Contemporary Marketing Issues - Research Paper Example

Contemporary marketing issue of Social, Not-For-Profit Marketing and cause related marketing Contents Background 3 Literature review 3 Quality of Secondary Research 5 Evaluation 6 Social Marketing 6 Not-For-Profit marketing 8 Cause related marketing 9 My reflection 10 References 11 Background The concept of social marketing is related with the implementation of marketing principles and the benefits or damage that it causes to the issues in the society. The best example of using social marketing is to use campaigns for public health and environment. For both the type of companies non-profit and also the commercial companies conduct social marketing in the areas where the society has majorly failed to grow. Varieties of marketing activities are done on the basis of contemporary marketing practices across various countries in the global market environment. In social marketing various marketing activities are been done based on the social issues which help the companies to relate to the customers and get attached to them very easily. The marketing activities does helps the society to know the proper way in which the society can be improved and help can be done to change the societal conditions in various countries. For example Avon does social marketing to promote it products which are useful for the issue of women breast cancer and helping women’s to understand the way for the remedies and also how to prevent this issue. On the other hand Non-profit marketing is done by organizations where the company is not looking to get profit for example universities promote themselves by different marketing medium to gain more students but not profit (Fischer, 2012, pp. 45-52). Cause-related marketing concept is used to highlight a particular issue to the customers and general public to make aware the Cause related marketing helps the company to create more visibility among the customers and also increases the sales volume by great numbers. Literature review The non-profit organizations do feel the pressure of less capital and funds in that case the responsibility of the society and of other company’s increases in a big way. In 2002 Samu and Wymer explained the non-profit marketing as a term which is in between the cause and the business product service. As per Andreasen in 1996, the potential factor responsible for the success of a marketing activity is based on the type of communication been conveyed to the customers and the type of response the customers gives to the company (Austin, 2000, Pp: 65-72). This was been supported by Segawa and Segal in 2000 as they said that the response from the customer can be based on the attitude or the behavioural attributes of the customers for example the donations made does provide a lot of impact in the mind of the customers by creating a lot of good brand image about the company in the market. In 2002 basil after conducting many research stated that the high level of connections among the partnership organizations the company tends to get more profit by creating strong purchase intensions. Further to it in 2003 Basil; and Herr found out the consumers attitude towards a particular company becomes positive when other consumers get good benefit from the company in the early purchase process because of the word of mouth that spreads in a huge way in the market (Colbert, 2009, Pp. 7-10). In 1998, Weisboard stated that buying decision depends 19% on the personal income from the last two decades. In 2006, Daw came up with the concept that cause related marketing activity helps the non-profit organizations to get more and diverse customers. As per Polonsky and Wood in 2001, end consumers might feel good by thinking that they are serving to the society in some way without any additional cost by buying a particular product for their daily use. Customer buy certain product by that kind of thinking and as a result they get a brand liking and continue using the same product again and again giving the company a profit for example P&G (Procter and Gamble) promote their products by promoting them with a cause stating that their products do give certain amount of money from every product for charity. In 1994, Wagner and Thompson said that contemporary marketing activities are completely different from the other marketing activities that generally companies do to promote their products. In 2001, Polonsky and Wood also said that due to company’s donations the sales are triggered, thus it is easy to find the return obtained from the cause-related marketing activities done by the companies. As per Daw in 2006, 85% of the sales of the company are done because of the commitment of the company to the social cause and for helping in building social awareness using social marketing activities and cause related marketing. In 1994 Wagner and Thompson, stated that companies need to believe that the freedom of expression and the interest of customers to do something good for the society does affects a lot in the sales of the products and also helps in increasing the sales volume. Quality of Secondary Research This particular study topic is been done using quality and secondary research because of the vast information available by the research and analysis done by many scholars which gives a clear idea of the importance of the social marketing and also cause related marketing along with the non-profit marketing activities for the companies in the global market. Quality study provided lot of information related to this contemporary marketing issue and the secondary data available on various books, journals, articles and other online available resources does help to get a lot of information to study and understand the particular topic. As seen in the above literature where various researchers have stated various ideas about this contemporary issue gives a lot of ideas about the concern topic and the various marketing theories that can be used to study this particular contemporary issue and understand the importance of social marketing, not-for-profit marketing and cause related marketing for the growth of the company (Porter and Mark, 2002, Pp. 34-40). Secondary research for such topics are more useful then primary research as lots of information can be gathered from the valuables sources and also helps in better understanding which in case is not that efficient in case of primary research and is also cost effective. The qualitative research gives the profit to know the big picture of this topic does the contemporary marketing issue of social marketing, non-profit marketing and cause related marketing in the global market can be studied very easily with lots of information available in the scholarly journals, articles, books and online sites (Hunjra and Niazi, 2011, Pp. 78-82). Evaluation The evaluation of the available information in the articles and books is done by using various theories in marketing which will give a clear implication over the topic and also a clear understanding of the topic. The various theories developed by marketing experts are been used in this study to analyse the particular topic. The Three interrelated themes of contemporary marketing theories chosen are Social marketing, Not-Fr-Profit marketing and cause related marketing. Social Marketing Social marketing is the technique of using marketing methods for helping to eradicate a social issue in a particular country or a geographical location. The main aim of social marketing is to improve the individual behaviour of the people to enable social welfare of the society (Walraven, 1995, pp. 112-115). For example Avon using the social marketing process to market their products to help women’s know the caus3e of breast cancer and the way to prevent it, the companies does this by promoting products related to this issue, products such as bracelets, books, clothes, mobile phone covers and clothes, the profit earned from selling these products is been given as a fund to a hospital and for other charities. For companies the style of growing has changed from only concentrating to sales to the fact that companies are looking to help the society to improve and to eradicate the societal problems from different locations (Brown and Ruhl, 2003, Pp. 45-53). A large number of non business institutes have looked to use social marketing to increase memberships for churches, charity to different museums and also helped some societal improving organizations in the ways to collect charity to raise their funds. Advertising and promotional activities are done by various platforms to increase the social awareness among the customers so that they look to try and improve the condition of the society by removing the different defects and problems that cause a lot of hindrance in the good run and growth of the society. In social marketing the companies have looked to come up with appropriate products to promote various activities for the betterment of the society (McCarthy, Shelmon and Mattie, 2012, Pp. 76-82). This type of marketing activities does help to bring the behavioural change among the people as they get to know about the various social problems and get involved in helping to remove the problems. Different locations have different social issues and companies try and eradicate such problems by coming up with various activities. In this system the companies need to market both the solution to the issue as well as the process in which they can reduce the problem and also involve people to change their behaviour and way if thinking about their own society (Lucas, 2006, Pp. 23-27). Not-For-Profit marketing Not-For Profit marketing are the marketing activities which are basically done by the companies which don’t aim for gaining profit but some other aspects just like universities do marketing activities to not gain profit but to get more students by coming up with newspapers and brochures in the market so that they can attract more students. These type of activities are done to provide a particular service to the society to help the society to improve in the long run like universities help in increasing the level of education among the students across at various locations in the same way hospitals and other blood banks does provide the service to the society by providing good health to the people and also use marketing for promoting their service for the society (Tadajewski and Brownlie, 2009, Pp. 23-34). These types of marketing activities do create a good brand image in the mind of the customers as a result of which they get good service from the companies. These types of marketing activities which are not profit centred are also supported by governments for the betterment of the society and also people across the country. The different types of platforms used are not only concentrated to print media but in the latest generation the various other media like use of social media and television advertisements to let the information reach people to make them aware about the available facility and how to approach to avail that particular facility which will help them to avail a comfortable and also a safe life. This process will help the country to have a well balanced society (Boone and Kurtz, 2011, Pp. 87-92). These non-profit marketing activities done by companies to provide various services to the society for its betterment does help the countries growth in a huge way. In this system the companies need to market both the solution to the issue as well as the process in which they are going to provide the service. The not-for –profit organizations become less dependent on the funds from governments and charities as they need to get financial stability along with meeting the needs of the community (Parsons and Maclaran, 2009, Pp. 69-75). Cause related marketing Cause-related marketing is done by the companies to increase the awareness among the people about a particular cause related to the society in which every individual is attached to. In this the company comes in partnership with a non profit organization and does marketing activity to draw people’s attention towards a particular issue related to the issue. It is beneficial for both the company as well as the non profit organization and also for the society, as because the company gets a good brand image by helping in improving the societal issue, the non profit organization gets help by getting more funds and also it helps the society where people try and like to help in the improvement of the society in every possible way they can without incurring additional cost (Pringle and Thompson, 2001, Pp. 53-57). In this concept the customers look to buy a particular product launched by a company which also helps in giving some charity to a certain non profit organization and once the customers use a particular product they tend to get a liking over the particular product and after that the customers look to tick to that particular brand only as a result the customer gets a lot of profit also (Lee, Schultz and Kotler, 2011, Pp. 123-127). For example, the partnerships of Yoplait’s to the campaign of save lids to save lives supporting Susan G. Komen to cure, the company packs its product with a specific pink lid that the customers need to return it and in return the company provides 10 cents from each lid to the customers. Cause related marketing is done by various ways like conducting events to attract customers to from which the fund can be used for charity, by launching products in which a particular price is been given to the charity for the betterment and helping in improving the conditions of the society. All the three themes are interrelated to each other and they help the society to improve and also help in improving the condition of the country people by providing various services. Social marketing, not-for marketing and cause related marketing relates the organization, non-profit organization or the charity firms and the people and provides profit to all of them (Cheng, Kotler and Lee, 2011, Pp-112-114). My reflection From the study of the contemporary marketing themes of social marketing, not-for marketing and also cause related marketing using the information available in different journals and article it is understood how important it is to have a support and help the society for the company. The three themes that are been studied are very well interrelated and help the society in different aspects for its betterment. Social marketing helps to change the behaviour of the people by conducting various activities to eradicate a particular issue in the country and also making people aware of the particular problem in a better way by various marketing activities promoting through their products or by advertisements. The not-for-profit marketing helps in giving service to the society for its betterment in various ways like hospitals, universities, blood banks, donation camps etc. These types of activities help the society in providing good services and also give the company’s profit by getting more customers. The Cause related marketing activities done by the company’ helps every member attached in the whole process including the company, the non-profit organization and also the society and people. All these themes can be implemented by companies to support the society and also get continuo’s growth and profit by creating good brand image in the mind of the customers and also in the global market. References Austin, E. 2000. The Collaborative Challenge: How Nonprofits and Businesses Succeed Through Strategic Alliances. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Boone, L. and Kurtz, D. 2011. Contemporary Marketing. London: Cengage Learning. Brown, H. and Ruhl, D. 2003. Breakthrough Management for Not-for-profit Organizations. America: Greenwood Publishing Group. Cheng, H., Kotler, P. and Lee, N. 2011. Social Marketing for Public Health: Global Trends and Success Stories. London: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Colbert, F. 2009. Beyond Branding : Contemporary Marketing Challenges for Arts Organizations. [pdf]. Available at: http://www.deakin.edu.au/buslaw/management-marketing/fairfax-fellows/docs/colbert-2009.pdf. [Accessed on: 15 march 2014]. Fischer, S. 2012. CAUSE-RELATED MARKETING AS A TOOL FOR BRAND IDENTITY STRENGTHENING. [Pdf]. Available at: < http://pure.au.dk/portal/files/45330420/BA_thesis_CRM.pdf>. [Accessed on: 15 march 2014]. Hunjra, A. and Niazi, G. 2011. Cause Related Marketing and Its Impact on Sale: In the Prospect of Pakistani Consumers. London: Lambert Academic Publishing. Lee, N., Schultz, L. and Kotler, P. 2011. Social Marketing to Protect the Environment. London: SAGE Publications. Lucas, C. 2006. Cause-related Marketing: A Look at Forming Functional Social Alliances Through the Coverage of Womens Magazines. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. McCarthy, J, Shelmon, N. and Mattie, J. 2012. Financial and Accounting Guide for Not-for-Profit Organizations. America: John Wiley & Sons. Parsons, E. and Maclaran, P. 2009. Contemporary Issues in Marketing and Consumer Behaviour. London: Routledge. Porter, M. and Mark, R. 2002. The competitive advantage of corporate philanthropy. Ney York: Harvard Business Review. Pringle, H. and Thompson, M. 2001. Brand spirit: how cause related marketing builds brands. America: Wiley. Tadajewski, M. and Brownlie, D . 2009. Critical Marketing: Issues in Contemporary Marketing. America: Wiley. Walraven, G. 1995. Business Thinking in Not-for-profit Organizations. Walraven: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Read More