Regional-Based Motor Marketing Company - Essay Example

A regional-based motor marketing company targeting the working Project overview A commercial radio will produce a program that will be responsible for advertising the products of an automobile marketing company; provide the basic knowledge concerning the automobile products that the company manufactures; offer the details of winning a dealership contract for the parties that would wish to engage in the distribution of the automobile products; and provide a form of an introduction of the company behind the products to the potential customers. It is believed that in so doing, the target market will get the necessary information needed to make informed choices for purchasing the products. The program, targeting the working class people, will be hosted by the marketing department personnel of the automobile company with frequent appearances of the company's top management who are well versed with the necessary knowledge of the products hence are best placed to handle the program. The program will be aired for an hour's duration twice in a week commencing at 7.30pm to 8.30pm on Mondays and Fridays. The program will recognize and invite committed consumers to make their appearances during the airing of the program to publicly declare their experiences of using the products. The program is meant to be aired for a period of one year by which time the target group will be enlightened on the necessary information regarding the company and its products. Statement of the problem A large number of automobile customers blindly go for products that may appear attractive to their eyes. This was established as the greatest problem that the customers have with buying of the products since most of them later realize that some features of the vehicles they buy fail to conform to the expectations they had placed on the products. For the sake of informing the potential customers of all the necessary information of the company's product, the radio program will prove helpful. The potential customers will be assisted to make informed choices over the products that they wish to buy since they will be armed with all the necessary information about the product. Incorporation of the consumers into the program will act to boost the confidence of the potential customers and encourage them to buy these products. This is so because the invited customers will give their personal positive testimonies of their experiences with the automobile products thus give the impression that the products are desirable. (Sewall and Sarel 2006 p32) Proposal detail Goals and objectives The following are the goals that the program would wish to accomplish. The proposal will utilize the objectives indicated below the goals in order to accomplish these goals; 1. To create awareness of the automobile products to the actual and the potential market Objectives 1.1 To inform the customers about the availability of the company's products 1.2 To enlighten the customers on the features of the different products. 1.3 To inform customers of the regional distributors from whom they can buy the products 2. To increase the consumer base to enable greater sales Objectives 2.1 To advertise the existing products to the target market to attract more customers 2.2 To create new products for the customers to have a wider variety from where to choose 3. To win dealerships from the interested distributors 3.1 To present an attractive dealership package that can encourage the prospective salespeople to venture into selling of these products 3.2 To offer a comprehensive theoretical package indicating the requirements and expectations of the dealership 3.3 To train prospective dealers on good customer handling skills Clientele The program is directed to two groups of clients; the primary group is the working class of people who can afford to buy the automobile products and maintain them at the expected standards. This group will comprise of the newly employed white collar job workers who happen to fall in the age category of 23 years and 26 years old, and the potential customers who have remained employed for some time encompassed in the age bracket 27 - 49 (Sewall and Sarel 2006 p33) The secondary clients will be drawn from the student fraternity in the tertiary academic level. The tertiary level will include the universities, colleges and technical institutions offering various courses. These students have been known to support themselves through funds from some odd or holiday jobs they perform and can therefore manage to buy and maintain automobiles. This group will fall in the age bracket of 18 to 22 years. The format of the program In order to achieve the outlined goals, the program will utilize the following components: a recorded interview that will engage the marketing department personnel and the invited guest into discussing specific topics for each session aired. The interviewees will have been given the interview questions long before they appear for the interview to familiarise themselves with the questions and decide on the best way to answer the questions. The questions will be structured in such a way that the topic discussed will be dealt with in-depth to provide as much coverage of the topics as possible (Matelski 2003p17). The interviews will then be followed by a specified period of call in sessions where the target group will call in and pose questions for the interviewees. The questions will be recorded so that the issues they raise are addressed in the best way possible in the following session. The target group will also be given a number in which to send their queries for the interviewees. Advertisements for the automobiles produced by the company would periodically be made during breaks in the call session as well as during the interview. The advertisements running for three to five minutes will be used to attract the potential customers to take up the use of the products made by the company and to encourage the current consumers to continue using the products (Goodman 1999p16). The program will also incorporate a session where important company notices will be made known to the target group. Such kinds of notices will cover current as well as important/ significant events that the company recognizes on their calendars. This will be made through a series of short radio documentaries covering as much of the contents of the notices as possible. To cap the program, a short quiz based on the topic of the given day will be directed to the target group where the first individuals to answer the questions correctly will be awarded with complimentary subscriptions as a way of boosting their morale to buy more of the products made by the company. At the same time, the presents will encourage the target group members to give audience to the contents of the program which will have the effect of enlightening the group on the various products of the company. To cut on costs in cases where the prices offered impact on the budget of the company, the frequency of offering of prices will be reviewed to allow this provision (Ojebode 2003pp30-32). Selection of interviewees The interviewees for the program will have to be people with great knowledge and experience in the products of the automobile marketing company. In this case then, the personnel in the marketing department of the company will be given the priority to appear for most of the programs aired. (Matelski 2003pp18-19) The other group of people to be considered for the interviews will include the high profile employees of the company who are adored with a great understanding and are experienced in the use of the company products. They will qualify as interview candidates since they can handle a vast area of the company's functions. Consumers who have previously or are currently using the company's products would be the other group of interviewees. This is so because this group has a great experience from the use of the company's products meaning that they can manage to make comments based on the experience they have had with these products (Prato 2002p56) Timeline The timeline set aside for the airing of this program is one year. The one year timeline will be divided into two one hour air time sessions per week namely on Mondays and Fridays. These days were selected because they are the most suited for the audience of the target group. The time allocated for both sessions is between 7.30pm and 8.30pm which is when the target group is available to listen to and participate in the program. Communication of results Effects on program information Considering that the allotted time for airing the program will be favourable for the target group, then the information communicated during the airing will be received by a large number of the intended audience. This will mean that the goals set for the proposal will be reached owing to correct timing. The questions posed by the target group during the call in session and messaging will guide the producers of the program to prepare an appropriate session for the subsequent sessions. This in effect will ensure that the concerns of the potential and actual consumers are catered for. Use of interviewees with great knowledge of and experience with the products of the company would ensure that the message sent to the prospective as well as actual customers has a great degree of accuracy in the event that any forms of bias are not introduced. On the other hand, as the program won't be a live show, the urgent matters that the customers might have won't be addressed with the urgency they deserve as they have to wait for the subsequent sessions to have their concerns taken care of. This would mean that service delivery would experience some lapse or disconnect depending on the speed with which the customers' concerns are taken care of. Presentation style Using the radio magazine style to enlighten the public on the products available from the automobile company would go a long way into restricting the information that can be obtained from the program. This is because the magazine style is restrictive to information in the sense that it involves a recording of the information to be aired as opposed to a live show. This therefore inhibits the interaction necessary for a greater understanding of the information being related. Music selection The target group of the company comprises of the working class as well as students in the tertiary level of academic studies. This group has already outdone most of their adolescent tendencies of love for popular music hence what would most likely work for them would be a combination of classical as well as popular music that most would identify with. This would also go a long way into catering for the regional differences from which the target group is drawn from considering that the differences in music preferences within geographical settings may upset the audience that doesn't favour music associated with a particular area (Dikshit 2000) Challenges expected The following is a summary of the challenges that might be faced in the course of running the program: 1. Delayed response to the concerns of the target group 2. There is a great possibility of communication break down considering that the target group will be drawn from diverse sections of the geographical areas covered by the program (Dikshit 2000) 3. Failure of interacting with prospective clients on a one on one basis may mean that the priorities of the consumers which may be different from those of the automobile company are overlooked as the clients are not given the chance to express themselves directly to the company's representatives Conclusion The program will be a good way through which the automobile company will use to influence the size of their customer base positively. When all the prevailing factors of identification of the target group, approximating the most appropriate time for airing the program and the geographical areas where the customers are drawn from, are put in to a form of a balance, the method is quite effective, Even then, challenges are bound to appear with the use of the radio magazine style considering that the interaction of the presenters and that of the audience is hampered. To succeed in this initiative, utmost accuracy in determination of the needs of the customers is required. References Dikshit, K. (2000) "Rural radio, programme formats" Unesco Goodman, D (1999) "Communications Magazine", IEEE Publishers p 16 Matelski, M (2003) "Variety: TV and Radio formats" Focal Pr pp17-19 Ojebode, A (2003) "Types and formats of Radio as a Development Communication Medium" Kraft Books pp30-32 Prato, L (2002) "Still Tuning in to Radio News" American Journalism Review p56 Sewall, M. & Sarel, D. (2006) Characteristics of radio commercials and their recall effectivenesspp32-33 Read More