Marketing and Communication Managing Sales Force

Question: 1. Identify and explain the marketing concept, the marketing mix and the components of the marketing communications mix. 2. Explain the relationship between the marketing environment, its impact upon organisational decision making and consumer behaviour. 3. Discuss the factors that determine competitive advantage within organisations 4. Explain key theories, concepts and models underpinning business communication to create effective communications. 5. Examine and discuss organisational issues and challenges that impact on the effectiveness of business communication through the use of pre-defined criteria to assist in improving communication within the organisation. 6. Demonstrate an application of concepts and techniques related to business communication processes used within the workplace. Answer: Introduction Any business organization exists to provide some goods or services to people. But there are many sellers of products in the market. There are different kinds of items being sold. The demand of a product fluctuates over a period of time. There are some organizations which are able to sell more than others. There is competition in the market. In order to be able to sell more, an organization should have a marketing plan. This plan provides guidance to the employees regarding how to carry out their marketing activities in the best possible way (Baker and Saren, 2010). The marketing plan of an organization can differ from that of another enterprise. The product sold by one firm can be different than that sold by other. Similarly the promotion efforts can also be distinct. An organization can charge more for its product than others. All these decisions regarding the marketing mix components affect the performance of an organization. The more an organization can sell, the more are the prof its and revenues. A business is also judged by the amount of money it can generate through its activities. For the business to operate efficiently, things should happen according to the plans. This is ensured through control (Ahearne et al., 2010). Situation Analysis Cancer Research United Kingdom is a leading institution for research relating to the cure of cancer. It is a charitable institution which does not receive any grant from the government of United Kingdom. This institution is run by the funds donated by people of United Kingdom. In order to get money from the common people, the enterprise has to win their trust. PESTLE and SWOT are important framework to analysis the situation in which this organization is. Political environment is stable and democratic in UK; though there is slow growth in the economy but there are stability in the economic policies of the government. Usage of information technologies and social media is increasing. Legal process of the country is effective along with the well place and formulated environmental laws.With Regard to SWOT; One of the strengths of the organization has been that it has won the confidence of the people through its commendable work and transparent dealings. The enterprise can make people kno w about its track record and collect donations from more people. There are still many people with good incomes who have not started donating. Such people should be approached by the enterprise. Society has been changing. People have become aware that there is the need to fight collectively against a serious disease like cancer. There is more pressure on the government to support research for finding cure of cancer. The organization is also engaged in the work of creating awareness among people about cancer (Cancer Research UK, 2016). It is the effort of this enterprise to prevent this disease from happening by distributing information about how people should lead a healthy life by staying away from smoking, alcohol and other forms of tobacco that leads to cancer. It becomes clear that the organization is providing lot of services to the society. Marketing Plan Cancer Research United Kingdom collects donations from people and uses the money for fighting the disease of cancer. it is not easy to make people donate for cancer research. Further the organization has to use this money with care and intelligently. The enterprise needs a marketing plan to make its activities a success. Marketing refers to the process of identifying demand for a product and then fulfilling that demand in the best possible way. The process of marketing involves taking decisions regarding seven Ps which represent product, price, place, promotion, people, processes and physical evidence. These seven Ps are the constituents of what is called the marketing mix (Baker and Saren, 2010). Marketing plan involves deciding in advance about the marketing activities of the firm. Further the organization needs to decide which particular segments or sections of the society it will be targeting to sell its services. Services offered In the case of Cancer Research United Kingdom, the enterprise is trying to fight cancer. There are different types of cancer. There are children suffering from this disease. In the case of adults it is lung cancer, skin cancer and also breast cancer in many cases. The organization has to decide how much funds and people it wants to devote to find a medicine that cures the people of cancer. The amounts of funds available for research with the enterprise are limited. It has to distribute the funds available between the different types of cancer ailments that affect the people. It has to take decisions regarding the kind of services it wants to concentrate on (Akkerman, Meer and Donk, 2010). The organization would decide to focus on finding medicine for curing the type of cancer that affects the largest proportion of people in the country. Further the enterprise is more concerned about curing children who suffer from cancer. There is money needed for buying equipment for the laboratorie s. There are different constraints which the organization has to cope with in deciding about the services it offers. Competitive Advantages The people who work for Cancer Research United Kingdom are its greatest strength. There is a large network of volunteers who promote the interests of the enterprise by collecting funds for its activities. These people are dedicated to the cause of finding cure for cancer. These people are the unique resources of the company from which it derives its main competitive advantage.They are mostly young and active members of the society who have built relations with people who want to donate for supporting cancer research. The top management of the organization, using its experience has been able to act as a guiding force for these volunteers. Modern systems have been put in place to achieve the objectives of the enterprise. Revenues And Market Segmentation The main source of revenues for Cancer Research United Kingdom is the donations from people. There are people who are interested in contributing in the fight against cancer. They do so by offering their monetary support. In many cases they also give away material goods for charity. There are also people who volunteer to work free of cost for the cause. The enterprise has to ask for contributions from the different sections of the society. There are people with low incomes, medium and high incomes. People are asked for donations keeping in mind the income group they belong to (Paco and Raposo, 2010). The organization would ask for big donations from wealthy people. On the other hand people earning less should be provided the facility for donating lesser amounts (Cahill, 2012). So, the amount that the enterprise is able to gather varies from person to person. Some people are willing to contribute more due to their beliefs (Hoyer, Maclnis, and Pieters, 2013). Further, the organization c an focus on women to contribute for research activities for finding better medicine for treating breast cancer. Place Mix Cancer Research United Kingdom has set up research facilities at different places for finding medicines for curing cancer. The organization is involved in creating awareness about cancer. it associates itself with special sporting events to distribute information to people through its volunteers. The company should take the services of doctors and counselors for advising people on how to cope with cancer. Such camps should be organized at regular intervals by the enterprise. Adequate publicity for such events should be done (Shimp and Andrews, 2013). All such social gatherings are the meeting points for the organization and the common people of the country. Further, the employees and volunteers of this organization should hold meetings in school and colleges where the students can be informed about the harmful effects of smoking and alcohol on our bodies. The serious implications of a disease like cancer have to be explained to them. The decisions relating to the location or points o f contact come under the place mix component of the marketing mix (Ferrell and Hartline, 2013). Promotional and Awareness Activities The organization can associate itself with programs on television and radio, where doctors make people aware about the symptoms, diagnosis and cure of cancer. There are people who have to suffer from psychological effects of this disease. There are changes in their bodies like loss of hair which they have to cope with. The counselors can give advice to people on such issues. Cancer Research United Kingdom can use the different forms of media to create awareness about the disease (Greer and Ferguson, 2011). Further it can give information regarding its efforts to fight the disease. The achievements of the organization in finding new and more effective drugs to cure cancer can be published in magazines and newspapers. The information regarding the management of the enterprise, its vision and its goals should also be made known to the people so that a positive image of the organization is created in the minds of people (Lehman and Dufrene, 2011). In case any major discovery is made by the scientists of the organization, which helps to fight cancer, a press conference should be held to make the media and other people aware of the development. The news regarding the continuing efforts of the enterprise to find an advanced cure for cancer should be distributed through articles in newspapers and magazines. The organization should take the initiative in building good relations with the media also (Zimmerman and Blythe, 2013). The communication regarding the work of the organization in the print media should be made in good language, free of any spelling and grammatical mistakes. In case of verbal communication, words should be spoken in clear and audible voice (Krizan et al., 2011). All these efforts form part of the promotional activities of the enterprise. People It is believed by many that people are the most important resource in an organization. An enterprise with lesser amount of funds can make more revenues if the firm has a management which is efficient and innovative (Mathis, Jackson and Valentine, 2016). Cancer Research United Kingdom collects funds from people to finance its research activities and awareness programs. The employees and volunteers of the organization should be good communicators and also capable organizers of social gatherings where people are informed about cancer. If the scientists in the enterprise are well educated and experienced, they will have better chance of making new, valuable discoveries. Further the top management should have the capacity to provide direction to the efforts of the employees. People with knowledge of accounting are needed for efficient management of funds. It is to be understood that people are one of the important constituents of marketing mix. Processes and Systems The kinds of processes that exist in an organization also affect its ability to achieve its goals. In Cancer Research United Kingdom, research activities are carried out. The process for acquiring equipment and materials should be transparent and fair. The process for collecting donations also has to be professionally managed. The organization has to be courteous and more caring for people who make big donations to the cause of fighting cancer. The organization should make it convenient for people to donate through its systems and processes. The processes have to be simple to understand and should take lesser time to complete (Gronroos, 2011). Physical Evidence Cancer Research United Kingdom should associate itself with events which are professionally managed. It should give information regarding its activities in reputed newspapers and magazines (Zimmerman and Blythe, 2013). The offices and research facilities run by the organization should be clean, spacious and well organized. It must employ educated and well mannered people. Physical evidence of an organizations existence should be impressive. Marketing Control Cancer Research United Kingdom is run by using funds collected from people. The enterprise should use these funds with a sense of responsibility. In order to make people aware of its activities, the firm has to carry out many marketing activities. There is publicity material like pamphlets which have to be published and distributed. The organization needs to have a marketing staff which is involved in writing information which is to be provided to people regarding the activities of the institution. The organization also has people handling public relations. All these people have to be paid salaries. They have to be made accountable for the work they are doing (Ferrell and Hartline, 2013). Their efforts should yield good results for the firm. The fact that the organization gets funds from people free of cost in the form of donations does not mean that it can waste money. There are common people who keep themselves informed regarding the activities of the organization. Cancer Research United Kingdom should make budgets to keep control over its marketing expenses. Further the firm can carry out a survey to find out how many people know about the organization and its work. The firm gets a fair idea about the effectiveness of its marketing campaigns through the amount of collections it is able to make each year from people. A record of collections from different areas is kept. The enterprise can lay down personal targets to be achieved for its employees and volunteers (Ahearne et al., 2010). If the performances fall short of expectations, remedial action can be taken. The progress in research activities of the enterprise is also recorded. It is seen if new, less expensive and more effective medicine is found for curing cancer. The expenses incurred in the laboratories are also recorded. A proper system of accounting is put in place. Story Board Promotional mix consists of different ways of promoting products like advertising, publicity, personal selling and sales promotion. An enterprise can use one or more methods of promotion. Similarly Cancer Research United Kingdom can use advertising and publicity to further its interests (Baker and Saren, 2010). The enterprise has to create awareness regarding cancer. It has the support of volunteers, people who work for the organization without taking any money as compensation. Further, the organization is associated with certain social events. The volunteers can distribute brochures among people who come to attend these events. These brochures would carry information regarding cancer and the appeal to donate for the cause. Pull theory of promotional mix is applicable in this case. As people come to know about cancer and related issues through the brochure, they get inclined to support the cause. People are pulled towards the Cancer Research United Kingdom through the promotional material. The particular choice of brochure is made because the people who get the brochure can show it to their family and friends. It can be read again and again. There is ample time to read it. It is also very easy to carry. The cost of brochure is not high. On the other hand other methods of promotion like advertising on televisions and magazines can be more expensive. More information can be given in a brochure. It is preferred by people who like to read. The employees of the organization can use their knowledge to write the contents of the brochure (Lehman and Dufrene, 2011). There are doctors and scientists who are willing to lend their services free of cost. Information can be collected from them and included in the brochure. In case of making an advertisement for television, the services of an advertising agency need to be taken, which can be expensive proposition. Moreover, in case of distribution of brochures the marketing efforts can be concentrated on a smaller group of people who are expected to donate for the cause. The sample of a brochure is as follows- Help Us Fight Cancer Why cancer? Cancer is a disease that kills thousands of people every year all over the world. In United Kingdom, many children along with adults die of cancer. The disease is difficult to cure and scientists are engaged in finding an effective cure for the disease when it is in the advanced stage. More money is desperately needed for cancer research. Causes Cancer is caused due to consumption of alcohol, smoking, obesity and other factors which are still under research. What is cancer? Cancer occurs when cells in a human body start behaving in a different unnatural way. The tissues become contaminated and the disease spreads rapidly in the body. Symptoms There is a lump formed due to abnormal growth of tissue. There is pain in the throat and symptoms like that of common cold persist. In the case of breast cancer there is concentration of body tissue. This can be found by self examination. Why us? Cancer Research United Kingdom is one of the leading charitable organizations promoting research to find a cure for cancer. We have been doing good work in this field for last ten years. Ours is a professional organization run by a group of well educated and talented people. You can send your contributions to us by bank drafts at the address given below: 10th street, London, United Kingdom. Conclusion There are many organizations in the world that collect donations from people and use the money for causes like prevention and cure of cancer. These enterprises have earned faith and respect of people through their work. These organizations have achieved their success also largely due to their marketing efforts (Morgan, 2012). Although these organizations are not profit oriented, they are run like modern business enterprises. Efforts are made by them to achieve operational efficiency and employ talented people to work for them. In many cases they have a separate marketing department which takes steps to highlight their achievements in public. It is not just about doing good work but making people aware of it. The reputation of the organization enables it to attract funding from people. References Ahearne, M. , Rapp, A. , Hughes, E. and Jindal, R. (2010) Managing Sales Force Product Perceptions And Control Systems In The Success Of New Product Introductions, Journal Of Marketing Research, 47(4), pp. 764-776, [online]. Available at: https://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jmkr.47.4.764 (Accessed 31 March 2016). Akkerman, R. , Meer, D. and Donk, D. 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