Marketing Communications Constructions - Essay Example

Marketing communications programme for the Considerate Constructors Scheme (CCS) Faculty Table of Contents I. Introduction II. Analysis of Marketing Environment III. Primary Research IV. USP and key messages for the Chosen Market(s) V. Marketing Communications Plan VI. Summary VII. Reference I. Introduction The objective of this paper is to develop a marketing communications plan to support key objectives of the Considerate Constructors Scheme. According to the Metri (2005) “The construction industry of any country is the backbone of its infrastructure and economy. Though it is a major contributor to the economy of any country, it faces the problems of high fragmentation, instability, low productivity, poor quality and lack of standards.” Metri has highlighted the work of Abd, Majid and McCaffer (1998) the common problem faced by most countries even when the economies are different is the same i.e. qualiy problem. The clients are not satisfied with the performance of the projects (Kometa & Olomolaiye 1997 as cited by Metri, 2005). According to the CCS wesite, “The construction industry has a huge impact on all our lives, with many construction works in sensitive locations. If all construction sites and companies presented an image of competent management, efficiency, awareness of local environmental issues and above all neighbourliness, then they would become a positive advertisement, not just for themselves but for the industry as a whole.” II. Analysis of Marketing Environment The construction industry consists of the property owner, real estate business, legal and regulatory body, property seeker and buyers. The marketing environment for construction industry consists of the industry competitors, suppliers, buyers, threat of substitute and potential entrants. The factors influencing the demand and supply of the construction industry are the social and technological factors, political and legal conditions, economic and environmental factors. The social factors include the demographic factors like age, sex, education level, ethnic diversity of the target group, social groups, social attitudes and other. The political condition, law, regulations and policies, taxation are some of the factors of the political and legal environment. The economic factors includes the level of income, CPI, Inflation, employment, availability of funds/loans and the overall economic condition of the nation. Environmental factor include the factors like regulations, environmental impacts like contamination, construction waste, power conservation and others. Industry Competitors: This provides information on the segment rivalry. The numbers of firms are more than 192,404 small and big firms. This sector is one of the largest sector employing more than 200,000 people. The segment rivalry is high in the industry. The economic turmoil has intensified the segment rivalry. The high exit barriers of the industry are high due to heavy capital and investment requirements. Suppliers: The suppliers are integrated part any industry. This is a mature industry and rivalry among the suppliers is also high. The big players like contractors and builders have the advantage to negotiate on price and quality of the products and goods supplied to them. The long term relationship with suppliers provides strategic benefit to the builders and constructing companies. The high switching cost makes it difficult for contractor to switch the suppliers. Buyers The buyers are segmented and segregated in this sector. This is the reason the bargaining power of buyers in this segment is very limited. The buyers are not connected to each other. This gives advantage to the builders and contractors. Threat of Substitutes The housing industry has competition within the segment. However the threat for the substitute is very less in this category. The individual and family willing to buy a house will try their level best to get house within their budget. The availability of house, price and quality of house are the important factors for the target consumers. Potential Entrants The potential entrants have the high barriers. The capital requirements are high. The expertise and knowledge of the field is high. Figure 1: Porter’s Five Forces Model (Kotler, 2001) III. Research The organisation allows companies to register with them under Considerate Constructors Scheme. The construction sites only registration is also available. These registrations are done on the site to site basis. The duration of the accommodation of the sites is more than six weeks. The site registration allows construction industry companies on the basis of their annual turnover. “Company registration will now allow construction industry companies with an annual turn over of up to £2.5 million to register, with registration covering all its sites. The new initiative can also be used by companies with an annual turnover of over £2.5 million to cover sites with a duration less than six weeks. Company registration will still require registered companies to adhere to the Code of Considerate Practice. Scheme Monitors will visit both the companies’ offices and sites and will provide guidance and advice on how companies can improve, as well as writing a report on the company and its sites.” The company database includes all the registered companies. This is searchable database on the scheme’s website. The companies get award for their best performances. As indicated on the website 18 companies have taken trial for the new initiative. The primary research has been conducted with the number of young professionals who are living in various different kinds of arrangements like rented apartment, shared apartments, hostels and others and will be buy house in the future. They were asked simple questions based on questionnaire. The responses of the respondents are as follows. The numbers of respondents contacted for the study are thirty and they are from London. These are young professionals who had recently completed their post graduation and joined some job within last 3-4 years. These respondents were asked four simple questions. The first question was whether they are willing to buy a house in a future. The second question was regarding the specifications of the house they think they can afford and will buy. The third question was regarding the payment plan for the house. The last question was regarding the information available on the CCS website. The respondents were asked open ended question. The majority of respondents are willing to buy house within next two to five years. They want to buy two or three bedroom house or apartment. They want the house to be equipped with all the modern facilities, good flooring and finishing. All the respondents stated that they would go for some financing schemes or loans for buying new house. Almost all respondents feel that this is a good way to organise and increase the efficiency of the projects. IV. USP and key messages for the Chosen Market(s) The unique selling preposition for these target customers will be he features of house and financing schemes. The key message should be designed in such a manner that it reflects the attributes client is looking for and the company can offer. For instance, the key messages should be as follows: Get the house of your dreams with easy financing facilities House and apartments available at affordable price with easy financing schemes The marketing communication strategy should include the promotional schemes like discount offers, endorsement of celebrities, use of pamphlets and promotions on various print and electronic media and co- branding activities with other relevant brands. The most of the players in the construction industry has dedicated team for the communication and PR related activities. The companies into construction industry have a dedicated budget for this process. This budget is used for advertisement on national TV channel, newspapers and leading magazines. The use of conventional and non conventional methods depends on the target customers. The target customers are the young people who are more attracted towards the space use, look, facilities and design of the houses. They can be approached through internet and direct response marketing as well. The target audience, competitiveness, available resources and marketing channel determines the communication strategy. In the present case the internet marketing seems to be the most appropriate tool that will allow reaching the prospective clients in the cheaper cost than any other method. This is also quick and fast. The only challenge with this mode of communication is to track the success rate of the online promotions or communication. The company has a strong brand name. This will be carried in all the communication processes along with the catchy description on the unique selling proposition of the project and other important aspects of the project of the construction company. The organisation has all the relevant information regarding the regulation and policies of the government regarding the safety, health, light and other aspects of the property. This information will be included in the central message of the promotional material. The prospect identification process was completed in the previous section. The young professionals with modern thought and requirements look for the house with different facilities. They look for the all additional facilities like gym, sports, membership to the club, good parking space and convenient house. The target customers look for the affordable house. Any offer to them needs to have an appropriate pricing strategy. This segment will be price sensitive segment as they are the first time buyers and they will be buying house through the loan or financing facilities. The price sensitiveness is there for these houses. The product requires mix of product and price leadership. The target audience can be reached through various tools like Public relations and media outreach, participation in seminars, target advertising and referred marketing. It depends on the project type and target customer. However all kind of information should be provided to the customer that is required for the decision making process. Higher the transparency in the communication process, higher will be customer trust and positive environment for the decision making process. V. Marketing Communications Plan At present the company is involved into various types of communication strategies. Once the project and company is register with CCS, company starts working on the image of the construction industry. “Posters are displayed around the construction site setting out the Code to which the sites and companies are committed. If passers-by wish to comment, the name and telephone number of the Site Manager or company contact are clearly displayed, alongside the free phone telephone number of the Scheme administration office” (CCS wesite) The communication plan for CCS includes the integrated strategy that will start with the teasers in the print media and local TV channels. This will be combined with the public relations and media outreach. This will be followed by the main message before the starting of the project or the launch of the housing solutions. The referral marketing strategies will be prepared side by side which will encourage prospects and buyers to encourage and introduce people from their social network to invest in this property. The marketing mix elements are integrated with each other. The communication strategy needs to be aligned with the strategic plans and goals of the company. The communication programme will have following main activity 1. Marketing Communication programme Planning 2. Preparation of communication objectives 3. Preparing communication message 4. Identifying the communication tools on the basis of target audience 5. Selecting communication tools 6. Finding out the vendors and solution providers 7. Designing the advertising campaign 8. Implementing the communication programme 9. Controlling communication program 10. Feedback and success evaluation Activities 1. Marketing Communication programme Planning At this stage the top management, marketing team and PR team develop a marketing communication program and look at all the aspects of the marketing communication processes. The communication program will include the information on the target audience and company objectives and goals. 2. Preparation of communication objectives Once the communication objectives are prepared the development of the messages of the campaign becomes easier. These objectives will allow in benchmarking the progress. 3. Preparing communication message The communication message should be clear and concise. It should be within the regulations of the advertising of the government. All the information important for the decision making process should be introduced to the client at this stage only. 4. Identifying the communication tools on the basis of target audience The target audience are the professionals therefore the target tools will be selected on the basis of their specifications. The billboards will provide a tool of attention for all types of the target audience. The direct mailer will help in reaching the specific target. 5. Selecting communication tools Once various communication tools are explored, the most appropriate and effective tool .The communication tools chosen for this study are the print media, billboards and hoardings, electronic media and others depending upon the target audience will be selected. 6. Finding out the vendors and solution providers There are various service provides available in the market who helps in designing the hoardings and developing a communication plan. These service providers will be chosen on the basis of their experience, expertise and budget. 7. Designing the advertising campaign The overall marketing communication programme and the linked advertising program will be prepared. 8. Implementing the communication programme Once all the above steps are taken, the communication programme will be implemented. The communication program will be monitored and control. 9. Controlling communication program This step will allow understanding the challenges of the current programme and incorporating changes time to time to ensure success of the program. 10. Feedback and success evaluation The success evaluation will be done on the basis of the benchmarks set at the starting of the planning stage. Timelines Activity Start time End time Additional Comments Marketing Communication programme Planning Day 1 Day 15 This will involve the marketing and PR teams, representative of the top management Preparation of communication objectives Day 16 Day 20 The marketing team along with PR team will develop the same. Preparing communication message Day 21 Day 25 The marketing team along with PR team will develop the same. Identifying the communication tools on the basis of target audience Day 25 Day 26 Marketing team will be doing the same. Selecting communication tools Day 27 Day 37 The marketing team along with PR team will develop the same. Finding out the vendors and solution providers Day 38 Day 48 The marketing team along with PR team will develop the same. Designing the advertising campaign Day 49 Day 65 Vendors, PR team and marketing team will be doing Implementing the communication programme Day 66 Day 80 Vendors, PR team and marketing team will be doing Controlling communication program continuous Feedback and success evaluation VI. Summary This communication program will allow achieving the goals of the Considerate Constructors Scheme. This will help in educating the people regarding various professional projects. This will help the construction companies to set their benchmark and meet their goals. The professionalism and the efficiency shown by the construction companies will help in building trust and delivering quality projects. VII. Reference: A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, (2004) Third Edition, PMBOK Guide, Project Management Institute Bartels, R (1988). The History of Marketing Thought (3rd. edition Ed.). Columbus: Publishing Horizons. Construction retrieved on 23 November 2009 from http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/sectors/construction/index.html Fourth Edition, Thompson Course Technology retrieved from http://212.100.200.71/psu/cis/bena/Project%20Management/MS_Project2003_Guide.pdf (23 November 2008) Griffith, Alan & Paul Watson, Construction Management, Principles & Practice, 2004, Palgrave Macmillan, New York. Kotler, P (2000) Marketing Management, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Inc., 10th Edition Kotler, Philip, Marketing Management, Prentice-Hall Inc. New Jersy, 10th Edition, 2000 Metri, B.A. (2005) TQM Critical Success Factors for Construction Firms http://www.efst.hr/management/Vol10No2-2005/4-Metri.doc Schwalbe, Image of Triple Constraints of Project Management, http://www.projectmanagement.net.au/triple_constraints Schwalbe, K (2006) Information Technology Project Management, Pheng, L S (1999) The extension of construction partnering for relationship marketing, Marketing Intelligence & Planning Volume: 17 Issue: 3 Page: 155 – 162, ISSN: 0263-4503, DOI: 10.1108/02634509910271614, Publisher: MCB UP Ltd available at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/02634509910271614 Piercy, Nigel F, Market Led Strategic Change, Butterworth Heinemann, 3 e, Charted Institute of Marketing Zeithaml Valarie A. and Mary Jo Bitner, 2002 ‘Services Marketing-Integrating Customer Focus Aross the Firm’. 2nd Ed., New York: Tata McGraw-Hill Web reference http://www.ccscheme.org.uk/index.php/company-registration-launch-by-cn accessed on 2 December 2009 Read More