The Four Core Business Processes
Core business processes refer to the smallest individual tasks to be accomplished to provide consistency in output without any consideration to software, people, resources, or hardware. Businesses efficiently need a division of work, and that is done by focusing on specialized employees assigned in the department (Srivastava, Shervani and Fahey, 1999).
- Product Management Processes
This process aims to create solutions or products that align with the wants and needs of customers. Under this process, a company designs new product solutions and coordinates product design activities so that the business process can be carried out with speed. For example, in e1987 when Fuji introduced the QuickSnap 35 millimeter camera in the US market, Kodak did not have its cown similar model. Kodak then introduced three more models after designing a rival product. By 1994, Kodak ended up dominating the market and producing its products faster than Fuji because of its four models Kodak (Srivastava, Shervani and Fahey, 1999).
- Supply Chain Management Process
This process involves selecting suppliers who are qualified, order processing, pricing, and billing. This process includes distinct operations such as managing product assembly, identifying and qualifying potential vendors, logistics, managing and distribution of order processing, pricing as well as costs. For example, Procter & Gamble prefer promotions that are low price because high price promotions affect demand patterns causing peaks and valleys, and this leads to an increase in cash flows volatility and also affects the manufacturing operations (Srivastava, Shervani and Fahey, 1999).
- Customer Relationship Management Process
This process involves identifying new potential customers, designing advertising, promotion, and sales activities, and enhancing customer loyalty and trust. Successful implementation of a customer relationship process can lead to customer loyalty and an increase in cash flow. For example, the American Airlines Advantage program is a way of fostering customer retention, and programs such as auto leasing lead to an increase in repurchase rates (Srivastava, Shervani and Fahey, 1999).
- Operational Processes
The operational process includes sales and marketing, processing, and manufacturing. The marketing process involves market intelligence gathering and using the information gathered within the organization. For example, in a healthcare system, operational processes include components of the revenue cycle and patient care process. There’s a need for marketing managers to understand how each core process operates. For example, product design within the Product management process can lead to customer loyalty and ease in the use of products (Srivastava, Shervani and Fahey, 1999).
Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is a type of marketing research whose primary focus is obtaining data through open-ended questions. This research reveals the perception and the behavior of target customers about a specific topic. The results obtained from this method are more descriptive. The types of qualitative research methods are case study research, interviews that are in-depth, content analysis and focus groups (Bhat, 2020).
Why Qualitative Research might be useful to marketers.
According to Bhat (2020), Qualitative research reveals feelings, behaviors, and perceptions that make the consumer or customer to choose a specific decision and not others. It is achieved by asking respondents open-ended questions after building a rapport with them. This encourages them to share their true feelings and stories about the product.
He further asserts that in marketing, qualitative research is used to test new products and find out whether or not clients would like that particular product. It is also another way of discovering attitudes or perceptions which cannot be identified through quantitative research. An example is gauging the voice intonation, the body language, or behavioral reaction of a client or customer when they are looking at a product packaging or an advertisement (Bhat, 2020).
Qualitative research can consist of surveys and customer interviews. A market researcher can interview target customers to find out their needs and whether they like the service or product. The results you get from this is soft data that can help companies understand what their customers want. Surveys are useful because it informs how companies position their products to customers since it provides more quantitative data (Chiu, 2017).
Drawbacks of Qualitative Research
One of the drawbacks of surveys and interviews is that it is not easy to verify and replicate. Reviews are also subject to biases. The many-dimensional data and the open agenda is an excellent challenge with qualitative analysis. Researchers are increasingly employing technology to analyze the data under the pressure of time limits and growing amounts of potentially relevant raw material (Chiu, 2007).
“Consumers have become part-time marketers.”
I agree that consumers have become part-time marketers. This is because consumers also play some role in marketing your products. When consumers are satisfied with a particular product, they would want to identify with the brand (Balle, 2017). Over the past two years, more and more consumers receive video content on mobile devices and social media sites such as Facebook or YouTube, and they watch Television commercials using digital video recorders to watch TV commercials. Billboards close to the train lines and bus routes find it challenging to attract the attention of people who are always on their smartphones. Price-sensitive, more empowered, demanding, and critical customers prefer using online review forums, blogs, and social networks to identify brands that form relationships with them and to look for objective advice about products. In short, there is a continued increase in avenues that customers use to connect with companies (French, LaBerge, and Magill, 2011).
Facebook is the best way to reach your target audience because you can advertise to people by behavior, interests, location, and age. One can easily engage their audience on Facebook once they identify their target customers. Using Facebook helps the company cut on costs and is also fast and provides immediate results. It is easy to see conversions, clicks, and impressions you are receiving. Facebook also helps increase the number of times that customers view your brand.
Consumers help the company come up with a marketing plan by acting as agents through word-of-mouth, and those who have used your product review it both online and offline and can act as referrals. When trying out new products and services, individuals tend to trust referrals. Once the consumer has identified with a particular brand on social media, for example on Facebook, it will be easy for the company to offer the product to request feedback about the product. The consumer plays a significant role in helping the company gather feedback after its products or services hit the market. An effective way of tracking the consumer needs and improving on the company products is by using social media to seek for product reviews (Balle, 2017).
Two-family categorizations
The two-family categorizations consist of parents and siblings/children. An individual’s buying behavior is mostly influenced by close family members. Families transmit values and behaviors and act as the primary source of information about products and brands (Wiese and Kruger, 2016).
Impact of Parents on the Buying Behavior
Parents act as role models because they influence the consumer behavior of their child. Parents play a primary role in shaping consumers’ norms, values, and perceptions. Consumers who are young, base their attitudes and behavior on their parents because they see them as role models. Parents are the ones who are the most influential trainers of the child’s consumer behavior, which influences the child into adulthood. After some time, the child becomes an independent consumer because of the skills they observed from their parent’s consumer behavior. Store and product preferences are influenced by the consumer behavior of a child because shopping habits are passed on by parents from one generation to another (Wiese and Kruger, 2016).
Impact of Children on the Buying Behavior
Family characteristics and product types are factors that determine the level a child influences family purchase decisions. The decisions for purchasing of children products like toys, cereals, snacks, and children’s wear are influenced by children. Children also have an influence on which restaurants to visit when families make holiday decisions. However, Children do not impact decisions such as how, when and where to buy a product instead, they impact on decisions such as model, color and brand. Even if the buyer no longer interacts very much with his or her parents, their influence on behavior can be significant. Therefore, children are more likely to replicate the consumption patterns of services or products from their parents (Geuens, Mast and Pelsmacker, 2002).
- How can Tesla implement a marketing campaign with a limited budget?
Tesla is a company that specializes in the manufacturing of electric vehicles, and it is based in the United States of America. The best way for Tesla to implement a marketing campaign, with a limited budget is by using print media because it is more efficient and cost-effective. They can also use Word of mouth and referrals and through road trips to showcase Tesla’s design and features. They should also have a clear vision statement because this shows that they believe in what they sell, and this will make the company stand out for not only what the company makes or do but also what they believe in. Consumers will want to identify with a brand that stands out from the rest. Personal branding efforts by the CEO will make a massive difference to the growth of the company. Thus, it is an excellent idea to let the marketing team dedicate a part of their efforts and strategy to improve the leadership’s social media presence and authority (Fergerson, 2019).
- Who is the target customer of Tesla?
Tesla is focusing on successful entrepreneurs, business executives, and average consumers who are not only luxury buyers but also are tech-savvy. These are wealthy consumers, early adopters, and whose income levels put them in the upper-middle-class segment. Tesla’s target customers are predominantly male, and their target audience segments are the old majority and early adopters who, over the next five years, are more likely to purchase an electric vehicle. The other target audience with strong Altruistic and biospheric values is the Active Environmental Segment, and this group is willing to adapt their lifestyles around (Fergerson, 2019).
- What is the future of Tesla?
The future of Tesla is to bring compelling mass-market electric cars as soon as possible by accelerating the arrival of sustainable transport. Tesla’s primary focus is on the efficiency of the development of battery technology and electronic car production. Tesla is planning to increase its output to 500,000 cars in 2020 and is also planning to release its three extreme models faster. The more significant issue for Tesla is that they produce premium vehicles that are not affordable to average buyers. The company plans to invest more resources into developing cars that meet the range requirements by making electric vehicles more attractive than diesel and petrol (Fergerson, 2019).
REFERENCES
Fergerson, T., 2019. 3 Lessons to Learn from Tesla’s Marketing Strategy.
Available at https://www.rightmixmarketing.com/marketing/3-lessons-to-learn-from-teslas-marketing-strategy/ [Accessed 14th May 2020]
Balle, L., 2017. Difference between a Buyer and a Consumer. Available at https://bizfluent.com/info-7846427-difference-between-buyer-consumer.html [Accessed 14th May 2020]
Chiu, N., 2007. Exploring financing and relationships in entrepreneurship. Available at https://www.quora.com/What-is-qualitative-research-Why-might-it-be-useful-to-marketers-What-are-its-major-drawbacks [Accessed 14th May 2020]
Bhat, A., 2020. Qualitative Research: Definition, Types, Methods, and Examples. Available at https://www.questionpro.com/blog/qualitative-research-methods/ [Accessed 14th May 2020]
Wiese, M. and Kruge, L.M., (2016). Parental influence on Consumer and Purchase Behaviour of Generation Y. ISSN 0378-5254 Journal of Family Ecology and Consumer Sciences, Vol 44, 2016. Available at file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/143706-Article%20Text-381449-1-10-20160912.pdf [Accessed 14th May 2020]
Srivastava, R.K., Shervani, T.A. and Fahey, L., 1999. Marketing, Business Processes, and Shareholder Value: An Organizationally Embedded View of Marketing Activities and the Discipline of Marketing. Available at https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2257&context=lkcsb_research [Accessed 14th May 2020]
French. T., LaBerge, L. and Magill, P., 1996. We are all Customers: Engaging customers today requires commitment from the entire company—and a redefined marketing organization. Available at https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/were-all-marketers-now [Accessed 15th May 2020]