Marketing Effectiveness - Nike, Banco Nacional de Costa Rica - Essay Example

Marketing Marketing Marketing effectiveness can be achieved through the implementation of strategies thataffect the quality of marketing. These include not only the infrastructure and the strategy employed to market, but also the way marketing is being executed. Many companies have improved marketing execution by modifying certain particulars that were hampering the optimal applicability of the marketing mix. On the other hand, companies like Banco Nacional de Costa Rica incremented their marketing effectiveness by a data profiling system, which organized the data about customers and reduced risks as well. Marketing is not necessarily intrusive always. Marketing through a search engine, for instance, does not disrupt the behavior of the client as opposed to the advertisements that throng newspapers and web pages; in fact search engine marketing promotes non-intrusive marketing as it encourages consumers to search for the advertised product only. However, there is a general resentment towards marketing. This mainly stems from the power of advertisements and its manipulation of customers. The purpose of marketing is to improve the company’s performance by advertising its services or products. Marketers often do that cunningly manipulating the target groups into buying the products. Stealth advertising, i.e. tricking people into using a service by product placements in media that people use widely, is disliked by people since it infringes upon the ethical rights of the consumers and fails to protect their interests. This can be broadcasted on the television or through the Internet on websites and by spam mail. One can see that it is not the marketing concept itself that is creating animosities; rather, it is the way through which the model is being executed that is giving rise to intrusive marketing. For marketing to be effective, it needs to have a customer-focused approach. This is achieved by the close collaboration of the top managerial figures. These managers play a role in promoting marketing by removing any cultural factors that impede organizational coherence and in turn affect the customer-focused marketing strategy. An example of the relationship between marketing and the authorities is the organization International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The IEC has a Council Board, made of top executive managers, which oversees and supervises all marketing strategies and regulates quality standards. There is a disparity in marketing theory and in marketing practice today. This is primarily due to the shift in marketing strategies towards more technologically advanced means and resources. The drawback is that education, in general, does not cater to this technological shift in modes of advertising. Thus, in order to improve marketing effectiveness, and relate practice with theory, academics need to focus more on the technological aspect of marketing. 2. Brand culture refers to that organizational culture where people work towards the development and promotion of a brand that aims to provide a branded consumer experience. For the brand to be of use for the customer, it needs to be shaped by a philosophy that can benefit the customer. If the brand attracts the attention of the service users, they will accept it as a component of their personality. Brand identity is vital in attracting consumers and in differentiating a particular brand from other competitors. Consumers recognize brands through brand identity and relate to them by finding common beliefs between them and what the brand promotes. By being known by a brand, consumers are establishing and promulgating both their belief in that brand and their identity as advertised by the brand. The importance of brand culture lies in the fact that it gives consumers something to believe in. in a consumer culture, people no longer look for satisfaction only; brands acquire a more meaningful position in the construction and maintenance of identity (ID Branding, n.d.). The brand culture promoted by Nike exemplifies how the experience of the consumers makes them loyal to the brand and helps them identify themselves through that brand. By providing good quality shoes that added richly to the consumer experience, Nike was able to create a reputed image of its products. For many, Nike became a status symbol. Consequentially, Nike was able to attract hoards of customers who wanted to be identified by that brand image. However this can not be done without sufficient knowledge about the consumers’ needs and preferences. Before developing a brand, marketers need to do extensive research on the current trends and the market for that product. Addressing consumer needs is fundamental, but in order to fashion a brand that relates to the identity of the service users, marketers need to be acutely aware of the likings of the people. A product or a service will only generate appeal if it uniquely promotes a set of characteristics that satisfy consumer needs and meet their preferences. Such an appeal can be maximized by researching the fashion and taste of the people. Thus one can conclude that if marketers are not able to corporate consumer trends and preferences in brand development, they will not be able to produce a desirable brand culture that is avidly sought by consumers. 3. Non-traditional marketing has seen increasing popularity in the recent years as technology has become even more imbued in the lives of the people. There is a surge in the resentment people feel towards advertising primarily because of the intrusive nature of the advertisements and exploitation done by them. Non-traditional marketing has two basic components: placement and transparency. Placement delineates the objective and physical placement of the ad, whereas transparency refers to the degree of information that the advertisement is giving apropos to the sponsorship. Non-traditional marketing methods include Buzz marketing, Guerilla marketing, ambient media, product placement etc. Traditional methods like television and newspapers although are established means of advertisement placement, they are too saturated by ads and the marked increase in distrust and skepticism against it gives non-traditional marketing an edge over it. Non-traditional marketing provides new ways of marketing and is a relief from the swarming ads present in newspapers and from television commercials. Since many teenagers in the developed countries use the Internet and their mobile phones, marketing by non-traditional means can target this group more effectively as compared to traditional means. Advantages of Guerilla marketing are that it is not only cheap since it requires time and energy rather than a big financial budget, but is also interactive for the customers, and personal interaction can provide them with an experience that they could not have felt through ads in newspapers or TV commercials. Moreover, Guerilla marketing, as opposed to traditional advertising, is adjusted and modified to incorporate the needs of the consumers. Buzz marketing is more effective than traditional methods of marketing since it gives across a much stronger message. Buzz marketing includes all other forms of marketing and in contrast to traditional means, it is not viewed as intrusive or distortion of facts. Sniper Marketing is an organization that helps other organizations in developing a marketing and promotions strategy through non-traditional means like Guerilla marketing and Buzz marketing. As mentioned above, non-traditional methods of marketing have varying levels of transparency. People might be exposed to ads without their knowledge at times, and this has a psychological effect that they are not being bombarded by advertisements. One such example was when BMW made use of non-traditional marketing methods by featuring their Z3 in a movie named Golden Eye. 4. Marketing is an extensive area of study and application. It sustains the economy of a country by increasing the sales of the businesses both in the public as well as in the private sector. It also helps create competition; competition as a result improves product and service quality and enhances performance. Marketing in itself is not inherently wrong or deleterious to the society. It is the way the marketing is executed and the way content is marketed that raises many ethical and economical concerns. Marketers use marketing strategies in which they time to time withhold information about the product or service. This is unethical since consumers have full right to know what the product offers and its drawbacks. Not disclosing complete information of the product projects an incorrect image of the project and is deceptive to the consumers. Advertising is also misused since it pressurizes people to utilize a certain service or product. In order to generate an appeal for the product, marketers add persuasive and motivational messages in the ads that claim far-fetched benefits of using that product. Marketing also raises ethical issues when it promotes a slightly more admirable trait, creating inequalities and enhancing the superiority of one trait over the other; for instance, face whitening creams give across the message that fairness is beauty and people who are fair are more socially acceptable than those who have a dark complexion. Some advertisements can at times be legal, but not ethical. This is portrayed by the Benetton’s advertisement campaign about convicted murderers. The campaign received a lot of opposition from the families of the victims of the murderers. The death row ads featured these inmates in the clothes catalogue and this was considered to be unethical. Bijan is a fragrance marketing company and has used many controversial ads as well. It often used shock advertising, portraying the Santa as a pedophile and showing nude women. Marketing often creates stereotypes. The power of the media and its influence is widely acknowledged. Therefore, people mostly tend to follow what the media advocates and projects. Consumption of fast foods, Colas and soft drinks and food high on sugar and fats are advertised commonly by the media. Children are impressionable and fall easy prey to the advertisement campaign. An economical issue with regard to marketing is that people are often coerced into buying products that they do not essentially need. Thus in conclusion, where marketing serves to foster competition and communicate marketing offers, it also has many negative impacts. 5. The influx of technology in the lives of the people has reformed social interactions as well. The surge of social networking sites attests to the preference and the popularity of such sites for communication and interaction. Advertising on such websites opens up more doors for publicity for businesses. Since the social networks are accessed by people all over the country, the display of ads on these web pages can advertise information to a large target audience. If sufficient people vote or bookmark a product, then the company’s ratings climb higher. There is also an increase in the number of social networking sites for fashion. Burberry is a clothing line that has its own social networking site called The Art of Trench. The importance of social networks for brands like Burberry lies in the fact that they open up new markets and expose the brand to new customers. The competition for clothing lines is intense, and for many businesses, advertising online is an ideal opportunity to increase their profits and to ensure survival. The massive participation of people, especially of the youth, in social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Bebo and Youtube has given rise to marketing opportunities for businesses. People use these websites to blog, share their views, post pictures and videos online and chat with each other. These websites are a regular forum for people to meet and socially interact with. The popularity of social networking sites for marketing purposes can be illustrated by the fact that when Facebook announced that it is going to introduce new plugins that would allow users to share and like pictures and other materials without having to sign in, more than 100,000 sites registered with Facebook to advertise. For an international clothing brand for young consumers, for example, marketing through such networking sites offers great potential for expanding its consumer base. Adidas can segment their marketing information, featuring and sharing those messages that are relevant to the interests of the consumers as dictated by their online behavior. The Internet provides a rapid supply of products and services and service users can ship or order products directly from the website, without having to rely on supply chains. Moreover, the site is open 24 hours and provides a better retailer interface s compared to stores that operate within office hours. Adidas can also establish appropriate positioning by associating brand with relevant sites for example the fashion applications on Facebook and by creating channels for consumer engagement through subsidiary sites. 6. Marketing communications refers to the promotion of the marketing mix, i.e. the seven Ps. When marketing these 7 Ps, place, price, promotion, product, people, processes and physical evidence, promotional messages show some variability in reference to the way these messages are communicated to the audience. Different consumers might read different meanings into the same message. Advertising relies greatly on psychological perceptions of the people. The focus in advertising has shifted from the delivery of factual information to the promotion of symbolic references to the products in order to give them a unique feel. Like this, products are publicized in any way that the marketers prefer, and the same marketing campaign can be nuanced in messages to give rise to different meanings in order to cater to the different groups of individuals. As a result consumers interpret these messages through different frames of references. The implication of such varied meanings is that it gives rise to individualism. Consumers may also read different meanings to the advertisement if it has not been well-thought out and is poorly constructed. For example, a person who likes eating apples will respond to an advertisement publicizing apples positively as compared to someone who does not like apples. The size of the text, the graphics and color combinations, and the imagery used by marketers can influence the way consumers interpret the ads. Moreover, the cultural values of the consumers can influence the way they perceive messages. In a study conducted at a university in California, a group of multi-cultural students were questioned about their views regarding a Welch grape juice commercial. There were differences in the thinking of the students. Americans, who are more accomplishment-focused, concentrated more on the preventative aspect of the advertisement, whereas Chinese students, who give regard to precaution and safety concentrated on the promotional aspects. Hence, when in different countries, marketers need to take into account the cultural values and ethos of the locals, and frame marketing strategies that accommodate differences in cultures and values. The core theme of semiotics and intertextuality used by Coca Cola is the same: Cola revitalizes a person and promotes family values. However since family values differ from culture to culture, Cola has devised advertisements specific to countries that showcase the cultural beliefs of that community only. Reference List ID Branding, (n.d.). Give Them Something to Believe in: The Value of Brand Culture. Retrieved from http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/405_BrandCulture_final.pdf Read More