Niche Marketing Strategies for Business Growth

The consumer behavior is the dynamic sum total of the range of political, economic, technological, demographical, and socio-environmental influences. The art of adapting to the changing environment may sound easy to accommodate to in marketing practice, but these changes are not visible to the insensitive myopic eyes. The essential condition for a professionally managed company to grow and keep growing is not taking pride in the high level of corporate marketing management. The strategy for seizing a market niche requires an understanding of important marketing concepts and strategies based on segmentation and targeting widely propounded marketing phenomenon. Considering the market as segmented into a host of individual homogenous elements implies a clear identification of the customers of each company to survive. It is thus necessary to determine, with absolute clarity, who the customers or target audience are for the company and to then offer products and services that match their needs effectively. This may also require the development of an optimal distribution mechanism framework to ensure quality of company offerings. The present case deals with the decision dilemma of a management professional who is in the process of deciding about acquiring a niche marketing company and the case elucidates four companies with respective marketing strategies employed for business operations by them. The case provides an opportunity to compare and contrast different marketing strategies with the protagonist’s decision dilemma in light of market trends.

Consumer Behavior Perspective for Fairness Creams

The market for fairness creams around the globe was an untouched territory till mid-1970s. No cream was available which could claim an effect on the fairness of skin. The first product for this market was Fair & Lovely (Fair & Lovely) by Hindustan Unilever Ltd (Hindustan Unilever Ltd.:HUL) which was launched in India in 1975. It was a turning point for the fairness cream business and several companies followed soon. Fair & Lovely didn’t take much time to become a household name with more and more women putting their trust in the product for giving them the much needed fair skin they always desired. A product which started as another addition to the product line, acquired the status of a super brand by 2004. It became a part of the customer’s persona. In a society where the general population is genetically brown in skin color, yet has resentment to it; fair color of skin is an obsession and is equated with beauty, happiness and success. This craze for fair skin is marketed aggressively and a range of products are available in the market, which gratify the likes of teenagers as well as grown women. The following case on the product Fair & Lovely gives a background of the market for fairness creams in India and focuses on different aspects of behavior of women as consumers of this product.

The Realization of Customer Satisfaction with Technology Integrations

This case is about the technology component of integrations in the marketing strategy of U-Globe Organization–a travel service provider organization to assess their customer satisfaction. The general information about the company is firstly provided in organization background. It is then followed by the stage setting which describes the current technology utilization and management practices of the organization. In the case description the customer satisfaction tools that are used by the organization are explained and compared, as well as the management concerns in conducting these customer satisfaction assessment. The limitation or challenges with their current approach in technology related ways to realize the satisfactions are also discussed. At the end of the case, the recommendations and solutions are provided to show the possible ways in solving the existing problems and improving the way of assessing customer satisfaction by integrating the appropriate technology.

Case Study on Relationship Marketing

A paradigm shift has occurred in the concepts of marketing from the production concept to the societal concept. A prominent concept today is the customer concept, which aims to build loyalty and lifetime value by creating, maintaining, and enhancing relationships with the customer by addressing individual customer needs. Relationship marketing is a bifurcation from the customer concept, which seeks to earn and retain long-term preferences, business, and ultimately, a marketing network. In relationship marketing, both parties collaborate on identifying needs to fulfill. Immediate sales are not of prime concern in this model. Organizations should understand the fact of when–and how–to use relationship marketing. The five R’s of Relationship Marketing are Relationship, Realization, Response, Relevance, & Respect. This case study addresses relationship marketing focusing on a service industry (i.e. Insurance Industry). A Sales representative needs to bond well with all his clients in order to be able to meet their expectations as required. Therefore, an employee with good PR skills is sure to climb the ladder of success. The protagonist in the case study, Mr. Sahil Sharma, an Employee of AFRO-INDIA Insurance Ltd., guides and trains his entire team to build, maintain, and enhance their relationship with their clients. This will not only make the clients loyal to the organization, but also will also make them brand ambassadors through word of mouth.

Understanding Consumer Behavior through Mental Accounting

By setting out from similar studies, this study falls within international literature. The intention is to measure, in connection with Turkey’s consumer market, in order to understand the behaviors of the Turkish consumers that are different in terms of cultural variables. The operability of this international theory is achieved by taking advantage of mental accounting. In seeking the essential objective of the research, a working group formed from two subgroups in order to manifest the decisiveness in the purchasing decisions of individuals, as well as the effects of the mental accounting theories. The first subgroup is formed by 100 university students whose ages are varied between 18 and 30. The second group forms from the same number of students at the same age range. According to the results of analysis carried out in the direction of the collected data from the sub groups, the consequences of this study support the results of the other a priori study in the literature. The greatest consequence of this research is the reactions developed in the expenditures and savings of the consumers subsequent to the formed sunk costs become varied with in terms of the independent “budget” variable.

When Citi was Found Sleeping

“Citi never sleeps” is the famous signature claim of Citi bank. But their claim was made a mockery in a high profile branch in India where several depositors and high-net worth individuals were duped in a fraud to the tune of Rs 460.91 crore, engineered by their Global Wealth Manager Shivraj Puri who was working at Gurgaon branch of the bank. Corporate houses like the Hero group and 20-odd people invested in schemes which were sold to them by showing them a forged letter of the market regulator, Sebi. The clients were offered super normal returns and were lured by the Relationship Manager who enjoys a special relationship of trust and confidence with the clients. The clients were cheated understandably for their lack of understanding of the nuances of the product. But the greater issue at stake was the onerous practices of Wealth Management by banks in India and the lack of regulatory control in this fast developing area that allowed the incident to happen in the first place.

A Case Study on Customer Experiential Management at High Five Hotels Pvt. Ltd, Nashik

Experiential Marketing is an extension of consumer orientation marketing. The organizations can use Experiential Marketing as one of models which has vast potential to serve as a link between improved customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. It can be described as one of the innovative ways of delivering the consumption experiences to the consumers before they buy a product or actually use the service. It works on the simple principle that the memories of experiences get preserved in the minds of prospective customers as well as repeat consumers which induces them to visit again and again for the same product or service. In this case study of High Five Hotel Pvt. Ltd., this innovative marketing strategy, known as experiential marketing, was applied by the management to establish itself in the market as a reputed brand. This case study presents various innovative promotional strategies followed in the hospitality industry. The ultimate outcome and the results after applying this ‘experiential techniques’ were excellent in terms of financial returns as well as customer satisfaction.

Concentra BPO

This case study is about “Concentra”, started by an entrepreneur along with his wife and colleagues who were later the part of the management. They started by providing BPO for financial services, contact center services, loyalty and customer retention. They started from a small company with limited manpower but grow up into big company spreading in many countries in lesser span of time. As the BPO expands, the management came across many problems in the company. One of the main problems which they came across was the employee dissatisfaction which resulted into lower customer satisfaction. The impact was so bad that they started loosing their customers and their business. This case study explains how a company can increase customer’s satisfaction just by understanding and treating their employees as the first customers of the organization to be served.

Facebook

This case study is prepared for the informative purpose, as it will provide the Literature over Facebook and the technologies it is using. We also include the technology change and the shortcomings that Facebook was facing and how developers resolve them. There are detailed explanations of each and every topic which is included in this chapter.

International Branding at Mirza International

Today, due to globalization, enterprises are increasingly looking towards the global marketplace to market their products. The business opportunities in the foreign markets are no longer considered as only available to large multinational enterprises with long term foreign market presence. Enterprises today, regardless size, take part in a global competitive market which is supported by great advances in information technologies, communication, and transportation. This trend solves one of the main weaknesses found in comparatively smaller enterprises of traditional focus: home country market dependency. The case focuses on Mirza International Limited which originated from a small Indian Tannery business. The company is led by an ambitious, aggressive management team which has helped in achieving phenomenal growth. The company has emerged as a frontrunner in the manufacturing and marketing of footwear. Headquartered in New Delhi, the company markets its leather and leather footwear products, across the globe the UK, Europe, South Africa, the Middle East, and so forth. However, company management is now at a crossroads in regards to a more aggressive approach to international brand building for its product and strategic decisions. This case aims to address these issues regarding smaller company’s internationalization and marketing. The case focuses on the dilemma often faced by medium sized firms from Asia in entering developed country markets in terms of branding or generic product development strategy. The case illustrates the differences in brand building that exist in a big multinational company and in smaller companies during internationalization.