hamburger less than a minute after placing the order, with the chance to
eat it there or take it out. There were no jukeboxes or telephones to
create a teenage hangout, and in fact, McDonald's became a family affair,
particularly appealing to the children.
As times changed, so did McDonald's. The sit-down sections were expanded in
size, the decor improved, a very successful breakfast menu featuring Egg
McMuffin was added, and new outlets were opened in high-traffic parts of
the city. McDonald's was clearly being managed to evolve with changing
customer needs and profitable opportunities.
In addition, McDonald's management knows how to efficiently design and
operate a complex service operation. It chooses its locations carefully,
selects highly qualified franchise operators, gives them complete
management training and assistance, supports them with a high-quality
national advertising and sales promotion program, monitors product and
service quality through continuous customer surveys, and puts great energy
into improving the technology of hamburger production to simplify
operations, bring down costs, and speed up service.
A marketing orientation is also relevant to nonprofit organizations. Most
nonprofit organizations start out as product oriented. Thus many colleges
facing declining enrollments are now investing heavily in advertising and
recruitment activities. These organizations begin to realize the need to
define their target markets more carefully; research their needs, wants,
and values; modernize their products and programs; and communicate more
effectively. Such organizations turn from selling to marketing.
Marketing
In recent years marketing has become a driving force in most companies.
Underlying all marketing strategy is "The Marketing Concept", explained in
this diagram:
THE MARKETING CONCEPT (We must produce what people want, not what we want
to produce) - This means that we PUT THE CUSTOMER FIRST (We organize the
company so that this happens) - We must FIND OUT WHAT THE CUSTOMER WANTS
(We carry out market research) - We must SUPPLY exactly what the customer
wants.
We can do this offering the right MARKETING MIX "The Four P's". The right
PRODUCT at the right PRICES available through the right channels of
distribution: PLACE, presented in the right way: PROMOTION.
Nowadays, all divisions of a company are used to "Think Marketing". To
think marketing we must have a clear idea of:
what the customer needs,
what the customer wants;
what cruses them to buy.
What the product is to the customer: functional, technological, economical,
aesthetic, emotional, psychological aspects.
"FEATURES" (what the product is) + "BENEFITS" (which means that a company
that believes in marketing is forward thinking and doesn't rest its past
achievements: it must be aware of its strengths and weaknesses as well as
the opportunities and threats it faces in market (remember the letters
"SWOT")).
More about "The marketing Mix" and the "Four P's"
PRODUCT: the goods or service that you are marketing. The product is not
just a collection of components, but includes its design, quality and
reliability.
Products have a life cycle, and forward-thinking companies are continually
developing new products to replace products whose sales are declining and
coming to the end of their lives. A "total product" includes the image of
the product as well as its features and benefits (see below). In marketing
terms, political candidates and non-profit-making public services are also
"products" that people must be persuaded to "buy" and packaged attractively
(see Promotion below).
PRICE: making it easy for the customer to buy. The marketing view of
pricing takes account of the value of a product, its quality, the ability
of the customer to pay, the volume of sales required, the level of market
saturation and the prices charged by the competition. Too low a price can
reduce the number of sales just as significantly as too high a price. A low
price may increase sales but not as profitably as fixing a high, yet still
popular, price. As fixed costs stay fixed whatever the volume of sales,
there is usually no such thing as a "profit margin" on any single product.
PLACE: getting the product to the customer. Decisions have to be made about
the channels of distribution and delivery arrangements. Retail products may
go through various channels of distribution:
1. Producer - sells directly to end users via own sales force, direct
response advertising or direct mail (mail order).
2. Producer - retailers - end-users.
3. Producer - wholesalers/agents - retailers - end-users.
4. Producer - wholesalers - directly to end-users.
5. Producer - multiple store groups/department stores/mail order houses -
end-users.
6. Producer - market - wholesalers - retailers - end-users.
Each stage must add, "value" to the product to justify the costs: the
middleman is not normally someone who just takes his "cut" but someone
whose own sales force and delivery system can make the product more easily
and cost-effectively available to the largest number of customers. One
principle behind this is "breaking down the bulk" the producer may sell in
minimum quantities of, say, 10000 to the wholesaler, who sells in minimum
quantities of 100 to the retailer, who sells in minimum quantities of 1 to
the end-user. A confectionery manufacturer doesn't deliver individual bars
of chocolate to consumer: distribution is done through wholesalers and then
retailers who each "add value" to the product providing a good service to
their customers and stocking a wide range of similar products.
PROMOTION - presenting the product to the customer. Promotion involves
considering the packaging and presentation of the product, its image, the
product name, advertising and slogans, brochures, literature, price lists,
after-sales service and training, trade exhibitions of fairs, public
relations, publicity, and personal selling's, where the seller develops a
relationship with the customer.
Every product must process a "unique selling proposition" (USP) - features
and benefits that make it unlike any other product in its market.
In promoting a product, the attention of potential customers is attracted
and an interest in the product aroused, creating a desire for the product
and encouraging customers to take prompt action ("AIDA").
Direct Mail and Direct Response
Direct Mail
Shopping without shops or direct marketing has become very big business,
aided by direct mail, TV commercials and teletext, off-the-page selling,
the telephone, the computer, and the credit card. Mail order nowadays
better known as direct or direct response marketing. In Britain, direct
mail takes third place to press and television and takes up 10 per cent of
the total advertising expenditure. It is also an excellent medium for
international advertising when it is more economical to airmail selected
prospects than to advertise in the press which may be very limited anyway.
Confusion of terms can be avoided by remembering that direct mail is an
advertising medium but mail order (or direct response) is a form of
distribution, that is, trading by mail whatever medium is used for
advertising sales offers. Consequently, direct mail is not limited to
direct marketing: a retailer can use direct mail to attract shoppers to his
store.
Characteristics of direct mail
It is addressed to selected, named recipients or at least to chosen people
at selected addresses whether they be householders or managing directors.
The quantity can be controlled, the message can be varied to suit different
groups of people, and the timing can be controlled or at any rate estimated
within postal limits.
Because of the controls mentioned above, it is economical in the sense that
even the selected lists can be culled of unwanted addresses. De-duplication
can be applied when a number of lists are being used in which certain names
are repeated. It is also economical because in a mail shot more copy and
illustrations can be used than would fill a whole page broadsheet
newspaper, and at a fraction of the cost.
Unlike any other medium, except possibly the telephone, it is a one-to-one
personal medium, like a conversation on paper. Generally, people like
receiving mail, and if the recipient is well-chosen the mail shot will be
welcomed. This medium is also personal in the sense that sales letters and
envelopes can be addressed by name (personalised). Using special techniques
like laser printing, dramatic and colourful effects can be achieved with
the recipient's name inserted at various points in the body of the letter
itself.
A direct mail campaign can be mounted very quickly, in a few hours if
necessary given the facilities to write and reproduce a sales letter, and
pack and post it with or without an enclosure. It is therefore a very
flexible medium which can be used in an emergency.
For those advertisers who (a) have or can hire a reliable mailing list and
(b) need to supply considerable information, direct mail can be their first
line or primary advertising medium. In fact, they may use no other, except
perhaps sales literature as enclosures. Others may use press advertising to
produce enquiries or initial orders which provide a mailing list for future
use.
A direct mail shot is usually consists of sales letter and enclosures. A
sales letter is not just a business letter. It is a special form of
copywriting with its own techniques. The length of the letter will depend
on the extent to which the reader's interest can be sustained The letter
may present a complete selling proposition, or it can be a covering letter
referring the reader to an enclosure. The latter should not laboriously
repeat the contents of the enclosure but highlight special features of it.
Writing a sales letter we have a pattern to follow.
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