Summary
For this assignment I gave an in depth and clear explanations, reasoning and description of who stakeholders where inside and outside Gogopops. Along with key messages that will have to be transmitted to the selected target audience.
I explained the possible communication barriers that could occur during the message that was being put forward, I also gave some suggestions on how these could be over come if not avoided before they were transmitted.
I have listed all the quotes I have used along with my referencing on my bibliography page which is located at the bottom of the page.
After completing this assignment I achieved the total of 2150 words.
Introduction
For the individual task I have been given some guidelines on what to do, I am working as a marketing assistant within a company and have been asked by the marketing manager to carry out the following tasks:
* Identify the stakeholder groups that the company will be communicating with in relation to the stakeholder for the launch of a new product.
* Describe the key message that will be transmitted to each group and describe the methods that the organisation uses to communicate with these different groups.
* Explain how communication barriers could distort a communication message and suggest how this could be avoided.
The report should be from 2000-2500 words.
Main body text
In today's society it is almost becoming a trend that more and more people are becoming health concious, with this market becoming so vast and wide spread a lot of organisation are "jumping on the band wagon", this including our company (Gogopops). Gogopops is a UK based company and currently produces pure blended fruit juices targeted at higher income groups. Our main success was and still are fruit juices such as mango, kiwi and mango. The success of the company is based on the freshness and natural ingredients in the various fruit juices.
There are two kinds of stakeholders within a company they are internal and external stakeholders.
Internal stakeholders are people who own the company, shareholders, employees and managers. All these people above work for the company and therefore directly get involved in the day to day operation of the company, these people will help make or break the company. There responsibility towards the company is to maintain and keep up working standards for the company as it would direct the company directly, shareholders have a say in what the company has to do but if they don't have a large percentage of shares within the company then there words won't be heard as loudly as for example as someone who has 51% of the company shares.
External stakeholders are people like customers, competitors, suppliers, central and local government agencies, banks, trade associations. These stakeholders don't have many if any direct towards the company itself but they do affect it.
As of this our target market and stakeholders are primarily: affluent households, families, couples and singles who are conscious of green issues. Other groups that could be considered in this are;
* Suppliers & Business
* Partners and Shareholders
* Consumers
* Other Customers
* Employees
* Trade Within Communities
The key message ...
This is a preview of the whole essay
External stakeholders are people like customers, competitors, suppliers, central and local government agencies, banks, trade associations. These stakeholders don't have many if any direct towards the company itself but they do affect it.
As of this our target market and stakeholders are primarily: affluent households, families, couples and singles who are conscious of green issues. Other groups that could be considered in this are;
* Suppliers & Business
* Partners and Shareholders
* Consumers
* Other Customers
* Employees
* Trade Within Communities
The key message that will be transmitted to the internal stakeholders is that the companies products are of the highest standards and that the company will give off a good reputation and upkeep this, in turn of doing this, this will increase usage of the products both new and present will will then increase sales and boost profits.
The message giving to external stakeholders is that this new product is the best for us giving them the most for there money and for there bodies as this product is going to concentrate with the key message that it is a healthy soft drink which is environmentally friendly.
I will now go through the groups and the messages that will be communicated with the target audience:
Suppliers & Business - the message that will be transmitted to this group is that this company is a professional effective and efficient organisation which will pay up and meet orders which are placed with them. Also making sure that its products are as fresh as possible for the best taste.
Partners, shareholders and employees - to this group Gogopops will hit the main objective of any business venture and that is success in the market, in doing this they will have to first of all survive in order to either break even and make profits on the turnover, this will encourage this group as this is a key point to any investment to gain rewards and profits, employees will always see a return of there hard work as they will get pay rises and bonuses for hitting sales targets and production targets.
Consumers - this group are not necessarily the customer but the message will still have to appeal to them that this product is the best for them and that it is better the the rest on the market, to do this Gogopops will have to crate desire for the product.
Customers - these are people in affluent households families, couples and singles who are conscious of green issues - the message that will be put across to this target audience will be that this drink will give the customers a better life style by giving them the nutritions and five a day fruit and veg allowance, for people who are environment friendly and aware of environmental issues such as recycling the product will be placed in waxed and glass cartons so they can be reused and recycled. This helps to boost the company image as it is being environmentally friendly.
Communities Trade - the message that will be given to this group will be the product will entice people into there shops and create more revenue for that store and increase sales and profits, this alone should attract the shop sellers and retailers into buying into the product as other products from Gogopops have already got a good grip on the market and has a good public relations reputation both environmentally and on a national base.
Different ways to communicate to the marketing communication mix:
* Advertising
* Personal selling
* Sales
* Promotion
* Publicity
* Direct marketing
* Cyber-marketing.
Import issues that need to be looked at when thinking about about launching a product are the 4 P's which are:
Product - A product can be either goods or a service that is sold either to a commercial customer or an end consumer. The product or service must address the needs of customers as identified through market research. A customer buys a product, and a consumer uses it. In Gogopops case it is a product that is being given to the public.
Place - Looking at location and where a service is delivered. Place is concerned with various methods of transporting and storing goods, and then making them available for the customer. Getting the right product to the right place at the right time involves the distribution system. The choice of distribution method that Gogopops should take is delivering to retailers/sellers of the product and having vending machines stocked up to ensure maximum sales as possible.
Price - No matter how good the product is, it is unlikely to succeed unless the price is right. This does not just mean being cheaper than competitors. It is useful to realise that this is still a pricing strategy.
Promotion - is communicating with customers, and providing them with information that will assist them in making a decision to purchase a product . The main aims of promotion are to persuade, inform and make people more aware of a brand, as well as improving sales figures. This includes;
* Advertising
* Personal selling
* Sales promotions
* Public relations
Advertising is the most widely used form of promotion, and can be through the media of TV, radio, journals, cinema or billboards and posters. Gogopops could use sponsorship to boost sales, for example, sponsor running or athletic events such as marathons or football, which gives the message that this product is a healthy alternative to another similar drink/brand/product. This will improve Gogopops image immensely.
Below is a diagram of the marketing environment. Underneath is a explanation of what the different environments consist of:
The marketing environment surrounds and impacts upon the organization. There are three key perspectives on the marketing environment, namely the 'macro-environment,' the 'micro-environment' and the 'internal environment'.
The micro-environment
This environment influences the organization directly. It includes suppliers that:
* Deal directly
* Indirectly
* Consumers
* Customers
* Local stakeholders
Micro tends to suggest small, but this can be misleading. Micro describes the relationship between firms and the driving forces that control this relationship. It is a more local relationship, and the firm may exercise a degree of influence.
The macro-environment
This includes all factors that can influence and organization, but that are out of their direct control. A company does not generally influence any laws (although it is accepted that they could lobby or be part of a trade organization). It is continuously changing, and the company needs to be flexible to adapt. There may be aggressive competition and rivalry in a market. The wider environment is also ever changing, and the marketer needs to compensate for changes in culture, politics, economics and technology.
The internal environment
All factors that are internal to the organization are known as the 'internal environment'. They are the 'Five Ms', which are:
* Men
* Money
* Machinery
* Materials
* Markets
The internal environment is as important for managing change as the external. As marketers we call the process of managing internal change internal marketing.
Here is a diagram of how a message is usually transmitted:
Problems with communication can pop-up at every stage of the communication process and have the potential to create misunderstanding and confusion.
"To be an effective communicator and to get a point across without misunderstanding and confusion, the goal should be to lessen the frequency of these problems at each stage of this process with clear, concise, accurate, well-planned communications." Why communication skills are so important: [on-line] (www.mindtools.com/) accessed on 05/12/06.
In order to do this the sender must also know the audience which are the groups that Gogopops are delivering your message. Failure to understand who you are communicating with will result in delivering messages that are misunderstood or being distorted. The message should be written, oral and nonverbal communications these are all affected by the sender's tone, method of organisation, what is communicated and what is left out. The message given out for the product to hit the correct target market and external stakeholders must have intellectual and emotional appeal which in turn might sway the customer/consumers chose of product purchase.
Choosing the correct channel to which the messages are going through, these include verbal, face-to-face meetings, telephone and videoconferencing, written letters, emails, memos and reports.
For the receivers benefit one or two considerations should be thought about. One of these is, the group that has been targeted has ideas and feelings that might influence there decision on the product purchase and should be considered in contrast with what the message is trying to state.
Feedback is important part of any message as it is notification that the message has been understood clearly and easily. It is also important that close attention is given to feedback as it could help eliminate further future problems that may occur.
Context is the situation in which the message is delivered this includes the surrounding environment or broader culture, for example, corporate culture or international cultures.
Distortion of a message could be avoided by using the following guide lines:
* Use appropriate language for example, use of jargon; written so that the recipient can understand
* It would go only to who should receive it, for example, a car salesman writing a memo to the mechanic asking about the BHP (Break Horse Power) on a vehicle is.
* It would use the right context to communicate the information.
* The information would get to the recipient in good time for it to be used in good time.
Creating the correct stimuli for the advertising of the product is important to get the message across to the target audience, by incorporating what the receiver wants into the message it creates a desire for the product and making the perception of the receiver sway towards the product because it is either more to what they want or what they need.
Perceptual distortion is created by the source of the message, which could be stimuli over load, ambiguous stimuli or contradictory stimuli. The distortion that could happen on the perceiver could be due to the fact that he/she may be inattentiveness, perceptual bias or might even have a perceptual defence, an example of this is brand loyalty, as the consumer/customer already uses one product and is happy with it they the mightn't want to change if nothing is wrong with the present product.
