Unit 9 Trends in Marketing

1.) Service Marketing

Definitions

Service

The American Marketing Association defines services as –“Activities, benefits and satisfactions which are offered for sale
or are provided in connection with the sale of goods.”
Services is defined as “any activity or benefit that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result
in the ownership of anything.

In simple words, services are deeds, processes, and performances.

We may conclude service as, “an

activity or series of activities rather
than things which has
some element of intangibility
associated with it, which involves
some interaction between
the customer and the service
provider, and doe s n o t r e s u l t
i n a t r ansfer of ownership.
Customer has a vital role to play in
the production process as the
services are provided in
response to the problems of
customers as solution. The
production of the service may or
may not be closely associated with a
physical product”.
We may conclude service as, “an
activity or series of activities rather
than things which has
some element of intangibility
associated with it, which involves
some interaction between
the customer and the service
provider, and doe s n o t r e s u l t
i n a t r ansfer of ownership.
Customer has a vital role to play in
the production process as the
services are provided in
response to the problems of
customers as solution. The
production of the service may or
may not be closely associated with a
physical product”.
We may conclude service as, “an
activity or series of activities rather
than things which has
some element of intangibility
associated with it, which involves
some interaction between
the customer and the service
provider, and doe s n o t r e s u l t
i n a t r ansfer of ownership.
Customer has a vital role to play in
the production process as the
services are provided in
response to the problems of
customers as solution. The
production of the service may or
may not be closely associated with a
physical product”.
Services Marketing

Services marketing is marketing based on relationship and value. It may be used to market a service or a product.

Marketing a service-base business is different from marketing a product-base business.

There are several major differences, including:

1. The buyer purchases are intangible

2. The service may be based on the reputation of a single person

3. It’s more difficult to compare the quality of similar services.

4. The buyer cannot return the service

5. Service Marketing mix adds 3 more p’s, i.e. people, physical environment, process service and follow-through are keys
to a successful venture.

Characteristics of Services

 Intangibility: - They cannot be seen, handled, smelled, etc.

 Perishability: - It can’t be stored. Unsold service time is “lost”, that is, it cannot be regained.
 Inventory:
 Lack of Transportability
 Lack of Homogeneity: Services are typically modified for each client or each new situation(customized)
 Labour Intensity
 Demand Fluctuations
 Buyer Involvement
 Inconsistency
 Inseparability
 Lack of ownership

Services Marketing Mix

7–Ps mix

 Product
 Promotion
  Price
 Place
 People
 physical evidence
 process

Social Media Marketing

Social Media is a platform that lets us participate in social networking. We can share our posts on various social media
platforms to improve business visibility. Today it is the best source for news updates, marketing, education, and
entertainment.

Social media marketing is a process that empowers individuals to promote their websites, products, or services through
online social channels and to communicate with and tap into a much larger community that may not have been available
via traditional advertising channels. Social media, most importantly, emphasizes the collective rather than the individual.
Communities exist in different shapes and sizes throughout the Internet, and people are talking among themselves. It’s
the job of social media marketers to leverage these communities properly in order to effectively communicate with the
community participants about relevant product and service offerings. Social media marketing also involves listening to
the communities and establishing relationships with them as a representative of your company.

Key pillars of social media marketing

There are five key pillars of social media marketing:

 Strategy: This step involves determining goals, the social media channels to be used, and
the type of content that will be shared.
 Planning and Publishing: Businesses should draft plans of what their content will look like
(i.e. will there be videos? Photos? How much script?) and decide when it will be put out on the
platform.
 Listening and Engagement: Monitoring what users, customers, and others are saying  about
the posts, brands, and any other business assets. This may require the adoption of a social
media engagement tool.
 Analytics and Reporting: Part of being on social media is knowing how far posts are going,
so reports of engagement and reach are very important
 Advertising: Purchasing ads on social media is a great way to promote and further develop a
brand.
Advantages of Social Media Marketing

1. Increased Brand Awareness

2. Access to large audience at once.
3. More Inbound Traffic ·
4. Improved Search Engine Rankings
5. Higher Conversion Rates
6. Better Customer Satisfaction
7. Improved Brand Loyalty
8. More Brand Authority
9. Cost-Effective
10. Gain Marketplace Insights
11. Thought Leadership

Limitations of Social Media Marketing

1. Time consuming
2. Risk of negative feedback
3. Chances of getting Embarrassed
4. Low Return on Investment
5. Hacker’s threat

Green Marketing

 Green Marketing is also known as environmental marketing or sustainable marketing.

 It refers to all activities that facilitate any exchange intended to satisfy human needs and wants in such a way
that the satisfaction of the said needs and wants occurs with the minimum detrimental impact on the natural
environment.
 Green Marketing is a relatively new concept, which involves the promotion of products and services which are
safe for the environment. It involves development, manufacturing, promotion, distribution, consumption, and
disposal of the products and services in a sustainable fashion so that least damage is caused to nature.
 In this way, the marketing of the company’s offering is done on the basis of its environmental advantages.
Activities may include product adjustment, change in the process of production, change in advertising and
sustainable packaging of products.
 The primary aim is to reduce the adverse effects of the products and its consumption and disposal, on the
environment. This means that the products and services are either eco-friendly or produced in an eco-friendly
manner, which does not harm the environment.
 Basically, green marketing concerns with three aspects:
1. Promotion of production and consummation of pure/quality products,
2. Fair and just dealing with customers and society, and
3. Protection of ecological environment.

Objectives of Green Marketing

The objectives of green marketing are boiled down in the points given below:
1. To adhere to corporate social responsibility.
2. To reduce expenses.
3. To showcase how environment-friendly the company’s offerings are.
4. To communicate the brand message
5. To implement sustainable and socially accountable business practices.
Importance of Green Marketing
There are several suggested reasons for firms increased use of Green Marketing.
Five possible reasons cited are:
1. Organizations perceive environmental marketing to be an opportunity that can be used to achieve its objectives.
2. Organizations believe they have a moral obligation to be more socially responsible.
3. Governmental bodies are forcing firms to become more responsible.
4. Competitors’ environmental activities pressure firms to change their environmental marketing activities.
5. Cost factors associated with waste disposal, or reductions in material usage forces firms to modify their behavior.

Impacts of Green Marketing

We can witness following impacts of green marketing:

1. Now, people are insisting pure products – edible items, fruits, and vegetables based on organic farming. The number
of people seeking vegetarian food is on rise.
2. Reducing use of plastics and plastic-based products.
3. Increased consumption of herbal products instead of processed products.
4. Recommending use of leaves instead of plastic pieces; jute and cloth bags instead of plastic carrying bags.
5. Increasing use of bio-fertilizers (made of agro-wastes and wormy-composed) instead of chemical fertilizers (i.e.
organic farming), and minimum use of pesticides.
6. Worldwide efforts to recycle wastes of consumer and industrial products.
7. Increased use of herbal medicines, natural therapy, and Yoga.
8. Strict provisions to protect forests, flora and fauna, protection of the rivers, lakes and seas from pollutions.
9. Global restrictions on production and use of harmful weapons, atomic tests, etc. Various organisations of several
countries have formulated provisions for protecting ecological balance.
10. More emphasis on social and environmental accountability of producers.
11. Imposing strict norms for pollution control. Consideration of pollution control efforts and eco-technology in
awarding IS), ISO 9000, or ISO 14000 certificates and other awards.
12. Declaration of 5th June as the World Environment Day.

Customer Relationship Management(CRM)

 CRM is about acquiring, developing and retaining satisfied loyal customer, achieving profitable growth, and
creating economic value in a company’s brand.
 CRM helps companies to understand, establish and nurture long-term relationships with clients, as well as help
in retaining current customers. 
 CRM promises numerous benefits-including shorter sales cycles, integrated customer feedback, improved
communication, improved response, improved customer knowledge, improved efficacy, better customer
tracking, enhanced customer satisfaction and increased loyalty.
 The emergence of CRM as a business strategy has radically transformed the way organizations operates. There
has been a shift in business focus from traditional to relationship marketing where the customer is at the centre
of all business activity and organizations are now desperately trying to restructure their processes around the
needs of their strategically significant customers.
 The critical driver of such a seismic shift towards customer orientation is the realization that customers are a
business asset that when managed effectively can derive continuous and sustainable economic value for an
organization over their lifetime.
 On an average, businesses spend six times more to acquire new customer than to keep them. Therefore,-many
firms are now paying more attention to their relationships with existing customers to retain them and increase
their share of customers’ purchases.

Definitions of CRM:
Customer Relationship Management or popularly identified as CRM can be defined as an art and science of collecting
information on present and prospective needs of product of customers so as to market them using all such kind of
efforts and technology in collection of date and information relating to customers.

CRM is a process of collecting information about the customers and aligning and remodeling the organisations strategy
to meet the customer’s demand, the focus of CRM is on people rather than products and services. Business and
processes are built with the customer in mind and the emphasis is on what can be done to make people who want to do
business with you over and over again.

Defining CRM as per Different Perspective

 From the viewpoint of the Management, CRM can be defined as an organized approach of developing,
managing, and maintaining a profitable relationship with customers.
 By equating the term with technology, the IT organizations define CRM as a software that assists marketing,
merchandising, selling, and smooth service operations of a business.

Ingredients of CRM

Take a look at the following illustration. It shows the ingredients that work together to form a successful CRM system.

Here are some of the important ingredients of CRM −

 Analytics − Analytics is the process of studying, handling, and representing data in various graphical formats
such as charts, tables, trends, etc., in order to observe market trends.
 Business Reporting − Business Reporting includes accurate reports of sales, customer care, and marketing.
 Customer Service − Customer Service involves collecting and sending the following customer-related
information to the concerned department −
Personal information such as name, address, age
Previous purchase patterns.
Requirements and preferences.
Complaints and suggestions.
 Human Resource Management − Human Resource Management involves employing and placing the most
eligible human resource at a required place in the business.
 Lead Management − Lead Management involves keeping a track of the sales leads and distribution, managing
the campaigns, designing customized forms, finalizing the mailing lists, and studying the purchase patterns of
the customers.
 Marketing − Marketing involves forming and implementing sales strategies by studying existing and potential
customers in order to sell the product.
 Sales Force Automation − Sales Force Automation includes forecasting, recording sales, processing, and keeping
a track of the potential interactions.
 Workflow Automation − Workflow Automation involves streamlining and scheduling various processes that run
in parallel. It reduces costs and time, and prevents assigning the same task to multiple employees.
Objectives of CRM

The most prominent objectives of using the methods of Customer Relationship Management are as follows −

 Improve Customer Satisfaction − CRM helps in customer satisfaction as the satisfied customers remain loyal to
the business and spread good word-of-mouth. This can be accomplished by fostering customer engagement via
social networking sites, surveys, interactive blogs, and various mobile platforms.
 Expand the Customer Base − CRM not only manages the existing customers but also creates knowledge for
prospective customers who are yet to convert. It helps creating and managing a huge customer base that fosters
profits continuity, even for a seasonal business.
 Enhance Business Sales − CRM methods can be used to close more deals, increase sales, improve forecast
accuracy, and suggestion selling. CRM helps to create new sales opportunities and thus helps in increasing
business revenue.
 Improve Workforce Productivity − A CRM system can create organized manners of working for sales and sales
management staff of a business. The sales staff can view customer’s contact information, follow up via email or
social media, manage tasks, and track the salesperson’s performance. The salespersons can address the
customer inquiries speedily and resolve their problems.

Types of CRM:
CRM systems are divided based on their prominent characteristics. There are four basic types of CRM systems −
 Strategic CRM
 Operational CRM
 Analytical CRM
 Collaborative CRM

Type Characteristic

Strategic CRM Customer-centric, based on acquiring and maintaining

profitable customers.

Operational CRM Based on customer-oriented processes such as selling,

marketing, and customer service.

Analytical CRM Based on the intelligent mining of the customer data and
using it tactically for future strategies.

Collaborative Based on application of technology across organization

CRM boundaries with a view to optimize the organization and
customers.

Strategic CRM
Strategic CRM is a type of CRM in which the business puts the customers first. It collects, segregates, and applies
information about customers and market trends to come up with better value proposition for the customer.
The business considers the customers’ voice important for its survival. In contrast to Product-Centric CRM (where the
business assumes customer requirements and focuses on developing the product that may sometimes lead to over-
engineering), here the business constantly keeps learning about the customer requirements and adapting to them.
These businesses know the buying behavior of the customer that happy customers buy more frequently than rest of the
customers. If any business is not considering this type of CRM, then it risks losing the market share to those businesses,
which excel at strategic CRM.

Operational CRM
Operational CRM is oriented towards customer-centric business processes such as marketing, selling, and services. It
includes the following automations: Sales Force Automation, Marketing Automation, and Service Automation.
Salesforce is the best suitable CRM for large established businesses and Zoho is the best CRM for growing or small-scale
businesses.

 Sales Force Automation

SFA is the application of technology to manage selling activities. It standardizes a sales cycle and common terminology
for sales issues among all the sales employees of a business. It includes the following modules −
Product Configuration − It enables salespersons or customers themselves to automatically design the product and
decide the price for a customized product. It is based on if-then-else structure.
Quotation and Proposal Management − The salesperson can generate a quotation of the product prices and proposal
for the customer by entering details such as customer name, delivery requirements, product code, number of pieces,
etc.
Accounts Management − It manages inward entries, credit and debit amounts for various transactions, and stores
transaction details as records.
Lead Management − It lets the users qualify leads and assigns them to appropriate salespersons.
Contact Management − It is enabled with the features such as customers’ contact details, salespersons’ calendar, and
automatic dialing numbers. These all are stored in the form of computerized records. Using this application, a user can
communicate effectively with the customers.
Opportunity Management − It lets the users identify and follow leads from lead status to closure and beyond closure.
 Marketing Automation
Marketing automation involves market segmentation, campaigns management, event-based marketing, and
promotions. The campaign modules of Marketing Automation enable the marketing force to access customer-related
data for designing, executing and evaluating targeted offers, and communications.
Event-based (trigger) marketing is all about messaging and presenting offers at a particular time. For example, a
customer calls the customer care number and asks about the rate of interest for credit card payment. This event is read
by CRM as the customer is comparing interest rates and can be diverted to another business for a better deal. In such
cases, a customized offer is triggered to retain the customer.
 Service Automation
Service automation involves service level management, resolving issues or cases, and addressing inbound
communication. It involves diagnosing and solving the issues about product.
With the help of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, a customer can interact with business computers by entering
appropriate menu options. Automatic call routing to the most capable employee can be done.
Consumer products are serviced at retail outlets at the first contact. In case of equipment placed on field, the service
expert may require product servicing manual, spare parts manual, or any other related support on laptop. That can be
availed in service automation.

Analytical CRM
Analytical CRM is based on capturing, interpreting, segregating, storing, modifying, processing, and reporting customer-
related data. It also contains internal business-wide data such as Sales Data (products, volume, purchasing
history), Finance Data (purchase history, credit score) and Marketing Data (response to campaign figures, customer
loyalty schemes data). Base CRM is an example of analytical CRM. It provides detailed analytics and customized reports.
Business intelligence organizations that provide customers’ demographics and lifestyle data over a large area pay a lot of
attention to internal data to get more detail information such as, “Who are most valuable customers?”, “Which
consumers responded positively to the last campaign and converted?”, etc.
Analytical CRM can set different selling approaches to different customer segments. In addition, different content and
styling can be offered to different customer segments. For the customers, analytical CRM gives customized and timely
solutions to the problems. For the business, it gives more prospects for sales, and customer acquisition and retention.

Collaborative CRM
Collaborative CRM is an alignment of resources and strategies between separate businesses for identifying, acquiring,
developing, retaining, and maintaining valuable customers. It is employed in B2B scenario, where multiple businesses
can conduct product development, market research, and marketing jointly.
Collaborative CRM enables smooth communication and transactions among businesses. Though traditional ways such as
air mail, telephone, and fax are used in communication, collaborative CRM employs new communication systems such
as chat rooms, web forums, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).

There are collaborative CRMs with in-built Partner Relationship Management (PRM) software application which helps in
managing partner promotions. SugarCRM is a popular collaborative CRM. It enables expert collaboration and provides
state-of-the-art social capabilities.

Need/Purposes of Adopting CRM

(i) Develop better communication channels.

(ii) Collect customer related data.
(iii) Create detailed profiles of individual customers.
(iv) Increase customer satisfaction.
(v) Access to customer account history, order information and customer information at all touch points.
(vi) Identify new selling opportunities.
(vii) Increased market share and profit margin.
(viii) Increased revenues.
(ix) More effective reach and marketing.
(x) Improved customer service and support.
(xi) Improved response time to customer requests for information.
(xii) Enhanced customer loyalty.
(xiii) Improved ability to meet customer requirements.
(xiv) Improved quality communication and networking.
(xv) Reduced costs of buying and using product and services.
(xvi) Better stand against global competition.

Rural Marketing
Rural marketing is a process of developing, pricing, promoting, and distributing rural specific goods and services leading
to desired exchange with rural customers to satisfy their needs and wants, and also to achieve organizational objectives.

 The growth in the rural markets is perhaps the most significant feature of the marketing environment of India in
recent time. The growth implies at once a great marketing opportunity as well as a great marketing challenge.
Today, the rural market of the country accounts for a large share of the expenditure on manufactured on
manufactured and branded consumer goods.
 The change in every sphere in visible, palpable. Recent times have seen a steady increase in the purchasing
capacity of the rural people. Contrary to popular belief, the rural market is already consuming a variety of high
priced consumer durables and other modern products. And more and more companies are today targeting the
rural market.
 While the rural market of India poses a great attraction, tapping the market is beset with a variety of problems.
Marketing men find it a new market, involving a new customer and a new marketing situation. Evidently, there
are two sides to India’s rural market; the market provides immense opportunities; it also displays intimidating
challenges.
 It is a two-way marketing process wherein the transaction can be:
1. Urban to rural – It involves the selling of products and services by urban marketers in rural areas. These
include pesticides, FMCG products, consumer durables, etc.
2. Rural to urban – Here, a rural producer sells his produce in the urban market. This may not be direct.
There generally are middlemen, agencies, government cooperatives, etc., who sell fruits, vegetables,
grains, pulses and others.
3. Rural to rural – These include selling of agricultural tools, cattle, carts and others to another village in its
proximity.

Rural marketing in Indian economy can be classified under two broad

categories.

i.) The market for consumer goods that comprise of both durable and non-durable goods
ii.) The market for agricultural inputs that include fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, and so on

Scope of Rural Marketing

The majority of Indian population lives in rural areas; therefore, there is a vast scope for marketing in rural India.
An organization follows rural marketing for the following reasons:
a.) Rural Population – Consists of more than 720 million people and forms a huge market for organizations.
b.) Rural Economy – Contributes significantly in the country’s GDP. Rural India has a large number of households who
are aware about the branded products and willing to buy them.
c.) Relation between Rural and Urban Economy – Refers to economic connectivity between rural and urban areas.

Features of Rural Marketing

 Large, Diverse and Scattered Market
 Major Income of Rural Consumers is from Agriculture
 Low Standard of Living
 Traditional Outlook
 Infrastructure Facilities
 Market Growth
 Diverse Socio-Economic Background
 Literacy in Rural Area
 Purchasing Capacity

Need for Exploring Rural Markets

 Growing Rural Market
 Severe Competition in Major Urban Markets
 To Change the Attitude of the Farmers so that they will Treat Agriculture as a Business
 Rural Marketing Creates Employment Opportunities
 Rural Tourism
 Over 70 Per Cent of Country’s Population Live in Rural Areas
 Brand Loyalty
 Foreign Competition
 Development of Regional TV Network
 Life Cycle Advantage

Factors Contributing Rural Marketing Growth

 Favorable Government Policies
 Agricultural Development
 Development of Indian Economy
 Rising Aspirations of Rural People and Attraction for High Standard of Living
 Media Explosion
 Private Initiatives
 Growth in Income
 Growing Rural Market

Other emerging marketing Trends

1.) Interactive marketing
  Interactive marketing is a two-way approach to marketing focused on interaction and collaboration as per the
reaction and inclination of the customers. It is also known as event-driven, trigger-based, or one-to-one
marketing.
 Hence interactive marketing campaigns are directly proportional to the results of consumer’s actions,
expectations, behaviors, preferences, or even demands. It is known as trigger-based marketing simply because it
uses triggers to communicate with users for example polls, contests, quizzes, etc.

Interactive marketing is defined as a type of marketing campaign that interacts with existing and potential customers
as per their actions, reactions, and inclinations. Interactive marketing strategies are triggered by
the behavioral preferences of the prospects.

Types of Interactive Marketing

2.) Interactive Storytelling Via Content
3.) Layering Information
4.) Personalized Content
5.) Two-way Interactions
 Contests
 Quizzes
 Polls
 Videos-
 Emails

Challenges of Interactive Marketing

 Pulling in the audience’s attention
 Optimizing conversions of viewers to leads
 Ensuring marketing efforts more customer-centric
 Widening the reach of the content
 Accomplishing marketing automation.

Advantages of Interactive Marketing

 It enables companies in fulfilling the customers’ desire of companies making efforts to exceed their expectations, as
marketers can respond to the inclinations and actions of the customers
 It decreases the risk factor from a marketing campaign, plus it optimizes lead generation and sales as it is tweaked as
per the customer behaviors and desires
 The personalization factor of interactive campaigns makes them more conversion and ROI driven
 Using interactive marketing is useful in boosting sales, lowering marketing costs, increasing customer satisfaction,
and channelizing automated campaigns.

Best Practices for Effective Interactive Marketing Campaigns

 Identify your target market and segment your customers
 Figure out which triggers work the best
 PERSONALIZE your content
 Create incentives for your customers
 Make the most out of modern technology
.