Market Segmentation

 A marketing term referring to the aggregating of prospective buyers into groups (segments) that have common needs and will respond similarly to a marketing action. Market segmentation enables companies to target different categories of consumers who perceive the full value of certain products and services differently from one another.

Generally three criteria can be used to identify different market segments:

1) Homogeneity (common needs within segment)

2) Distinction (unique from other groups)

3) Reaction (similar response to market)

For example, an athletic footwear company might have market segments for basketball players and long-distance runners. As distinct groups, basketball players and long-distance runners will respond to very different advertisements. 

Q:  Why Segment a Market?

Before marketing the products or services, one needs to understand their customers, and find ways and means to satisfy their wants. This is imperative to stay ahead of the competition and build the brand. This is done through extensive market research. Although it is not possible to satisfy individual needs and understand all of them, a clearly defined market segmentation strategy will help create a market to cater to groups of individuals that will make economic sense to mass produce and distribute. The concept of target market segmentation strategy also falls under this blanket, except the former recognizes and understands the diversity of customers and provides them with products and services that suit their specific requirements. A successful market strategy strives to understand different segments and its different needs; works on the exhibited common wants; and responds immediately.

Q:  Strategies for Market Segmentation

How a market is segmented is based on certain variables. Variables used for segmentation include; behavioral, demographic, psychographic, and geographical differences.

Psychographic Segmentation

Segmenting people according to their lifestyle and values, and how they translate into consumption or purchases of products or services is what psychographic segmentation is all about. How one's interest, opinions, values, attitude, and the activities they perform, affect their choices and why a group of people would lean towards one product more than others. A high status would translate into an expensive flying habit, while a thrift value will translate into an economy flight.

 

Geographical Segmentation

Geographical segmentation is done by dividing people (markets) into different geographical locations. The country, state, or neighborhood, the king of gentry, climate, size of a place segmented into size of its age wise population, etc., all play a role in devising market strategies. This helps the producer and the marketers to understand what will sell and what won't. For example, a market for winter wear would definitely not work in warm regions.

Demographic Segmentation

Demographic segmentation refers to a wide study of potential customers. While marketing a product, many variables like age, gender, education, income, family size, occupation, socioeconomic status, culture, religion, language, and nationality are taken into account. There are many instances where such segmentation has worked very profitably. This segmentation plays a vital role in determining whether a product can be mass marketed or designed for a specific clientèle.

Behavioral Segmentation

Behavioral segmentation is based on the customer's needs and subsequent reaction to those needs or towards the purchase of intended products and/or services. This study is conducted on all variables that are closely related to the product itself, like loyalty to a particular brand, cost-effectiveness in terms of benefits and usage, circumstances responsible for the purchase, whether the customer is a regular, a first timer, or and has the potential to become a customer, and whether the readiness to buy is linked to status.

 

 

Q:  Theory of Market Segmentation

A modern theory pertaining to interest rates stipulating that there is no necessary relationship between long and short-term interest rates. Furthermore, short and long-term markets fall into two different categories. Therefore, the yield curve is shaped according to the supply and demand of securities within each maturity length.

Also called the "Segmented Markets Theory", this idea states that most investors have set preferences regarding the length of maturities that they will invest in. Market segmentation theory maintains that the buyers and sellers in each of the different maturity lengths cannot be easily substituted for each other. An offshoot to this theory is that if an investor chooses to invest outside their term of preference, they must be compensated for taking on that additional risk. This is known as the Preferred Habitat Theory.

Example:

Market segmentation theory suggests that the behavior of short-term interest rates is wholly unrelated to the behavior of long-term interest rates. In other words, a change in one is in no way indicative of an immediate change in the other. Both must be analyzed independently. Accordingly, the yield curve reflects the market supply and demand for Treasury bonds of a certain maturity only.

 

Why It Matters:

Market segmentation theory suggests that it is impossible to predict future interest rate outcomes based on short-term interest rates. Moreover, long-term interest rates (for example, the rate of the 30-year Treasury bond) only express market expectations and do not indicate that a definite outcome will occur.

 

Q: Types of Market Segmentation.

Geographic Segmentation

Geographical segmentation is done by dividing people (markets) into different geographical locations. The country, state, or neighborhood, the king of gentry, climate, size of a place segmented into size of its age wise population, etc., all play a role in devising market strategies. This helps the producer and the marketers to understand what will sell and what won't. For example, a market for winter wear would definitely not work in warm regions.

Distribution Segmentation

Different markets can be reached through different channels of distribution. For example, a company might segment the “tick and flea collar” market by selling the product to supermarkets under one brand name, to mass merchandisers under another brand, to pet stores under another brand name, and to veterinarians under yet another brand name. This type of distributional segmentation is common, especially among small companies that grant each channel a unique brand to gain distribution within that channel.

 

Media Segmentation

While not common, media segmentation is sometimes a possibility. It is based on the fact that different media tend to reach different audiences. If a brand pours all of its budget into one media, it can possibly dominate the segment of the market that listens to that radio station or reads that magazine. Media segmentation is most often practiced by companies that have some control over the media and can somehow discourage competitors from using that media.

Price Segmentation

Price segmentation is common and widely practiced. Variation in household incomes creates an opportunity for segmenting some markets along a price dimension. If personal incomes range from low to high, the reasoning goes, then a company should offer some cheap products, some medium-priced ones, and some expensive ones. This type of price segmentation is well illustrated by the range of automotive brands marketed by General Motors historically.

Demographic Segmentation

Gender, age, income, housing type, and education level are common demographic variables. Some brands are targeted only to women, others only to men. Music downloads tend to be targeted to the young, while hearing aids are targeted to the elderly. Education levels often define market segments. Demographic segmentation almost always plays some role in a segmentation strategy.

Time Segmentation

Time segmentation is less common but can be highly effective. Some stores stay open later than others, or stay open on weekends. Some products are sold only at certain times of the year (e.g., Christmas cards, turkeys, fireworks, cranberry sauce). Chili is marketed more aggressively in the fall, with the onset of cooler weather. Football is played in the fall, basketball in the winter and spring, and baseball in the spring and summer (or at least this used to be the pattern). The Olympics come along every two years. Department stores sometimes schedule midnight promotional events. The time dimension can be an interesting basis for segmentation.

Psychographic or Lifestyle Segmentation

Segmenting people according to their lifestyle and values, and how they translate into consumption or purchases of products or services is what psychographic segmentation is all about. How one's interest, opinions, values, attitude, and the activities they perform, affect their choices and why a group of people would lean towards one product more than others. A high status would translate into an expensive flying habit, while a thrift value will translate into an economy flight.

There are four main types of segmentation used in market research analysis: a priori, usage, attitudinal and need.

A priori (most commonly used)

a priori is defined as relating to knowledge that proceeds from theoretical deduction rather than from observation or experience. For purposes of market research analysis this means making certain assumptions about different groups that are generally accepted as pertaining to that group.  For example, deducing that adults over 50 are not as tech savvy as twenty somethings is a safe assumption based on the reasoning that high tech devices were not as widely available to the older generation than they are to the younger.

Usage Segmentation (also used frequently)

Usage segmentation is completed either by decile or pereto analysis. The former splits the groups into ten equal parts and the latter distributes according to the top 20% and the remaining 80%. Usage segmentation helps to drill down more deeply then a priori because it indicates which priori group is the heaviest user of your product.

Attitudinal (Cluster analysis)

Using cluster analysis to create customer psychological profiles is difficult because it is limited by the input data used.  Demographic data is the least helpful, whereas preference data (scaling) is better suited toward this type of analysis.

Needs Based Segmentation

Needs based segmentation is the concept that the market can be divided based on customer need.  This type of analysis is used to develop products that sell rather than trying to sell products a business developed.

Needs based segmentation uses conjoint analysis to separate the groups according to functional performance.  Using cluster analysis, its goal is to determine the driving forces behind the performance data.

 

Q:  Common Mistakes In Market Segmentation

Segmentation studies tend to be large and complicated, so it’s easy for errors and mistakes to be made. Some of the most common mistakes:

1.       Segmenting a segment. For example, someone might want to segment the market for widgets among 18- to 24-year-olds who live in Vermont and buy brand XYZ. As is evident, the client is asking that a tiny sliver of the market be segmented. True, this tiny sliver can be segmented, but rarely are the resulting segments of any value, because they are just too small. General rule: segment the whole market, including all age groups. 

2.       Overlooking the “universals.” Many attitudinal statements in the questionnaire will not show up in the final segments, because they tend to be the same across all segments. Statements that everyone agrees with, or everyone disagrees with (we call them “universals”) cannot explain much in the multivariate analyses. Variables have to move up and down for the multivariate analysis to work. The highest rated variables, and the lowest rated, are likely to fall out of the multivariate analyses. 

3.       Creating too many segments. There is a practical limit to the size of segments that companies can effectively target. If you create more than four or five market segments, you run the risk that the resulting segments will be too small to target, at least by mass media. This is not always true, but it is a good rule of thumb.

4.       Targeting all segments. So you have carefully subdivided your target market into five mutually exclusive psychographic segments, and your boss tells you to develop a marketing plan to attack each segment. If all of your marketing is direct mail, and you can identify the addresses that belong to each segment, then you can attack all segments (assuming your product is relevant to all segments). But, if you use broadcast media in marketing your product, it is very difficult to target multiple segments because of media “spillover.”

5.       Confusing the results. Segmentation studies are large and complicated, with enormous amounts of data. It is easy to get lost in this treasure trove of answers and come up with confusing and baffling results.

6.       Overlooking the basics. The dazzle and glitter of the advanced, rocket-science multivariate analyses attract everyone’s attention. No one ever opens up the crosstabs  and looks at the answers to the hundreds of questions asked. 

 

Q:  Basis of Market Segmentation

Gender

The marketers divide the market into smaller segments based on gender. Both men and women have different interests and preferences, and thus the need for segmentation. A woman would not purchase a product meant for males and vice a versa. The segmentation of the market as per the gender is important in many industries like cosmetics, footwear, jewellery and apparel industries.

Age Group

Division on the basis of age group of the target audience is also one of the ways of market segmentation.

The products and marketing strategies for teenagers would obviously be different than kids.

Age group (0 - 10 years) - Toys, Nappies, Baby Food, Prams

Age Group (10 - 20 years) - Toys, Apparels, Books, School Bags

Age group (20 years and above) - Cosmetics, Anti-Ageing Products, Magazines, apparels and so on

Income

Marketers divide the consumers into small segments as per their income. Individuals are classified into segments according to their monthly earnings.

The three categories are:

High income Group

Mid Income Group

Low Income Group

Stores catering to the higher income group would have different range of products and strategies as compared to stores which target the lower income group.

 

Marital Status

Market segmentation can also be as per the marital status of the individuals. Travel agencies would not have similar holiday packages for bachelors and married couples.

Occupation

Office goers would have different needs as compared to school / college students.

A beach house shirt or a funky T Shirt would have no takers in a Zodiac Store as it caters specifically to the professionals.

 

Q:  Criteria for effective segmentation

a)       Homogeneous within,

b)       Heterogeneous between,

c)       Substantial – should be large enough,

d)       Actionable

e)       Accessible,

f)        Measurable

 

Q:  Benefits of Segmentation

a) Development marketing mix,

b) Store location decisions,

c) Understand customer behavior,

d) Merchandising decision,

e) Promotional Campaigns,

f) Positioning.

Explain relationship between Attitude and behavior

 The effects of attitudes on behaviors represent a significant research enterprise within psychology. Two theoretical approaches have dominated this research: the theory of reasoned action^[23] and, its theoretical descendant, the theory of planned behavior, both of which are associated with Icek Ajzen. Both of these theories describe the link between attitude and behavior as a deliberative process, with an individual actively choosing to engage in an attitude-related behavior.

The theory of reasoned action (TRA) is a model for the prediction of behavioral intention, spanning predictions of attitude and predictions of behavior. The subsequent separation of behavioral intention from behavior allows for explanation of limiting factors on attitudinal influence (Ajzen, 1980). The Theory of Reasoned Action was developed by Martin Fishbein and Icek Ajzen (1975, 1980), derived from previous research that started out as the theory of attitude, which led to the study of attitude and behavior. The theory was "born largely out of frustration with traditional attitude–behavior research, much of which found weak correlations between attitude measures and performance of volitional behaviors" (Hale, Householder & Greene, 2003, p. 259).

The theory of planned behavior was proposed by Icek Ajzen in 1985 through his article "From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior." The theory was developed from the theory of reasoned action, which was proposed by Martin Fishbein together with Icek Ajzen in 1975. The theory of reasoned action was in turn grounded in various theories of attitude such as learning theories, expectancy-value theories, consistency theories, and attribution theory. According to the theory of reasoned action, if people evaluate the suggested behavior as positive (attitude), and if they think their significant others want them to perform the behavior (subjective norm), this results in a higher intention (motivation) and they are more likely to do so.

A counter-argument against the high relationship between behavioral intention and actual behavior has also been proposed, as the results of some studies show that, because of circumstantial limitations, behavioral intention does not always lead to actual behavior.

 

Define Attitude, Explain the Function of Attitude, Explain the Attitude Change

 Q: Define Attitude.

An attitude is an expression of favor or disfavor toward a person, place, thing, or event (the attitude object). Prominent psychologist Gordon Allport once described attitudes "the most distinctive and indispensable concept in contemporary social psychology.".^[1] Attitude can be formed from a person's past and present.^[2] Attitude is also measurable and changeable as well as influencing the person's emotion and behavior.

                An attitude can be defined as a positive or negative evaluation of people, objects, event, activities, ideas, or just about anything in your environment, but there is debate about precise definitions. Eagly and Chaiken, for example, define an attitude "a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor.

 

Q:  Explain the Function of Attitude

Daniel Katz classified attitudes into four different groups based on their functions

• Utilitarian: provides us with general approach or avoidance tendencies
• Knowledge: help people organize and interpret new information
• Ego-defensive: attitudes can help people protect their self-esteem
• Value-expressive: used to express central values or beliefs

1.  Utilitarian People adopt attitudes that are rewarding and that help them avoid punishment. In other words any attitude that is adopted in a person's own self-interest is considered to serve a utilitarian function. Consider you have a condo, people with condos pay property taxes, and as a result you don't want to pay more taxes. If those factors lead to your attitude that " Increases in property taxes are bad" you attitude is serving a utilitarian function.

2.  Knowledge People need to maintain an organized, meaningful, and stable view of the world. That being said important values and general principles can provide a framework for our knowledge. Attitudes achieve this goal by making things fit together and make sense. Example:

I believe that I am a good person.

I believe that good things happen to good people.

3.  Ego-Defensive This function involves psychoanalytic principles where people use defense mechanisms to protect themselves from psychological harm. Mechanisms include:

1) Denial, 2) Repression, 3) Projection, 4) Rationalization

The ego-defensive notion correlates nicely with Downward Comparison Theory which holds the view that derogating a less fortunate other increases our own subjective well-being.

4.  Value-Expressive

Serves to express one's central values and self-concept.

Central values tend to establish our identity and gain us social approval thereby showing us who we are, and what we stand for.

An example would concern attitudes toward a controversial political issue.

Q: Explain the Attitude Change

Attitudes can be changed through persuasion and an important domain of research on attitude change focuses on responses to communication. Experimental research into the factors that can affect the persuasiveness of a message include:

Target Characteristics: These are characteristics that refer to the person who receives and processes a message. One such trait is intelligence - it seems that more intelligent people are less easily persuaded by one-sided messages. Another variable that has been studied in this category is self-esteem.

Source Characteristics: The major source characteristics are expertise, trustworthiness and interpersonal attraction or attractiveness. The credibility of a perceived message has been found to be a key variable here; if one reads a report about health and believes it came from a professional medical journal, one may be more easily persuaded than if one believes it is from a popular newspaper.

 Message Characteristics: The nature of the message plays a role in persuasion. Sometimes presenting both sides of a story is useful to help change attitudes. When people are not motivated to process the message, simply the number of arguments presented in a persuasive message will influence attitude change, such that a greater number of arguments will produce greater attitude change.

Cognitive Routes: A message can appeal to an individual's cognitive evaluation to help change an attitude. In the central route to persuasion the individual is presented with the data and motivated to evaluate the data and arrive at an attitude changing conclusion. In the peripheral route to attitude change, the individual is encouraged to not look at the content but at the source.

Define consumer behavior

 Consumer Behavior is the study of how individuals make decisions to spend their available resources (time, money, effort) on consumption related items.

            It is the study of consumers and the processes they use to choose, use (consume), and dispose of products and services. A more in depth definition will also include how that process impacts the world. Consumer behavior incorporates ideas from several sciences including psychology, biology, chemistry and economics.

"All marketing decisions are based on assumptions and knowledge of consumer behavior," 

Relationship between Marketing & Production

 Marketing is now used as the vehicle for encouraging goods and services produced into the hands of the consumer. Unfortunately superior marketing can lodge a product of less value into the life of a consumer or skew the effectiveness of a product and so cause good/excellent products to remain on a "shelve".

In speaking about production the Lord simply says. everything that is is my tithe. use them and create and develop remembering that the first part is HOLY. If then we recognize value in the MIND...then we will applaud as superior productions. those that are produced recognizing HIS Greatness and HIS gift to us. and rather than compete by marketing, compete by their substance i.e. their standard and work with the desire to always improve. to the glory of God.

This then would shift the focus from marketing to production and the more we produce with care the more goods and services we will have to choose from and the world will be fed all it's needs through products built with a desire for excellence.

Goals of Marketing System? Explain the challenges of Marketing

 the goals of marketing system are given below:

-buyers want god quality products at reasonable prices in convenient locations

-they want wide brand and feature assortment

-helpful, pleasant, and honest sales people and strong warranty backed by good follow-p service.

Challenges of Marketing:

·         Developing a compelling, customer focused value proposition: discover what is really important to customers and separate your business from the competition on this value

·         Targeting ideal customers and getting their attention and interest. Combine a Customer Focused Value Proposition with Relationship Marketing to win more customers.

·         Finding the best lead generation tactics for your ideal customers

Wasting leads and prospects by allowing them to fall through the cracks. Poor follow up makes marketing both expensive and ineffective. The follow-up challenge requires marketing and sales to work together

Define Marketing, Functions, Elements of marketing

 Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of selling the product or service. It is a critical business function for attracting customers.

According to the American Marketing Association,

“Marketing as the “performance of business activities that directs the flow

of goods and services from producer to consumer or user’.

According to Philip Kotler,

“Marketing as “a human activity directed to satisfying process”.

According to William J. Stanton,

“Marketing as “a total system of business activities designed to plan, price, promote and distribute want satisfying goods and services to the present and potential customers”.

The above definitions provide us an idea on the nature of marketing.

The features in the above definitions are that

a) Marketing, is an exchange process.

b) Covers a variety of functions to be carried out in an integrated manner, and

c) is directed to satisfy the needs/desires/wants of the consumer.

 

Marketing is an activity. Marketing activities and strategies result in making products available that satisfy customers while making profits for the companies that offer those products.

What Activities are Included in Marketing?

Marketing activities are numerous and varied because they basically include everything needed to get a product off the drawing board and into the hands of the customer. The broad field of marketing includes activities such as:

·         Designing the product so it will be desirable to customers by using tools such as marketing research and pricing.

·         Promoting the product so people will know about it by using tools such as public relations, advertising, and marketing communications.

·         Setting a price and letting potential customers know about your product and making it available to them.

Functions of Marketing:

To achieve success in your marketing effort you need to have glimpse of the big pictures and the activities you need to perform in achieving your set marketing objectives, these activities is referred to as

The function of marketing. It refers to those specialize activities that you as a marketer must perform in order to achieve your set marketing objectives.

(1)Research function: the research function of marketing is that function of marketing that enables you to generate adequate information regarding your particular market of target. You must carry out adequate research to identify the size, behavior, culture, believe, genders etc. of your target market segment, their needs and want, and then develop effective product that can meet and satisfy these market needs and want.

(2)Buying function: the function of buying is performed in order to acquire quality materials for production. When you design a good product concept, you should also ensure you're buying the essential materials for the product. This function is carried out by the purchase and supply department, but your specifications of materials goes a long way in assisting the purchasing department to acquire the necessary materials needed for production.

(3)Product development and management: product development is an essential function of marketing since it was the duties of the marketing department to identify what the market need or want and then design effective product based on the identified need and want of the market.

(4)Production function: production is the function performs by the production department.  Though, this is interrelated to the department of marketing, because your product must possess the essential characteristics that can meet the target market needs and want as identified during your market research, such characteristics as in your product Test, Form, Packaging etc.

(5)Promotion function: promotion is one of the core functions of marketing since your finish product must not remain in the place of production, hence, you as a marketer must design effective communication strategies to informing the availability of your product to your target market.

(6)Standardization and grading: the function of standardization is to establish specified characteristics that your product must conform to, such standard as in having a specify test, ingredient etc. That makes your product brand so unique.

Grading comes in when you sort and classify your product into deferent sizes or quantities for different market segment while maintaining your product standard.

(7)Pricing function: you perform the function of pricing on your product offerings by designing effective pricing systems base on your product stage and performance in the product life cycle. Price is the actual value consumers perceive on your product, so you as a marketer should ensure that your value of your product is not too high or too low to that of your costumers.

(8)Distribution function: the function of distribution is to ensure that your product is easily and effectively moved from the point of production to the target market, the kind of transportation system to employ e.g. Road, rail, water or air, and ensures that the product can be easily accessed by customers.

(9)Risk bearing function: the process of moving a finished product from the point of production to the point of consumptions is characterized with lots of risks, such risks as in product damaging, pilferage and defaults etc.

(10)Financing function: financing deals with the part of marketing to providing incomes for your business. It refers to how you can raise capital to start operation and remain in business. It refers to your modes of payment for the goods and services transferred to your costumers.

(11) After sales-service: in a more complex and technical product, you as a marketer should make provision in order to assist your customers after they have purchased your product. In terms of machines or heavy equipment product that requires installation or maintenance, most marketing organization renders such services like installing the machine or maintaining it for stipulated periods on time for free or by a little service charge.

 

Elements of Marketing:

Marketing encompasses a number of different activities such as product design, pricing, strategies, advertising and others. However these are just activities which have to be done in the process of marketing. There are also some crucial elements of marketing which are very necessary for the success of marketing and they form the backbone of marketing. There four elements are as follows.

1) Research –  If you want to launch your own company or a product what will you do? The first thing that you will do will be market research. You will like to determine what the market actually wants. Similarly, during marketing too, market research is needed to determine what message should the company adopt and which medium will be best, what positioning needs to be achieved to target the right segment. By doing market research, we can gather data which can help us in analysis and action.

2) Strategy –  Once you have your data ready, you know where your product stands and also the standing of your company in the market in terms of strengths and weaknesses. You also have an idea of what strategies will need to be implemented and what factors will need to be adopted by the company to beat competitors and succeed in the market. Thus, after research, strategies decide the vision of the company, its goal, its mission and in general where the company wants to be. The strategic plan needs to be well thought of by realistically considering all possibilities.

3) Planning –  Now that you know, Where you want to be, naturally you have to plan How you are going to reach there. That is the job of the marketing planning department. The marketing plan involves sales forecasting, financial planning, communications strategy and many such benchmarks which define how the company is going to achieve its strategic goals in the future. The planning department also keeps a track of the timeline so that time to time we can determine whether we are on track with the strategic plan or not.

4) Tactics –  Where planning happens at the topmost level, tactics are the street smart, short term plans you implement to attract customers, beat your competitors, increase sales, provide a better value for your customers or for any other short term objective which needs to be achieved. Giving an offer such as “Buy 1, get 1 free” is a sales tactic. Lessening the price of your product during festival time is a promotional tactic. Several such tactics can be implemented by the company to make sure that it is inline with the planning done in the earlier stage. Some industries, such as FMCG and consumer durable, mainly survive on time to time tactics that the implement. Due to the competitive nature of these industries, smart tactics ar absolutely necessary to achieve good revenues and for customer acquisition.

Thus overall, there may be 100′s of marketing activities such as branding, advertising etc. But all these marketing activities are a part of the four key elements of marketing. Using these four key elements as base, you can compare where you stand currently, which department are you weak in and then plan your future accordingly

Techno etiquettes in bank

 The use of telephones, cell phones, speakerphones, voice mail, email and faxes has become a way of life in business. However, the rules of etiquette have not always kept pace with the innovations of technology. Here, then, is a primer on the “do’s and don’ts” of techno-etiquette.

EMAIL

Email has become the preferred method of communication for many people in business, but if not used properly, can become hazardous to relationships and careers. Email is a silent form of communication. One can neither see you as you say the words nor hear your vocal inflections; the message is contained entirely in the words you choose to write and send. Because the reader misses out on the nuances of your verbal and visual delivery the results are often miscommunication and misunderstandings.

CELL PHONE/BEEPER

We all have a love-hate relationship with cell phones. They’re wonderful when we need them, but annoyed when we hear someone else’s cell phone ring or are forced to listen to their side of a conversation. Conducting a cell phone conversation in a public place is only appropriate in an emergency. Remove yourself to a private location before placing any cell phone call.  There’s really only one correct way for cell phones to ring, and that is not at all. Turn all phones and beepers to vibrate only. End of discussion.

VOICEMAIL

Your outgoing message should include your name, title and company name.

Keep your outgoing voicemail message current. Update the message weekly or daily.

When out of town, state in your message when you’ll be back, whether you’ll be checking in for messages, how to contact you or who to contact in your absence.

When leaving voicemail for others, give your name slowly with proper spelling, company name and phone number. Briefly specify the purpose of your call. Let them know the best time to reach you. Leave your phone number again at the end of the message.

Try not to ramble when leaving voicemail. Messages should be no longer than thirty seconds.

SPEAKERPHONE

Use speakerphones sparingly. Whenever you use one, always ask the other party’s permission to do so and identify everyone in the room with you.

During conference calls, participants should identify themselves whenever speaking.

Consider picking the phone up periodically during the call to add a “human touch” to the conversation.

FAX

Faxes have the potential for being quite public; they can be read by anyone who happens across them at the machine. As with email, be careful never to fax admonishments or sensitive content. If you need to send confidential information via fax, call the recipient and ask that they wait by the machine at their end. Sending thank-yous, congratulatory notes, or any kind of inappropriate jokes or pictures is considered tacky and bad form.

SMS Banking

 SMS banking is a type of mobile banking, a technology-enabled service offering from banks to its customers, permitting them to operate selected banking services over their mobile phones using SMS messaging.

SMS banking services are operated using both push and pull messages. Push messages are those that the bank chooses to send out to a customer's mobile phone, without the customer initiating a request for the information. Typically push messages could be either Mobile marketing messages or messages alerting an event which happens in the customer's bank account, such as a large withdrawal of funds from the ATM or a large payment using the customer's credit card, etc. (see section below on Typical Push and Pull messages).

Pull messages are those that are initiated by the customer, using a mobile phone, for obtaining information or performing a transaction in the bank account. Examples of pull messages for information include an account balance enquiry, or requests for current information like currency exchange rates and deposit interest rates, as published and updated by the bank.

                Depending on the selected extent of SMS banking transactions offered by the bank, a customer could be authorized to carry out either non-financial transactions, or both and financial and non-financial transactions. SMS banking solutions offer customers a range of functionality, classified by push and pull services as outlined below.

Typical push services would include:

• Periodic account balance reporting (say at the end of month);
• Reporting of salary and other credits to the bank account;
• Successful or un-successful execution of a standing order;
• Successful payment of a cheque issued on the account;
• Insufficient funds;
• Large value withdrawals on an account;
• Large value withdrawals on the ATM or EFTPOS on a debit card;
• Large value payment on a credit card or out of country activity on a credit card.

• One-time password and authentication

Typical pull services would include:

• Account balance enquiry;
• Mini statement request;
• Electronic bill payment;
• Transfers between customer's own accounts, like moving money from a savings account to a current account to fund a cheque;
• Stop payment instruction on a cheque;
• Requesting for an ATM card or credit card to be suspended;
• De-activating a credit or debit card when it is lost or the PIN is known to be compromised;
• Foreign currency exchange rates enquiry;
• Fixed deposit interest rates enquiry.

Environmentalism

 Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements. Environmentalism advocates the preservation, restoration and/or improvement of the natural environment, and may be referred to as a movement to control pollution or protect plant and animal diversity. For this reason, concepts such as a land ethic, environmental ethics, biodiversity, ecology and the biophilia hypothesis figure predominantly.

                Environmentalism is an attempt to balance relations between humans and the various natural systems on which they depend in such a way that all the components are accorded a proper degree of sustainability. The exact measures and outcomes of this balance is controversial and there are many different ways for environmental concerns to be expressed in practice. Environmentalism and environmental concerns are often represented by the color green, but this association has been appropriated by the marketing industries and is a key tactic of greenwashing. Environmentalism is opposed by anti-environmentalism, which takes a skeptical stance against many environmentalist perspectives.

Internet banking/Online banking/e-banking

 Online banking (or Internet banking or E-banking) allows customers of a financial institution to conduct financial transactions on a secure website operated by the institution, which can be a retail or virtual bank, credit union or building society.

To access a financial institution's online banking facility, a customer having personal Internet access must register with the institution for the service, and set up some password (under various names) for customer verification. The password for online banking is normally not the same as for telephone banking. Financial institutions now routinely allocate customer numbers (also under various names), whether or not customers intend to access their online banking facility. Customer numbers are normally not the same as account numbers, because a number of accounts can be linked to the one customer number. The customer will link to the customer number any of those accounts which the customer controls, which may be cheque, savings, loan, credit card and other accounts. Customer numbers will also not be the same as any debit or credit card issued by the financial institution to the customer.

To access online banking, the customer would go to the financial institution's website, and enter the online banking facility using the customer number and password. Some financial institutions have set up additional security steps for access, but there is no consistency to the approach adopted.

Online banking facilities offered by various financial institutions have many features and capabilities in common, but also have some that are application specific.

The common features fall broadly into several categories

A bank customer can perform some non-transactional tasks through online banking, including -

• viewing account balances

·         viewing recent transactions

• downloading bank statements, for example in PDF format
• viewing images of paid cheques
• ordering cheque books
• download periodic account statements
• Downloading applications for M-banking, E-banking etc.

Bank customers can transact banking tasks through online banking, including -

• Funds transfers between the customer's linked accounts

Paying third parties, including bill payments (see, e.g., BPAY) and telegraphic/wire transfers

• Investment purchase or sale
• Loan applications and transactions, such as repayments of enrollments
• Register utility billers and make bill payments
• Financial institution administration

·         Management of multiple users having varying levels of authority

• Transaction approval process
• the process of banking has become much faster

Some financial institutions offer unique Internet banking services, for example

• Personal financial management support, such as importing data into personal accounting software. Some online banking platforms support account aggregation to allow the customers to monitor all of their accounts in one place whether they are with their main bank or with other institutions.

Customer value

 Customer value is the benefit that a customer will get from a product or service in comparison with its cost. This benefit might be measured in monetary terms, such as when a product helps save the customer money that would have been spent on something else. A benefit also can be difficult to quantify, such as the enjoyment that a customer receives from a product or service. The term "customer value" should not be confused with the value of customers to businesses. It refers to the value that the customers receive, not to how valuable customers are.

Customer Value Marketing

·         There are several reasons for this, including the need, in most cases, for additional resources. Customer marketing can require different types of investments, technology, and skills. A database, for example, that contains leads of potential clients will not be effective to store and process information regarding existing clients.

In the business world, it is very beneficial to develop a customer marketing strategy early so that all activities can be directed at growing the organization effectively and promoting products and services to the right consumers. Generally a company develops customer marketing strategies by understanding the uniqueness of its product or service in the marketplace, researching its target customers and strategically placing marketing where it will reach those target customers

Customer centric

 A customer-centric approach can add value to a company by enabling it to different Customer-centric relationship management (CCRM) is a style of customer relationship management that focuses on customer preferences, instead of customer leverage. This is a nascent sub-discipline of traditional customer relationship management, to take advantage of changes in communications technology.

A CRM system becoming more “customer-centric” means being able to manage critical relationships more effectively and being positioned to offer new and expanded services.

Customer-centricity differs from 'client-centricity' in that the latter refers almost exclusively to business-to-business models rather than customer-facing firms.

                Features of CCRM

• Customer-centric relationship management is used in company marketing, customer service and sales, including:
• tailored marketing
• one-to-one customer service
• retaining customers
• building brand loyalty
• providing information customers actually want

Corporate Financial Market

 A financial market is a market in which people and entities can trade financial securities, commodities, and other fungible items of value at low transaction costs and at prices that reflect supply and demand. Securities include stocks and bonds, and commodities include precious metals or agricultural goods.

There are both general markets (where many commodities are traded) and specialized markets (where only one commodity is traded). Markets work by placing many interested buyers and sellers, including households, firms, and government agencies, in one "place", thus making it easier for them to find each other. An economy which relies primarily on interactions between buyers and sellers to allocate resources is known as a market economy in contrast either to a command economy or to a non-market economy such as a gift economy.

In finance, financial markets facilitate:

• The raising of capital (in the capital markets)
• The transfer of risk (in the derivatives markets)
• Price discovery
• Global transactions with integration of financial markets
• The transfer of liquidity (in the money markets)

 

A financial market helps the economy in the following manner.

Saving mobilization, Investment, National Growth, Entrepreneurship growth, Industrial development.

Competitive Strategy

 Long-term action plan that is devised to help a company gain a competitive advantage over its rival. This type of strategy is often used in advertising campaigns by somehow discrediting the competition's product or service. Competitive strategies are essential to companies competing in markets that are heavily saturated with alternatives for consumers.

            Decisions generate action that produces results.  Organizational results are the consequences of the decisions made by its leaders. The framework that guides and focuses these decisions is strategy. The framework that guides competitive positioning decisions is called competitive strategy.  A competitive strategy answers the following questions:

·         How do we define our business today and how will we define it tomorrow?

·         In what industries or markets will we compete?  The intensity of competition in an industry determines its profit potential and competitive attractiveness.

·         How will we respond to the competitive forces in these industries or markets (from suppliers, rivals, new entrants, substitute products, customers)?

·         What will be our fundamental approach to attaining competitive advantage (low price, differentiation, niche)?

·         What size or market position do we plan to achieve?

·         What will be our focus and method for growth (sales or profit margins, internally or by acquisition)?

The key to strategy formulation lies in understanding and overcoming the system barriers that obstruct the attainment of organizational goals.  An effective strategy recognizes these barriers and develops decisions and choices that circumvent them.

Marketing Communication Mix

 A marketing communication mix is a combination of marketing variables for a specific product/service, arrived at by choosing the best mix from the 4 Ps of marketing. It defines how you will position your product in the market. The four Ps are - Product: brand name, styling, etc. Place: distribution channels, warehousing, etc. Price: retail price, seasonal pricing, etc. Promotion: advertising, sales promotion, etc.

1.Advertisement:
Any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by identified sponsor.
2. Sales Promotion: A variety of shot-term incentives to encourage trial or purchase of a product or services.
3. Public Relation And Publicity: A variety of programs designed to promote or protect a company's image or its individual products.

4. Personal Selling: Face-to-face interaction with one or more prospective purchasers for the purpose of making presentations, answering questions, and procuring orders.

5. Direct Marketing: Use of mail, telephone, fax, e-mail, or Internet to communicate directly with or solicit a direct response for specific customers and prospects.

 

Consumerism

 Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the purchase of goods and services in ever-greater amounts. Criticisms of consumption are already present in the works of Thorstein Veblen (1899). Veblen's subject of examination, the newly emergent middle class arising at the turn of the twentieth century, comes to full fruition by the end of the twentieth century through the process of globalization. In this sense, consumerism is usually considered a part of media culture.

The term "consumerism" has also been used to refer to something quite different called the consumerists movement, consumer protection or consumer activism, which seeks to protect and inform consumers by requiring such practices as honest packaging and advertising, product guarantees, and improved safety standards.

In economics, consumerism refers to economic policies placing emphasis on consumption. The term "consumerism" has several definitions. These definitions may not be related to each other and confusingly, they conflict with each other.

1.       One sense of the term is to describe the efforts to support consumers' interests. By the early 1970s, it was the accepted term for the field and began to be used in these ways:

a)       "Consumerism" is the concept that consumers should be informed decision makers in the marketplace. Practices such as product testing make consumers informed.

b)       "Consumerism" is the concept that the marketplace itself is responsible for ensuring economic justice and fairness in society. Consumer protection policies and laws compel manufacturers to make products safe.

c)       "Consumerism" refers to the field of studying, regulating, or interacting with the marketplace.^[4] The consumer movement is the social movement which refers to all actions and all entities within the marketplace which give consideration to the consumer.

2.       While the above definitions were being established, other people began using the term "consumerism" to mean "high levels of consumption”. This definition gained popularity since the 1970s and began to be used in these ways:

a)       "Consumerism" is the selfish and frivolous collecting of products, or economic materialism. In protest to this some people promote "anti-consumerism" and advocacy for simple living.^[4]

b)      "Consumerism" is a force from the marketplace, which destroys individuality and harms society.^[4] It is related to globalization and in protest to this some people promote the "anti-globalization movement".

Service Differentiation

 The concept of being different is very much essential in today’s world of cut-throat competition. The difference of one product from its competitor is the revenue that it earns. Products have to be different in order to survive the competition. It is not just the domestic competition but also the competition from and in abroad, as one country produces and sells in another country while some other countries produce and sell in our country. The targeted customers have many options. Choosing among options is always based on differences, implicit and explicit. So, one must differentiate in order to attract the customer and make him/her buy the product.

Creating differentiation in one’s own product and services is a better way to avoid competition.

All the above-mentioned points are for a tangible product. But, how can we differentiate services. It is easy when the differentiation of variables is tangible as in the case of product but difficult in case of services. If the product has not many tangible features, then adding value-added services to the product is one of the methods. This process is called service differentiation.

The main features of service differentiation include:

Ease in ordering: Corporations like Dell, Baxter Healthcare and web-based services like peapod and net grocer have eased the process of placing an order. One does not have to step out of the house to buy the product.

Delivery: it is related to how well a product or a service is delivered to the customer with speed and accuracy. The best examples are again Dell, which delivers its products right at the doorstep of the customers.

Installation: it refers to the work undertaken to make the product operational at the prescribed location. Buyers of heavy equipment expect good installation service. Differentiation by installation is particularly important for companies that offer complex products such as computers and machinery.

Customer training: It refers to how the seller provides training to the buyer about the product and how to use it. General Electric supplies and installs expensive X-rays equipment in hospitals but also gives extensive training to the staff of hospitals about using the machines.

Customer consulting: It refers to the data, information systems and advising services that the seller offers to buyers. For example, the Rite aid drugstore chain’s communication program, called the Vitamin Institute provides customers with research so they can make more educated judgments and feel comfortable asking for help. On the web, Rite Aid has teamed up with drugstore.com to offer even more comprehensive health related information.

Maintenance and Repair: It refers to the post-sale services, which generally include maintenance and repair services. Automobile manufacturers are often seen providing free services initially for the automobiles.