Gas-Co Blows Hot and Cold Over Central Heating Marketing Startegies - Case Study Example

Gas-Co Blows Hot and Cold Over Central Heating Table of Content Introduction: 3 Gas-Co: 3 Decision Making Unit: 3 Gas-Co’s Advertisement: 4 MarketingCommunication of Gas-Co: 5 Gas-Co in favorable light: 6 Recommendation: 7 Reference: 9 Introduction: Integrated Marketing Communications can be said to be a strategic amalgamate of various communication tools such as advertising, publicity, direct marketing, etc, along with a marketing strategy to build a trust and brand value amongst the consumer to attract them or convince them and influence the consumers to buy the product or avail the services (Ithaca.edu, 1999). Gas-Co: Gas Co is seen to adopt certain communication tools to revamp its image in the market and doing so it is supposedly changing the mindset of consumers towards the company. Gas Co’s new strategy is based on public relation, advertisement, and sales promotion. These tools have been used at an extent to convince & persuade consumers to buy the company’s product (Hegazy, 2005). To analyze the degree of integration in the various activities applied by the Gas-Co, the following points are of important consideration: - a) Public relation emphasizes on interaction with the consumers & building a relationship which would create brand loyalty & trust for the company. b) Advertisement comes in account to favor the company with benefit of reaching out to maximum number of people and making them aware of the company’s product and services. c) Sales promotion helps the company to attract more customers as the company offers certain promotional activities in lieu of customers’ willingness to buy the company’s product. Based on the above factors it can be stated that the degree of integration for Gas-Co can be said to be in order or sequence because of the fact that it has done all that was needed to influence the consumer through its communication activities. But, proper implementation of these activities is what comes under scanner for the company as planning is one part and executing different part and if both do not go hand in hand than the company has to pay the price. Decision Making Unit: For the Gas-Co to implement its communication plan it must first concentrate or build a strategy around its primary stakeholders or the consumers who are likely to purchase the company’s product. Stakeholders can be individual or group who get affected and also affects a company’s desired actions. Further, on selecting the target consumer the company needs to take some appropriate decisions in context of buying and purchasing component (Power tools, 2005). The Decision Making Unit (DMU) can be defined as the bunch of people who would influence the process of product purchase. These decision makers may range from employees to the Business Head. The whole process of DMU becomes an open house discussion where several members are included in making buying decision (Blythe, 2008, p. 389). Apart from the DMU, a company needs to have a buying process as well to cater to the needs of the consumers as per the demand or the requirement. The buying process consists of the following steps: a) Buyer: The group or the individual who are the people behind the contract. b) Decider: Decider is that individual who decides which product is right and should be purchased. c) Influencer: Influencer can be an individual or group of people or advertisements. These influence the decision of the consumer who buys the product. It can be sales people of the company or the ad in the newspaper or television. d) End User: User can be said to be the last individual or group who are the ones to use the product and attain its benefits (Stanford.edu, n.d). Gas-Co’s Advertisement: The advertisement of any form, in any media is considered to create awareness about the product to the customers. Also the communication process which is being implemented through the ad should engage both internal & external audiences to create a better understanding about the product and the target customer. This will help in identifying the desired communication tool and the message can be delivered in a better way (Iisd.org, n.d). The main motive behind the ad by Gas-Co was that the firm wanted consumers to come to their store with enquiries regarding the ad and then they would process further. In this context it can be said that the ad was well formulated. But, contrary to this the sales executives were incapable in assisting the consumers regarding their queries when they visited the store. Secondly, the ad mentioned a discounted price, but, the ad with the offer price was basically targeted at consumers who own small apartments. Here, the company fails to capitalize as it should have clearly mentioned in the ad the terms & conditions. From this it can be noted that the ad was never formulated or appropriate which otherwise would have made the whole process hassle free. The Gas-Co should rather have opted for a better alternative or a better plan to initiate its advertising campaign. The things which lacked in its advertisement campaign are: a) Target market: - Gas-Co should have first selected the target market as per its price offering for the heating system. b) Media: - The Gas-Co now should have chosen the right media for the campaign. May be television ad would have been better to maximize the reach. c) Budget: - The most important aspect is the budget determination. The company should have determined a budget for its advertisement campaigns & accordingly should have planned its promotional strategy. If the above factors would have been taken into account, the company would have functioned hassle free in terms of its ads lacking information (Cob.sjsu.edu, n.d, p.3). Marketing Communication of Gas-Co: The marketing communication has its root attached not only to the promotional mix tools but also includes internal and external communication. The marketing communication tools are an important element in terms of IMC plan for any organization and if used to perfection it can reap results for the organization. (Cryptome.org, 2002). To be a customer oriented firm what does a company needs to do? How can a company be customer oriented? These are couple of questions which are important in the context of understanding why Gas-Co was more of product oriented company than customer oriented in its approach. Customer orientation means the complete satisfaction of customers with the services provided by the company, and, it is an important element of marketing communication which a company needs to implement for a better future of the firm (Jgbm.org, n.d) The things that went wrong with Gas-Co in its quest of becoming customer oriented company are: a) The pricing of the product mentioned in the ad was to attract the customer but it was wrongly interpreted through the ad and made the product more important than the consumer. b) The whole setup of the store was an indication that the company wants to serve the customers whole heartedly but then the in-store sales executives were lacking the experience and knowledge of customer handling. c) The free service provided by the company through its engineer was also not completely customer based as the service was never delivered on time and neither were the queries resolved about the product. Gas-Co in favorable light: The communication activities can prove to be a boon for any firm if they are processed & implemented in a structured manner with respect to the target market. Gas-Co has also tried the same, but, failed in doing so, except for the fact that its strategy towards building a strong relationship through public relation tool can be considered as redeeming but still it needs to be updated in the context of service provided as per customers demand. Apart from this its other marketing communication plan has backfired. So, it needs to restructure its marketing communication plan. There are various things which went wrong as far as the communication plan is considered, which can be listed below: a) Promotional activities lacked awareness and information. b) The direct marketing tools were not satisfactory as the employees lacked knowledge about the product. c) Service provided was also lackluster as it was never offered on time & according to customer convenience. d) The company had no clue about the target market. e) Promotional activities lacked proper budget determination. Recommendation: The best way Gas-Co can be successful in its quest for growth and higher market share is by planning a structured IMC program; a structured IMC program for the company would mean analyzing & implementing the following components of IMC program: a) Advertising: The ads should not be limited to print media and should provide product awareness and information in a better way. b) Direct marketing: Directing marketing can be an important tool in reducing the budget cost of promotional mix plan. c) Interactive marketing: In the world of mass media, where global borders have disappeared & the world has become one country, internet or interactive marketing and can be a good medium to promote products as it has become the fastest medium to reach out to consumers around the globe. d) Sales promotion: Discounts on various products can make Gas-co more competitive in the market. e) Public relation: This is the most important tool to build a clean image of the company. f) Personal selling: This tool is cost-effective and more efficient as it requires man power who can demonstrate the products to the customers (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2008, p. 523,537-546). Gas-Co by applying the above mentioned IMC program tools can emerge as a leading company in its sector and gain large market share as well as trust of the company which will eventually be the base for its long run in the business world. Reference: Ithaca.edu. (1999). Integrated Marketing Communication. [Online]. Available at: http://www.ithaca.edu/rhp/depts/stratcomm/programs/imc/. [Accessed on March 6, 2012]. Hegazy, I. (2005). “Innovative Marketing Communications (IMC-4): Promoting and Selling Training and Services in a Competitive Global Market”. [Online]. Available at: http://www.kult-educ.org/wksp/imc-4/. [Accessed on March 6, 2012]. Power tools. (2005).Stakeholder Power Analysis. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.policy-powertools.org/Tools/Understanding/docs/stakeholder_power_tool_english.pdf. [Accessed on March 6, 2012]. Stanford.edu. (No Date). Marketing Strategy. [Online]. Available at: http://www.stanford.edu/class/ee353/marketing%20strategy.htm. [Accessed on March 6, 2012]. Blythe, J. (2008). Consumer Behavior. USA: Cengage Learning EMEA. Cob.sjsu.edu. (No Date). Building an IMC Campaign. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.cob.sjsu.edu/vitale_r/Build%20an%20IMC%20PlanGENERIC.pdf. [Accessed on March 6, 2012]. Cryptome.org. (2002). Managing External Communication. [Pdf]. Available at: http://cryptome.org/rfid/external_comm.pdf. [Accessed on March 6, 2012]. Jgbm.org. (No Date). Market Orientation as a Strategic Driver of Individual Customer Orientation. [Pdf]. Available at: http://www.jgbm.org/page/33Turkan%20Dursun.pdf. [Accessed on March 6, 2012]. Iisd.org. Sustainable Development Communications Network. [Online]. Available at: http://www.iisd.org/sdcn/webworks/strategies/engaging.htm. [Accessed on March 6, 2012]. Lamb, C. W, Hair, J. F & McDaniel. C (2008). Marketing. USA: Cengage Learning. Read More