also the increase of cooperation and collaboration between these organizations’ members and supporters. The use of Facebook and social media for responding to the marketing needs of the non-for-profit organizations, as also of the for-profit-organizations should also be taken into consideration, when evaluating the incorporation of social media and Facebook in organizations of this type; the lack of funds required for the promotion of marketing schemes through the social media and the Facebook has been one of the key reasons for the increased popularity of these communication tools for promoting marketing schemes worldwide (Pride and Ferrell 2011, p.1428). 3. You are the marketing manager of a not for profit organization and have just hired a Curtin university Graduate. You want to brief him/her before he/she starts. What in your opinion are some of the most important things that he/she needs to know about working in a not for profit organization. Employees in the marketing department of non-for-profit organizations should be aware of the potential similarities and differences between the marketing of these organizations and the marketing of corporations. At a first level, organizations of both types are likely to use various marketing techniques, such as ‘direct-mail and advertising’ (Ciconte and Jeanne 2008, p.198) for increasing their revenues. Moreover, organizations of both types expect that marketing will help them to improve their market image, a fact that will lead to the increase of their customers, who in non-profit are named as members or supporters (Ciconte and Jeanne 2008, p.198). At the next level, the organizations of both types are likely to cooperate for promoting specific marketing plans: quite often, corporations fund the activities of non-for-profit organizations in the context of the cause-related marketing (Ciconte and Jeanne 2008, p.198). In this way, both the non-for-profit organizations and the corporations are benefited (Ciconte and Jeanne 2008, p.198). Employees in the marketing department of non-for-profit organizations should be aware of all aspects of cause-related marketing since it is a common way for retrieving funds for the operations of these organizations. It is at this point that the key difference in the marketing activities of corporations and non-for-profit organizations can be identified: corporations need marketing for increasing the sales of their products/ services; for non-for-profit organizations marketing is necessary so that their activities are promoted to the public. In this way, the viability of non-for-profit organizations is secured. On the other hand, Brinkerhoff notes that the key difference between the for-profit marketers and the non-for-profit marketers is the following one: ‘the former usually have to make people want what they don’t need while the latter should always make people want what they really need’ (Brinkerhoff 2010, p.21-22). In addition, accountability in non-for-profit organizations may be higher, compared to for-profit organizations, since the activities of non-for-profit organizations are likely to be closely monitored by the public under the terms that these organizations are usually considered as ‘public trust’ (Godfrey and Edward 2000, p.29). The graduate involved should be informed on all the above issues having in mind the following fact: for the non-for-profit organizations values are a key element of their mission, while for for-profit organizations no such requirement exists, even if, often, under the pressure of the law and the perceptions of the public the for-profit organizations incorporate values and ethics in their strategic plans. References Brinckerhoff, Peter. 2010. Mission-Based Marketing: Positioning Your Not-For-Profit in an Increasingly Competitive World. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Chen, Te. 2011. Implementing New Business Models in For-Profit and Non-Profit Organizations: Technologies and Applications. Hershey: Idea Group Inc (IGI). Ciconte, Barbara, and Jeanne, Jacob. 2008. Fundraising Basics: A Complete Guide. Sudbury: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Cuskelly, Graham, Hoye, Russell, and Auld, Christopher. 2006. Working With Volunteers in Sport: Theory And Practice. Oxon: Taylor & Francis. DasGupta, Subhasish. 2009. Social Computing: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications. Hershey: Idea Group Inc (IGI). Godfrey, Paul, and Edward, Grasso. 2000.Working for the Common Good: Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Management. Sterling: Stylus Publishing, LLC. Hylton, Kevin, and Bramham, Peter. 2007. Sports Development: Policy, Process and Practice. Oxon: Taylor & Francis. Kanter, Beth, and Allison, Fine. 2010. The Networked Nonprofit: Connecting with Social Media to Drive Change. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. McLeish, Barry. 2010. Successful Marketing Strategies for Nonprofit Organizations: Winning in the Age of the Elusive Donor. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Pride, William, and Ferrell, O. 2011. Marketing. Belmont: Cengage Learning. Robinson, Matthew. 2010. Sport Club Management. Champaign: Human Kinetics. Read More