IMC and Customer Satisfaction
Integrated marketing communication has been recommended as customer satisfaction strategy due to its significance when making prepositions that are almost impeccable as a result of the intelligent choices made concerning customers’ needs. Alison’s wears is a well-established clothing company that will offer numerous designer clothing and footwear options for all. Their main goal in marketing is to basically attract more loyal customers, customize products to increase their customers’ satisfaction and to eventually increase their firm’s sales. Alison’s wear company has laid down some effective advertisement strategies that will aid in meeting its objectives as well as other marketing goals. Some of the strategies the firm has put in place as an advertisement platform is the use of advertising channels and other related media in the bid to realize their marketing goals. The company’s marketing manager has a keen interest on the target market and their correlation with media coverage. A cost effective analysis of the same, will have to be factored.
For the realization of the company’s goals, internet, newspapers and magazine advertisements will be very relevant. The company aims at coming up with monthly issues that will be given for free mainly in campuses and in shopping malls. The magazines will outline the range of quality products that are available at Alison’s wear company and will also highlight the various services it offers. An abstract of the company, a description of its various products, its promotional activities as well as some of its accessible locations will be outlined in the magazine. This information will prove to be very useful as many customers will be made aware of the company hence increasing its ability to record favorable sales volumes.
According to Lacobucci (2010) newspapers are read daily by a number of people thus allowing the information about the company’s products to reach a bigger percentage of the country’s population. Advertisement via newspaper will be very important to Alison’s company since specific details on Alison’s products will be discussed and highlighted. With the unlimited number of readers, such advertisements may attract the attention of quite a number of people as they peruse the papers.
The company aims at opening its website that will be customized with attractive images and graphics displaying their products. This will be aimed at attracting the attention of surfers and other web lovers. With the ever changing information podium, many people are now becoming conversant with the internet. The website will provide some in-depth information of the company’s products and it will also provide online services such as online assistance from the company’s customer care department. Another platform the sale of the company’s products through e-commerce will be made available. Other social networking sites will also be used for the purpose of enlighten the public about the availability of products.
Despite the various platforms, advertisement may seem incomplete if an assessment of customer reaction is not done. Depending on the type of advertisement used, the level of its effectiveness can be measured in several ways. According to Thompson (2010), there are two features that need to be tested in order to gain some information on the effectiveness of an advertisement. The features involved are the communication effect and the sales effect of the advertisement. In regards of the communication effect, the use of direct rating method from the customers will help them calculate the effectiveness of the advertisement. Currently, the internet has proven to be a source of immediate and reliable feedback on the ratings clients and customers have on the company. In regards to the sales effect, performance in sales after the advertisement period will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the advertisement. An increase in sales will prove that the advertisement was highly effective but if the sales stagnated, it would be concluded that the advertisement was innefective.
Another effective promotional strategy is personal selling. Allison’s wears will have to employ field sales agents who will scout for clients in the name of selling company’s products. The main advantage of personal selling is the creation of an intimate business relationship with customers. A substantial amount of money will also have to be invested in sales promotions. Moreover, competitions will be used where lucky winners and participants will win various products from the company such as foot wares and other forms of wears.
With the current competitive market, customer satisfaction is very vital in the when formulating business strategies. The satisfaction level of customers should be measured and monitored through feed backs from customers. This satisfaction level should be measured and monitored in order for the company to get more opportunities and have a competitive advantage (Joseph, 2011). Alison’s company is determined to retain their customers and ensure loyalty through a customer satisfaction surveying program. The program will have to investigate the most effective of gathering information and how the company through the management can react to the information it collects. The customer satisfaction survey program will help to obtain feedback information from their customers about their satisfaction level. The program should be comprehensive and avoid complications. Credible information that matches an employee’s performance to their results should be formulated. Response documents from the clients and customers should be filed and action reports should be generated. The customer satisfaction survey program is significant as it understands the expectations of many customers. The company will have the opportunity to make tailored products to meet their customers’ requirements and this will give them an upper hand beyond their competitors.
Alison’s wear company will have to address the various gaps in customer expectations and experiences in order to fully satisfy their customers. An in-depth analysis of the needs of the customer will have to be carried out. After this is done, Alison’s company will have to make some changes to meet their customers’ demands and needs. For example, high quality fabrics should be used in making the company’s clothes in order to avoid wear and tear after a short period of purchase. The company should also take advantage of economies of scale in order to be in a position to sell their products at affordable prices for the purpose of increasing the demand of the company’s products. A research on their clients and their changing needs together with other environmental factors will prove to be effective in increasing their satisfaction. According to Hiam and Charles (2002), innovation is the best method to beat competition and draw customer attentions. Alison wears will have to invest in research and development. New designer clothes will also be customized in order to meet customer’s needs, thereby, boosting the firm’s viability within the industry.
References
Hiam, A and Charle, D. (2002). The Portable MBA in Marketing. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Joseph, C. (2011). Examples of Advertising Objectives & Strategies. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-advertising-objectives-strategies- 3271.html [Accessed on 26th November 2012]
Lacobucci, D. (2010). Marketing Management. Chicago: Cen gage Learning Press.
