Introduction
Marketing strategies are the most important for any business. Businesses that have better marketing strategies are able to attract more customers and therefore they are able to generate higher sales. Higher sales would result in higher profits. So, it can be said that the marketing strategies are the most important for any business as these strategies help in generating revenues. Businesses that do not have sales or are not able to generate sufficient sales would fail. Considering myself as a consultant, I need to make sure that I have formulated proper and effective marketing strategies so that I am able to find sufficient number of customers.
This report presents a marketing plan in which the personal and professional skills that can be helpful in leveraging the business have been discussed. The marketing plan also focuses on identifying and analyzing the niche markets that I can focus as a consultant along with identifying the value propositions of my consultancy business. The report also defines and discusses the marketing strategies that I would formulate and implement as a consultant for my business.
personal and professional skills
Personal and professional skills are critical for businesses particularly for consultancy businesses. As a consultant, I need to make sure that I use my personal as well as professional skills in the right manner to make sure that the clients are attracted, satisfied and retained. The use of personal skills that would be critical in my consultancy business are; my temperament, my character, my ability to understand the problems, the way of communication with the potential as well as existing clients, my behavior and several other personal characteristics that can help in satisfying the customers. Communication skills along with the ability to make the clients understand things easily would also be critical skills in making the business successful.
On the other hand, professional skills would allow me to show the skills and expertise that I have in my domain. By using my professional skills, I would be able to show the customers regarding how important it is to make use of theories and researches and how to use them in the most effective manner in order to be successful. I have learnt about international human resource and managing the human resource and therefore as a consultant, I need to use different professional skills such as how to motivate employees, how to train employees, remuneration management, how to attract and retain employees, recruitment and selection.
It is important for consultants to focus on both the skills. Neglecting either of these two skills can ruin the company and it would face difficulties in managing customers and in attracting new ones. Therefore using the right combination of personal and professional skills would allow the consultants to make the most of their skills.
I will be offering the consultancy regarding international human resource management. There has been an increasing trend of businesses that are expanding to other countries (Johnson, & Turner, 2010) and therefore it has become important for firms to manage the human resource as they are expanding their businesses. Human resource is the most important asset that a firm has. Therefore it is critical to manage the human resource of the organization in another country in the right way in order to be successful (Farndale, Scullion, and Sparrow, 2010). Businesses use different human resource strategy when they are expanding to another country and these strategy are; Ethnocentric, Polycentric, Regiocentric and Geocentric (Boussebaa, and Morgan, 2008).
It is important for businesses that have expanded to another country to use the right international human resource management strategy. The strategy needs to be formulated after considering different aspects such as the culture of the organization, the national culture of the host and home country, the values of the organization, the practices and policies of the organization and several other factors (Karadjova-Stoev, and Mujtaba, 2009). Therefore as an international human resource management consultant, I will be offering the services of formulating the right international human resource management strategy for such businesses along with offering training to employees to reduce the fear when such a change has taken place in the organization. As an international human resource management consultant, I would be able to help firms in formulating strategies after merger and acquisitions and after an international expansion.
International human resource management is a niche market for consultancy. There are number of general business consultants as well as human resource consultants, however the market of international human resource managing has not been specifically targeted by a number of consultants. Therefore the idea to focus on this niche market would allow me to gain a particular target market of businesses that are expanding to another country.
value propositions
Kotler, Armstrong, Wong, and Saunders, (2008) have defined value propositions as the promise that the organization makes to deliver the value to the customers. According to Kotler, and Keller, (2009) the strategy of the organization is based on the value proposition that the customer expects. Businesses satisfy the consumers and it results in sustainable value creation. As an international human resource management consultant, there would be a number of values that the businesses and customers would expect. It is important for me to realize and understand the kind of expectations that the customers would be expecting from me. By identifying these expectations I would be able to deliver them the right kind of services. After identifying the expectations of the customers, I would be able to better manage the customers and would be able to better satisfy them.
market strategies for the business
Marketing strategies are critical for the success of the business. Businesses that are able to formulate proper and effective marketing strategies are able to do well. Marketing strategies help in promoting the company and in attracting more customers. By attracting more customers, the company is able to report higher sales. Therefore marketing strategies is of immense importance for businesses.
For the consultancy business, the importance of marketing strategies cannot be neglected. Proper and effective marketing strategies would allow the company in attracting, satisfying and in retaining the customers. Marketing strategies need to be formulated according to the target market and after identifying the characteristics of the target audience (Fill, 2009). The target market of the consultancy business would be Multinational enterprises. These enterprises would be expanding to other countries and regions and therefore the cost would not be their most important factor as they would be focusing more on the expertise and skills of the consultants. Therefore the marketing strategies need to be formulated accordingly so that better results can be achieved. Moreover, these businesses would be looking for consultants that would have a large portfolio of satisfied customers. So, it is important for me to highlight the previous cases and use them in marketing and attracting new customers.
One of the challenges that businesses face while expanding their services to other countries is to manage the cultural differences (Griffin, Pustay, & Liu, 2010). It is an important aspect of international human resource management that needs to be addressed (Zając, 2011). Therefore as a consultant, I would also be focusing on offering training and in making them familiar with important cultural differences so that they are able to manage such differences.
Conclusion
The report has presented a brief marketing plan regarding the consultancy services. The consultancy services focuses on offering services that are specifically related to international human resource management. There has been an increasing trend of organizations that are expanding their services to other regions and therefore it has become critically important for these businesses to formulate proper and effective international human resource management strategies. Many organizations have made attempts to capitalize on the opportunities in other regions, however if they are not able to manage their human resource in the right manner then they would not be able to succeed.
References
Boussebaa, M., and Morgan, G. (2008). Managing talent across national borders: the challenges faced by an international retail group. Critical Perspectives On International Business, 4 (1), 25 – 41.
Farndale, E., Scullion, H., and Sparrow, P. (2010). The role of the corporate HR function in global talent management. Journal of World Business, 45 (2), 161 -168.
Fill, C. (2009). Marketing Communications: Interactivity, Communities and Content (5th Ed.) London: FT Prentice Hall
Griffin, R. W., Pustay, M. W., & Liu, C. (2010). International business. London: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Johnson, D., & Turner, C. (2010). International Business: Themes and issues in the modern global economy. London: Routledge.
Karadjova-Stoev, G., and Mujtaba, B. (2009). Strategic Human Resource Management and Global Expansion Lessons From The Euro Disney Challenges In France. International Business & Economics Research Journal, 8 (1), 69- 78.
Kotler, P. (2003). Marketing Management. Upper Saddle River NJ: Prentice Hall.
Kotler, P., and Keller, K. (2009). A Framework for Marketing Management. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Kotler, P., Armstrong, G.,Wong, V. and Saunders, J. (2008). Principles of Marketing (5th European Ed.) London: FT Prentice Hall
Zając, C. (2011). Multicultural context of international human resources management. Journal of Intercultural Management, 3 (2), 47-56.
