The growth engine of the business today mohamed azhar
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Transcript of The growth engine of the business today mohamed azhar
Table of Contents Executive Summary ............................................................................................................. 2
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3
Current Market Analysis – Marketing Audit ....................................................................... 4
Internal Marketing Environment...................................................................................... 4
External Marketing Environment .................................................................................... 7
Conclusion & Recommendations ........................................................................................ 9
Brand Name ..................................................................................................................... 9
Promotional Mix ............................................................................................................ 10
Relationship Marketing Techniques .............................................................................. 12
Financial Viability ......................................................................................................... 15
Annexure ............................................................................................................................ 17
Sample Questionnaire filled by the SME’s .................................................................... 17
References .......................................................................................................................... 18
2
Executive Summary
The ‘Divi Neguma’ national development programmed could be considered as a
new venture to expand our service in the business sector and it could be viewed as a
major promotional opportunity for our company as well, since the idea of introducing a
‘Business solution package’ is an innovative concept which has never undertook in Sri
Lanka before.
Under the ‘Divi Neguma’ national development programmed, industrial tool kits
worth over Rs. 53 million are provided to 4901 local industrialists to assist the initiation
of industrial ventures. Under this programmed potential industrialist with the requisite
knowledge, skills and competencies would be identified and industrial tool kits would be
provided. This is the light of the support provided by SME’s to realize the country’s
economic growth provided to the sector necessary backing to achieve diversity and
competitiveness.
This marketing solution package could be successfully initiated via ‘Divi
Neguma’ hence the best program to begin with.
We are hoping to introduce various tiers of solution packages starting with a silver
package and moving p to gold and platinum to make customers more attracted to be a
partner of a higher tier while selecting the most suited tier to suit the individuals’
financial status.
Since this is a new product launch it will be a big challenge to us because people
lack knowledge and experience of such a service. The main task that we will have to
perform is to persuade our potential customers about the product and induce them to buy
it. Other than that a huge cost will have to be incurred in the advertising campaign that we
are hoping to carry out.
In the latter part of this report we have mentioned the most feasible and practical
methods to initiate, implement and evaluate the program activities.
D. N. Dharmarathna
The Head of the Marketing Project
3
Introduction
The Innoidea is a newly established consulting firm which has been established in
the recent and has a short history of 02 years. However as a result of the expertise set of
management and diligence of our employees we were able to achieve a 25% growth rate
in the market. At present we have 25 employees with us along with an expertise corporate
level.
Our vision is to create a ‘Prosperous Future through consultancy’ & our mission is
to ‘Gain profits through fulfilling the expectations of the community’.
Our values help us to work in the most effective and fulfilling ways which helps
us to be more congruent to global level organizations.
We are committed to our community – we act as responsible corporate
citizens by broadening our skills, experiences and perspectives through
understanding the communities
We are open and honest in our communication – sharing the information
without ulterior motives
We act with thorough diligence and integrity
We work together while respecting the individual attitudes
We seek the facts and provide insight
Intrapreneurship is promoted within our company which evokes creative
idea expression of our employees
Our culture extends good business practice, since we are making efforts to
alleviate poverty, protect the environment and support education, also we address the
areas of local communities’ education, health and welfare to the extent we can as a newly
established organization.
Innoidea Consultants
4
Current Market Analysis – Marketing Audit
In the marketing audit we are looking in to the areas of,
Financial data
Product data
Sales and distribution data
Advertising, merchandising and sales promotion data
Market data
We have interviewed 8 SME’s to get information and the sample questionnaire filled by
them is attached in the annexure.
Internal Marketing Environment
The employees of the company are the dynamic force which enables the company
to operate successfully. Although our company has a short history we comprise of total
25 people including the corporate level. We have recruited a young staff with specialist
knowledge in various areas and our director board consists of some of the experienced
executives.
The financial level of our company is stable and currently we have assets worth of
50 million Rs. Also the financial statements have positive figures at present so through
contemplated allocation of monetary resources will not have adverse bearings over the
company.
Right at the moment our company provides services to the customers only 06 days
per week & 9 hours per day from 8a.m. to 5p.m. anyway this time is at present enough for
us to provide the desired service that we are planning to provide to our customers.
The basic materials we need are the information regarding the operating processes
carried on in the initiation of SME’s so that our processes could be planned with
clairvoyance. If planned carefully we can even grasp the potential SME initiators since
they need advice to begin with.
5
Marketing force available is planning to have a geographic sales organization
structure; this is the least specialized most generalized type of sales force.
A structure example:
In preparation of the structure the following should be thoroughly considered;
Degree of specialization
Centralization
Span of control
Levels of management
Line positions
Staff positions
The effectiveness and the efficiency of the sales force should be evaluated time to
time in order to ensure that our marketing efforts are going on well.
National sales manager
Eastern regional manager
Zone sales manager
District sales manager
Sales people
Western sales manager
Zone sales manager
District sales manager
Sales people
Sales training manager
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Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is another internal factor to be
considered, CRM could be defined as,
“CRM is a business strategy to select and manage the most valuable customer
relationships. CRM requires a customer centric business philosophy and culture to
support effective marketing, sales and service processes. CRM applications can enable
effective customer relationship management, provided that an enterprise has the right
leadership, strategy and culture”
Sales Management – Analysis & Decision making 06th
Edition, By Ingram, LaForge,
Avila, Schwepker Jr., Williams
Other than the above the current marketing process and the information update
and the accuracy should be considered.
In the marketing audit we specially focused on the 7P’s, the elements of the
marketing mix.
Product – ‘New business solution package’ for the emerging entrepreneurs is the
product that we are introducing to the market. This could also be recognized as an
innovative product which is going to be a very profitable portfolio.
Price – through the audit we came across the best pricing strategy which could be
implemented. The SME’s are of various financial levels will be coming to us
hence we are hoping to introduce 03 tiers of marketing packages, namely;
o Platinum tier – for entrepreneurs who can afford a high budget
o Gold tier – level below the platinum tier
o Silver tier – for comparatively low budget allocators for the marketing
activities
Place – efficiency and the effectiveness in the distribution network
Promotion – the promotion strategies that are most suitable for the campaign and
budgeting and implementation
People – the sales-force in the field in order to inform and introduce this new
scheme to the target segment should be carefully screened. Recruiting the correct
persons for this is essential.
Process – the effectiveness in dealing with the customers
Physical evidence – tangible attributes of the service
7
External Marketing Environment
Though the internal marketing environment is controllable the external
environment is beyond the control of the organization.
Identifying and verifying the customer is the first task that should be done. Here
clearly identifying the needs and wants of customers, identifying the buyer decision
process and consumer behavior, recognizing customers values, segmentation, targeting
and positioning plus building a positive brand perception are the most important.
The competition in the target market is another external factor. Since we are the
innovators of this new concept we will be having no competitors in the beginning,
however strategic planning is a must in order to build a strong base for the future.
The success of the marketing plan also depends on the environment within which
we are operating. Beliefs and religion, standards and average level of education, lifestyles
of the target market, and the receptiveness of the market should be considered.
Demography of the customers is another fact, the type of media that we are to use,
information systems, technology used to get closer to the customer etc. are affected by the
demographic distribution of the target segment.
Economy of the target segment has a direct influence since this will decide the
amount of disposable income with the target segment.
‘Divi Neguma’ itself is a sole idea of the current government so it’s obvious that
this process is directly influenced by politics, legislative systems and the legal system
within the country.
The above information was collected via SME owners and it was conducted in
‘The questionnaire filled by the investigator’ format since these people value time a lot.
8
Current marketing plan
Objectives of Innoidea
Marketing strategies
Marketin mix
Marketing process to
be followed
Marketing buget
SMARTNESS of the objectives
Performance
Staff
Experience & learning
9
Conclusion & Recommendations
The above marketing audit revealed many aspects that we should look into in
implementing the new product. The information was used further for making conclusions
and recommendations.
Brand Name
After contemplating over several brand names we decided to name our
product/business solution package as ‘Athwela by Innoidea’. The other proposed names
and reasons for the names were;
Idiriya – since this program is for entrepreneurs; but this name doesn’t imply
anything about ‘Divi Neguma’, the name implies that the business is totally
depended on us, therefore we declined the name.
EntraSol - a combination of Entrepreneur & Solution, our target segment majorly
comprises of village people therefore English names most of the time might not
give them any idea about the product.
IndaEntra – again due to English language barrier we dropped this name, the name
stands for ‘Intrapreneur in the Entrepreneur’
The name ‘Athwela’ implies that a business which has already being implemented
would be given support by the Innoidea team. Also the name is in Sinhala which is
understandable by majority of the target population. The name also is inviting and
soothing winning the confidence of the target segment. The 03 dimensions of the market
cube are responded that is; type of customers, motivations and consumption contexts.
Also the name is easy to recall, pronounceable, transferable and mentions the benefits of
the product.
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Promotional Mix
The marketing mix of the service sector comprises of the 7P’s; product, price,
place, promotion, people, processes and practices. Promotion is an important attribute in
the marketing context since;
“The promotion mix is the specific blend of promotion tools that the company uses to
persuasively communicate customer value and build customer relationships”
Kotler et al (2010)
Our promotional plan is targeted for 1 year.
Personal selling –this is an expensive method because we need to train our
employees, teach them the approaches and techniques used in the process. But this
should be carried out in small scale since our target segment are farmers and
villagers who are willing to get information and enthusiastic.
Public relations – is defined as “The deliberate, planned & sustained effort to
establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its
publics” Institute of Public Relations. This is a very good method to grasp the
expected customers for our new product. Temples, religious places and other
places where people gather together would be effective places for this.
Direct marketing – also could be recommended. Distributing leaflets via mail
without any intermediaries or distributors will help us to give out clear cut
information to the potential customers clearly and specifically.
Trade fairs & Exhibitions – these could be carried on to increase the awareness
and encourage trial since this is a new product. Getting closer to the customers,
understanding them and rectifying our activities that will best suit them are other
objectives.
Advertising – in order to create awareness. Since our company is a small one it
will be hard to carry on heavy advertising campaigns yet we can use media such
as newspapers (local, national, free trade), magazines and journals, TV (local and
national) and outdoor advertising such as posters and leaflet distribution. Since
television ads are expensive we can carry on the tagline advertising strategy.
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Methods such as sales promotion, online advertising are not suitable for this. The
reason is that most of the entrepreneurs are busy people and most of them lack IT
literacy.
‘Divi Neguma’ is a SME oriented program and it takes time and effort for success,
these people who are partners of the ‘Divi Neguma’ likes to get constant advice, guidance
and motivation from the industry related people since running a business is not an easy
task to handle.
Out of the above mentioned promotional tools the best method is to go and meet
people, through winning the hearts of the people we can earn their trust and confidence
and according to our point of view positive word-of-mouth is the best promotional tool
available which will be the final result.
12
Relationship Marketing Techniques
As mentioned above the best promotional strategy that we can follow is creating
profitable customer relationship management and through that creating greater customer
life time value.
Relationship marketing is based on customer satisfaction and customer retention.
Customer satisfaction in return promotes viral-marketing and is considered as one of the
best means to reach potential customers.
Though relationship marketing consumes time and money it also has positive returns such
as;
Longer the relationship easier to amortize the cost in gaining customers
They are less likely to move towards competitors (though we don’t have none a
present they will emerge soon) less price sensitive and tend to purchase in a
specific pattern
Viral marketing, free word of mouth promotion and referrals
Regular customers will be less expensive to work with because they will know the
processes and require less knowledge regarding the subject
Persistent customers get closer to the employees and this will motivate the
employees as well
Relationships with the potential customers could be boldly formed by using many
techniques such as,
Customization – since we are initially going to operate in a typical area the sales
force should be advised to identify the customers and build mutual relationships
with them identify the unique needs, wants and desires of the customers and cater
the particular needs. It would be easier if separate accounts are opened for
individual customers with their basic information, attitudes towards their business,
and their observable characteristics. Actually this is going to be an expensive
method but implying the customers that we are concentrating only on one person
at a time will bring long term benefits. For an example the customers would be
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delighted rather than being satisfied and positive word-of-mouth will be dispersed.
As we all know referral marketing is one of the strongest marketing tools because
potential customers will get a positive impression about our company via current
customers and as we can understand will be a beneficial outcome for us
Building up a society for small and medium scale entrepreneurs - this will help to
gather people with common interest, also it will have long term benefits and they
will get the chance to meet themselves. Here our firm will get a rare opportunity
to clearly understand our target segment and adopt our methods to suit to them.
Also emerging entrepreneurs will be a light to our company which itself is going
to be a huge promotion for us. First our customers should be informed that we are
having a small scale society for SME’s and that we are providing special facilities
to them such as,
o Informing about the current market trends
o Advice on how to run a profitable business
o Presentation of bibliographies of unique personalities in entrepreneurship
that will motivate and strengthen the backbone of our clients etc.
14
CSR – corporate social responsibility could be considered as a mean to develop
and expand relationships by depicting ourselves to be socially responsible. Since
we are going to start operate in the village level getting closer to the religious
institutions and leaders of them would be a big help. Helping the students of the
SME’s students in education and starting a fund to give out loans and the like to
them are feasible options which are available which do not incur higher costs.
15
Financial Viability
After completion of the marketing plan assessing the financial viability will be
carried on. Time and money are the main considerations that we look into and assessing
and estimating the cost would be easier while the ideas are on mind.
The allocation of the budget would be a huge challenge because it will not meet
all the activities that we are planning to do.
Financial success could be measured in many aspects such as;
Stays in the black and turns out a profit
Has a healthy balance sheet
Generates good cash flow
Produces a good return on investment (ROI) for the investors
Attaining financial success starts with a financial assessment that’s based on
historical record and future projections. By looking at the past to help plan and predict the
future, we can gain much better control over our company’s financial performance.
A good financial plan will give us a detailed picture of the financial health of our
business and the viability of our strategic plan. It also helps us to know whether we are
getting off track during implementation so we can take action before anything serious
occurs — like running out of cash.
The following steps will be followed in conducting the financial assessment of our
strategic plan.
Estimation of the revenue and expenses
Conducting contribution analysis time to time to determine whether our strategies
positively contribute the bottom line
Short term and long term targeting and planning
with good correspondence
16
Intrapreneurship is promoted by Innoidea since we follow the same policy; hence
marginal costing (mark-up-pricing) strategy is the best policy that we could follow.
Here we are going to add the profit margin to the marginal cost (either the
marginal cost of production or the marginal cost of sales), we perceive that it would be
better to add up the marginal cost of sales to the profit margin since we are providing a
service and our variable cost would be changing drastically (transportation fee, food and
beverages for our sales people etc.)
Advantages of this method are;
Simplicity
Mark-up can be conveniently varied to suit the demand conditions
This method is more convenient if the variable cost stays constant
The growth rate of our company for the past 02 years is in a healthy status to practice this
method as well. (25%)
There are potential drawbacks as well;
Impossible to ignore the fixed costs
Actually since we are not having competitors right now the issue of overlooking
the competitors’ prices and profit maximization points are just potential
consequences that are likely to occur
17
Annexure
Sample Questionnaire filled by the SME’s
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are conducting a survey to get information and suggestions in order to
develop a Marketing solution package for the SME’s. So please be kind enough to
give out your frank and direct ideas and answers to the questions given below. Your
privacy will be protected.
Age group of the proprietor of the S/ME
o 20-25
o 26-30
o 30-40
o 40-50
o Above 50
Type of business
o Agriculture – vegetables and fruits
o Animal husbandry
o Other – Please specify
The price that you are expecting to give out the product and the reason for
selecting that price (a short, direct answer)
How are you going to distribute the product, in what places do you expect to
sell them, if there is a particular reason specify
According to your point of view what sort of promotions are best suited for
your company, why?
What sort of customer service you are going to provide to your customers via
your employees?
What type of culture exists within your company?
What steps are you hoping to take in order to shape the lives of your
employees?
18
References
‘Financial Accounting – a new perspective’ By Paul Solomon, Mc Graw Hill
publications
From Brand Vision To Brand Evaluation, The Strategic Process of Growing &
Strengthening Brands – 03rd
Edition, By Leslie de Chernatony
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.marketingteacher.com
https://www.kpmg.com/Global
Institute of Public Relations (UK-2008)
Integrated Advertising, Promotion & Marketing Communications – 04th
Edition,
By Kenneth E. Clow, Donald Baack
Managing Finance – Viva Student Edition, 01st Indian Edition, By Pippa Riley
Sales Management – Analysis & Decision making 06th
Edition, By Ingram,
LaForge, Avila, Schwepker Jr., Williams
Strategic Planning, 02nd
Edition By Erica Olsen