Integrated marketing communications project 8/1

Integrated Marketing Communications Project 8/1

The focus of this discussion will be on the once market leader in the telecommunication industry, but currently losing its leadership, Nokia. In the recent past, Nokia has been operating under losses or low profitability and reduced revenues because of low sales. However, in an effort to regain its leadership and especially get a share in the smart phone business, Nokia collaborated with Microsoft to develop smart phones running on the windows operating system. The recent launch of its Lumia series will form the focus of this discussion. 1. Media StrategyThe target audiences for the organizations media strategy are young people, and the aged. Nokia Lumia is a product that is very attractive to the young people. This is because it has features that the young might like to use, and hence appealing to them. On this basis, the organization needs to develop a media strategy that has the capability of reaching young people. The aged on the other hand would also like to use Nokia Lumia. On this basis, the company must develop a media strategy that has the capability of reaching old people, and convincing them on the need of buying the product under consideration (Pan and Lee, 2003). It is important to denote that the choice of a marketing media will play a great role influencing the behavior of the organizations target market (Brink & Berndt, 2008). Properly chosen media and well-established links with the customers is an automatic success for any organization. Hence, before embarking on the marketing strategy, it is important to have a sound and reliable media strategy (Brink & Berndt, 2008). The product in question determines the choice made on the type of media used in communication. To market Nokia Lumia smart phones, the media will play a big role in the success of the strategy. In the current world, more people prefer using smart phones instead of the normal mobile phones. The services that a smart phone provides to the people are the main reason for this change of consumer tastes and preferences. As such, the media strategy for marketing Nokia Lumia will focus reaching to all people globally. Nokia has presence in over 150 countries, connecting over 1. 3 billion people. These are its target customers, in addition to the rest of the mobile phone users in the world. There are different types of products for the various customer segments s targeted by any company (Kandogan, 2006). Among these segments, include the children below the age of 14, the middle-aged people between the age of 14 and 18, college going students, the working people and the old people. Further, there are segments targeting women and young girls as well as men. By segmenting the market, the company is able to develop products targeting people in these groups (Skildum-Reid and Grey, 2008). Targeting these segments gives the company and opportunity to choose the most reliable media in reaching the segment. Objectives of the Media Strategy: On this basis, the objective of the organizations media strategy is to create awareness to the target audience on the following (Peltier, Schibrowsky and Schultz, 2003); the value of the product to be sold and the availability of the productsthe company profile the cost effectiveness of the productthe value of the products to the communityTools of the Media Strategy: The company will use the television, the radio station, newspapers, and the internet as their media tools. The mentioned media strategies have a variety of advantages and disadvantages. The television and the radio stations are the most important media strategy that the organization needs to use. The advantages of this media of communication lie on the fact that they have a wide audience. On this basis, they can reach a large number of people. Corman (2006) further denotes that the television makes it possible for the advertisers to produce a visual picture. This will in turn be interpreted by the target audience to the benefit of the company. However, one disadvantage of this marketing media is that they are very expensive. There are also chances that the messages might be misunderstood by the organization. This might work to its disadvantage. In using the above channels of media, the company will have to contact the main reporters, and editors through their marketing agents. The marketing managers of the organization will thereafter establish a personal meeting with the editors of the TV programs and radio shows, for purposes of creating credibility. The company will follow up on this meeting by sending a copy of their briefing book, thereafter the company will schedule for purposes of producing press releases and notices to the media. The internet is also another important media that the organization will use (Abrams, 2010). As most of the young people spend their time online, Nokia will use the internet as the most appropriate media to use. According to Golden (2011), college going students are more active on social media such as Facebook and twitter. Hence, messages developed will target these groups on Facebook. The working spends most of their time in the office and occasionally read the papers. The internet is advantageous because the message can reach a wide number of people, within a very short period of time. It is also very cheap to use internet advertising, as compared to that of the television, and the radios. The main disadvantage of internet advertising is that it is viral. That is an error in a marketing message can reach a wide audience of people within a short time, before it is corrected. Newspapers will be used to target old people. The old too are fond of reading the newspapers watch the television relatively and take walks. Hence, by advertising any model specially designed for the old through the television, newspapers and billboards increases the chances of reaching out to these people. The main advantage of using newspapers is that it will reach out to the target people in the various market segments for the company. All people fall within all these categories; any message specially designed to target these individuals will successfully reach the consumers (Kandogan, 2006). However, newspaper advertisement has a number of drawbacks. It does not allow for personalized communication with the customers. This thus reduces the number of chances of changing the mind of the consumer or helping them in making the right decision about the product. Finally, there is no possibility of measuring g the success of the various types of media used in the advertising strategy (Parasuraman, 1981). 2. Promotional Strategy A promotional strategy aims at encouraging customers to purchase a product (Cavusgil & Czinkota, 1990). It entices customers to buy a particular product and not the other. The main aim of promotion is making actual sales and increasing the revenues of the organization (Yeshin, 2006). Trade promotional tools focus on increasing the sales between the manufacturers and retailers. In developing a promotional tool, there is a need of setting objectives. The first step involved is determining the aims of the promotion, and what it seeks to achieve. This stage will also involve identifying the target consumers, and market. This is for purposes of creating an awareness of the new product in the market, overcoming the misconceptions of the organizations products, and seeking to create a positive brand image for the company (Spiro, Perreault and Reynolds, 1976). The second step is incorporating trade and consumer promotions into my IMC plan, and deciding on the message to communicate and the method of communicating the message (Thackeray, 2007). One of the most important trade promotional tools for the marketing of smart phones is displaying. To increase the chances of making sales, every phone on display will have a tag displaying the features of the phone and its performance. Every phone will have a marketing logo and catchy message targeting the group. Additionally discount sales will be important promotional tool used in the promotion process. The pricing of some of the phones for every segment will be lower. However, the reduced prices will ensure that the company does not make losses. Offering presents for some of the commodities will entice customers in buying them. In some of the smart phones targeting the high-end market, the promotion will involve a free Bluetooth. This will allow the people to purchase the high-end products in order to acquire a Bluetooth. Others will have free external memories. The following are other trade promotional tools. Trade Promotional Tools: Boost public awarenessOf the major trade tools is to boost the level of awareness of the gains accrued from trade by the society. I will make it to the public that the benefits are not merely economic, but also cultural and social-based as people from diverse places meet, exchange ideas, goods, and services. This awareness will be inform of media campaigns, the embrace of sales by world leaders, and trade education in universities and large learning institutions. Initiating trade-promoting agenciesThis necessitates that my company has essential tools to easily trade with other organizations within and outside the region. Establishing of trade-promoting agencies will allow my company to reach customers with ease. The agencies will also enable access to business and legal advice, trade finance, and other consultation services (Belch & Powell, 2008). Oppose protectionism This will be fought by use of sensible concepts on how to limit the negative impact of international competition on the local industry, for instance, through encouraging the national economy to generate more value-adding goods and services and sell them overseas. Customer promotional tools aim at making the brand dearer to the people, enabling people associate with the products by the company (Lamb, et al., 2008). Retailers will have the biggest responsibility in selling tickets and coupons that will identify winners of gifts. Additionally, whenever there is a tournament, sales people will promote the model of phone sponsoring the event, selling it a discounted price. The following are other consumer promotional tools. Consumer Promotional Tools: Use of samplesI will use the strategy of offering samples of my products to get customers to try it, aiming at their purchase next time. It will be more effective if I position myself as different from the other organizations, where customers might not be willing to pay for a new product when they have a familiar and satisfying product. Use of sales and discountsI will offer discounts in advance, like through using direct-mail offers. Quick response codes, called bar codes can also be send to customers’ cell phones for immediate discounts that do not need a paper coupon. I can promote sales in advance o on location for small or retail businesses (Parasuraman, 1981). Use of premiumsThe can build brands or promote sales. I can use premium such as loyal programs, a bonus with every purchase, or offering discounts or a free gif after a given number o purchases or visits. A plan for evaluation of tools usedEvaluating the effectiveness of the tools can be as simple as keeping a track record of the promotional activities such as discounts and the number of sales realized per day as a result. It will be a critical step to use this record to find out which tool worked well and which one did not materialize (Hardesty & Bearden, 2003). An analysis and evaluation of the best combination of toolsOf the above tools, increasing of public awareness, use of trade-promoting agencies, sales and discounts, an premiums will be the best tools to use for this promotional strategy as compared to the use of samples and avoiding protectionism.  3. Personal Selling and CRM Strategy Personal selling will involve direct sales to customers at random basis. Personal selling will involve selling to people in offices and setting up of stands in events sponsored by the company in an effort to sell the product. Others will involve sharing with the people through their emails and messages certain models that they can purchase from their nearest store outlets. Through personal selling, the sales representatives will note the age of the people buying and their occupation. Other retail outlets will also provide this information, which will help in creating a database for the products. According to Lamb, et al., (2008), personal selling help in focusing on more personalized products for the customers in future. It will also help in providing better products for people seeking to satisfy their needs. In order to maintain proper communications with customers in future, the company will develop a customer care center that will handle all issues related to the products and any future products. These centers will also provide free inspection services for the customers. Personal selling strategy of the company, Asking of questions When attempting to sell a product to a client, I will need to know why he is interested in the product. Questioning will enable me to know if he is one of my esteemed customers or if he is a competitor (Rai, 2013). If so, I will ask why he is no satisfied with the competitor’s products making him consider shifting into using my product. Look into concerns It is important that I ask the customer to share with me any concerns about the product or the service offered. This will give me a chance to diffuse any concerns realized by consumers about my company. In some situations, the customer may only need a little more information on the product to feel more comfortable while making his decision (Weitz & Bradford, 1999). Request for the sale My job is not done yet after I finish my sales presentation. It is vital that I request the customers for sales, either directly or indirectly. This can involve questions such as when he is willing to start making orders for the products promoted. The requests are important o help me know where I stand with the customer. If he hesitates, I will inquire on what might be holding him back from the sales. If I am able to address his concerns, it will be more likely that I will get the sale. Follow-upAs a good salesperson, I will follow up with both clients and prospects after making a presentation. In case a potential customer is still not sure of the gains of my products, I will be another chance to address the given concerns. If he has previously decided to buy my products, I will consider checking in and making sure that he is satisfied with it (Spiro, 1976). A plan for developing IMC databaseDatabase marketing refers to a form of direct marketing by use of customers’ databases to generate personalized communications with an aim to promote a product. There are a few ways to plan an IMC database. For those customers communicating online, visits to given websites may be traced through cookies and related customer tracking software. I can use other types of cookies to remember preferences, past purchasing records, browsing behaviors, together with the capability to customize and personalize home pages. Additionally, response cookies and information may be used to customize and personalize extranet pages where there is limited access due to password protection. Such pages will contain personal usage information along with various analysis tools that make use of personal data in calculations. For instance, I can incorporate the TIAA-CREF website into my IMC plan to allow individual customers to approximate their future retirement funds basing on their up-to-date accumulations together with some additional variables chosen by an individual. The reason for using this database in IMC plan is to provide the customer with individual-level information that might be very tricky for them to either determine or obtain on their own (Peltier & Schultz, 2003). Some segments tend to be more likely to respond to many forms of communication than others. In the case of segments with responses at low levels, it is tricky to create smart marketing programmes. Here, creative proactive methods of gathering extra data will be considered. Furthermore, the data received from clients may be utilized to make the database more complete and accurate (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2008). I can also use them to refine the existing segments, spot out new ones, and to create more precise classification models. lastly, I may use the data to track the effectiveness of the existing communication efforts. A strategy for CRM for my productThis will describe the strategy that I will use to handle customer interactions. It will include checking out what problems customers want to solve with the company. I will sell them a continuing service to assist them fix the problem; purchasing the product is merely the first phase of this process (Engel, Wales and Warshaw, 1971). I will therefore use the company systems to track progress and make sure that I often provide products that are relevant to their immediate stage in the process. In situations where customers buy single products and then vanish, I will create systems that make it easy to identify such customers and target my marketing activities on them for the reason that such customers may end up buying numerous products over the years if they are well managed (Pan & Lee, 2003). My customers are concerned that I frequently fail to understand their full portfolio, since I record different products in different systems. I will consolidate my customers into one database and document all their history and holdings there. This is for the rationale that sales partners often have this information to hand (Kumar and Reinartz, 2011). The above strategies clearly spot out how value is created for the potential clients. This in turn creates value for my company, thus here is a high probability for people to recommend my products to their friends, the cost of mis targeted services is lowered, or marketing efforts bring higher returns. 4. PR StrategySmart phones enhance communication, make life easy and spice an individual’s life. This proposal seeks to market an image of smart phones that not only enhance life but also make it easy and interesting. A good strategy allows customer feedbacks from the services they receive and their experience with the customers (Rai, 2013). They will have an opportunity to communicate their sentiments and thoughts on the products. Nokia Lumia will sponsor a number of events such as sports for youth and schools. Whenever the company sponsors an event targeting a particular group, it will use products targeting these groups. Loyal customers will also win gifts from seasonal promotions (Meenaghan, 1994). Cavusgil & Czinkota (1990) assert that promotion enhances the visibility of the products and show that the company minds its customers rather than just making profits. By sponsoring these events, Nokia will select the best participants and provide them with scholarships or give them gift hampers in an effort to win customer loyalty. Through these ways, the company remains the customers’ most preferred brand due to the belief that not only does it provides people with high quality products; it also cares about their lives (Yeshin, 2006). In order to measure the effectiveness of the PR strategy and sponsorship strategy, retailers will take an audit of the people purchasing the various models of the phone. An increase in demand for a model that had sponsored an event means that the sponsorship strategy was successful. A PR and Sponsorship PlanHow my IMC plan will ensure that all messages conveyed reinforce the company’s credibility. In my IMC plan, I would consider the fact that the message structure and the way I present them are vital parts of any message strategy. If my audience is friendly or if it is unlikely to listen to a contrasting argument, supportive or one-sided messages that emphasize only positive information on my company would be most effective (Wallack and Dorfman, 1996). On the other hand, if the audience is unfriendly or critical, well educated, or if there is a high probability of hearing opposing claims, then refutational or two-sided messages will be more effective (dAstous and Bitz, 1995). However, two-sided messages seem to reinforce the company’s credibility as they acknowledge that the product being marketed may come with shortcomings, a factor that is predictable in business. In addition, I would show my commercials first in a series so that they can be recalled first, rather than in the middle, hence reinforcing the company’s credibility (Grunig & Grunig, 1992). PR objectives and strategyIn this context, my Public Relations Plan will first of all start with an overview in which an executive summary of the challenge in marketing that the company is facing of which the public relations campaign is aimed to assist in achieving (Golden, 2011). Second, I will determine the goals that I want my PR campaign should achieve. Next are the strategies that I will put in place to ensure that the goals are attained. The forth step in my plan is to determine the target audience to be reached and subsequently, the key target media including the specific programs and publications towards which I will direct my PR efforts (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). From the above steps is when I will establish the recommendations on the PR tactics to be used, related ideas, and the hook, the theme, and the angle of all the tactics. The last step in my plan would be an action plan on who would carry on with which task and when (Grunig, 1992). Sponsorship objectives and strategyFor my sponsorship plan, I would first create a grassroots marketing checklist for my organization, and then understand my options by measuring my marketing programs against major criteria (Weitz and Bradford, 1999). To strategize the plan, I would build a plan based on major performance indicators in my potential markets. This would include bringing diversified stakeholders for a talk and conducting success measurement criteria as well as sponsorship policy plans (Meenaghan, 1994). A framework (standard) for measuring the effectiveness of my PR strategy and sponsorship program My framework will comprise of two interrelated dimensions, that is, steps in the measurement practice and the standards for “ good” measurement. The steps to be followed would include: engaging the stakeholders; describing the two programs (Hardesty and Bearden, 2003); focusing the measurement design; gathering credible proof; justification of conclusion; and lastly ensuring usage and sharing of lessons learned. The above steps of the framework must be followed as per the recommended sequence (Cavusgil and Czinkota, 1990). This is because earlier steps give the basis for subsequent procedures of measurement (dAstous & Bitz, 1995). The second phase of the framework of measurement is a primary set of standards to evaluate the quality of measurement activities. I would incorporate 30 specific standards, arranged in four groups, namely: utility, accuracy, feasibility, and propriety (Grunig, 1992). These standards will be a basis for determining if the measurement is good enough for my IMC. 5. Internet StrategyInternet provides unlimited opportunities to an organization in marketing its products and services. An internet strategy is important for any organization hoping to increase its customer base (Yeshin, 2006). The internet targets the young and the working people who spend most of their time online. The strategy will involve the creation of a website purposely focusing on the commodity (Corman and Schiefelbein, 2006). This website, developed in the web 2. 0 platform will allow uploading of videos and pictures of these phones. Reviews of the various products in form of blogs and videos posted online in the website allow sharing of these videos on the social media platform, increasing the number of people viewing them (Golden, 2011). There will be an interactive segment in the website that will allow people to provide feedback and send pictures, comments and share video of their experiences with Nokia Lumia. Internet Tools:  Due to the evolution of the internet, many companies have managed to change the manner in which they communicate with their business partners, suppliers, and various customers. The internet tools like social media and the websites have managed to help business organizations to effectively engage customers by offering internet based solutions to their problems (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012). Having the ability to respond to customers questions through the internet, and promoting the organizations products through the internet should be one of the major objectives and aims of a business organization (Abrams, 2010). This is because the current trends in marketing are shaped by the promotion of organizations products and services through the internet. One of the internet tools that my organization will use is the website. Creating a company website will be an important method for communicating with organizations stakeholders (Kandogan, 2006). The website under consideration will be interactive, allowing users to post their discussions and questions concerning the products of the company (Brown and Coopers, 1999). This website must also have features that allow for private messaging, in case the organization has the intention of communicating directly with their customers, business partners, and suppliers (Kurtz and Boone, 2012). On this note, the company’s website will be an important tool that connects all the stakeholders of the company. The social media is also another tool that the company will use for purposes of communicating with all its stakeholders (Armstrong, and Kotler, 2011). Social media tools such as twitter and Facebook can be effective in providing information about the organizations products, discount it gives, and the various business updates of the company. For example, Facebook has features that a company can use to encourage its potential customers to like the product of the organization (Armstrong and Kotler, 2011). Facebook also has features that the company can use to create its own Facebook page, for purposes of providing information concerning the various products of the company. The company can also use these social media sites for purposes of carrying out a market research, and finding out the opinion of its customers concerning the products of the organization (Brink and Berndt, 2008). On this basis, the social media can help in ensuring that the company produces a positive image amongst its customers. The company can also use emails and online chats such as Skype for purposes of communicating with its prospective customers (Kurtz and Boone, 2012). These methods of communication allow the company to send information to as many people as possible, and they are cheap, as compared to traditional methods of phone calling. This will therefore help the company to save on the costs of production (Kotler and Armstrong, 2012). Measuring the Effectiveness of the Internet Tools: In measuring the effectiveness of these internet tools, the company needs to have a framework. For example, the most effective framework is to develop software that will help the company to identify the number of people visiting the site (Belch, Belch, Kerr, and Powell, 2008). If the company manages to attract a large number of visitors, then chances are high that its internet based IMC is effective. The same happens to the use of the social media such as facebook and twitter. If a company manages to attract a higher number of likes, then chances are high that the internet strategies of the company are working. 6. A framework to assess the effectiveness of the IMC Plan After the implementation of the IMC plan, the company will measure the revenues against the expenses in the various promotional marketing strategies. In case the expenses are higher than the sales from the various events, then the IMC plan was in effective. On the other hand, if the sales increased, then the strategy was effective. Customer feedback will also be a determining factor. 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