Executive Summary
For the evaluation to take place, there are certain elements to be considered by the researcher. The first element to be considered is the cost, which the individual might be interested to know. This will be the inclusion of the cost usually incurred by the providers of the health services and the patients together with their careers. The analytical report will look at some of the issues talked about in social media marketing. The early discharge, which could be implemented, is on the changes, which will help in reducing the cost, which is usually incurred by the social services. After proper investigation, the next issue to be identified is the benefits from the intervention.
Before an organization can establish the best marketing practices, it is essential to understand the market. Heuristics is strategies or techniques used to make decisions that are acquired through experience. People make decisions using heuristics. However, not all decisions made are correct. People in their day-to-day activities use heuristics. This is because in life a person has to be constantly making decisions; what to wear, buy, when to sleep or even what to study.
Linear decision-making is a coherent stepped process that aids a person in choosing the best decision out of alternative solutions. This type of decision is used in organizations to solve problems as it mainly uses scientific principles. Although it is most reliable, it has three serious weaknesses first, it does not represent reality (Gilad 56). Second, there is growing skepticism about the validity of using general principles in the absence of specific content knowledge. Finally, there is an increasing awareness of the biases and other limitations that characterize the thinking of individuals.
The following are differences between heuristics and linear decision-making. Heuristics is based on experiences, which determine how a person will react to present circumstances while linear decision-making involves a systematic process of analytical thinking that does not have to relate to the past. Secondly, Heuristics is rarely comprehensive and is based on intuition while linear decision-making is very comprehensive as it takes into account all relevant facts or figures. Thirdly, Heuristic decision-making usually takes little time while linear decision-making may consume a lot of time because it is an evaluative process. Fourthly, Heuristic decisions are loosely dependable because they are considered to be biased or based on someone’s opinion while linear decisions are more dependable and more applicable to orderly outcomes. Fifth is In many instances in Heuristic decision making a person usually considers one decision against his/her status quo while in linear decision a person considers many alternative solutions and ultimately considers the decision that best suits his/her goals and objectives.
A brand refers to a sign, trade name or a logo that is intended for identifying a business, merchandise or a service. Brand differentiation is the process by which a firm tries to position its brand –this is usually in the minds of consumers i.e. how consumers view your product, do consumers prefer your product to that of the competitors. The following are the importance of brand differentiation (Gilad 60). One is Brand differentiation helps the consumers in identifying the products that they need faster. Among the various commodities that are available in the market, having a brand well positioned in the consumer's, mind makes it easier for the consumer to choose. Second is a brand tells the consumer something about quality. The brand helps the consumer to identify the product that are produced by a firm that has a good history of coming up with quality products.
Thirdly, it helps the potential consumers to be able to identify it correctly therefore maintaining brand custom and consequently maintaining the class of those consumers who prefer to purchase goods of a particular distinction. The fourth is it lets a brand communicate a message or value proposition that is highly relevant to consumers, but not unique, as distinctive elements reduce the likelihood of the advertisement being attributed to the wrong brand. This means marketers can concentrate on refreshing and reminding consumers of core messages rather than constantly searching for new unique points of difference that- risk focusing on areas of little value to the consumer (Gilad 69). Fifth is a distinctive quality benefit the consumer because they reduce cognitive effort by aiding search and information processing. Much has been written about cluttered brand and advertising environments, as well as the overload of information due to the greater number of choices available. Distinctiveness reduces the need to think, scour and search – thus making life simpler for consumers. This is a very different consumer benefit to that offered by differentiation with intrinsic value. Examples that can be used simply, I value service. Therefore, I seek a brand that will give fabulous service.
Consumers do not buy Commonwealth Bank because they value the color yellow, but seeing yellow allows people to identify easily that this branch on the advertisement is a piece of direct mail sponsorship is by Commonwealth Bank. Sixth is branding gives legal protection from copying by a competitor. This acts as a protector to the consumer as it prevents non-innovative people from benefiting from the existing brands and, therefore, the consumer is assured of quality well researched products. Seventh is branding helps consumers identify a new product. This is an advantage to the consumer especially in application products where the consumer can search for new features in the product to ascertain the viability of the new product over the existing products (Gilad 71). Eight is a brand name provides a basis for selling special qualities. There are certain consumers that prefer custom goods or goods that distinguish them from other people. Therefore for consumers who are that selective, a brand can be set aside for them so that they can enjoy the privilege they so desire.
A Brand positioning strategy is the process of designing a plan to map how a product or a service can attain differentiation and consequently gain an upper hand against competitors in the current market. While we know that positioning is usually in the minds of the consumer, we must make sure that its in-line with the business goals and objectives. There are three elements to consider when positioning; one is Brand promise. The promise shows or reveals the major benefits of a product or service that a firm wants to convey to the market. It should be convincing thus be easily accepted. It should woven in the strengths of the firm and thereby be unique in the market place so as compete successfully in the market. Many businesses are not able to correctly apply this strategy and heavily rely on their premeditated marketing campaigns in an effort to substitute brand differentiation.
The second is Brand communications. This comprises of the ways or means by which a firm can communicate its brand to the consumer in the most successful way. The third is Brand experience. The above three named elements must be united and operated correctly for any firm to reap its benefits. Brand experience is a description of how prospective consumers familiarize with the firms deliver on its brand promise (Gilad 73). It should be noted that for any business to succeed the above is the most important part of building a brand. The following is an illustration from Domino’s Pizza to show how a real life case works: When Domino's Pizza launched its ultimate unique selling proposition (USP) promise "Fresh, hot, Pizza delivered to your door for 30 minutes, or it's free!", the company had to align every single part of the business to deliver on that promise.
The stores were designed without seating areas, the storage technology was developed to keep Pizzas hot in transit, product lines focused narrowly on Pizzas and items that could be delivered within the 30-minute guarantee, and manager incentives were unified around delivering on that extraordinary promise. The company did not abandon that USP until it after it had already become a hugely successful company. That successful brand positioning strategy transformed a very small pizza store chain into a billion dollar company in record time. A product differentiated in the following manner using consumer differentiation and competitor differentiation. Where positioning on the platform of the consumer the firm targets its information concerning the product to the consumer while positioning on the platform of competition the information is aimed at other similar firms in the market. The following are positioning strategies that can be used; one is positioning by product features and benefits. This can be through associating a product with its feature so that it is attractive and easily acceptable to the consumer.
In other techniques can be positioned in terms of two or more of its features. For example, the price or the quality of the product is the most commonly used for positioning. A common technique for differentiating a brand from that of other players in the market based on specific features or utility gained. Sometimes a product may be set apart from that of competitors on more than one utility. The firm marketing department tries to recognize attributes that are important to the final consumer so that they may identify the basis used to make the final purchase decision. Consider the following examples; Colgate benefits the user by preventing cavity and giving fresh breath (Gilad 74). Another type of toothpaste could counter Colgate’s strong points by being the first to assert that they contain clove, which set it apart from Colgate. Another example is Nirma offered the gains of playing the price card over Hindustan’s lever surf to succeed, or Maruti Suzuki benefited the consumer by maximizing fuel efficiency and giving safety thereby countering the competitor’s techniques. This helped it to gain about sixty percent of the Indian automobile market.
Secondly is positioning by price or quality. The marketing department often uses price and product features to position their brands. Her are many ways to do this among them is to portray an image of the high-quality brand but also considering the cost. Quality brands are positioned in the market using its strategy because it portrays uniqueness. Price is an important player in positioning, but the marketer should not forget the quality of the product must be able to measure up to that of its competing brands. This is to ensure effectiveness in positioning. Thirdly is positioning by a competitor. Competitors are important players to positioning the company’s product or services. This is because in the recent market an effective strategy should encompass all aspect including competitors in the same product line category. The ability executes the new brand strategy depends on the following factors; one is bringing it to life internally strengthens brand and business.
The brand is making the shift from the accepted code of conduct because it has become a key player as part of the marketing function and, therefore, requires careful and consistent alignment with the organization objective. If it involves everyone in the organization, then it will be a success. Second is a consistent impression. Customers are always updating their opinion on the product on a daily basis. Therefore, the firm should create a culture of recognizing this fact and concentrate on constant delivery of brand promises at every level of the organization activities. The Excellency created in customer interaction should be maintained to ensure a stable brand image. Thirdly is to Be Brand driven. The organization ought to doctor in order to support, develop, and sustain the brand. This means that everyone in the organization should play the role of nurturing the brand in order to sustain its functional areas and, therefore, ensure lasting impression once the consumer utilizes it. Therefore to answer the question brand execution is more advantageous than clever brand innovation positioning because every element of strategic positioning of the brand depends on the portioning the brand strategy.
Concisely, we can see clearly from the above essay indicates the heuristic type of decision is and how it differs from logical, analytical type of decision, what brand differentiation is and why it is important with the regard to consumer choice. We also analyzed innovative market brand strategy and actual ability to execute new brand positioning strategy and found out that execution is more advantageous than clever brand innovation position.
Evaluating Domestic And International Web-Site Marketing Strategies
The article to be reviewed in relation to this proposal is titled Evaluating domestic and international Web-site strategies. The article emphasizes on the AIPD approaches to the evaluation of the websites which are commercial across borders. The author of the article emphasizes how the benchmark techniques are used to compare and contrast attracting, positioning, informing and delivering the AIPD strategies used in the websites to show some form of clarity in strategic advantages or opportunities. This model engages the internet strategies used by some American and Japanese banks. The results show that the Japanese in terms of internet environment have overwhelmed the Americans. Institutional and cultural differences are used as the contrasting approaches to information, web design and service delivery.
The approaches of communication and distribution of services and information through the internet is seen to be the fundamental dynamics used in many businesses and social interactions. It is as once known for being the business obstacle for the traditional commerce, but it has turned out to be the give way to new business approaches. The reason is attributed to the fact that the producers, consumers, and distributors have been introduced to fast, flexible and inexpensive way which enables them to participate in the global market and all over the world from their comfort zone (Gilad 80). Corporate customers and individuals have been given the opportunity of approaching the market in a more flexible manner as they engage themselves to information’s which speed up their decision making based on the information they acquire from the global market.
The article also provides an insight into the manner in which the internet activities have grown in popularity and profitability. It has been discovered that in less than four years, the use of internet has grown from being used in communication to become one of the tools used in interaction with the market ideas, products and services connecting more than 90 million users internationally. As the internet grows, so does the evolution of new ideas and innovations into the market. The users have been influenced by the vast variety of political, economic, cultural and political ideas on a global perspective. The expansion of the global market has been enabled by new ideas, market and technologies which have enabled the interaction to grow rapidly at a higher pace. However, the various shapes, order, strategies, and regularities intent in many areas in the world hinder the internet activities. The various virtual business and social communities have also influenced the business activities, which spring up every time. This has also shown the manner in which the new communication mediums are approached by the business enterprises.
The article also proves to the managers the various manners in which they would approach a variety of business environments through the internet strategies. Institutional and cultural differences are still seen to be the main factors governing how the services and information can be delivered. These various strategies should be placed on a global platform so that they can be examined throughout the international boundaries. The article shows some of the approaches which have been applied in understanding the internet strategies which have been applied in America and Japan in order to achieve three global goals. These goals include assessing the strategic potential which exist in the websites (Gilad 101). The other goal is based on providing a framework for developing a competitive internet site. Finally, the goal is to compare the various website strategies which are found within the sectors and in various borders.
The AIPD activities are shown to be capable of creating a potential and a dynamic content environment which offers strategic outcomes which have the potential of overcoming virtual branding and profitability. This dynamic content environment has been shown to be connected in four essential ways with customers. These are through attraction, satisfaction, profitability and retention.
Attraction
The primary objective of using the internet in the global business to attract various interested entities to have the urge of visiting the online presence of the company. In companies that have already established themselves, it is always easier as they will only have to mention their URL. This makes it possible for people to be connected with the virtual social activities of the business. For the companies, which are not known, the best way is through the initiation of the search engines. The best way of developing attraction is through internet advertising that makes it easy for the company to be known.
Informing
The essential capability of the websites is to offer information to individuals on services, products, people, ideas or events. Web sites built on a business dynamic ensures that it emphasizes on diffusion and gathering of information. The best way of evaluating an organization is to look at some of the strategies; they have implemented exchange information to everybody including the stakeholders. The stakeholders in business are the investors, customers, affiliates, suppliers, managers, employees, and community members.
Positioning
This strategic function is essential for the organization as it deals with the manner in which the company creates its market position and its image. The key factors, which are determined by the positioning of the firm, is through examining the type of services they offer. The factors in determining the whole concept of positioning include analyzing of the web site to determine the design of the website, type of transaction, target market, relation to the community and the type of connection they have with international and domestic activities.
Delivery
The websites are usually determined by their technical infrastructure and its attractiveness. Quality delivery will be determined by the manner in which the website provides its reliability, interactivity, speed, and security.
The article has established that the four strategies ensure that the websites created for the company to form the virtual global community should ensure that three essential aspects are delivered. The first one is based presentation of high quality, followed by the website having an overall attractiveness. These two will be followed by ensuring that the website can receive customer recommendation.
Seeing Ecology And “Green” Innovations As A Source Of Change
This second article emphasizes on the manner in which the managers can ensure that they implement their strategies based on ecological perspective in order to modify their businesses. The ecological question has been growing globally, and many businesses are striving to modify the business policies in order to suit the ecological market globally. The incorporation of green is seen to be essential for the organization in the managerial, financial and the implications of the organization. The main aim of the article is to ensure that the companies through the managers are in a position of embracing green in the global market through global strategies. Global strategy is a term that encompasses three areas, which are global, multinational and international strategies. In the global strategy, we find that, the organization treats the world as one market with one source of supply that has little local variation.
In multinational strategy, the organization is usually concerned with the markets past that of its home country. In international strategy, we find that the objective of the organization will majorly relate to that of its home market. These three strategies are usually designed to enable an organization archive its objective of broadening its international base. Usually, a good global strategy has to look into the certain considerations (Gilad 112). One of the considerations is the extent of their market presence in relation to the current market. Secondly is how they should build the required global presence. Third is to consider the optimal location around the world for the various value chain activities. Finally, it is how they can turn global presence into a more competitive advantage. Various organizations use a different type of global strategies. Some of the strategies are reactive and past focused while others are creative, proactive and future-oriented. This will lead to some organization benefiting from globalization due to the comparative advantage of the technique used. Therefore, we will look at some of the reactive and past focused globalization strategies and see how we can convert them to creative, proactive and future-oriented global strategy which will aid organization in their thinking as well as to compete favorably in the global market.
One of the global strategies used by many organizations that are proactive and past focused is trading with a small number of countries. This can be attributed to the following reasons: poor management, poor relation with other countries, lack sufficient capital or even poor marketing skills used by the organization. As a result, the organization will have a small global market for their product and the income that will accrue will be little. So for an organization like this the best measure to take is to compete everywhere for it to have presence in relation to other organization and this can be done through improving their management creating good relation with different countries and even improve their marketing skills. This will automatically lead to a larger market and hence increase in the income earned by the organization. The organization will now stand a chance to compete favorably in the global market. This form of global marketing is shown below:
Secondly, another global strategy used by many organizations that is reactive and post focused is the use of local resources, which include things like raw material and labor that may be substandard, or of poor quality to produce goods and services. This will automatically lead to the organization producing substandard goods and, as a result, they occupy a smaller market share in the global market with few incomes generated. Organizations facing such problem should exploit another countries resource i.e. hire skilled labor from another country or they can use high-quality raw material from another country in order to produce standard goods that can compete favorably in the global market. This will lead to the organization getting a large global market share and be able to compete favorably with other organization, as well as high profits.
Thirdly, another global strategy that is used by many organizations that are reactive and post focused is in relation to product lifecycle. Some organization will keep some of their stock that has not been sold for a long time in the warehouse. This will lead to the stock cutting down on their profits hence they will not be in a position to compete in a position to compete favorably with other global institutions. What such organization should do in relation to the product life cycle is to sell the goods to lesser-developed countries. This in turn will increase their market share in the global market and increase the profits of the organization contrary to what was happening before.
Strategic Road mapping: A Workshop-based Approach for Identifying and Exploring Strategic Issues and Opportunities
This article looks at some of the approaches established to ensure that the managers take up road mapping as one of their strategies for innovating and supporting the growth of their organizations. This approach is widely used in the sector and firm level of businesses. The article clearly states that it is essential for managers to have communication, which is associated with dissemination and development roadmaps that will ensure that there is the alignment of the commercial perspective of the business with the advanced technology. The presentation in the article is the workshop-based aspect that supports the identification and exploration of opportunities and issues in determining the approach of “fast-start” in the initiation of road mapping. This approach has been tested in different applications as much as 28 times, which has ensured the covering of the contexts of organizations.
The Motorola Company first initiated this approach in 1970s and various companies to ensure that their businesses are on the road map to success have adapted it. The initiation of the approach is seen to be difficult to implement by many companies, but the reason is that the idea is usually applicable to companies if it is tailor made for the specific company in accordance with their needs and specialties. The article clarifies that companies are usually given guidance on the type of approach they should apply in order to have the best results. These companies will customize their strategies of implementing this approach. This will force the firms to develop, reinvent, and adapt new processes (Gilad 120). The effectiveness of the approach will widely depend on processing an effective way of implementing the idea, as businesses are widely reliant on significant visions that they are seen to be iterative and exploratory.
In this case, the benefits include the gains found in the health services. These health gains are established through various ways. If it were discovered that the two interventions have the same health gains, then it would be easy to get whatever is being established. An example is the use of two different ways of curing a disease, and the same results are found, then it would the research will be termed positive. Therefore, the benefits will not be valuable. On the other hand, in cases where the intervention in evaluation is not on the same line with the one in use then this will be termed as a health gain that is not straightforward. The opportunities provided by social media marketing are in the graph bellow:
After this establishment is made, it is advised that the comparison should not be made directly. This is because there are some cases such as the services of prevention where the benefits are witnessed in the future, and others take a long period to be experienced. Therefore, the recommendation of such cases is the adjustment, which will enable these conditions to be on the same linkage to each other in terms of experiences of the health benefits. In order to achieve this, the there should be discounting of the benefits, and the cost witnessed presently with a value which is equivalent to it. Discounting always enables individuals to act now without waiting for the things, which will happen in the future.
Book review and Case study "Social Media Marketing" by Liana Evans
The book provides a definitive perception of marketing through the social media. It covers all areas of interaction from the serious parts of the issues that are seen always to surround the social media. It gives a clear impression that it is usually not easy, cheap or quick to attain the expected goals from the social media. Individuals always venture into social media marketing with the notion of making their clients know what they need them to know. As one reads the book, four main themes will clearly be seen from the introduction to the end.
It starts by providing a thoughtful insight into research. The book claims that one has to know where the customers and the prospects are assembling. The social media will provide this information as it has a tool, which enables people who have a common goal come together. It is good for one to know that they might not be amongst the people who use the most popular social networks, as they would prefer a social network, which is suitable for their needs. This will make one to save time and money, as he will be in a position of interacting with the potential customers easily instead of gambling. This is something majority of the companies ignore and find themselves fail.
The book also talks of individuals having a working strategy. This helps in ensuring that one sets achievable goals easily. Instead of working without knowing, the things, which will happen next, having a strategy helps one, realize the destination that the company is headed. The third theme is based on involvement. This implies that everybody in the company is expected to participate in social media marketing. It is true that the majority of the members of the company are members of more than one social media sites. Therefore, they should be in a position of making people from those social network sites are aware of the establishments the company is intending to carry out. This means that they should be in the forefront making the people understand more about the products from the company. The benefits of social media marketing are shown below:
Individuals should be made to understand the clear guidelines of the company as this would reduce the chances of misunderstanding. The final theme discussed in the book is the measurement carried out by the company. Evans clearly states that there are various forms in which measurement can be understood in the social network. This would also refer to the number of sending comments and messages regarding the product should take place. The social media that will be rendered should be in a position of increasing the engagement the company with prospects and customers. There should be no limitations even if there is a lot of traffic.
The reason social media has been found to be a perfect way for marketing is the increasing number of users of the media. The book claims that it has been used by companies in ensuring that the relationship they had with their customers is deepened. Many customers are given the opportunity to as questions, which will be answered immediately to make work easier for them. The book has also shed some light on the strategies companies can use in order to ensure that this type of marketing becomes successful. Companies are enlightened in knowing their clients better; managing negatives that might emerge, conversing with their clients and making them understand the legal concerns.
Conclusion
The following analytical report was focused on concerning the main approaches towards market understanding and the analysis of three articles and one book review together with a case study in the relevant field. The initial research suggests that the main approaches include both heuristic and linear decision-making strategies. In addition, there are two other significant factors to be taken into account: brand, its positioning and communications. The analysis of the articles and a book covers the following problems: the first article is focused on the methods of the website evaluation and emphasizes the significant role of the benchmark technique thereof; the second article spreads the idea of sustainable development and looks for possible ways of implementing green aspect into current business strategies; the third article emphasize on road mapping as an essential strategy for business growth; the book talks about the increasing importance of marketing through social media and possible ways of such interaction.
Works Cited
Evans, Liana. Social Media Marketing: Promoting Your Company Through Viral Marketing. Indianapolis, Ind: Que Pub, 2010. Internet resource.
Gilad, Benjamin. Early Warning: Using Competitive Intelligence to Anticipate Market Shifts, Control Risk, and Create Powerful Strategies. New York: AMACOM, 2004. Internet resource.
Ginty, Maura, Lauren Vaccarello, and William Leake. Complete B2b Online Marketing. Hoboken, N.J: J. Wiley & Sons, 2012. Internet resource.
Jackson, Steve. Cult of Analytics: Driving Online Marketing Strategies Using Web Analytics. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Butterworth-Heinemann, 2009. Internet resource.
Wymer, Walter W, and Stacy L. Grau. Connected Causes: Online Marketing Strategies for Nonprofit Organizations. Chicago, Ill: Lyceum Books, 2011. Print.
