Marketing Strategy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Strategy - Essay Example This strategy is very effective since it will help to attract more students who may be inspired to join it. The responsible authority ought to use specially designed websites in order to present itself to the general public. Aspiring students can easily access any information about the university from the internet which can make it relatively easy for them to make informed choices. This can also help them to communicate with the responsible authorities so that they can get the information they may require about the institution. Communication is essential since it helps to bridge the gap between the aspiring students and the responsible authorities at the university. Other types of marketing communication strategies such as print media as well as television can also be used to advertise the marketing program offered by the university so as to be able to attract many students. The programs offered by the university can also be categorised into different groups in order to attract stude nts to a particular area of study. In this case, attracting a student to study a marketing degree program as a major requires a holistic approach by the institution. Efforts should be made to portray the strengths of the degree program. For instance, the marketing degree program is unique in that it encompasses courses that are not offered by any other institution in the area. ... This gives it a competitive advantage and it can only be achieved through the use of competent people with strong knowledge in marketing related areas. This is where Qatar University comes in handy since it offers a unique marketing degree program. The other advantage for enrolling for a marketing degree at Qatar University is that this program is flexible. It allows the student to select the courses they desire to study on their own, there are compulsory as a well as optional course where the students are given the opportunity to decide their workload. This gives them flexibility to effectively manage their studies since they make their own choices without any pressure. This also helps the student to plan his or her academic activities for the semester which can contribute to the success of that person in his or her studies. The student also has the opportunity to pursue other extracurricular activities at university since this program is quite flexible. This also helps to promote p sychological as well as physical development of the student such that he is prepared for the broad job market. A student studying marketing is also flexible to do other elective modules that are related to the main area of study which also helps to generate more knowledge in the marketing related field. The cost of the program is also relatively cheaper compared to the other institution. There is every reason to enrol for marketing program as a major at Qatar University given that it is affordable compared to the prices that are charged by other institutions in the region. There are different payment methods that are used to register for the marketing major program. The tuition fees can be paid in instalments over a certain period and

Design Limitations for Speakers

Design Limitations for Speakers Introduction There are many factors which determine the characteristics of a loudspeaker; to produce a successful design a careful balance of many factors must be achieved. Most of the challenges and considerations of loudspeaker design stem from the inherent limitations of the drivers themselves. Desirable Characteristics Real-Word Implementation For a coherent approach to loudspeaker design to be established, one may elucidate the problem by considering two main sets of criteria; the desired characteristics of the finished system and the limitations which impinge on the achievement of these desired characteristics. The key desirable characteristics for the finished system are listed below. Reproduction of all frequencies across input range Flat frequency response across input range Adequate Damping Good Efficiency Adequate SPL or perceived loudness Minimal distortion Minimal noise Many of the above considerations are quite obvious. In terms of frequency response it is desired that the response of the system as a whole should be as flat as possible, since to truthfully reproduce a signal all frequencies across the input range should be represented equally. Weems (2000, p.14) notes that â€Å"smoothness of response is more important than range†. Naturally noise and distortion are undesirable for accurate signal reproduction. Damping is an important concern; when a signal is no longer applied to a loudspeaker there will be a natural tendency for the cone to continue to move under its own inertia. Thus damping must be employed in order to ensure that the SPL generated by such movement is sufficiently low and relatively inaudible. Rossing (1990, p.31) refers to damping as â€Å"loss of energy of a vibrator, usually through friction†. This is a simplification, however, the back EMF generated by the driver and the varying impedance seen by the amplifier of the crossover/driver network play an important role. As Weems (2000, p.17) rightly says â€Å"there are two types of damping, mechanical and electrical†. Another quite obvious consideration is that the loudspeaker must indeed be loud enough. This is related to the issue of efficiency, since the more inefficient the speaker, the more power will be needed to drive it. The choice of enclosure design plays quite a significant role here, as will be seen shortly. In terms of limitations, there are several immediate problems posed by the nature of the drivers themselves that must be addressed. Firstly, the sound from the back of the speaker cone is 180 degrees out of phase with the sound from the front. This phase separation means the sounds will cancel each other at lower frequencies, or interfere with each other in a more complex manner at high frequencies; clearly neither is desirable. In some senses it would be ideal to mount the drivers in a wall with a large room behind, the so-called â€Å"infinite baffle†, having the sound from the rear of the cone dissipate in a large separate space, being thus unable to interfere with the sound produced by the front. In reality this is impractical; however some provision must be made to isolate sound from the rear of the cone. To this end, some sort of enclosure must be made for the drivers, yet this presents a new set of considerations. Without an enclosure, a loudspeaker is very inefficient when the sound wavelengths to be produced are longer than the speaker diameter. This results in an inadequate bass response; for an 8 inch speaker this equates to anything below around 1700Hz[1]. So the infinite baffle is terribly inefficient in terms of the SPL produced at lower frequencies. Furthermore, the free cone resonance of the speaker works against the flat frequency response that is desired; input frequencies close to the resonant frequency will be represented too forcefully. Another real-world complication is the fact that for high-fidelity applications, no one loudspeaker will be able to handle the entire range of input frequencies; â€Å"the requirements for low frequency sound are the opposite to those for high frequencies† (Weems, 2000, p.13). Higher frequencies require less power to be reproduced, but the driver must respond more quickly, whereas low frequencies require a larger driver and hence greater power to be effectively realised. In view of the above, multiple drivers must be used, with each producing a certain frequency range of the input signal; at the very least a woofer and tweeter are required. In order to deliver only the appropriate frequencies to each driver, a device known as a crossover must be implemented. This can take the form of passive filter circuits within the speaker itself, or active circuitry that filters the signal prior to amplification. In the latter case, multiple amplifiers are needed, making this a more costly approach. The fundamentals of crossover design will be dealt with in a separate document and are hence not dealt with in detail here. Enclosure Design Faced with the reality that an enclosure is in almost all cases a practical necessity, perhaps the most important aspect of speaker design in the design of the enclosure itself. The first step in producing a successful design is to decide upon the drivers to be used and use this as a basis for choosing a cabinet design, or to decide upon the desired cabinet type first and allow this to inform the choice of driver. In general, most of the design work with regard to the cabinet is focused firmly toward the woofer, since the enclosure design is most critical with regard to midrange/bass performance. In typical 2-way designs, the tweeter is mounted in the same box as the woofer, but it is the latter which largely defines the cabinet dimensions. In the past the design of enclosures was often something of a hit-or-miss affair, however the research of Thiele (1971) and Small (1973) has led to a much more organised design process. Most transducers today are accompanied by a comprehensive datasheet of Thiele-Small parameters, which allow most of the guess work to be taken out of enclosure design. Ignoring more exotic enclosure designs, the first question is whether the enclosure should be ported or sealed (it should be noted that in reality even â€Å"sealed† enclosures are very slightly open or â€Å"leaky† in order to allow the internal pressure to equalise with the surroundings). If a driver has already been chosen, this can be determined from the Efficiency Bandwidth Product, which is defined as: EBP = Fs / Qes(1) Where Fs is the free air resonance of the driver and Qes the electrical Q or damping. In general, an EBP of 50 or less indicates a sealed box, whilst an EBP above 90 suggests a ported enclosure (Dickason, 2000). In between, the choice of enclosure lies more or less with the designer and a driver that falls in the middle should perform acceptably in either closed or ported situations. So, what are the advantages and disadvantages of sealed vs ported enclosures? A sealed enclosure is very simple to build, whilst a ported enclosure requires some degree of tuning to ensure the port is matched correctly to the driver – in the ported or â€Å"bass reflex† design a tube extends into the cabinet allowing some air to escape from inside; if correctly tuned the air that leaves the port is delayed in phase by 180 degrees, hence reinforcing the sound from the front of the cone. With a sealed enclosure the air inside acts as an approximately linear spring for the transducer cone and assuming the driver has a low Fs, a healthy bass extension with a gentle roll-off of -12dB per octave can be expected. The disadvantages are several; the enclosure may need to be quite large to achieve an acceptable Qtc (the damping value for a sealed system) and efficiency is poor. Further, with a sealed enclosure the driver reaches maximum excursion at resonance, which translates to greater distortion. Therefore a driver for use in a sealed enclosure requires quite a large linear throw to perform well. By contrast, in correctly tuned ported enclosures the driver is maximally damped at resonance, so a large linear throw is not critical and distortion is lower as a result. The basic methods of sealed and ported cabinet design shall now be explained. Sealed Enclosure Design To design a sealed enclosure the basic methodology is quite straightforward; the essential challenge is simply to find the optimum volume for the cabinet for the chosen driver. First one must decide on the value of the damping constant Qtc; the optimum value is 0.707 since it gives the lowest -3db break frequency and hence the best potential for bass extension, as well as good transient response. If the enclosure size is too large at this optimum value then Qtc may be increased, resulting in a trade-off between bass performance, transient response and enclosure volume. However, the more Qtc is increased, the more boomy and muddy the sound will become. Depending on the application, the enclosure size may not be important; in this case an optimum Qtc is encouraged. Once Qtc is known, the constant ÃŽ ± may be calculated using the below formula, where Qts is the total Q factor of the driver at resonance (this may be obtained from the manufacture’s data sheet). ÃŽ ± = [Qtc/Qts]2 – 1(2) Having calculated ÃŽ ±, the correct enclosure volume Vb is trivial to determine using the relationship below. Note that Vas is the equivalent volume of air that has the same acoustic compliance as the driver; again this may be obtained from the datasheet or experimentally. Note from equation (1) that a lower Qts will result in a higher ÃŽ ±, and hence a smaller enclosure. Thus for two transducers with equivalent acoustic compliance, a lower Qts will result in a smaller enclosure. Vb = Vas/ÃŽ ±(3) Assuming the required box volume is acceptable, one may then also calculate the resonant frequency of the system (fs is the free-air resonant frequency of the driver): (4) Once fc is known the -3db break frequency may also be found: (5) Recall that below this frequency the roll-off is -12dB per octave and one can gain a fairly good impression of the bass performance to be expected. Naturally it is desirable for f3 to be low for maximum extension into the bass area, hence a low fs is a characteristic one should look for when choosing a driver for sealed enclosure use. If it is felt that the break frequency is too high, then a different driver must be selected for the sealed implementation. Ported Enclosure Design For ported cabinet design, the equations are more complex and it is generally not practical to attempt to design such an enclosure by hand. Instead there are a number of free and commercial software calculators available that simplify the process. One good freeware calculator is AJ Vented Designer[2]. Using such a program enables the designer to quickly ascertain what size enclosure and port is required for a given driver and whether this is feasible – for certain combinations the port may not physically fit within the enclosure for example. In addition, the program also plots the theoretical frequency response of the design, which simplifies matters greatly. Acoustic Damping and Avoiding Resonance In addition to the type of enclosure and the calculation of the required volume, diameter and size of ports (if ported), there are several other design considerations. Firstly, standing waves within the enclosure must be minimised. Thus enclosures are often stuffed with fibreglass, long-fibre wool or polyurethane foam. In addition to standing waves and the resonance of the enclosure, one must also bear in mind the possibility of dimensional resonances with sealed designs. To avoid this it is prudent to ensure that length, width and height of the enclosure are all different and to not centrally mount the drivers. The choice of cabinet material and thickness are also factors that require careful consideration; in general wood is the most appropriate material and a thicker structure is likely to be more rugged and be less susceptible to undesirable vibration. The structure should also be isolated from the floor since vibrations passed to a floor (especially a wooden floor) can cause the floor to vibrate which will muddy or colour the sound. Spikes or stands are commonly used to achieve this. Conclusion There are many factors that affect speaker design but perhaps the most important is that of the enclosure itself. More exotic enclosures such as band-pass and transmission line configurations are beyond the scope of this document, however it should be noted that there are many different approaches beyond the common sealed or ported methodologies. As with any engineering problem, successful speaker design requires a careful balance of many often opposing factors to be reached. Sources Borwick, John. (2001). Loudspeaker and Headphone Handbook, Focal Press. Dickason, V. (1995). The Loudspeaker Design Cookbook, Audio Amateur Publications. Rosenthal, M. (1979). How to select and use loudspeakers and enclosures, SAMS. Rossing, T. (1990). The Science of Sound, Addison-Wesley. Weems, D. (2000). Great sound stereo speaker manual, McGraw-Hill. 1 [1] Nave R, Coupling Loudspeaker to Air. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/hframe.html [2] http://www.ajdesigner.com/speaker/index.php

Star Trek :: essays research papers

"Star Trek": A Chronicle Space... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship "Enterprise." Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds... to seek out new life and new civilizations... to boldly go where no one has gone before... The above blurb has been used to introduce the television show Star Trek: The Next Generation. The show's run has elapsed that of it's predecessor, the original Star Trek. The original spawned six movies and endless conventions, and both have given way to action figures for children, national clubs, and other various paraphernalia. This is the chronicle to end all chronicles: the full analysis and timeline of one of the most popular television programs in contemporary American history. Americans are fascinated with the possibility of intelligent life somewhere else in the universe; this has been displayed in books and plays and movies too numerous to mention, not to mention the accounts of "everyday people" who say that they have encountered aliens and unidentified flying objects (UFOs). This fascination became so great that in the late 1970s, President Carter decided to launch an investigation within NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) to uncover the mystery of UFOs and intelligent life in the universe. Science fiction plays upon this obsession. The great science fiction writers have sent our imaginations into overload with scores of stories to tell. The two most popular futuristic science fiction stories, Star Trek and Star Wars, both have similar characteristics. Both involve many different species of life (our nearest equivalent would be "races"). The Ferengi, Vulcans, humans, Betazoids, Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, androids, and Bjorans are in the Star Trek series (which includes the original television series, the six movies, the NextGeneration television series, and the television series Deep Space Nine), while the Star Wars movie trilogy includes humans, Wookies, Jawas, Ewoks, droids, Tusken Raiders, and a host of various other strange and exotic looking lifeforms. Each species has its own heritage, customs, beliefs, and socioeconomic status. I am sure that each science fiction storyline has it's own unusual breed of lifeform, but this paper will examine only a particular science fiction storyline which has mushroomed into a cultural obsession. I choose not to focus on the works of Ray Bradbury and the like; I'm sure that they are superb writers. (A fantastic example is Bradbury's "A Sound of Thunder," which is the probable predecessor to all of today's hype surrounding the film Jurassic Park and the children's character Barney the dinosaur.) However, I've never heard of a Ray Bradbury convention, or action figures based on characters he's created. Star Trek appeared in the right place at the right time.

Building New Brands on the Internet

Consumers are the main source of revenues and profits of many businesses. Companies always try to ensure that their consumers’ welfare are noted and considered in their decision making. Companies strategize their marketing campaign based on what their target market needs. They try to create a name and reputation for themselves that would be â€Å"loved† by all their consumers and keep them coming back. Companies do this by doing common forms of marketing strategy which well-planned. Some of these marketing strategies are those that people see everyday, all around, in different forms.These can be advertisements in billboards, radio, television, newspapers, flyers, etc. But as technology continues to present new means of communication, these forms have now evolved and now include media such as mobile phones and the internet. Branding Defined What most companies want is for their names or brands to be popular and well-known. Most entrepreneurs and company executives consid er branding top priority in their â€Å"to-do† list. Some people think that branding is just merely a name or a logo that represents the company or the product.In its truest essence, branding is, in fact, more than that. Dunn defines branding as ‘a demanding, complex process that requires disciplined attention over an extended period of time. ’ For company heads who are serious in making a lasting impression and a great image for their company or product, branding is a major part of their everyday responsibilities. Dunn explains more: Branding is owning a single idea, concept or feeling in the mind or heart of the customer. Sometimes it’s just a word. A phrase. A thought. An emotion. Whatever it is, you want to own it in the mind of the customer.A brand helps differentiate you from the competition. It makes your product, service or experience different from all others. It lets you stand out from the crowd. Without differentiation, you might end up competin g only on price. And with price, there seems to be no bottom to the bottom. Markets today are extremely competitive and getting ahead of competitors and winning the hearts of customers are really important for any company. Customers now are also a lot wiser and smarter than before. They know what they want and they make sure that what they patronize is up to their set standards.Branding, indeed, is a lifelong effort as continuous improvement is necessary in order to keep up with the current demands of customers. What people want today may not be the same tomorrow. Advantages and Disadvantages of Branding Every company’s goals are to be ahead in the industry it belongs, be known to its target market and be profitable. An important factor in achieving these goals is to create a brand that will make a lasting impression to the company’s target market and make customers love it. Effective branding requires a lot of time, effort and creative minds.Geoffrey Randall enumerate d the following that brands can benefit the customers: †¢ Identity: the brand must identify itself clearly and unambiguously, so name, legal protection and design elements are important. †¢ Shorthand summary: the identity should act as a summary of all the information the consumer holds about the brand. [†¦] †¢ Security: buying a familiar brand should be reassuring. The brand should guarantee to provide the benefits expected. †¢ Differentiation: the brand must clearly differentiate itself from its competitors, and show buyers how it is unique. †¢ Added value: the brand must offer more than the generic product.These are just the five major things, but there are even more that brands can do to customers. Customers patronize brands for several reasons such as trust, instinct, perceived quality, knowledge and image. Customers like to try new brands but once they already found one that is a perfect fit for their taste, it is highly likely that they will stic k to that brand for a certain period of time. It may not be forever, though, that they will just go with one brand, unless the brand keeps on reinventing itself and always stays up to date with the current market demands.Thus, it is important for marketing people or brand managers to always be updated with the latest trend and be knowledgeable on what customers want. Nowadays, any industry, any market is so dynamic that changes happen every now and then. Being always in the loop on all market updates is imperative for all company owners and executives. Branding, indeed, has a lot of good benefits to the customers. However, with all the upside comes the downside of branding such as cost, time and difficulty in reinventing the brand.For a company to establish a brand, a lot of money is required. From research and development, application, testing, up to finally marketing the brand, a huge investment is definitely needed to ensure everything works out smoothly. There are also times whe n brands tend to already have a fixed image which makes it difficult for companies to deviate a little (i. e. adding another product of different kind) and still maintain customers’ trust in the brand. Reinvention is one factor to keep the popularity of the brand and make consumers love it as time goes by.However, when people already got so used to what the brand has to offer, it may be difficult to extend the brand which might create a new image for it. Time is yet another huge investment required in coming up with a brand and marketing it. Coming up with a good brand and make people love it does not happen overnight. These things, though, can all be worth it anyway when there is a solid plan on the table and an effective team working on it. Types of Branding There are different types of branding strategies that are adopted by different companies depending on how they want to be known by the market.Among these branding types are the following: †¢ Unique Branding  œ ‘A unique branding strategy allows a company to dominate a product area by building a successful brand that stands for just one thing. Such a brand can often become synonymous with the product. ’ A good example of this branding strategy is Procter & Gamble. This giant company manufactures a wide range of products. Each of those products has its own brand name such as Ariel, Pantene, Pringles, Pampers, Head and Shoulders, and a lot more. These brand names have been popular and have already been associated to its single type of product.But behind all of those household names, there is just a single company enjoying all the success. With this branding strategy, companies can come up with same product types and market them with different brand names. However, ‘it takes a significant investment in time, money and effort to establish a new brand. ’ †¢ Corporate Branding – This branding strategy is somehow the opposite of unique branding. The company has different product offerings but all using the same brand. An example of a company using corporate branding strategy is Apple.When customers are already familiar with the brand, it is easy for them to patronize new product releases of the company. Once the company already has the customers’ trust, it can come up with new products and not have difficulty marketing it. Releasing a new product using corporate branding takes significantly lesser time and money than unique branding. However, companies using this branding strategy should also be careful to maintain the quality of their product as a failure of one may affect the entire brand. Also, range of products may be limited so as to avoid customers doubting the company’s dedication to its original product line.†¢ Range Branding – This is a combination of the two abovementioned branding strategies. A single company creates two or more brands depending on the market needs and customers’ existing pe rception to its original brand. A good example of a company that utilized range branding is Toyota. The company Toyota came up with Lexus, another brand of cars but meant to be marketed to the upper societal class. Toyota decided to do this because people already have the perception of Toyota being an affordable brand and most of its clients belong to the middle class.Using the same brand to reach the upper class may be difficult for them as their original brand was already stereotyped. Branding Methods Development of brands can be done in different ways. Branding starts in identifying a striking brand name which may represent the characteristics of the product; or it may be a name that is easy to remember. It takes a substantial amount of time before companies can come up with a brand name that will be released in the market. On the more creative side, companies also do come up with logos associated with their brand name.Logos help companies attract more customers who will also ten d to remember the brand better because of the visual representation. Brand names and logos are important aspects of branding because those are the things that really represent the product. However, there is more to branding than just those representations. Branding should also happen within the company. The work environment and culture of the company should also coincide with what it is trying to promote. Executives and all employees of the company also represent the brand. They should embody the company’s and the brand’s beliefs, mission and vision.In short, employees should be able to â€Å"live the brand. † For example, in a fast food chain promoting quick, appetizing food on the go, the staff should act as quick as possible but still treat customers very well; packaging should be sturdy enough and really meant for people who like eating while moving; machines and equipments should be efficient to meet daily demands. The overall process in making the product and delivering the service should indeed â€Å"live the brand. † Advertising is also one other aspect which should not be taken for granted in branding.Coming up with the brand name and logo is one thing, but introducing it to the market is another. Creating an identity and making a name in today’s very dynamic market is not a walk in the park. A lot of time and great deal of effort is required for the company to reach out to customers and be known. Establishing the brand is the hard part but can be done if all the people behind the brand work together. The abovementioned brand development greatly applies to brick-and-mortar companies. Today’s generation needs more than just the traditional branding methods.Customers are now looking for more interactivity and convenience as today’s technology continuous to get better and better. Companies should now also try the world of e-commerce or building brands in the internet. Most people now have access to the int ernet and are aware of the different things they can do with it, which include researching, communicating, and online shopping. Companies trying to establish a new brand, want to extend their existing brand or want to reach more market will benefit with the interactive world of the internet. However, branding in the virtual world is a lot different.The only representation the company will have over the internet is its webpage. The homepage should have a very attractive and interesting layout that will make visitors stay. Backend should also be stable and reliable with fast servers and wide bandwidth. Existing brands who have already made its name offline should also keep their image online because that is what people will actually look for. Also, online presence also requires human intervention in terms of customer support which should be available 24 by 7, if possible. The website should also have an easy-to-remember domain name.‘Even the best web site will be overlooked if u sers cannot remember where to find it. ’ In online branding, customer experience is very important because this is where customer loyalty starts. Capturing customers’ attention right from the start and providing excellent customer experience through the company’s virtual presence translates to an effective online branding. ‘For an online business, the look and feel of its website and the quality of the interface is the most important way to communicate its brand. ’ Schools of Internal BrandingThe importance of employees embodying and living the brand has already been mentioned. This is, in fact, termed as internal branding. Within the company, all the employees should ‘fully understand and appreciate their brand [for them] to provide the desired brand experience to customers. ’ There are four schools of internal branding defined in book by Van Gelder. These schools are as follows: †¢ Mission school – asserts that organizatio ns must have a corporate belief, extolled by visionary management, that functions as an internal bonding mechanism and strategic directive.†¢ Strategy school – brand-based strategic management, in which the brand is the leading organizing principle of a corporation and drives all corporate activities. †¢ Communications school – sees branding as an internal and external communications strategy which is aimed at educating staff and customers alike about the brand. †¢ Organization school – aims to establish internal conditions that allow employees to deliver the correct brand experience to consumers during so-called moments of truth.These schools aim to deliver the best customer experience by making the company’s employees understand the brand and the image the company wants to create, and equipping them with the right tools and knowledge to accomplish their jobs. Whether branding is done offline or online, these things are important as there are always people working behind the brand. Conclusion Creating a name that will be inculcated in the minds and hearts of consumers is definitely not an overnight job.It takes a lot of time, effort and money to plan, strategize and decide on the right branding strategy that will be the best match for the products and services the company is selling. Technology, indeed, has opened more opportunities for companies to build and create a name. Yet, the requirements to be successful in making a name on the virtual world are more comprehensive. Marketing and building a brand through the internet is totally different from the common media that people have been used to. Nevertheless, the benefits of this, if done correctly, are better and more exciting than the usual means offer.Bibliography Dunn, D, Branding: The 6 Easy Steps, Cameron Street Press, Oakland, 2004. Mauro, C, Visual/Interactive Brand Development, TaskZ, 2000, retrieved 4 May 2007, < http://www. taskz. com/visual_interactive_i ndepth. php> Randall, G, Branding: A Practical Guide to Planning Your Strategy, 2nd ed, Kogan Page Limited, Dover, 2000. Seidenberg, J, Three Types of Branding, Deltaflow, 2006, retrieved 4 May 2007, Van Gelder, S, Global Brand Strategy: Unlocking Brand Potential Across Countries, Cultures & Markets, Kogan Page Limited, 2003

Marketing of Banking Services

Marketing scope in banking sector should be considered under the service marketing framework. Performed marketing strategy is the case which is determination of the place of financial institutions on customers’ mind. Bank marketing does not only include service selling of the bank but also is the function which gets personality and image for bank on its customers’ mind. On the other hand, financial marketing is the function which relates uncongenitalies, differences and non similar applications between financial institutions and judgement standards of their customers.The reasons for marketing scope to have importance in banking and for banks to interest in marketing subject can be arranged as:Change in demographic structure: Differentiation of population in the number and composition affect quality and attribute of customer whom benefits from banking services.Intense competition in financial service sector: The competition became intense due to the growing international banking perceptiveness and recently being non limiting for new enterprises in the sector. Increase in liberalization of interest rates has intensified the competition.Bank’s wish for increasing profit: Banks have to increase their profits to create new markets, to protect and develop their market shares and to survive on the basis of intense competition and demographic chance levels.SERVICERecently, banks are in a period that they earn money in servicing beyond selling money. The prestige is get as they offer their services to the masses. Like other services, banking services are also intangible. Banking services are about the money in different types and attributes like lending, depositing and transferring procedures. These intangible services are shaped in contracts. The structure of banking services affects the success of institution in long term. Besides the basic attributes like speed, security  and ease in banking services, the rights like consultancy for services to be compounded are also preferred.PRICEThe price which is an important component of marketing mix is named differently in the base of transaction exchange that it takes place. Banks have to estimate the prices of their services offered. By performing this, they keep their relations with extant customers and take new ones. The prices in banking have names like interest, commission and expenses. Price is the sole element of marketing variables that create earnings, while others cause expenditure. While marketing mix elements other than price affect sales volume, price affect both profit and sales volume directly.Banks should be very careful in determining their prices and price policies. Because mistakes in pricing cause customers’ shift toward the rivals offering likewise services. Traditionally, banks use three methods called â€Å"cost-plus†, â€Å"transaction volume base† and â€Å"challenging leader† in pricing of their services.DISTRIBUTIONThe complex ity of banking services are resulted from different kinds of them. The most important feature of banking is the persuasion of customers benefiting from services.Most banks’ services are complex in attribute and when this feature joins the intangibility characteristics, offerings take also mental intangibility in addition to physical intangibility. On the other hand, value of service and benefits taken from it mostly depend on knowledge, capability and participation of customers besides features of offerings. This is resulted from the fact that production and consumption have non separable characteristics in those services.Most authors argue that those features of banking services makes personal interaction between customer and bank obligatory and the direct distribution is the sole alternative. Due to this reason, like preceding applications in  recent years, branch offices use traditional method in distribution of banking services.PROMOTIONOne of the most important element of marketing mix of services is promotion which is consist of personal selling, advertising, public relations, and selling promotional tools.PERSONAL SELLINGDue to the characteristics of banking services, personal selling is the way that most banks prefer in expanding selling and use of them.Personal selling occurs in two ways. First occurs in a way that customer and banker perform interaction face to face at branch office. In this case, whole personnel, bank employees, chief and office manager, takes part in selling. Second occurs in a way that customer representatives go to customers’ place. Customer representatives are specialist in banks’ services to be offered and they shape the relationship between bank and customer.ADVERTISING Banks have too many goals which they want to achieve. Those goals are for accomplishing the objectives as follows in a way that banks develop advertising campaigns and use media.1. Conceive customers to examine all kinds of services that banks offer 2. Increase use of services 3. Create well fit image about banks and services 4. Change customers’ attitudes 5. Introduce services of banks 6. Support personal selling 7. Emphasize well serviceAdvertising media and channels that banks prefer are newspaper, magazine, radio, direct posting and outdoor ads and TV commercials. In the selection of media, target market should be determined and the media that reach this target easily and cheaply must be preferred.Banks should care about following criteria for selection of media.1. Which media the target market prefer 2. Characteristics of service 3. Content of message 4. Cost 5. Situation of rivalsAds should be mostly educative, image making and provide the information as follows:1. Activities of banks, results, programs, new services 2. Situation of market, government decisions, future developments 3. The opportunities offered for industry branches whose development meets national benefits.PUBLIC RELATIONS Public relati ons in banking should provide;1. Establishing most effective communication system 2. Creating sympathy about relationship between bank and customer 3. Giving broadest information about activities of bank.SELLING PROMOTIONAL TOOLSAnother element of the promotion mixes of banks is improvement of selling. Mostly used selling improvement tools are layout at selling point, rewarding personnel, seminaries, special gifts, premiums, contests.DEVELOPMENT IN MARKETING SCOPE AT THE ASPECT OF SERVICE MARKETINGMarketing scope develops day to day. These developments carry special significance for service sector in which customer and service producer interact closely.INTERNAL MARKETINGEspecially in service sector like external relations, internal relations also have significance. It requires finding and keeping successful personnel.For personnel of the organization to be considered their own goals and  service situation, values of the organization are sold to them. The communication techniques c arried out for customers are also performed for the personnel in internal marketing and this two techniques go together. For example, the ads that aim creating firm’s image should be prepared with regarding to audience which is composed of firm’s personnel.NETWORK MARKETINGThis approach takes the organization as a sequence which involves producer and customer that market services to each other in the organization. In this structure, the activities of departments that compose organization would be more focused on market. This will also affect the structure of organization.RELATIONSHIP MARKETINGIt was mentioned that close relationship was established between producer and customer in service sector. In addition to this, life cycle of a customer relationship was also mentioned under the product outline.According to the researchers, maintaining the relationship for extant customer increases the profit of firms. It should be emphasized that this fact has an importance for se rvice sector.Life cycle of a customer relationship is composed of three stages. At the first stage, firms try to be well known and to acquire new customers. At the second stage, the connection between customer and firm has been achieved. During the stage, firms intensified their activities on acquired customers and both of them promises mutually. At the third stage, these promises are accomplished and the service is consumed. During the stage, firms face â€Å"Reality Instants† which could possibly achieve satisfaction of customer and continuous relationship. This could be also true for second stage. So, these instants should be managed successfully. Implementation of close relations with customer successively and true applications at reality instants could not be accomplished by responsibilities of a marketing personnel.Besides, it should be remembered that consumption and production of service are closely interrelated. At this context, marketing should have role not  only in production-consumption between instants, but also at points that these intersect. In this case, 4P that was mentioned at second section would be insufficient. So, we could divide service marketing into two parts as specialist function (marketing mix, marketing researches) and marketing function buyerseller interactions)Efforts in first stage in which customers are not so clear, at the customer relationship life cycle could be minimized for lasting customers. This is achieved by successful customer relations. In this approach, marketing may be defined as; â€Å"Marketing is for establishing, keeping, developing relationship with customers in a manner that profit is got (especially in long term). So, objectives of two relevant sides would be achieved. This would be accomplished by shared promises and carrying out the promises.†