Showing posts with label Career Master. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Career Master. Show all posts

12 marketing tips that every marketer must be aware of.


Marketing is an individualized and highly creative process. Despite the availability of high-powered computers and sophisticated software capable of analyzing massive amounts of data, marketing is still more of an art rather than a science. 
This requirement of marketing to play slightly different roles, depending upon some set of situation criteria, has in turn provided the division of marketing into a number of different categories. 

 However, each business must customize its marketing efforts in response to its environment and the exchange process. Consequently, no two marketing strategies are exactly the same.
Therefore, here are 12 tips that would help increase your situation analysis and marketing effectiveness:

 1. Most purchasing decisions are made in the unconscious.

 2. Repetition is the secret to accessing the unconscious mind of people. The most important rule in marketing is repetition. Too many marketing programs give up too soon. On average, you have to have seven to nine repeats before you will see results in your marketing program.

 3. Your marketing can be twice as effective if you aim it at both right-brained (emotional, aesthetic) and left-brained (logical, sequential) people. The North American population is about evenly divided, so if you use only one approach, half your advertising budget will be wasted.

 4. The more data you have, and the more you know about your customers, the better your marketing will be. This data is available from many published sources, or you can collect your own by asking your customers lots of questions.

 5. Children are influencing family purchases more today than ever. These are the results of more mothers working and children's greater access to media.

 6. You can't rely on consumers to provide accurate information on their buying behavior. They don't always do what they say they will! Therefore, be careful in interpreting consumer surveys.

 7. There are two bonds to make a sale - the human bond and the business bond. People would much rather do business with a friend than with anyone else. So become their friend.

 8. People are human beings and like to be treated as such. Don't treat people as prospects; don't treat them as demographic groups.

 9. People have a basic need to belong. Let them belong to your club. Recognize the 20% of your customers that give you 80% of your business.

 10. Getting a person to say yes to a sale works best if you establish momentum first with lesser questions to which it is easy to answer yes.

 11. Your customers will be buying a lot more than merely your product or service. They are buying your personality, your reputation, your service, and your status in the community.

 12. People will remember the most fascinating part of your marketing and not necessarily your product or service. That is why you need to be very careful every step of the way.

This is how NIVEA reached the top using marketing research.


Nivea skin care products are part of the German company Beiersdorf. The company’s line of skin care products is marketed in about 100 countries. The product line has been around for about nine decades, originating with a scientific breakthrough with the first skin cream that did not separate into water and oil.  That coupled with intelligent marketing led to a strong positive brand image, which accounts for much of their success. 

The company’s continual success is due to the marriage of marketing and research and development within the company. Research and development is continual and the latest findings in dermatology, products technology, and raw materials are applied to existing products. The goal of improved product performance and quality is central to the Nivea product line. They help ensure this quality through constant testing and consumer feedback obtained via marketing research.

Nivea began marketing in the 1920's when they changed their logo and began selling their product around the world.
Early on they established their brand identity as a pure and gentle product on which families could rely. They advertised with a picture of the Nivea Girl. In 1924, they broke from tradition and began advertising with the Nivea Boys. This helped them convey the message that Nivea was made for the entire family. Their brand image has transcended decades with the help of a foundation built upon advertising that stresses family relationships and values.

In the 70's, Nivea had to defend itself against true competition for the first time. They relied heavily on marketing research, which helped them formulate a two-pronged strategy. The first part was the defense of their core business through a new advertising campaign "Crème de la Crème". The second part was the introduction of new products, which helped keep the brand fresh and introduced new sources of sales.

In the 80's, when marketing research indicated brand differentiation was becoming increasingly important, Nivea began branding with sub-brands. These sub-brands included skin care, bath products, sun protection, baby care, facial care, hair care, and care for men. They used an umbrella strategy with the sub-brands, which means that they were using their core brand to encompass all of the sub-brands. The goal was to establish individual images that were distinct but consistent with the core image of Nivea and were focused on not diluting the brand name and wanted to link the new sub-brands with the traditional values of the core brand. 
The result was an explosion in sales.
Nivea was able to continue their success in the 90's as their sales grew rapidly throughout the decade. The growth was due in large part to the introduction of new products, each based on extensive marketing research. The most successful products were their anti-wrinkle cream and an entire line of cosmetics.

Nivea entered the new millennium as the number one skincare and Cosmetics Company in the world with $2.7 billion in revenues. However, they still face challenges and their greatest challenge is in U.S. market, where their brand is not as strong as it is in other parts of the world. The U.S. market poses many obstacles because it is the largest and most dynamic market in the world. Nivea hopes to overcome these obstacles through the use of extensive marketing research. This research will lead Nivea to conduct more product launches and to develop focused marketing strategies.

Nivea focuses on consistency in their marketing, which is another difficulty because it can be troublesome for them to communicate the same message across various cultures. 

However, Nivea will do whatever it takes to maintain this consistency because they believe it gives them an edge over competitors. It helps consumers relate all their products to their core brand and identity. Nivea will continue to rely on marketing research to retain and refine the consistency in their marketing across global markets.

BMW positioning the brand as to create a new category "luxury performance cars".




Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) is a German luxury vehicles, motorcycle, and engine manufacturing company owning and producing Mini cars and serves as the parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. BMW produces motorcycles under BMW Motor-rad, and plug-in electric cars under the BMW i sub-brand. It is one of the best-selling luxury automakers in the world. Before discussing how BMW positioned the brand in the global market, we must mention a small piece of brand information.

 Brand positioning is at the heart of marketing strategy. It is the act of designing the company’s offer and image so that it occupies a distinct and valued place in the target customer’s minds. As the name implies, positioning means finding the proper “location” in the minds of a group of consumers or market segment, so that they think about a product or service in the desired way to maximize potential benefit to the firm. 

 Deciding on a positioning requires determining the target market and the nature of competition and the optimal points-of-parity and points-of-difference brand associations. In other words, marketers need to know who the target consumer is, who the main competitors are, how the brand is similar to these competitors, and how the brand is different from them. 
In brand management, points of difference are formally defined as attributes or benefits that consumers strongly associate with a brand, positively evaluate, and believe that they could not find to the same extent with a competitive brand. On the other hand, points of parity are not necessarily unique to the brand but may in fact be shared with other brands in three types: category, competitive, and correlation.

 When BMW first made a strong competitive push into the U.S. market in the early 1980's, it positioned the brand as being the only automobile that offered both luxury and performance. At that time, U.S. luxury cars like Cadillac were seen by many as lacking performance, and U.S. performance cars like the Chevy Corvette were seen as lacking luxury. By relying on the design of its cars, its German heritage, and other aspects of a well-designed marketing program, BMW was able to simultaneously achieve a point-of-difference on performance and a point-of-parity on luxury with respect to luxury cars and a point-of-difference on luxury and a point-of-parity on performance with respect to performance cars. The clever slogan, “The Ultimate Driving Machine” effectively captured the newly created  umbrella category—luxury performance cars.

How did McDonald's corporation won the Indian market.




McDonald’s Corporation is a fast-food legend whose famous golden arches can be found in 118 different countries. The company is the undisputed leader in the quick-service restaurant segment of the hospitality industry, with more than twice the system-wide revenues of Burger King. 

 McDonald’s built its reputation by promising and delivering three things to customers: inexpensive food with consistent taste regardless of location; quick service; and a clean, familiar environment. The company was also a pioneer in the development of convenience-oriented features such as drive-through windows and indoor playgrounds for children. 

 Today, thanks to memorable advertising and intensive promotion efforts, McDonald’s is one of the world’s most valuable brands: In 2012, Interbrand ranked it as the world’s number 7 brand overall (Coca-Cola is number 1). The golden arches are said to be the second-most-recognized symbol in the world, behind the Olympic rings. In the United States alone, McDonald’s typically spends about twice as much on advertising as Burger King and Wendy’s. Today, however, the company faces competitive attacks from several directions. 

 During the 1990s, a wide range of upscale food and beverage purveyors arrived on the scene. For example, consumers began flocking to Starbucks coffee bars, where they spend freely on lattes and other coffee-based specialty drinks. The “fast-casual”  segment of the industry, which includes companies such as Panera Bread, Cosi, and Baja Fresh, is attracting customers seeking higherquality menu items in more comfortable surroundings. Meanwhile, Subway overtook McDonald’s as the restaurant chain with the most outlets in the United States. Some industry observers suggested that, in terms of both food offerings and marketing, McDonald’s was losing touch with modern American lifestyles.

 Until recently, the picture appeared brighter outside the United States. Thanks to changing lifestyles around the globe, more people are embracing the Western-style fast-food culture. McDonald’s responded to the opportunity by stepping up its rate of new unit openings. McDonald’s International is organized into three geographic regions: (1) Europe; (2) Asia/Pacific, Middle East, and Africa (APMEA); and (3) Other Countries. In 2005, the offices of the country heads for Europe and Asia were moved from the U.S. headquarters to their respective regions; now, for example, the head of APMEA manages his business from Hong Kong. Commenting on the change, Ken Koziol, vice president of worldwide restaurant innovation, explained, “McDonald’s was built on a strong foundation of a core menu that we took around the world but we need to make sure we are more locally relevant. Taste profiles and desires are changing.”

 Asia-Pacific The Indian market appears to hold huge potential for McDonald’s. The company opened its first restaurants in New Delhi and Bombay.
In Delhi, McDonald’s competes with Nirula’s, a QSR chain with several dozen outlets; in addition, there are hundreds of smaller regional chains throughout India. The U.S.-based Subway chain opened its first Indian location in 2001; Pizza Hut, KFC, and Domino’s Pizza have also entered the market. The Pizza Hut on Juhu Road in Bombay is housed in a three-story-tall building with large plate glass windows and central air conditioning. On most nights a long line of customers forms outside. 

 Indian demand for meals from the major food chains is growing at a double-digit rate; annual total sales exceed $1 billion. With those trends in mind, McDonald’s identifies strategic locations in areas with heavy pedestrian traffic, such as the shopping street in Bandra in the Bombay suburbs. Other restaurant locations include a site near a  college in Vile Parle and another opposite the Andheri train station; in all, McDonald’s India operated more than 250 locations at the end of 2012. Prices are lower than in other countries; most sandwiches cost about 40 rupees (less than $1). Drinks cost 15 rupees, and a packet of French fries is 25 rupees. 

 A complete meal costs the equivalent of about $2. Because the Hindu religion prohibits eating beef, McDonald’s developed the Chicken Maharaja Mac specifically for India. Despite protests from several Hindu nationalist groups, the first McDonald’s attracted huge crowds to its site near the Victoria railway terminal; customers included many tourists from across India and from abroad as well as locals commuting to and from work. In short order, however, Hindu activists renewed their protests, this time accusing the company of using beef tallow in its cooking. 

 Management responded by posting signs reading, “No beef or beef products sold here,” but the doubts raised by the controversy kept many potential customers away. Since that time, McDonald’s has worked steadily to prove that it is sensitive to Indian tastes and traditions. As is true throughout the world, McDonald’s emphasizes that most of the food ingredients it uses—as much as 95 percent—are produced locally. In addition, to accommodate vegetarians, each restaurant has two separate food preparation areas. The “green” kitchen is devoted to vegetarian fare such as the spicy McAloo Tikka potato burger, Pizza McPuff, and Paneer Salsa McWrap. 

 Meat items are prepared on the red side. Even the mayonnaise is made without eggs. Some of the new menu items developed for India are now being introduced in Europe and the United States.

How Coca-Cola used marketing research to solve diet cherry coke declining sales issue.




Marketing research is one of the most important attributes that every marketer should master. Despite in Egypt, few only knows a little about marketing research. Marketing research are classified to either problem-identification research or problem solving research. when companies gets to define a problem or develop an approach, the marketers has some tasks involved in this process that include discussion with decision makers and industry experts to understand more about the problem origin and nature. Moreover, analyzing secondary data analysis which are other data collected for some purpose other than the problem in hand. let's get to demonstrate this knowledge.

As of 2006, Coca-Cola is still the world’s leading manufacturer, marketer and distributor of nonalcoholic beverages to over 200 countries, with over 400 beverage brands.  Sales of Diet Cherry coke had been languishing however, down from more than 8 million cases sold in the peak years. Coke system bottlers had begun to cut back distribution of Diet Cherry Coke.

Faced with this issue, Coca-Cola had to determine the cause of such a decline in sales. When industry experts were consulted, the real problem was identified: Diet Cherry Coke was not positioned correctly. These experts emphasized that brand image was a key factor influencing soft drink sales and Diet Cherry Coke was perceived as conventional and old-fashioned, an image inconsistent with that of Cherry Coke. Hence, the marketing research problem was identified as measuring the image and positioning of Diet Cherry Coke. 

The research undertaken confirmed the diagnosis of the industry experts and provided several useful insights.
Based on the research results, the product was re-positioned to align it more closely to the image of Cherry Coke. The aim was to target younger drinkers. The packaging was remade to also be more consistent with the Cherry Coke packaging. Bolder, edgy graphics were used to appeal to the youth segment. 

Finally, Diet Cherry Coke was placed with Cherry Coke in a teen-targeted promotional giveaway. Positioning Diet Cherry Coke as a youthful soft drink and targeting the teenage segment led to a turnaround and increased sales 2005. Sales have shown an upward trajectory since, thanks to the industry experts who helped identify the real problem.


The Diet Cherry Coke example points to the key role of industry experts. However, information obtained from the decision makers and the industry experts should be supplemented with the available second data. 

All you have to know about progressing in the marketing career hierarchy.


Like every profession, a career in marketing also presents an individual with various designations at different levels of career progression, where this progression from lower to uppermost levels of designations is known as marketing career hierarchy. With a marketing career in mind a candidate can go in various directions with a different marketing stream but the progression of career in each of these directions is quite similar.
A fresh graduate or post graduate aiming at marketing as a career has to start from a very basic position or entry level positions in an organization and with due course of hard work, dedication and experience the individuals starts climbing the ladders in his marketing career hierarchy with the ladder steps being various designations.
Level 1
An individual who wants to start his marketing career is required to enter any organization with very basic designations like marketing executive, marketing trainee, sales & marketing executive or business development executive.
An individual on the basis of his capabilities to convert the resources into outputs, and the behavior of these resources & capabilities develops certain skills, strengths and qualities, which when combined lead to synergistic effects. After developing the competencies over a period of time and individual can move forward to the next level in the career hierarchy.

Level 2

The second level in the marketing career hierarchy includes designations at management level like marketing coordinator, product specialist, marketing analyst, product manager or marketing manager.
At this level an individual is required to utilize his inherent potential or marketing capabilities in order to exploit opportunities and manage the job responsibilities & subordinates as well in an efficient manner. After developing certain subjective attributes required in a good marketer a candidate grows further in the marketing career hierarchy.

Level 3

The third level in this hierarchy is senior management level where candidates are presented with designations like senior marketing manager of certain specialized departments.
In this role a candidate is required to ensure that proper tactical marketing decisions are being taken pertaining to efficient and effective allocation of resources & employees. Candidates at this level are responsible ensuring that right marketing actions are being implemented.

Level 4

The highest level in marketing career hierarchy is the chief executive level where a candidate is offered the position of CMO (Chief marketing Officer). This is the role for the most important strategist and candidates at this level are responsible for all the marketing aspects right from the formulation of marketing strategies to the implementation and review of the marketing practices being followed in the organization.
The chief marketing officer is the chief architect of marketing function and is required to behave like a leader, a builder, a motivator and a mentor. These professionals are responsible for providing a sense of direction to the employees for the goodwill & growth of the organization. They are also required to actively participate in the implementation of marketing practices to ensure that the right steps are being taken.
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Marketing Hub aims to replace the wrong marketing concepts in the Egyptian society with the right concepts and knowledge through our articles. We share experience with our audience through articles and we are wide open to communicate with everyone in any field who aims to understand more about marketing or wants to discuss and analyze any market update. We offer consultation in developing your brand, designing brand strategies, designing marketing strategies, generating advertising campaign ideas and developing business plan. Remember, marketing is an art not a job. We are wide open to communicate with creative individuals and join our business community.

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