The Subject is Relational Strategy - Essay Example

The is Relational Strategy Contents Introduction 3 Discussion 4 Task 4 Task 2 7 Conclusion 11 References 13 Introduction The rise of internet coupled with the rise of globalization has meant that there are new challenges and opportunities that are emerging for the marketers in order to market their brands and products. In the earlier days of the internet it was seen as a tool that the marketers used in order to communicate with the consumers and engage in two way communication with the consumers. The consumers were rather overwhelmed by the marketers attempt to engage them in relationship marketing strategies. The marketers have also come to appreciate the fact that the consumers across the world use the internet to communicate with each other. The internet and the cyberspace has become a new type of virtual terrain which the people participate in virtual communities. It is found that there are about 40 million people across the world who engages in some form of virtual community. These new ideas and facts are forcing the managers to think of new ways to design their websites and new ways of communicating with the consumers. It is found that the traditional websites are no longer encouraging the customers to return to their website. So what the marketers are doing is to build communities on their website so that they can communicate and engage in building relationships with the consumers. It is found that interactions amongst brand members can influence the choice of brand by a particular consumer and have an impact on brand loyalty. In the following pages the idea of creating a brand community as a step towards relationship marketing is discussed. This discussion is followed by the process of creating a brand community for the company Siren and the elements to be incorporated in the new brand community in order to increase and deepen the consumer relationships with the brand. Discussion Task 1 As per dictionary definition brand community are a group of people who interact with each other based on their love for a brand. After the development of the internet the marketers used to engage in two way communications with the consumers. It was soon evident that the customers were overwhelmed by these relationship strategies that were adopted by the brand. The managers have also found that the consumers interact with each other on virtual communities. In fact it is found that more than 40 million consumers worldwide interact with each other in some form of virtual community or other. In order to engage with the consumers and build a better relationship with the consumers the managers are trying to engage the consumers through brand communities (Vargo and Lusch, 2004). The brand communities are designed as a place where the consumers who love a particular brand come to communicate with each other, share their experiences about the brand and become loyal consumers of the particular brand (Algesheimer, Dholakia and Herrmann, 2005). Since brand communities helps to build a set or breed of loyal customers the marketers and the consumers are focussing to rebuild their websites engage in stronger marketing communication with the consumers and letting the consumers interact amongst each other. In other words the company is trying to build relationships with the consumers’ through the brand community. In order to en-cash upon this phenomenon no. of online communities has been created recently. These platforms allow the consumers share their common interests, goals and the brands that they prefer (Sicilia and Palazón, 2008). The influencing power that these brand communities have on the decision making process of the consumers and the relationship building approaches that these communities help in has made them very popular among the company and the marketers. The community is defined as a core element of the social thought. There are three elements that are fundamental to a brand community. The first and the most important aspect of a community is that the members of the community feel that they are intrinsically connected to other members of the community and differ from other people who are not part of the community. This factor is defined as social identity (Bagozzi and Dholakia, 2006). There are three related parts to this social identity phenomenon. The three parts are interrelated to each other. The three parts are cognitive identification with the members of the group, affective commitment towards the group and a sense of cognitive self esteem amongst the members of the group (Muniz and O’Guinn, 2001). The 2nd factor that is an indicator of community is that the members of the community engage in shared rituals and traditions. These shared rituals and traditions are referred to as group norms (Dholakia, Bagozzi and Pearo, 2004). There is still another factor that refers to a community. That third factor that refers to the community members and is found in almost every community is the presence of a sense of duty to the community by the community members. The brand community has been defined as a group of people who possess a common interest to a specific brand and they create a social universe that is parallel to the existing one and is characterised by myths, values, rituals, vocabulary and hierarchy (Cova and Pace, 2006). According to several researchers in this field the relationship of the consumers and company is a triadic relationship. The three vertices of the relationship are customer-brand-customer. The customers do not only exhibit relationship with the brand or the company but a stronger relationship actually exists between the customers with another fellow customer (McWilliam, 2000). It is the relationship that the different consumers have with each other is what makes the brand community successful (Szmigin, Canning, and Reppel, 2005). Members of the brand community feel a strong connection with the brand but it is a fact that they feel a stronger connection with other members of the community. The relationship is shown in the following figure (McAlexander et al., 2002) Figure 1Relation between consumer and brand In analyzing how the company or a brand and the consumers or the customers of that brand relate to in a market place several researches have been conducted (Leimeister, Sidiras and Krcmar, 2004). Regarding virtual communities that are related to consumption it is generally found that people share their experience about the brand. This type of virtual community is exemplified in “my nutella the community”. In case of “my nutella the community” the consumers come to the online community that is promoted by the Italian firm Ferrero the consumers come to the online place and share enthusiastically their experiences about the brand. In case of such interactions it is shown that a new form of sociality and customer empowerment exists. The interaction is not that which happens in between peers. The interactions are more on the level of personal self exhibitions that the consumers display in front of others through the rituals and the ranks that the customers link to the brand. However in case of the coca cola and the community that the company manages it is found that the consumers do not talk in the community about their engagement or rather experience that they have about the product. The members of the brand community are rather friends who share with each other opinions and leisure activities in a virtual space. The virtual space in this context is being supported by Coca-Cola. The researchers state that the existence and meaningfulness of a community lies in how the consumers experiences and feels about the community rather than the fact that the experience actually revolves around the brand. In case of the virtual community of the Coca-Cola Company it is found that the social context and the relationship between the members of the consumers are more important than the relationship between the brand and the consumers. The brand communities are generally classified into two large groups based on who is the sponsor of the community (Shang, Chen and Liao, 2006). Is it the customer who is the sponsor or is the marketer? There are four types consumer as mentioned in the above figure. Task 2 The brand and the company that is siren are engaged in selling woman’s fashion clothing and fashion accessories to the women. The aged group of the target customer is from 16-25. The company engages in selling fashion clothing and fashion accessories to these women. In order to engage with the consumers in relation building strategies the company is hoping to create a community suite for the consumers where the consumers can interact with each other and also share their brand experience that they have with the product. There will be several features in the website which is likely to make the stay of the consumers on the site an enjoyable experience. Before joining the site, the consumers need to create a profile on the website. In the profile page that they will create it is implied that they will be providing every possible detail. The details will include their description of their personalities, their age, race, colour, their hobbies and preferences etc. Through the data that the consumers enter while creating a profile on the site the company will be able to get access to the largest possible and authentic set of potential customers (Brodie, Ilic, Juric and Hollebeek, 2013). It is thought of that the main site will contain the logo of the company. On a side a link will guide the consumers to a page where there is a brief story about the company. There will be provision on this for the consumers to comment on their experience with the store. They can upload the picture of the site. Any memories they have about the store or any video that they might have about the company. In essence this page will encourage the visitors to stay about how they relate to the brand and what the brand actually means for them (Nolan, Brizland and Macaulay, 2007). The top fashion trends will be shown in the main webpage or the home page for the consumers to know and have a feel of the current trends in the market. The consumers will be able to comment on what they feel about a particular fashion trend. The consumers will also be able to post pictures on the site about a new fashion trend that they have recently seen in the market. The consumers will be able to post their like or comment on a fashion trend follow another fellow guest etc on the website. The consumers if they want can share a particular fashion idea on the face book page or tweet about the same on the twitter page (Gummerus, Liljander, Weman and Pihlström, 2012). The sharing of this content on the social networking site will ensure that more consumers come to know of the brand and engage with the consumers. Based on the online activity of the consumers on the site the consumer will be given reward points. The reward points will vary according to the activity that the consumer is engaged in. After reaching a certain level of reward points the consumers will be able to redeem them to collect a memorabilia. The system of the reward points and the memorabilia will encourage the consumers to return to the site again and again and build a loyal relationship to the site (Füller, Matzler & Hoppe, 2008). There will be forum that will be linked to the main website. On the forum there will be several questions that the consumers will be able to answer or post new questions to the forum to be answered by others. The forum will contain general questions about what fashion means for the consumers. The consumers by the process of answering these questions will provide new ideas to the company to engage in new product development or sell a new line of fashion. The website in future will host a section which will have virtual games relating to the world of fashion. The games can be based on virtual reality application where the consumers can try on different apparels to judge which one looks best on them. They can try different shades on nail polishes on their nails virtually to judge which one is the best shade. They can post their looks after these virtual try on their facebook page or tweet the same so that they can be seen by others. Each of these activities will earn reward points for the consumers and will encourage the consumers in doing the same. Conclusion After going through the discussion in the above pages it is seen that the community branding is being used by the consumers in order to engage in relationship marketing with the consumers of the company. The brand community is the best way to build social relationship with the consumers of the company. It is seen that in the brand communities the consumers engage in are in the form of triadic relationship with the consumers forming the two vertices and the brand or the company forming of the vertex of the triad. The relationship within the consumer groups is often found to be stronger as compared to the relationship between the brand and the consumer. It is also found that the members of a community identify themselves with each other and associate themselves with each other. They become almost like very close friends and differentiate themselves from the people of other brands. The way how they relate with the brand however differs from one consumer to another. Following this view the brand community for siren is developed so that the company forms a greater relationship with the consumers. Many interactive games and reward points are devised to attract the consumers or the potential consumers on the website of the company. References Algesheimer, R., Dholakia, U. M., and Herrmann, A., 2005. The social influence of brand community: Evidence from European car clubs. Journal of marketing. 69(3). pp. 19-34. Bagozzi, R.P. and Dholakia, U.M., 2006. Antecedents and purchase consequences of customer participation in small group brand communities. International Journal of Research in Marketing. 23(1). pp. 45-61. Brodie, R. J., Ilic, A., Juric, B., and Hollebeek, L., 2013. 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