Alternative Marketing Campaign for VIP Electronic Cigarette - Assignment Example

Part Analysis of an Alternative Marketing Campaign: Before coming up with an alternative marketing campaign for VIP Electronic Cigarette, there is a need of carrying out an analysis of the industry and the company. This analysis should cover three very important areas, namely market analysis, competitor analysis, and analyzing the kind of media to use. One of the factors affecting the Tobacco industry in the United Kingdom is based on the fact that companies selling Tobacco are heavily taxed, because of the need of reducing its consumption (Andersen & Gray, 2008). This is because of the negative perception that Tobacco is a health hazard, and it has the capability of causing chronic diseases such as cancer, kidney failures, etc. As noted earlier, negative perception is one of the factors that negatively affected the marketing campaign of VIP Electronic Cigarette. Therefore, the best strategy to adopt is the use of the concepts of the social responsibility program. Corporate Social Responsibility refers to a situation whereby the organization would engage in charitable work, aimed at satisfying the various needs of the organization. This is with the intention of improving the brand image of the company under consideration (Kurtz, 2012). Under corporate social responsibility, the company should initiate programs aimed at conserving the environment, and this includes planting of trees, issuance of scholarships, sponsoring surgeries for the needy, and people who are unable to meet medical and health care costs. Furthermore, while undertaking these activities, the company should use documentaries through the television and online streaming sites such as You Tube, and Face Book (Matusiková, 2010). This would help in improving the brand image of the company, reducing any negative perceptions that people may have towards its operations and activities. People will therefore become receptive for any marketing campaign that the organization may engage in (Wimmer and Dominick, 2011). The use of documentaries and online streaming sites such as Face Book and You Tube has an impact of solving another weakness of the organization (Hansen & Christensen, 2004). This weakness is that of irritation. Irritation occurs when the company places advertisements during favorite programs or in movies affecting the flow of the movie under consideration. This had an impact of causing irritation, hence a negative attitude towards the products of the company. The use of documentaries and online streaming sites has an impact of reducing negative attitudes towards the products, because of irritation (Sharma & Singh, 2009). This is because the documentaries that are used to talk about the company cannot interrupt any program or movies. This is because they have their own air time where they can advertise their products (DAmico, 1969). Furthermore, the use of online streaming sites such as You Tube, is a popular initiative. This is because we are living in an era of social media marketing, whereby most companies are advertising their products through this channel (Trehan &Trehan, 2014). Furthermore, the use of You Tube and Face Book will help the organization to reach the right target audience. This is mainly because the people who are using tobacco are young people, and it is them who frequently use the social media for purposes of socializing with their peers (Woodside, 2010). Targeting of the correct audience is an important factor that would determine the success or failure of a marketing strategy. This is because if a marketing campaign of an organization targets the wrong audience, chances are high that it won’t maximize on its sales, hence failing in its objectives (Hawknis, Mothersbaugh, & Mookerjee, 2011). Therefore, choosing the right channel would enable to company to target a correct audience. The social media is only one channel that can be used for advertisements. The other method is through the use of radios. Young people, who are the major target of VIP Electronic Cigarette, are always fond of radios and the programs contained in them. The company can buy some air play in these radio stations, for purposes of advertising it products. However, this is an expensive venture; hence there must be some limited use of this type of medium (Mooij, 2010). It is necessary to explain that one of the problems of VIP Electronic Cigarette in its marketing campaigns was on the use of expensive channels of advertisements. These included the use of films, which is very expensive. The use of the social media, such as face book, twitter, badoo, instagram, Google Ad Sense can help in solving reducing the high costs incurred by the organization while advertising its products (Tuten, 2008). This is because these tools of advertisement are cheap to use, and they have the capability of reaching a large number of people. For example, Google Adsense allows marketers to use online links that makes prospective customers to clink on the links, taking them to web pages that contain information regarding the products of the company. This is cheaper when compared to other forms of advertisements such as televisions, radios, and use of films in advertising the product. Expected Outcomes and Reasons: Through the use of the above techniques, chances are high that the organization would manage to increase its market share. Social responsibility programs are new methods that companies are currently engaged in. This is because there is a shift in the identification of the stakeholders of an organization (Mehra, 2009). In the current century, a stakeholder is anybody who is involved directly or indirectly in the affairs of a business organization. Therefore, developing a marketing strategy that surrounds the principles of social responsibility is an efficient and effective method of building a positive brand image that has the capability of increasing the sales of the organization (Roy, 2009). Internationally and well recognized brands such as Samsung, Microsoft, Apples Inc have been using this concept of corporate social responsibility, and they have been successful in increasing the sales of their products (Paul & Kapoor, 2008). For example, a company such as Microsoft, is constantly involved in issues regarding the conservation of the environment, and it encourages its employees to engage in volunteer programs, whose major intentions is to help the surrounding communities in solving their problems (OGuinn, Allen & Semenik, 2012). The main aim of these activities by Microsoft is to create a positive brand image. These companies have realized that the attitude and perception of a customer, regarding their services plays an important role in determining whether the customers would engage with the organization or not (Baines & Fill, 2014). Companies that have very negative brand image would find it difficult to make sales, even if they are engaged in an aggressive advertisement campaign. The best method is to get involved in public relations exercises, before engaging in an advertisement or marketing campaign (Ramaprasad, 2001). Corporate Social Responsibility programs are an example of a public relations and marketing campaign that VIP Electronic Cigarette can use, for purposes of increasing its market share, and the number of sales that the organization makes. Therefore, by engaging in corporate social programs, the company would manage to create a brand image, and remove the negative perceptions that people have towards organizations or companies that are involved in the sale of tobacco products (Spielberger, 2004). The use of documentaries is also an important method of advertisement (Dahl, 2013). This method may not be expensive, if the company is using new channels and methods of communication. This includes the use of the social media and online streaming sites such as You Tube. Furthermore, by using You Tube, chances are high that the documentary produced would reach a large audience of people (Pride & Ferrell, 2010). This is the intention of any marketing strategy. This is because the higher the number of people accessing the information, the higher the chances of the organization increasing the sales of its products (Irwin & Wynne, 2003). The social media as a channel of advertising the products of the organization is also an important tool that is cheap to use, and has the capability of reaching a wide audience of people. Because of advances in information technology, new tools of social marketing have been developed. For instance, the use of face book, and Google Ad sense is an efficient and effective tool of marketing (Kirkpatrick, 2007). These methods are cheap to use, and hence they have the capability of reducing the overall administrative costs of the organization. This is beneficial to an organization mainly because a lower cost of production would mean that it is able to maximize on its profitability, which is one of the major intentions of a business or commercial organizations (Mehta & Purvis, 2006). Furthermore, social media sites such as Face book, twitter and Google have a large number of users; hence the company would most likely reach its target market. This would lead to the success of the marketing strategy of the organization, because it would reach its target audience. It is important to explain that most users of tobacco products are young people, hence using a channel that they frequently use would lead to the success of the marketing strategy under consideration (Strydom, 2004). Therefore, there is a need of using an advertising strategy that is appealing to the target audience or market of the organization. Reference list Andersen, R., & Gray, J. (2008). Battleground: The media. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. Pp 171. Baines, P., & Fill, C. (2014). Marketing. Dahl, G. (2013). Advertising for dummies. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons. DAmico, V. L. (1969). Marketing research. Toronto: Gregg Division, McGraw-Hill Co. of Canada. Hansen, F., & Christensen, L. B. (2004). Branding and advertising. Denmark: Copenhagen BusinessSchool Press. Hawknis, D. I., Mothersbaugh, D. L., & Mookerjee, A. (2011). 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