Brief introduction to marketing communications

Marketing depends heavily on effective communications flow between the firm and the consumers. Manufacturing a product and making it available in the market is only a part of the company's job. It is more important to make it known to the consumers that the product is available in the market .  in a competitive market where several firm are striving to win over consumers,  it is not enough if just the availability is made known. It is vital to propagate  the distinctive featured  of the product. The process does not end here either. Consumers themselves are taking more  active role in the communications process and deciding what communication they want to receive and how they want to communicate to other about the product and service they use,  to effectively reach and influence target market,  holistic marketers,  are creatively employing multiple forms of communication.

Traditionally,  marketing men have been of  the view that the "promotion mix" consisting of personal selling,  advertising,  sales promotion and publicity are the only instruments available for communicating the consumers. marketing literature in the past also adopted the same approach and described the promotion mix as the sole instrument of marketing communication. This approach has, however, undergone significant changes over the years. Today,  beside,  promotion mix ,  other entities,  like product,  price and the channel  are also viewed as components of marketing communications.  In other Words,  all the four Ps of marketing are considered  as  components of the communication mix of the firm. The firm attempts to communicate with the consumers through quality products,  attractive packages,  written messages,  pictures,  symbols,  attractive showrooms,  and efficient salesmen. When the various stimuli emanating from these sources are received and interpreted by the consumers,  marketing communications take place. It also encompasses the feedbacks from the consumers on how the total offering is received  by them.

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When conducting marketing research is necessary.

Before you embarks on the arduous task of marketing research, it is pertinent for you to consider certain factors which are considered crucial.
Here we will be looking at such factors;

The relevance of the research is the key. Research should not be conducted for the sake of just having a research done. The research problem or question should be relevant to addressing the objective for which the research is commissioned.

The next factor is the timing of the research; Researches are time based. If a marketing research is to be conducted, you should ensure that it is done within approved and acceptable time frame.

Availability of Resources; An organization seeking to size the advantage of marketing research must endeavour to put in and place all relevant and necessary resources in their correct amount and numbers.  Resources such as finance , material and human.

The Nature and type of information sought; Don't make the mistakes of conducting marketing research in areas where information on the subject matters is lacking . This is because you do not look for what you already have. Management may approve taking on a marketing research exercise, if it finds that the required information is obtainable.

And lastly, Cost and Benefits; Cost and Benefits analysis should be undertaking on the project before marketing research is conducted. This means that if the cost of the project exceeds the anticipated derivable benefits, then the idea of the project should be dropped . if on the other hand the anticipated definable benefits exceed the projected cost,  then is a yes. Management will definitely give it a nod.

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How to Create an Effective Marketing Plan.

A marketing plan may not be at the top of every new business owner's to-do list, but it should be. While a business plan helps map the direction for your company, a marketing plan helps your company understand how to get there by detailing important steps on the road to creating customer relationships.
"The single most important thing for a small business to include in its marketing plan is a very clear understanding of its customers and its competitors," said Mr. Okoh Emmanuel lecturer of marketing at Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo.
Though a marketing plan can be formal or informal, at a minimum it describes who your customers are, where they get information, and how you are going to reach them. Okoh said the development of a marketing plan requires four specific tasks:
Develop a very clear and focused insight into why a potential customer would use your business. More specifically, what is the core need that your product or service will meet? Is it to help your customers get through the day more easily? Do their job more efficiently? Be respected and admired by friends? Your offering should be designed to meet customer needs better than the competition
Identify your target customers. There are numerous potential customers in most markets, but to succeed faster and better, a small business must study the market to determine the characteristics of its best target customers. The target customer should be described in detail. In doing so, a business also develops a clearer picture of the expected sales revenues and financials.Identify competitors that would also want your target customers. There is always a competitor — never make the mistake of assuming there isn't. Small businesses rarely take the time to study their competitors in depth. But you must understand who your competitors are, what their core competitive advantage is and how they will respond to your offering (price cuts, increased communication, and so on)
Write down your brand-positioning statement for your target customers. Ultimately, your brand and what it symbolizes for customers will be your strongest competitive advantage. You should be able to write down a simple declarative sentence of how you will meet customer needs and beat the competition. The best positioning statements are those that are single-minded and focus on target customer needs.
While these steps are a good starting point, companies also need to incorporate multiple channels into their marketing plans. Some of the most popular channels for today's businesses include:
Social media marketingSocial media has become an essential part of businesses' marketing plans. Businesses that have yet to realize the opportunities that Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Linkedin and other networks provide them are missing out. Even though the concept of social media marketing may overwhelm certain small business owners, the process does not need to be a challenge, as more services and companies are popping up more and more frequently.

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How to achieve a successful Advertisement.

A success of any advertising campaign depends on a good number of factors;

It must be directed to the right target audience.

The right and understandable language must be use.

Choose the time in which you want the ad play. Which means it must be play at the right time to the right target audience.

It must be made to cover the right target audience

The money spent on advertising campaign should not be more than the money generated from it.

Like I said earlier the right language must be use, the right location must must be targeted, and it must be cost effective.

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Making Your Website Attractive and Simple.

Everything has to be just right: the logo, the icons, the color palette, the imagery, the graphics, the design of the page, the eye trail, etc. All these elements should be creatively combine to produce a powerful emotional impact on your visitors capable of improving your sales rate and revenue.

User friendly website is nothing but a website which is easily accessible and comfortable for a user to operate. The main reason for making a website user friendly is that it helps in increasing traffic on the website, which in turn leads to improvement of the site ranking.

 Making a website attractive is not enough to attract the people, the usability should also be good, otherwise the visitor will go from your website and switch to your competitor’s site. Just visiting and leaving the site in few seconds, this kind of traffic is of no good use. So making a website user friendly is very important because it is the face of your business.

Marketingopinion as to how attractive and user friendly website should be

§  Implement a Smart Choice Of Colors; Colors plays a very important role in the website appearance, each color have its own meaning and value, analyse and read about each and every colours and accordingly decide your theme of website and colours which are to be exhibit on the website. Your website is certain to look attractive when you have used right combination of colors.

§  Keep Your Content More Simpler and Informative; Your content is the one which builds your brand, and it is something which will catch the attention of online visitors, people are seeking the informative element in the website, they want the content which they can understand easily, use more simple words rather than excessive technological words.

§  Stay Organized; online visitors wanted to visit those website which is more organized and provide each and every information which they are seeking for. It’s a fact that the average page visit of a user lasts a little less than a minute. As the user is in rush so he will just visit your site and take a glimpse of your website, if he found out that the website is more organized and everything is on its place then he gets the confidence that he can find out the correct information which he is seeking for.

§  Make Your URL Name Easy to Remember; The one of the most important factor is to make aware your customers about you, so you should select such a name for your website which is easy to remember and which makes a meaningful relation with your name.

§   Make Your Website Mobile Compatible; Today visitors browse the websites with mobile too, so it is very important to make your website mobile compatible. This can be done using responsive web design, which is nothing but your website is designed such a way that it fits exactly to the screen of any size giving whole view of the website. Responsive web designs helps in increasing traffic due to increase in percentage of users browsing in mobiles.

§   Error Handling; There should be proper error handling at the time of coding which keeps the website bug free. While coding, make sure you give proper error messages, so that even if the user while filling the form makes some error it should be clearly shown on the screen where the user has gone wrong. This makes website user friendly and makes website more bug free.

§   Update Often; According to the changes in the market there arises a need to update the websites, The technology changes day by day, and you have to remain updated with the technology and so do your website too. An important part of updating your website is to keep your customers informed and give them updates. Whether it is news, a sale, an event, a change in policy,

§  Speed/Loading Time; No one prefers to wait for web pages to load. Therefore, always ensure that your website uses the least codes possible. If your website takes long time to load, chances are that your customers will get bored and leave without reading what you want them to.

§   Include Contact Information; providing contact information creates confidence and offers comfort to users since they know that there is a real company behind a business website.  Always provide easy contact mechanisms like contact forms, customer service numbers, addresses and phone numbers. Hence potential customers who want to find more about your products or services can reach you at the click of a button or phone call easily.

§  Social Media Sharing; Social Media in this generation have become so much important and necessary for promoting each and every business, Do include blogs on your website and social media sharing options, people are seeking for the new information and likes to share it on social media platforms, By including social media option on your website gives users the comfort of sharing information without even going away from the website.

Thank you sir. I trust this may help.

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