Online Marketing

Online marketing is facing unprecedented change, brought on by a volatile economy, the meteoric rise of new channels, and the increased demand for financial accountability. 2010 is already shaping up to be an exciting year for online marketers. Pipe Fitting suppliers in India are also harnessing the power of internet to meet their marketing goals.

There are no signs that consumers will stop using search engines as their primary vehicle to find products and services. Marketing dollars are going where the customers and prospects are - online. Online channels are lower cost and more measurable, and as a result continue to cannibalize traditional media. 84% of marketers said it is important for their organization to shift their marketing focus to more online.

In 2010, web analytics will focus on integrating customer data from the web, search, mobile, and social measurement. 88% of marketers are already using or planning to use web analytics this year.
Safe Corporation has a new domain in http://www.safepipefittings.com/  The penetration and ubiquity of web analytics make it the logical point to integrate customers’ profiles across multiple online channels.

Sites like Facebook and Twitter have had a meteoric rise from obscurity. Marketers find themselves thrust into a world where they have to share control over their brand with consumers. Blogs, product reviews, and other social media are mixed with marketing messages to shape consumers’ perception of company brands. As companies pinpoint the specific social tactics that work best to engage their customers, they will expand their social media participation and continue to nurture a wide variety of social media tactics.

There are no signs that consumers will stop using search engines as their primary vehicle to find products and services. Marketing dollars are going where the customers and prospects are - online. Online channels are lower cost and more measurable, and as a result continue to cannibalize traditional media. 84% of marketers said it is important for their organization to shift their marketing focus to more online.

Sites like Facebook and Twitter have had a meteoric rise from obscurity. Marketers find themselves thrust into a world where they have to share control over their brand with consumers. Blogs, product reviews, and other social media are mixed with marketing messages to shape consumers’ perception of company brands. As companies pinpoint the specific social tactics that work best to engage their customers, they will expand their social media participation and continue to nurture a wide variety of social media tactics.

MARKET POSITIONING

Positioning has been described variously by different authorities. One way to define positioning is "the art and science of fitting the product to one or more segments of the broad market such as to set it apart meaningfully from competition".

Another definition of positioning is "a strategic approach to occupying consumer mind space."

The aim is to create a unique perception of the brand, comprising both tangible and intangible benefits relative to the perceptions of the competitive brands.

There various ways of making positioning operational. Both prior to doing so, marketers need to find answers to the following six questions:

1                What position (if any) do we have in the prospects’ minds?

2                What position do we want to own?

3                What companies / brands pose the greatest threat and must be overcome?

4                Do we have enough money / resources to occupy and hold that position?

5                Do we have the tenacity to stick with one consistent positioning strategy?

6                Does our creative match our positioning?

 

A brand may be positioned by various methods, such as: 

•  Positioning by product category / class
•  Positioning by attributes & benefits
• Positioning by price & quality
• Positioning by use / application
• Positioning by user segment
• Positioning by competitor
• Positioning by cultural symbols
  

Another approach to making positioning operational is to seek answers to the four questions given below, and formulate the positioning strategy accordingly.

1                Who am I? Corporate parentage of brand

2                What am I? Category / benefit / usage occasion or time / price-value

3                For whom am I? Demographics / Psychographics / Behavioural

4                Why me? USP / Difference

SMART

SPECIFIC

MEASURABLE

ACHIEVABLE/APPROCHABLE

REALISTIC

TIME

Every time customers experience your brand, you want them to remember what you do, why it is important to them, and why it is unique to you. By developing a clear expression of what is important to your customers and unique to you -- and reinforcing it with every customer interaction -- you will help your customers remember what your brand stands for. This starts with developing a brand positioning statement.

Developing a brand positioning statement involves four steps:

1.        Describe your customers

2.        Define yourself in terms of your competition

3.        Explain your greatest benefit

4.        Put it together into your brand positioning statement

1. Describe Your Customers

You start by examining your customers. Who buys your products or services? How would you define them as a group? They sound like an easy questions, but they deserve some serious thought. What do your customers do for a living? What is their income and education level? Their marital status? Gender? Religious and cultural background? Do they use your product or service at home or at work? If your customers are businesses, how would you describe those types of business as a whole? Make a list. Now determine what do your customers, as a group, have in common? How can you describe this group in three or four words?

Your goal is twofold:

1.        To create the broadest description of your target audience possible, while simultaneously.

2.        To keep it narrow enough to be relevant.

Few companies can actually describe their customers as "anyone," but some good examples of broad descriptions with a defined focus are "business travellers," "retired homeowners," "working parents," "small business owners," "farmers," "creative professionals," "frugal people,"  or "anyone with an e-mail address." When you've established who it is you'll be talking to, and what they have in common, you can start to define what's important to them.

2. Define Yourself in Terms of Your Competition

Every business, product, or service has competition. Even if you are introducing something completely new, you still have to compete with the "old way" of doing things or whatever it is people are already spending their money on that you now want them to spend with you instead. Blu-Ray discs compete with DVDs -- and once upon a time, DVDs had to compete with VCRs. We tend to think of things in terms of what we already know and understand. Blu-Ray and DVD didn't have to redefine home entertainment altogether, just the technologies that were currently available. VCRs, of course, were "like tape recorders, but for TV."

For many businesses, defining this category is simple -- a plumbing company competes with other plumbing companies, and law firms compete with other law firms. But in today's world, many businesses are based online, and offer services that aren't easy to understand on their own. So it's important to frame what you do in terms that people can understand based on what they already know.

For example, if I were to explain Twitter to a friend, I would say, "It's like a blog that is limited to 140 characters." By saying, "It's like a blog," I have explained it in terms many people can understand, but I have far less to explain that way. Who do you compete with? When you've figured out how to describe what it is you do (in terms of your competitors), it will be easier to explain how you're different and more beneficial.

3. Explain Your Greatest Benefit

Now comes the hard part. Once you've determined who your customers are, and who they're likely to compare you to, it's time to focus on how you're not only different, but better. What can you deliver with excellence that your competition can't touch because delivering it is baked into the very core of your business? This is often the promise at the core of your brand -- a commitment to service, or quality, or safety, or having fun, or saving money. Think back to who your target audience is. How would they describe the quality that makes it better in a way that's important to them? It's often different than the way you might describe it internally.

There may be several things that make you different, but people will only remember one, so choose the best one: the thing that is most important to your most important customers. If you offer guaranteed overnight delivery service, it will be hard to compete as the cheapest delivery service as well. People will eventually discover your other qualities, but build your brand around the very best thing you always provide, no matter what, and you will not let them down. Now you're ready to put everything together and build a brand positioning statement.

4. Put It Together into Your Brand Positioning Statement

When you've figured out what you do, who you do it for, and how you're different, it's time to put it all together into a sentence that states this concisely. This is can be structured as "For (target audience), (company name) offers (competitive frame of reference) that provides (greatest competitive advantage). For example, Web Marketing Today's brand positioning statement might be, "For small businesspeople, Web Marketing Today is an online information resource that offers weekly Web marketing advice from experts." With that in mind, Web Marketing Today can focus everything it does around delivering this promise with excellence.

Your brand positioning statement may sound familiar:

·         It will be similar to your mission or purpose statement, but takes into account your customers and competitors.

·         It will be similar to your unique selling proposition (USP), but takes into account your target audience.

Once you have developed your brand positioning statement, you'll be able to develop consistent communications and customer experiences to support it, and use it as the basis for developing a brand personality, which we'll discuss in future articles.

By defining a brand positioning statement for your business, you can focus on your best customers, help them understand what you offer more easily, and create a consistent brand that they will remember. Why not schedule a few hours during the next few weeks to create a brand positioning statement for your business?

DEVELOPMENT OF STRATEGY PLANNING FOR ADVERTISING

Strategy Planning for advertising (and other forms of communications used in Integrated Marketing Communications) is a dynamic process, whose development has been analyzed to reveal five stages.

Stage 1

This may be described as 'primitive' method that goes back to the time of ancient Greeks and Romans....it was also visible in the Egyptians civilization. It persisted in some form or another, even in the 19th century AD. Such communications indicated availability of some goods or services at a particular location, most did not give any further information not even about the attributes or features of the product or its price.

Stage 2

The only change from the 1st stage to the 2nd is the inclusion of information about the features of the product. Reasons why a particular product should be preferred over competitive products, or why specific buyers would get higher satisfaction, were not clearly enunciated...essentially this approach may be described as "manufacturers claim" that would not be of any use in the present day market scenario with well informed buyers conscious of their rights.

Stage 3

This is the first strategic attempt at setting a branded item apart from its competitors based on the concept of the Unique Selling Preposition - USP.

USP is generally depended on the physical features of ingredients competitor brand lack. Advertising based on USP may thus convince the potential buyer the superiority or suitability of the product over competition- it is thus inherently very powerful and useful but is is increasingly difficult to develop and retain due to the spread of technology. USP talks of genuinely differences but this advantage is eroded very fast.

Even with the best of laws protecting Patents and Intellectual Property Rights, technological innovations are often quickly copied or mimicked by competitors. The original brands tends to lose its competitive edge fairly fast. Hence, relying on USP for brand differentiation is an excellent idea but generally short lived.

It is relevant today, but a difficult proposition for most organizations. It must also be remembered that it is not enough to be 'unique' since the advertisement must also sell the product...the benefits must be relevant and powerful motivators in the context of the buying situations.

Stage 4

The next stage developed in late 1940s and through the 1950s and 1960s, as advertising and marketing professionals realised the shortcoming of USP - the fact that it was extremely difficult to retain or protect.

Strategists went on to develop advertising based on building a brand image or brand personality whereby the prospect was encouraged to think of a brand as not merely a bundle of physical features giving rise to tangible benefits. Advertising based on brand image & personality focussed on intangible aspects of a brand and on creating perceptual differences from competitive brands.

Stage 5

This development in strategy planning is based on the theory of 'positioning a brand' and attempts to give a sharper edge to advertising by recognizing that today's consumer lives in an 'over communicated' society. Today's consumer is exposed to a plethora of media, increasing fragmented and intrusive and hence is bombarded daily with hundreds of commercial messages-each with claims and counter-claims, impossible to remember of recall.

Market Segmentation Targetting & Positioning

Organizations that sell to consumer or business markets recognize they cannot appeal to all buyers in those markets or at least not to all buyers in the same way.  Market segmentation is the process of classifying customers into groups with different needs, characteristics or behaviour.

Why Market Segmentation?

Buyers are too numerous, too widely scattered & too varied in their needs and buying practices.

Rather than trying to compete in an entire market, sometimes against superior competitors, many companies try to identify parts of the market that they can serve best. They try to satisfy the needs and wants of specific segments of the market better than other players can… this strategy is expected to lead to customer loyalty.

Companies have not always practiced market segmentation. Marketing has evolved through the following three stages:

 Mass marketing: one product for all buyers, with no significant variations in the offering.


 Product Variety Marketing – two or more products (different styling, design, size, etc) to offer variety rather than to appeal to different segments

 Target Marketing: developing product(s) for targeted segment(s) to meet specific needs

Market Segmentation


 Many companies are moving away from conventional market segmentation

 They are aiming at “micro segmentation” and “a market of one”

 Target marketing can better help them find marketing opportunities

 Technology (especially IT) is an important factor in facilitating this process

Flexible market offerings

 Naked solution: Product and service elements that all segments value

 Discretionary options: Elements valued by some segments – options usually have additional charges

Market preference patterns

 Homogenous: no natural segments; all users want the same features, hence all brands tend to cluster around the middle of the market

 Diffused: no distinct patterns, great variation in customer preferences; first player usually in the middle of the market, later players adopt different strategies and positions

 Clustered: natural segments; first player might focus on largest segment or be in the middle while later entrants follow their own strategies

Target Marketing

Target marketing can be done at four levels – by market segments, aimed at niche markets, marketing by local areas and targeted at individuals.

Steps in Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

 Market segmentation would entail identification of bases (criteria) for segmentation, followed by development of profiles of these target segments.

 Market targeting would have to start with developing measures of attractiveness for the segments, application of these metrics to the identified segments that would permit selection of segments.

 Market positioning starts with preparing the positioning statement for each of the selected segments, followed by developing the marketing mix strategy for each segment.

Effective Targeting

 Identification and profiling of distinct groups of buyers who differ in their needs and preferences

 Selection of one or more market segments to target (enter)

 Establishing and communicating the distinctive benefits of the market offering to the selected target segment(s)

Market Segmentation Parameters

Criteria / Parameters for consumer markets:

 Demographic – easy to measure variables such as age, sex, monthly household income, education, occupation, family size etc

 Psychographic – psychological variables like values, lifestyles, attitudes, opinions etc

 Geographic – based on geographic units such as country, region, urban / rural

 Behavioural – based on knowledge of, attitudes towards, usage rate of category etc

Demographic criteria / parameters

 Age

 Sex

 Education

 Household income

 Occupation

 Socio-economic class

 Family size

 Family life cycle stage

 Marital status

 Religion

 Nationality

 Ethnic origin / race

Psychographic criteria / parameters

 Values

 Attitudes

 Interests

 Lifestyles

 Opinions

 Preferences

 Personality

Geographic criteria / parameters

Continent – Region – Country – Town / town class – Urban versus rural

Behavioural criteria / parameters

 User status: non-user, ex-user, potential, regular…

 Attitudes: enthusiastic, positive, indifferent, negative, hostile

 Buyer readiness: unaware, aware, informed, interested, desirous, intending…

 Purchase occasions: regular, special, occasional

 Usage rates: light, medium, heavy

 Loyalty status: hard core, split, shifting, switcher

 Benefits sought: tangible/intangible (emotional)

 Decision role: buyer, user, influencer, decider, initiator

Criteria / Parameters for organizational markets:

Some of the same variables may be used – demographic, geographic, usage rates, buyer readiness status, buyer loyalty status etc. There are several other factors in addition:

 Demographic: industry, company size, location, growth rates

 Operating variables: technology, user/non-user

 Purchasing approaches: centralized/decentralized, structure (engineering/finance dominated), relationships, policies (leasing/bidding etc), quality/price etc

 Situational: urgency, size, application orientation

 Buyers’ personal characteristics: values, risk attitudes, loyalty /relationship

To be effective, market segments must be:

 Measurable in terms of size and purchasing power

 Differentiable so that they respond differently to marketing stimuli

 Substantial regarding size (large) and profitability

 Accessible so that they can be reached (physically) and served

 Actionable in terms of the degree to which effective marketing programmes can be devised and implemented

Market Targeting

After the market has been segmented, it is necessary to evaluate the segments prior to selecting the segments to be targeted using three sets of factors:

 Size and potential for growth

 Structural attractiveness

 Company objectives & resources

Selecting Market Segments

 Single segment concentration leads to strong knowledge of segment needs, helps achieve operating economies… but the segment may have limited growth prospects or may collapse.

Example: Polaroid due to digital photography

 Selective specialization helps to diversify risk by focusing on (unrelated) segments that are individually attractive.

 Product specialization focuses on a single product (or variations thereof) to sell to various segments but new technology can supplant the product. Example: mechanical typewriters, word processors

 Market specialization leads to serving many needs of a specific segment, but the segment may shrink, leading to loss of volumes and revenues

 Full market coverage is an attempt to serve all customer segments – suitable only for very large organizations

Full market coverage

Large organizations adopt one of two ways:

 Undifferentiated marketing – making one offer (that appeal to the entire market and ignoring differences among segments. This has the advantage of lower costs and might lead to lower prices.

 Differentiated marketing – designing different products and offers for each selected segment.

This approach increases costs of product modification, manufacturing, inventory, marketing communications & administration.

Market Coverage Strategy: factors

 Company resources

 Competitors’ activities / strategies

 Stage of Product Life Cycle

 Market variability

Positioning

Positioning may be viewed as the core perceptions about the brand in terms of tangibles and intangibles relative to perceptions about competing brands in the minds (perceptual space) of consumers and prospects.

Bases for Brand Positioning

 Brand parentage (corporate, parent brand)

 Product category

 Brand attributes (USP)

 Brand benefits

 Customer segments

 Usage occasions

 Price-value relationship

 Competitor orientation

Implementing Positioning

Three steps are involved:

 Identifying alternative / possible sets of competitive advantages

 Selecting the right advantage

 Communicating the advantage

A technique known as ‘perceptual mapping’ is often used to analyse consumer perceptions prior to brand positioning / re-positioning.

A difference is worth promoting if it is:

 Important to the target segments

 Distinctive and different from competitors

 Superior or better by way of benefits

 Affordable by selected target segments

 Pre-emptive

 Communicable

 Profitable for the organization

Rural Marketing & its Communication

Buying decisons

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Buying decisons

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MEDIA BRIEF FORMAT

Country/Region:

Brand/Variant:

Year:

Campaign Start Date:


BACKGROUND



Market/Business/
Competitive Context:                                BUSINESS GOAL
                                                                Key Task
                                                               Competition
                                                               The path ahead


                                                             The key initiatives scheduled are:

                                                            Brand Calendar + Start Plan


Rationale for Brief


Communications Task

TASK

Marketing Target Audience:

What’s the barrier the communication has to overcome?

Required Target Audience Response (Attitude):

Required Target Audience response (behaviour):


Objectives

Business Objectives & how they will be measured

Creative units

Prioritisation of Reach/Frequency/
Continuity & Other communication objectives

Budgets

APPENDICES >>

Approvals

                                              Name                             Signature                                     Date

-

Marketing Practice: Fair and Handsome : Be Fair , Be Handsome

Marketing Practice: Fair and Handsome : Be Fair , Be Handsome

The Buying Decision Process

The Buying decision process comprises of 5 steps.

Need Recognition - Information Search - Evaluation of Information - Purchase Decision - Post Purchase Decision/Evaluation.


Need Recognition is triggered by internal (person's normal need) or external stimuli such as advertisement, friends and must reach an intensity high enough to become a drive that would motivate the person to consider a purchase.

Problem Types

• Routine Problems : Low Priced, regularly used consumer goods....low risk purchases.
• Limited Problems : Familiar category but new brand or somewhat expensive items.....slightly higher risk.
• Extensive Problem : unfamiliar category, infrequent purchases, high personal commitments....high risk, may lead to cognitive dissonance.
• Impulse Purchase : where not much time, thought or  effort goes into the decision.

Information Search

• Influenced by level of involvement (interest) in the decision.
• Memory (internal) search is sufficient for familiar, regularly used products: this involves  the scanning of one's memory to recall previous experience or knowledge concerning the solutions to the problem.
• External search information sources include personal,  commercial, public, experiential and may be necessary when past experience or knowledge is insufficient, the risk of making a wrong purchase decision is high, and/or the cost of gathering the information is low.
• Word of mouth sources are most influential (credibility).

Evaluation of Alternatives

• Evaluation process depends on the consumer and the buying situation.
• Attributes and importance weights are chosen as criteria
• Alternatives compared against the criteria.
• Marketers can influence this stage.

Purchase Decision.

Tow factors intercede between purchase intention and actual decision : attitude of others and unexpected situational factors.

Post Purchase Behaviour

What the consumer thinks and does after purchasing and using the product

• Satisfaction : relationship between consumer expectation and perceived performance - satisfied customers tend to be loyal

• Consumer Delight : When the perceived value is definately superior to expectations - delighted consumers engage in positive word of mouth.

• Unhappy or dissatisfied customers tell others.

• Cognitive dissonance - post purchase doubts /tensions.

Cognitive Dissonance

• Feeling of psychological tension or post purchase doubts after a difficult purchase decision
• Cognitive dissonance is likely when when choices are very similar or the rejected alternative has a desirable features lacking in the chosen alterntive
• Consumers seek reassurance, deny info not in consonance with the choice , look for info that supports the choice (advertising)
• Dissatisfied do not re purchase.....they also generate bad Word-Of-Mouth.
• Marketing Communication must be honest, not create unrealistic expectation
• Follow up communication to reassure / reinforce

Buying Roles

Six types of buying roles can be distinguished:

1. Initiator : the person who first suggest or thinks of the idea of buying the particular category
2. Influencer: the person whose views influence other members while making the final decision
3. Decider: the person who decides any part of the entire buying decision - whether to buy, what to buy, how to buy and where to buy
4. Buyer : the person who  performs the physical act of buying. or does the paperwork
5. User: the person who consumes or uses the product
6. Gatekeeper : the person(s) who controls the information or access, or both to decision makers and influencers

Consumers Adoption Process of New Categories

This is a five stage process

Awareness - Interest - Evaluation - Trial - Adoption.

Five categories can be distinguished across geographical markets and product categories:

• Innovators : 2.5% - cosmopolitan and networked, low risk aversion, courageous and usually well off
• Early adopters : 13.5% - localized, opinion leaders, missionaries, role models, respected.
• Early Majority : 34% - high interaction, deliberate, non-leaders
• Late Majority : 34% - social / peer pressure, economic / social necessity, sceptical 
• Laggards : 16% - past oriented, way behind, isolated, suspicious of changes

 

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The Consumer Market comprises all individuals and households who buy or acquire goods and services for personal consumption.

•  Consumer Buying Behavior refers to the buying behavior of final consumers (individuals &        households) who buy goods and services for personal consumption.

• We need to understand consumer behavior to answer the question: “How do consumers respond to marketing efforts the company might use?”

THE BUYING DECISION PROCESS

The Buying Decision Process comprises five steps:

• Need recognition
•  Information search
•  Evaluation of alternatives
•  Purchase decision
•  Post purchase behavior / evaluation

FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Personal Factors

•  Age – linked to the types of products (categories) that people buy and use

•  Life cycle stage – see details given below

•  Occupation – certain occupations require people to buy and consume specific products such as types of apparel, accessories, equipment etc

• Economic situation – linked to the price people can afford to pay, and hence categories that are purchased and the brands that are selected within those categories

•  Personality & Self Concept – see details given below

•  Life style identification – linked to occupation, economic situation etc

Life Cycle Stages

1. Single / Bachelor: not living at home; low total income but high discretionary income, few financial burdens; influenced by peer reference groups; buy basic furniture, kitchen items, clothes, vehicles, accessories…
2. Newly Married Couples: young, no kids; financially better than they will be in near future; buy vehicles, durables, holidays, insurance, financial products…
3.  Full Nest I: youngest child under six; low savings, low liquid assets; spending focused on children’s needs; may purchase homes
4.  Full Nest II: youngest child over six; improved financial position, wives may resume earning; children’s needs still dominate spending
5.  Full Nest III: older couples with dependent children; older children at work / higher education; more wives earning; buy expensive furniture, holidays, durables
6.  Empty Nest I: older married couple , no children at home; head of family still employed, income at highest level, low expenses; home ownership at peak; buy luxuries, home improvements, recreation, travel, self education
7. Empty Nest II: older married couple , no children at home; head of family retired, significant decrease in income, concern about savings, pensions; spend on medical care, health, some hobbies & pastimes
8. Solitary Survivor: still working, income adequate; worries about savings, security, dependence; may sell family home and buy smaller property; spend on some pastimes
9. Solitary Survivor, Retired: significant cut in income; high medical expense; need attention, affection, assistance in personal & financial affairs

Personality & Self Concept

•  Personality: a set of distinguishing human psychological traits that leads to relatively consistent and      enduring responses to environmental stimuli, including buying behaviour.

•  Personality: often described in terms of self confidence, dominance, deference, sociability, defensiveness, adaptability…

•  Personality can be a useful factor in analysing brand choices – consumer likely to select brands whose personalities match their own

•  Brand Personality: a specific mix of human traits that can be attribute to a specific brand: sincere, exciting, sophisticated, rugged, competent…

•  Actual Self Concept: how we perceive ourselves

•  Ideal Self Concept: how we would like to view ourselves

•  Others’ Self Concept: how we think others see us.

Psychological Factors

•  Motivation: a need becomes a motive when it is strong enough to propel us to act, to seek satisfaction
•  Perception: process by which we select, organize and interpret information to form a picture of the  world
•  Learning: changes in behavior arising from experience
•  Beliefs: a descriptive thought about something
•  Attitudes: consistent / enduring favorable / unfavorable evaluations, feelings, and tendencies towards something

Family

The family is the most important consumer buying unit in any society or market in terms of the variety of the item purchased.and volumes. Family members are usually the most important or influential primary reference groups regarding consumption patterns.

The family of orientation consists of parents and siblings who have a strong influence on consumptions habits that lasts a lifetime while the family of procreation comprises the spouse and children where the issue of dominance and influence of purchases and consumption patterns need to be analyzed and understood by marketers.

Reference Groups

• Reference group: group of people with whom a person associates and who influence that person's attitudes, values, behavior, consumption habits. Membership groups are those that have a direct influence.
• A primary group consists of people with whom an individual has continuous informal interaction, such as family, friends, neighbors, colleagues.
• Secondary groups comprise religious bodies, professional associations, trade unions, etc
• Aspirational groups are those a person hopes to join.
• A dissociative group is one whose values or behavior a person rejects and hence tends to avoid such people and groups. 

Social Role & Status

• Role: Activites a person is expected to perform
• Status : Each Role a person is expected to perform
• People select products & Brands that reflect their role and actual / desired status in society
• Marketers need to be aware of the status symbol potential of products and brands

Cultural Factors

• Culture: The fundemantal determinant of a person's want's and behavoir acquired through socialization processes with the family  and other key institutions - it comprises a set of values, knowledge perceptions,  preferences, etc.
• Sub-Culture: susbset of culture, comprising of sub-groups of Individuals who have similar value and behavior patterns within the group  but differ from those in other sub-groups - religions, racial groups, special interest groups, etc    .
• Social Class: Relatively homogeneous, enduring divisions in society, hierarchically ordered with members sharing the same values, interests, behavior.  

How To Build A Successful Brand

In today's International Business World, it is more difficult to compete successfully and ultimately provide return to the investor's. The Challenge seems to overwhelming especially with many corporations working on a quarter to quarter basis for a fear of negative reactions from the stock market and stockholder.

Thus a number of companies small and large, strategically are attempting to build a brand for their companies. Why? Because a product can be imitated but a Brand cannot. The pressure of day to day to business, with a focus on volume, force many company into commodity business and they compete on price. The proliferation of competitors, short term objectives and opportunity to invest elsewhere also make it difficult to invest in building brands plus internal bias against innovations and changing strategies add to the complexity . And today's fragmented media and market, plus the complexities of creating branding strategies and relationship makes the process extremely difficult , if not impossible.

Thus a process has to be developed  that creates a team...a team leader, time line, a time table and a budget to accomplish the objective.

Building a brand takes commitment, focus and three to five years of complimentary programmes. It is just not an advertising programme, It is company wide-effort that unifies everyone's energies, towards the same common objective.

There are number of approaches to building a Brand. The one that Harley Davidson used back in early 1980's was simple. It was easy to understand and thus communicable to various tagets.

Simply three basic questions were asked, analyzed, defined, redrafted and then put to work. But the work five years to do. Each year a different programme was launched to develop foundation for the brand.

It took dedication and focus of limited resources to execute the various strategies  in the different functions of the company. Each department had to take it's turn, develop it's plan and execute a defined strategy.

But first the three strategic questions?

Who are We?

Who are our Customer's?

What do they expect from us?

Who are we?

Is your company a house of several brands, or is your company branded house with sub brands? What does your company do? Provide a service, promote a cause,  build a product or create a lifestyle? Whatever it, is your statement of who you are should differentiate yourself from your competitors.

At Harley-Davidson, it was simply put "Harley-Davidson  builds big beautiful American Motorcycles."It does not build mopeds, or dirt bikes or small commuters bikes. The styling is uniquely custom, classic in design, with an evolutionary strategy not a revolutionary product development cycle that competitors had, with new design, new engines, and new product every year. The lines are smooth, with curves and shapes, and each part has a simple function. And the bikes are built in America by American craftsmen, engineers and most of all real motorcyclist. We ride with you they don't.
(Clyde Fessler is the former vice president, business development, Harley Davidson Motor Company)

Who are our Customers?



This is one of the most difficult aspects of the process. Are they the people who buy our products now, and how many of them are there? Or is our customers someone who aspires  to the brand what is stands for, and wants to be included? Is our definition going to be exclusive or inclusive to show the potential where we are going and whom we want to reach?
The analysis of the customer should understand the trends in the marketplace, the motivation behind the buying process, the unmet needs of the customer and the subtle differences in the segmentation.
Another important aspect in creating a brand statement is understanding your competitor's brand, if it has one. What is its image, what does it stand for? Every company has strengths and weaknesses.
A SWOT analysis of each competitor should indicate what its strategies are. If you are deep enough, its vulnerability will eventually surface. Taking the time, being disciplined and involving the tam will bring surprising results. Then, start all over and do the same for your company.
A thorough self analysis is where the real fun begins. Internal SWOT analysis will open eyes.But, really understanding your brand image, your traditions, your heritage and above all your company values, will not only help you craft a brand statement, but will also help your company discover your potential and what capabilities are to reach your target audience.




What do they expect from you?


Believe  it or not this easiest part of the process. If you have done the homework, the expectations should flow from your findings. Understanding your brand identity and what it means to your customer, is another way of addressing it.
Each brand has its own personality, a relationship with the customer. Defining your company as an organisation, and understanding what it brings to the table, all contribute to what some refer to as the value preposition. Simply put: what are the benefits, both functional and emotional, that the brand gives to the customer?
Now comes the most difficult part...identifying the potential programmes that will build the foundation for the brand, priorities them, create a time table, allocate the resources and communicate and execute the plan. Do one programme a year, take five, six or seven years to do it. Do it slowly. do it right and most of all...stay on the strategy.

How to write a good Communication Brief

Advertising and Communication Brief

A good Communication Brief should answer the following question

• Why are we communicating? 

     [The role and the Goals of meeting the Marketing & Communication objectives]

• Who are we talking to and what do we know about them? 

     [Relevant insights about the target and their involvement with the product/category that will help to   

      communicate to them]

• What do want them to think and do?

      [The surprising new insightful  connection between the product/service with the consumer].

• What should the communication say?  

      [The single minded preposition for this communication that expresses the product insight in the most  
       persuasive manner]

• Why should anyone believe it?

        [Support point, rationale, whether based on consumer insights, competitive advantage or product
         performance]

• What is the desired tone and the manner of the communication?

       [Reflected in the product personality, but more specific to the communication tone].

• What executional consideration are there? 

       [Legal, branding, logistical and directional input].






 

 

Importance of Brands

In any but most primitive societies or where the economy is totally controlled ( a rare phenomenon these days) people seldom buy goods -  to satisfy needs. They buy brands - to satisfy wants. How often people ask for soft drinks? They specify Coke or Pepsi or perhaps 7up. Women do not buy shampoo , it is Pantene, Sunsilk or Head & Shoulders.

Why do Customers prefer to buy Brands??

A Successful brand :

• Is perceived as a unique bundle of benefits - tangible and intangible - that match the buyers want very closely
• Signifies consistency of quality and hence dependable performance.
• Reduces effort, risk and uncertainty during purchase.
• Identifies, promises and reassures....

A brand is essentially a marketer's promise to deliver a specific set of features, benefits and services consistently to buyers, but it is complex symbol that may symbolize six levels of meaning

1. Attributes : Mercedes suggest well built, expensive, durable and well engineered cars
2. Benefits : Attribute translated into functional and emotional (tangible and intangible) befits. "Durable may translate into functional benefit " I may not have to buy another car for several years", expensive may be perceived as emotional "Mercedes makes me feel important"
3. Values : The producers values are enshrined in the brand. Mercedes indicates high performance safety and prestige.
4. Culture : Mercedes suggest German culture - Organised, efficient and high quality.
5. Personality : Mercedes may suggest a "no nonsense" boss.
6. User : Mercedes is "for those who arrived" not a junior officer or a college student.

For customers, brands are products with added values, often intangible, always desirable. Added value arise from brand experience (leading to familiarity and hence reduction of risk) from belief in the efficacy   of the brand; from the user profile; from the appearance due to packaging; from advertising. Also from celebrities endorsing the brand.

Brand - A name, term, sign, symbol or design or a combination of these, used to distinguish products of one marketer from products of competing sources.

Brand Name - that part of the identity that can be pronounced;

Brand Mark - that part which is recognizable but cannot be uttered.

Trade Mark - a brand identity which is legally protected against deceptive look-alike, counterfeits etc.

Branded products have become utterly important over the world and in India; in the past couple of decades, a few hundred brands have been launched in India, many to inglorious deaths. Even when products have been largely sold as commodities, brands have been launched to cater to the minuscule minority that wants, and can afford to pay for branded satisfaction. Examples like branded atta, rice, chicken...

What is Marketing ??

"Marketing is an Organisational Function, a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to the customer and managing customer relationship in ways to benefit the organisation and its stakeholder" - Phillip Kotler

Is Marketing an Art or Science??

Marketing is both an Art & Science.

Marketing is art because it is about appreciating the nuances of human behavior. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Beauty is art. 

Marketing is art because it is creating demand for your product. Some of the demand is immediate and some of it is in the future. You can use Science to predict the future part but you might pick a number based on art. There is always an unknown aspect that we attribute to art. Marketing is an art because there is an issue of Branding which is difficult to measure. To generate a good return on Marketing Investment requires a creative approach. That means applying the art of marketing.

Marketing is Science because it is about understanding & influencing behaviors. Psychology,  the science of behaviors studies how people respond to certain stimuli in predictable ways. This is similar to Newton 3rd Law- case - effects.

Marketing is Science because it is about measuring and analysing  numbers. How many do you reach? How many read your message? How many buy again? The numeric question and answers are important to the success of Marketing.

Marketing is Science because the most common question is "How much money should I spend on Marketing. The business owner and the accountant wants the answer to this question. It is good question but the more important question is "What return can you expect from your marketing?"

Many marketers try to portray marketing as art and give up responsibility for their marketing programs. They suggest that marketing is all chance. Instead it is a science that should draw upon the art. Use science to determine major decisions & use the art for the nuances. Importantly the science should lead and measure and the art should inspire & create.

Socio Economic Classification

Socio Economic Classification

Occupation	Education
	Illiterate	Less than 4 yrs in school	5-9 yrs of school	School certificate	Some college	Graduate	Post-graduate
Skilled	E2	E1	D	C	C	B2	B2
Unskilled	E2	E2	E1	D	D	D	D
Shop owner	D	D	C	B2	B2	A2	A2
Petty trader	E2	D	D	C	C	B2	B2
Employer of-
Above 10 persons	B1	B1	A2	A2	A1	A1	A1
Below 10 persons	C	B2	B2	B1	A2	A1	A1
None	D	C	B2	B1	A2	A1	A1
Clerk	D	D	D	C	B2	B1	B1
Supervisor	D	D	C	C	B2	B1	A2
Professional	D	D	D	B2	B1	A2	A1
Senior executive	B1	B1	B1	B1	A2	A1	A1
Junior executive	C	C	C	B2	B1	A2	A2

Section A & B refer to high class -- constitutes to over a quarter of urban population.

Section C refers to middle class -- constitutes 21% of the urban class

Section D & E refers to Low Class -- constitutes over half the urban population.

Section C constitutes households whose chief wage earners are employed as :- 

Skilled workers	33%
Petty traders	12%
Clerk/Supervisor	37%
Shop owners	18%

3/4th of them have studied till 10th or 12th exam, while remaining 1/4th have studied  till 9th class. Less than half of the Chief Wage Earners belongings to section D & E are unskilled workers.

Petty traders are 18% while skilled workers are 28%.

More than 80% of the upper strata consumers are living in the top 7 cities. These top cities are Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Hyderabad. With increase in economic prosperity, this population (upper strata consumers) is growing at 10% annually.

The rural area is segregated in to R1, R2, R3, R4.

Education of chief wage earner	Type of House
	Pucca	Semi-pucca	Kuchcha
Professional degree	R1	R2	R3
Graduation/ PG	R1	R2	R3
College	R1	R2	R3
SSC/HSC	R2	R3	R3
Class 4-Class 9	R3	R3	R4
Up to class 4	R3	R3	R4
Self-learning	R3	R4	R4
Illiterate	R4	R4	R4