The Concept of Marketing Communications of Burberry - Essay Example

? Marketing Communication Burberry INTRODUCTION Back in time, there was lack of awareness for marketing and promotional media: A buyer would not differentiate much between off-the-shelf products. However, today suppliers and manufacturers spend and rely heavily on advertising their products and services in order to maximize their sales and brand reputation. Marketing is the process through which organizations produce and exchange their creation and satisfy each others’ needs (Drummond and Elsor, 2005). My company, ABC agency, is a marketing agency which provides services to its clients by conducting promotional campaigns and devising marketing strategies on their behalf. Amongst our clientele, Burberry Plc is one of the leading customers whom we are serving currently and are responsible for handling all their marketing activities within our region for the period running through July to December 2013. Burberry is a fashion brand, established since 1856, mainly dealing in men and women clothing and similar luxurious accessories (Burberryplc.com). This paper provides a marketing communications report, entailing detailed discussion about the concept of marketing communications and its unfolding role in establishing integrated marketing communications strategy. This report is followed by a marketing communications plan for our denoted client Burberry, stating the objectives that are to be achieved through promotional activities and the corresponding strategies that need to be implemented in order to be successful in achieving goals that were aimed at through these marketing communications. Finally we provide an integrated marketing communications strategy for the client to identify how all marketing elements work together to form the ideal strategy after taking into account implications of environmental and legal issues, sponsorship and role of technology. The paper concludes with recommendations for the retailer which might help it to regain its position in the market as it was in earlier years. MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS REPORT This report mainly focuses on the concept of marketing communications and its powerful role in establishing integrated marketing communications strategy. The contents of report are given as follows: 1. About marketing communications Marketing communication refers to the activities carried out by organizations to spread awareness amongst consumers about their products and convincing them to purchase their goods or services (Keller, 2001). Any form of interaction between a producer and a consumer shall fall under the broad category of marketing communication, provided that the basic intention behind such interaction is the achievement of organizational objectives. Such interaction will ideally result in a sale and purchase transaction or activity of the company’s product or service (McCarthy, 1978). With help of marketing communication, brand awareness can be enhanced and customer can be convinced to buy the company’s product. Thus, any enterprise’s revenue and profitability will be a direct function of effectiveness of its marketing communications. One of the most commonly used tools for marketing include the 4 C’s of marketing mix which aid the organization to combat against unpredictability of external factors that affect consumer tastes, preferences and capabilities of organization to sell its product. First C denotes the customer who is the primary concern of marketing team since without customer there is no survival possible. Therefore their needs are of utmost importance in devising a strategy and maximizing sales. For this purpose, cost, denoting the second C, is essential in determining how customers would perceive the product. High pricing strategies might not be able to grab maximum customers and therefore an optimal balance between cost and quality must be achieved. Convenience refers to the place of sale or market which nevertheless is no longer significant since internet technology and e-commerce facility has enabled companies to be free from geographical limitations. Nevertheless, emphasis must be laid on ease of access to and availability of products alongwith their information. Communication is the basic element of this theory since without communication, there is hardly much known about the company’s offerings. Therefore, it is necessary to engage in effective communication and abide by 4 C’s in order to gain a strong competitive position in markets (Fill, 2005). 2. Role of marketing communications Marketing communications play an essential role in determining the overall integrated marketing strategy of the organization, also known as the sponsor in this regard. Effective communication is one which will directly as well as indirectly influence consumer preferences. Marketing communication directly affects customer’s choices over the entire life cycle of a product, differently at each stage. Direct marketing aims at affecting the perceptions and psyche of buyers so as to urge them to buy the product through appealing offers and packages (Rust and Verhoef, 2005). Further, it also mitigates risks relating to quality of products or services, which is constituted as indirect marketing (Narayanan, Manchanda and Chintagunta, 2005). Indirect marketing is mainly targeted to inform and create awareness amongst masses through generalized advertising tactics (Prins and Verhoef, 2007). To ensure effective communication, a suitable target audience and medium of communication need to be selected in order to avoid confusion and unintended messages going through to the customers via different modes of communication, be it telephonic conversation, information provided on e-commerce website or face-to-face experience with sales personnel. Promotional activities mainly focus on increasing company’s sales but can only be targeted at a small volume of audience for whom the campaign has been tailored. On the contrary, advertising techniques are beneficial in addressing large population simultaneously but cannot easily earn the trust of customers and develop a public standing through such generic campaigning. Public image is pivotal for marketing communication aids to work out, since the reputation of companies out-shadow the content of their communication and therefore marketing strategy should focus on improving public relations. This also includes enhancing terms of trade with distributors and other suppliers in the trade marketing channel and taking into account their needs when developing marketing communications. To cater the need for a more customized approach to marketing communications strategy, personal selling is an effective tool providing one-on-one interface to the customers and better interactive experience which in turn also provide opportunity to salesperson to learn maximum about demographics of customers and their needs (Andersen, 2001). To filter it even further, direct marketing concept sweeps in, providing a perfect blend of bespoke communication and relationship building. Nevertheless, it must be noted that with the level of customization increasing in each mode of communication, there is always a corresponding drastic increase in expenditure involved in sponsoring these activities (Fill and Jamieson, 2011). Internal resources play a vital role in deciding how much the sponsor capable of enhancing its marketing communication strategy is. These include monetary resources, human capital, material, machinery, time, technology and infrastructure. There are various mathematical models aimed at explaining the science of communication channels and how each message is perceived at the receiving end, including linear model of communication by Schramm, Shannon-Weaver mode of communication, sequential models of advertising, elaboration likelihood model and multi-step model of communication etc. These models are mainly associated with transmission of information, through a channel, encoded by sender while decoding by recipient. Several factors need to be analyzed, in order to ascertain what shall be the potential result of communication, such as rate of communication, probabilities of each event occurrence, channel’s quality etc. Marketing communication is the distinguishing factor among several homogenous products offered in markets. In an integrated marketing strategy of an organization, it can use communication to differentiate its products, strengthen its customer base especially repetitive buyers, highlight its benefits to persuade consumer usage and catch attention of buyers who have long forgotten about the product. Communications tend to have developing orientation in areas of information, branding, balanced strategies and acknowledgment of customer needs. They should ensure exchange of complete information, improvement in customer experience, equilibrium between logical and sentimental messages being delivered and relationship building with the customers, grouping them into different classes and identifying expectations of each category (Jamieson, 2011). MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS PLAN When developing a marketing communication plan, Burberry’s team should ascertain particular information which shall be the basis of this plan. This includes the target audience whose expectations and requirements Burberry aims to address. Considering the prices of products in past, it should mainly focus its attention on the wealthier classes who take Burberry items to be a status symbol. The plan should contain strategies to entertain expectations of these customer groups and to capture substantial share in these market niches. Brand targeting in the 21st century (Wolny and Webb, 2000) Burberry is a luxury brand and needs to focus on customers who seek luxury products. It has followed strategies to demonstrate that it should be considered a luxury brand such as locating a flagship outlet in high-status vicinities such as Bon Street in London (Hines and Bruce, 2012). Also, it must account for the local conditions prevailing in the area where it plans to adopt marketing communication strategy. For this purpose, it is vital that the company has in place a marketing team with locally recruited personnel who have knowledge about trends, fashions and preferences by local population. In case of failure to recognize these needs and tailors products accordingly, customers might feel alienated to offered products. The plan should consist of objectives that are intended to be achieved via these communications and the corresponding strategies that must be designed and implemented in order to successfully achieve these objectives. 1. Objectives to be achieved Objectives of any marketing communication scenario depend on the context and setting in which it is taking place, aims of the participants and their perceptions about the product (Usunier and Lee, 2005). Objectives established by Burberry’s marketing team must fulfill the SMART criteria so that they are specific, measurable, accurate, realistic and time-oriented. This means that they must not be vaguely defined; instead, they must be properly quantified and time-bounded so they can be later measured and assessed against time limits if achieved and should be achievable in given constraints. Objectives of marketing campaign should be set so as to be clear what is to be achieved through these activities and promotional planning shall be carried out accordingly. Burberry should also understand how each element of marketing communication affects the customer and should choose wisely the mode of communication. Once objectives have been established, the management should constantly monitor the path to their achievement. a) Enhance and maintain brand awareness Burberry is an established brand since past couple of decades and therefore no question of creation of brand awareness arises. Nevertheless, with the growing competition, it is essential for the retailer to maintain its reputation, market share and customer loyalty and at the same time increasing awareness to add new customers to its clientele. It should also rescue itself from imitating brands which deliver similar product at substantially lower prices and damage Burberry’s demand (Moore and Birtwistle, 2004). b) Give the Burberry experience The primary purpose here should be to ensure that customers of competitor brands get influenced and switch to Burberry. For this purpose to be fulfilled, it is pivotal that Burberry gives opportunity to non-customers as well as existing ones to have a feel and experience of the brand itself. c) Educate, influence and retain The management should focus on educating the masses about styles and fashion trends introduced by Burberry each season. Once educated, it should influence the behavior of customers to drive them into desired directions. Finally, new and former customers should be retained within clientele through new design lines every few months and promotional deals. One of the current strategies being used by Burberry includes dual marketing strategy whereby it not only exploits maximum sales on its popularly accepted products demanded every year but also simultaneously introduces products to cater current trends and seasonal requirements (Moore and Birtwistle, 2004). In a study conducted where 5 employees of the company were interviewed, it was concluded that market-driven strategies and dual marketing tactics are embedded into the company’s culture and objectives (Saunders et al., 2009). 2. Strategies to be implemented In respect of the aforementioned objectives, Burberry shall adopt and implement following strategies to achieve the same: a) Branding strategy Branding is mostly done through commercial advertisements, promotional campaigns and active participation in public or sponsored events. The signature ‘check design’, which was introduced by Burberry in 1920, has always been in fashion and followed by many (Burberryplc.com). Therefore, it should capitalize on its strength, making products having the vintage checked designs and highlighting this design as its symbol of recognition in order to make this an internationally acknowledged brand identity. It should be recognized that Burberry is not affordable by all classes of customers and since it might wish to maintain its reputable image and public profile without any decline in prices, it should make products that are rich, elite and classy and that depict a high status symbol. This might tempt this particular social class to give in to the appeal and buy the product in order to meet the expectations of their social circles who would take Burberry accessories to be impressive and savvy. b) Promotional strategy Mostly, the customers would see and like the displayed clothing items but very few of them would make a buying decision on spot. Also, Burberry, being a luxury premium brand, mostly has its products offered at high prices and thus it may not be practicable and easy for customers to make a random purchase without careful consideration to it. To stimulate this, Burberry could initiate free trials, samples and giveaways programme in order to give the walk-in buyers an experience and feel of the brand itself. This might apparently seem like an added cost but it is certainly bound to show results eventually in future by grasping their brand loyalty and capturing repetitive sales. Discounts may be offered in latter purchases to make certain that those customers do come back for more. c) Influential strategy Firstly, Burberry ought to understand the need to educate. This can be done through conducting fashion shows and publishing catalogues of latest seasonal additions to retail outlets. It should be noted that Burberry should make sure to categorize its customers into broad classes based on different demographic differences and marketing strategies to educate them should be tailored accordingly for each class. Once each class is educated, Burberry needs to develop the urge inside them to buy their products. This urge comes through influential marketing channels such as billboards, TV and radio commercials, market surveys, public interactive games and forums where they can realize how wearing Burberry accessories would make them stand out in a crowd. A one-off customer who bought once should now be retained for future purchases. In order to retain them, the company should frequently introduce new designs, products and offer different promotional discounted packages. 3. Integrated marketing communications strategy In today’s world of media and technology, it is high time that Burberry also makes efficient use of technology in its marketing communication strategies and plans. A recent plan, namely ‘Customer 360’ was introduced by Burberry to identify purchase patterns of customers entering its retail outlet. With sensing devices placed at entrance of each outlet, management is able to trace where the customer has bought the accessories held with him. This would entail about strengths of competitors and areas where Burberry lacks in meeting customer expectations (Lan, 2012). Nevertheless, Burberry needs to restore its position in market which has been observed to be deteriorating from past few years due to cut-throat competition from new brands as well as the existing leading ones such as Marks and Spencer, Next, Zara, H&Ms and River Island (Moore and Birtwistle, 2004). For this purpose, it must take help of technology to enhance its market presence and positioning. It should take advantage of e-commerce by making its product lines available online for sale at competitive rates. Also, it should improve outlook of its physical stores and outlets by incorporating technology therein through big promotional screens and availability of various payment modes. The Burberry business model presented by Moore and Birtwistle proposed that this company has three basic communication streams which it capitalizes on, including advertising, fashion shows and publications (Moore and Birtwistle, 2004). Through advertising stream, Burberry should carry out territorial targeted marketing so that different categories of viewers and buyers get tailored advertisements that might interest them the most. Fashion shows are more of a display of luxury and brand presence in markets. Media coverage at such shows might give a multiplier effect to its marketing strategy. Publications in popular fashion magazines and periodic booklets or articles are the most effective means of marketing communication since they give an enforcing impact on customers to keep an eye for Burberry’s latest products at reasonable prices and depicting latest fashion style statements. For this purpose, the company should lay great emphasis on relationship—building with the publications press and customers through market surveys and personalized greetings and feel. The company doesn’t have an internationally recognized slogan to represent its mission and goals. Well-known slogans, such as ‘Just do it’ by Nike, help a brand to gain popularity, public imaging and enforcement on global markets. It is utterly important to know your customers and Burberry needs to gain advantage in this area in order to reinstate itself amongst profitable brands. In order to do so, the marketing personnel should conduct market surveys and research to gain awareness of customer preferences and changes in tastes over the periods lapsed where Burberry failed to make good impact. It might be helpful for the company to collect information regarding rival firms and their marketing tactics and benchmark itself to standards of such designers. The sponsoring management must allocate increased budgets to research and development head, providing funding to facilitate surveys, research activities and long-term development projects (Mohr and Nevin, 1990). Today, social media websites play a significant role in advertising brands, mostly among younger generations. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are few most commonly used websites that provide a worldwide domain for publicizing one’s product (Celine, 2012). Burberry has a great established name and any publicity caught by customers on these media sites would definitely gain some attention. Therefore, Burberry should start working on their brand imaging on these websites to make a healthy customer base and eventually persuading them to leave their seats and visit the outlet physically to check items that they previewed online. Also, online access and web development facilities allow customers to participate in marketing surveys and interactive games and services. As a result, at just a single click of mouse button, Burberry can have access to vast data and statistics about customers belonging to different regions around the globe and thus will help Burberry to understand cultural and situational differences and local prevailing economic conditions of every sector and territory (Grieve, et al., 2013). Over past many years now, customers have become more environmental-friendly and health conscious. Consequently, they will mostly boycott any products available in the market that somehow deplete the sustainable resources. Government and relevant authorities monitor strictly any environmental and legal implications through manufacturing of fashion clothing accessories. Therefore Burberry must have two primary concerns in this regard: complying with all the environmental framework regulations to avoid penalties, fines and bad reputation for the company to be non-compliant and lacking awareness of its environmental footprint on the society and secondly avoiding loss of sales, switching of customers to other ‘greener’ brands. Therefore, Burberry should aim on becoming more environment-conscious, developing new methods and products that preserve the sustainable resources and ways to reduce carbon emissions or any other wastage or spoilage that might result in air pollution or water contamination. Moreover, it should market itself as a green fashion retailer, acknowledging its environmental and social responsibilities publicly and using these facts for brand imaging and enhancing its public profile. There are also ethical issues involved that need to be considered while designing overall integrated marketing strategy. During fashion shows and media advertisements, Burberry should take utmost care that it doesn’t present any violent or other unacceptable forms of imagery especially in presenting women clothing which might erupt feminist pressure groups. Also, care must be taken when using any intellectual property (Shimp, 2007). 4. Graphical Illustration – Gantt Chart Develop plan Brand imaging Direct marketing Indirect marketing Sales promotion Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2013 (Proctor, 1995) CONCLUSION Burberry plc is an established giant brand which has always been counted as a trend setting and premium luxury brand. In order to successfully maintain and enhance a similar public image, it must carefully design a marketing communication plan which covers all the objectives that must essentially be achieved by company to survive and all the strategies that must be adopted by it to enable it to achieve these objectives. The elements of marketing communication must be utilized efficiently so that they add up together to form an overall integrated marketing communication strategy. Environmental, social and ethical implications play an important role in designing the strategy so that none of compliances are adversely affected by company’s activities and marketing communications expressly state that it has duly fulfilled its responsibilities in this regard (Menon, Et al., 1999). Activities carried out by Burberry should be in a structured flow as presented by Gantt chart in above text so that marketing communications are utilized to company’s maximum benefits. It must be noted that in recent years, Burberry has been failing to fulfill customer requirements and therefore many rival firms have managed to capture their loyally established clientele who switched for better trends, prices and services (Hines and Bruce, 2012). References ANDERSEN, P. H. (2001). 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