Promotions and Other Marketing Approaches - Assignment Example

Introduction Marketing can be defined as an organizational function and a set of processes for communicating, creating, implementing and delivering value to customers and for managing customer-business relationships in a way that will benefit both the organization, customers and the stakeholders involved. Such processes succeed in moving people closer to making a decision to purchase and facilitate a sale. In the long run, these processes will anticipate, identify and try to satisfy customer requirements successfully and profitably. This paper will hence handle three assignments in one; first, it will critically look at market segmentation and how it will actually promote sales for a company. The second part of the paper will look at the significance of customer behaviour with regard to better sales achievement. This will however be a presentation. The third part will be a report on the promotional methods and the importance of good marketing strategies that can be adopted by a company like Natural Goodness plc. The report will advice the company on the way forward for achieving better sales through promotions and other marketing approaches. Market segmentation A market segment is an organization or subgroup of people who have same characteristics and would in one way or another share same market needs and requirements. Market segmentation is important when carrying out marketing in this sector. This is because it leads to improved image of the organization or product. When marketing is done efficiently it leads to increased sales and more profits are reaped by the organization. It gives the business competitive advantage over the other businesses. When marketing is well carried out it means customers will be more satisfied with the services offered since their changing needs will be met1. Marketing helps to change the attitudes to products and services being offered. Before starting up a business in this sector, preliminary research is always very important. This helps in knowing the size of the industry one wishes to join. Knowledge in the trends of growth is also important. There are issues that need to be considered like the target audience. The location will help in determining how the goods will be distributed. It is good to know the competitors in the market and how they carry out their businesses and the marketing of the house wares. The main requirements for a market segment would be; it must be accessible, identifiable, have unique needs, substantial and durable. Geographic segmentation The geographic type of segmentation comprises of geographic variables that include; the region with which the business would be placed, the size of the metropolitan area i.e. the population of the people. A health food market for example would be successful in an area where the population density is so high. Another factor is also the population density which could either be urban, rural or both and its growth rate. Certain conditions such as the climatic conditions also fall under geographic segmentation because if the weather is so unfavourable, then most customers would not be comfortable. Demographic segmentation The variables that would be considered here are enormous and need to be studied critically. The age, nationality, religion, family life cycle, ethnicity, occupation, social class, family size, incomes, gender and generation are factors that are placed under consideration here. It is obvious that you cannot set up a health food market that sells red meat in place where the population of Muslims is high. When such considerations are taken into considerations, somebody like Livlong can actually meet the right customers with the right products or services Psychographic segmentation In this kind of segmentation, customers are grouped according to their values, activities, opinions, attitudes, and interests. It also includes some segmentation based on behaviour of customers. The customers could be having some particular attitudes towards products from a particular area, brand loyalty, readiness to buy, usage rate etc. One of the main rationales of segmenting a market is to allow your sales agenda or marketing stratagem to centre on a specific division of scenarios that can purchase the products. When market segmentation is done properly, it is likely that the highest returns on marketing expenditures will be achieved. What determines the success of market segmentation strategy is whether it is focused on an individual customer or business that defines the definite accomplishment.2 Market segmentation helps to identify what the needs is and who are the most likely people to experience that need. The needs in terms of achievements that are designed to functionally come with a particular segmentation approach are; reduction in expenses, improvement in market share, enhanced cash flow, superior employee working conditions, better service delivery, involvement in social trends, enhanced product quality, need for training and development, better market access and research. The segmentation criterion that could be adopted by entrepreneurs such as Livlong follows a systematic pattern that starts with an analysis of the target market. The first is for the business segment; the size of the business, business climate, status in the industry, future potential, access, need for customization ad ability to make a quick purchase decision. Using an example of a health food market i.e. for snacks, the market segment here would be the analysis of the following; the age of the people who will be the potential customers for the snack bar, the geographic location that establishes the number of people the business can attract, time factors i.e. the time people are likely to come out and take food in the snack bar which may be lunch time, dinner or in the morning. You can establish a market location where customers are partying at night and mostly at the weekend and offer night food services this will automatically increase your chances of getting things done quicker. There are also other factors that market segmentation helps to clarify first before the real business adoption is established. To start with, the aspect of competition is rife everywhere and Livlong should be able to come to terms with it. Market segmentation would help any entrepreneur like Livlong to identify an area where competition is less and somehow try to settle there in a bid to capitalize on the untapped market potential. Some sections are also better off than because there is tendency of high brand awareness and certain prospects bias that may drive the customers towards the products or services3. Taking our example of a health food market, a business person can look for a situation where there are very many occasions where customers can actually be obtained easily. That particular market segment can also know the brands that are sold in the snack bar. This will improve the revenue and income that will be achieved at this end. Finally, market segmentation can said that it allows a company to satisfy the needs for its potential customers in way that the company understands the requirements for the market. Since customer needs differ from one to another, it is rarely possible to satisfy them completely without the application of market segmentation techniques. If a health food market let’s say a snack shop does not satisfy the needs of the young children with sweet takeaway products, another entrepreneur would come up with a similar business that would specifically meet that unmet need. 2. Seminar presentation: Understanding customer behaviour and how it can increase our sales It is usually very important that customer behaviour is extensively understood by all businesses in order to maximize on the potential of meeting their demands. Personally, I believe that there is a lot to gain by critically understanding and analyze what types of customers the business is dealing with. To start with, let me note that different customers have different needs which should be addressed differently. Secondly, in order to capture the attention of the customer, one needs to actually sing to the tune of the customer by knowing their behaviour and actually using that as a base to market the product4. The moment a company reaches the point of buy-in and tactical planning, it moves to the next phase which involves assessment of customer requirement, customer satisfaction and loyalty. In many cases this involves an era of “customer immersion,” here, a company immerses itself in its customer by employing qualitative research through, interviews, subsequent surveys, focus groups observations and site visits, to be able to understand its customers’ requirements, their problems, and how various products and services help to solve the problems of the customers or provide specific benefits. One aim of this customer immersion is to create a better understanding of the customer view point about the products and services of the company in relation to the market, instead of using the viewpoint of the company. The customer viewpoint is adopted by the company and used to evaluate customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, relationship and brand strength. In an ideal situation, customer measurement structures should connect customer metrics to a company’s controllable variables which includes product and service aspects, and consequently, company internal plans, processes and parts. The company then should approximate the bottom- line effect of improving quality. Customer behaviour observation is vital for the success of a company, with ever increasing competition on the market those company that focus on customer orientation and customer satisfaction have chances of maintaining and even improving their customer base. Enhancing customer orientation is a process that calls for various approaches. The idea of customer behaviour presents an overview of how companies can evaluate, monitor and utilize the customer information. It is also vital to understand the implications of the strategy of the customer information and their priorities that surface form the procedure. A company should know the best approach to improve to get the highest organizational leverage. There is also the other thing on behaviour and attitude of customers towards specific products. The public and government attitude towards American products is ‘mixed’ at the moment. The government specifically is giving more and more support to the Some studies done mainly by the media including the New York Times have suggested that American brands in countries like China are not measuring up compared to Chinese and European brands making them difficult to sell. The main reason for this fact is that customer behavioural issues are becoming more complex between the two countries especially at the government level5. At the consumer level however, things branded American are becoming more appreciated recently as the Chinese population becomes more cosmopolitan than in the past. Those brands branded ‘American’ are in some provinces getting recognition as they are believed to have better after-sale services and are of good quality. There are however other issues that might in future alter this consumer attitude; issues of American international policies especially after invading countries like Iraq is eroding that confidence and a lot of strategy must be put in place to counter any such change in culture. Companies can clearly balance the goals of the customer (in relation to customer loyalty, satisfaction, profitability and sales) compared to other company performance targets if it knows the customer’s behaviour keenly. For example, a company’s balanced performance evaluations. A significant consideration at this juncture is an overall altitude of organizational commitment to customer objectives, without taking this commitment customer information systems will have a very limited impact6. Likewise, a company needs to make strategic market plans, which includes, how the company should divide the market and which segments of the market the company should focus on basing on the company capabilities and or company competencies. It is these market divisions/segments that ensuing information structure are built on. Lastly, there is a clear consideration of how the information about the customer will be ultimately used to improve the product together with process change. For instance, a company can use customer information to make simple quality improvement or use it as a foundation for major product innovation. Let me conclude this presentation by pointing out three issues here; first, there is need to utilize customer research methods to identify the unique behaviour that customers exhibit in order to direct all sales efforts towards that line. Secondly, any company needs to understand that there is more with what the customer would want than with the organizational goals. Most companies stick to their goals instead of actually spending time critically analyzing the customer’s needs in order to actively go along that line. Lastly, customer’s behaviour is very important when doing the promotions and sales objectivity. Certain promotions and advertisements tend to work better when the company approaches it with the behaviour of the customer in mind. This will therefore improve the revenues that a particular company would achieve in the long run. 3. Marketing for Natural Goodness plc Natural goodness plc would probably need to adopt better marketing strategies and approaches in order to effectively tackle the threats and weaknesses it so far. First of all, there is call for to build a strong leadership foundation bearing in mind that Livlong would retire in the next fifteen years. In addition to that there are certain promotional strategies that Natural Goodness plc can adopt to effectively handle the two competitors-National health food plc and Longevity plc. Since there is adequate data that prove that customers for a health food snack are really going for taste, value for money, quality and food ingredient, texture and better services, our promotional methods that would be used for marketing include7; Promotions This involves all communication strategies used in marketing of a company’s product with an effort of reaching new markets and at the same time retaining the existing market in a particular industry. Promotion includes all communications that a company uses in marketing its products. There are four different elements in promotion; this includes advertising, point of sale, word of mouth and public relations. If a company incorporates all the four elements then a certain level of crossover do occur. It has incorporated all the four aspects of promotion which as seen the company capture and retain a big share of the market8. However, Natural Goodness plc should also focus on personal selling techniques in order to provide substantial challenge to the competitors in the gaming industry. I will recommend that for the company to fully promote the health food products in market segments, it should enter in to contracts with celebrities for example David Beckham of England when marketing the product of the company. This is because, research indicates that, if a product is associated with a celebrity then it will perform well in the market since many of the customers particular his fans would like to be associated with the products being advertised. It should also identify the medium of communication that the customers of these products can be reached at in order to increase sales and in turn the profitability of the company in long-term strategy. Internet marketing The old day’s ways of marketing was not only time consuming but also costly especially to a wide range of clients. The current internet technology is the best as it is currently being employed by many consumers. The internet is a bi-directional communication tool which is ironically the least expensive way of advertising compared to other types of advertising such as radio, television, magazines and news papers9. Internet marketing offers great benefits for businesses in this century; increased effectiveness, wide range of audiences, reduced advertising, marketing, and transportation costs, improved exposure, increased popularity, among others. Internet marketing strategy will help Blockbuster Inc. to not only reach frequent clients but also those who may not be able to understand the company. Being a computer firm, this is the best strategy to use at this century. Advertisements Advertisement is an important aspect for a company. With cut-throat competition being observed in the markets, a company has to come up with catching themes to be able to maintain its market share. In today’s world consumers have become more informed and require more information on buying. Research in advertisement is very important and necessary; it enables a company to come up with appropriate adverts that are relevant to the market. It also makes the company to save on costs and at the same time help the company to achieve its objectives. Through, research a company is able to gauge how well or bad its advert is doing, from this the company can make changes. The “coke side of life” advert is a major success from the Coca-Cola Company; this success comes from extensive research undertaken by the company, good creativity of the advert theme and good planning. It is clear that advertisement research is important and will continue to plays a big role in success of advertisement today and in future. The best marketing strategies that will enable them to achieve the targeted market these strategies include10: Pricing-the company uses the pricing methods to enable its product reach its marketing standards. Whereby various pricing methods are applied such as Premium pricing this is where the uniqueness of the company product is defined. This pricing is normally high and is totally used where there is a substantial competition of the product in the market. For the company to be able to gain the market share, it therefore applies the penetration pricing whereby, once the company achieves the market share, it increases the price of its product. Also in situations where the company’s need to promote the product in the market, then it uses the promotional method of pricing in which a consumer is asked to buy a product and the purchase is accompanied by a free sample of the product11. The place or the channel of distribution, this is the activity that is used by the companies to move their product from the production to consumption. These companies are said to have come across various channels of distribution to enable their products reach the targeted market. This means that they either use the direct or the indirect channels, that is it may be to the consumers directly or through wholesalers. They normally consider the following, for them to decide on the type of the distribution channel to use; they ensure that the market segment that the distributor is familiar with in which therefore the distributor is made to be familiar the company’s target markets. They ensure that their company policies, strategies and image match with that of the distributor. There are various types of channels that the producers apply in the distribution of their products this include: wholesalers, these are said to be buying goods in bulk from the company and selling them in smaller packages for resale by the retailers, they also provide storage facilities for the products, wholesalers offer the companies a reduced physical contact cost between the producers and its consumers. They also use agents who are normally used in international markets; they are used to widen the international market for the goods. Retailers are also used who have a strong personal relationship with the consumers through whom the products are exposed to the buyers, they offer credits to customers thus promoting and merchandising the companies’ products. The internet is also used through which the companies have a geographically wider market and this has enabled their products to reach a wider audience. The other element used by the companies is promotion, this is the marketing communication that is used by get the products in the market, pushing the consumers to the point of purchasing the products, the following is practiced; Personal selling, this is a way of maintaining personal customer relations in which the sales person act on behalf of the companies, these sales people are trained and have the personal selling techniques. Advertising is largely used to create awareness of the products to the consumers so that the companies may gain responses from their target markets, under this there many advertising mediums including, print (newspapers, journals and posters.) and electronic(television, internet and radio) mediums of communication the companies choose to create awareness of the products to buyers. Public Relation is also applied in these companies, which has led to a sustained and a planned effort in establishing and bringing understanding between the companies and its consumers. Lastly, they use the exhibitions to make new contacts and renewing the old contacts, this is used to increase the awareness of the products to the consumers thus giving the companies an opportunity to meet both the trade and consumers. In conclusion, I can say that sales promotion is an essential component in a business. As one of the aspects in promotional mix, sales promotions are non-personal efforts which should be structured to impact instantaneously on sales. Furthermore, media could be used for a preset and limited period to raise consumer demand, arouse market demand or enhance product accessibility. The sales people of this company are the strongest link between the company and the customers, as they offer expert advice and support to the customer. The sales team exchange information with the customers about sales, business development, product launches and promotions. This important dialogue between the customer and the sale team allows the company to assess and make improvement on company performance and its effectiveness. Sales offices are located in various locations to ensure that various targeted retail marketing promotions reach local and regional levels. The company makes a significant investment in marketing strategy to support the sales network team. The company assembles an extremely talented and highly dedicated professional tem to advance the development of the company’s brands. Reference Baker, M. (2000): Marketing Management and Strategy, 3rd edn: London. Macmillan Business Blythe, J. (2001): Essentials of Marketing, 2nd edn: New York, Prentice Hall Brassington, F. and Pettitt, S. (2000): Principles of Marketing, 2nd Edn: New York, Prentice Hall, Harlow Hoyer, W.D. and MacInnis, D.J. (2001): Consumer Behaviour, 2nd Edn: New York, Houghton Mifflin Company Graydon, S. (2003): Made You Look - How Advertising Works and Why You Should Know, Toronto: Annick Press Guiltinan (1996): Marketing Management: Strategies and Programs; McGraw Hill/Irwin, Kotler, P.; Armstrong, G.; Saunders, J. and Wong, V. (1999): Principles of Marketing, 2nd Edn: New Jersey, Prentice Hall Read More