Communications strategy and contemporary challenges

By Maria Saflagioura Msc International Marketing student, University of West London. @msaflagioura

An effective and sustainable communication strategy has always been a major enigmatic issue for the corporate culture. So how can we implement a solid strategic planning which communicates our business goals, mission and vision in a highly competitive market?

The perfect synchronization between our strategic positioning and competitiveness should include the right balance of four crucial factors:

1)   The message

2)   The media channels

3)   The audiences

4)   The employees

Let’s examine a hypothetic example. Given that a successful advertising campaign of a strong brand with a massive influence to all the audiences (ages 15-64) has failed to build a level of trust between the majority of the employees. As a result the internal communication is becoming progressively dysfunctional affecting the external communication and the business performance.

According to a business analyst Rob Enderle “the dominance in a market will not ensure customer loyalty as your real threats are not competitors but the mistakes that you make”

 In 2009,France Telecoms one of the largest telecommunication companies globally has been the epicentre of international media due to bad management practices resulting to staff suicides.

To conclude I would like to make a valuable addition based on a recent survey that I found on Forbes Magazine . “More than 88% of consumers think that companies should try to achieve their business goals while improving society and the environment”. As generations of consumers are evolving they tend to have higher expectations from their society their workplace and their brands. Is this a continuous challenge for the marketers?  

How to get things in business done?

By Tatsiana Straltsova, MSc International Marketing student, The Claude Littner Business School, University of West London

Last week in class we discussed the importance of keeping promises in external and internal marketing. The second one shouldn’t be underestimated, because sometimes the whole reputation of a manager can get under threat, if their promises don’t work out and the proposed strategy is not implemented.

The book “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” (2002) deals a lot with this topic. Written by an Indian-American business consultant Ram Charan who is called ‘the most influential consultant alive’ by the Fortune magazine, it claims that “strategies often fail because they aren’t executed well”. The main thought here is – if you make a promise, you have to know how to manage it, you have to be able to deliver a result, you have to EXECUTE.

What is execution in a business context? Referring to the book of Ram Charan once again, execution is “a specific set of behaviors and techniques that companies need to master in order to have competitive advantage”. In other words, it is a system of measures as a part of a company’s strategy in order to reach strategic goals. So it is important to have a strategy, but it is even more important to know the way for its implementation. As a manager you can create very ambitious plans, but they are worth nothing if the company is not able (or maybe just doesn’t know how??) to meet them. In this regard two other elements of execution should be taken into account: people and operations.

What steps should be followed to assure good execution? Ram Charan selects seven main ‘Building Blocks of Execution’:

·        Know your PEOPLE and your BUSINESS

·        Insist of REALISM

·        Set clear goals and PRIORITIES

·        Follow through

·        REWARD the doers

·        EXPAND people’s capabilities

·        KNOW yourself.

And, of cource, enjoy your business! Passion for achieving common goals is contagious.

Analysis of competitors

By Jozef Polom Msc International Marketing student. The Claude Littner Business. University ot West London.

The purpose of the competitive analysis is to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the competitors within your market, strategies that will provide you with a distinct advantage, the barriers that can be developed in order to prevent competition from entering your market, and any weaknesses that can be exploited within the product development cycle.

Competitor analysis is an essential component of corporate strategy. It is argued that most firms do not conduct this type of analysis systematically enough. Instead, many enterprises operate on what is called "informal impressions, conjectures, and intuition gained through the tidbits of information about competitors every manager continually receives." As a result, traditional environmental scanning places many firms at risk of dangerous competitive blind spots due to a lack of robust competitor analysis.

Clearly, those firms practicing systematic and advanced competitor profiling have a significant advantage. As such, a comprehensive profiling capability is rapidly becoming a core competence required for successful competition. An appropriate analogy is to consider this advantage as akin to having a good idea of the next move that your opponent in a chess match will make. By staying one move ahead, checkmate is one step closer. Indeed, as in chess, a good offense is the best defence in the game of business as well.

A common technique is to create detailed profiles on each of your major competitors. These profiles give an in-depth description of the competitor's background, finances, products, markets, facilities, personnel, and strategies. This involves:

Background

• location of offices, plants, and online presences
• history – key personalities, dates, events, and trends
• ownership, corporate governance, and organizational structure

Financials

• P-E ratios, dividend policy, and profitability
• various financial ratios, liquidity, and cash flow
• profit growth profile; method of growth (organic or acquisitive)

Products

• products offered, depth and breadth of product line, and product portfolio balance
• new products developed, new product success rate
• brands, strength of brand portfolio, brand loyalty and brand awareness
• patents and licenses
• quality control conformance
• reverse engineering or deformulation

Marketing

• segments served, market shares, customer base, growth rate, and customer loyalty
• promotional mix, promotional budgets, advertising themes, ad agency used, sales force success rate, online promotional strategy
• distribution channels used (direct & indirect), exclusivity agreements, alliances, and geographical coverage
• pricing, discounts, and allowances
• Facilities
• plant capacity, capacity utilization rate, age of plant, plant efficiency, capital investment
• location, shipping logistics, and product mix by plant
• Personnel
• number of employees, key employees, and skill sets
• strength of management, and management style
• compensation, benefits, and employee morale & retention rates
• Corporate and marketing strategies
• objectives, mission statement, growth plans, acquisitions, and divestitures
• marketing strategies

 (Sources: Enterpreneur.com, Wikipedia) 

The importance of Marketing Focus

By Angela Rendjova, Msc International Marketing student. The Claude Littner Business. University ot West London.

The term “marketing focus” is often associated with the chosen segment of customers, one company directs their product to. Within that segment the company tries to differentiate itself from the competitors by providing value, price advantage and an unforgettable experience for the consumers.

The question that troubles most marketer is how wide or narrow should the focus be? Resolving this issue determines the future success of the product. Narrow market segments are easier to understand and the relationship with the consumers tends to be stronger.

On the other hand, wider segment allows variations in product prices, experiments and provides more options regarding the distribution channel.

To sum up, different focus strategies will bring different outcome for the company and therefore it crucial to determine the precise marketing focus that will lead the product or service to success. 

What Today's Sales Teams Are Missing

By Jose Ruizalba

This interesting report What Today's Sales Teams Are Missing by some academics from IESE Business School @iesebs can shed light for our sessions on the importance of integrating sales and marketing.

http://www.ieseinsight.com/doc.aspx?id=1861&ar=12&idioma=2

Please find here some findings that we can discuss in our sessions of Strategic Marketing:

• The focus on customer acquisition and retention "isn't backed up by concrete strategies. In fact, an analysis of the survey results makes clear that in many cases companies haven't enacted customer-acquisition protocols, a significant portion lack customer-acquisition objectives, and about half neglect to measure their customers' loyalty or implement loyalty programs". This is something that can help you with your Course Work.

• "53 percent of executives surveyed believe their companies' sales and marketing departments aren't sufficiently aligned in terms of the value propositions they offer." This is something that we are frequently discussing in our sessions: the importance of interfunctional coordination.

• "According to the authors, this optimism may help explain why professionalizing commercial networks isn't considered a priority. Only half (54 percent) of survey respondents have a defined and well-known sales strategy (or methodology) internalized by their sales team. An additional 28 percent have such a strategy, but their sales team doesn't put it into practice." Regarding this point, we have also discussed the importance of execution and strategy implementation. Video interview with Jack Welch and the book "Execution" from Bossidy and Ram Charan.

• In relation to digitalization efforts: "The current state of employees' training is unlikely to help managers buck this trend: survey respondents rated "applications and electronic assistance systems" as one of their most deficient areas of training." 

• "Currently, 44 percent of companies don't even have a sales road map, and a further 12 percent have one but don't follow it." Again, the importance of strategy implementation, execution.

• "The executives surveyed were aware of the need to measure customer satisfaction. Currently, only 48 percent regularly carry out satisfaction surveys, yet more than 90 ptercent of companies have used them at least once, or are considering using them in the future." This is quite signifficant that only 48% percent carry out satisfaction surveys.

What means "no" in a business field ?

ByAndrianna Zachari @andrianna_Zach

Last week in Strategic Marketing session we discussed about the benefits of saying "no". From a strategical perspective it is important to know that probably most of the decisions will be related to the rejection of projects. Many projects can be interesting but they can make you difficult to achieve the strategic goals of the company.

- Why people are hesitate to say no in their daily life?

- By saying no, are you afraid of the consequences?

- By using this word, are you terrified in the idea that will disappoint someone?

- Do you believe that if you start saying no, then it will be difficult to cut it off?

The answer in all of these questions is simple! You will never know if you don’t try it.. Set your goals, think with clear mind what exactly want to achieve and “you will learn not just to say “no”, but also think no, mean no and act no.” (businessknowhow.com)

Giving an alive example: Stephanie Hampton, the Marriott spokesperson said "In the past I tended to be a 'yes' person," "I'd say 'yes' to just about anything and everything, in the belief that I was building a reputation for myself as a can-do, go-to person. I looked around and noticed that a lot of successful people don't say 'yes' to everything! they are more strategic.” (businessknowhow.com)

And that exactly is the secret of success. By daring to say no shows your strength and your good judgment in several cases. Don’t be afraid to reject something when doesn’t suit, for example to the business concept. A great leader dares to say ΝΟ! The key point is how you say no..

It is more appropriate to use a non-defensive way and make your decision looks like as a clearly statement. Say no to the request not to the person. When a project is presenting to you, considerate it first and then make a conscious choice. Is this the project that will be benefited my business? If not, just say it! Nothing wrong to say no! In that way, giving the opportunity to the others to be improved as professionals and has a positive impact in your business.

Find the balance between yes and no and use it wise.

Strategy, Execution and People

By Jose Ruizalba.
Interesting interview with Jack Welch. "Strategy, execution and People... all go together."
"Execution is all about... getting the right people".

Engaging in E-Commerce

By Jose Ruizalba. You can watch this video. We will discuss next week. This is an interesting E-commerce Meeting organised by IESE Business School. @iesebs 

Please read here also the comments of guests speakers http://www.iese.edu/en/about-iese/news-media/news/2016/september/shopping-at-the-speed-of-light/

Supply company VS. Logistics company: Battle of interests or cooperation?

By Tatsiana Straltsova, MSc International Marketing Student, the Claude Littner Business School, University of West London.

Last Thursday we were discussing in class, in the module Strategic Marketing, https://twitter.com/strategimkt2016?lang=es how the choice of a logistics company can influence the customers’ attitude to the supply company’s product. The world’s largest logistics company DHL was taken as an example of goods delivery from Amazon.com. https://twitter.com/amazon?lang=es During the delivery to a customer a DHL courier https://twitter.com/dhlexpressuk?lang=es is in fact representing Amazon as well, and the customer’s experience with the delivery creates his attitude to Amazon even more than to DHL! This paradox urges many manufacturers / supply companies to consider their prospective logistics partners very carefully before making a decision in a favor of one of them.

But what if the company underestimates the importance of this choice? Here is my life example.

Before starting my studies I was working in export sales department of an international manufacturing company in Belarus. I was responsible for German clients and was the person who received their feedback about any problem they had faced. Guess, which problem was the main I heard of? After almost every week of delivery some clients were furious with the quality of delivery. Quality in this case meant their challenges with drivers, who didn’t speak neither German nor English (= communication problems) and also had some cultural / behavioral blunders from the clients’ point of view.

Sometimes the fire was really hard to put out. The contacts between the supply companies and logistics companies are usually made for a longer period of time, and that means impossibility of the prompt problem solving. It means that one wrong choice of a business partner can develop into a global problem for the supply company. So please, work hard, consider carefully.

Christian Grönroos

By Jose Ruizalba https://twitter.com/jruizdealba

We discussed today in the session this interesting video of Professor Christian Gronroos from Hanken Business School.

What have you learned? Please share your thoughts here.

Shazam and adverts

By Jose Ruizalba https://twitter.com/jruizdealba

Please find this video about television adverstising and "to shazam an advert". You can use this for the communication strategy of the marketing plan that you are working on.

Qr code of the Blog

By Jose Ruizalba https://twitter.com/jruizdealba

I have created this QR code for our Blog Strategic Marketing.

Samung Galaxy Note

By Jose Ruizalba https://twitter.com/jruizdealba

This Thursday we will discuss in our Module Strategic Marketing @strategimkt2016  about Samsum Galaxy Note.

Please find here link to latest news BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37614770

Product innovation. Crisis management. Brand reputation.

Business Model

Author: Andrianna Zachari (Student Msc International Marketing, The Claude Littner Business School, University of West London).

Talking about marketing strategy, in Thursdays class, came to our minds what “business model” is. I would like to give you one from the many definitions that I found and also to add another definition.

A business model is the way in which a company generates revenue and makes a profit from company operations. Analysts use the metric gross profit as a way HP company the efficiency and effectiveness of a firm's business model. Gross profit is calculated by subtracting the cost of goods sold from revenues. (Investopedia).

Michael Lewis refers to the phrase business model as “a term of art.” According to him the simplest explanations of what Business Model is that: “All it really meant was how you planned to make money”.

From one company to another the business model differs. For example for Microsoft, was to sell software for 120 bucks a pop that cost fifty cents to manufacture. (Harvard Business Review).

Inspired from all the others definitions, allow me to add my personal definition of what business model is: “A business model is a business plan to come up with an idea. Is the progress that will need to make the idea comes real and applicable in order for the company to achieve the future goals and receive a long-term loyalty from it's customers.”

Price strategy

Author: Dele Anthony Bodumde (Student. Msc International Marketing. The Claude Littner Business School. University of West London)

There are various ways companies determine price of their products/services, however it can be debated, ‘which supposed to come first product or price’.

In either cases price is still a versatile element in marketing mix. There are four major strategies commonly used by company to determine price of their product\service. Below is the summery of pricing strategies matrix.

·   Penetration pricing- In summary it means low price high quality product, this help to facilitate easy awareness of the product to the  consumers and also easy entry into the market to generate  a large market share, example are insurance and telecommunication companies

·   Economy pricing allows product to be produce at low price so as to be able to get it into market at low price (low price mean low quality) in any case the product still fulfil the need of the consumers. This is more common among supermarket with a lot of economy brands been displace on their shelf, example Aldi

·        Price skimming- product is given an high price despite the product might be of low quality, reason is because the company has a higher competitive advantage, this strategy tend to attract competitors thereby driving the price of that product to fall due to increase in supplies.

·        Psychological pricing- this pricing strategies works well with every product but not really sure it fit quit well into service providers (point of discursion) this is clear strategy that take into considerations of psychology of pricing by using price point perspective, such as a product is price as £.99 not £1.

·        Premium price is mostly associated with unique brands, high quality high price, most company with high competitive advantage and feel safe in the market, Uses premium price for their product. Example is Apple.

However that does not means there are no other very important pricing strategies, such as

·        Product line pricing

·        Optional pricing

·        Captive product pricing

·        Product bundle pricing

·        Promotional pricing

·        Geographical pricing

·        Value pricing this mostly used by fast food restaurant eg McDonalds etc. with the almighty value meals

Source -http://www.marketingteacher.com/pricing-strategies/

PEST ANALYSIS

Author: Andrianna Zachari (Student Msc International Marketing, The Claude Littner Business School, University of West London).

P

est analysis (political, economic, social and technological) describes a framework of macro-environmental factors used in the environmental scanning component of strategic management. Basically, a PEST analysis helps you determine how these factors will affect the performance and activities of your business in the long-term.

      It is often used in collaboration with other analytical business tools like the SWOT

analysis and Porter’s Five Forces to give a clear understanding of a situation and

 related internal and external factors.

What exactly these tools means and how we use them:

è    POLITICAL – Here government regulations and legal factors are assessed in terms of their ability to affect the business environment and trade markets. The main issues addressed in this section include political stability, tax guidelines, trade regulations, safety regulations, and employment laws.

è  ECONOMIC –Through this factor, businesses examine the economic issues that are bound to have an impact on the company. This would include factors like inflation, interest rates, economic growth, the unemployment rate and policies, and the business cycle followed in the country.

è  SOCIAL – With the social factor, a business can analyze the socio-economic environment of its market via elements like customer demographics, cultural limitations, lifestyle attitude, and education. With these, a business can understand how consumer needs are shaped and what brings them to the market for a purchase.

è  TECHNOLOGICAL – How technology can either positively or negatively impact the introduction of a product or service into a marketplace is assessed here. These factors include technological advancements, lifecycle of technologies, the role of the Internet, and the spending on technology research by the government.

      In a variation of PEST analysis there is PESTEL analysis: PESTEL analysis is an extension of PEST that is used to assess two additional macroeconomic factors. These factors are the Legal andEnvironment conditions that can have an impact on the company.

THE USE OF PESTLE ANALYSIS:

    Τhe first step in doing so is deciding what product, organization, or idea you want to analyze. Then, assuming it’s a business that you want to analyze, you should fully explore all of its facets to identify any external factors which are playing a part in how it operates and performs. Finally, you should attempt to categorize each of the factors. (ex: Starbucks PEST analysis)

   Don’t worry if one category has more entries than another, or if some factors don’t entirely fit into any category. This can happen depending on the nature of the business that you are analyzing.

In other words: PEST analysis measures the market potential and situation, particularly indicating growth or decline, and thereby market attractiveness, business potential, and suitability of access - market potential and 'fit' in other words. PEST analysis can be useful before SWOT analysis because PEST helps to identify SWOT factors..

What is a SWOT analysis?

Author: By Tatsiana Straltsova, MSc International Marketing, University of West London

Based on the article http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/4245-swot-analysis.html

It is hard to imagine, but the SWOT analysis, which is believed to be one of the most useful and vital analyses while assessing business issues, was already created half a century ago. It comprises 4 elements (S – strengths, W – weaknesses, O – opportunities, T – threats) and helps specialists estimate their strategic marketing decisions in a comprehensive and entire way. These 4 elements are divided into internal and external factors, and the analysis usually begins with identifying of internal ones.

Internal factors, such as strengths and weaknesses, implicate advantageous as well as disadvantageous resources (financial, human, technological etc.) available for an organization in the given point of time for implementing a business decision.

External factors (opportunities and threats) are factors beyond the control of an organization. These include main market and economic trends; social, political and economic specifics of a country where goods are produced as well as of a country of target customers; external human relations (e.g. between company representatives and clients, between company representatives and suppliers etc.).

To conduct your own SWOT analysis, you can download a helpful worksheet with suggestive questions to each factor from https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm

Marketing Strategy (Chartered Institute of Marketing)

By Jose Ruizalba https://twitter.com/jruizdealba

This is the concept of Marketing Strategy as described by the Chartered Institute of Marketing :

"Marketing is implemented through a marketing strategy, which starts with the setting of objectives that will support the overall aims of the business. Next, a company needs to decide on a strategy that will allow these objectives to be achieved. The strategy may involve research into product or service development, how the product or service will reach the market (channels) and how the customers will find out about it (communication). It will also attempt to define a unique positioning for the product or business to differentiate it from its competitors."

What do you think about this definition? Please share your comments. We will also discuss in our sessions.