Evaluation of Zamogs Personal Selling Approach - Term Paper Example

Evaluation of Zamog’s personal selling approach Personal selling is an approach towards direct selling and hence it pertains to direct interaction with the consumers. It is one of the four major marketing communications mix and the first step in the process is to develop the goal or the objectives and strategy. The efforts is personal selling has to be in alignment with the objectives. Social marketing has consumer-centric approach and Zamog has not demonstrated any practice of approaching the customers directly for the purpose of educating them.

They carry the latest news on healthy sexual behaviours from around the globe but there has been no effort on their part to impart sexual education to the masses. They have provided tips and information on various sexual diseases and how to identify them. From their website it is not evident what are they trying to sell – is it condoms or the idea of a healthy sexual behaviour? By demonstrating the manufacturing process they are actually trying to sell a product and not trying to influence a change in behaviour.

Personal selling means to persuade the target audience that the product is worth the price (Mahesh, 2007). It may include a publicity campaign through the mass media but it can also involve teaching life skills or community activities (Bureau of International Narcotics Matter, cited by Mahesh). Personal selling must be coordinated with the other elements of the communications mix. Recommendations Zamog first needs to define the target market and then set the communications objectives. The communications objective should not be to achieve a certain amount of sales immediately.

Market penetration should be done before attempting to achieve sales. Immediate sales would be a wrong strategy. Here in the case of Zamog the objective is social marketing and social marketing aims to create programs with the objective of influencing the behaviour of the target audience to improve their personal welfare and that of the society (Dann, 2009). Personal selling can be enhanced by appealing to the emotions of the people. Instead of scaring people about STIs, Zamog should throw the idea in the minds of the people that pregnancy can be planned and that smaller families are better (Dann, 2009).

Besides, one need not feel guilty because pregnancy planning is morally acceptable. The target audience needs to be defined by Zamog. This education is needed for the less privileged people in the society and not for the affluent class. Hence to attract that class the website needs to be in a softer shade. The website should also come up in search through the popular search engines. Through personal interactions, personal selling should reinforce and communicate a change in values. This would bring about a change in behaviour.

The idea is to educate the market. They may be aware of the facts but they need to be motivated to change their behaviour. As of now Zamog is disseminating a sense of fear among the people who visit their website because it gives statistics of STI. This is negative emotional appeal and distracts the visitor away from the website. It can also lead to feelings of guilt and embarrassment and would never encourage the people to change their behaviour. There have been no attempts to remove the misconceptions about condoms.

Personal selling relates to personal interaction with customers of which there is no evidence in the case of Zamog. There is no forum on their website which allows for exchange of information or interaction with the prospective buyers. Their personal selling efforts are not coordinated even through other elements of the communication mix. For instance, they do not advertise through the internet, which today is a very powerful media. Forums or blogs allow for conversational exchanges and threads that form on the blog itself (Herring et al, 2005).

The posts that are most insightful or controversial get the most comments. The customers bring in more sales rather the employees of an organization. Blogs have become a tool for two-way human conversation and a major tool for online two-way public relations. They have not demonstrated of any steps towards tying up with NGOs or other social organizations. They have subsidized the condoms but the marketing approaches have not been specified. Zamog should have affiliations with social groups and take their support for creating awareness about the importance of change in behaviour.

Voluntary behaviour change occurs both at the individual and the society level (Domegan, 2008). Therefore social marketing should target the micro level, the group level and the macro level. For focusing on the micro level Zamog should adopt database marketing where through the application of database tools certain customers can be retained. Through the help of technology communication can be individualized. The distance between the end consumer and the organization can be narrowed through this technology.

Zamog can also use Interaction marketing which requires face-to-face personal formal and informal communication. This would encourage the customers to be participative and facilitates interactions and relationships. Word-of-mouth (WOM) selling is a very powerful tool in personal selling and viral marketing is the digital form of WOM. Viral marketing is a process through which an idea can be spread like wild fire and the medium is known as the viral agent (Ireland, 2004). Much depends upon the person who sends the first message.

Viral marketing works on the principle that a small number of highly motivated customers are chosen to seed the idea or the product and then allow it to reach millions in no time (Watts & Peretti, 2007). This is very helpful when long-term relationships are targeted and the objective is not immediate sales. Thus to enhance personal selling in their communications mix, Zamog should incorporate viral marketing which would allow for exchanges between and within the customers. It may not fetch immediate sales but definitely be educative, which is the objective of social marketing.

They should employ technology to implement database marketing and try to retain the customers. They can have forums on their website for different exchange groups which would promote interactions. This would help them to understand their customers and their needs which in turn would help them to promote the use of condoms for the benefit of the society. References Dann, S 2007, Social Marketing Communications, retrieved online 14 April 2009, from http://www.slideshare.net/stephendann/social-marketing-communications Domegan, CT 2008, Social marketing: implications for contemporary marketing practices classification scheme, Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, vol. 23, no. 2, pp.

135–141 Herring, SC. et al. 2005, Weblogs as a bridging genre, Information Technology & People, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 142-171 Ireland, T 2004, Viral Marketing - An Article, Some Advice, retrieved online 14 April 2009, from http://www.bloggerheads.com/business/viral_marketing_advice.asp Mahesh, P 2007, Social Marketing: A Communication Tool For Development, retrieved online 14 April 2009, from http://dspace.iimk.ac.in/bitstream/2259/364/1/233-240.pdf Watts, DJ & Peretti, J 2007, Viral Marketing for the Real World, Harvard Business Review, vol. 5, pp. 22-23