Green Marketing-The Changing Face of Marketing – The Societal Path

Disclaimer !  The content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site.This blog contains the personal viewpoints of the the owner regarding the different strategies followed by the marketers and have not been copied from any source and he will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information.The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

 

The Changing Face of Marketing – The Societal Path

The concept of marketing has been discovered thousands of year’s ago. One can argue on the usage of this word" Discovered" ,here, it is because of the reason that the concept of marketing is as older as the existence of mankind.

Let’s go few thousand years back to have its brief look. Its the story of the ancient times when evolution of human life took place i.e. when God sent first humans to earth as stated by the Christian Mythology.

After creating the world, God made a beautiful garden, called “Garden of Eden”. It was a paradise full of animals, fruits and trees. At the centre of the garden, there was a tree with a special power to give the knowledge of good and evil to the person who ate its fruit. Adam was the first man created by God. God told ADAM to look after the trees in the garden and warned him, “You may eat fruits from any tree you like, but not from the Tree of Knowledge. If you do not obey, you shall die:”

To give company to ADAM, God created a female from his ribs, and named her EVE. Both ADAM and EVE lived naked in the Garden of Eden, as they had no sense.

In the same garden, there lived a snake. It persuaded EVE to eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, and told her that if she ate the fruit, she would become wise like God. Tempted by this, EVE ate the fruit and made ADAM also eat it.

Next day, when God came to the Garden, ADAM and EVE hid themselves from Him, as now they had gained knowledge.

God asked them, “Did you eat the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge?” The two admitted. God became angry and punished them, saying, “You did not obey me. So now, you will have to leave this Garden. You will have to live on Earth. ADAM will have to work hard to grow crops and create food and EVE will have to suffer the pain of giving birth.”

Let’s have a look at the picture.

The story can be looked as a classic analogy of today’s marketing. Taking the marketing route, let’s understand - Who persuaded EVE to eat that apple!!!

Who you think that who is the marketer in this picture.....Can you guess it!!!

Think!

Neither it’sADAM and nor its EVE.

It’s Snake! Snake persuaded EVE to eat the Apple.Snake lured her to eat it.

Gone are those days when people used to believe only on three Needs of life"Roti","kapda"aur"Makaan"(Bread, Cloth& a Shelter to live in!!)

Marketer has changed this thinking of people....They communicated and taught people to switch from needs to wants and from wants to demands.

“Marketers arose thrustin people regarding products. Marketers have the power and ability to empower people’s mind. They trigger their purchasing action.”

The one of the important aspect in marketing is" Communication."

If you don't communicate and educate people about your product you have made for them they are never ever going to know about it and if they will never know about it, your product is never going to sell and the consequences will be very worse like Unnecessary blockage of money, over head costs, financial burdens and huge loses.

That's the purpose of a marketer and marketing as a strategy which he uses. He educates the consumer about the benefits of the product he is providing and persuades them to give the product a try!!!Marketers say that we (they) have got the solution to your problems.

Actually it is the marketer who pushes a product into the market.

But have you ever thought that how these things have settled in your mind.
Who are the people who are behind this!
Yes!!!There are people behind the scene with a proper strategy and those are Marketers.
Marketers are those people who are behind the scenes and who drive the customers crazy about a product.
"Marketers are in the business of making consumers to spend money which they

Donot have,on the products they donot need,to create impressions that donot last long,that too on the people that they really donot care about."!!!

Role of Marketer in Society:

A marketers role is not limited to just identification and creation of demand in the markets but most of the marketers are taking initiatives for the betterment of the society as a whole,they contribute to the environment also apart from their CSR initiatives.

It was the marketer who introduced the concept of green marketing i.e using the green products. Green products are those products which are friendly to the nature and the environment and are not hazardous at all.They are also called Eco-friendly products.

They donot degrade the environment and are also not lethal for the human race thus ensuring safety of the entire mankind and help in saving a lot of resources from being exploited.

Marketer has played a remarkable role in teaching the consumers the advantages of following green marketing practices.

Marketer acts as a teacher and as a communicator for the society.

It was the marketer who taught consumers that there is an energy saving AC with a 5 star rating which if you use will reduce 90% of your monthly bill as well as it is an environment friendly product,saves energy and can be identified by 
star ratings.

It was the marketer behind the scene who persuaded the people to use CFL bulbs to minimize their bills instead of using normal bulbs.

CFL Bulb that minimises bill and saves energy.

But still most of the people are not using Green products may be due to their negative perception regarding the green products or ,distrust regarding the green products or they think that green products are not efficient and are of low quality or we can say sub standardized or because of the reason that they are over priced.

Marketers have to persuade people to use greener products by communicating the benefits of using them and no doubt one time try can never do it but the “Power of repetition ‘is something which is eventually going to work here. No doubt, the people have started caring more about the environment now but when it comes to affordability if these items are priced higher then they may not buy it.

So marketers should not be so myopic regarding making a product greener and greener i.e so greener that it becomes so costly that a normal customer can’t afford it.

People want the best value for the money they actually paid for!

If a marketer offers them a green product then it should be able to meet customer’s expectations. Generally a consumer looks for Product Performance, Reliability, DurablityAvailablity, Serviceability, Affordability and Quality in a product. If the perceived quality of a customer is higher than the expectations he is having from a normal product he will feel delighted and would like to buy an another green product for his next use. Adhering to specified specifications and commitment will not only increase the customer base of an organization but also will promote the positive image of the company thru the effective promotion techniques like words of mouth and other promotional mediums.

Customers are even willing to pay extra in case of Quality products but to add value and to add an another feather to his cap the marketer should have to add value to his core productby practicing and endorsing Green marketing.

It is the marketer who can build trust among the masses towards the usage of the green products i.e. environment friendly products. If a genuine and a good product is delivered to the customer, his satisfaction level will be high.

No doubt that business is not for charity. If an organization is pumping in their billions of rupees, they also want a better return from it often termed as ‘Return on Investment’ and they expect it to be higher.

But being myopic to profit earning, it will be the greatest blunder from the marketer’s side if he overlooks the expectations of the end customers and also remain care free regarding the environment.

The biggest thing in today’s world of dynamic environment is sustainability as sustainability will eventually lead to the more and more customer association and loyalty.’Loyality is something which can’t be purchased or bought, it has to be earned.’

As the firms who produce or manufacture a certain product over utilize the scare natural resources and degrade the environment.

It is the marketer who himself planted the seed of ‘conspicuous consumption ‘ in the mindset of a consumer and by keeping on practicing it he has unknowingly or knowingly exploited and contaminated the environment.

Like he gave people a Refrigerator, though it served the purpose of quenching their thirst with cold water but the harmful Chlorofluorocarbons ( CFC’s)  that were emitted by it are so harmful that depletes the ozone layer in our atmosphere as these CFC’s when emitted react with the ozone in the atmosphere and deplete it and depletion of Ozone layer is so lethal that if completely depleted ,it will create an ozone hole and all the cosmic rays which are harmful for the entire life will penetrate the earth’s atmosphere and will wipe up the entire life from the earth.(as happened in Antarctica around 80’s.
Due to the same reason the glaciers have started melting away and floods arise due to the rise in water level.

So the damage that a marketer has caused to this nature, he is the one who is liable to get it rectified but its not only him alone who can do it but it is possible with the mutual efforts of the marketers and the consumers. The more the Marketer Educate the people, the more awareness will spread regarding the cause.

So it becomes the utmost duty of these organizations to show their indebtedness to the earth as a planet to save it from getting contaminated.
No doubt today’s marketer is smart and sooner he has realized his mistake and is trying to rectify it with green marketing concepts. By understanding the seriousness of this crisis, he has adopted green practices like he came out with technology which replaces CFC’s with Hydro fluoro carbons (HFC’s) which are less toxic and environment friendly.

But we should always keep in mind that nature remains in balance and when there is an unwanted change in the natural composition of anything, strange and dreadful things occur. So marketer can make use of his tactic to persuade people to follow green practices so as to ensure that their loved ones get a happier, safer and a healthier life to live…

“Let’s together make the world-a beautiful place to live in….”

---

Product continued....
So product is a tangible thing that a customer can see,feel and touch....But further when we will talk about service marketing we will find that in service sector there are products also....like Insurance is a product for an insurance company....but its nature being intangible in that case,a customer can only feel it.....so product mix extends here to 8 P's of Marketing....

Coming back,to the physical product....
Today all companies are trying hard to reach their target customers in one way or in an another way...
Corporates are trying new and innovative ideas to catch the sight of the customer...

Lets try to understand this via an example:-

You see these are all "Head and Shoulders "shampoo bottles from P&G....
Have you ever wondered that when the content is almost same in them,then why there is variations in their bottling design.....
This is a little aspect of the much bigger strategy what a marketer uses....
The marketers try to differentiate their products from the rest of the products to seek customers attention...It has been seen that even packaging can drive a customers perception regarding a product and persuade him or not to buy a product.....
Head and shoulders continuously keep changing the packaging or we can say design of their products to a greater extent so that customers can always find something new about it.....

This is an example of Wall Mart...One of he biggest retail chains with its presence in most of the countries.....
Have you ever felt when you have entered a big retail store with more than 15,00,000 products across the hall and you still reaching for your desired product find the space where its located in a little corner....
You would not even have realised this that you have come across and left almost 14,99,999 products to get that desired one...
This is called "Product Positioning",this gives your product an competitive edge or we can say an competitive strategic advantage....over the others...
So companies overall want to gain this particular image in the mindset of the customer so that's the reason they keep on changing their packaging from time to time so that on the shelf space there product would look different from the other competitors offering same type of the products...
In order to achieve this product image the biggest factor in my opinion is ...    "A V R E".

A-Stands for  Availability.

V-Stands for Visibility

R-Stands for Reliability &

E-Stands for Education.

Availability:- It is a one of the biggest factor that can bring you customer loyalty in a long business run.Suppose a company who spends a lot of money in promotion activities is unable to meet the demand of its customers due to the scarcity of its supply,then it simply means that you are burning your money unnecessarily.
If via promotions you are creating a demand in the market and customers have started opting or buying your product,this is obviously a positive sign but  the another time when the same customer wants to buy your same product again and your product is not available due to the shortage of supply then this will turn him off and donot think that he is gonna wait for your product to reach in the markets but he will switch over to the competitors and you will definitely lose your market share and moreover it will create a negative impact of your product in his mindset and this approach will surely tarnish your company image also.
So if as a marketer you want your product to survive,then "Product Availability" is the key factor to gain the customer's long term association...

Visibility:- It is amongst the one of the main components on which the buying decision of a customer depends and is amongst one of the crucial factors which could eventually decide the fate of your product in terms of success or a failure!!!

Let us take the help of an example to understand this:



Every person including you,me and a Marketer are the customers and we all buy products that we are in need of!!!


As usual,while having breakfast in the morning,you read a newspaper and while going through the frontpage we see an add of AIRTEL...  

Then after leaving for office from home we see ads of Airtel on the billboards on the the roadside while driving.

                                            






When we stop our car at a red light we see a big fiex board of Airtel















After reaching office,just near the parking lot,we see an another advertisement of this type.







After we have reached the office and we open our web browser to see the mail inbox.We see an add of Airtel again.....

The reason i gave so many examples was only to make my dear readers aware that a marketer has a proper strategy for doing these things...He is trying to drive your decision regarding a purchase and is trying to influence your thoughts as well...

The marketer is really trying to enter in your evoke set so that u consider buying his product when ever your need arises....

It is to be mentioned here that a marketer continuously passes messages to the customer again and again,whether consciously or subconsciously but most of the time a marketer passes on a message to the customer so that subliminally he accepts it without his knowledge...
So passing on a specific  message to the customer again and again persuades him to give a product a try and this power is called,"The Power Of Repetition and prolonged repetition leads to learning."

Will you believe that Shelf space is even rented....Shelf space is that space in a Shopping Mall or a big retail chain store where products are displayed.It has been seen that the products who have a greater visiblity are often choosen by the end customer to give it a try...
Shelf space helps in gaining a positive market share....Even in my further posts i will tell you that how arrangement of products in a shelf place will affect the purchase decision of a consumer.

So in order to boost sales,the marketers or sales promoters often choose a shelf space where there would be a good visibility for their products....

Example...

A baby Diaper manufacturer in order to boost sales will place his product with the Brand like Johnson's and johnson's Baby Powder..because he knows that the caring mother who needs a Powder for her baby would need a diaper too...Thats called planning.....
So how as a marketer or a sales promoter how you make your products visible t your target customers plays a vital role in the promotion and sales boosting of any product and speaks a lot about the approach you have used....!!!




Reliability: Product reliability is yet an another most important critical factor that ensures smooth sales and which ensures customer loyalty.
Making a customer to buy a product for the first time is a bit difficult task but the biggest challenge lies in making him re-purchase your product again.
It is no fun that you spend a lot of money in Advertisements or visibility factors but fail to ensure that your product works accordingly as per the specifications and customers expectations...
The product should be able to

Let me explain it with a given example:-
If we talk about 'Pacemaker' ,a crucial artificial medical equipment that is used by heart patients is expected to work for a longer duration of time without any faults.This expectation from the customer end comes when he chooses to have such a product on which he can trust upon as because of the reason that Pacemaker is a critical life saving device.
Thus reliability is one of the most important factor for the survival of the product as it designates the reputation of your brand categories or the brand as a whole.
Only manufacturing of a product doesnot ensure its reliablity.There are various factors on which the reliability of a product depends upon.
Like, '' The way the product was handled;The space or place where it was stored,Product installation and much more.
Ignoring the above factors can make a product completely unreliable,so organisations should ensure that the safe practices are being followed in the entire Value chain to attain customer satisfaction and customer appreciation.

Education:- The Marketer acts as a teacher.He also acts as a communicator.He is responsible to educate the prospective customers about his product,the product varieties it offers,the right way of using the products and the benefits of using them.
The more and more we educate our prospectus customers,the more likely the target customers are going to show their interest in our products and will be ready to give that product a try.
Hence educating the target customers,a marketer is able to create a demand for his product in the market.

Marketing Mix-The Importance of 4 P's.

Disclaimer !  The content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site.This blog contains the personal viewpoints of the the owner regarding the different strategies followed by the marketers and have not been copied from any source and he will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information.The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

Marketing Mix-The Importance of 4 P's 

The term Marketing Mix was first coined by professor" NEIL.H.Borden."

The marketing mix refers to the set of actions or business decisions that a company takes on the recommendation of the marketer to launch its products.
The success or failure of a product depends on these 4 P's and these P's help a marketer to make strategic decisions for the products to help them survive in the long run.


4 Ps of marketing?

If as an Entrepreneur if i am about to start a manufacturing company,i should know that which item i am going to manufacture,that item which i am going to manufacture is my "Product" and my product should be in accordance with the needs and demands of my end customers.

Then i have to fix its selling cost that must include all my expenses like overhead costs,transportation costs,warehousing costs,labour costs and all other costs involved in the production costs,then calculating the amount we set up its final cost that is paid by the end user and that's called "Price".

There after when the price has been setup,it is to be decided that where the product is going to be sold,in which area,region or a country...where i have to make my product available to my target customers.That area is our "Place."

There after comes Promotion....

Then i as an entrepreneur have to make my target customers know about my product....If i make a product and keep it in shelves without telling the customers its benefits and communicating the products usefulness to them,then my product is never gonna sell.

So i have to ensure that customers do know about my product,my products usefulness and the advantages of using it.

so to ensure that i have to advertise my product via different modes of advertisements and those advertisements are called " Promotions..."

See a better understanding and working of the 4 P's of marketing mix minimises the chances of failure of a company and improves the chances of its product's success in the ,market.,

Marketing Mix involves many crucial areas and ignoring them will surely prove fatal for a company.Hence it is said that  "No company plans to fail , but failure comes when they fail to plan...".

The 4 P's of Marketing are as follows:-

• Product:Product can be defined as a physical and a tangible item whom a customer can touch and see.A product must deliver performance as per its specifications.When we go to market we see a lot of items that are from different companies...

we see Sunfeast biscuits,A comb,A chocolate,An iron,A trimmer,A torch.....from a car to an iron nail...all are respective products of their respective companies like we see Sunfeast biscuits,A comb,A chocolate,An iron,A trimmer,A torch.....from a car to an iron nail...all are respective products of their respective companies.

These all are products......

• Place: It denotes the point of sale i.e the point where the product is supposed to be sold.

• Price: The market value of the product. It is the final amount that is to be paid by the customer to get the desired product....

• Promotion:Making people aware about  the product through various advertisements.../activities...

Hence,4P's work closely and are completely interdependent on each other.If your product is not good or expected one then even any of these 4 P's won't be able to make your product sell...!!!

Segmentation Continued....

So in my last post we discussed about segmentation by giving examples from the Corporate world like "Fair and lovely" cream for 'Men' and 'Women' and by also giving examples like "Hero Pleasure" that was entirely meant for females...
Actually segmentation is a vast topic....So lets move further to get its more insight...
Companies do segmentation in the following manner:-

1. Geographic segmentation: In this type of segmentation a marketer separates a market into different geographical boundaries such as a City,a Region or a Country which can impact the marketing mix of product, price, promotion and Place.

Example: A woolen cardigan manufacture based in Rajasthan in India won't be able to sell his cardigans that are meant to be worn in chilled areas as the climate is very humid there, may choose his target market for selling the cardigans in Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir because the area is very cold.The decision for choosing that specific area for selling his cardigans is based on geographical segmentation.

2. Demographic segmentation:It separates a market by demographics which include gender, age,  education level and income. A marketer is able to find the type of products we buy, our spending habits that affect our buying behavior.

Example: A BMW manufacture will segment its market via Demographic segmentation by targeting the H I J (High Income Group Customers.); while as the Swift be targeted to the M I J  (Medium Income Group Customers.while  TATA NANO will be targeted to the L I G (Low Income Group Customers.)

Targeted to Elite customers with high purchasing power capacity....

BMW denotes status symbol.....viewed as Luxurious and shows Aristocratic lifestyle....

  

Maruti swift: Target Group:- Medium income group customers....






TATA NANO : Target Group:- Low Income group customers....

3. Psychographic segmentation:T separates a market by lifestyle as well as values and beliefs. There are large target markets which fit psychographic segmentation.Example: As per psycology of people,the BMW car is seen as a symbol of status and lifestyle and is seen as a symbol of success and keeping this in mind,the marketer target his target audience i.e the people with High Income group.
he marketer


4. Behavioral segmentation:The marketer separates a market by the behaviour of the target customers.

Example:Type of shopping and buying behaviors of customers.Do they online shop or do they prefer to go to the store? How often do they shop?? The type of research a consumer does before making a decision to buy a product.....

Example:-Like as per Indian culture the marketer knows that people tend to view for various offers and freebies for various products and hence customers are offered discount coupons or free gifts....

Market Segmentation - an inseparable element!!!

Disclaimer !  The content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site.This blog contains the personal viewpoints of the the owner regarding the different strategies followed by the marketers and have not been copied from any source and he will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information.The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.
Marketing  Segmentation
is a part of  an overall strategy of a firm that believes in dividing or breaking a large market segment into the smaller subsets or target markets or homogeneous clusters...

The reason why marketers segment market into smaller clusters is because of the reason that they want to target their target customers/audiences rather than targeting the whole masses.

As we know that the taste and preferences of an individual differ from the others in one way or in an another way...

Thus, marketers make homologous clusters of the people with similar needs and tastes.

These segments are homogeneous internally but Heterogeneous externally.

The benefits of market segmentation are as follows:

1. It is possible to measure.
2. Possible to reach the target audience via the organisations promotion.
3. It is easy to implement.
4. It helps an organisation to decide,Where,When,How and to Whom the service,product or a brand will be marketed.

• By segmenting the market accordingly to the needs and taste preferences of the individuals,it becomes easy for a marketer to meet their demands and position their product accordingly...
• It becomes easier for a marketer to communicate about the usefulness of the product and to communicate the brand value of the product among its target customers....

Let us try to explain this with an example: 

Have you ever been wondered why we do not see the ads of Cranes, industrial solar panels or electric elevators on the televisions while the television is flooded with the adds  of  soft drinks like Coke,Thums up chips like Lay's  or any consumer goods.

Its because of the reason that marketers before forming a real and an effective implementable strategy consider their target markets…

Target markets include those people for whom the product has been customized or designed.

There is a great variability between the marketing of Industrial products Vs consumer goods.

Consumer goods are those goods that are fast moving goods and that are used by consumers in day to day life.

In case of Industrial products, its no fun to relay an advertisement on a national television because most of the audiences are not interested in buying Industrial goods….

How many of us would consider buying a Crane after viewing an advertisement if it would have been telecasted.
None of us obviously!!!.It won't be a  wise thing on the side of  a marketer to show adds on a national TV and spend a hell lot of money for a 10 second or a fifteen second advertisement when even not less than 1% viewers would go for it.

Watch the link for more details :-

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2015-03-19/news/60286743_1_cricket-world-cup-ipl-ad-rates

A Marketer tries to optimize the resources available with him in the best possible way so that RON (The return on investment) is higher.

The marketer acts as a teacher as his sole aim is to teach its audiences about the nature of a product.

It is the marketer who is responsible for positioning his product into the mindset of customers. 








For a better understanding of the segmentation we can understand via the below given example:

First Example:-
" Fair & Lovely" cream that was launched in India by Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL) got a huge response rate from the women.It taught the young age group girls and especially that of the women folk that this cream is specially for those who want to look beautiful as this cream will help your skin get fairer with in 6 weeks.."( sirf 6 hafto mein nikhaar)"  It not only that they positioned their product only as a cream that give fastening results but there was much more in their mind to give their product  an competitive edge over the other competitors...

   They targeted the traits of the women...here i want to mention that every action that a marketer performs is done by studying the psychology of an individual as a whole by keeping the gender  of the target audience in mind because even the psychology says that both Men and Women think differently i.e their way of seeing or perceiving things differ!!!

 "The marketer targets that trait of an individual by sending him an indirect message,even the target customer is not knowing that he is being individually targeted by the marketer and he is creating a demand of the product into the mindset of the consumer and he is sending this message into the sub conscious brain of the consumer."

(The marketer knowing the fact that ,In a male dominated society women feel a type of insecurity...they love freedom and want  to experience their life on their own terms,they want to be independent...) he picks up the same trait and targets it (although he won't disclose it in open as because of the reason that it may send negative message/ signals to the target audiences....and thus a marketer tries to channelise his message through a positive tagline or a positive route...

Low self esteem is more common in beautiful women than you would expect. .Some just don’t believe they are attractive.


Some girls even believe that they have a sort of distorted self image and don’t believe others who tell them how stunning they are!!!


The add shows how Fair & lovely cream helped a highly depressed women to achieve her dreams and meet happiness.

The sole purpose of the marketer was to show that  Fair and lovely have the power to transform a women's life completely....

So the strategy that Fair and Lovely initially opted for was surely a"Brand Gendering "strategy....

• Fair and lovely campaigned a lot....
• The women all over the world loved by getting associated with the brand because it motivated them to find their own identity.
• Market share increased as it was the first cream to be launched in this segment via segmentation strategy..

Now Question here arises, what was the need of bringing Fair and lovely for men.... or Emami's Fair and Handsome for Men!!!

Lets try to find this.....

Men have a different psychology that is entirely different from that of the females.
When a product  is positioned for females,men donot prefer to use it as hurts their super ego...
Even more,none was bothered earlier that which cream men were using...
It is the marketer who attacked their super ego and communicated to them that,How will you feel, when some one asks you....Why you use the cream that is meant for girls (ki yeh ladkiyon wali cream kyun lagate ho)

Actually it is to be mentioned here that most of the Men stopped using the Fair and lovely cream and as a result the market share of the company declined.

So in order to push sales..and create a demand into the market, a marketer passed on the message to them,"...I have a cream for you that is totally made for your skin....Use it.

Hence marketers came with a different product line specialized and positioned for men grooming and in no time a large segment of the males start opting for the cream named " Fair and lovely for Men or
Emami's "Men and Handsome..."

Actor Shahrukh Khan campaigning for "Emami's Fair & Handsome for Men's cream..."

There are several examples like his only.....
Can you identify this Vehicle...

Yes!!!
It's Hero Pleasure"

The example of"Hero Pleasure" is also similar like that...

Hero positioned its Pleasure segment for ladies only.....

The product comes with 8 flashy colours and lot of features for the fairer sex like broader seats, electric start etc. and is positioned for  emerging empowered ladies segment.

Pleasure is positioned as a Pleasure scooter. The company is targeting Ladies and Ladies only. That,I will call a perfect strategy.

 If a marketer is targeting ladies why would one expect men to ride that scooter!!!
 So Hero Honda has decided that the brand will be for ladies.

As a part of the strong promotional strategy "Just for her" showrooms where the whole staff were only ladies including the sales persons also.

Aliya Bhatt riding a Hero Pleasure by conveying a message to all the target audiences that,
"Why should boys have all the fun..."

Is customer satisfaction via Quality a Myth!!!

Disclaimer !  The content provided on this blog is for informational purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site.This blog contains the personal viewpoints of the the owner regarding the different strategies followed by the marketers and have not been copied from any source and he will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information.The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

Quality is considered to be one of the greatest influencing factor that drives and impacts a customers buying decision and it is has become a challenging job for the organisations to maintain and enhance it in today’s customer centric world.
Have you ever wondered, why we choose specific brands like ''Dell","Hp" or 'Sony" or whatever it is???

Why being a consumer we are ready to pay even few extra bucks even when we are so price sensitive and price conscious, to buy brands like these even if the same product with the same configuration is offered by any other company say XYZ.

It is because we  often associate brands with Quality and we often link Quality with the standardization of the products...It is all about adding value to the product....

Quality is a critical factor and plays a greater role in strategic performance.

“Quality can be defined as the ability of a product to meet the customers’ expectations”

It is all about the expectations of the customers from the product of a certain brand that they rely upon a certain brand...

Quality is not alone a single factor that builds a brand Image,there is a lot more what potential customers look to get associated with the brand.

There are many other factors that overall contribute to the standardization of a product that comes under the preview of Quality.It may involve  brands:

1. Appearances.
2. Service Quality.
3. Quality Assurance.
4. Product Performance.
5. Durability.
6. Features.
7. Conformance
8. Perceiveness...
9. Perfection.
10. Consistency.
11. Waste Elimination.
12. Speed of Delivery.
13. Compliance with policy and procedures.
14. Global Presence.
15. Uniqueness

Quality has many multi dimensional arms... So thats the reason today all the companys are giving Quality assurance and Quality checked cards or stickers on its products

If we want to understand what the Quality itself means:

Q : Quest for Excellence.

U : Understanding customers needs.

A:  Action to achieve customers appreciation

L:   Leadership-Determining to be a leader.

I:    Involving all people.

T:   Team spirit to work for a common goal.

Y:  Yardstick to maximize progress.

"Quality can be defined as doing the right things,doing them in a right way,doing them in a timely manner,doing them right the first time and doing things right every time..."

Quality is not an over night game...It continues to grow with time by stressing on all the crucial factors that will ultimately lead to the performance of a product.

Quality can be further classified into the following categories as per the perceiveness of the customer...

1. Indifferent Quality.
2. Expected Quality.
3. One dimensional Quality.
4. Exciting Quality.

Lets try to simplify these with some appropriate examples:-

Indifferent Quality:-Indifferent quality is that Quality that evokes response like,"Thats fine,but who cares.?

Ex:- Beautifully garnished finger bowl (a special bowl used to clean fingers after meal) in a    restaurant would look nice but it can not be seen as of so importance...

Expected Quality:-Quality that customer expects and demands.

Ex:- Suppose we are feeling very hungry and we want to have lunch or we want to dine.
So we move into a fine restaurant and not to a road side dhaba (Hawker) to have a delicious meal.
We expect food to be delicious in a good renowned restaurant rather than having it on road side hawkers.
"Its a fact that customers notice expected quality when it is missing..."

One dimensional :-It is something that a customer expects to be but doesn't result into a displeased customer when lacking.

Ex:-A waiter who is slow in serving an order may not cause customer to leave if they are serving a good and a fresh delicious food,though the customers would give him some tip.
Customers would leave if they found any dead insect into the food stuff served to them.
The restaurants slow service is the One dimensional Quality.

Exciting Quality:-Exciting Quality can be defined as a Quality level that exceeds customers expectations.
It is the quality of the product that pleases them,with this type of service level the customers will feel delighted and highly privileged.

Ex:-If you book a hotel for suppose ₹ 15000.
It may be having  all amenities like clean cushions,Bed sheets,Scented flowers in it,a Jakozi to give you a complete relaxation and a fully Air conditioned room,Complimentary breakfast,Free wifi,acess to Gym and Swimming pool,these are all expected from a decent Five star hotel room as it comes under the Expected Quality criteria as you are paying for the services....

But when you wake up in the morning you see two movie tickets under your cushion and after that you also get a free drop at the nearest Airport as a gift for using the services of the hotel ...how will you feel....U will definitely feel more delighted...your satisfaction level will be naturally high.
and it is a damn sure thing that you will become a loyal customer of their hotel and gonna use their services again....because you got much more for what you have paid for...!!!
This is the Exciting Quality Experience which you perceived....

The more you will pay,the better services you will get....but how you present your services and how you project yourself in front of a customer speaks a lot about you and your organisation.

Firms are focusing today on Zero defect strategy rather than correction of defects or rework.
Although you may on part of Goodwill provide customers free serviceability for the rework but he/she may turn into a totally dissatisfied customer.

• Product recalls not only increase your over head costs but can also lead to a great financial burden...The consequences for  the same can prove worse....
• Rework consumes a lot of time,Involves a lot of money,a hell lot of Storage space,Transportation Charges and an extensive labour work...
• It also tarnishes the image of the company that it is not able to fulfill its commitment of maintaining its Quality standards...as perceived quality was not met as per customer  expectations and the company's commitment.
• It is hereby mentioned that the Gap between the Expected performance of a product and the actually perceived one helps forming customers positive or a negative perceptions...
• With continuous product recalls,the customer may form a negative perception about the product and about the brand as a whole...which will surely tarnish the image of the company....and that negative perception of the company in the mindset of customers is very hard to dissolve... 
• Will result in a highly dissatisfied customer and it would be difficult for him to retain...

• Ultimately it will lead to the worst,the customers will start speaking bad about the company and as we know the words of the mouth are the primary and most effective way to persuade any one to form a negative or a positive perception...it will result in customers turning their back towards the company's products which will lead to the loss of sales as the potential buyers who are planning to buy the car of the same brand wont consider it in even in their evoke set..
• People who drives car want to be safe..They buy it as per their family's comfort keeping safety of the family first and ensures that it is loaded with all type of safety features like Air bags etc..
• But sometimes the companies have recalled the product only when customers have encountered huge and fatal accidents ...(click and follow the link given below)
• Link to follow :-  Woman killed in crash was driving car included in airbag recall

• (An evoked set is the set of product choices regarding a certain brand that you believe are feasible options for you to purchase based upon your needs and desires relating to the product.)
• Customers will switch over to competitors that will result in loss of market share and decreased revenues...

"Quality is not what a company says....it is all about what they deliver to you as you being their customer and what you perceive from their product....Quality is something about what a customer says..." 

Maintaining Quality Benefits:-

1. Delivers a positive company Image.
2. Gives an competitive edge over the competitors.
3. Improved market share will result into improved profits.
4. Avoids unnecessary costs..
5. Creates high employee moral which improve productivity... 

Organisations globally are working to satisfy customers in every possible way and thus they are upgrading their technology in a timely manner and are ensuring the performance of a product by passing it thru various Quality checks as they seek a long time relationship with the people...because they know that Quality is the real bond between them and the customers...

So you must have seen the above given logo on most of the product boxes that let people know that they can trust on the company regarding the Quality of the product....

So keeping the Quality thing in mind the companies are very serious about the same...Utmost care is taken during the production process on the assembly line on the assembly belt.If a specific product fails Quality check it is sent back for rework or is rejected and if there is some fault in the machinery,the overall concerned processes are stopped...The products are not forwarded to the next level until the fault gets rectified....because firms know that...:-

"If there will be no Quality,there will be no sales;If there will be no sales,there will be no profit as well;and if there will be no profit then there will be no jobs at all...."

Hence it is ensured that Quality failures are eliminated initially so that final product works well and performs even better.......