1. Roles for developing Corporate Image:
1. Role of the General Manager and Directors
i) The General Manager and Directors should rate the enhancement of Company’s
corporateimage highly in the day to day running of the organisation and its
functions i.e. informing the customer of whatis happening on a weekly or even
daily basis
2. The Role of the Customer First Manager inCorporate Image
i) To prepare, develop and review the CorporateImage.
ii) To manage and overseethe implementation of the Strategy
3. The Role of the Communications Officer inCorporate Image
i)To have input into the development and review of the CorporateImage.
ii) To implement those sections of the Strategy and Action Plan which are the
responsibility of the Communications Officer.
iii)To receive information fromthe various Departments that will, through its
dissemination, improveand enhance the corporate image of the company
4. The Role of Staff in Corporate Image
i) Staff members are at the forefrontin liaison with the company’s stakeholders.
Each and every action that is performed by staff members is deemed to be an act
of the company. Therefore, the way the staff deal with customers at the counter,
in the field, on the telephone and in responseto written or electronic requests
will reflect on the organisation. As a result they are in the best position to
recommend changes to Management which will benefit both the customer, in the
formof superior levels of service, and the company, by way of time and cost
savings
2. Introduction to the tools used for marketing communications:
ADVERTISING :
“Any paid for communication in media intended to inform and/or influence one or more
people”
Advertising is a direct means of reaching a desired audience at a costand you can control
what is included in the messageand how and when it is delivered.
Advertising plays an important role in an organization, helping to generate revenueand
profit by stimulating sales. Advertising raises market awareness of an organization's
products and services and generates leads for a sales forceto follow up. By building a brand
image for products, advertising differentiates the products fromcompetitors and helps to
create customer preference. Italso helps to develop a corporateimage that builds market
confidence and trustin an organization as a supplier.
Visual identity :
Visible elements of a brand, such as color, form, and shape, which
encapsulate and convey the symbolic meanings that cannot be imparted
through words alone. In a broader (corporate) sense, it may include
elements such as building architecture, color schemes, and dress code.
Corporate identity :
Combination of color schemes, designs, words, etc., that a firm employs
to make a visual statement about itself and to communicate its business
philosophy. It is an enduring symbol of how a firm views itself, how it
wishes to be viewed by others, and how others recognize and remember
it. Unlike corporate image (which is 'in there' changeable mental
impression), corporate identity is 'out there' sensory-experience
conveyed by things such as buildings, décor, logo,
name, slogan, stationery, uniforms, and is largely unaffected by
its financial performance and ups and downs in its fortunes.
3. Public relations :
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing the spread of information between
an individual or an organization (such as a business,government agency, or a
nonprofit organization) and the public.Public relations may include an organization
or individual gaining exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and
news items that do not require direct payment.This differentiates it
from advertising as a form of marketing communications.The aim of public relations
is to inform the public, prospective customers,INVESTORS ,partners, employees,
and other stakeholders and ultimately persuade them to maintain a certain view
about the organization, its leadership, products,or of political decisions.Public
relations professionals typically work
for PR and marketing firms,businesses and companies,government, government
agencies,and public officials as PIOs,and nongovernmental
organizations and nonprofitorganizations.
Sales Promotion :
Sales promotionis any initiative undertaken by an organisation to promote an
increase in sales,usage or trial of a productor service (i.e. initiatives that are not
covered by the other elements of theMARKETING communications or promotions
mix). Sales promotions are varied.
(e) Free gifts e.g. Subway gave away a card with six spaces for stickers with each
sandwich purchase. Once the card was full the consumer was given a free
sandwich.
(f) Discountedprices e.g. Budgetairline such as EasyJet and Ryanair, e-mail their
customers with the latest low-price deals once new flights are released,or additional
destinations are announced.
(g) Joint promotions betweenbrands owned by a company, or with another
company’s brands. For example fast food restaurants often run sales promotions
where toys, relating to a specific movie release, are given away with promoted
meals.
(h) Free samples (aka. sampling) e.g. tasting of food and drink at sampling points in
supermarkets. For example Red Bull (a caffeinated fizzy drink) was given away to
potential consumers at supermarkets, in high streets and at petrol stations (by a
promotions team).
(i) Vouchers and coupons, oftenseen in newspapers and magazines, on packs.
(j) Competitions and prize draws, in newspapers,magazines, on the TV and radio,
on The Internet, and on packs.
4. Direct Marketing :
Direct marketing is a channel free approach to distribution and/or marketing
communications.So a company may have a strategy of dealing with its customers
‘directly,’ for example banks (such as CityBank) or computermanufacturers (such as
Dell). There are no channel intermediaries i.e. distributors, retailers or wholesalers.
Therefore – ‘direct’ in the sense that the deal is done directly betweenthe
manufacturer and the customer.
Many companies use direct marketing, and a current example of its use, as part of
a businessmodel,is the way in which it is used by low-cost airlines. There is no
intermediary or agent, customers booktickets directly with the airlines over The
Internet. Airlines capture data that can be used for marketing researchor a loyalty
scheme.Informationcan be processed quickly, and then categorised into complex
relational databases.
There are a number of direct marketing media other than direct mail. These include
(and are by no means limited to):
Inserts in newspapers and magazines.
Customer care lines.
Catalogues.
Coupons.
Door drops.
TV and radio adverts with free phone numbers or per-minute-charging.
Sales management :
Sales management can involve any of the following activities: (1)
formulation of sales
strategy through development of account management policies, sales
force compensation policies, sales revenue forecasts, and sales plan, (2)
implementation of sales strategy through selecting, training, motivating,
and supporting the sales force, setting sales revenue targets, and (3)
sales force management through development and implementation of
salesperformance, monitoring, and evaluation methods,
and analysis of associated behavioral patterns and costs.
5. Sponsorship :
Sponsorshipadvertising is a type of advertising where a company pays to be
associated with a specific event. In fact, sponsorship advertising is very prevalent
with charitable events. Besides from charitable events, companies may sponsor
local sporting teams, sports tournaments, fairs, and other community events. The
idea is to get your name out and be viewed positively as a participating memberof
your community.
Criteria for Sponsorship
Author Jim Karrh suggests four criteria for a business to use in determining whether
to sponsorsomething:
Relevance. The event, organization or cause you are considering sponsoring must
have some degree of relevance to the services or products you provide. For
example, a running shoe company may considersponsoring a local marathon, but it
really doesn'tmake much sense for a local brewery to do so. You want to match you
sponsorship of events or organizations to those that involve your target market.
Brand fit. Your brand fit must fit the event. A computercompany sponsoring a
gaming event using a game that is not compatible with its computermakes no sense
and may be counter-productive.
Mission alignment. The interests of the event or organization should not conflict
with the interests of the company. A tobacco company sponsoring a cancer
awareness walk may not work out that well for the tobacco company.
Businessresult. The company must have a reasonable basis to believe that the
sponsorship will create a tangible business result. Not earning a profit, it should
increase company awareness.
Exhibitions :
Exhibitions and events are valuable because they allow face-to-face communication
and offeropportunities fornetworking.
Exhibitions enable you to meet the people that matter to your business in one place,
including existing customers,new prospects,suppliers,advisers,INVESTORS and
key figures in your industry.
Exhibitions come in all shapes and sizes but the two main types are consumer
shows andTRADE fairs. There are events for every sectorand professionand for
many small businessesthese are crucial events in their marketing strategy.
6. Packaging :
Packaging is the technology of enclosing or protecting products fordistribution,
storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the processof design, evaluation,
and production of packages.Packaging can be described as a coordinated system
of preparing goods fortransport, warehousing, logistics,sale, and end use.
Packaging contains, protects,preserves,transports, informs, and sells. In many
countries it is fully integrated into government, business,institutional, industrial, and
personal use.
Common uses of packaging include:
Physical protection: The objects enclosed in the package may require protection from, among
other things, mechanical shock, vibration, electrostatic discharge, compression, temperature, etc.
Information transmission: Packages and labels communicate how to use, transport, recycle, or
dispose of the package or product. With pharmaceuticals, food, medical, and chemical products,
some types of information are required by governments. Some packages and labels also are used
for track and trace purposes.
Marketing: The packaging and labels can be used by marketers toencourage potential buyers to
purchase the product. Package graphic design and physical design have been important and
constantly evolving phenomenon for several decades. Marketing communications and graphic
design are applied to the surface of the package and (in many cases) the point of sale display,
examples of which are shown here: .
Convenience: Packages can have features that add convenience in distribution, handling, stacking,
display, sale, opening, re-closing, use, dispensing, reuse, recycling, and ease of disposal.
Barrier protection: A barrier from oxygen, water vapor, dust, etc., is often required. Permeation is
a critical factor in design. Some packages contain desiccants or oxygen absorbency to help extend
shelf life. Modified atmospheres or controlled atmospheres are also maintained in some food
packages. Keeping the contents clean, fresh, sterile and safe for the intended shelf life is a primary
function.
7. Security: Packaging can play an important role in reducing the security risks of shipment.
Packages can be made with improved tamper resistance to deter tampering and also can have
tamper-evident features tohelp indicate tampering. Packages can be engineered to help reduce the
risks of package pilferage.
Merchandising :
In the broadestsense, merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of
products to a retail consumer.At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to the
variety of products available for sale and the display of those products in such a way
that it stimulates interest and entices customers to make a purchase.
In retail commerce,visual display merchandising means
merchandise sales using productdesign, selection, packaging, pricing, and display
that stimulates consumers to spend more. This includes disciplines and discounting,
physical presentation of products and displays,and the decisions about which
products should be presented to which customers at what time.
Point-of-Purchase :
Point-of-purchase marketing, also known as POP marketing or marketing at retail,
uses in-store displays and other last minute marketing ploys to influence the
customerto choose a specificbrand or to make an impulse buy.
Advantages --
Point-of-purchase marketing takes over when the customer is already in the store and ready
to make a purchase. POP displays and marketing techniques draw attention to particular
brands or special offers that create additional value or showcasethe advantages of the
product. This additional marketing has a large impact because it is in place at the very
moment that the consumer is making a buying decision. Marketing messages by competitors
may be marginalized by an effective POP marketing campaign.
Keep It Interesting --
Point-of-purchase marketing displays must be attention catching and constantly evolving.
Once the customer sees the same display for a few weeks, it becomes inefficient. Change the
offer regularly, rearrange the display and keep it interesting. Quantity discounts and buy-one-
get-one-free offers are a good example of offers that must be changed regularly to continue
to influence customers. If the sale is regularly available, customers will not feel the urgency
to buy additional items to get the discount.
8. E-marketing and customer service :
1) For Better Social Media Support
As we already mentioned, most marketers are using social media to provide
customerservice . But is your marketing team's social media account
manager really capable of handling these customerservice issues as effectivelyas
someone on your customerservice team? Probably not. Your business' customer
service team has likely been given the propertraining and resources neededto
assist customers and resolve issues,meaning they are the bestpeople for the job.
2) For Content Creation Ideas
Savvy inbound marketers understand how important regular and consistentcontent
creation is to their marketing strategy . Unfortunately, regular and consistentcontent
creation means marketers also need a steady flow of ideas about which to create
content, and even the mostexperienced content creators sometimes sufferfrom the
struggle to come up with remarkable content ideas that their audience will find
valuable.
3) For a Deeper Understanding of Buyer Personas
How well do you really understand your buyer personas? Buyer personas are
fictional representations of your target customers,so if you implementthe
suggestions we provided in tip #2 above, you might learn that you don't really
understand your customers as well as you thought you did. Or perhaps you haven't
even developed well thought-out buyer personas in the first place. Truly
understanding the inner-workings of your ideal customers can provide you with a
number of business and marketing benefits such as a better understanding of
customerneeds,problems,and interests; knowledge of where customers spend
time; better quality leads; consistencyacross your business;richer closed-loop
analytics; and better product development.
4) For Setting Customer Expectations
One very telling indicator of an effective marketing team is when leads have clear
expectations for how your business' products and services will help them. And when
leads have clear expectations,the transition from lead to customer, as well as that
customer's subsequentexperience as a customer,can go much more smoothly.
This is how Marketing can help prevent customerloss, since often customerchurn is
the result of misleading expectations that can be attributed back to misleading
marketing campaigns.
5) For Unified Messaging & Communications
When prospects and customers have a question about a promotion your marketing
team is running -- who they gonna call? Support! The reason is simple: it's the
9. easiestphone number to find on most business' websites.So what happens if your
customersupportteam knows nothing about that live webinar Marketing is currently
holding and a prospectcalls looking for the webinar link they forgotto bookmark
when they signed up? "Umm ... what webinar?" says the support team rep. Not
good.
6) For PR/Marketing Promotion of Customer Success & Happiness
Customerproblems aren't the only discussiontopic your customerteam shares with
Marketing. They are also oftenthe bestequipped and first to identify customer
happiness and success.
Better customerservice and marketing alignment enables Marketing to more easily
pinpoint the customers that make great case study candidates,especiallyif they're
looking for specific examples of customersuccessand the customerteam knows
about these preferences inadvance. Your customerservice team can also be on the
lookout for awesome customertestimonials and examples of customerhappiness,
as well as encourage those happy customers to provide those online reviews we
marketers covet .
7) For Informing Product Marketing Initiatives
Your business' customerteam is likely the most in tune with understanding how
customers actually use your products/services.And to many marketers' surprise,
sometimesthe way customers use a product doesn'texactly line up with how
marketers have been marketing it.
10. Corporate image and Society :-
What is Corporate Social Responsibility?
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) refers to a business practice that involves
participating in initiatives that benefit society. Liz Maw, CEO of nonprofit
organization Net Impact, noted that CSR is becoming more mainstream as forward-
thinking companies embed sustainability into the core of their business operations to
create shared value for business and society.
11. "Sustainability isn't just important for people and the planet, but also is vital for
business success,"said Maw, whose company connects students and professionals who
want to use business skills to do social good. "Communities are grappling with
problems that are global in scope and structurally multifaceted — Ebola, persistent
poverty, climate change. The business case for engaging in corporate social
responsibility is clear and unmistakable. Billions are at stake if fast and large-scale
action is not taken."
Types of corporate social responsibility
CSR can encompass a wide variety of tactics, from giving nonprofit organizations a
portion of a company's proceeds, to giving away a product or service to a worthy
recipient for every sale made. Here are a few of the broad categories of social
responsibility that businesses are practicing:
Environment: One primary focus of corporate social responsibility is
the environment. Businesses, both large and small, have a large carbon footprint. Any
steps they can take to reduce those footprints are considered both good for the company
and society as a whole.
Philanthropy: Businesses also practice social responsibility by donating to national
and local charities. Whetherit involves giving money or time, businesses have a lot of
resources that can benefit charities and local community programs.
Ethical labor practices: By treating employees fairly and ethically, companies can
also demonstrate their corporate social responsibility. This is especially true of
businesses that operate in international locations with labor laws that differ from those
in the United States.