Marketing Methods to Create Companys Strategy - Coursework Example

Table of Contents Marketing 2 Marketing Methods 2 The Coca Cola Company 5 References: 7 Stone, Bob. Successful Direct Marketing Methods, Seventh Edition. UK: McGraw-Hill Publishers,2001, Print. 8 Zyman, Sergio.The End of Marketing as We Know It. HarperBusiness, 1999, Print. 9 Marketing Methods, 2011. Web. Available: http://trisharecommends.com/marketing-methods/. 2012 9 Marketing Marketing is defined as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large (The American Marketing Association). Marketing brings the products of different companies into national or global markets, in a way that the potential market can be made aware of its existence and therein a need for the product is created. The procedure of marketing is very complex as it begins by accessing particular products, their target market and then the selection of the most appropriate marketing method. Marketing Methods A Marketing Mix is first devised when a company is makes a marketing strategy; this consists a study of the product itself, the price that must be set, the places it should be sold from and the promotional methods that are to be implemented. There are various methods of marketing, and their selection depends entirely upon the product’s target audience. Following our some of the most popular methods used for marketing (Business Consulting Buzz): The major methods of marketing include Direct Mail, which is a mail sent by the companies to their prospective clients. Either this is done systematically or randomly, when done systematically, first a list is made, of the demographics of the target audience, and then the marketing mail is sent to all these people. However, this form of marketing is costly, can not reach a wider audience and is only feasible for companies interested in a particular locality or audience, e.g. a new restaurant opening in a particular locality. Another way is to send out emails to various possible customers, this form can reach a wider audience but there is a danger that the mail might be deleted before being read. Print media is another popular promotional method; this includes newsletters, newspapers and magazines. When a wider audience is intended newspapers can be a very beneficial way of marketing, however, when a particular group for instance young women or kids are the target audience, magazines that are popular in these groups can be used. Newsletters, brochures and other print promotional methods are also used, but are less sustainable. However, they have the power to be referred to or be kept for a long time by possible customers. However, this form of marketing can be very expensive, the more popular and widely read the magazine or newspaper, the higher is the cost for placing ads. Also printing several brochures or newsletters is an extremely costly option for companies. One way to reach a wider audience is by placing Posters or Bill Boards. The effectiveness of this form of advertising is entirely dependent on where the poster or bill board is placed, and the design and appeal of it. If the poster of bill board does not catch the viewer’s eye then the message will be lost, and the effectiveness of such a method is extremely subjective. The cost of this method is extremely high, as popular public spots rent out boards and walls on high rates. Also these posters might have to be updated quite frequently and the fee paid to the ad designers is extremely high in most cases. Mass marketing is a very useful tool for larger companies with a wide range of audience. Companies that are catering to a nation wide audience, often take up radio announcements as a possible tool, as they can reach a number of people through this medium. Internationally operating companies often buy radio slots in various countries to showcase their products. The cost is dependent on the frequency, timing and length of advertisements; however they are still considerably less expensive, than Television ads. Television ads are one of the most fruitful methods of advertising; they reach a wider audience, have the most sustainability and effectiveness. Their cost is also dependent upon the frequency, time slot and length and mostly the cost is only affordable by larger companies with more money allocated to marketing. With the progress of technology, new methods of advertising have been introduced including internet marketing, SMS marketing and telemarketing. Internet marketing, though new, has become increasingly widespread; it is less costly and can be accessed by the biggest range of audience. Most companies have developed their own WebPages and also use popular websites to showcase their products. The costs include hiring a web designer and buying a web page, but despite this the cost of this form of mass marketing is considerably low. Another new venue for businesses is social marketing on networking websites like Facebook, Orkut, Myspace, Twitter and many more. This has proved to be extremely fruitful, appealing to a wide range of audience along with being nearly free of cost. Telemarketing or Cold Calling includes calls being made to potential customers to create awareness about products and services being offered and possibly selling those through telephone. SMS marketing is a method in which a group of people are sent a marketing message, the selection might be random or based upon the records kept by service providers. Other forms of marketing include special events or special offers. When a popular event such as a sport World Cup happens, many companies sponsor the entire event or have their posters placed or an announcement made about their products during those events. Some companies also take out special offers such as free coupons, discounts, free samples or value cards in order to increase their popularity. The Coca Cola Company One of the most successful companies in the market genre is the Coca-Cola Company. This company uses a variety of marketing methods and caters to around 200 countries or territories worldwide and 500 brands (The Coca Cola Company, Annual Business Review, 2010). In some countries it is the leading beverage company, while in others it holds a big market share, thus it has various marketing strategies, each designed for specific countries. Coca Cola campaigns have made use of Billboards, posters and the back covers of popular magazines to appeal to a mass market. Coca Cola ads have been published in magazines such as Time Magazine, the Herald and many more. It has also made way to most popular newspapers such as Jang from Pakistan and The Times of India. In the 1982, the company bought Columbia Pictures, and then used it to promote many of its products by projecting their images in films (Funding Universe, History of Coca Cola Company). Coca-Cola started My Coke Rewards in 2006 (My Coke Rewards), in which all loyal customers earned points by entering the codes of the Coke they consumed, and such points could be used in buying various prizes. Coca Cola frequently introduces a variety of discount coupons, including ‘a $1.50 discount’ (Printable Coupons Blogspot, Coca Cola) coupon which offered three free diet cokes on buying 12 packs of coke. It also adds free cokes to popular restaurant meals, such as McDonalds, where the price of Coke within their meals is considerably reduced. Coca Cola also has many popular websites for all the different regions it serves. Despite these websites, it continuously buys advert slots in other websites for promotion purposes. It also has several popular pages on Facebook with ‘41,612,108’ likes on just one of its pages. In 2011, Coca Cola initiated ‘Share a Coke’ campaign in Australia (Coca Cola Website, Australia) in which it printed 150 most popular names of Australia onto the bottles and also added a link to its Facebook Page. Coca Cola frequently makes use of sponsorship as a method of marketing, it has sponsored popular events such as; ‘American Idol, Apple iTunes, BET Network, NASCAR, NBA, NCAA, and the Olympic Games’ (The Coca Cola Company, Sponsorship History). It has also sponsored the musical venture ‘Coke Studio’ in India and Pakistan, another of its extremely successful campaign. Coca Cola has also sponsored various internationally renowned artists such as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Sachin Tendulkar, Ashwariya Rai, Amir Khan and many more, who have appeared in its commercials and promoted its use. Another extremely popular method used by Coca Cola, is making use of religious holidays. Its "Holidays are coming!" Campaign (Coca Cola, UK) is one of such campaigns, in which a train of red delivery trucks with red Christmas lights passes through various locations to grab attention and market Coca Cola. Many customers have created an alliance with this campaign considering it an announcement of holidays and thus this campaign has become part of the global marketing strategy of Coca Cola, literally marketing it door to door. Coca-Cola also launched a campaign for hindu holiday Diwali, this campaign had various TV adverts, a jingle and the use of popular Star Shahrukh Khan and his film ‘Ra One’ (Coca Cola, India). On every Ramadan, Coca Cola makes new adverts for its Muslims customers, promoting the use of Coca Cola in Ramadan. Coca Cola is a prime example of the world’s largest companies, who engage in vigorous marketing strategies to promote their brand. The company does not stick to just one method of marketing, but makes use of all possible venues as a means to promote its product. Its marketing methods are one of the leading causes of its success and popularity. References: The American Marketing Association, Marketing, 2010. Web. Available: http://www.marketingpower.com/AboutAMA/Documents/American%20Marketing%20Association%20Releases%20New%20Definition%20for%20Marketing.pdf. 2012 Business Consulting Buzz, Coca Cola Company. 2010. Available: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/businesses/A-F/Coca-Cola-Company.html#b. 2012 Funding Universe, 2010. Available: http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/The-CocaCola-Company-Company-History.html. 2012 My Coke Rewards, 2006. Available: http://www.mycokerewards.com/home.do. 2012 Printable Coupons, 2011. Available: http://printable-coupons.blogspot.com/2006/09/coke-coupons.html. 2012. Coca Cola Australia, web. 2012. Available: http://www.coca-cola.com/en/index.html. 2012 The Coca Cola Sponsorships, 2012. Available: http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/heritage/sponsorships.html. 2012 Coca Cola, UK. 2012. Available: http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/ Coca Cola India, 2010. Available : http://www.coca-colaindia.com/presscenter/Coke_diwali.html Wernick, Andrew. Promotional Culture: Advertising, Ideology and Symbolic Expression. New York: McGraw Hill publishers, 1991, Print. Stone, Bob. Successful Direct Marketing Methods, Seventh Edition. UK: McGraw-Hill Publishers,2001, Print. Zyman, Sergio.The End of Marketing as We Know It. HarperBusiness, 1999, Print. Consulting Business, 2010. Available:http://www.consulting-business.com/ Marketing Methods, 2011. Web. Available: http://trisharecommends.com/marketing-methods/. 2012 Article Base, Coca Cola Marketing, 2012. Available: http://www.articlesbase.com/management-articles/coca-cola-marketing-2124317.html. 2012 The Marketing Donut, choosing the right marketing. Available: http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/marketing-strategy/choosing-the-right-marketing-methods-nine-faqs. 2012 Scribd, Joeydaprof, 2006. Available: http://www.scribd.com/doc/16945054/marketing-plan-of-coca-cola. 2012 Annual Review Business Profile, The Coca Cola Company. 2010. Available; http://www.thecocacolacompany.com/ourcompany/ar/pdf/TCCC_2010_Annual_Review_Business_Profile.pdf. 2012 PFSK, Share a Coke Campaign. Available: http://www.psfk.com/2011/10/share-a-coke-campaign-puts-names-on-coca-cola-bottles-and-cans.html. 2012 Read More