Advantages and Disadvantages of Sales Force Automation (SFA)

Sales person use sale forces as a step to enhance their marketing strategy. The improvements of technology helped sales person able to structure their customers’ data managements well. Sales force automation is a system that being develop to helps companies to organize their customer relationship management with confidentiality. Besides automatically computerized customers data into computer, it helps enable sales person to plan and structures their selling in the most effective way as well. It makes work easier and organized as well as more reliable for sales person. In short, sales force automation system is a good “assistant” for sales person. However, sales force automation system also brings some disadvantages where sales force automation system is complicated system involving digitalized figure yet new for older sales people. Anyhow, it is still easier for younger sales people to learn and function with it. In order to manage relationship between customers professionally, sales Continue reading

Relationship Marketing – Relationship Based Marketing Strategy

Relationship marketing is the philosophy of doing business, a strategic orientation that focuses on keeping and improving current costumers, rather than acquiring new costumers. This philosophy assumes that the costumers prefer to have an ongoing relationship with one organization than to switch continually among providers in their search for value. Relationship Marketing refers to all marketing activities directed towards establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchanges. From these to definition it can be see that the overall objective of relationship marketing is to create long lasting relationships with consumers instead of focusing on the point of sale approach (which is to attract new consumers each sale). The firm must create a unique relationship with the consumer which cannot be replicated by their competitors and thus give them a long lasting competitive advantage. It can also be argued that it is cheaper to retain a consumer than to attract a new Continue reading

Howard Sheth Model of Consumer Behavior

John Howard and Jagadish Sheth put forward the Howard Sheth model of consumer behavior in 1969, in their publication entitled, ‘The Theory of buyer Behaviour’. The Howard Sheth Model is a sophisticated integration of the various social, psychological, and marketing influences on consumer choice into a coherent sequence of information processing. It aims not only to explain consumer behavior in terms of cognitive functioning but to provide an empirically testable depiction of such behavior and its outcomes (Howard 1977). The Howard Sheth Model proposes that a consumer’s purchase decision is influenced by multiple individuals, such as family members. It recognizes that family members take on different roles in the purchasing process, such as gathering information or deciding budgets. The model also acknowledges that retailers deal with a collection of individuals rather than a homogeneous unit. It identifies three levels of decision making – extensive problem solving, limited problem solving, and Continue reading

Reinforcing Brands – Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies

Managing brand equity involves reinforcing brands or, if necessary, revitalizing brands. Brand equity is reinforced by marketing actions that consistently convey the meaning of the brand to consumers in terms of: 1) What products the brand represents; what core benefits it supplies; and what needs it satisfies; and 2) How the brand makes those products superior and which strong, favorable, and unique brand associations exist in the minds of consumers. The most important consideration in reinforcing brands is the consistency of the marketing support that the brand receives both in terms of the amount and nature of that support. Consistency does not mean that marketers should avoid making any changes in the marketing program — many tactical changes may be necessary to maintain the strategic thrust and direction of the brand. Unless there is some change in the marketing environment, however, there is little need to deviate from a successful Continue reading

What is Relationship Marketing?

The concept of Traditional Marketing which was mainly based on customer satisfaction has now totally shifted to Relationship building with the customers, customer retention and managing the relationships. Now the businesses are not only focused on developing a marketing mix in accordance with the consumer’s demand but they need to sell their products and services in such a way that consumer should satisfy and return for making the next purchase which means maintaining relations with your customers and managing it in such a way tending the customers to stay with the business for a longer period. Relationship Marketing was first defined as a form of marketing developed from direct response marketing campaigns which emphasizes customer retention and satisfaction, rather than a dominant focus on sales transactions. As a practice, Relationship Marketing differs from other forms of marketing in that it recognizes the long term value of customer relationships and extends Continue reading

Differences between Traditional Marketing and Guerrilla Marketing

Simply looking at the definition of Guerrilla Marketing, we can be sure that it has a lot to do with creativeness and a lot of innovations should be made to traditional way of thinking that has been applied to marketing. Differences from traditional marketing and Guerrilla Marketing are several-fold. Within the context of this article, however, only some remarkable differences are chosen for analysis and illustrated with simple examples for better comparison. Let’s start analyzing the differences of traditional marketing from Guerrilla Marketing by a funny bookstores story, which is as following: A small bookstore was located on a beautiful street with quite a lot of pedestrians, commuters, and other people crossing the street every day. Unfortunately, that small big store, “Books For Every One” — that’s how it was named, was positioned right in the middle of the two other huge stores which were also selling books. Bad enough, Continue reading