The Role Marketing Strategies Performs for 21st Century Business - Coursework Example

Industry skills and structure The role marketing strategies performs for 21st century business Marketing communications strategies refer to the messages that are transferred within the organization and are meant to convey some information to the customer for the purposes of winning their confidence so that they can buy from the business or create a trust in them (Belch, et. al., 2008). The focus of marketing communications is to improve on the quality of the product rather than focus on the communication as compared to the corporate communicates where the focus is mainly the improvement of the image of the company. Marketing communication therefore involves the generation of demand, positioning of the product while corporate communications deals with issues like mergers and acquisitions, management of the company and litigation. In the 21st century, business communications has been developed further into an integrated form where it is referred to as integrated marketing communications. This refers to the holistic process of marketing communication where there is a consistency of messages and complementary of the media that is being used (Belch, et. al., 2008). With the introduction of technology and improvement of other forms of communication in the business, the 21st century has seen the marketing communication industry create whole different functions as compared to the past. One such role that marketing communication has created is a specialized niche or media that the business is identified with. This implies that the old form of doing business which involved the use of use of mass media has been done away with. With this specialized media, specific target audiences are today being addressed and consequently the products which are being promoted gain a lot of confidence with them because they tend to get all the features that the product carries with them. Through the identification of this niche, the company has also been able to have an acquaintance with the customers implying that they can exchange their views and through the process the company can note the cages that need to be done so that the product can suit the customer, a process which will improve the quality of the product. A part from creation of a niche, the new marketing communication strategies has transformed the entire media advertising into multiple forms of communication. This implies that the company today can be able to use alternatives when advertising for its product. With such a trend the businesses of today are able to reach to so many parts and therefore boost the brand they produce (Moore, 2005). The 21st century has been a time when most companies are realizing the need for consumer centered approaches of marketing as opposed to retail centered approaches of the past. This implies that the marketing communication strategies that are being developed today are geared towards making the consumer enjoy the services that the company produces. With the increased bias on the customer, the market can be entirely based on the views that the consumer has. Designing of the product today is therefore based on the views that the consumers given and the nature of the market is also dependent on what they wish to be included so that their needs can be met (Belch, et. al., 2008). Everything is slowly shifting from the general focus advertising to data based marketing in the 21st century marketing communications. This implies that the information that is collected in the market today is more specific because the company uses several machineries that takes the data from the environment, feeds into a system and tabulates the results in form of graphs that will indicate the performance of the market in the environment. The introduction of the computer system and the internet for instance has allowed such a process to be very easy and fast. Through the internet, the company has been able to obtain the statistics of other companies that are operating within the same level and try to adopt their trends. Through this comparison, companies in the 21st century have been able to excel and produce quality goods that do not only satisfy the customer but also make the company obtain some confidence in what they are doing. Accountability is an issue that every company should adopt in the 21st century. With the introduction of machinery which can be used to track what is happening in the firm for over several years and also predict what will be happening in future, accountability issues have improved from the low agency accountability to greater agency accountability. The marketing communication strategies in place today therefore have played a great role because firms can be accountable as well as every department can work towards meeting the goals of the company because it’s being tracked down for accountability issues. With the increased use of the internet and computer skills, today it is possible to have all the departments of the company accountable for what is taking place in these departments (Shimp, 2008). This therefore implies that the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire departments has been increased and the overall productivity of the organization met. Together with making each department accountable the 21st century communication strategies has transformed the traditional compensation into performance based compensation. The new advertising techniques which involve the use of modern tools like the computer and internet has made it possible for the organization to increase its sales and at the same time develop a niche that every consumer can identity themselves with. The ability of the firm to market its products today for 24/7 through the internet has made it possible that the goods and services that they offer are available to everyone across the globe (Shimp, 2008). Brands and its important to business and the consumer A brand refers to a logo, a name or an identity that a company is identified with. Branding is a strategy that is used by many marketers so that they can achieve in the process of communication marketing. Branding refers to the strategy of differentiating of the products and companies and developing and economic value for both the brand owner and the consumer. Because a brand name occupies space in the minds of consumers, marketing communication strategies rely solely in creating a brand name for the products that it advertises in the market. This therefore implies that branding is a strategy that is like any other strategy that is geared towards making the company excel in the marketing of its products. There are so many uses of the brand name in the company; one is that it is a legal instrument that is used as a patent or copyright by the company to identify itself from other companies. Through this, the customer can be able to differentiate the company from the others and therefore some loyalty with it (Ahmad, 1999). A brand name is important to the business since it indicates its position in the market. This implies that through the brand name, the customer is able to place the product in a certain level when having in mind several other products which are produced within the same market. This also indicates that a brand is an identity of the company or organization. This implies that the customer uses the brand to get to know that the company its dealing with is the company that he is sure of and therefore develop some loyalty with it (Ahmad, 1999). Through a brand name, a company can be singed from the others by such factors as acting ethically in the society, producing quality goods and services, using differentiation strategies which are geared at making the consumers dominate in the market and taking advantage of technologies so that other companies cannot use its brand name to promote their products (Shimp, 2008). A brand is also an added value to the company. This implies that the company can be able to gain an upper hand if its brand is doing well in the market. Since a brand is a summation of different values in the organization like ethical issues, innovation, reliability and invaluableness, the brand of a company is an important aspect which can boost the company in terms of its sales and reaching the expected customers. A brand acts like a promise to the customer. This is because it informs them of the expectations about the product and services of the company and differentiates the offering of a certain company with that of its competitors. The brand in most cases is derived from who the company is, what the company wants to be and the perception that people have about it (Vaid, 2003). The 21st century marketing communication strategy implies coming up with good brand strategies so that the how, what, where and when to communicate and deliver to the customers can be done. The place of advertisement matters so much for the company. The distribution channels also play a role in the marketing communication because it promotes the brand that the company is attached to. An added intrinsic and brand equity often comes when a customer has developed a perceived notion of a product by basing on quality of the company’s products. A brand is therefore the most important aspect that a company will wish to use when creating and developing strategies that are geared towards making the company succeed at such a time when competition is very high and technology is growing everyday (Moore, 2005). Types of marketing communications and what roles they play There are several types of marketing communications that are in place today while the traditional strategies also play a big role in positioning of the products that a company produces. Marketing communications include personal selling, public relations/publicity, trade fairs and exhibitions, sales promotion, packaging, sponsorship, e-marketing, merchandising, branding, direct marketing and advertising. The roles that these types of marketing communications play are varied. Public relations/ publicity and branding for instance, play the role of making the company to have a unique label which will be used to recognize it. Through these methods, the product of the company has been develop and improved in such a manner that they can be valuable and creates more meaning to the clients. Through these methods the sales of the company has increased because of the attraction of many customers to the firm. Trade fairs and exhibitions and direct marketing also play a role for the company in that it creates a niche for the company that the customers can identify itself with. Through the niche, the product of the company is improved therefore creating more sales. Trade fairs and exhibitions are a means of developing the product and making it to be acceptable to many customers in that they the qualities of the product are explicitly given for all the customers. Through trade fairs and exhibitions give the customers a chance to express their views about the product and in case there is no agreement of a certain quality, they can give their views to the company so that improvements can be done. This implies therefore that the products that such companies would offer with be of high quality and meet the demands of the customers. Agencies and how they relate to marketing communication Coca Cola Company and Apple computers are examples of agencies which utilize the diverse marketing communication strategies so as to achieve their goal of making the companies excel in its product development. Coca cola for instance, uses its familiar white and red logos so as to distinguish it from the other brands in the world. Through this strategy, this agency has been able to with stand in the competitive market by producing unique and quality products. Apple on the other hand has very good marketing communication strategies which involve publicity and public relations. They also use marketing exhibitions as a means of a communication strategy which is geared towards producing the best products in the market. The Ipod, which is a unique product that is produced by this company, is thought to affect a particular group of people in the society namely the young people therefore affecting personality (Kotler, 2005). Jobs in these agencies and the types of skills are required to carry out these jobs Because of the various activities involved especially in the marketing of their products, Coca Cola Company and Apple computers offer a wide range of jobs. The first and most important job is the marketing executive position. For both companies, this position is very competitive and requires that the individual should possess very competitive skills as well. Such skills include ability to handle the marketing team which is distributed all over the world, ability to provide the best solution in case where the old strategies are not working, ability to utilize the new introduced technologies into the market so as to use in the marketing department and ability to work under a lot of stress and in a busy environment. The skills therefore that the marketing manager needs to have include a masters degree in a field which is directed related to marketing or in marketing itself, a five years experience in a busy environment which deals with marketing of products internationally, very good interpersonal skills, very good computer skills and ability to adjust to new environments easily (Moore, 2005). Another position that these two agencies would offer is the human resource development manager. This position involves recruiting, development and appraisal of the team which will work so as to make the company meet its goals. They are thus expected to be skilled enough in this field and to do so they need to have a master’s degree in human resource or a related field, should have an experience of five years in a busy international firm and should have knowledge of the environment where the agencies are located and also have very good computer skills. In addition to these, human resource managers are also expected to have very good interpersonal skills and be great decision makers (Kotler, 2005). What I learned describe in advertising and marketing communications events in the enterprise week Communications and marketing events are very important aspects in a business as is evident in the study during our enterprise week. These two phenomena are very essential for a business since they give a direction to which the product is going. Advertising for instance, is a very important tool for every business because through this the customers in the business are made aware about the availability of certain products while at the same time products that have been in existence in the business for a long time are made even more appealing to the customers. So as to excel in advertising the business need to consider using the best medium which can reach so many people ate the same time carrying a lot of information about the product. Marketing communications in essence is about advertising and promotion of the activities within the company. By equipping the business with very appropriate methods of marketing communication which is designed for the 21st century its possible that the company will be able o met the goal of reaching so many customers within a given period of time. My own ways of learning and communicating from induction week The induction week was so involving and a new beginning for me in terms of understanding more about marketing communications. With the little knowledge that I had about the advertising techniques and tools that a company uses as marketing communications, I expanded my knowledge in the topic and I learnt that with the new technologies in place and the need for the company to compete effectively, marketing communication strategies have to be designed in such a manner that it meets the current situation of the market as well as directed towards the customer. In essence businesses today are going global by expanding their businesses as well as making sure that they do not only focus on their own gain but also for the gain of the customers. With the knowledge that I have gained during the induction week, therefore I will be able to apply these in the market and thus become a very good entrepreneur. Bibliography: Ahmad, S (1999) Brands and branding, Koger Press Belch, G., Belch, M. and Kerr, G. (2008) Promotion and advertising: an integrated marketing communications perspective, McGraw-Hill Australia Clifton, R. and Simmons, J. (2004) The goals of marketing communications today, Harper and Row publications Clow, K. (2002) Integrated Advertising, Promotion And Marketing Communications, 3/e, Pearson Education Egan, J. (2007) Marketing communications, Cengage Learning EMEA Fill, C. (2005) Marketing communications: engagements, strategies and practice, FT Prentice Hall Foster, J. (2006) Effective writing skills for public relations, Edition 3, illustrated, Kogan Page Publishers Fifer, R., Kaiser M. and Kaiser, R. (2001) Developing industry strategies: a practical guide to industry analysis, Michael M. Kaiser Associates, Inc., Green, J. (2009) E-media: how to use electronic media for effective marketing communications, Admap Publications, 2000 Kotler, H. (2005) Principles of Marketing, Pearson Education Koekemoer, L and Bird, S. (2004) Marketing Communications, Juta and Company Limited, 2004 Moore, I. (2005) Does your marketing sell?: the secret of effective marketing communications, Nicholas Brealey Publishing Pelsmacker, P., Geuens, M. and Van den Bergh (2005) Foundations of marketing communications: a European perspective, Financial Times/Prentice Hall Randall, G. (2000) Marketing in action series, Kogan Page Publishers Shimp, T. (2008) Advertising Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, Cengage Learning Press Smith, P., Berry, C. and Pulford, A. (1999) Strategic marketing communications: new ways to build and integrate communications, Kogan Page Publishers Smith, P. and Taylor, J. (2004) Marketing communications: an integrated approach, Kogan Page Publishers Schultz, D., Tannenbaum, S. and Lauterborn, R. (2007) Integrated marketing communications, McGraw-Hill Professional Vaid, H. (2003) Branding: brand strategy, design, and implementation of corporate and product identity, Watson-Guptill Publishers ‘The Importance of Branding’ Retrieved on 26th November, 2009 from ‘Introduction to Marketing Communications’ Retrieved on 26th November, 2009 Read More