Year: 2020

Pricing can be defined as the process of determining an appropriate price for the product, or it is an act of setting price for the product. Pricing involves a number of decisions related to setting price of product. Pricing policies are aimed at achieving various objectives. Company has several objectives to be achieved by the sound pricing policies and strategies. Pricing decisions are based on the objectives to be achieved. Objectives are related to sales volume, profitability, market shares, or competition. Objectives of pricing can be classified in five groups as shown in figure 1.

1. Profits-related Objectives

Profit has remained a dominant objective of business activities.

Company’s pricing policies and strategies are aimed at following profits-related objectives:

(a) Maximum Current Profit

One of the objectives of pricing is to maximize current profits. This objective is aimed at making as much money as possible. Company tries to set its price in a way that more current profits can be earned. However, company cannot set its price beyond the limit. But, it concentrates on maximum profits.

(b) Target Return on Investment

Most companies want to earn reasonable rate of return on investment.

Target return may be:

• Fixed percentage of sales
• Return on investment
• A fixed rupee amount

Company sets its pricing policies and strategies in a way that sales revenue ultimately yields average return on total investment. For example, company decides to earn 20% return on total investment of 3 crore rupees. It must set price of product in a way that it can earn 60 lakh rupees.

2. Sales-related Objectives

The main sales-related objectives of pricing may include:

(a) Sales Growth

Company’s objective is to increase sales volume. It sets its price in such a way that more and more sales can be achieved. It is assumed that sales growth has direct positive impact on the profits. So, pricing decisions are taken in way that sales volume can be raised. Setting price, altering in price, and modifying pricing policies are targeted to improve sales.

(b) Target Market Share

A company aims its pricing policies at achieving or maintaining the target market share. Pricing decisions are taken in such a manner that enables the company to achieve targeted market share. Market share is a specific volume of sales determined in light of total sales in an industry. For example, company may try to achieve 25% market shares in the relevant industry.

(c) Increase in Market Share

Sometimes, price and pricing are taken as the tool to increase its market share. When company assumes that its market share is below than expected, it can raise it by appropriate pricing; pricing is aimed at improving market share.

3. Competition-related Objectives

Competition is a powerful factor affecting marketing performance. Every company tries to react to the competitors by appropriate business strategies.

With reference to price, following competition-related objectives may be priorized:

(a) To Face Competition

Pricing is primarily concerns with facing competition. Today’s market is characterized by the severe competition. Company sets and modifies its pricing policies so as to respond the competitors strongly. Many companies use price as a powerful means to react to level and intensity of competition.

(b) To Keep Competitors Away

To prevent the entry of competitors can be one of the main objectives of pricing. The phase ‘prevention is better than cure’ is equally applicable here. If competitors are kept away, no need to fight with them. To achieve the objective, a company keeps its price as low as possible to minimize profit attractiveness of products. In some cases, a company reacts offensively to prevent entry of competitors by selling product even at a loss.

(c) To Achieve Quality Leadership by Pricing

Pricing is also aimed at achieving the quality leadership. The quality leadership is the image in mind of buyers that high price is related to high quality product. In order to create a positive image that company’s product is standard or superior than offered by the close competitors; the company designs its pricing policies accordingly.

(d) To Remove Competitors from the Market

The pricing policies and practices are directed to remove the competitors away from the market. This can be done by forgoing the current profits by keeping price as low as possible in order to maximize the future profits by charging a high price after removing competitors from the market. Price competition can remove weak competitors.

4. Customer-related Objectives

Customers are in center of every marketing decision.

Company wants to achieve following objectives by the suitable pricing policies and practices:

(a) To Win Confidence of Customers

Customers are the target to serve. Company sets and practices its pricing policies to win the confidence of the target market. Company, by appropriate pricing policies, can establish, maintain or even strengthen the confidence of customers that price charged for the product is reasonable one. Customers are made feel that they are not being cheated.

(b) To Satisfy Customers

To satisfy customers is the prime objective of the entire range of marketing efforts. And, pricing is no exception. Company sets, adjusts, and readjusts its pricing to satisfy its target customers. In short, a company should design pricing in such a way that results into maximum consumer satisfaction.

5. Other Objectives

Over and above the objectives discussed so far, there are certain objectives that company wants to achieve by pricing.

They are as under:

(a) Market Penetration

This objective concerns with entering the deep into the market to attract maximum number of customers. This objective calls for charging the lowest possible price to win price-sensitive buyers.

(b) Promoting a New Product

To promote a new product successfully, the company sets low price for its products in the initial stage to encourage for trial and repeat buying. The sound pricing can help the company introduce a new product successfully.

(c) Maintaining Image and Reputation in the Market

Company’s effective pricing policies have positive impact on its image and reputation in the market. Company, by charging reasonable price, stabilizing price, or keeping fixed price can create a good image and reputation in the mind of the target customers.

(d) To Skim the Cream from the Market

This objective concerns with skimming maximum profit in initial stage of product life cycle. Because a product is new, offering new and superior advantages, the company can charge relatively high price. Some segments will buy product even at a premium price.

(e) Price Stability

Company with stable price is ranked high in the market. Company formulates pricing policies and strategies to eliminate seasonal and cyclical fluctuations. Stability in price has a good impression on the buyers. Frequent changes in pricing affect adversely the prestige of company.

(f) Survival and Growth

Finally, pricing is aimed at survival and growth of company’s business activities and operations. It is a fundamental pricing objective. Pricing policies are set in a way that company’s existence is not threatened.

A business can use a variety of pricing strategies when selling a product or service. The price can be set to maximize profitability for each unit sold or from the market overall. It can be used to defend an existing market from new entrants, to increase market share within a market or to enter a new market.

Types of Pricing Strategies:

1. Penetration Pricing

The price charged for products and services is set artificially low in order to gain market share. Once this is achieved, the price is increased. This approach was used by France Telecom and Sky TV. These companies need to land grab large numbers of consumers to make it worth their while, so they offer free telephones or satellite dishes at discounted rates in order to get people to sign up for their services. Once there is a large number of subscribers prices gradually creep up. Taking Sky TV for example, or any cable or satellite company, when there is a premium movie or sporting event prices are at their highest so they move from a penetration approach to more of a skimming/premium pricing approach.

2. Skimming Pricing

Price skimming sees a company charge a higher price because it has a substantial competitive advantage. However, the advantage tends not to be sustainable. The high price attracts new competitors into the market, and the price inevitably falls due to increased supply.

Manufacturers of digital watches used a skimming approach in the 1970s. Once other manufacturers were tempted into the market and the watches were produced at a lower unit cost, other marketing strategies and pricing approaches are implemented. New products were developed and the market for watches gained a reputation for innovation.

3. Competition Pricing

Competitive pricing consists of setting the price at the same level as one’s competitors. This method relies on the idea that competitors have already thoroughly worked on their pricing. In any market, many firms sell the same or very similar products, and according to classical economics, the price for these products should, in theory, already be at an equilibrium (or at least at a local equilibrium). Therefore, by setting the same price as its competitors, a newly-launched firm can avoid the trial and error costs of the price-setting process. However, every company is different and so are its costs. Considering this, the main limit of the competitive pricing method is that it fails to account for the differences in costs (production, purchasing, sales force, etc.) of individual companies. As a result, this pricing method can potentially be inefficient and lead to reduced profits.

For example, a firm needs to price a new coffee maker. The firm’s competitors sell it at $25, and the company considers that the best price for the new coffee maker is $25. It decides to set this very price on their own product. Moreover, this pricing method can also be used in combination with other methods such as penetration pricing for example, which consists of setting the price below that of its competition (for instance, in this example, setting the price of the coffee maker at $23).

4. Product Line Pricing

Where there is a range of products or services the pricing reflects the benefits of parts of the range. For example car washes; a basic wash could be $2, a wash and wax $4 and the whole package for $6. Product line pricing seldom reflects the cost of making the product since it delivers a range of prices that a consumer perceives as being fair incrementally – over the range.

If you buy chocolate bars or potato chips (crisps) you expect to pay X for a single packet, although if you buy a family pack which is 5 times bigger, you expect to pay less than 5X the price. The cost of making and distributing large family packs of chocolate/chips could be far more expensive. It might benefit the manufacturer to sell them singly in terms of profit margin, although they price over the whole line. Profit is made on the range rather than single items.

5. Psychological Pricing

This approach is used when the marketer wants the consumer to respond on an emotional, rather than rational basis. For example Price Point Perspective (PPP) 0.99 Cents not 1 US Dollar. It’s strange how consumers use price as an indicator of all sorts of factors, especially when they are in unfamiliar markets. Consumers might practice a decision avoidance approach when buying products in an unfamiliar setting, an example being when buying ice cream. What would you like, an ice cream at $0.75, $1.25 or $2.00? The choice is yours. Maybe you’re entering an entirely new market. Let’s say that you’re buying a lawnmower for the first time and know nothing about garden equipment. Would you automatically by the cheapest? Would you buy the most expensive? Or, would you go for a lawnmower somewhere in the middle? Price therefore may be an indication of quality or benefits in unfamiliar markets.

6. Cost Plus Pricing

Your company has been developing a new printer that will streamline many processes for your small business customers. Your job is to determine the price of the printer. After doing some research, you determine that the best method for pricing the printer is the cost-plus method.

Cost-plus pricing is a straightforward and simple way to arrive at a sales price by adding a markup to the cost of a product. In our example of the printer, you first have to determine the break-even price, which is the sum of all of the expenses involved in creating a product, including expenses like supplies, production costs, and marketing costs. When you pull all of the expenses together to determine the cost of each printer, you determine that each one will cost $78 to produce. If you sold the printer at $78 your company would break even, meaning there would be no profit or loss.

7. Cost-based Pricing

Cost-based pricing involves setting prices based on the costs for producing, distributing and selling the product. Also, the company normally adds a fair rate of return to compensate for its efforts and risks. To begin with, let’s look at some famous examples of companies using cost-based pricing. Firms such as Ryanair and Walmart work to become the low-cost producers in their industries. By constantly reducing costs wherever possible, these companies are able to set lower prices. Certainly, that leads to smaller margins, but greater sales and profits on the other hand. But even companies with higher prices may rely on cost-based pricing. However, these companies usually intentionally generate higher costs so that they can claim higher prices and margins.

8. Optional Product Pricing

Companies will attempt to increase the amount customers spend once they start to buy. Optional ‘extras’ increase the overall price of the product or service. For example airlines will charge for optional extras such as guaranteeing a window seat or reserving a row of seats next to each other. Again budget airlines are prime users of this approach when they charge you extra for additional luggage or extra legroom.

9. Premium Pricing

Use a high price where there is a unique brand. This approach is used where a substantial competitive advantage exists and the marketer is safe in the knowledge that they can charge a relatively higher price. Such high prices are charged for luxuries such as Cunard Cruises, Savoy Hotel rooms, and first class air travel.

10. Bundle Pricing

The act of placing several products or services together in a single package and selling for a lower price than would be charged if the items were sold separately. The package usually includes one big ticket product and at least one complementary good. Bundled pricing is a marketing method used by retailers to sell products in high supply.

Place

Place refers to where the product/service of the business is seen, made, sold, or distributed. In essence, place decisions are associated with distribution channels and ways of getting the product to target key customers.

It is important to consider how accessible the product or service is and ensure that customers can easily find you. The product or service must be available to customers at the right time, at the right place, and in the right quantity.

For example, a business may want to provide their products over an e-commerce site, at a retail store, or through a third-party distributor.

Distribution can make or break a company. A good distribution system quite simply means the company has greater chance of selling its products more than its competitors. The company that spreads its products wider and faster into the market place at lower costs than its competitors will make greater margins absorb raw material price rise better and last longer in tough market conditions. Distribution is critical for any type of industry or service. The best price product, promotion and people come to nothing if the product is not available for sale at the points at which consumers can buy.

Types of Distribution Channel

1. Indirect distribution

Indirect distribution is when the product reaches the end customer through numerous channels in between. For example The product goes from manufacturer to C&F, then to the distributor, then to the retailer and finally to the customer. Thus the chain is long.

2. Direct distribution

Direct distribution is when the company either directly sends the product to end customer or when the channel length is very less. A company selling on an e commerce portal or selling through modern retail is the form of Direct distribution.

Further more, distribution strategies are also decided based on the level of penetration that the company wants to achieve. This level of penetration is decided again by the remaining 3 P’s of the marketing mix – Product, price and promotions. However, based on the level of penetration, the distribution strategies vary as follows.

3. Intensive distribution

When the company is having a mass marketing product, then it uses intensive distribution. Intensive distribution tries to cover as much of the market as it can. Typical FMCG and consumer durable products are best example of intensive distribution strategy. You can read this detailed article on Intensive Distribution.

4. Selective distribution

A company like Armani, Zara or any other such branded company will have selective distribution. These companies are likely to have only limited outlets. For example: In an urban city, Armani might have 2-3 outlets at the maximum whereas Zara might have 4-5. You can read this detailed article on Selective Distribution.

5. Exclusive distribution

If Zara has 4-5 outlets in a city, how many outlets would a company like Lamborghini have? Probably one in a region of 5-7 cities. That’s exclusive distribution for you. If a company wants to give a big region to one single distributor then it is known as exclusive distribution strategy. In some cases, a distributor might be appointed for a complete country. There would be no one other then that distributor operating in that company. You can read this detailed article on Exclusive Distribution

Overall, distribution strategies depend a lot on the various products which the companies might have. A single company might have multiple product line and lengths, each with its own distribution strategy.

Some products, which are premium, might need selective distribution whereas others which are mass products, may need intensive distribution. The strategies for both types will be different. So, in the end, the distribution of a company is dynamic in nature and it contributes a lot to the competitive advantage of the company.

Promotions refer to the entire set of activities, which communicate the product, brand or service to the user. The idea is to make people aware, attract and induce to buy the product, in preference over others.

There are several types of promotions. Above the line promotions include advertising, press releases, consumer promotions (schemes, discounts, contests), while below the line include trade discounts, freebies, incentive trips, awards and so on. Sales promotion is a part of the overall promotion effort.

Developing a Promotional Mix for Social Product

1. Personal Selling

This is often referred to as one-on-one or face-to-face selling. As the name implies, it establishes a direct in-person connection with a prospective customer that may build trust and lead to a sale; it is the only means of promotion that allows you to adjust the message as the sales situation is unfolding. The downside is that it is a very costly means of selling. Examples would be a salesman on the floor of a home improvement company or a representative in a booth at a trade show.

2. Advertising

This is almost the exact opposite of personal selling because it involves no direct face-to-face customer contact at all. It happens when companies make expenditures to promote their product through such things as media and the internet. The main advantage of this type of marketing is it’s a one-way conversation that helps the customer focus on the benefits of your product or service for them. As mentioned, its biggest drawback is establishing trust because of its impersonal nature. Examples of advertising are television commercials and pop-up ads on websites.

3. Direct Marketing

This type of marketing tries to narrow the focus to a selected group of people who would be more interested in your product or service than others. Direct marketing can generate more sales because of its specific focus and it normally does it at less cost to the company; however, this type of marketing may be ill-received due to the sheer amount of it that people receive daily. Examples of this type of marketing are e-mail and direct mail advertising campaigns.

4. Sales Promotion

This is actually a catch-all term that covers any type of promotions other than the ones that are specifically mentioned here. The advantage of them is that they can induce traffic and sales by changing a buyer’s perception of a product or service value. The disadvantage of sales promotions is the short-term nature of them often overshadows your company’s long-term sales goals. Sales promotions can be done by putting coupons on a flyer or snack chips being sold on a point-of-purchase display.

5. Public Relations

This type of promotion has to do with creating a favorable image for your company as opposed to supplying direct information about a particular product or service. The advantage of public relations is that it can raise the appeal and image of your company for future purchasing decisions in a cost effective way. It must be noted also that it is very difficult to judge the effectiveness of this promotional campaign.

Good examples of this are a company that encourages others to give to disaster relief by matching donations or that hosts a run benefitting cancer research.

6. Corporate Image

This is very similar to public relations except it is more direct in nature. It seeks to shape the company’s image in a very specific way; this is closely related to branding. The benefit of a corporate image promotion is it can stop a declining sales trend because of poor perceptions about your product or service. The drawback to using this method is that people may see it for exactly what it is and be further dissuaded about purchasing your product or service.

A few very good examples of this are an airline that starts a campaign to fix its perceived uncaring image after a fatal crash of one of its aircrafts or a restaurant chain that needs to fix the negative publicity of a severe food illness outbreak at one of their locations.

7. Sponsorship

This type of advertising is very similar to public relations in that it deals with a company’s image. It takes place when your company links itself to an event that makes it look good in the community or gives the impression your company is giving back something to the public. It can also be a non-charitable event that your product closely relates to, like sponsoring a sports team.

A sponsorship can do such things as brand enhancement if you do it in conjunction with another strong name, and it can also help your company’s entry into niche markets that are typically hard to break into. It is also normally cost effective for what your company gets out of it. The drawbacks to sponsorship are tarnishing your image if the event or team you sponsor gets caught doing something wrong, and you also have little control over the sponsorship situation.

Examples of a sponsorship are a beer company that sponsors a football (soccer) team or partnering with the Red Cross on a fundraising project after a natural disaster.

8. Internet Presence

How big a role are internet promotions playing in the marketing mix these days? Let’s just say that they have their own category here where years ago they were just an afterthought. There is absolutely no doubt that the internet is now a very big promotional marketing channel, and most companies are highly aware of this fact. You would have to look far and wide these days for a company that does not have a website or at least a blog. There are also many specialty businesses that have been born for the sole purpose of helping other companies with their internet presence.

A big part of using the internet as a promotional tool has to do with the rise of social media. Sure it’s free to get on and participate with such social media providers such as Facebook and Twitter, but it is far from free for businesses to advertise on social media. These providers know what a powerful tool social media has become for advertising and marketing, and it costs a fair amount for those who use it.

People often refer to the world nowadays as a digital globe because of all the high-tech things like computers and smartphones that dominate life for people. In order for companies to compete for business, they definitely need to firmly establish an online presence. The best way to do this is to have a website that is comprised of factual and relevant data to your product or service and then optimize your site to drive traffic to it. If a website is optimized for search engines (SEO), then it will show up on the first few pages after internet users search a generic keyword.

Big companies have whole departments that specialize in building websites and driving traffic to them, but small businesses often lack an online presence and are poorly optimized to drive traffic to them. Some studies suggest that over 90% of small business websites are not search engine optimized, and it puts them at a big competitive disadvantage. If these sites were optimized, there is no doubt that their sales would increase if their product was good and priced fair. Establishing an internet presence is a big key for promoting products and services.

If you’re beginning to think about taking your organization’s marketing plan to the next level with an advertising campaign, then it might be time to think about the message you want to send. In advertising, there are six messaging strategies that are most commonly used: emotional, unique selling proposition, generic, positioning, brand image or preemptive. Knowing which messaging strategy you want your organization to use is a big first step towards creating a successful ad campaign. A good messaging strategy can also help position your brand for scalability and big wins. According to Spellbrand, “One of the fundamental differences between Fortune 500 companies and Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is the clarity of marketing messages and the importance placed on strategic marketing using brand storytelling.”

1. Emotional

An emotional message strategy uses feeling to sell. An ad using this tactic should make their target audience feel an emotional connection to the product or brand. For a powerful example of emotional advertising, watch this ad about the importance of first aid. Emotion is more than just a handy tool to sprinkle throughout marketing tactics, it has a very real, scientifically-proven impact on consumer decision-making.

2. Unique Selling Proposition

This strategy highlights something unique about your product or brand that others do not offer. What is the differentiated factor that sets your organization apart? What resonates with your prospects? This is the main selling point. A great example of this is included in Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle TED Talk in which he expresses a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership; starting with a golden circle and the question “Why?”

The essence of a Unique Selling Proposition can be difficult to pin down, as it varies so wildly based on the offerings of specific companies. To make matters more confusing, a USP is not a slogan, but can be used as such. One of the best examples of a successful USP is the classic Domino’s Pizza offer of “fresh hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less or it’s free.” While no longer offered, this highly specific offering helped the Domino’s brand stand out in a competitive industry by expressing a unique proposition that benefitted the consumer in either scenario.

When writing your USP, experts advise breaking up the process into these 3 steps:

• Analyzing your competitors
• Putting yourself in your customers’ shoes
• Brainstorming emotional concepts for your business

3. Generic

Don’t be confused or put off by the word “generic.” This does not mean that you should use uninspired, non-descriptive language in your messaging. When an ad is using a generic strategy, it is focusing on selling the category rather than the specific brand. For example, you may choose to highlight why visiting a clinic is a smart choice rather than highlighting why visiting your specific organization is a good choice. For example, a dentist might use the category of teeth whitening to drive traffic to their office without specifically selling people on it first.

Before pursuing this strategy, be warned: the marketing landscape has seen a marked shift away from generic messaging in recent years. In 2015, marketing software firm Marketo conducted a survey of 2,200 consumers worldwide. The results found that “a whopping 63% of respondents said they are highly annoyed by the way brands continue to blast out generic messaging repeatedly, and 78.6% of consumers say they will only engage with a brand’s coupon or offer if it directly relates to how they have interacted with brands previously.”

4. Positioning

Positioning identifies the product or brand as the best in comparison to the competition. Oftentimes these ads will boast features such as #1 in customer service.

For a more clear understanding, take a look at this 7 Step Brand Positioning Strategy Process, courtesy of Cult Branding:

In order to create a position strategy, you must first identify your brand’s uniqueness and determine what differentiates you from your competition.

There are 7 key steps to effectively clarify your positioning in the marketplace:

• Determine how your brand is currently positioning itself
• Identify your direct competitors
• Understand how each competitor is positioning their brand
• Compare your positioning to your competitors’ to identify your uniqueness
• Develop a distinct and value-based positioning idea
• Craft a brand positioning statement
• Test the efficacy of your brand positioning statement

5. Brand Image

If you decide to create a psychological connection with a brand/product, then you are likely using this message strategy. This strategy oftentimes creates a personality for a brand and may not always specifically sell a product. For example, Johnson & Johnson used the idea of “love” in one of their ads, not necessarily targeted at a specific product.

Your brand image plays perhaps the most important role in how consumers perceive your brand. It encompasses everything from the colors in your logo to the imagery in your marketing materials. It’s crucial that you stay consistent in your imagery so that consumers think of you when they see it. A great way to help narrow down the brand image is to

6. Pre-emptive

Last but not least is the choice to use a preemptive strategy. This means that you are choosing to be the first to make a claim about your product or service. This claim may also be true for your competition, but you are the first to tell your target audience about it. Listerine used this strategy in their ads that claimed their breath strips would be like covering up a crime scene. If you plan to use this approach, make sure that you are extremely thorough in your research of competitors and their marketing approaches and strategies.

Success depends on first finding the right message, but it’s equally critical to distribute this message effectively. Download our white paper on Disruptive Marketing Technologies to learn more about the methods shaking up the industry and how to leverage them for success.

Every brand and business needs a creative strategy in order to be intriguing and successful. The creative strategy a business chooses to implement will determine pivotal marketing and advertising efforts that define who they are as a brand. Although many use a set strategy, it is important to take creative risks to make a unique breakthrough and be noticed.

Marketing Measurement

Many marketing benchmarks such as sales, web traffic, SEO, social engagement, and conversion rates are all fairly simple to measure. These results are tracked with analytical data, thus making their performance measurable. If one tactic isn’t working, it’s easy to figure out why, and try an alternative approach. However, before you can help build the results that you want for your brand, there should be a strategy in place. The backbone of every strategy is based on a creative idea–and all interesting, creative ideas are fueled by extensive research and detailed insights. The purpose of Creative Strategy is to set the foundation for business growth, and can be considered in three core steps.

• Research
• Creativity
• Strategic Planning

essential to any marketing plan–especially for the launch of a new website. Any cohesive strategy will address and outline the following–all of which impact business growth:

1. Needs and Goals

The only way to get a clearly defined answer is to ask clearly defined questions. A well thought-out Creative Strategy will uncover the most pertinent business and brand needs to address and leverage both consumer and industry insights, illustrating a custom solution. Take Dominos’ Pizza Turnaround Campaign for example. Once Dominos began taking customer feedback and applying it to its creative marketing strategy, sales skyrocketed. With Dominos’ Pizza Turnaround Campaign, the recipes and style of pizza changed to suit customer preferences. Once altering their product to target customers, Dominos came out victorious in a pizza taste test. Dominos engaged in several sales tactics such as contests awarding customers free pizza, being featured on Gayle King’s talk show, celebrity endorsements, and much more. The hashtag #NewPizza trended on social media. Dominos allowed its satisfied customers to do the marketing for them.

2. Create a Roadmap

Solutions are a great starting point – but how do we get there? It’s the job of a Creative Strategist to determine the most effective way to get from Point A to Point B. What threats stand in the way and how can they be avoided? What mistakes have other businesses made and what can be learned from them? Creating a roadmap that addresses these questions is essential to mobilize your team with a bird’s eye view of clear next steps. Creating a roadmap will allow for employees to clearly understand the company’s creative marketing strategy. Sometimes a business should prepare multiple marketing plans to address specific targets.

A marketer could use a SWOT analysis to answer questions and identify the next steps for a business. The SWOT analysis is a useful technique for understanding your business’s strengths and weaknesses, and to identify both the opportunities open to your business and the threats you face (the elements that make up the acronym: SWOT). By assessing your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, you can properly format a creative marketing plan to move your company forward. Sedibeng Breweries devised a new business plan once assessing a SWOT analysis of their business. Based on their several strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, they were able to better orchestrate a creative marketing strategy.

3. What’s Happening?

Simply put, a Creative Strategy must be informed. What’s going on in your industry? What is the competition doing? What new technology is on the horizon? What’s going on in the digital and social space? A roadmap can’t weave through the complexities of the business world without being well informed on what’s happening… everywhere.

By staying informed on industry changes, you can stay on top of your industry. A competitive analysis is a good strategy to keep your company as up- to-date as possible. A completive analysis involves identifying your competition and comparing their products and services as well as their strengths and weaknesses to your own. You can also stay up-to-date by reading trade magazines, visiting online news sites about your business field, and attending industry conferences.

4. Tell a Story

Content drives online success, but what drives content? A brand’s point of view – their story – should set the foundation for all communication efforts. What is your brand’s unique perspective and position? This will determine your messaging strategy and visual vocabulary. Every audience loves a story. What’s yours?

Beardbrand, a company that sells facial hair grooming supplies, is a story of beard-lovers and their efforts to market their unique product to their target customers appropriately. Founder Eric Bandholz discovered his passion when he entered in the 2012 West Coast Beard & Mustache Championships. While at the competition, he fell in love with the culture. He was inspired to unite beardsmen and build a community that would turnaround the negative stereotype of bearded men being lazy and unkempt. Eric states that Beardbrand produces a steady stream of quality content aimed at men “who are passionate not only about their facial hair, but their style, their careers and their independence”.

5. Influence Behavior

Great – the goals are now determined and the plan is in place. Now, what is the desired action we want the end user (the audience) to take? The more specific the action, the more effective the conversion will be. By establishing direct calls to action and intuitive online pathways for users, the strategy will translate into consumer-focused terms that are both relatable and relevant. Take CloudSponge for example, once they redesigned their website; they achieved a 33% Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) increase. By making their website interactive and adding a call to action, CloudSponge was able to influence the behavior of their customers by converting page visitors into customers.

Select the best communication channels at work in 3 steps

How you deliver your message to its intended audience is essential to effective communication in the workplace. Fortunately, after you figure out what you need to say in your message, there are steps you can take to help you decide how to send your message in the most productive way.

Step 1: Identify what kind of message you’re sending

Start by asking yourself a series of questions about the information you need to convey so you can zero in on the appropriate communication channels to use.

• Is your message formal or informal?
• Does this information need to be referenceable?
• Is this information urgent or time sensitive?
• Are you relaying confidential or sensitive information?
• Is this information general or specific?
• Are you communicating with an individual or a group?
• Is the individual a peer, a higher-up, or someone you lead?
• Do you need to deliver a message to your team or the whole company?
• Is this one-way or two-way communication (i.e., does it require a response)?

Step 2: Consider your company’s culture around communication

The Slack Future of Work Study highlights that trust, tools, and teamwork are essential for employee engagement and productivity. Also, the study found that 80% of workers want to know more about how decisions are made in their organization.

So if your team is all about face-to-face communication at work, upholding that belief might mean delivering bad news in person instead of sending out an impersonal email. And if your company prides itself on work/life balance, an after-midnight direct message probably isn’t the best move.

Step 3: Pick a delivery method based on your audience

Your organization likely has several communication channels for you to choose from. Here are the most common ones:

In person

• One-on-ones
• Team meetings
• Companywide meetings
• Retreats

In-person communication at work allows you to convey the broadest range of emotions, forces the conversation to occur in real time, and generally allows for information to flow both ways.

Many offices use weekly meetings to get everyone on the same page at the start of the week. Annual companywide meetings set the tone for the year. And retreats can be a helpful time to connect with your team in a different setting. These in-person engagements can be both formal and informal depending on the objective.

One-on-one in-person meetings are better for delivering sensitive information such as compensation packages or constructive criticism about job performance. However, they can also be used for a less formal purpose such as getting to know a new employee better or seeking out an executive for mentorship.

Voice and video

• Direct phone call
• Conference call
• Video chat
• Pre-recorded video

We can’t always be in person with the people we need to connect with. When that happens, we often rely on voice and video calls to get our message across. Voice and video calls are also easier to record for when the information being shared will need to be referenced later.

For one-on-one calls or calls with smaller groups, it’s easy for employees and workers to ask their questions and provide feedback in the moment. The more people you have on a call or who are tuning into a live video stream, the more challenging it is to foster engagement for two-way communication at work. If no engagement is required at all, a pre-recorded video can be emailed out.

Written

• Direct emails
• Mass emails
• Text messages
• Instant messaging

Written communication dominates the workplace. It’s fast and easy, can be formal or informal, and doubles as documentation. Dashing off a question by email or sending out an email blast for important information everyone needs to know might be the norm at your company.

Texting might be controversial at some businesses, while others have fully embraced it. In general, texting is best used to connect quickly with someone and tends to be more informal. A client might text a contractor to see whether they’re available to hop on a call in an hour versus taking the risk of the email languishing in their inbox.

And then there are instant messaging platforms. This delivery method allows you to get your question answered fast and in real time and saves you from having to walk over to a colleague’s desk. It also frees your email inbox from the clutter of single word and single sentence emails.

In order to accomplish the overall goals of training, time and special attention must be given to planning each session. Clear and concise objectives must be stated at the start of training. These objectives will help staff understand what steps are needed to reach the final goals and will help in the planning. Providing trainees with objectives will help them understand what he/she will accomplish by the end of training and will provide them with measurable signs of their progression.

Writing behavioral objectives is a fairly easy task once the basics are understood. Before actually writing the objectives you should do some background research into the volunteer assignment and existing training designs and previous objectives. Once you know what will be required of the volunteers, you can begin to write up the training objectives.

Also known as: Learning objectives. Instructional objectives. Performance objectives. An objective is the knowledge or skills one wants the student to be able to exhibit in order to be considered competent. Objectives are related to outcomes because they detail the expected results or outcomes of instruction. Behavioral objectives provide the student with a road map of how to achieve competency. While all programs strive to achieve the same competencies, the route or objectives they select to use may differ.

Behavioural change theories are attempts to explain why behaviours change. These theories cite environmental, personal, and behavioural characteristics as the major factors in behavioural determination. In recent years, there has been increased interest in the application of these theories in the areas of health, education, criminology, energy and international development with the hope that understanding behavioural change will improve the services offered in these areas. Some scholars have recently introduced a distinction between models of behavior and theories of change. Whereas models of behavior are more diagnostic and geared towards understanding the psychological factors that explain or predict a specific behavior, theories of change are more process-oriented and generally aimed at changing a given behavior. Thus, from this perspective, understanding and changing behavior are two separate but complementary lines of scientific investigation.

General theories and models

Each behavioural change theory or model focuses on different factors in attempting to explain behaviour change. Of the many that exist, the most prevalent are learning theories, social cognitive theory, theories of reasoned action and planned behaviour, transtheoretical model of behavior change, the health action process approach and the BJ Fogg model of behavior change. Research has also been conducted regarding specific elements of these theories, especially elements like self-efficacy that are common to several of the theories.

Self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is an individual’s impression of their own ability to perform a demanding or challenging task such as facing an exam or undergoing surgery. This impression is based upon factors like the individual’s prior success in the task or in related tasks, the individual’s physiological state, and outside sources of persuasion. Self-efficacy is thought to be predictive of the amount of effort an individual will expend in initiating and maintaining a behavioural change, so although self-efficacy is not a behavioural change theory per se, it is an important element of many of the theories, including the health belief model, the theory of planned behaviour and the health action process approach.

Learning theories and behaviours analytic theories of change

Social learning and social cognitive theory

According to the social learning theory (more recently expanded as social cognitive theory), behavioural change is determined by environmental, personal, and behavioural elements. Each factor affects each of the others. For example, in congruence with the principles of self-efficacy, an individual’s thoughts affect their behaviour and an individual’s characteristics elicit certain responses from the social environment. Likewise, an individual’s environment affects the development of personal characteristics as well as the person’s behavior, and an individual’s behaviour may change their environment as well as the way the individual thinks or feels. Social learning theory focuses on the reciprocal interactions between these factors, which are hypothesised to determine behavioral change.

Theory of reasoned action

The theory of reasoned action assumes that individuals consider a behaviour’s consequences before performing the particular behaviour. As a result, intention is an important factor in determining behaviour and behavioural change. According to Icek Ajzen, intentions develop from an individual’s perception of a behaviour as positive or negative together with the individual’s impression of the way their society perceives the same behaviour. Thus, personal attitude and social pressure shape intention, which is essential to performance of a behaviour and consequently behavioural change.

Theory of planned behaviour

In 1985, Ajzen expanded upon the theory of reasoned action, formulating the theory of planned behaviour, which also emphasises the role of intention in behaviour performance but is intended to cover cases in which a person is not in control of all factors affecting the actual performance of a behaviour. As a result, the new theory states that the incidence of actual behaviour performance is proportional to the amount of control an individual possesses over the behaviour and the strength of the individual’s intention in performing the behaviour. In his article, Further hypothesises that self-efficacy is important in determining the strength of the individual’s intention to perform a behaviour. In 2010, Fishbein and Ajzen introduced the reasoned action approach, the successor of the theory of planned behaviour.

Transtheoretical or stages of change model

According to the transtheoretical model of behavior change, also known as the stages of change model, states that there are five stages towards behavior change. The five stages, between which individuals may transition before achieving complete change, are precontemplation, contemplation, preparation for action, action, and maintenance. At the precontemplation stage, an individual may or may not be aware of a problem but has no thought of changing their behavior. From precontemplation to contemplation, the individual begins thinking about changing a certain behavior. During preparation, the individual begins his plans for change, and during the action stage the individual begins to exhibit new behavior consistently. An individual finally enters the maintenance stage once they exhibit the new behavior consistently for over six months. A problem faced with the stages of change model is that it is very easy for a person to enter the maintenance stage and then fall back into earlier stages. Factors that contribute to this decline include external factors such as weather or seasonal changes, and/or personal issues a person is dealing with.

Health action process approach

The health action process approach (HAPA) is designed as a sequence of two continuous self-regulatory processes, a goal-setting phase (motivation) and a goal-pursuit phase (volition). The second phase is subdivided into a pre-action phase and an action phase. Motivational self-efficacy, outcome-expectancies and risk perceptions are assumed to be predictors of intentions. This is the motivational phase of the model. The predictive effect of motivational self-efficacy on behaviour is assumed to be mediated by recovery self-efficacy, and the effects of intentions are assumed to be mediated by planning. The latter processes refer to the volitional phase of the model.

Fogg Behavior Model

The BJ Fogg Behavior Model. The different levels of ability and motivation define whether triggers for behavior change will succeed or fail. As an example trying to trigger behavior change through something difficult to do (low ability) will only succeed with very high motivation. In contrast, trying to trigger behavior change through something easy to do (high ability) may succeed even with average motivation.

The BJ Fogg Behavior Model. The different levels of ability and motivation define whether triggers for behavior change will succeed or fail. As an example trying to trigger behavior change through something difficult to do (low ability) will only succeed with very high motivation. In contrast, trying to trigger behavior change through something easy to do (high ability) may succeed even with average motivation.

The Fogg Behavior Model (FBM) is a design behavior change model introduced by BJ Fogg. This model posits that behavior is composed of three different factors: motivation, ability and triggers. Under the FBM, for any person (user) to succeed at behavior change needs to be motivated, have the ability to perform the behavior and needs a trigger to perform this behavior. The next are the definitions of each of the elements of the BFM:

1. Motivation

BJ Fogg does not provide a definition of motivation but instead defines different motivators:

• Pleasure/Pain: These motivators produce a response immediately and although powerful these are not ideal. Boosting motivation could be achieved by embodying pain or pleasure.
• Hope/fear: Both these motivators have a delayed response and are the anticipation of a future positive outcome (hope) or negative outcome (fear). As an example people joining a dating website hope to meet other people.
• Social acceptance/rejection: People are motivated by behaviors that increase or preserve their social acceptance.

2. Ability

This factor refers to the self efficacy perception at performing a target behavior. Although low ability is undesirable it may be unavoidable: “We are fundamentally lazy” according to BJ Fogg. In such case behavior change is approached not through learning but instead by promoting target behaviors for which the user has a high ability. Additionally BJ Fogg list several elements or dimensions that characterize high ability or simplicity of performing a behavior:

• Time: The user has the time to perform the target behavior or the time taken is very low.
• Money: The user has enough financial resources for pursuing the behavior. In some cases money can buy time.
• Physical effort: Target behaviors that require of physical effort may not be simple enough to be performed.
• Brain cycles: Target behaviors that require of high cognitive resources may not be simple hence undesirable for behavior change.
• Social deviance: These comprehend behaviors that make the user socially deviant. These kind of behaviors are not simple
• Non-routine: Any behavior that incurs disrupting a routine is considered not simple. Simple behaviors are usually part of routines and hence easy to follow.

3. Triggers

Triggers are reminders that may be explicit or implicit about the performance of a behavior. Examples of triggers can be alarms, text messages or advertisement, triggers are usually perceptual in nature but may also be intrinsic. One of the most important aspects of a trigger is timing as only certain times are best for triggering certain behaviors. As an example if a person is trying to go to the gym everyday, but only remembers about packing clothing once out of the house it is less likely that this person will head back home and pack. In contrast if an alarm sounds right before leaving the house reminding about packing clothing, this will take considerably less effort. Although the original article does not have any references for the reasoning or theories behind the model, some of its elements can be traced to social psychology theories, e.g., the motivation and ability factors and its success or failure are related to Self-efficacy.

4. Education

Behavioural change theories can be used as guides in developing effective teaching methods. Since the goal of much education is behavioural change, the understanding of behaviour afforded by behavioural change theories provides insight into the formulation of effective teaching methods that tap into the mechanisms of behavioural change. In an era when education programs strive to reach large audiences with varying socioeconomic statuses, the designers of such programs increasingly strive to understand the reasons behind behavioural change in order to understand universal characteristics that may be crucial to program design.

In fact, some of the theories, like the social learning theory and theory of planned behaviour, were developed as attempts to improve health education. Because these theories address the interaction between individuals and their environments, they can provide insight into the effectiveness of education programs given a specific set of predetermined conditions, like the social context in which a program will be initiated. Although health education is still the area in which behavioural change theories are most often applied, theories like the stages of change model have begun to be applied in other areas like employee training and developing systems of higher education.

5. Criminology

Empirical studies in criminology support behavioural change theories[citation needed]. At the same time, the general theories of behavioural change suggest possible explanations to criminal behaviour and methods of correcting deviant behaviour. Since deviant behaviour correction entails behavioural change, understanding of behavioural change can facilitate the adoption of effective correctional methods in policy-making. For example, the understanding that deviant behaviour like stealing may be learned behaviour resulting from reinforcers like hunger satisfaction that are unrelated to criminal behaviour can aid the development of social controls that address this underlying issue rather than merely the resultant behaviour.

Specific theories that have been applied to criminology include the social learning and differential association theories. Social learning theory’s element of interaction between an individual and their environment explains the development of deviant behaviour as a function of an individual’s exposure to a certain behaviour and their acquaintances, who can reinforce either socially acceptable or socially unacceptable behaviour. Differential association theory, originally formulated by Edwin Sutherland, is a popular, related theoretical explanation of criminal behaviour that applies learning theory concepts and asserts that deviant behaviour is learned behaviour.

6. Energy

Recent years have seen an increased interest in energy consumption reduction based on behavioural change, be it for reasons of climate change mitigation or energy security. The application of behavioural change theories in the field of energy consumption behaviour yields interesting insights. For example, it supports criticism of a too narrow focus on individual behaviour and a broadening to include social interaction, lifestyles, norms and values as well as technologies and policies—all enabling or constraining behavioural change.