Selecting the Media: Defining the Purpose
Recently, I received three calls from a hospitality facility, which captured my attention. The general purpose of the calls was to obtain my perception of their service quality, know my welfare, and inform me about a promotion that the facility was organizing. Consequently, the specific purpose entailed development of a strong relationship and improvement of consumer loyalty. Although the calls came in at different times, they captured my attention and led me to develop a business relationship with them. According to Armstrong, Adam, Denize, and Kotler, personalized calls boost sales in a firm and lead to consumer loyalty (131). Therefore, by calling me, the company succeeded in winning my loyalty.
Fundamentally, the calls gave a timely message since they called after I had consumed the services of the facility. By calling me, the facility knew that I had knowledge about their services. Lusch and Vargo state that poor timing in calling leads to unproductive results among the consumers and unnecessary expenses in a firm (202). The timing was wise in that the call employed an inquisitive strategy. Moreover, the sender chose the right media of communication. Kitchen and Pelsmacker explain that telephone calls facilitate simultaneous responses, create room for clarifications, and give satisfying results (68). Therefore, by employing a correct timing and choosing the right media of communication the sender’s message was realistic.
Analyzing the Situation: Statement of Purpose
To ascertain the reason leading to the rise in the sales of Style Shop, which sells clothes to men and women, I will engage in an intensive situation analysis of the firm. Some of the elements that I will explore in my statement of purpose include the SWOT analysis, Porter’s Five Forces model, and the 5Cs. I will also study the macro- and micro-environmental factors of the marketing environment relative to the present performance of Style Shop. According to Viardot, a well-designed situation analysis enables managers to understand the present state of a firm and devise probable ways of improving or sustaining the performance (65). Therefore, these elements of analysis aid in the elucidation of the increased sales in Style Shop and the development of competitive strategies.
A study of the SWOT analysis facilitates increased knowledge of the opportunities, weaknesses, strengths, and threats in the marketing environment. Lamb, Hair, and McDaniel assert that by exploring the contents of the Porter’s Five Forces model, managers are in a position to establish the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, identify new entrants and their threats in the market, and determine the magnitude of rivalry the firm faces (38).
Therefore, a study of the contents of the Porter’s Five Forces model increases my understanding of the current performance of the shop. Besides, a close study of the 5Cs model gives important information about the competitors, business environment, the shop’s objectives and strategies, and its potential customers. Essentially, the combination of the knowledge acquired from SWOT analysis, Porter’s Five Forces model, and the 5Cs enhances my understanding of the dynamics in the micro- and macro-environment. Hence, I will be able to analyze the present increase in sales of Style Shop. While micro-environmental factors affect the firm internally, macro environmental factors are external factors that affect the firm.
Line Chart
The line chart presents the recent findings of a poll analyzing pet ownership in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Apparently, the line chart shows an increasing trend of the number of households owning cats in the United Arab Emirates (the UAE) from the year 2012 to the year 2015. The line chart indicates that pet ownership increases exponentially in the UAE. In 2012, the number of households owning cats was 2.2 million in which by the year 2013 the number of households increased by about 9% to 2.4 million. In 2014, the number of households increased by about 27% resulting in 2.8 million households owning cats. By the year 2015, the number of households owning cats increased by 50% adding to 3.3 million households owning cats in the UAE. In this view, chart line reveals that there is an exponential increase in pet ownership in the UAE.
The increasing number of households that own cats in the UAE has the potential consequence to manufacturers of pet food. Given that the number of households owning cats has increased by 50% in the last four years, it implies that manufacturers of pet food should increase their production by more than 50%. Euromonitor International attributes the increasing number of households owning pets to pet humanization and the increasing number of high-income earners (par. 5).
In this view, the Pet Food Manufacturer should increase its production of cat food by more than 50%. It should also expand its market share proportionately to the increasing demand for cat food. In essence, the Pet Food Manufacturer should ensure that its current sales are higher than the sales of 2012 by 50% for it to keep in tandem with the dynamics of the markets as revealed by the poll.
Works Cited
Armstrong, Gary, Stewart Adam, Sara Denize, and Philip Kotler. Principles of Marketing. Sydney: Pearson Australia, 2014. Print.
Euromonitor International. Pet care in the United Arab Emirate. 2015. Web.
Kitchen, Philip and Patrick Pelsmacker. A Primer for Integrated Marketing Communications. New York: Routledge, 2004.Print.
Lamb, Charles, Joseph Hair, and Carl McDaniel. Essentials of Marketing. Mason: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.
Lusch, Robert and Stephen Vargo. The Service-dominant Logic of Marketing: Dialog, Debate, and Directions. New York: Routledge, 2014.Print.
Viardot, Eric. Successful Marketing Strategies for High-Tech Firms. Norwood: Artech House, 2004. Print.