Business customer difference
Differentiation between business customers is an important element of business marketing that must be kept in mind when designing a business strategy. Traditionally, four types of business customers are identified, i.e., drivers, amiables, expressives, and analytical (Richmond 110).
However, it should also be mentioned that, with the advent of technologies, another principle of business customer differentiation emerged. As soon as the concept of e-commerce was introduced into the worldwide business field, the phenomenon known as e-business appeared and was rapidly followed by the introduction of an e-business customer into the “game.” The principle of customer differentiation mentioned above is also applicable to the e-business realm.
Segmentation methods
As a rule, two key means of segmentation are distinguished; known as micro-segmentation and macro-segmentation, they differ in their scope. It is important to know for sure the approximate amount of customers that a particular product was designed for. The significance of the given factor is explained by the fact that it defines the scale of the marketing campaign that will be created later on to promote the product. It should be kept in mind that different promotion strategies are used for target groups of different sizes.
As the names of the segmentation types show in a rather graphic way, the macro-segmentation process is designed to classify the types of buyer’s behavior within a comparatively large segment, i. e, within a particular market or a specific age group. Micro-segmentation, in its turn, is aimed at studying the peculiarities of buyers’ behavior within a relatively small group, e.g., a particular organization.
Supply chain management
Defined as the process of managing the acquisition, transportation and processing of the raw material, supply chain management, or SCM, is another crucial element of business evolution. While the process of raw materials search and delivery is often overlooked, it still makes a huge chunk of the entrepreneurship functioning.
SCM is composed of four key elements, which are logistics, distribution, packaging and consumption, and can be defined as the process that includes the acquisition of the raw material from a particular source, followed by material processing, the distribution of the end product, product packaging and, finally, product consumption. In other words, supply chain is the process of raw material being transformed into a product and supplied to the end customer.
Pricing
Another crucial element of business marketing, pricing can be defined as the pricing policy that has been adopted by a particular company. As a rule, the key demand towards a pricing policy concerns its flexibility – a good pricing policy must be flexible enough to allow the customer to choose the options that will help him/her save money. Thus, the seed for creating a future army of loyal customers is planted. Working on a pricing policy is especially complicated in the environment of tight competition, such as the global market.
Advertising and sales promotion
One of the key elements that make marketing both exciting and extremely complicated, the art of appealing to the target audience by conveying subtle messages through various marketing methods that advertising is is definitely worth being mentioned.
The chance to promote certain goods and/or services online via modern media is both the key challenge and the key opportunity of the XXI century. On the one hand, the concept of e-commerce has a huge potential. Using social networking as another method for promoting what a company has to offer is very efficient, since virtual reality has become another refuge for the people of the information society.
In addition, as online advertisements are considerably cheaper than the ones in public transport, or television commercials, a company has the opportunity to use resources in a more rational manner. On the other hand, e-commerce has its restrictions in that it can be blocked by such add-ons as Adblock, Adblock-Plus, etc., whereas billboard advertisements are imprinted into people’s minds more successfully.
As for sales promotion, the given procedure is one of the promotion mix elements, which is aimed at boosting company’s sales by using various media tools. In a more shallow interpretation of the term, sales promotion is a strategy aimed at increasing the popularity of a particular product or products among the target audience in order to improve the company’s score and raise the revenues.
Defining the phenomenon in a comprehensive manner, however, one should also mention that sales promotion is a strategy that embraces all promotion activities and is targeted at improving the company’s image and reputation among its audience.
The Meaning of Distribution and Logistics
As it has been stressed above, logistics and distribution are among the key elements of a company’s successful production process. Although they are not exactly linked to marketing, they still make a huge chunk of company’s activities.
Logistics, in its turn, is defined as the flow of the product and is traditionally split into two major parts, which are the inbound and outbound logistics.
The former deals with the processes of material transportation within the company, i.e., the issues concerning the transfer of the raw material to the company, the movement of the product parts in the course of the production process, etc. The latter, in its turn, concerns the transportation of the end product to the distributors, i.e., warehouses, or the delivery of the end product to the customer.
Collaborative Relationships with Suppliers and Transactive Relationships with Anyone Else: Advantages
Suppliers are the key partners that an organization must maintain perfect relationships with; as long as the actions of a company and its suppliers are well coordinated, it is possible to make the production process impeccable. Therefore, it is crucial to maintain collaborative relationships with suppliers. As for the customers and other stakeholders, transactive relationships will suffice, since they presuppose that each party is not dependent on the choices of another and, therefore, allow for a relatively stable economic situation for a firm.
Meaning of Globalization for the UAE Businesses: Examples
Globalization has affected UAE SMEs deeply, mostly in terms of relationships between stakeholders. To start with, the fact that gender issue has finally been brought up in the UAE entrepreneurship, primarily, in Fatima Al Jaber (Hotteit, Rupp and Sabbagh 74) is worth mentioning.
In addition, globalization allowed some of the UAE companies to expand into foreign markets, the case of the Emirates Group, Inc. (Globalization 25) being the prime example. Finally, globalization helped introduce new business and marketing strategies into the UAE business setting, as the agreement signed between MaRS and the UAE Ministry of Economy (Stevenson para. 1) shows.
CRM System Application: Approaches and Strategies
Among the key CRM system strategies, executive sponsorship, planned approach and project team commitment must be listed. Project team commitment helps plant the seeds of responsibility into the team members and make sure that customers are going to be satisfied with the services provided.
In its turn, planned approach will help avoid the possible obstacles. Indeed, no matter how well coordinated the actions of the team are, accidents may happen, which means that a backup plan must be provided for the project team to rely on. With the help of a planned approach, accidents can be dealt with. Finally, executive sponsorship will provide the project with decent funding. Thus, possible financial issues, such as unexpected costs, will be handled fast and efficiently.
Works Cited
Globalization. Web.
Hotteit, DeAnne, Leila Rupp and Karim Sabbagh. Empowering the Third Billion Women and the World of Work in 2012. Web.
Richmond, Virginia. Socio-Communicative Style and Orientation in Instruction. Web.
Stevenson, Chris. United Arab Emirates and MaRS Sign Agreement to Promote Innovation. Web.