A

Management thesis on Social Marketing activities and generating brand awareness and brand loyalty its

media sources in JodhpurSubmitted in

Partial fulfillment ofThe Post Graduation Degree

Of

Master of Business Administration

Submitted to: Submitted By :MISS VARNICA MATHUR PADAM SINGH

(Faculty Guide) (Sip intern in Rajasthan Patrika)

Sip center, Jodhpur

6ND12448

Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India

National College,Jodhpur (Raj.)

( 2006 - 2008 )

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I think, it is my duty to give my sincere thanks to all those who have helped me in some or the other way for preparation of my ‘Project Report.’

Miss Varnica Mathur, my faculty guide of MBA Programme, Faculty of Financial Management Studies was always there for the assistance and directs me whenever I was in need of it. I am happy to get his guidance and his sharp supervision on my Summer Internship program and Project Report, thereby.

I would also appreciate the esteem guidance and supervision provided by Mr. Vidhan Bhandari, Branch Manager, and Rajasthan Patrika, Jodhpur by way of their valuable suggestions provided during the course of my Project.I express my sincere thanks to Mr. Sanjay Kukreti Event Coordinator and HR Manger, Rajasthan Patrika for providing me with an opportunity to take my training with Rajasthan Patrika Ltd., Jodhpur.

I’m also thankful to my father and mother getting me jump over this task. My friends, classmates and specially my faculties are also part of this acknowledgment.

PADAM SINGH (MBA/PGPBA)

2006-08

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INDEX1) Objective of study -------------------------------------------------------------- 42) Executive Summary ----------------------------------------------------------- 53) Introduction to Media Industry --------------------------------------------- 7

a) The Global Media System ----------------------------------------------- 7b) Globalization Of Indian Media ----------------------------------------- 11c) Current Scenario ---------------------------------------------------------- 14

3) Company Profile ----------------------------------------------------------------- 154) Distinctive Feature --------------------------------------------------------------- 19 5) Major Event of Rajasthan Patrika --------------------------------------------206) The Branch Hierarchy of Rajasthan Patrika ------------------------------- 237) Marketing an Overview --------------------------------------------------------- 26 8) Modern Marketing Concept ---------------------------------------------------- 279) Marketing Mix -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2810) Elements of Marketing Mix --------------------------------------------------- 2911) Marketing Management ------------------------------------------------------- 3112) Stages in Management of Marketing --------------------------------------- 3413) Importance of Management in NEWS Paper ----------------------------- 3514) Managerial Function in NEWS Paper Organization -------------------- 3515) 10 thing to know about customer loyalty ----------------------------------- 3716) Principle of Media Planning -------------------------------------------------- 4617) Creating a Marketing /Media Plan ------------------------------------------5218) Marketing Plan ---------------------------------------------------------------- 58 a) Issues Analysis ---------------------------------------------------------------- 58 b) Strategies -----------------------------------------------------------------------59 c) Tactics -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 60 d) Marketing Research, Objective & Analysis ---------------------------- 60 e) Financial ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6020) Sales Overview ------------------------------------------------------------------ 6121) Competitive Analysis Overview --------------------------------------------- 6722) Competitive Analysis Principle ---------------------------------------------- 6723) Data Source ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6824) Benchmarking ------------------------------------------------------------------ -6925) Competitor Focus --------------------------------------------------------------- 7026) Social & Professional activities of Rajasthan Patrika --------------------7827) Latest Activity -------------------------------------------------------------------- 8128) Summer School ------------------------------------------------------------------- 8129) Water Harvesting Program ---------------------------------------------------- 8230) Tree Plantation Program ------------------------------------------------------- 8231) Learning License Program ----------------------------------------------------- 8332) Find it Program of the company -----------------------------------------------8433) Fairs & Event Of the company ------------------------------------------------ 8534) Problem & Challenges ----------------------------------------------------------- 8635) The Task Ahead ------------------------------------------------------------------- 8736) Conclusion & Suggestion ---------------------------------------------------- 88

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OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

The Project Report for “Rajasthan Patrika” is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement Project Report Work which include 4 Month Summer Training under MBA (pursuing) degree from ICFAI University, Hyderabad.

The purpose of the study was to analysis Social Marketing activities and generating brand awareness and brand loyalty its media sources in Jodhpur the marketing statement, and to evaluate the marketing condition and performance of the company. Apart from this, mainly, my keen interest in Media and it’s marketing, as I want to build my future in this. So, I think non other than the progressive and developing Company like Rajasthan Patrika Pvt. Ltd., which is the topmost leading Newspaper Company* in Rajasthan, and everyone knows about it, but struggle and compete to develop its image at National Level with 17 publishing centers overall in India and its starts to get it by placing itself in Top 15 Newspapers of India.

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Executive Summary Prior to the eighties and nineties, national media system was typified by domestically owned radio, television and newspaper industries. There was major import markets for films, TV shows, music and books, and these markets tended to be dominated by U.S. based firms. But local commercial interests, sometimes combined with a state-affiliated broad- casting service, predominated within the media system. All of this is changing rapidly .Whereas previously media system was primarily national, in the past few years a global commercial-media market has emerged.

The commercialization of the electronic media was given a boost as globalization hit India, bringing about the transformation on Indian television in the early 1990s, accelerated by the combined impact of new communication technologies and the opening up of global markets. Economic liberalization, deregulation and privatization contributed to the expansion of Indian media corporations, facilitated by joint ventures with international media conglomerates.

According to a recent survey made by MPA an ITV, India is the third largest TV market in the world with 109 million television homes and 61 million cable TV homes. It is also the fastest growing cable TV market in Asia with industry turnover growing at an average annual rate of 18n per cent to approach $3 billion in 2004. According to a detail opening presentation made by MPA and ITV, India is the third largest TV market in the world with 109 million television homes and 61 million cable TV homes. It is also the fastest growing cable TV market in Asia with industry turnover growing at an average annual rate of 18n per cent to approach $3 billion in 2004.

A newspaper plays a crucial role in society. Besides providing information to its readers, a newspaper aims at educating and leading the public at large and protecting rights and freedom of the people. Giving right perspective to the facts, providing a forum for debate and discussion, inspiring people for cooperation, love and unity, improving quality of life and entertainment are some of its other goals. A newspaper is, therefore, an instrument of social change. It must uphold moral and ethical values in society, provide a truthful, comprehensive and intelligent account of events, and give meaning to them. Undoubtedly, a newspaper must act with responsibility, be fair and independent, and neutral and objective. Therefore, a newspaper must follow the tenets of journalism.In this project I more concern only on the social activity and customer loyalty for generating brand awareness.

Rajasthan Patrika is a Hindi lanaguage daily newspaper published from Jaipur and other major cities in Indian state of Rajasthan and also from Banglore, Surat, Ahmadebad and Channai.Company was established in 1956. And founder of the company is Kapoor Chandra Kulish. And the head Department of the company is situated in the Sun City (Jodhpur), Manji Ka Hatha Poata. Opposite ICFAI national college. Company publish his news paper not only Rajasthan, other parts of country. Company has its own news channel on local cable network, and relay some serials .who give report on public awareness and crime report of the week, and also give report on, What happened in all over Rajasthan in per week .for his readers company

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have different policies like gift system and participate in social activity like as for saving water (AMRTAM JALM) and student is Patrika in Education program in summer vacation

Rajasthan Patrika’s Patrika in education (PIE) is the educational wing of the Rajasthan Patrika. It has been organizing activates for the masses for the student and youth.Major strength of the company his previous record and quality of printing and paper truth ness of the all news that is written in the news paper and some facilities, which is differentiate to his competitor like, its “Granted gift program” in end of every month and “Patrika in education” in every summer vacation for all type of student and “Amrtam Jalm” for public awareness and increasing customer strength in every year or RAJASTHAN PATRIKA already have leading share in the market. And involvement of Rajasthan Patrika in social activity and connection with many charitable trust. it Company have many features in their product, if we see news paper of Rajasthan Patrika, there are many additional colour paper for his reader. And they have a separate paper for all reader. For youth news paper has Bollywood and Patrika Ravivariya and for ladies Patrika has Parivar .and for child, Patrika has a magazine called “chottu mottu”. This news paper always gives updated news not copied by other .its Editorial paper is one of the major strength of his. It is very special paper .because in this paper a critical matter is given that is related to political and social. Rajasthan Patrika news paper always has little for the advertisement that is so the news paper has more news then other news paper .now days Rajasthan Patrika has its own news channel and music channel. It means if any person not have time for reading news paper then he /she can watch these news on Patrika news channel. And its news channels telecast viewer. Its viewer can see song on his or her choice .Patrika is started a new program called “Patrika in Education” .it is totally no profit no loss program for Patrika .but this program always increase goodwill of the company. On news channel Patrika telecast only news and much discussion and criticize relevant topic. As we know that Patrika also telecast some serial on national network. These serial gives more news related to only own state and many awareness program for people of Rajasthan. And also give information about our culture and our great history. The price of paper is less then to his competitor .so it is also one major strength for its company. Patrika has 17th edition in all over India. And its customer figure and its edition so popularity in all over India .Patrika get all type of award related to media industry it is big strength of company.

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Introduction to media industryThe Global Media System Prior to the eighties and nineties, national media system was typified by domestically owned radio, television and newspaper industries. There was major import markets for films, TV shows, music and books, and these markets tended to be dominated by U.S. based firms .but local commercial interests, sometimes combined with a state-affiliated broad- casting service, predominated within the media system. All of this is Changing rapidly .Whereas previously media system was primarily national, in the past few years a global commercial-media market has emerged.To grasp media today and in the future, one must start with understandingThe global system and then factor in differences at the national and local levels .Today media industries is regarded as one of the most oligopolistic in the world. This global oligopoly has two distinct but related facets. First, it means the dominant firms-nearly all U.S. based –are moving across the planet at breakneck speed. The point is to capitalize on the potential for growth abroad-and not get outflanked by competitors –since the U.S. market is well developed and only permits incremental expansion. The dominant media firms increasingly view themselves as global entities. Second, convergence and consolidation are the order of the day. Specific media industries are becoming more concentrated, and the dominant players in each media industries are becoming more and more concentrated and the dominant players in each media industry increasingly are subsidiaries of huge global media conglomerates. For one small example, the U.S. market for educational publishing is now controlled by four firms, whereas it had two dozen viable players as recently as 1980. The level of mergers and acquisitions is breathtaking. In the first half of 2000, the volume of merger deals in global media, Internet, and telecommunication totaled $ 300 billion triple the figure for the first six months of 1999, and exponentially higher than the figure from ten years earlier. The logic guiding media firms in all of this is clear: get very big very quickly, or get swallowed up by someone else. This is similar to trends taking place in many other industries. But in few industries has the level of concentration been as stunning as in media. In the short order, the global media market has come to be dominated by seven multinational corporations: Disney, AOL-Time Warner, Sony, News Corporation, Viacom, vivendi and Bertelsmann. None of these companies as recently as fifteen years ago; today nearly all of them will rank among the largest 300 non-financial firms in the world for 2001. Of the seven, only three are truly U.S. firms, through all of them have core operation there. Between them, these seven companies own the major U.S. film studios; all but one of the U.S. television networks; the few companies that control 80-85 percent of the global music market; the preponderance of satellite broadcasting worldwide; a significant percentage of book publishing and commercial magazine publishing; all or part of most of the commercial cable TV channels in the U.S. and worldwide; a significant portion of European terrestrial ( traditional over-the- air) television; and on and on and on.

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By nearly all accounts, the level of concentration is only going to increase in the near future. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation may be the most aggressive global trailblazer, although cases could be made for Sony, Bertelsmann, or AOL-Time Warner. Murdoch has satellite TV services that run from Asia to Europe to Latin America. His Star TV dominates in Asia with thirty channels in seven languages. News Corporation’s TV service for China, phoenix TV, in which it has a 45 percent stake, now reaches forty-five million homes there and has had an 80 percent increase in advertising revenues in the past year. And this barely begins to describe News Corporation’s entire portfolio of assets: twentieth Century Fox films, Fox TV network, HarperCollins publishers, TV station, cable TV channels, magazines over 130 newspaper, and professional sport teams. Why has this taken place? The conventional explanation is technology; i.e. radical improvement in communication technology makes global media empires feasible and lucrative in a manner unthinkable in the past. This is similar to the technological explanation for globalization writ large. But this is only a partial explanation, at best. The real motor force has been the incessant pursuit for profit that marks capitalism, which has applied pressure for a shift to neoliberal deregulation. In media this means the relaxation or elimination of barriers to commercial exploitation of media and to concentrated media ownerships. There is nothing inherent in the technology that required neoliberalism; new digital communication could have been used, for example, to simply enhance public service media had a society elected to do so. With neoliberal values, however, television, which had been a noncommercial preserve in many nations, suddenly became subject to transnational commercial development. It has been at the center of the emerging global media system.

Once the national deregulation of the media began in major nations like the united state and Britain, it was followed by global measures like the North America Free Trade Agreement and the formation of the World Trade Organization, all designed to clear the ground for investment and sales by multinational corporation in regional and global market .this has lay foundation for the creation of the media system, dominated by the aforementioned conglomerates. Now in place, the system has its own logic. Firms must become larger and diversified to reduce risk and enhance profit making opportunities, and they must straddle the globe so as to never be outflanked by competitors .this is a market that some anticipate having trillions of dollars in annual revenues within a decade. if that is to be the case ,those companies that sit atop the field may someday rank among the two or three dozen largest in the world .The development of the global media system has not been unopposed. While media conglomerates press for policies to facilities their domination of the markets throughout the world, strong traditions of protection for domestic media and cultural industries persist. Nations ranging from Norway, Denmark and Spain to Mexico, South Korea keep their small domestic firm production industries alive with government subsidies. In the summer of 1998, culture ministries from 20th nations, including Brazil, Mexico, Sweden, Italy, and Ivory Coast, meet in Ottawa to discuss how they could “build some ground rules” to protect their cultural fare from “the Hollywood juggernaut”. Their main recommendation was to keep culture out of the control of the WTO. A similar 1998 gathering sponsored by the United Nation in Stockholm,

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recommended that culture be granted special exemptions in the global trade deals. Nevertheless, the trend is clearly in the direction of the opening markets.

Proponents of the neoliberlisem in every country argue cultural trade barriers and regulation harm consumers, and that subsidies inhibits the ability of the nations to devolve their own competitive media firms. There are often strong commercial media lobbies within nations that perceive they have more to gain by opening up their borders than by maintaining trade barriers. If the WTO is explicitly a pro-commercial organization, the international telecommunication union(ITU),the global regulatory body for telecommunication, has only become one after a long march from it traditional commitment to public service values. The European Commission (EC), the executive arm of the European Union, also finds itself in the middle of what controversy exists concerning media policy, and it has considerably more power than ITU. On the one hand, the EC is committed to building powerful pan-European media giants that can go toe-to-toe with the U.S. based giants. On the other hand, it is committed to maintaining some semblance of competitive markets, so it occasionally rejects proposed media mergers as being anti-competitive. Yet, as a quasi democratic institution, the EU is subject to some popular pressure that is unsympathetic to commercial interests. As Sweden assumed the rotating chair of the EU in 2001, the Swedes began pushing to have their domestic ban on TV advertising to children made into the law for all EU nations. If this occurs it will be the most radical attempt yet to limit the prerogatives of the corporate media giants that dominate commercial children’s television.Perhaps the way to understand, how closely the global . Commercial media system is linked to the neoliberal global capitalist economy is to consider the role of advertising. Advertising is a business expense incurred by the largest firms in the economy. The commercial media system is the necessary transmission belt for business to market their wares across the world; indeed globalization as we know it could not exist without it. A whopping three quarters of global spending on advertising ends up in the pockets of a more twenty media companies. Ad spending has grown by leaps and bounds in the past decade, as TV has been opened to commercial exploitation, and is growing at more than twice the rate of GDP growth. Latin American ad spending, for example, is expected to increase by nearly by 8 percent in both 2000 and 2001. The coordinators of this $350 billion industry are five or six super ad agency owning companies that have emerged in the past decade to dominate totally the global trade. The consolidation in the global advertising industry is just as pronounced as that in global media, and the two related. “Mega-agencies are in a wonderful position to handle the business of the mega clients,” one ad executive notes. It is “absolutely necessary for agencies to consolidate. Big is the mantra. So big it must be,” another executive stated.There are a few other points to make to put the global media system in proper perspective. The global media market is rounded out by a second tier of six or seven dozen firms that are national or regional powerhouses, or that control niche market, like business or trade publishing. Between one third and rest are from western Europe and Japan. Many national and regional conglomerates have been established on the backs of publishing or television empires. Each of the these second tier firms is a giant in its own right, often ranking among the thousand largest companies in the world and doing mare than one billion dollars per year in business. The rooster of second tier media firms from North America including Tribune Company, Dow Jones

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gannet, Knight-Ridder, Hearst, and advance publication, and among those from Europe are the Krich group, Mediaset, Prisa, Pearson, Reuters and reed Elsevier. The Japanese companies. Aside from Sony remain almost exclusively domestic producers.Together, the seventy or eighty first and second tier giant controls much of the world’s media: book magazine and newspaper publishing; music recording; TV production; and motion picture theaters. The end result of all activities by second tier media firms may well be the eventual creation of one or two more giant, and it almost certainly means the number of viable media players in the system will continues to plummet, some new second tier firms will probably be further upheaval among the ranks of the first tier media giant. The global media system is only partially competitive in any meaningful economics sense of the term. When Varity compiled its list of the fifty largest global media firms for 1997, it observed that “merger mania” and cross-ownership had “resulted in a complex web of interrelationship” that will “make you dizzy”.This point cannot be overemphasized. in the competitive market, in theory, numerous producers work their tails off largely oblivious to each as they sell what they produce at the market price, over which they have no control. At a certain level, it is true these firms compete vigorously in an oligopolistic manner. But they all struggle to minimize the effect of competition. Today’s media firms are called “co respective’ competitors typical of situations with high level of monopolization rather than classical competitors in an anonymous dog-eat-dog world as assumed in much of economics theory. The leading CEOs are all on a first name basis and they regularly converse. Even those on unfriendly terms, like Murdoch and AOL-Time Warner’s Ted Turner understand they have to work together for the “greater good.’’ As the head of Venezuela’s huge Cisneros group, which is locked in combat over Latin American satellite TV with News Corporation, explains about Murdoch, “we’re friends. We’re always talking.’’ Moreover, all the first and second tier media firms are connected through their Reliance upon a few investment banks like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs that quarterback most of the huge media mergers. Those two banks alone put together fifty two media and telecom deals valued at $433 billion in the first quarter of 2000, and 138 deals worth $433 billion in all of 1999.The internet is increasingly becoming a part of our media and telecommunication systems, and a genuine technological convergence is taking place. Accordingly, there has been a wave of Mergers between traditional media and telecom firms, and by each of these with internet and computer firms. Already companies like Microsoft, AOL, AT&T and Telefonica have become media player in their own right. It is possible that the globel media system is in the process of conversing with the telecommunications and computer industries to form an integrated global communication system, where anywhere from a six to a dozen super companies will rule the roost. The nation that the internet would “set us free”, and permit anyone to communicate effectively, hence undermining the monopoly power of the corporate media giant, has not transpired. Although the internet offers extraordinary promise in many regards, it alone cannot slay the power of the media giants. Indeed, no commercially viable media contact site has been launched on the internet, and it would be difficult to find an investor willing to bankroll any additional attempts. To the extent the internet becomes part of the commercially viable media system, it looks to be under the thumbs of the usual corporate

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Indian media in the age of globalization:The commercialization of the electronic media was given a boost as globalization hit India, bringing about the transformation on Indian television in the early 1990s, accelerated by the combined impact of new communication technologies and the opening up of global markets. Economic liberalization, deregulation and privatization contributed to the expansion of Indian media corporations, facilitated by joint ventures with international media conglomerates. Such developments revolutionized broadcasting in what used to be a heavily protected media market, certainly the most regulated among the world’s democracies. Gradual deregulation and privatization of television has transformed the media landscape, evident in the exponential growth in the number of television channels- from Doordarshan the sole state-controlled channel in 1991 to more then 70 in 2000.out of these, in 19 are in Hindi or English and therefore national in reach, while others cater to regional audiences in their own languages.The privatization of broadcasting made many western transnational media players enter the ‘emerging market’ of India-potentially one of the world’s biggest English-language television market. With a huge middle class-estimated between 200-300 million-with aspiration to a western life style and a well developed national satellite network linking the vast country, their task does not appear to be too demanding. Sectors of the economy, such as information technology, have demonstrated exceptional growth in the past decade.This has stimulated change in the broadcasting industry, benefiting also from a fast-growing advertising sector, making the Indian television market attractive for transnational broadcasters.The entry of global media conglomerates into India opened up a new visual world for Indian audiences, first through the live coverage of the 1990-91 gulf crises by the cable news network and later through Hong Kong based Star (satellite television Asian Region) TV, part of Rupert Murdoch’s news corporation. Star’s five-channels satellite service in English (Plus, Prime Sports, Channel V, the BBC World and Movie), originated in 1991, become a major hit with the English-fluent urban elite and the advertisers, who saw in these channels a way to reach India’s affluent middle class.Buoyed by advertising revenues, cable and satellite television increased substantially from 1992, when only 1.2 million homes received it. By 1999, India had 24 million cable TV homes, receiving programmers from major transnational players- notably CNN, Disney, CNBC, MTV, Star, Sony Entertainment television and BBC-and from scores oft Indian channels. After an initial infatuation with western English-language programming, noted for its liberal attitudes to sexual subjects, hitherto a taboo on Indain airways. It became apparent that the Indian audience preferd television in their own languages, promoting global media companies to adapt their programming strategies to suit the local marketers. Star strted the process of hybridization when realized that it’s mainly US-originated programming was being viewed by small unit of urban elite. It therefore started adding Hindi sub-title to Holly wood films and dubbing popular US soaps into Hindi. In 1996, Star India specific channel, Star Plus, began locally made programmers in English and Hindi.The sheer logic of market pressure- localizing the products to reach a wider consumer base and increase advertising revenues, was at the heart of this localization strategy.Western-owned or inspired tele vision encouraged mixing of English and Hindi and the evolution of a hybrid media language-“Hinglish”. The emergence of a mixed media idiom, characterized by the growth of Hinglish, has dominated by the burgeoned mass media as the

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language of the youth of a ‘libersied’ and ‘modern’ India. While a form of Hinglish had been in existence in urban north India for decades, it was popularized by Zee TV, India’s first domestic, Hindi language private television, lunched I 1992.

Globalization of Indian Media: The emergence of network such as Zee raises interesting question. It is indisputable that the proliferation of satellite and cable television channels, made possible with digital technology and growing availability of communication satellites, has contributed to the increasing diversity of the global cultural landscape. The role of television in the constriction of social and cultural identities is more problematic in the age of globalization than in the area of a single national broadcaster and a shared public space, such as characterized television in most countries in the post-war years. Though national broadcaster continue to be important in most countries and still receive the highest audience shares, the availability of a multiplicity of television era, a viewer can have simulators access to a verity of local, regional, national and international channels, thus being able to engage in different levels of mediated discourses. A clear analysis of the complex process of international cultural flow reveals that the traffic is not just one way, from north to south, even though it is overly weighed in the favors of the former. Evidence show that new transborder television network are appearing, with some flow from the periphery to the metropolitan centers of the media and communication corporations. The extension of satellite footprints and the growth of DTH broadcasting have enabled network such as Zee to operate in an increasingly global environment , feeding into and developing what has been called as he emergent ‘diasporas public spheres’.(Appadurai,1996)The deregulation of broadcasting, which has been a catalyst for the extension of private television networks, has also made it possible for private satellite broadcasters to aim beyond the borders of the country where they are based- unlike state broadcaster who have traditionally seen their role in terms of the nation state. Apart from the major powers, whose broadcasting has had an international dimension, most public broadcasters, particularly in the south, saw their audience as a domestic one. By contrast the private channels, primarily interested in markets and advertising revenues, had a more liberal media agenda. This basic difference between state-centric and market-oriented broadcasters into the lucrative northern markets, conglomerates has given them the technical and managerial support to operate as a transnational channel.Globalization and the advent of satellite television ensured that the migrant communities of South Asians in the middle East, Europe and North America became a new target as audiences and consumers .(Jacka and Ray,1996) Zee was among the first to recognize the potential of overseas markets for its programming. In its zeal to rope in pan-India audiences scattered through the world, Zee developed a new idiom which by virtue of sheer reach of the medium contributed to making Indian television available internationally. After Star TV purchased 50 per cent of Asia Today (the Hong Kong based broadcaster of the Zee TV) in 1993, it became Zee’s partner in India and beyond. Facilitating their 1992 launch in the Middle East, Zee TV entered the lucrative British market in 1995, when it bought TV Asia, already established in the UK. By 2000, Zee was available on the sky network and claimed to have one million subscribers in the UK continental Europe. It became one of the Hindi and four channels to go digital in the UK, offering programming in Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati and Punjabi. Having acquired

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a base in the UK, Zee expanded into mainland Europe and is also very popular in Africa –based platforms operators, multi choice.Today, Zee claims to be the world’s largest Asian television network, covering Asia, Europe, US and Africa and catering to the Indian Diaspora. In Asia where it boasts a total viewer ship of 180 million, the networking spans morethan4 countries and offers round-the-clock programming on four channels-Zees TV, Zee cinema, Zee India and Music Asia. Having reached more than 23 million homes in the Indian sub continent and United Arab Emirates, Zee strategy is to expand its operations in the lucrative north America market.In recent years India has witnessed extraordinary growth and overseas success in computer software and cinema exports, making it a global force to be reckoned with. (Power and mazumdar, 2000) A recent report on the Indian entertainment business prepared for the federation of Indian entertainment industry, currently valued at Rs. 154 billion ,will grow to nearly Rs. 600 billon by 2005.according to the report, Indian films exports, worth Rs. 4.5 billon in 1999, are estimated to rise to nearly Rs. 120 billion by 2005 ; the Indian music market, currently pegged at Rs. 12.5 billon, is projects to touch Rs. 22 billon, and TV software revenues are expected to soar from the present Rs. 12 billon to Rs. 90 billion in 2005.(Shedde,2000)The unprecedented expansion of television in the 1990s has also been a boost for the movie industry, as many first dedicate film-based pay-channels haves emerged. In June 2000, the first first international Indian film awards, billed as the “Bollwood Oscars” ceremony from London’s millennium done, was broadcast millennium Dome, was broadcast to more than 122 countries reaching 600 million viewers. It brought together along with Indian film and music stars US Oscar winner Angelina Joile, Chinse star Jackie Chan and Australian pop singer Kylie Minoge. (The times of India, 2000)However, the increasingly international orientation of television seems to have excluded the majority of Indian people (the poor, especially those living in the countryside) who are remarkably absent from programmers on channels such as Zee. According to a 1998survey, less than two per cent of Zee viewers live in rural areas. (Satellite &Cable TV, 1999) a socially relevant television agenda, therefore, does not fit well with the private television networks, which appear to be interested only in the demographically desirable urban middle class or the NRI’s with the disposable income to purchase the products advertised on such channels.Given these constraints a development-oriented television remains largely under-explored, primarily because it does not interest advertisers. It is ironic that the country that pioneered the use of space technology for education, with the satellite instructional television Experimental (SITE) of 1975-76, which brought TV to the poorest villages the most inaccessible area, and where 40 per cent of the population is still illiterate- according to the United Nation, 30 per cent of all Indian children aged six to 14 years, about 59 million children, do not attend school-has ignored the educational potential of television.(UNDP, 2000)Though Doordarshan receives substantial support from the government, which extended its reach and added new channels (in 2000. it had 21 channels), it is under pressure to provide entertainment as well as education. One result of such competition is the ideological shift in television cultural from public service to profit oriented programming. The growing commoditization of information and the trend towards western inspired entertainment can affect the public service role of television, whose egalitarians potential remains hugely under-explored in India. (Thussu, 1998).

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As television ids driven by the rating wars and advertising demand for consumers, and given that visual can be a powerful instrument for propagating dominant ideology, the electronic media can play a key role in creation of a marketplace in which their corporate clients can consolidate and expand. Rather then toeing the government line as used to be the case with state broadcasters, are networks such as Zee instead promoting a corporate worldview?Internationally, despite a counter flow of cultural products, as exemplified by networks such as Zee, US –led western media domination has not diminished. There is a temptation to valorize such a flow, suggesting it may have the potential to develop counter-hegemonic channels at a global level. Indeed, as seen in the case of Zee the network has been modeled after transnational corporation as a market-driven organization for whom the most important consideration is to make a profit. Therefore, it can be safely said that the emergence of regional players contributing to a ‘decent red’ media and cultural imperialisms is not likely to have a significant impact on western hegemony within global media cultures. Current Scenario: According to a recent survey made by MPA an ITV, India is the third largest TV market in the world with 109 million television homes and 61 million cable TV homes. It is also the fastest growing cable TV market in Asia with industry turnover growing at an average annual rate of 18n per cent to approach $3 billion in 2004. According to a detail opening presentation made by MPA and ITV, India is the third largest TV market in the world with 109 million television homes and 61 million cable TV homes. It is also the fastest growing cable TV market in Asia with industry turnover growing at an average annual rate of 18n per cent to approach $3 billion in 2004.Yet, while consumptions of programming (both niche and mass ) remain robust, the television –driven media economy has room for much greater expansion with TV industry turnover representing only 0.46 per cent of national GDP while TV advertising spend represents only 0.17 per cent of GDP, trailing major regional consumer media markets such as China (0.23 per cent) and Korea(0.34)Content providers are scaling up well in terms of turn over worth the latest annualized fiscals showing the “Big Three” (Zee, Star, and Sony)With aggregated consolidated turnover in excess of $830 million (Zee leading with $309million, a narrowly followed by Star with 302 million), though China’s leading broadcaster CCTV outstrips this alone with its FY 2004 turnover coming in just below $970 million.The concern is the lack of major cash generative and consolidated distribution company – average turnover for Indian multi system operators (Siti cable, Hathway, in cable runs at about $30 million per annum while Korean and Chinese multi system operators with comparable ARUPs typically average $100 million to $200 million per annum’sProfit leakage in the distribution chain remains rife and Indian MSOs are hurting bad-broadcasters are keeping things at bay with $270 million in fees per annum while LCOs retain a hefty $1.5 billion a year.Critical to the future is both regulation- gradually progressive in certain areas (DTH licensing FDI and FII norms) and potentially harmful in others (anti-siphoning, content censorship, rate regulation and must provide) and competition, which will increase as the distribution of TV

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channels over cable, satellite and broadband networks be gain to accelerate, driven by continued investment programming and greater investment in delivery infrastructure.Such a process will help unlock value for all industry stakeholders and push the market towards digital led addressability. while programming investment continue apace to the approximately $350 million -$450 million per annum, the first wave of investment in digtal pay TV distribution has begun with $500 million being invested into the distribution of pay TV channels and interactive service over DTH satellite ; cable and telephone infrastructure ,led by major group such as Zee Teleflims , Tatas ,News Corp., Reliance , Sun Media,Prasar Bharti , Atlas , the Rahejes and Hindujas TM.The current market capitalization of media companies is around $3-$3.5 billion and could scale up to $20 billion by 2010. Profits in the TV industry, currently running at $350 million, in aggregate, could also scale up exponentially-current cash flow is growing at about 17 per cent annum.

RAJASTHAN PATRIKA-PROFILE

Rajasthan Patrika a leading newspaper of Rajasthan was launched on 7 th March, 1956 in Jaipur. The rise of “Rajasthan Patrika” from a local quarter size single sheet evening daily to a full-fledged, sixteen page morning newspaper with supplements all days of week, commanding a state wide circulation is a saga of the trails, travails and tribulations faced by its founders, proprietor and editor, Mr. Kapoor Chand Kulish, and his team of editors and managers. From its modest beginning, it has during its 50 years of publication grown into a stable institution.

The journey spanning nearly 5 decades has seen the development of publication from sixteen more centers, viz. Jodhpur, Udaipur, Kota, Bikaner, Sikar, SriGanganagar, Bhilwara, Alwar and Banglore, Pali, Banswara, Surat, Chennai, New Delhi, Kolkata also. It pioneering adoption of the latest technology has been rewarded in the form of National Awards for printing and designing. It has various national and international news agencies.

The growth of Rajasthan Patrika is a result of unstinting commitment of Patrika towards its readers and society as a whole. This has also been made possible by a large fleet of taxies, newspaper agents and hawkers, fully equipped to reach every nook and corner of the state.

Philosophy: Management of Rajasthan Patrika thinks in terms of capital and manpower but it puts a great emphasis on Indian culture, ideas and ethics. Rajasthan Patrika has an open mind in the sense that it derives inspiration from the west so far as training and technologies are concerned. The best of the west is blended with Indian traditions, values and wisdom in the affairs of Patrika.

History: The Newspaper, at the time of its launch, was a five-column eveningwear. It was in 1964 that its morning edition was started.THE FOUNDER- ‘Mr. Karpoor Chandra Kulish’

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The Visionary - Karpoor Chandra “Kulish” , A MAN Of EXTRAORDINARY VISION KARPOOR CHANDRA ‘KULISH’, the man who started Rajasthan Patrika as a small evening newspaper in the fifties and took it to the heights of glory, was a visionary par excellence. A splendid genius who has lived the ideal as embodied in the oft-quoted Puranic aphorism “charaiveti charaiveti” (move on and on, rest not) and, above all, a man of extraordinary versatility, as reflected in his voluminous books on the Vedas. He was acclaimed as a brilliant journalist, a scholar of the Vedas, a thinker, a philosopher and a poet. His search for knowledge remains endless, despite his advanced age. He kept abreast of the latest developments at national and international levels and shares his perception of the local, national and international problems with lakhs of readers of Patrika every day, through his four-lined poetic _expression entitled ‘‘Polampol”. It is said that brevity is the soul of wit and, verily, his daily comment that Kulishji contributes everyday epitomizes the best form of creativity. It was his humble endeavour to keep the youths, fascinated by the dazzling modern world, familiar with the fragrance of their mother tongue. It also conveys the message to the young generation that they should not forget their roots. With a meager capital of just five hundred rupees, Kulishji embarked on a difficult road of journalism, by launching an evening daily.

Kulishji’s journey continued uninterrupted, despite tumultuous tempests and hailstorms that hampered his path. His indomitable will and indefatigable courage stood him in good stead. The sapling he planted in 1956 has now grown too a mighty Banyan tree. Its branches are not confined to the frontiers of Rajasthan but they have percolated into the territories of Gujarat and South India. With fifteen editions and ten million readers, this newspaper is synonymous with Kulishji’s personality and work.

The man who strode across the land and dreamt of touching the sky had a humble beginning in a relatively unknown village. Born on March 20, 1926, in a village called Soda, which was a part of the erstwhile State of Diggi Kalyan and Lawa, Karpoor Chandra Kothari was metamorphosed into an internationally acclaimed personality, i.e., Karpoor Chandra “Kulish”. The seeds of greatness were sown in his emotional plane when he experienced a phase of uncertainty after passing his matriculation exam from the Punjab University.

He pledged to tread the path of struggle for survival. He accepted the job of a clerk, to begin with, in the State of Malpura, which fetched him just Rs.33 per month. It was a temporary job, which he soon lost. Destiny brought him to Jaipur to try his luck. In the meantime, he also got married. Now, he was not alone in the zigzag, barren and thorn-strewn path of life. In addition, he also kept himself busy in writing and reading religious and philosophical treatises. He also made his presence felt in the literary world. Kulishji carved out the vision of vastness and took the plunge, though initially he did not hesitate to accept petty jobs. In 1951, he joined Rashtradoot, a Hindi Daily of Jaipur. Since he disdained restraints and curbs, he left Rashtradoot too.

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A plan to start a daily paper was formulated, developed an executed in a meticulous manner. The result is well known - Rajasthan Patrika was born on 7th March 1956 and grew in size and stature and engulfed the entire desert, it has made its mark as one of the leading ten papers of The country. It has been growing since birth and it continues to grow. Steps move on the ground, but the sky is the limit in eyes.

When Kulishji attained the age of sixty on March 20, 1986, he decided to relinquish his position as the editor of the paper, by writing a lead article on the front page entitled “NAMASKAR” (Bidding Farewell). The people inferred that Kulishji was following the tradition of government employees, who have to retire at the age of sixty, but, in fact, his decision was motivated by his desire to undertake an in-depth study of the Vedas - the treasure of ancient wisdom. He wanted to be fully immersed in it, which was the ultimate mission of his life.

The identity, reputation and prestige of an organization depend not only on its professional success but also on the way it maintains values, preserves ideals and contributes to social development. Tested by this touchstone for exemplary work Rajasthan Patrika has proved its worth beyond doubt and has even excelled itself. Soon after Mr. Karpoor Chandra Kulish launched the newspaper he made it clear to his colleagues that he would also use the paper as an instrument for social change and for the alleviation of social problems. He expressed his resolve to work relentlessly towards the accomplishment of this goal. It was on account of this resolve of the founder that Rajasthan Patrika has not only fulfilled its social responsibilities but it has set an example for emulation by others.

Patrika has played an important role in enriching values and ideals which society always yearns for. It has continued to publish books on varying aspects of our glorious cultural heritage and universal values even since it saw the light of the day. The Patrika Group has looked after this materialistic aspect very well. It has been in the forefront of the humanitarian work. It explored various strategies to rush humanitarian aid to the largest number of the victims of natural calamities or the people languishing in poverty. The establishment of Jan Mangal Public Charitable Trust in 1984 was a milestone in this direction. Patrika made a great endeavour to rush help to the people of Maharashtra and Gujarat when the most disastrous earthquakes in Indian history hit them. It didn't lag behind when the entire state of Orissa was invaded by the cyclonic destruction. The sight of the wailing uprooted inhabitants of this unfortunate state melted even stony hearts. Patrika mobilized support for the people of this state and rendered yeoman service. It came to the rescue of the war widows whose husbands died in the Kargil war. Patrika itself contributed a large amount and campaigned for public awareness who responded generously. As a result the afflicted families were saved from another disaster that loomed large in their minds after the death of their members.

Most notable among its crusades against suffering was its campaign for the donation of a handful of grain (muthibhar anaaj) by every citizen when the continuous spell of drought in Rajasthan pushed millions of its people to the brink of starvation. Patrika called upon students to bring handfuls of grain to its office. The campaign electrified the student community and the

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general masses in the entire state that flocked to Patrika Offices in various cities and created heaps of grain. Patrika sent trucks loaded with the bags of grain to the areas where people were dying. It was a new value Patrika inculcated and showed the people the way to help the needy. What generated the tremendous enthusiasm was its slogan 'bacha bacha Bhamashah' i.e. every child is Bhamashah, the legendry philanthropist of Mewar who donated every penny to his people. Thus, Patrika rose above the narrow familial boundaries and considered the entire humanity as its own.

Besides organizing sports events, social and cultural festivals, Patrika also undertook the challenging task of publishing important books and that of helping the educational institutions or enriching libraries. It organized many adventures or helped NGOs who initiated such projects as inculcated the spirit of courage among kids or youths. It was never motivated by considerations of fickle fame but thinking that social concerns and human values deserve utmost attention, it fulfilled its obligations to society in the spirit of selfless dedication. When the Indian Army was sent to the borders to face the threat of war from Pakistan, Patrika sent adventurous youths on motorcycles to the snowy valleys to ' boost the soldiers' morale with auspicious messages of good wishes and greetings. When Patrika realized that common ordinary citizens encounter great difficulties in getting their legitimate problems solved everyday on account of bureaucratic redtapism, it started a helpline and called upon the people of the state to write to Patrika about their problems and grievances. Patrika fought for their cause by taking the issues to the departments concerned and saw that their grievances were redressed.

Hundreds of retired Govt. employees or ordinary citizens have benefited from this initiative. Not only had this Patrika come forward to help the people of a particular region to get their problems solved. The response was overwhelming and the bonds of love for Patrika grew stronger. Everyone in India had heard that Vedas had in them an ocean of wisdom but since they were written in Sanskrit ordinary people remained ignorant about them, Patrika's founder editor Mr. K.C. Kulish began to study them, wrote a series of books in simple language, and thus brought the Vedic wisdom within the reach of the ordinary people. The voluminous book entitled SHABD VED, which Mr. Kulish compiled after years of hard work, is a living testimony to Patrika's contribution to enrichment of values and preservation of our cherished ideals.

‘Mr. Karpoor Chandra Kulish’, the founder of Rajasthan Patrika, throughout his life as a journalist, tried to fulfill social commitments largely and till date Patrika is following his footsteps. Rajasthan Patrika has always worked for the betterment of society. It showed kindness towards birds and animals, it encouraged talented people from every field and worked hard to bring the hidden talent to limelight. Jan Mangal Kalyan Charitable Trust was set up which played a very important role in encouraging the people from the field of sports and social work. It either helped them from its own resources or raised donations for the budding talents. Rajasthan Patrika has left a noticeable mark in the field of publication. It has worked hard to make people more knowledgeable.

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Patrika has always been ahead for public service and in this field; it has organized many Learning License camps for the common people. Patrika has always showed its keen interest in the field of public health and in this direction, it has organized several Blood Donation Camps, which has turned out to be a huge success. Being a newspaper Rajasthan Patrika has always fulfilled its duty to make the people of Rajasthan aware of their rights. In this regard, Patrika did a campaign in which the reporters traveled all over Rajasthan and tried their level best to make the people aware of their right to vote. The people appreciated this gesture and gave their full corporation. Patrika has even organized many cultural events. Patrika every year organize a Book Fair in public interest. This fair is organized in a large scale where people can find books on all subjects and beside that, people also enjoyed the cultural programm. Recent addition to the list is the Health Fair organized by Rajasthan Patrika. This fare got a lot of appreciation from the masses and people from far, near participated in the fair, and satisfied their quarries related to health. Rajasthan Patrika not only plays the role of a newspaper but also the role of a social reformer. RAJASTHAN PATRIKA – DISTINCTIVE FEATURES :

50 YEARS OF LEADERSHIP

The only newspaper in Asia to have won – IFRA ASIA gold award for excellence in printing & society of publishers in Asia (SOPA) award for excellence in reporting in the same year.

The only Hindi newspaper in India to have an English supplement , which delivers to the entire market potential.

The largest Hindi daily in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Karnataka & Tamilnadu .

Provides latest news in the reader’s vicinity, with its maximum number of editions and reporters.

Available in 50 countries , including India, on same day via p.e.p.c., press point vending machines

Introduction of glazed newsprint for weekly supplements.

Rajasthan Patrika group today has forayed in all popular media.

Patrika TV its audio-visual unit involved in production of programms & commercials for DD & AIR.

Patrika online is the web division of Patrika, is responsible for publications on net, and is the most comprehensive info packed portal of Rajasthan.

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Rajasthan Patrika gives us additional on ground support as a vehicle for our message through its various events like

‘National Book Fair’, ‘International Education & Career Fair’ and ‘Jodhpur Festival & Industrial Fair’.

So, I can say that, “Rajasthan Patrika” Is‘People’s Voice ByPeople’s Choice’.

MAJOR EVENTS : RAJASTHAN PATRIKA

1965 -Number of columns were increased to eight.

1972 -Rotary Press printing was started.

Membership of Audit Bureau of Circulation.

1973 -Launch of Itwari Patrika.

1979 -Jodhpur Edition was started.

1981 -Udaipur Edition was started.

1985 -English publication was launched.

-Patrika Advertising Awards were constituted.

1986 -Balhans was launched.

1987 -Bikaner Edition was launched.

1993 -Patrika TV an indoor shooting studio, was started

1996 -Banglore Edition was launched.

1998 -Rajasthan Patrika started its Internet Edition- rajasthanpatrika.com

1999 -Independent web portal was started-patrikaonline.com

-Eleven different Dak-Editions were started

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2000 -Sikar, SriGanganagar and Bhilwara Editions started Turning Point, Bal-Patrika was started.

2001 -Alwar Editions was launched.2002 -Ajmer Edition was launched2004 -Pali Edition was launched2005 Amrtan Jalm 2006 -Baswara Edition was launched.2007 Golden Voice 2007 Summer School (from last 4 year)

Finally, it becomes the No.1 leading newspaper, with 50 years’ of leadership, 12 editions all over Rajasthan and 17 total in India.

Rajasthan Patrika – For All in the World(Splendid Supplements)

Rajasthan Patrika has developed customized segment based products that cater to the specific needs and produce contents relevant to reader’s choice & preference. The below supplements details outlines various target groups, a specific mention is called for city pulse the metro edition of Rajasthan Patrika that serves north, south, east & west zones. It facilitates sharper geographical segmentation within jaipur city.

Rajasthan Patrika carriers supplements for all the seven days, which are follows:

(1) Day & Frequency: Monday weekly, Special Focus: Localized Readership,Sub Brand: City Pulse, Contents: Detailed news items and articles based on topics of interest to the zone, Size: Broadsheet, Edition: Jaipur City.

(2) Day & Frequency: Wednesday weekly, Special Focus: Women, Sub Brand: Parivar, Contents: Mainly topics of feminine interests such as family care, recipes, health, fashion, achievement, general awareness, etc. Size: Tabloid, Edition: All editions.

(3) Day & Frequency: Friday Fortnightly, Special Focus: Children teenagers, Sub Brand: Chhotu-Motu, Contents: It is a new feature, which is added every fortnight in quarter size. It covers topics of interest to children like stories, comics, cartoon strips, brainteasers, information, and receipts for kids, sports & personalities, etc . , Size: Stapled Booklet, Edition: All editions.

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(4) Day & Frequency: Friday Monthly, Sub Brand: Patrika Digest, Contents: Patrika Digest covers topics of special interest like career, health, counseling, etc ., Size: Stapled Booklet, Edition: All editions.

(5) Day & Frequency: Saturday Weekly, Special Focus: Mass appeal, Sub Brand: Bollywood, Contents: A complete entertainment feature magazine on television, Indian films, film stars, their life styles, and other interesting write-ups on international films , Size: Broadsheet Glazed, Editions: All.

(6) Day & Frequency: Sunday Weekly, Special Focus: Family, Sub Brand: Ravivariya, Contents: An interesting colorful magazine featuring topics of general interest such as current issues, articles about personalities & celebrities, astrology, health besides art & culture., Size: Broadsheet, Editions: All editions.

(7) Day & Frequency: Thursday weekly, Special Focus: Youth, Sub Brand: Patrika Mag, Contents: An out & out youth magazine filled with fun & entertainment, featuring articles for light reading on music, pop stars, fashion, sports, love & friendship etc., Size: Broadsheet, Edition: Jaipur City & Ajmer.

(8) Day & Frequency: Thursday weekly, Special Focus: English Reading Teenagers Youth, Sub Brand: Turning Point, Contents: An English supplement covering special interest of teenagers & youth having informative articles, it coverage, puzzles, brain teasers & youth watch, Size: Broadshee t, Editions: Jaipur City & Ajmer.

(9) Day & Frequency: Saturday & Wednesday, Special Focus: Youth, Young Professional Ambitious Executive, Sub Brand: Jobs & Career, Contents: The appointment pages, Size: Broadsheet, Editions: All Editions.

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THE BRANCH HIERARCHYOF‘RAJASTHAN PATRIKA’

The jobs functions of the employees in the organization are divided amongst them and combined in logical ways. Employees with related functions usually share a common work area and constitute a work unit. Departments are therefore constituted.

Departmentation:

The job functions of the employees in the organization are divided amongst them and combined in logical ways. Employees with related functions usually share a common work area and constitute a work unit. Departments are therefore constituted.

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENTThe editorial department, headed by editor, is responsible for:-1. Collection of news2. Selection of news and features3. Editing of news and features

MARKE-TINGDEPT.

ADVT.DEPT.

PRINTINGDEPT.

COMPUTERDEPT.

MACHINEDEPT.

STOREDEPT.

ACCOUN-TINGDEPT.

CIRCULAT-ION

DEPT.

EDITOR-IAL

DEPT.

BRANCH HEAD

OFFICE

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4. Interpretation of areas.ADVERTISING DEPARTMENT

Its main functions include collection of advertisements. The ads collected are usually hand written. A schedule register is maintained by the department, which contains the name of advertiser, name of agency, size of advertisement, agency code number, date of release, preferred position etc. Handwritten matters are sent for composing. On the basis of register, a dummy of ads is prepared which also contains printing instructions along with the material. This dummy is sent to the processing department. They place the ads according to dummy instructions. After pasting the news they prepare a zinc plate and sent to printing department.

PRINTING AND PROCESSING (MACHINE) DEPARTMENT

This department looks after all work of printing including installation of machines, plant layout, composing, processing, loading, maintenance of machines etc.

Division of printing department, where offset machines are used:1. Composing division.2. Camera division3. Pasting or page make-up division4. Plate making division5. Printing division, and 6. Maintenance division.

The main responsibilities of this department are:1. Selling the newspaper2. Delivering it, and 3. Collection of funds.

FINANCE DEPARTEMNT:The foremost function of the finance department is financial forecasting and planning, it involves forecasting for short term and long-term funds. Predication of short term and long term is done through funds flow analysis. The other function is of investment alternatives, which is done through funds flow analysis or payback period.It involves:a) Determination of financial objectivesb) Determination of financial policies such as those regarding working capital management, capitalization, capital structure, fixed assets management, etc.c) Determination of financial procedures.ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT:A newspaper’s accounting department performs the following functions.a) General accounting workb) Departmental record keepingc) Cost finding

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d) Budgeting

STORES AND CLERICAL DEPARTMENT :

A newspaper store usually deals with storing newsprint, ink, chemicals, films, tools, equipment and machines, furniture, office supplies and general materials used by the various departments.

The responsibilities of store and warehouse are to receive materials, to protect while in storage from damage or unauthorized removal, to issue the materials in the right quantities at the right time to the right place and to provide these services promptly and at least cost.

The main divisions of stores with clerical works are:a) Receiving sectionb) Store sectionc) Accounting sectiond) Issuing sectione) Time Keepingf) Salary and wage administrationg) Provision of incentivesh) Maintenance of recordsi) Human engineering- man- machine relationship.

CIRCULATION DEPARTMENTIt involves the controlling of circulation of newspapers within printed district and its sub divisions. It also controls the supply in appropriated manner so that they will reach on time, by proper way of means.In addition, it continuing surveying of the market and its customers for improvement and reached the targeted goal always. Survey includes questionnaires and queries from its regular, non-regular and non-user customers to know at what area they have to develop themselves and needs of the market.

COMPUTER DEPARTMENTIt converts all organizational hard work into computerization, means placed the news and ads in proper place and finalize the editing works up to pressing the newspaper and send to Printing and Machine Department.It first collects the dummy of the specified pages from the Advertisement Department and than it places the actual news and advertisements in such a way that it will look like better and attractive way. Ad Agencies RoleWhile training in “Rajasthan Patrika” I had learned that advertising agency plays a vital role in the publication line. Advertising agency works as a business associates for the newspaper to get the business from the market. Along with this, they provide services to their clients on behalf of the newspaper.

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Marketing: An Overview

“Society can only exist when a large number of people want something a few people have. It is necessary for both groups to be mutually aware of this need.”

Oskar Handlin

Introduction

Any time one tries to persuade somebody to do something – to buy his product, donate for some charitable purpose, or vote for some candidate, or attend a dramatic show, or accept a social date with him - both of them are said to engage in marketing. Essentially, marketing exists in any type of economic system and in any stage of economic development except the most primitive situation where the individuals are economically self-sufficient and trade or exchange does not exist. Marketing is all-pervasive in the present day world.

An analysis of marketing literature reveals that marketing is variously described as a ‘function’, ‘an orientation’, ‘an approach’ and ‘aptitude’, ‘a philosophy of businesses and ‘a management system or technique’. In fact, marketing conveys all of these and often more. Marketing did not always have a place of importance in the firm. Only in recent few years have, marketing functions received much attention. The modern marketing concept is evolved through various stages. Marketing concept means the philosophy, which guides the marketing effort. Philip Kotler says, “Marketing activities should be carried out under a well-thought-out philosophy of effective and socially responsible marketing.” & “a human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants.”

At the very outset, it may be said that marketing is not a sole business activity. It has a far broader social dimension. Philip Kotler is of the view that “any interpersonal or inter-organizational relationship involving an exchange (a transaction) is marketing.”

The marketing concept emerged in the 1950s as a new philosophy of business management. It advocates that a business should be customer-oriented. It must exist to satisfy the wants of its targeted customers. The goal of the firm should be profitable sales volume. It also emphasizes that all marketing activities should be performed in a co-coordinated manner. The firm should adopt a systems view of management.Meaning

The term “marketing” comes from the word ‘market’ which consists of all the potential customers sharing a particular need or want who might be willing and able to engage in exchange to satisfy that need or want. In common parlance, “marketing” means the process of distribution of goods and services. It is concerned with “handling and transportation of goods from the point of production to the point of consumption.”

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Marketing includes all the activities involved in the creation of place, time, and possession utilities. In other words, it involves the activities that satisfy needs and wants through the process of exchange. Precisely, marketing involves individuals and organizations

Performing functions that seek to satisfy human wants/needs by facilitating exchange relationships.

According to Philip Kotler, the marketing concept holds that “the key to achieving organizational goals consists of being more effective than competitors in integrating marketing activities towards determining and satisfying the needs and wants of target markets.” The marketing concept has been expressed in such catchwords: “Love the customer, not the product”, “Marketing is relationship, not business”, “Putting people first”, “Partners for profit” etc. In brief, the marketing concept rests on four tenets: target market, customer needs, integrated marketing and profitability.

Modern Marketing Concept

Ever since the age of Adam and Eve, the concept of marketing has been practiced in one form or the other. However only recently it has been recognized as one of the most important discipline. The new concept of marketing says, “More than technology, it is our customer’s needs that shape the production. The new marketer designs product offerings that meet or-better-anticipate these needs.”

Thus, today’s concept of marketing is nothing but a way of life in which all resources of an organization are mobilized to create, stimulate and fulfils the needs of the customers as a profit.

“It is the customer, and he alone, who, though being willing to pay for a good or a service, converts economic resources into wealth, things into goods.”

“If we want to know what a business is we have to start with its purpose. In addition, its purpose must lie outside the business itself. In fact, it must lie in a society since a business enterprise is an organ of society. There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.”

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Peter F. Druker

The Marketing Concept

Modern Views on Marketing

‘Marketing’ has a special significance in modern management of business and industry and is one of the important managerial concepts. Unless, it is properly understood and put into practice in the right use, many of the business or industrial enterprise will collapse or prove a failure in their achievements. This will be clear when it is realized that marketing is a total system of interacting business activities (viz., marketing and products and services) to the present and potential customers.

Peter Drucker has rightly stated: “Marketing is so basic that it cannot be considered a separate function. It is the view of business seen from the point of view of its final result, that is, from the customer’s point of view.” He also says, “Any business enterprise has two-and only two-basic functions: marketing and innovation.” Managers have today realized that the success of any business depends on how efficiently they handle the marketing function.

Marketing- Mix:

All the activities undertaken by a firm for winning customers can be grouped into four distinct elements viz. product, pricing, promotion & place of distribution. These four elements grouped together are called the ‘Marketing Mix.’ Also since all four elements begin with alphabet ‘P’, these are also known as 4 Ps of marketing; as coined by McCarthy.

Customer Orientation-needs

examinedand satisfied

Goal Orientation- financial or nonfinancial

Marketing Concept

Integrated Efforts – all activities coordinated

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A marketer has to keep on experimenting with different marketing mix of these 4 Ps, depending upon the nature of product, market and environment.

MARKETING MIX DIAGRAM

Elements of Marketing Mix

Product- It relates to something, which is being offered to the customers in exchange for a price. It may be a physical item like soap, automobile or watch or a service like hotel, transportation, or photocopying or an idea like insurance, social service or holiday.

ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES PRODUCT Planning Introduction Improvement

CUSTOMER VARIABLES COMPETITIORS VARIABLES PRICING PLACE Margins Channel Margins Channel Structure Distribution Structure Distribution Structure Distribution Schemes Logistics

PROMOTION Advertising Sales Promotion Public Relations

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MARKETING MIX

Pricing- It refers to the amount of money that customers have to pay to obtain the offered product, service or Idea.

Promotion- It refers to all activities pertaining to identifying, communicating, persuading and motivating target customers; for becoming aware of the offered product and making decision to buy the same.

Product activities include:

Designing a new product Selecting features, styles, looksQuality build up and ImprovementBranding & PackagingSizes/modelsWarranties & guaranteesAfter sales serviceConstant innovationsProduct-mix

Pricing activities include

Pricing Policies Profit Margins Cost of Production Discounts & Schemes Payment & Credit Terms Competitions Prices Price elasticity of Demand.

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Place- It relates to place of purchase and distribution activities, for transferring ownership to costumers at the right time and place.

MARKETING MANAGEMENT

‘Marketing Management is the process of increasing the effectiveness and/or efficiency by which marketing activities are performed by individuals or organizations.’

Ben. M. Enis.

Introduction

Marketing is perhaps the most complex and challenging function performed by business firms. Every firm engages in marketing. It is probably as old as civilization itself. It is the prime mover of business activities. The object of all economic activities is the satisfaction of human wants. Marketing is to see that goods produced reach those consumers who want them at a time when they want them.

Promotional activities include

Advertising in Media Publicity campaigns Sales promotional efforts Schemes, contests, rewards Media planning Competitors activities Customer Relationship

Place activities include:

Channels of Distribution Physical Distribution Transportation Warehousing and Storage Inventory Control Location of Outlets Dealers Network Dealers Relationship Service Centers.

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Marketing Management represents marketing concept in action, i.e. pre-planned demand management under customer-oriented marketing philosophy. Marketing Management looks after the marketing system of the enterprise. It involves planning, implementation and control of marketing programms included in the process of marketing. In other words, marketing management is directly in charge of: setting the goals/objectives of marketing, developing marketing plans for their accomplishment; organizing the marketing activities needed to carry on these objectives, implementing the marketing programms and controlling them as per needs. Marketing management in fact, represents an important functional area of business management efforts under which goods and services flow from the producers to consumers.

Expert Opinions:

In the eyes of many experts, marketing management deals with planning, promotion and control of the entire marketing activity of a firm. It includes the formulation of marketing objectives, policies, programms and strategies. It is concerned with the direction of purposeful activities towards the attainment of marketing goals.

According to American Marketing Association, “Marketing Management is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals.” W.J.Stantion says,” Marketing management is the marketing concept in action.” & Still and Cundiff writes, “Marketing management everywhere is concerned with directing purposeful activities to reach marketing goals.”

According to Philip Kotler, “Marketing management is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of goods, services, and ideas to create exchanges with target groups with satisfy customer and organizational objectives.” & “Marketing management is essentially demand management as it has the task of influencing the level, timing, and composition of demand in a way that will help the organization achieve its objective”.(as below in diagram):

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Putting the plan into action. Organizing coordinating, and directing marketing activities.

Assessing the marketing plan in view of results.

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Planning

Evaluating

Implementing

Developing Marketing goals with objectives, analyzing marketing environment, develop marketing strategy & identify target markets.

STAGES IN MANAGEMENT OF MARKETING

Marketing Hierarchy:

Role of Marketing Dept.The main function of this department is to develop a strong PR (Public Relation) with its advertisers and advertising agency, basically the sole responsibility of this department is space selling.Beside this, marketing department carries out the following activities:Collection of information relating to other newspapers/competitors, their circulation, advertising rates, advertising business effectiveness, agencies mode, people’s reply or needs, people’s choices etc.Others:-(a) Analysis of advertising Business of the newspaper.

Marketing Manager

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Branch Manager

TeamIncharge

TeamIncharge

TeamIncharge

TeamIncharge

Marketing Executives

Marketing Executives

Marketing Executives

Marketing Executives

(b) Keeping a close watch on the development of the industry, trade etc.(c) Finding out advertising needs of merchants as well as readers.(d) Encouraging businessmen and traders to earmark appropriate & definite amount for advertising. (e)Providing information to advertisers.

Importance of Management in a Newspaper Organization:

Management plays a pivotal role in a newspaper organization. The success of a newspaper organization is determined by the effectiveness of its management in terms of its competence; integrity and performance. Management makes the human efforts in a newspaper organization more productive. The inputs of labor, capital and raw material do not by themselves ensure growth of a newspaper establishment. It requires the catalyst of Management to maximize the results. It is rightly said that management is the mover and development is the consequence.

The managerial functions of planning, organization, coordination, motivation and control must be performed effectively and purposefully in the newspaper organization. If the management of a newspaper is not functioning properly, the publication may be unsuccessful even though the journalistic product may be creditable and the relations of the paper with its public may be rated relatively high. Thus, management is the most vital and strategic factor in a newspaper organization. In the ultimate analysis, the success of an enterprise will depend on the quality of its management.

Managerial Function in a Newspaper Organization

Planning:In newspaper management, planning is vital. Without planning, the newspaper’s operations have no meaning and no direction.

In a newspaper organization, planning should be comprehensive and include the following:

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Which helps us? Know

Which affects the kinds? Of leadership that have

In order to ensure Success of plans

Organization:

A newspaper’s organization structure specifies its division of work activities and shows how different activities are linked; to some extent it shows the level of specialization of work activities. It also indicates the hierarchy, authority structure, and relationships in the newspaper organization.

The organizing function of managers in the newspaper organization involves:

Determination of the activities.

Grouping of the activities

Assignment of these activities to group departments (editorial, advertising, Printing, circulation, etc.)

Delegation of authority to carry out these activities.

Coordination:

Where a newspaper organization has several publication/units, coordination among these units becomes vital. In addition, coordination among editorial, printing, store, circulation, advertising and accounts departments is indispensable, within each department too, unity of

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PlansObjectives and how to achieve them

What kind of org. structure to have

By furnishing standards of control

How most effectively to lead people.

What kind of people we need and when

effort is required. Briefly, a newspaper establishment the following activities are to be integrated:

Activities of various publication units of a newspaper.

Activities of various departments (editorial, advertising, accounts, personnel, printing, circulation etc.)

Activities of personnel working in every department or group.

Other Functions:

Motivation and

Control.

10 things to know about customers: LoyaltyThe rules have changed

More and more, companies are realizing that their most precious asset is their existing customer base. As a result, the traditional marketing mix, which has focused heavily on gaining new customers through mass marketing, is evolving. Marketers are moving funds from their advertising budgets and allocating them for customer loyalty and retention programs, which go by many names, including loyalty, frequency, retention and relationship marketing. But all define the same basic marketing approach; Identify, segment, grow and retain existing customer by communicating and rewarding desired behavior.Here’s a brief look at the 10 most important trends in loyalty marketing affecting almost every company selling almost every kind of product in almost every marketplace.

Consumers are smarter and expect more. As the general population becomes better educated, consumers approach purchase decisions with greater scrutiny, and they have access to more data for comparison-shopping. One example is the Nutrition Labeling Education Act established in 1990 by the Food and Drug Administration, which requires food companies to provide detailed nutritional information on every package. This allows consumers to compare the specific nutritional features of every food product within a specific category. Also, the Internet and the growing popularity of consumer publications such as Consumer Reports and television news shows such as Dateline and 20/20 give consumers greater access to product information. With greater scrutiny comes stronger expectations and demand for product quality and customer service. To meet these demands and emphasize differentiation and benefit, companies launch loyalty-marketing programs.

The Internet has led to disloyalty. The Internet as a distribution channel for product sales and information has caused many consumers to change buying habits and methods. Researchers report record-low consumer loyalty in the Internet environment.

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Low unemployment is squeezing customer service. As the labor, pool shrinks so does, the equality and skill level of available labor for frontline customer service jobs. Additionally, retail organizations and service-based call centers face increased employee recruitment and retention challenges. As a result, customer service levels are eroding, particularly in fast food and mass merchandising retail. As consumers become frustrated with poor service, longer lines and other service-related problems, customer defection becomes a threat. The critical decline in customer service quality also damages and severs relationships with formerly loyal and profitable customers.

Price-based switching programs change expectations. Most of us have gotten a tempting offer to switch telephone service: Switch your long distance service to the company that’s calling, and it’ll send you a check. Some were worth $50, during extremely competitive periods, some companies offered as much as $20, some $50, and during extremely offers have taught consumers to be on the lookout for the next best offer. However, in many industries, loyalty-marketing programs have helped companies establish value and create barriers to exit.

The global market introduces new competitors. As the global economy opens, U.S. companies are seeing increased competition, and many are facing foreign competition for the first time. Many use loyalty-marketing initiatives to establish stronger value propositions in the hopes of blocking foreign threats to market share.

Customer-focused marketing technology is developing rapidly. The term ”customer database” is outdated. Technical giants such as Microsoft and Oracle have developed, and continue to enhance, data warehousing systems that collect and mine valuable customer information in real time. Moreover, marketers are incorporating these systems with software innovations like Epiphany’s ES to use the data for smart and ROI-based loyalty marketing programs.

Deregulation makes choice more complicated. First, we had to choose long distance telephone service, and in the beginning, we had only price to differentiate among the big three. Eventually, large advertising budgets and price-based switching programs gave us more to consider. Now, deregulation gives us more choices to make. Soon, we’ll be inundated with marketing campaigns for local telephone service, cable, electricity and even gas, as utility companies compete for customers for the first time.

Challenged with selling commodity-based service products offering little opportunity for brand differentiation, these companies look to establish increased value by developing loyalty-marketing strategies. Pilot programs already are operating in early-adopting states. Legislation signed in 1999 by Texas Gov. George W. Bush provided the impetus for loyalty marketing programs like the Selections program, sponsored by Deltas-based TXU (Texas Utilities), which offers customers a variety of added benefits such as consolidated billing and home energy use

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evaluations. While this was the first program of its kind, other major Texas utilities are developing similar programs aimed at fostering loyalty.

Mergers and acquisitions can upset customers. For many industries, acquire-or-be-acquired is the name of the game. Mergers and acquisitions can have a significant impact on brand and product loyalty, and may cause customers to look for alternatives. This trend has been especially pronounced in the financial services industry, where customers struggle to keep up with the logo changes in their checkbooks

Mass media costs are increasing. Advertising is more expensive, and marketing budgets are getting tighter. The average cost of a 30-second spot during the 1986 Super Bowl was $500,000. That number reached $2.2million in 2000, so marketers need to drive increased ROI on their marketing budgets. This trend fosters loyalty programs, because loyalty marketing focuses on existing customers whose behaviors and responses can be tracked, and marketers can pinpoint response and accurately attribute incremental revenues to marketing dollars spent.

Competitors are doing it. Loyalty marketing has become a table-stake in many industries. Almost every hotel chain, airline and credit card Company offers some type of frequent customer program; customers have come to expect them and compare benefits and rewards of competing companies. As a result, competitors are racing to introduce new benefits, better benefits and came other element or twist that no other company offers. These trends pervade every market situation, and companies are either jumping on board with loyalty marketing, or they’re watching their customers go by on the competitor’s train.

A Summarized report Based on the book of Marketing StrategiesTitled-‘Simple ways to make your customers happy’

By Shri Pramod Batra

Shri Batra has given the example of Lord Ganesh ji and thus correlated the management concepts with the Indian Mythology. Shri Batra explained that we can observe the specific signs of Lord Ganesh ji, which inspire us not only in our daily life, but we can learn from them for our business dealing and office working also. He emphasized about the inspiration from Lord Ganesh ji, thus:-

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Lord Ganesh ji’s big head inspires us to think big and think profitably. The big ears prompt us to listen patiently to new ideas and suggestions. The narrow eyes point to deep concentration needed to finish tasks in hand well and

quickly. The long nose tells us to poke around inquisitively to learn more. In addition, the small mouth reminds us to speak less and listen more.

Shri Batra has described 18 points for marketing strategies under the following three heads:

I. Sell – How to sell to the customers.II. Serve – How to serve your customers.III. Satisfy – How to satisfy your customers.

Now, we can take the above three point’s one by one as follows:-

I. SELL - HOW TO SELL TO THE CUSTOMERS

Customers, Customers, Customers – Where are they – everywhere Who are they - everyone When will they come – any minute What will they like – whatever you sell to them with a genuine twinkle in your eyes, with

a smile on your lips, with feelings from your heart and with their benefits in your mind?Therefore, there are six better ways of selling to these customers: -

1. Put yourself in your customer’s shoesSpend ten minutes every day thinking how you can put yourself in your customer’s

shoes. It may be difficult, but certainly, it will mean more sales. You will gradually learn from your experience. Listen to your customers and ask questions from them. Look into their eyes, do something extra for each customer and ask someone whom, you respect to give you his objective observations. Admit your mistakes with your customers gracefully and learn from them.

In a summarized way, we can say that one should judge him from the eyes of the customers.

Shri Batra has given example of “Bharat” of Ramayana, Who always tried to put himself in the shoes of his elder brother “Lord Rama” and by receiving the inspiration from the “shoes” of Lord Rama, he could be able enough to run the management of the kingdom in absence of Lord Rama. Here, in our case, the above example can be traced to manage our customers better by putting ourselves in the shoes of our customers so that we may easily and effectively understand the requirements and the views of our customers. We must get customer oriented ideas in our mind and develop out thinking skills in our brain – which is a great thinking machine capable of creating new ideas that can work miracles can do the same. Therefore, the salesman is to act just like Lord Ganesh ji (as explained in the example).

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2. Customer is the boss

Why? Because a boss can fire you whenever he is unhappy with you or your work. Likewise, a customer can take away his business to a place wherever he gets better value for his money, better service and better ego message. He does not have to give reasons for his action.

Customer will give you every promotion; you would obtain during your lifetime only if he is satisfied, but he will discharge you if you displease him. Therefore, customer is the boss – yesterday, today and tomorrow and therefore, the customer satisfaction is the most important goal of marketing.

So, ask for it - What I can do for you?

What does the customer want? A customer wants very little to feel happy. Customers do not want you to overcharge them, both in terms of money and time. A customer is the boss... yesterday, today and tomorrow, and he does not want you to

forget this.

3. Customer is the profit, everything else is overhead

Over service your present customers a little bit, because they are and will continue to be your best prospects for more business.

Use your mind’s eye to remove the small difficulties and anxieties of your customers. Profit is not a dirty word. However, at the same time, putting profit before quality and

service is like putting the carriage before the horse. Do not forget that if a business is sailing with a heavy load of overheads, it will gradually

sink to the bottom of the Market Ocean. So, axe your overheads Review them every month, not just once a year.

4. Customer is the business: business is people: people are customers

Your service employees are people. Ordinary people with average intelligence and initiative, when treated with respect and dignity as individuals, given training and motivation by you, will turn out to be good serviceman. This can only be implemented by thinking, listening, reflecting and understanding during your working and non-working hours.

Help your customers to make more “money” with your products/services, to reduce costs with your products/services and to save time with your products/services. So, increase the productivity of your customers through your products/services.

Increase customer awareness among your employees. Unless your serviceman and your customers can work together, it won’t work.The three basic steps of serving and satisfying your customers are:-

Get the facts. Analyze the facts.

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Arrive at a decision.

5. The purpose of your business is to create customersHow? Meet your customer, personally. Become trustworthy to your customers. Keep on helping your customers, keep on doing small, small deeds and they will keep on

coming back to you. Consider the competition as an opportunity. Working together works.

6. Communicate continuously with your customer

How? A few better ways:- Search for customers with positive attitudes and make them your friends; their company

will give you good vibrations to communicate well with your other customers. Get genuinely convinced that your product would satisfy a real and important need of

your customers. Consider developing a monthly newsletter for your customers. A powerful awareness-

building tool is effective as well as efficient. Send our sales letters regularly. A letter must contain a creative idea so that the receiver

can act on it and later remember having taken action on it.

II. SERVE – HOW TO SERVE YOUR CUSTOMERS

Here are a few more tips to ensure that you are able to satisfy your customers, once you have sold to them.

7. Serve your top 100 customers the best you can

These customers can be termed as leadership accounts and can be listed accordingly. Once you have the list of your top 100 customers and start thinking what will happen o

your business if these customers desert, you will start managing your business in far better ways.

When you serve your customers better, you will feel like a hero. Be honest with your customers at the same time.

Give your customers the best you have and in out of ten of then will give back the best they have.

8. Become a customer-oriented business

Make it as your only goal. You will start looking after your customers better and you will ensure that your employees also start looking after your customers better.

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For only goal to be secured, the goal must be meaningful, obsessive and achievable step by step.

Do not be oversensitive to failures; you can never satisfy some customers. As everyone is a customer and customers are everywhere, so look out for more and more of them, always keeping in mind your meaningful and obsessive goal of remaining a customer-oriented business.

9. Develop customer-oriented polices and procedures

By acquiring a positive attitude, it can be done.

Think, thank and smile (This is to be done mentally). Always keep a positive thinking. Keep Company of good people, read good books, visit (M W A – Management by

Walking Around) successful business houses and attends good training courses. Share your positive attitudes with your colleagues. It should be showing and positive

always, because only when you have a positive attitude will you be able to have customer-oriented policies and procedures.

10. Customer must be given the best possible service

Give your customers U.S.A. (Unique Service Advantage). Customer satisfaction is affordable and profitable because a customer becomes your salesman forever only if he is satisfied.

11. Customers want answers to their problems; your 3 Cs does not impress them

(3 Cs are Carpet, Chrome and Chandelier)

The “first three minutes” in which a customer is confronted, decide his attitude towards your business. How?

1 st Minute:-

A customer comes, say; to the service department when he is in trouble and the chances are that he is a bit unhappy with our product. At the time, he is looking forward to someone greeting and recognizing him quickly. Do it. Whatever the reason for his coming to your office, if your appearance and manner are right and you pass on a quick and friendly greeting, you have already started creating a good image by developing a pleasant atmosphere.

Now your 1st Cs will be “music” to him.

2 nd Minute:-

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Now, when the customer is in better mood, he will observe things minutely and start forming his opinions. Pleasant, orderly and efficient functioning will improve your image in his eyes and mind.

3 rd Minute:-

He starts sending messages to his mind that he and his needs are in good hands.

12. Fight, fight, fight… for your customers

Nothing motivates and satisfies a customer more than to see his businessman friend putting in an honest day’s work to solve his problems.

III Satisfy- How to satisfy your customers

Here are some of the better ways to satisfy your customers after you have sold to them and have served them well because “How to serve your customers” has no meaning unless these are implemented to the advantage of your customers.

13. Listen, listen, listen… to your customers

Though it is not easy, it is necessary. Why?

Because throughout our lives, we never learn to listen. Mostly, it is good to listen.Listening to your customers will involve listening to your customers who are not

fully satisfied with your services and promises.

To turn complaints into opportunities, designate and train an employee to process complaints. He should not only listen to them but also try to follow up their solutions. Remember that through regular follow up of the solution to the problem, you are converting a customer into a repeated customer.

14. Each of your employees should visit your customers

Richardson Hindustan Ltd. and IBM are the companies, which openly acknowledge the secret of their success to the fact that each of their employees considers himself or herself to be a part of the selling effort.

Under this selling environment, every employee contributes to customers’ satisfaction. Employees are related to various assignments to give them better and larger experience and exposure.

Be conscious of the fact that each of your employees must contribute to customer satisfaction.

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15. Keep on checking with your customers about your employees’ attitude

Why customers quit?

1% Die3% Move away5% Form other friendships.9% For competitive reasons.14% Because of product dissatisfaction.68% Quit because of attitude of indifference towards customer by some employee

of dealer. Many of your employees may actually have developed the habit of bad temper.They may be insulting your customers. You will never know unless you check up diplomatically and occasionally with your customers.

Remember, your competitors are also looking for your dissatisfied customers because they know the business management axiom:-

“It costs six times as much to get a new customer as to keep a customer you already have.”

16. Solve the small problems of your customers today

Tell the customer what you can do. Personally see that the problem is solved. Do something extra for the customers. Ensure complete understanding of the customer’s problem. And if it still does not work,

remember “Loose one; Gain two.” 17. Dissatisfied customers are your best teachers

Tips to reduce the number of dissatisfied customers:-

Do not sell something, which you cannot service. Negative customers are bad company. Don’t oversell or sell wrong. Offer him a deal. You can make a list of old dissatisfied customers, but never get them together. When you try to reach the difficult customers, you may not quite satisfy all of them but

you won’t come up with a “nothing achieved” feeling either. Normally, the more you listen to your dissatisfied customers, the more they will

themselves come up with solutions. Remember to learn by listening and to understand by reflecting.

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Complaints are good for business. If you listen to your customers, you will learn about your weaknesses from their complaints.

Customer complaints only when he is interested in doing further business with you, otherwise he won’t even bother about you. It is only because he wants to give you just another chance before trying elsewhere; after all, he knows that history may repeat itself elsewhere too.

18. Learn the art of knowing when to say “No” to your customers

You can meet the “needs” of your customers, but you can never meet their “greed’s.” The secret of success in conversation with your very difficult customers is the ability to

disagree without being disagreeable. Whenever you say “No” to a customer; say it in a way so that he understands it to be only

“No” at that time and not as “Never”. As a businessperson, you are an artist. Therefore, learn the art of saying “No” too.

Principles of Media Planning

1. Introduction

At some point in the marketing process, the work has to change from research and strategizing to actually going out and promoting a product or service to potential customers.One of the most potent tools to reach consumers is a media advertising campaign. When well conceived, a media campaign enables marketers to reach thousands of consumers simultaneously with a uniform, focused message.

The key concept, however, is “well-conceived.” Media advertising is a sophisticated tool. Especially today with the ever-growing assortment of specialty cable television channels and the variety of new media options available, marketers have to target their advertising dollars carefully to reach the right audience at the right time.

Such calculations are the job of the media planner. Media planners are often part of a full-service advertising agency, but they also work in specialty firms. In either case, the media planner works closely with the marketing and advertising team to devise a media strategy.

The media strategy is a roadmap to ensure that an advertisement reaches the right audience at the right time. The three big questions in any media plan are:

What is the right media mix? What specific media offer access to the target market? When should advertisements air, and how often?

When the marketing, advertising and media team arrive at satisfactory answers to those three questions, what follows is a balancing act to make the most effective use of the marketing budget. There is not such thing as a perfect media plan. It is an organic creation specifically targeted to the product or service, the marketing objectives and the marketing budget.

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When the team devices a media plan that they think has the best chance for success, they pass it along to a media buyer to make it all happen.The following tutorial is an introduction to media planning, including terminology, a review of the process and a general discussion of what works, and what doesn’t.

2. Media Planning Process

The mission of the media planner is:To create innovative and cost-effective plans designed to fulfill media objectives through

the development of strategies and tactics.Media planning is a multi-step process.

It begins with the marketing objective – what is the client company trying to accomplish in terms of sales, brand image and market share. Media advertising is typically only one part of the company’s marketing mix - it is one of many tools at a marketer’s disposal. In the most effective marketing campaigns, the media advertising campaign works in concert with other marketing initiatives such as sales, distribution channel strategy and customer service to deliver a unified, focused message to the consumer.

Ideally, the client has already worked out the elements of the marketing plan and marketing objectives before they started serious work on advertising strategies.Media objectives are an extension of the marketing objective. If media and advertising are a part of the marketing strategy, what does the media plan need to accomplish to fulfill its role? Answers could include share-of-mind measurements, sales goals or brand recognition measures.

Media strategy explains the “how” of a media campaign. The questions answered at this stage will help media planners devise a strategy:

o Who is the target audience?o Where is the target audience (global, Indian market etc.)?o When should the marketing message air (timing, seasonality, etc.)?o How many times should the message air?o How will we communicate the message (creative)?o How much does the marketer have to spend?

Will the commercials run year-round to build and maintain awareness? Are there specific seasons when the client needs to ramp up its marketing activity, such as a toy company before Christmas or a pharmaceutical company before the spring and fall allergy seasons?

The media strategy then forms the base of a detailed discussion of specific tactics. It is at this stage that a media plan is developed. What mix of television, radio, print and new media advertising will reach the largest segment of the target audience? What specific channels and program times are most likely to reach that target audience, and how often should the message be repeated?

The answers to those questions form the media plan, and the next step is to execute the plan by airing commercials and advertisements. Throughout the entire process, media planners and media buyers carefully measure their successes and failures, and adjust the media plan accordingly.

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Determining the Media Mix

As stated previously, “media mix” is the proportion of television, radio, print and other forms of advertising used in a particular campaign.The “best ” mix for a particular campaign is a combination of the product or service, the marketing objectives, target audience and budget. That information often helps media planners first decide what media types would be ineffective in reaching the target audience.

For example, if the target audience is male, daytime television is generally not the best vehicle. If the marketing budget is small, or if the target audience is very narrow, television may not be a viable option at all. Media planners could opt instead for a print campaign focused on the target audience’s interests and hobbies.Creative constraints may eliminate one or more media options. For a new product that must be demonstrated, radio would be a bad option because the listener can’t see the product. In addition, the client’s main goal for a marketing campaign may be to build a customer database. In that case, a direct response campaign would likely be the best option. Researching a competitor’s marketing and media activity may help uncover new opportunities. Either these could consist of media that a competitor has ignored, or of media that has to be a part of the mix to compete for share-of-mind with the competitor’s existing advertising.

“Media quintiles” are a useful tool for visualizing the target audience’s media habits. Quintile analysis divides a target audience into five categories from the heaviest users to the lightest users. If the heaviest users of a product tent to get their news from magazines and radio, then those elements should have a higher proportion of the media mix than television.

A media planner needs to construct a quantitative defense of his media mix recommendation. In fact, this is a good habit to from in any case. Media planners are spending someone else’s money. That is a big responsibility and planners need to have the numbers to back up every decision and recommendation they make.Advertising cost figures can be calculated from cost per thousand (CPM) or cost per unit (CPU) figures from various outlets. Ratings data is an available from companies such as Nielsen (television) and Arbitral (radio). Media planners can find data on competitive activity from sources such as Ad Spender and Strategy.

3. Creating a Media Plan

A media plan only needs to make sense within the context of the media objectives and media strategies. There are no rights or wrong answers. Media planners should present to the client any ideas of plans that they can back up with the facts.Creating the media plan, itself is a three-step process:

Step One : Determine media types and/or TV dayparts to be used or considered. Step Two : Create framework for the media plan.

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Step Three : Determine and plot out the appropriate levels of activity in each media vehicle and daypart used.

Step One: Media Selection RationaleIn selecting the media for an advertising campaign, the following factors need to be considered:

Cost efficiency (CPM) Targetability Reach potential Tactics Environmental considerations Creative considerations Historical & Competitive media utilization.

Each is discussed in more depth below:

Cost Efficiency (CPM)Clients want and need to get the most value out of their marketing and advertising

spending. Often, cost factors are the first component investigated in any marketing plan. If the client does not have the budget for a prime time and campaign, there is little point in devising one.

Cost is most often calculated using cost per thousand (CPM) figures. This is how much money it costs to reach 1,000 people in the target audience.

TargetabilityThe marketing plan has a target audience - the group thought most likely to purchase a

particular product or service in a quantity likely to generate profits. Obviously, any advertising campaign needs to reach the people in the target audience.Reach Potential

Reach Potential is the amount of the target audience that a particular medium is likely to draw. Media planners use this information to determine not only what media outlets to use, but when to place ads.

Media planners look at the percentage the target audience composes of a medium’s total audience to understand the effectiveness of advertising in various media choices.Tactics

Certain tactical considerations may lead media planners to consider time slots or media that are not specifically geared toward a target audience.

For example, if the client has a short lead time before a new product introduction, generating a broad product awareness via more mainstream television channels may give the product a boost in awareness for the launch followed my more targeted advertising later.Environment

As with tactics, the environment on a particular media vehicle may make it attractive as a part of a media plan. For example, a client looking to advertise anew heartburn medication may get better results during a cooking show.

Creative Considerations

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Sometimes, the message itself dictates what media vehicle is most appropriate. If the client needs to send a complicated message, a print medium will work better than television.

For example, pharmaceutical companies are often required to release data on side effects and risks for a new medication. Most of that data would be unwieldy in a television commercial, so they often opt for print.

Historical & Competitive Media UtilizationOften, past advertising efforts dictate media for a future campaign. Or, if a competitor

has a regular presence on a particular channel, media planners may want to consider placing some ads there to counter the competitor’s efforts.

Step Two: Building the Framework

The framework of the plan has two basic elements: Number of weeks on the air Flighting patterns

Ideally, an advertising message runs all year. This maintains a consistent message and presence. In reality, the typical marketing budget precludes a constant media presence. Flighting is a strategy of periodically placing ads to gain some of the benefits of a constant presence without the costs.

The media planner’s job is to tailor the frequency and flighting to both the budget, and the marketing and media objectives. For example, a strategy to keep a brand top of mind at all times to encourage impulse purchases (i.e. Coke) would give greater priority to the number of weeks an ad (this is on air to maintain a presence). New brands may sacrifice a long-term weeks-on-air strategy in favor of building awareness with a more concentrated campaign at launch.

One popular use of flighting is “blinking” or “pulsing.” With this strategy, a marketing message is on air one week, off the next, and on again the following week. This way, the message almost has the illusion of being on air constantly, since the audience will remember seeing it before, but without the costs.Generally, devising the flighting strategy is a combination of four factors:

Overall media strategy Tactical considerations Seasonality Budget constraints

Overall Media Strategy: If the goal is maintaining a brand presence or maintaining market share, the flighting will be evenly spread throughout the year. During a new product introduction, the frequency of airing will be higher than at other times.

Tactical Considerations: Periodically, media planners may adjust the frequency of advertising to support a promotional campaign, take advantage of media efficiencies or to advertise during periods when competitors are less aggressive, or heavily advertising.

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Seasonality: Toy companies advertise more heavily before Christmas shopping begins. The Cadbury bunny only shows up before Easter. Back-to-School ads air in August.

Budget Constraints: Advertising activity may change to reflect quarterly or semi-annual financial needs of the client.

Step Three: Determine Appropriate Levels

Appropriate levels of activity in each recommended daypart or medium are determined based on:

Industry standards Client preferences Historical Levels Competitive levels Common Sense

4. Conclusion

Some questions to ask when comparing media plan options: Are the selected media vehicles the most effective for reaching this target? Are the weight levels high enough in each medium to be effective (R/F, # spots)? Are the hiatus periods too long? Have you diluted the effort by using too using media vehicles? What are the limitations and strengths of each plan developed? Is the budget sufficient to attain the awareness or response goals?

Be sure to tailor each one to the specific circumstances such as the marketing and media objectives, market conditions, and competitor activity.Remember, no media plan is right or wrong if it is devised keeping the marketing and media objectives at the forefront. No plan is perfect either, so constantly question assumptions, and constantly measure results.

Creating a Marketing/Media Plan

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1. Introduction Any organization that sells a product or service to customers needs a formal marketing plan. Depending on the size and sophistication of your organization, your marketing plan may be just a few pages or, with supporting material, run into the hundreds of pages.However, even in the largest and most sophisticated organizations, the core marketing plan document should be clear, concise, and state the few key strategies that the organization will be undertaking.This article is intended to give the reader a basic grounding in how to create a marketing plan and will cover:

What a marketing plan does How to structure a marketing plan, with key headings and what should go under each

heading How to get started

What a Marketing Plan Does?

A marketing plan is a document that is one part of the marketing planning process. A formal marketing planning process provides structure and rigor to decision-making. It culminates in a written plan that typically is prepared once a year or prior to a significant new marketing initiative, that requires an investment of budget and/or internal resources.The marketing plan gathers and distills the learning of the organization in one document and charts a path to achieve business objectives. Specifically, the marketing plan answers the following questions:

o What economic and business environment are you experiencing?o What opportunities and problems are you facing?o What business objectives do you expect to achieve?o What exactly do you sell?o Who are your customers?o Why should they buy your product or service rather than your competitors?o How will you communicate your product or service to your customers?o Who will do what, when?o How are you going to measure your progress so you can learn from the experience?

The reason to create a marketing plan could be any or all of the following:o To provide greater discipline in the planning processo To provide strategic direction for an organization or business unito To provide an action plan for marketing-related activitieso To provide a formal record of marketing-related decisionso To request budgeto To request internal resourceso To create dialogue with senior managemento To communicate marketing priorities to other parts of the organizationo To obtain buy-in from other parts of the organization

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The Marketing Planning CycleWhile the marketing plan is written at a particular point in time, typically prior to budget approvals, it is also a year-round process. Certain times of the year may be more active than others.

2. Marketing Plan Structure

There are two key components of the marketing plan: The situation analysis The marketing plan

The situation analysis is a factual document and analyzes the information that you have gathered in preparation for writing the marketing plan. It answers two key questions:

1. What economic and business environments are you experiencing?2. What opportunities and problems are you facing?

The marketing plan lays out the objectives, strategies, and sub-strategies for a specific timeframe, usually a year. It answers the following questions:

What business objectives do you expect to achieve? What exactly do you sell? Who are your customers? Why should they buy your product or service rather than your competitors? How will you communicate your product or service to your customers? Who will do what, when? How are you going to measure your progress so you can learn from the experience?

The marketing plan is not complete or credible without the situation analysis as the situation analysis provides the rationale for the decisions being made in the marketing plan. A comprehensive situation analysis is especially important in an organization that is skeptical about marketing.

The key heading in a situation analysis may include the following: Macro environment (the big picture) Market (size, share, growth, segmentation, seasonality trends, etc.) Internal Trends (sales volume by month and annually, revenue, profits) Product or Service (description of the products or services you are selling) Competition Consumer or Customer (segmentation, attitudes and behavior) Distribution Channels (direct or indirect channels) Evaluation of Previous Marketing Initiatives Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats Issues Analysis

The key heading in a marketing plan may include the following:

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Objectives Strategies Tactics

Product Price Distribution Advertising and Promotion Research and Evaluation Financials (budget and profit & loss statements)

The headings and the types of information that should be included under each heading are listed in the next section. Remember that the situation analysis is a factual document so you should use quantifiable information wherever possible and always state your sources (so you can find them again next year or delve deeper into the information later).

3. The Situation Analysis

Situation Analysis: Macro Environment

The section should present pertinent facts related to economic, demographic, cultural, technological, and/or political forces that are outside your control but will have an effect on your business. In addition to presenting the facts, answer the question, “what does this mean to my business?”

This type of information should be readily available through secondary sources such as government, census information, public bodies and published reports.

Situation Analysis: Market

This section defines and describes your market. The question of “what market are you in” is quite simple but requires some thought.

What is your geographic market – specific regions of a country, nationwide, several countries, or global? What market or industry are you in? If your organization makes pencils, are you in the pencil industry, the writing instrument industry, or the communication tools industry?

Your answers will determine the amount and type of analysis that you will do in this section. Once you have defined your market, you should gather the facts to answer the following questions to describe your market. If you are operating in several geographic markets that are sufficiently different, it may be helpful to answer these questions for each geographic market.

How is your industry structured? In the pencil example, let us say you define your industry as the pencil industry. You would describe the concentration or fragmentation of the competitors (other pencil manufacturers), the suppliers (those who supply the lead, the casing, the erasers, etc.), and the buyers (wholesalers and retailers). This analysis indicates the amount of power that each player can exert on others.

How big is your market?

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Are there segments in the market? In the pencil example, may have mechanical pencils, all purpose pencils, art pencils, and novelty pencils. Each of these segments should be analyzed separately.

What are the overall trends and developments in your industry? What is the rate of market growth or shrinkage over time?

Are there any differences in market growth by time of year? How big are your competitors? A market share table should be included here. What are the key factors for success in the market? For each of these questions, ask the additional questions “why” and “what are the

implications for my business.”

This information can be found in association publications, industry publications and research firms that track the industry.

Situation Analysis: Internal Trends

This section analyzes internal sales and profitability trends of each product or service, grouped by market segment as defined in the Market Section.

Depending on how quickly your industry changes, the timeframe you use for trending may be as short as a few months but organizations commonly use three to five years. The specific questions to answer include the following:

o What are the volume and profitability trends by product or service? What are the volume and profitability trends by market segment?

o What are the volume and profitability trends by type of customer?o What are the market shares for each product or service?o For each of these questions, remember to ask the additional questions “why” and

”what are the implications for my business.”

This information can be found in the internal sales and financial system and supplemented by industry tracking research.

Situation Analysis: Product or Service

This section describes and analyzes your organization’s products or services. The specific questions to answer include the following:

What products or services do you currently provide? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your current products or services compared to

your competition? What new products or services are you considering provide? What are the organization’s capabilities of providiting these new products or services? How would these new products or services compare to your competitions? For each of these questions, remember to ask the additional questions “why” and “what

are the implications for my business.”55

This information comes from internal sources and competitive information.

Situation Analysis: Competition

This section reviews and analyzes each key competitor and organizations that are considered leaders in the market (key competitors and leader organizations may be the same in many instances).

Key competitors are those organizations that provide a similar product or service as your organization and target the same customer or consumer. Leader organizations are those that are the most successful (largest, more profitable, and/or most innovative). Analyzing leader organization may generate ideas to help the organization improve.

These specific questions to answer include the following: What products or services do they offer? How do they differ from yours? How does their pricing compare to yours? How are they positioned? What marketing activities do they use? How successful have they been? What are their strengths and weaknesses compared to yours? For each of these questions, remember to ask the additional questions “why” and “what

are the implications for my business.”

This information can be found in the competitive intelligence system if you have one or you may need to gather this information specifically for the marketing plan.

Situation Analysis: Consumer or Customer

This section reviews and analyzes your consumer and/or customers.If you sell your product or service to a business and that business is the end-user, you

would call this section “Customer” (for example, if you are selling office furniture). If you sell your product or service directly to consumers, you would call this section”Consumer” (for example, if you are in retail).

If you sell your product or service to businesses that then re-sell it consumers, call this section “Consumer” (for example, if you selling pencils to retailers who in turn sell them to consumers). Then, in the following section “Distribution Channels”, analyze those businesses that distribution your product or service to the consumer.The specific questions to answer include the following:

o Can your consumers or customers be segmented based on common characteristics? For example, you could segment by usage such as heavy user, medium user, or light user. You could segment consumers by demographics such as age group, gender, urban versus rural, income, family size, etc. You could segment customers by industry group such as the North America Industry Classification System or by a grouping that is specific to your market.

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o Quantify each consumer or customer segment by size, frequency, profitability, and any other grouping that makes sense in your industry.

o For each segment, especially the largest and/or most profitable segments, ask these further questions about the consumers or customers within them (if you have some very important customers who make up a large percentage of your business: analyze their key characteristics individually).

o Who are they? What are the demographics of your consumers?o What products or services does each buy?o How do they buy your products and services?o Where do they buy your products and services?o Why do they buy your products and services? What are their attitudes toward your

product or service versus your competitors?o For each of these questions, remember to ask the additional questions “why” and “what

are the implications for my business.”

This information comes from internal sales information and research (a research report on the industry that you can purchase and/or your own commissioned consumer/customer research).

Situation Analysis: Distribution Channels

This section lists and analyzes each distribution channel you currently use or are considering using.The distribution channels could include direct sales channels (such as sales force, direct mail, Internet and direct response television) and indirect distribution channels (such as wholesalers and retailers). The specific questions to answers include the following:

What are the characteristics of each distribution channel? What are the trends and new developments in each distribution channel? What are the strengths and weaknesses in each distribution channel? How successful is your organization in each distribution channel? What percentile of sales does each distribution channel contribute to your business? How cost-effective is each distribution channel? What is your share within each distribution channel compared to your key competitors? For each of these questions, remember to ask the additional questions “why” and “what

are the implications for my business.”

If you use indirect distribution channels, analyze your business within each key wholesaler and retailer. In many organizations, this analysis is part of a separate sales plan. This information can be found in the internal sales and financial system and supplemented with industry reports and internal sources.

Situation Analysis: Evaluation of Previous Marketing Initiatives

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This section analyzes the successes and failures of previous marketing activities to apply the learning to the marketing plan.

For each initiative, the specific questions to answer the following: What were the quantifiable objectives for this initiative? Briefly describe the initiative. How did the initiative perform against the objectives? What was the key learning from this initiative?

What are the recommendations about continuing, discontinuing, or changing this initiative?

This information can be found in the internal sales and financial system.

Situation Analysis: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats

This section is often the result of a group session.Prior to this planning session, the individuals participating review the previous sections

of the situation analysis. At the planning session, participants discuss and prioritize the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

The questions to answer in this section include the following:o What internal strengths do the organization or product/service have, compared to your

competition, which will improve sales?o What internal weaknesses do the organization or product/service have, compared to your

competition, which will hinder sales?o What external opportunities are open to the organization or product/service that will

improve sales?o What external threats (over which your organization may have no control) are facing

your organization or product/service that may have to react to?

4. The Marketing Plan

Marketing Plan: Issues Analysis and Objectives

This section analyzes all the learning from the previous sections and lays out the few keys issues that your organization or product service needs to address in the marketing plan. Remember, as the situation analysis is a factual document, the issues analysis should not presume a particular course of action. Rather, it should include only the major problems that need to be addressed.

The objectives are the quantifiable results that you expect your marketing plan to achieve. Objectives are typically stated as sales volume, market share, profitability, or consumer awareness to be achieved by a specific timeframe, compared to a previous timeframe. When setting objectives, choose ones that are realistic and achievable, yet challenging. Make sure that

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the objectives you set can actually be measured. For example, do not choose market share as an objective if you do not have a method of measuring it.

A sample objective could read as follows:

To achieve sales of 35,500 cases of pencils in 2001, an increase of 5.4% over 2000.Most marketing plans have one to three overall objectives. Within the plan, each tactic

may have its own objectives that contribute to the overall objectives.

Marketing Plan: Strategies

Strategies describe the broad direction the organization will take to achieve the stand objectives. Strategies look longer term while tactics are short-term actions to achieve the implementation of a strategy. The questions your strategies should be answering include the following:

What market or industry will your organization be completing in? Who are your target customers or consumers? How will your organization or product/service be positioned? Why should consumers or

customers buy your product or service rather than your competitors? What broad changes do you plan to make to your product, price, distribution, advertising

and promotion, and research, and evaluation?Sample strategies to achieve the above objective could read as follows:

Market definition: Pencil industry in U.S. and CanadaTarget Consumers:

Primary: Artists 18 to 65 years of age, living in cities with populations of 100,000 or moreSecondary: Those 12 to 65 years of age with an interest in art, living in rural and urban environments.Positioning: The smoothest and most reliable art pencils.Product: Add large packs of pencils to product mix.Price: Price competitive to similar quality pencils.Distribution: Add direct distribution to current method of selling in select retail stores to reach non-urban consumers.Advertising and Promotion: Increase advertising and promotion budget by 40% to launch new distribution channel.

Those people whose areas of responsibility will be affected by the marketing strategies should be involved in helping develop these strategies. They will make the difference between a successful marketing plan and one that is a failure.

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Marketing Plan: Tactics

This section describes in details the tactics or short-term actions you will use to implement the strategies outlined in the Strategies section. The categories for your tactics should include:

Product Price Distribution Advertising and Promotion

You may have several tactics in each category. Each tactic in each category should be described in enough detail to answer the following questions:

What quantifiable objectives do you plan to achieve? (If there are any that can be quantified separately from the overall objectives)

What exactly do you plan to do? Why do you plan to do this? How will this improve the organization? Who will be responsible for each action? How long will it take and when will it done? How much will it cost? What evaluation mechanisms will you use? Use common sense to track the

effectiveness of each tactic – the measurement should be dependent on the size and importance of the tactic. In other words, do not measure a tactic if it will cost more to track than it will to implement in the first place.

Marketing Plan: Research and Evaluation

This section describes the ways you will measure the overall objectives, summarizes the evaluation tools you will use to track the effectiveness of the strategies and tactics, and describes the research you will use to obtain any information that you were unable to obtain for the situation analysis of this marketing plan.

Marketing Plan: Financials

The financials should include two documents: A marketing Budget and A profit and loss statement

The marketing budget includes all the costs associated with the strategies and tactics that fall in the marketing area of responsibility.

The profit and loss statement essentially demonstrates the financial effect of the initiatives in the marketing plan. It covers the business unit or product category that is the subject of the marketing plan. Revenues include forecasted volume times average price. Expenses include cost of sales, distribution, and marketing expenses (from the marketing budget).

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5. Creating a Marketing PlanGetting Started

If this is the first time your organization has prepared a marketing plan, it may seem daunting. You may not have all of the pieces of information that are listed in this article. Remember that this is a process and the information and analysis will improve over time. First, find out what you information you already have and what you need to obtain. Then, gather all the information you can for this year. If necessary, pay for information that is important to you. For the information that you are not able to obtain, either because of budget or because it would require a research study, include it as a planned tactic in the research and evaluation section of the marketing plan.

The person who writes the marketing plan and leads the marketing planning process could be the brand manager, product manager, or business unit manager in a larger organization. In a smaller organization, this person could be the marketing manager, director, or vice president and in some cases may have other areas of responsibility such as sales. The people to involve in the marketing planning process are those whose areas of responsibility will be impacted by the marketing plan. Their involvement will increase the success of the marketing plan.

Writing a well thought-out marketing plan is not easy but it will increase the success of your organization.

Sales Overview

1. Introduction

L ife is sales .You are either bringing them in or chasing them away. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to know the difference. However, some key factors can make a big difference.

At the most basic level, sales is just a conversation. Nevertheless, to close on a sales opportunity, it has to be an effective conversation. The foundation for providing any service or product is to have a strong basis from which to build an effective conversation that can address the customer’s needs.

What are the key factors that can make or break a successful sales presentation?The first key is knowledge. A strong knowledge base provides a means of accelerating the sales process. Having the ability to provide the appropriate information in the most efficient manner eliminates or reduces the time needed to complete the sales process.

2. Knowledge is Power“I don’t know, but I’ll find out and get back to you” is always better than “I don’t know.”But it’s never as good as having the answer on the spot.Not knowing often stops the sales process like a pause button.

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Know Your Product

You must be the expert on the product or service that you sell. At the least, know the sources of expertise and build a relationship with them so you can get information in a timely manner.Product knowledge is where features and benefits come into play. The ability to address the strengths and weaknesses of your products enables you to move through a conversation to the sales opportunity.

Know Your Company and Theirs

Have a working understanding of your company. Where it has been? Where it is going?What is its focus and core competencies?Make an impression and know what your customer is doing. This knowledge highlights the best approach for a sales presentation and helps determine what to present first. If you can identify potential needs based on the customer’s business model and current circumstances, you can bring forward a more focused approach for sales.

Know Your CustomerFind out more about whom you will be addressing and as much about their current projects and circumstances as possible. By having a sense of what they are striving to accomplish, you can present your products and services in a way that will seem more relevant.

Know Your Competition

More often than not, customers are looking at multiple solutions. Ultimately, they will have to choose what they perceive to be the best solution to address their needs. Help them with this chore by being the one to distinguish what you provide from the other products or services on the market.Go through the decision point-by-point. By helping a customer work through the decision, you also give them the ammunition they need to justify their decision to themselves, or their managers.

Knowledge can be a Weakness

Sales professionals must have knowledge to succeed, but an over-reliance on your own knowledge often proves to be a weakness. No matter how much of an industry expert you become, your customer always knows more about his own business and circumstances. Nobody likes a know-it-all anyway.

Listen Don’t Speak

In the sales conversation, the most powerful tool is being able to listen more than you speak. The ultimate best source of information is the customer. By asking probing questions and

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listening to the answers, you achieve two objectives. The first is to determine the customer’s need, which leads to how you can help. The second is to enable the customer to discover for himself that you are presenting the appropriate solution.

Questions Not Answers

Questions bring people together, and answers take them apart.In the sales process, well-intended questions can be effective in forwarding conversations. For example, you might want to ask a customer to give you a more in-depth view of his industry. Even better, ask a customer to tell you what their customers want. This enables you to support the customer’s ultimate goals.

Uncover the Problems, Don’t Cover It

Customers are often bombarded with a sales approach that says, “What you have is wrong,” followed by “what you really need, I have.” Then the salesman launches into a long, generic presentation.Get potential customers to talk about their company problems in detail. Use questions and examples to enable the customer to discover how to accomplish their objectives with your products and services. They will fight for that solution if they can claim credit for it.

3. Establishing Relationships

Often, the salesmen with the best companies and products never get to first base because they never bothered to build a personal relationship with potential customers. The ability to notice the identity of the customer and know what is important from her perspective is an invaluable skill.

Some customers are detail people; others are more interested in finding a vendor they can relate to before making a purchase decision. Know the difference. The personable customer will be bored by the statistics, and the detail person will not appreciate an attempt to be ‘buddies.’

Stay in CommunicationPersistence can be a great strength in sales. Often potential customers don’t have an immediate need for your services and reminders make a big difference in staying on the radar screen. There are numerous resources for staying in communication with your customers such as direct calls, e-mail, written communications, literature, and industry interactions.Just be wary of the line between persistence and pestering.

Be on TimePunctuality is your first opportunity to show a potential customer that you are a person they can count on. That reputation for reliability then applies to your company and products as well.

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Often circumstances will come up to make you late, and when they do it is critical to call ahead and reschedule. Take responsibility for whatever caused the breakdown company business, a manufacturer, traffic or the weather.No Effort Goes UnnoticedIt is often easier to justify why we didn’t do something extra than to justify why we did.However, in establishing a reputation for yourself and your company, going the extra distance often is what separates the wheat from the chaff at the time the critical decision is made as to what to buy.Assume that an extra effort gets noticed and present it in a way that can be recognized as being beyond the call of duty. It always comes back to you: front, side or center.The Customer Is Always Right Even When He’s Dead WrongIt is easy to say that the customer is off base, doesn’t have a clue, and you could fix them and their problems if they would just let you. This attitude leaves little room to establish a long-term relationship for business.Get the ReferralOne of the best resources that you have is your existing customer base – the satisfied ones. They can provide an unbiased endorsement for your products and services. More importantly, customers often know people who have similar needs.The key is that you have to ask for the referral. Waiting for a referral will almost always take much longer than making the request up front.Follow upThe sales conversation, like all conversations, fades over time. A critical step to successful sales is keeping the dialogue and actions moving forward. Even when the answer is not now, it is important to know when to follow up, or when to follow up on the actions taken to move the process forward.Add-onsThe best source for new business is often expanding the current business with your existing customer base. Having an assessment of what they are currently buying form you, buying from someone else, sourcing internally, or leaving out is a resource. If you have, or can create, alternative products, improvements, or integration, you have a pathway for additional sales. Sources for additional sales include products, services, and strategic alliances for other products and services.Build a Rapport with Your Peers - They Will Be on Your Side TomorrowInside any industry, there are usually other products or people providing similar services.Any industry has a certain amount of churn. People often find new jobs with another company in the same industry, or at least in a related industry.Therefore, the person on the other side may be on your side tomorrow. It is also possible that they will be in a related field, which means they are a potential source of new business opportunities as customer, referral, alliance, or recommendation.Join Your Customer’s OrganizationsPotential customers often belong to various professional organizations. Join them.Having access to these groups is an effective way to connect with potential customers and enhance your rapport with existing ones. Either goes as a supplier or as someone committed to the field with the intention and goal of being an industry peer.

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This also will keep you current on industry trends.

Use Every Chance to Acknowledge Your CustomersRecognizing customers for their accomplishments is a powerful way to build a relationship.During the sales conversation, the customer told you what they wanted to accomplish, and how they hoped your product would help them reach that goal. Be sure to congratulate them when they hit those goals.When to Say, “Thank You. No.”Win-win is a two-way street.There are times when a potential customer will continue to make requests such as asking for information, resources, and services without any intention of buying. This behavior is not easy to distinguish at first, but over time it become clear. In these circumstances, either say “no,” or offer what is needed along with the associated costs.

4. Marketing

Sales and marketing are often spoken of in the same breath, and for good reason. Effective marketing is key to successful sales. In sales, there are some guidelines for assessing how to effectively sell and market you products and services.What Have You Got to Work with?Assess your company’s current marketing plan to know if you are focused on the same markets as your company. Review the marketing materials, so you know what to choose for the sales conversations. Be able to make recommendations for future marketing materials based on a sales perspective and the requests of customers.What Can You Create or Gather?Often by knowing what marketing materials are available now and from the past, you can know what to ask for or what materials to put together to meet your specific needs.Are They Accurate and Up-to-Date?If materials are out-of-date, push to get new materials printed. Brochures covered with stickers – even if it is just for a change of address- - look unprofessional.How to Package and Present It?Know how your company’s marketing materials are supposed to be presented. Your presentation will be more effective if the brochure or quotation you leave behind reinforces the same message.What’s Enough?It is often difficult to gauge what is going to be the appropriate marketing materials for a particular customer. Often it is better to have a conversation first, and then present the materials that are best suited to their needs. Otherwise, you’ll overwhelm the customer with information.5. Sales Tools It is important to have the right and reliable tools to get the job done. In sales, this often includes a car, computer, pens, briefcase, and paper and account files. Keep notes and build databases. Over the years, powerful businesses have been built through the collection of data and the subsequent integration of that data into information. Information on your customers

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and their companies, products, services, connections, needs and wants, as well as what is coming up in the immediate, near-term, and long-term futures are critical tools for successful sales. There are many systems to do this; database programs, Palm Pilots, note cards, Day-Timers, etc. Find one and use it.

Set Up a SystemPut a method to the madness. While every sale is different, there are a number of processes that are similar or the same from one situation to the next. Being able to look at what is involved in each sale and see where the processes can be streamlined or made more efficient is an important means of increasing the throughout of the sales process. What are your resources? Take an inventory, then evaluate, sort, and choose. In sales, there are always many potential resources.

Literature: Old literature, new literature, corporate media, annual reports, industry reviews etc.

Customers/Accounts: Existing customers, lost customers, potential customers, leads, referrals, cold calls, etc. Track your success.

Customer Interactions: Conferences, interactions, presentations, displays. Human Resources: From inside-executives, sales and marketing management,

product management, technical support, research and development. From outside-sales force, field support, maintenance.

The key is to be able to access what is potentially available and then establish a hierarch y of what is going to lead to sales on short-and long-term tracks, small- and large-volume sales and minimal to grueling effort.

6. Goals and TrackingSet GoalsWhat is the real purpose of goals? They pull you forward like a bungee cord. Having a sales target is essential to establish a sales plan. I often recommend looking at what is beyond reasonable, as it will create unreasonable results. There are some key things to consider. One is who can work with me to achieve these goals and what incentive is there for them? The other is how can I communicate my goals to may customers so that they can support me in winning.Track Your SuccessIf you have no compass, you can’t tell if you’re moving in the right direction. One of the pitfalls of sales is focusing on the sales and not on where you are in moving each conversation forward. Have a system to know where each existing and potential sale is in the sales process. That allows for prioritization.Other Issues

Appearance: Looking good, smelling good, sounding good, and smiling ear to ear. First appearances, second appearances, and every appearance count for a lot.Presenting yourself is often as important as presenting your products. Being well groomed is extremely important. Continuing Education The only problem with a learning curve is that it stops when you think you are at the top. In any field, there are always great resources to make yourself more useful to your company, your customers, and yourself. Sources include formal educational institutions, certification courses, self-education, corporate training initiated by the company or yourself, industry organizations, industry publications, seminars, conferences and,

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most important, and your customers. It is difficult to be a resource for that which you do not understand. 7. Closing the Deal

Ask for the sale! Ask for the sale! Ask for the sale!This is the ultimate test. It is always important to ask for the sale. The point is not so much the answer as it is a chance to give the customer an opportunity to make the commitment to buy or not, and to find out what are the appropriate actions needed to complete the process or when to follow up. Unless you check on where you are in the process, it can be difficult to know where to go or what to do next. Finally, remember that the big sale you have been waiting for is only a conversation away. It is just a matter of having the right conversation. The question is always going to be which conversation are you in? One of the best ways to determine this is to ask yourself: “What am I focused on?” Is it the customer or yourself? Whose issues and concerns are you addressing, the customer’s or yours? You can only be in one conversation at a time. If you are focused on yourself, your issues, your concerns, what you have to do in an hour, next week, etc., you will not be focused on the customer, his needs, issues, or concerns. Effective sales are directly proportional to the amount of time you spend focused on your customers.

Competitive Analysis Overview

1. IntroductionThe business landscape is littered with leading businesses that lost their competitive edge by failing to keep tabs on their competitors. Sometimes they weren’t even sure who was really competing with them for the hearts and minds of customers.

Most upscale department stores failed to pay adequate attention as Wal-Mart grew slowly from a small chain of Arkansas stores to a powerhouse retailer. Apple ignored the growing influence of Microsoft’s Windows technology in the business world, preferring to focus on the consumer market to develop a loyal customer base among students.

Merrill Lynch put online brokers in a different business category, but their customers didn’t.The following are factors that can lead to extinction:

Winners become the hunted and can lose the ability to hunt. The ability change is thwarted by the size and complexity of the company.

Created to perpetuate the paradigm that brought success. Competitors find it easy to hit a visible target, -particularly if it moves slowly or is a

straight line. Psychologically, the risk of losing what you’ve won often looms larger than the

opportunity for incremental gain.

Competitive Analysis Principles

The most important thing can do is to explicitly understand you areas of strategic vulnerability.

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Listen to your customers and channel partners as honestly as possible. Don’t just focus on critical success factors - - those things that are most important to your success - - but also focus on critical failure factors as well.

The following are some guidelines that will help discover a company’s potential vulnerabilities:

Don’t rely on intuition.Although intuition is powerful, it has limitations because it is based on past experience. Today’s competitive marketplace is constantly breaking patterns we’ve learned from our past.

Never rely solely on experts.Their profession as holding the correct body of knowledge has certified experts. However, such expertise is based on past knowledge - - one of the least reliable ways of judging the competitive marketplace.

Don’t allow past investments to influence you views.Business typically focuses on initiatives that enhance the value of prior investments. However, loss of competitive advantage often occurs because those investments no longer produce returns for a particular group or individual.When outlining strategic vulnerabilities, remember to be specific. No one business can

anticipate threats on all fronts. Organizations need to have finite number of critical things to watch. Clearly, customers are critical to success, but what kind of customers? Children, married women, diabetics, and men over 60 all fall under the category of customers, but they are quite different. Knowing your lead users (or future profitable segments) enables you to focus on them.

Of course, knowing what to look for is only half the battle in developing an action plan. Understanding how and where to look is vital.

2. Data SourcesWatch Both Competitive and Customers

The ability to strategically anticipate the future requires constant monitoring and evaluating of competitors. A majority of businesses do keep a watchful eye on the competitors they see. Some even dedicate an entire staff for competitive analysis.However, the competitive analysis often is limited in scope, focusing solely on the competitors of today and their current performance.

Sustaining a competitive advantage requires a company to broaden its view of the business landscape. Companies need to “become” their consumers and channel partners, in addition to walking in the shoes of competitors.

For example, a sports arena’s management team could view its competition as any of the following:

Other sports arenas. All sports arenas in the area. All entertainment venues and options in the area. All leisure venues and activities.

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The most accurate competitive analysis lies in determining what customers consider as the real alternatives. What can appear to be only an ancillary challenge can quickly turn into a full frontal attack?

For example, before the rise of eBay, elite auction businesses such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s did not consider online auction sites a threat. They were considered nothing more than high tech flea markets.

Those auction houses do consider eBay a threat today.Any business that is involved in the industry in which you compete - - or that is targeting the same core customers - - must be on your radar screen. Those that are growing or attracting positive reviews from your customer set must be monitored.

BenchmarkingAn enterprise needs to maintain a healthy share of wallet and share of mind of its

customers. Often this involves researching best practices - - what great businesses are doing to ‘wow’ existing customers and reach new ones.

As a way to co-opt potential competition and to understand possible game changers, benchmarking can be a valuable tool. Looking at companies that excel at a facet of your business means you can learn from businesses in other industries. Those leaders can have a major impact on consumer expectations.

For example, studying the businesses of the major package delivery services such as UPS and FedEx can help many companies learn how to streamline product delivery systems. That knowledge can be applied either to improving internal operations, or in selecting collaborating opportunities.

However, the hype around benchmarking can become a detriment for many businesses, particularly small companies. As Edith Wiarda and Daniel D. Luria of the Performance Benchmarking Service at the Industrial Technology Institute in Ann Arbor, Michigan, advise in “The Best Practice Company and Other Benchmarking Myths: Five Lessons from Real Data,” companies need to be cautions in seeking benchmarking partners.According to Wiarda’s and Luria’s five reasons:

You’re probably not as good as you think you are. However, when armed with hard data, you can shock your organization out of complacency.

Standard benchmarking “how-to” guides often are poorly suited to smaller companies. If you manage a small business or one that doesn’t receive much managerial or technical support from your corporate parent, then you’ll have tocraft a benchmarking approach that will work for you.

Searching for an “all-around best practice” partner is a waste of time. No one company is good at everything.

Use value-added per employee for a quick meaningful assessment of your overall performance. Focus your improvement efforts by considering what stand in the way of large gains on this measure. Value added is defined as sales less the cost of any purchased parts, materials and services. It measures the market value of the work done in a business.

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Be prepared to mount a resourceful, committed search for best practice partners. Many excellent firms never get written up in the trade press. Look beyond the usual literature searches.

Competitor Focus

Having a person or team familiar with each competitor enable management to garner real-time perspective as specific issues emerge. A key here is to develop scenarios reflecting likely strategies these competitors might pursue.Through surveys or customer satisfaction measurements, research can pinpoint specific competitive advantages and disadvantage in performance and in marketing.Here, a best practice is to not only compare with direct competitors but also with whatever respondents feel is the best company in a specific category (for example, handling telephone inquiries, having a great Website, etc.). Asking respondents to identify the best company provides input for the radar screen and for benchmarking.A second tactic is to employ “mystery shoppers,” customers who are blind to your enterprise (and to your competitors) that actually shop and buy to evaluate performance in a focused apples-to-apples manner.A third tactic is to interview channel partners or other third parties about various competitors’ performance.

3. Learn from the Future

Life-and-death decisions probably are not part of your daily business routine. For some professions, however, the ability to anticipate literally means the difference between life and death.

Wayne Burkan, in his book Wide Angle Vision, cites jet fighter pilots, snipers (a legal division within the U.S. Marine Corps), and the Secret Service as examples of groups that rely on anticipation an decision-making.These groups have several traits in common:

o They have specific early warning systems.o They have been trained in how to search using “splatter vision.”o They have learned how to develop mental models.

Early Warning SystemsScanning for business risks can be a monotonous task. Many of the factors you track will

barely move, especially over the short term. This can lead to “being blinded by the crowd,” a phrase used by Secret Service agents as they scan a crowd while protecting the President.

The solution? Use computers to handle repetitive tasks. Create systems that regularly audit your leading indicators and scan the environment for you. When a variation occurs, the computer will tell you what has changed.

The advantage is that the day-to-day monitoring tasks, such as watching stock prices or scanning for news stories about competitor companies, do not take up valuable employee time.

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Secondly, employees charged with monitoring particular companies do not get lost in the monotony of data. They can focus instead on analyzing the information derived from computer the automated monitoring systems.(Mention Marketing Power’s Company Tracking service here with links to register for the service.)Splatter Vision

Splatter vision means never becoming so focused that you expect your challenge to come from a specific direction.

Burkan cites the Maginot Line - - named for France’s war minister, Andre Maginot. The Maginot Line was an elaborate, permanent fortification built by the French after World War I as a defense against future attacks from Germany. The French were solely focused on defending the 200-mile, northeastern border against a frontal assault.In World War II, the Germans outflanked the Maginot line by driving around it through Belgium. The extensive and expensive Maginot Line did nothing to prevent the fall of Paris. By focusing on an expected future outcome, business creates their own Maginot Line.

Surprise turns into crisis not because business managers don’t loot to the future but because they look to a single future or tightly defines the battlefield.

When asked to list areas of strategic vulnerability, many businesses focus on the most obvious, usually targeting only a few core competencies. They may have thorough plans in place to cover those few critical areas and think that they are protected from surprise.

Earlier this century, the giants of the train industry failed to understand that their business was transportation, not trains. The focus of strategic planning was countering the moves of other train companies by launching new routes or building rail lines to connect growing towns, for example. The companies did not anticipate the competitive threat posed by affordable automobiles and an interstate road system. Change usually hits us where we least expect it.

Mental Model DevelopmentA sales forecast is a mental of the quantity, rate, and mix of products or services your

business expects to sell. Your strategic plan contains assumptions regarding the future business environment.To be effective, follow these guidelines when developing a mental model:Be As Explicit As Possible

What business are you in? What are your assumptions regarding your customers and competitors? What about suppliers and regulations?Most organizations that explicitly state their assumptions only record those that go beyond

their sphere of influence. Inflation rates or raw material prices definitely can have a financial impact, but there is nothing your business can do to change those variables.

Be Consistent ThroughoutConsistency means that everyone uses the same assumptions, but each group can decide

the amount.

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For example, a business can assume that inflation will influence future profits. However, the amount of inflation will vary for each department. In this case, the corporate staff acts as a clearinghouse by communicating its specific view of the future and reporting on discrepancies between divisions.

Monitor CarefullyThe rate of change holds the most valuable information. For example, it is important to

know that sales are up six percent. However, it is more important to know that the rate of growth is increasing month to month.

Before you monitor variations to your mental model, be sure to assess what deviations in your lead indicators might mean. Revenue per customer is a critical one; drops here are often linked to the heretofore-unrecognized competitor.

Should explore the significance of deviations before they happen for two reasons:o You can look at the changes more objectively when you don’t have daily performance

pressures. This will give you time to explore the meaning rather than to try to explain it away once it happens.

o You have time to consider alternatives, which is, after all, the benefit of anticipation. The more lead-time you can give yourself, the more reasoned your actions would be.

4. Tools You Can Use

Beyond benchmarking and monitoring competitors, strive to understand the strategic options of competitors to project alternative paths potentially available to them. These competitive scenarios can be combined with a company’s internal scenarios and plans as part of the assessment of future threats and opportunities. Indeed, projecting a competitor’s business options could reveal new information because executives can be more objective.

Research skills are key. First, the competitive radar screen should be developed by disciplined review of public documents, continual review of competitors’ Websites, and interviews with customers and channel partners.

Purchasing power and buying habits information uncovers the financial strength and economic attributes shared by a target market. Use this information to answer the following questions:

What are our average sales per customer segment? What is the average dollar amount spent on purchases or products or services similar to

ours? Where do customers live and/or work? What is the competition at each juncture?

Marketplace competition research gathers information about other companies within your area of business and answers these questions:

Who are our primary competitors in the market? How do they compete with us? In what ways do they compete with us? What are their strength s and weaknesses?

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Are there profitable opportunities based on their weaknesses? What is their market niche? What makes our business unique? How do our competitors position themselves? How do they communicate their services to the market? Who are their customers? How are they perceived by the market? Who are the industry leaders? What is their sales volume? Where are they located? Are they profitable?

Environmental factors uncover economical and political circumstance that can influence productivity and operations. Questions to be answered include:

What are the current and future population trends? What are the current and future socioeconomic trends? What effects do economic and political policies have on our target market or our

industry? What are the growth expectations for our market? What outside factors influence the industry’s performance? What are the trends for this market and for the economy? Is the industry growing, at a plateau, or declining?

Final Diagnostics

Following is a brief checklist of the main tasks in competitive analysis:

1) Do you know the two or three key competitors for the hearts and minds of your core customers at each stage of marketing?

2) Which company - - even if not a major player - - is growing fastest in customer preference on each of these variables?

Awareness. Image. Channels (availability). Point of purchase (presence). Service.

3) Do you know how you rank relative to these competitors? 4) Do you have someone (or a team) accountable for tracking each key competitor? 5) Do you have a point of view on each competitor’s strategy? 6) Is this updated at least twice a year? The Race to the Bottom: Pricing

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1. IntroductionThe wrong pricing strategy can destroy corporate value faster than almost any other

business mistake. Moreover, when industries are about to be deregulated, managers habitually adopt ill-conceived pricing policies that are almost guaranteed to damage their companies and erode services to customers and the community.

These flawed pricing policies-common among deregulating telecommunications, transportation, and utility companies as well as other businesses-represent efforts to hang on to customers. Managers cut prices preemptively to fend off new rivals and then launch full-fledged price wars in hopes of outlasting attackers and emerging victorious from the rubble. This, at any rate, is the hope; the reality is usually quite different. One example of such pricing behavior comes from the Chilean telecommunications sector, which deregulated in 1994. Before the, Empresa National de Telecommunications (Intel) had been the sole provider of domestic and international long-distance services, but with the coming of deregulation Intel had to compete against seven rivals. At first, hoping to keep its customer base intact, it joined in a price war. By the end of 1994, rates for calls from Child to the United States had fallen by about 95 percent, and domestic long-distance rates had collapsed similarly (Exhibit 1). Despite the price cuts, Intel lost nearly 70 percent of the domestic long-distance market and more than half of the international one. After 1994, Intel stopped competing on price. Differentiating itself from competitors based on service and broad product offerings, it began charging a premium over the rates of its largest rival. New entrants continued to threaten Intel’s international business, but by the late 1990s, the company had recovered some of its domestic long distance market share.

Germany’s electricity market provides another example. After deregulation, in 1998, some of the country’s largest incumbent utilities cut prices preemptively to dissuade customers from jumping to Yellow Strom, an aggressive new competitor. Within two years, the average market price of energy had dropped by about 30 percent. As a result of these price cuts, incumbent suppliers saw their profits tumble-a high price to pay an attempt to keep the customer base intact. Prices rebounded in 2001 as even attackers complained of low or nonexistent margins. At the year’s start, Yello, for instance, raised its prices by 18 percent, including an energy tax that accounted for three percentage points of the increase.

Lower prices for customers are among the primary goals of most deregulation efforts. Of course, increased competition can indeed prompt former monopolies to search for greater efficiencies, thus reducing costs and, potentially, prices. But if misguided policies spur struggles that bring prices below the level needed to cover costs, neither companies nor consumers win, since the former may be so crippled that they can no longer guarantee basic supplies and services to the latter. In addition, if a price war succeeds in destroying all attackers, a shattered market will be left with little competition.

In most cases, established companies launch price wars believing that once the dust has settled, prices will rise again. However, psychologically and politically, it can be far more difficult to orchestrate a price increase than a price cut. Throw a stubborn into the mix, and incumbents can find themselves trapped in unsustainable rate structures. In our analysis,

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optimal prices for incumbents can be as much as 20 percent higher than those they actually set. Even then, average market prices will likely fall from monopoly levels, and incumbents must be prepared to lose some of their customer base. Nonetheless, if the right factors influence their pricing decisions, they and the market will remain healthier.

2. Four Factors

An examination of deregulated markets, mostly in Europe, has taught us that the incumbents’ managers tend to make the same mistakes when they address the problem of pricing. As deregulation starts, they feel the pressure of many unaccustomed challenges: for the first time, they must think about growth, regulatory strategies amid competition, cost cutting, organizational change, and so on.

Overwhelmed by such problems, the managers see pricing chiefly as a tool to protect market share and don’t put enough effort into devising profitable pricing policies. Often the incumbents misinterpret or ignore four key factors that should influence their pricing strategies: competitors’ prices, switching rates, customer value, and cost to serve. When all of these factors are weighed correctly, incumbents often find that they can actually charge a premium over attackers’ rates, and this discovery may well be the key to their continued profitability.

1. Competitors’ PricesIn the deregulating markets we have examined, the most important influence on pricing

decisions is competitor’s prices. For customers, especially in mass markets, the newcomers’ price is the major element differentiating competitors. Often, however, the incumbent focuses on the wrong attacker: in an extreme example from Austria, mobile-phone attackers that mistakenly saw even the established telephone network as a competitor drove mobile-phone rates lower than their terrestrial counterparts did when the incumbent followed suit. More often, when facing multiple attackers, incumbents almost by default worry about the lowest price being offered rather than the most relevant. Incumbents, in setting their own prices, should focus on those of the competitor that is best known in the market and has the greatest chance of luring away customers. Price elasticity’s, price transparency, and customer perceptions of individual companies are quite uncertain at the start of liberalization. Hence, incumbents may erroneously focus on undercutting the lowest price charged by any competitor, regardless of its ability to attract customers.

What is more a former monopolist generally underestimates its competitors: believing that it can outlast any of them, it sets prices without fully anticipating the speed and vehemence of their pricing reactions. Incumbents are often unpleasantly surprised by how long the competition can sustain low prices even when they fall below the cost to serve.

In Germany, for instance, incumbents in various sectors underestimated the staying power of new rivals such as Yellow. The result: aggressive price reductions that drained profits.

2. Switching RatesAs soon as the customers of a monopoly can choose another supplier, some of them will

inevitably do so, and others will follow if the incumbent charges more than its rivals do. This

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switching rate is a second factor that must be weighed in setting price levels in newly liberalized markets, though incumbents actually tend to overestimate the amount of switching that price differentials are likely to trigger.

These inflated estimates are based on the often-exaggerated ideas of executives at incumbent companies about how much time their customers spend mulling over their services. In reality, many customers see them as commodities that are hardly worth thinking about at all. As a result, comparatively few customers even consider switching unless the advantages, such as a large price differential, heavily outweigh the bother of changing providers. The fears of such managers are often generated by horror stories they hear from other deregulated markets, but they usually fall to notice the high premiums charged by the incumbents there. Companies that act upon anecdotal information about switching rates, without considering these premiums, can make faulty pricing decisions.

In Germany, the energy incumbents worried when Yello, in 1999, launched one of the largest advertising campaigns in the country’s history in an attempt to sign up 1.3 million customers. A year later, the attacker had only about 400,000 of them. Just 1 to 2 percent of private customers in the German energy market have switched since the coming of deregulation, in 1998. The relatively small price differentials were only one factor: in addition, monthly energy bills were generally low, the potential difference in payments didn’t justify the effort needed to compare offers and switch; and there were structural obstacles to switching, such as lengthy notice periods for cancellation.

Our analysis of several markets in the years after liberalization shows that incumbents charging a 5 percent premium endured switching rates that actually never exceeded 2 percent of the customer base a year (Exhibit 2). After peaking immediately following deregulation, the rate actually fell. Of Course, as price premiums increase, so does the likelihood that a larger proportion of customers will jump to an attacker.

3. Customer Value Few things are dearer to the hearts of incumbents than their customer base, but the quixotic effort to retain a 100 percent market share leads them to misunderstand the value of their customers. In the prevalent view, all of them have the same high value, but that just isn’t right: their individual value varies according to such considerations as the size of the price premiums they are willing to pay before they fly into the arms of competitors, how much additional revenue they can produce through cross-selling, and the cost of reacquiring them. Although an ex-monopoly must keep a substantial share of the market, keeping all of it is impossible.

Fortunately, one of the factors that determine the value of customers is their readiness to jump to the competition. If a customer is the kind of person who switches easily, retention efforts are better directed at others, since the likelihood of success is small. However, for incumbents that have spent so much time in a monopolistic world, it is hard to accept the idea that likely switchers have a lower value and can be shed with only a marginal impact. Managers must understand that it is better to lose fickle customers than to keep them at unrealistically low prices-an approach that cuts margins earned from all customers, even those who are fewer prices sensitive.

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Traditional, volume-driven customer strategies usually inexperience in acquiring (or, in this case, reacquiring) customers, for as monopolies, the incumbents didn’t have to worry about attracting them. Incumbents tend to assume that a customer, once lost, is lost forever.

4. Cost to ServeThe final factor that incumbents often misjudge is the true cost of serving individual

customers. In a controlled market, incumbents generally calculate their prices by adding an acceptable profit margin to their total costs rather than taking the time to determine the cost of serving individual customer segments. Faced with competition, incumbents set aside even their rudimentary estimates as they rush to meet or beat competitors’ rates. Pricing below cost can work only in the short term. It is a safe bet that prices will start rising again once the market settles.As incumbent’s own costs should serve as an absolute short-term, price minimum. Until more accurate price information is announced, the costs of competitors can be used as a proxy for their likely price structures. In the electricity sector, for example, an attacker’s costs can be reasonably estimated by taking the generation or purchase cost of the electricity and adding grid fees and an estimate of fixed costs such as overhead.

3. Reasoned DecisionsBy intelligently evaluating the four factors, incumbents can make more reasoned

decisions about how to revise their pricing policies in the face of increased competition. Rather than blindly undercutting attackers, incumbents can safely charge private customers and most commercial accounts a premium that secures their business, avoids costly price wars, and preserves the market.

However, this premium is not without complications. First, of course, the incumbent must be willing to shed a portion of its customer base, probably as much as 20 percent in the first year. Still, the situation should be monitored closely. As concrete data begin to accumulate, some assumptions may prove to be incorrect, so prices will have to be adjusted. In addition, incumbents should include in their pricing policies certain triggers-such as levels of market share or competitors’ prices-that would initiate changes in policy. Conditional pricing can free managers to turn their attention to other important issues.

Of course, closer attention to pricing isn’t of benefit solely to companies in deregulating markets: the model distilled from them can be adapted to other situations characterized by intense price competition. Structural changes and cyclical shifts in markets or industries that are already competitive, for example, often-inspired companies to defend their market position through price cuts. Moreover, companies in price-sensitive sectors of e-commerce-particularly business-to-consumer (B2C) companies struggling to acquire customers-are prone to some of the same mistakes that deregulating incumbents make. Pricing is an important value lever, but many managers in deregulating markets have trouble determining the right price for products and services. These managers, misinterpreting or ignoring the four factors that inform rational price setting, embark on self-destructive attempts to keep customers at any cost. They must learn a tough lesson: that to optimize value, it is necessary to lose customers.

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4. Using the Factors

The optimal price for a product or service-the price that can help assure profitability and long-term financial health-can’t be revealed solely by the four key factors (competitors’ prices, switching rates, customer value, and cost to serve) that should influence pricing in deregulating markets. We have devised a model that shows incumbents the size of the price premium they can charge when new competition arrives.

First, the model sets a demand curve against profit margins, or price less cost. Demand for the services of an incumbent, as represented by its customer base, is steady until its prices raise higher than those of the most formidable-in other words, not necessarily the cheapest-attacker in its market. At this point, demand will start to decline. The slope of the declining demand curve is primarily a function of the market’s switching rate; the more likely customers are to switch, the steeper the slope will be.

Second, the model charts the total marginal contribution, or revenues less cost, against the margin. At both extremes, the total marginal contribution is zero. Where price equals cost to serve, the margin is zero, and the total marginal contribution is also zero. At the other extreme, the price and the marginal contribution are so high that all customers switch. The curve, which is easy to model, shows that the total contribution peaks somewhere beyond the line representing the main attacker’s price. At this level, the incumbent charges a premium that maximizes the total current marginal contribution and accepts the inevitable loss of some market share.

But the premium level that maximizes the current marginal contribution doesn’t take into account future customer value, including any additional margins that would result from rice premiums in the future, profit potentially generated from cross-selling, and the cost of reacquiring customers. Incorporating future customer value into the model has the effect of moving the optimal price lower, assuming that there are unrealized benefits in retaining more of a company’s customers. This final price helps to secure a company’s future earnings while still preserving a price premium that makes current operations profitable.

Social and Professional Activities of the Company

The identity, reputation and prestige of an organization depend not only on its professional success but also on the way it maintains values, preserves ideals and contributes to social development. Tested by this touchstone for exemplary work Rajasthan Patrika has proved its worth beyond doubt and has even excelled itself. Soon after Mr. Karpoor Chandra Kulish launched the newspaper he made it clear to his colleagues that he would also use the paper as an instrument for social change and for the alleviation of social problems. He expressed his resolve to work relentlessly towards the accomplishment of this goal. It was on account of this resolve of the founder that Rajasthan Patrika has not only fulfilled its social responsibilities but it has set an example for emulation by others.

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Patrika has played an important role in enriching values and ideals which society always yearns for. It has continued to publish books on varying aspects of our glorious cultural heritage and universal values even since it saw the light of the day. The Patrika Group has looked after this materialistic aspect very well. It has been in the forefront of the humanitarian work. It explored various strategies to rush humanitarian aid to the largest number of the victims of natural calamities or the people languishing in poverty. The establishment of Jan Mangal Public Charitable Trust in 1984 was a milestone in this direction. Patrika made a great endeavour to rush help to the people of Maharashtra and Gujrat when they were hit by the most disastrous earthquakes in Indian history. It didn't lag behind when the entire state of Orissa was invaded by the cyclonic destruction. The sight of the wailing uprooted inhabitants of this unfortunate state melted even stony hearts. Patrika mobilized support for the people of this state and rendered yeoman service. It came to the rescue of the war widows whose husbands died in the Kargil war. Patrika itself contributed a large amount and campaigned for public awareness who responded generously. As a result the afflicted families were saved from another disaster that loomed large in their minds after the death of their members.

Most notable among its crusades against suffering was its campaign for the donation of a handful of grain (muthibhar anaaj) by every citizen when the continuous spell of drought in Rajasthan pushed millions of its people to the brink of starvation. Patrika called upon students to bring handfuls of grain to its office. The campaign electrified the student community and the general masses in the entire state that flocked to Patrika Offices in various cities and created heaps of grain. Patrika sent trucks loaded with the bags of grain to the areas where people were dying. It was a new value Patrika inculcated and showed the people the way to help the needy. What generated the tremendous enthusiasm was its slogan 'bacha bacha Bhamashah' i.e. every child is Bhamashah, the legendry philanthropist of Mewar who donated every penny to his people. Thus Patrika rose above the narrow familial boundaries and considered the entire humanity as its own.

Besides organizing sports events, social and cultural festivals, Patrika also undertook the challenging task of publishing important books and that of helping the educational institutions or enriching libraries. It organized many adventures or helped NGOs who initiated such projects as inculcated the spirit of courage among kids or youths. It was never motivated by considerations of fickle fame but thinking that social concerns and human values deserve utmost attention, it fulfilled its obligations to society in the spirit of selfless dedication. When the Indian Army was sent to the borders to face the threat of war from Pakistan, Patrika sent adventurous youths on motorcycles to the snowy valleys to ' boost the soldiers' morale with auspicious messages of good wishes and greetings. When Patrika realized that common ordinary citizens encounter great difficulties in getting their legitimate problems solved everyday on account of bureaucratic redtapism, it started a helpline and called upon the people of the state to write to Patrika about their problems and grievances. Patrika fought for their cause by taking the issues to the departments concerned and saw that their grievances were redressed.

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Hundreds of retired Govt. employees or ordinary citizens have benefited from this initiative. Not only had this Patrika come forward to help the people of a particular region to get their problems solved. The response was overwhelming and the bonds of love for Patrika grew stronger

Everyone in India had heard that Vedas had in them an ocean of wisdom but since they were written in Sanskrit ordinary people remained ignorant about them, Patrika's founder editor Mr. K.C. Kulish began to study them and wrote a series of books in simple language and thus brought the Vedic wisdom within the reach of the ordinary people.

The voluminous book entitled SHABD VED that Mr. Kulish compiled after years of hard work is a living testimony to Patrika's contribution to enrichment of values and preservation of our cherished ideals.

Mr. Karpoor Chandra Kulish, the founder of Rajasthan Patrika, throughout his life as a journalist, tried to fulfill social commitments to a large extent and till date Patrika is following his footsteps. Rajasthan Patrika has always worked for the betterment of society. It showed kindness towards birds and animals, it encouraged talented people from every field and worked hard to bring the hidden talent to limelight. Jan Mangal Kalyan Charitable Trust was set up which played a very important role in encouraging the people from the field of sports and social work. It either helped them from its own resources or raised donations for the budding talents. Rajasthan Patrika has left a noticeable mark in the field of publication. It has worked hard to make people more knowledgeable.

Patrika has always been ahead for public service and in this field it has organized many Learning License camps for the common people. Patrika has always showed its keen interest in the field of public health and in this direction it has organized several Blood Donation Camps, which has turned out to be a huge success. Being a newspaper Rajasthan Patrika has always fulfilled its duty to make the people of Rajasthan aware of their rights. In this regard Patrika did a campaign in which the reporters traveled all over Rajasthan and tried their level best to make the people aware of their right to vote. The people appreciated this gesture and gave their full corporation. Patrika has even organized many cultural events. Patrika every year organize a Book Fair in public interest. This fair is organized in a large scale where people can find books on all subjects and beside that people also enjoyed the cultural program. Recent addition to the list is the Health Fair organized by Rajasthan Patrika. This fare got a lot of appreciation from the masses and people from far and near participated in the fair and satisfied their quarries related to health. Rajasthan Patrika not only plays the role of a newspaper but also the role of a social reformer.

Latest Activity

1) Singing competition (Golden Voice): Patrika was organize a singing competition that’s name is “Golden Voice, and for this competition candidate came from all over Rajasthan and winner of the competition is Mr. Sandeep Achrya from Bikaner.

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2) Dance competition: Like above function, Patrika also organize a dance competition for population of Rajasthan

3) Patrika in education (Investing in tomorrow): Now days this program is very popular in all over Rajasthan for his quality .in this program all hobby classes for student. Including dance classes, painting, acting anchoring, skating and beauty parlor course and many more facility in this function. It is organize in only summer .company provide a appreciation latter for who top in the 10th and 12th classes

4) Organizing “GARBA” dance function: it is special kind of function that is organized in “NAVRATRA” for specific period.

5) Amrtmam Jalm (for saving water): it is organized in dry condition. It is public awareness program. In this program try to solve the problem of water in Rajasthan and also try to solve the problem of unemployment by giving them through this program.

Social Marketing of Rajasthan Patrika in form various activates

Summer School of Rajasthan Patrika Community involvement has been a part of Rajasthan Patrika’s heritage.Patrika in Education, established on 01.01.2001, endeavors to promote and insure all Round development of the society students, young adults and senior citizens, professionals, especially for the youth.PIE in this short span has run as many as 67 courses on variety of topics such as Exam Taking Technique, Essay Writing and Artwork Competition, IT Educational Fair, Spoken English Creative Writing CC in financial Marketing Management, CC in Public RelationPersonality Development, Yoga, Computers, Instrumental items and various type of dances (Folk, Cultural and western dance) etc.Every course has a special skill, for the career opportunities for the students.Patrika was inviting top most faculty of the town for every course. Who 50,000 people have attended. Another 50,000 have been benefited from Turning Point Club E-club another projectSupported by PIE.The public response towards PIE programs have been very enthusiastic even its Paid programs are booked full.PIE also organizes several sponsored contests & quizzes and also sports competitions, In fact anything that catches the fancy of youth and orients them positively.WATER WATER HARVESTING PROGRAMHARVESTING PROGRAM“Rajasthan” is the water thirsty state of India. Here people & cattle equally suffer due to scarcity of Drinking water for the people as well as the cattle. Water Harvesting has always been a part of Rajasthan tradition. Houses traditionally have tankers for “rain water” conserving, as water is scarce & their survival depends on it. Rajasthan Patrika has always drawn the attention of Public, Government,NGO’s towards the need to conserve and harvest water.THE INITIATIVE - To de-silt the existing capacity of the reservoirs.- To clear the catchments areas.- Draw attention towards the water problem.- Educate on the ways to resolve it by using techniques of water harvesting.- Motivate actions through volunteer

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service by public.IMPACT 2800 Water reservoirs were cleared of waste, sediments & silt; also the catchments areas were cleared. Thousands Of dumpers hands by both rich and poor alike removed full of deposited silt. Nearly 60,000 people participated.TREE TREE PLANTATION PROGRAMPLANTATION PROGRAM ( (HARIYALO RAJATHAN)HARIYALO RAJATHAN)Rajasthan has an arid climate and therefore the flora is scanty. This has further deteriorated with expanding city limits. Rajasthan Patrika felt the need to intervene and to correct. THE INITIATIVE:- To plant fresh Trees- To protect the existing Flora.- 17 Rallies were organized to spread the message.- 54 Volunteers organized a plantation drive.The project inspired individuals to take up the cause“ONE PERSON - ONE TREE”, the Vice President ofThe country started the campaign. Staff members wereSent to meet the social institutions, corporate, schools,Community organization to motivate them and their staffTo plant one tree.IMPACT Total 1959550 trees were planted in all Rajasthan. The Forest department distributing the seedling plants ran out of stock & requested Rajasthan Patrika to hold the Campaign till the supply was replenished from the neighboring States. The forest minister declared that the government undertakes to plant 100000 trees.LEARNING LICENSE CAMPRajasthan Patrika organized a Pro-License Procurement Drive with the help of the concerned departments in the form of Driving License Camp. The License Camps were held in Different parts of the state and the license issuing procedure Was properly regulated and conducted in the accordance with the authorities. The mission was to strike at the very root of the problem and inspire a change in the largest through facilitation.THE INITIATIVE - To simplify the license issuing procedure.- To bring the system right at the doorsteps of the people & provide them with a chance to avail the facility.To help the authorized department in validating a check on the rampant problem.- IMPACT - Around 66236 people availed the facility in Rajasthan out of which, 35000 people belong

to Jaipur district (The Capital of Rajasthan).

Customer connect at yet another levelSecond year of success1.5 lakhs copies to be distributed in Jaipur alone.

• FIND IT Yellow Pages• FIND IT CD’s• FIND IT Phone -in Service• FIND IT Listing on the web

Patrika Mobile Value added mobile services

It

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Text based contests can be sponsoredAd line can go along with SMS reply Additional advertisement can also go

Business Possibilities1. New product launches 2. Brand promotions and reinforcement 3. Customer’s loyalty programs (for Shopping Centers, Large stores , etc.)4. Special promotional campaign and events 5. Polls and opinion surveys 6. Booking and reservations

S.No. EVENT PLACE DATE No. OF VISITORS

1. National Book Fair – 2002

Jaipur ( 30th Nov to 8th Dec )

10 Lakh

2. International Education & Career Fair – 2003

Jaipur ( 24th May to 1st June )

11.5 Lakh

3. Jodhpur Festival - 2003 Jodhpur ( 1st to 9th Nov )

18 Lakh

4. Zandu National Book Fair - 2003

Jaipur ( 6th to 14th Dec )

11 Lakh

5. Good Health Fair – 2004 Jaipur ( 8th to 16th May )

14 Lakh

6. Trade Fair – 2004 Jaipur ( 30th Oct to 7th Nov )

16 Lakh

7. Jodhpur Nokia Festival – 2004

Jodhpur ( 4th to 12th Dec )

18 Lakh

8. Udaipur Trade Fair – 2005

Udaipur ( 15th to 23rd 2005)

16 Lakh

9. Ahmedabad Book & Trade Fair – 2005

Ahmedabad ( 5th to 13th Feb )

7 Lakh

10. Ladnu Fair – 2005 Ladnu ( 10th to 18th Feb )

2.5 Lakh

11. Kota Trade Fair - 2005 Kota ( 26th Feb to 6th March )

8 Lakh83

Premium Contests Polyphonic Ring tones Monophonic Ring tones Wallpapers Picture Message Operator Logos

Text Based ContentsCricket Update Academic Results Jokes Contests News Update Astrology Weather Exchange Rates Stock Update

Fairs .

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S.No.

EVENT PLACE DATE No. OF STUDENTS

1. Dandia Jaipur2. Summer School – 2003 Jaipur ( 14th May to

23rd June )2500 Students

3. H3 – 2003 Jaipur ( 6th to 24th Aug )

900 Participants

4. 1st International Children’s Festival – 2003

Udaipur ( 9th & 10th Sep )

1000 Audience

5. H3 Savera – 2003 Jaipur ( 3rd to 29th Nov )

535 People

6. H3 Udaipur ( 12th to 29th Jan )

650 Participants

7. Summer School - 2004 Jaipur ( 16th May to 12th June )

3800 Participants

8. Summer School - 2004 Jodhpur ( 24th May to 19th June )

1700 Participants

9. Summer School - 2004 Kota ( 24th May to 19th June )

1700 Participants

10. Summer School - 2004 Udaipur ( 24th May to 19th June )

1200 Participants

11. Celebrating Success All Rajasthan ( 1st Week of Aug )

10000 Students

12. Patrika School 2004 Sriganganagar

( 8th to 30th Oct )

412 Participants

13. Patrika School 2004 Alwar ( 8th to 30th Oct )

460 Participants

14. Patrika School 2004 Ajmer ( 8th to 30th Oct )

365 Participants

15. Metro Women Diwali Special

All Rajasthan ( In the month of Oct )

2000 Participants

16. Godrej Easy Grahini Jaipur ( In the onth of Oct )

1500 Participants

17. Patrika School - 2004 Bhilwara ( 18th Nov to 8th Dec )

381 Participants

18. Patrika School - 2004 Bikaner ( 18th Nov to 8th Dec )

482 Participants

19. Shikhar – Refresher Classes

Jaipur ( 22nd Nov to 29th Jan )

349 Students

20 Summer school 2007 Jodhpur 14 may to 27 June

2000 student

21 Summer school 2007 Jodhpur 17 may to 21 June

2700 student 85

Problems and Challenges

Radical changes have taken place in the Indian press during the post independence era, especially in the context of circulation, content, news coverage, number of newspapers and periodicals, printing, technology, journalists’ working conditions, newspaper design, etc. While the press has grown both in terms of numbers and professional quality it cannot be gain said that it is totally inadequate for India and inconsequential by the standards of developed countries. Our vast population the reach of the press is not adequate. The average comes to 20 copies per thousand persons, whereas the lowest average of developing countries is 100 plus.

Newspaper is facing several problems and challenges. Some are discussed below:1. Challenges of TV and Radio:

Newspapers are facing several problems and challenges. The growth of electronic media – i.e. TV and Radio, has posed a major threat to newspapers.The growth of the electronic media has not only affected newspaper circulation but also the advertising business of newspaper. The share of the print media for ads dropped from 79% in 1984 to 70% in 1990 and further to 66% in 1992.It is only through improved technology and better services that this challenge can be met.

2. Newsprint Policy:The Government’s policy about newsprint is not encouraging. Newsprint supply in India

is state controlled. Shortage of newsprint has adversely affected the interest of the press. Circulation has been restricted because of it. This is indeed one of the saddest facts about the Indian press. Without newsprint the Indian press will be stunted and choked and therefore, the need of the hour is that changes be made in the newsprint policy of the Government for the benefit of the press.

3. Pressures of Law:The press also faces pressures of law. While the Indian Constitution upholds the freedom

of speech and expression it does not specifically guarantee freedom of the press. It is important to note that even the freedom of speech and expression was abridged when Article 19 of the constitution was amended to permit reasonable restrictions on the right of freedom of speech and expression in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, friendly relations with foreign states or public order, decency or morality or on the ground of contempt of court, defamation or incitement to an offence.

4. Influence of Industrialists:Besides the clutches and jargons of law, what has ailed the freedom of the press in the

influence of industrialists. 5. Press and Legislative Powers:

It is well know that legislators enjoy several privileges in India. On several occasions journalists invite the wrath of the legislative assembly and a privilege motion is passed against them. A privilege motion is an instrument through which the legislative assembly tries to safeguard its rights and prevents others from making an inroad into its privacy.

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6. Pressures of the Government:

In addition to the above, how the Government puts, pressure on the press is evident from the observations that ‘Now days it has become a common phenomenon on the part of the Government to muzzle the press when the latter points out its flaws, weaknesses and deficiencies. Punishment to the press ranges from imposition of censorship, control of newsprint, disconnecting water supply, disrupting the supply of electricity to putting the journalists behind the bars and annihilating them, if necessary’ in the words of Pandhy, the journalist.

7. Lack of objectivity and ethics in journalism:Another problem in newspaper publishing is that many journalists are following in the

footsteps of politicians. The profession of journalism has to a very great extent lost its objectivity and instead of remaining fair and accurate, the people in the profession have started taking sides. A newspaper must find what is true and what is in the interest of the nation. They should aim at development of a humanistic vision of society in which a man is treated as man and not as a Catholic or Protestant, Hindu or Muslim, Jew or Christian.

8. Other problems:

Pressures of trade unions Lack of concern about readers. Challenge of Foreign Media Govt. Policy on Advertising and Challenge from Regional Newspapers.

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The Task Ahead:In journalism, truth in the news is of utmost significance. To R.A.Roberts, truth in the news carries the following:

T ruth in news – but truth tempered with mercy, decency and humility.

Truth in the news-which encompasses telling fairly and intelligently, influenced by big Business , Big Labor or Big Government. The last is becoming the more important.

A newspaper must find what is true and what is in the interest of the nation. They should aim at development of a humanistic vision of society in which a man is treated as man and not as a Catholic or Protestant, Hindu or Muslim, Jew or Christian.

Of greatest importance is the freedom of the press. Freedom of the Press is indispensable in democratic setup. However, the press must act with responsibility, be fair and independent, and neutral objective. The Indian Press, however, requires dynamic leadership on the part of newspaper proprietors and editors for making the press a courageous and independent estate, and for ensuring that the Press in India is not silenced by the bureaucrats and politicians, gagged by the legislature, repressed, and muzzled by the various pressure groups. Such a leadership is also required to utilize the fruits of technology and development and to peep into the country’s problems and suggest suitable and plausible remedies.

It would be in the fitness of things to point out the International Principles of

Professional Ethics in Journalism, which must be followed by Indian Journalists in true spirit. These principles are:

People’s Right to True Information The Journalist’s Dedication to Objective Reality The Journalist’s Social Responsibility The Journalist’s Professional Integrity Public Access and Participation Respect for Privacy and Human Dignity Respect for Universal Values and Diversity of Cultures Elimination of War and Other Great Evils Confronting Humanity Promotion of a New World Information and Communication Order.

Following the above-mentioned principles can be changed the problems and challenges scenario and can prove the remedies but the efforts should be made on it.

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Conclusion & Suggestions

A newspaper plays a crucial role in society. Besides providing information to its readers, a newspaper aims at educating and leading the public at large and protecting rights and freedom of the people. Giving right perspective to the facts, providing a forum for debate and discussion, inspiring people for cooperation, love and unity, improving quality of life and entertainment are some of its other goals. A newspaper is, therefore, an instrument of social change. It must uphold moral and ethical values in society, provide a truthful, comprehensive and intelligent account of events, and give meaning to them. Undoubtedly, a newspaper must act with responsibility, be fair and independent, and neutral and objective. Therefore, a newspaper must follow the tenets of journalism.

Essentially, a newspaper should be commercially viable and managerially effective. It cannot succeed in the end unless it is entrenched financially and applies the principles of management. Management plays a pivotal role in a newspaper organization. The success of newspaper organization is determined by the effectiveness of its management in terms of its competence, integrity and performance. Management makes the human efforts in a newspaper organization. The success of newspaper organization is determined by the effectiveness of its management in terms of its competence, integrity and performance. Management makes the human efforts in a newspaper organization more productive. The inputs of labor, capital and raw material do not by themselves ensure growth of a newspaper establishment. It requires the catalyst of management to maximize the results. It is rightly said that management is the mover; and development is the consequence. Howsoever sound and credible the journalistic product of a newspaper organization may be, the fact remains that it cannot succeed without professional management. The managerial functions of planning, organization, coordination, motivation and control must be performed effectively and purposefully in the newspaper organization. The activities in the editorial, advertising, stores, printing, personnel, accounts and other departments have to be planned, organized, coordinated and controlled properly, failing which the objectives remain unachieved.Rajasthan Patrika Gives many essential benefit to his customer, that is not given by any newspaper, some facilities, which is differentiate to his competitor like, its “Granted gift program” in end of every month and “Patrika in education” in every summer vacation for all type of student and “Amrtam Jalm” for public awareness and increasing customer strength in every year or RAJASTHAN PATRIKA already have leading share in the market. And involvement of Rajasthan Patrika in social activity and connection with many charitable trust. This Company have many features in his product, if we see news paper of Rajasthan Patrika; there are many additional colour papers for his reader. And they have a separate paper for every generation. For youth news paper has Bollywood and Patrika Ravivariya and for ladies Patrika has Parivar .and for child, Patrika has a magazine called “chottu mottu”. This news paper always gives updated news not copied by other .its Editorial paper is one of the major strength of his. It is very special paper .because in this paper a critical matter is given that is related to political and social. Rajasthan Patrika news paper always has little for the advertisement that is

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so the news paper has more news then other news paper .now days Rajasthan Patrika has its own news channel and music channel. It means if any person not have time for reading news paper then he /she can watch these news on Patrika news channel. And his news channels telecast all special facilities for his viewers. Its viewer can see song on his or her choice .Patrika is started a new program called “Patrika in Education” .it is totally no profit no loss program for Patrika .but this program always increase goodwill of the company. On news channel Patrika telecast only news and much discussion and criticize relevant topic. As we know that Patrika also telecast some serial on national network. These serial gives more news related to only own state and many awareness program for people of Rajasthan. And also give information about our culture and our great history. The price of paper is less then to his competitor .so it is an also one major strength for its company. Patrika has 17th edition in all over India. And its customer figure and its edition so popularity in all over India .Patrika get all type of award related to media industry it is big strength of company.Now a day, if we compare Rajasthan Patrika to others news papers, who is published in Jodhpur, there is no one providing any facilities equal to Rajasthan Patrika. Because like, Rajasthan Patrika no one organize mega event like summer school at large level. Summer school is totally social concept for Rajasthan Patrika. It is no profit, no loss business for Rajasthan Patrika, even they going in loss through this project. Patrika has own four different channels in Jodhpur, any competitor don’t have any single channel on local cable network. Another mega event is Golden voice, who gives a platform for the youth, who is interested in singing .Sandeep Acharya is the winner of the first Golden Voice, after that he Participate in Indian Idol and reached in final and win this mega competition. One is other event like Nach Baliye it just likes Golden Voice, there is singing competition but here dance competition among youth. And if we talk about customer loyalty, Rajasthan Patrika has many offers and policies for his customer; like serials for public awareness, organizing summer school program for the student, Water Harvesting Program, Public Relation Program, Free learning Licenses, Social fair like (Dishaanye Carrier fair), Find It (Directories of Telephone numbers), Patrika Mobile, Social Awareness Program (Like child spacing and many critical dieses).through these activity Rajasthan Patrika try to complete his responsibility towards society and garneting brand awareness in the district. Company become most popular through its “GRANTED GIFT SCHEME (in every month), EK KE PANCH OFFER AND RAJASTHAN PATRIKA CRAZY OFFER” .if company continue these facilities, it’s become more beneficial for the company. Now a days company started a new offer which is differentiate to other media source, company started insurance policy for his customer. Finally I conclude that in Jodhpur Rajasthan Patrika are only one news paper, who always ready for taking responsibility towards and only one news paper that have electronic and print media both in Jodhpur. Like Rajasthan Patrika on one doing social activity for the society .

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Bibliography

1. NEWSPAPER MANAGEMENT IN INDIA: Sh. Gulab Kothari2. Marketing Management: Philip Kotler3. Sales Promotion: Tony Dakin4. Indian News Paper Society (INS) 2003 – 05 5. Newspaper Readership Survey (NRS) 2003 – 05 6. ABC (A udit B ureau C irculation ) 2003 – 05 7. Functional & Marketing Management: G.S. Sudha & Mamoria, Suri.8. Magazines: Business World

Business Today Brand Equity

Advertising & Marketing India Today

9. Patrika website: www.rajasthanpatrika.com.

10 A Summarized report Based on the book of Marketing Strategies Titled-‘Simple ways to make your customers happy’

By Shri Pramod Batra

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