Chapter - 5

RECENT TRENDS IN MARKETING

Over the last few years marketing has changed drastically. In the past the sales executives
had the most of information and we as customer were depended on sales professionals to inform
and guide us in our decisions, but now the development in information technology has changed
everything. Businesses are constantly under pressure to keep up with ever-changing technology
advancements. With the majority of people having access to high speed internet, online videos,
social networking sites, blogs, product review sites, automated follow-up systems and online
advertising, marketers are more focused on making marketing more attractive and interactive.
Marketing now is not just selling and promoting products and services but it is all about
changing the methods from straight out selling to educating, attracting prospects and customers
by adding loads of value to what business offer.

There is a major shift in the Marketing Techniques in the recent past. So the recent trends
in marketing are:

1. E-business
2. Tele marketing
3. M-business
4. Social networked marketing
5. Viral marketing
6. Interactive Television
7. Green marketing
8. Retail marketing
9. Relationship marketing
10. Customer Relationship Management

1. E-BUSINESS :
The use of Internet and Web technologies in business – commonly known as “e-
business” – has changed how marketers implement and enhance their business processes and
interact with their environments. In order to develop a successful e-business model
understanding the customer needs in the light of the new environment is very essential.

MEANING AND CONCEPT :

The use of term e-business was coined by IBM in October 1997, when it launched a
thematic campaign built around the term. Today, e-business has become a buzz word and most
of the corporations are rethinking their business in terms of the Internet and its new culture and
capabilities.

Electronic business, commonly referred to as “e-business”, or an internet business is

generally referred as buying and selling of goods or services through internet. However this
definition just reflects one aspect of e-business i.e., trading. E-business in a broader perspective
involves the use of information and communication technologies to facilitate and support
processes and activities of business. Processes and activities of business includes buying,
selling, customer services, advertising and promotion, supply chain management, processing
orders electronically and cooperating with stakeholders of business and much more. Therefore e-
business is the conduct of business on the Internet, not only buying and selling but also
servicing customers and collaborating with business partners.

FEATURES :

1. Wider reach in terms of market access.

2. Operational round the clock and across the year.
3. E-business covers all the activities of business.
4. Use of information and communication technologies.
5. Attractive, interactive and collaborative.

NEED, IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGES :

1. Helps in presentation of products and services effectively.

2. Provides adequate information about products and services.
3. Eliminates location and availability restrictions.
4. Reduces time and money spent.
5. Expedites customer service.
6. Provides scope for online interaction.
7. Worldwide presence and 24/7 business hours.
8. Makes shopping convenient.
9. Easy to start and manage a business.
10. No need for a physical store.
11. Eliminates market intermediaries.

DISADVANTAGES :

1. Security concerns
2. Lack of personal touch
3. Lacks tangibility as product before purchase cannot be experienced.
4. Lack of clear defined cyber laws.
5. Not suitable for all products & services e.g., perishable commodities.
6. Consumes a lot time for delivery of physical products.
7. Returning goods, replacement and exchanging is a problem.

E-BUSINESS MODELS :

The major different types of e-commerce are: business-to-business(B2B); business-to-

consumer(B2C); business-to-government(B2G); consumer-to-consumer(C2C); and mobile
commerce(m-commerce).
Business-to-Consumer (B2C) In this model transactions take place between
E.g.: selfcare.sdc.bsnl.co.in/is portal offered by consumers and business houses. Here
BSNL for customer care. individuals are also involved in the online
business transactions. The basic concept of this
model is to sell the product online to the
consumers.
Business-to-Business (B2B) Business-to-business (B2B) is one of the major
E.g.: Professional couriers- Track N’ Trace for forms of commerce and represents business
dealers. transactions between businesses, such as
between a producer, distributors and
wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a
retailer.
Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) In this model business transaction is carried
E.g.: Sulekha.com, 99acres.com, shaadi.com, between two individuals using a platform
Quikr.com (website) in the form of intermediary. It helps
the online dealing of goods or services among
consumers.
Business-to-Employee (B2E) B2E model an intra-organization web portal
E.g.: Infosys TalentEdge hosts an interactive which facilitates organizations to provide
employee self-service portal called MyNest. products & services to their employees.
Typically, companies use B2E model to
provide services such as salary slips, income
tax returns, promotions and recruitment,
performance appraisals etc.
Business-to-Government (B2G) Business-to-government (B2G) is a business
model that refers to businesses selling
products, services or information to
governments or government agencies. An
example of a business to government company
is a firm that offers IT consulting services to a
government agency.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) It is another model of e-business in which
E.g.: iMesh, Rapidshare people instantly shares related computer files
and computer sources without having to
interact with central web server.

2. TELE-MARKETING :
Telemarketing is one of the method of direct marketing of products and services offered
by the marketer. Telemarketing is a process of persuading prospective customers to buy
products or services using telecommunication technology. Telemarketing is interactive
marketing medium and it helps the marketers to address the prospect customer’s questions,
concerns, and overcome their objections. There are different methods of telemarketing and each
of the telemarketing method includes a different function. In order to obtain the best results, most
businesses use telemarketing methods depending on their diverse business needs. To achieve the
favourable results, marketers can adopt one or more telemarketing methods separately. The
following are different variants of telemarketing.
Tele-Marketing Methods :

 Interactive voice response

 Voice chat
 Voice & text messages
 Tele Shopping
 Call Centres & BPOs
 Inbound
 Outbound
 Broadcast Fax

1. INTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE :

The Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) can turn out to be an effective tool of
marketing if designed and used in the right way. IVRS has many applications in marketing. It
can be used to answer frequently asked questions about products or services through pre-
recorded messages through IVRS round the clock. The IVRS enables automatic reading of basic
information about product or a service for the callers. The IVRS can also be programmed to
allow the callers record their messages or queries about products and services.

2. VOICE & VIDEO CHAT :

After the emergence of internet as a medium of communication online, voice chat

programmes and video chat networks were mainly used for personal entertainment like popular
dating and to make international phone calls. For a long time, voice chat platforms were besieged
by poor technical quality, relatively high pricing for service. On account of technological
developments and easy access to this technology at affordable prices, voice chat has become
really accessible, affordable, and feature-rich; and better-suited for business-to-business and
business-to-consumer correspondence.

3. VOICE MESSAGES OR VOICE MAIL/SMS MARKETING :

Voice /Text message refers to message sent or received using media such as cellular
device or using internet. The main benefit of marketing product &services using a voice/text
mail or message is that it can generate thousands of ready-to-buy respondents with customer
subject to customer’s interest in the product, further implement a new promotion in limited time
span voice mail marketing can be handy, resulting in an increase in marketing return on
investment and voicemail marketing is also cost effective to reach target customers directly, by
voice. Voice messages are popularly used by mobile phone network providers such as airtel,
Vodafone and idea, etc., to market their product and services.

4. TELESHOPPING :

Teleshopping involves marketing of goods and services by customers using a telephone or

using computer aided devices or televisions or combination of these. The main advantage of
teleshopping is convenience for customers. The customer can purchase a product without visiting
the seller. This saves valuable time, effort and money. However teleshopping suffers from
certain limitations which includes, lack of efficient customer service, problems with the product
delivery service, loss of social contact and lack of visual stimulation.

5. BROADCAST FAX :

Broadcast faxing involves use telephones and fax machines to send multiple recipients,
however it is not popular these days, in the past this method was widely used in developed
countries mostly for business-to-business marketing campaign. If a recipient asked to be
excluded from future broadcast, then that recipient fax number was placed in DO NOT FAX list.
Due to the emergence of a variety of new digital communication methods, the overall use of
faxes is less than in the past.

6. CALL CENTRES :

Marketing these days is usually done through marketer owned call centers or through an
outsourced call centers. Call centre is a centralized office meant for the purpose of receiving and
transmitting a large volume of requests by telephone. Call centers are primarily established to
administer incoming product support or information inquiries from customers and outgoing calls
for telemarketing. Inbound call centre is exclusively handles inbound calls (calls initiated by the
customers). In outbound call centre, the call centre employees make outbound calls to customers
or sales leads.

Tele-Marketing Pros & Cons

1. Economical in terms of cost 1. Telephone marketing is seen as a

nuisance by customers
2. Provides employment (outsourcing) 2. Risk of exposing confidential data by
call center employees
3. Direct interaction with customers 3. Hidden costs
4. Helps in nurturing existing customers 4. Lack of customer focus.
5. Brings technology and thus saves
time

3. M – BUSINESS :
M-business is a branch of electronic commerce which includes buying and selling of
goods and services through wireless handheld devices such as cellular telephone and
personal digital assistants (PDAs).

FEATURES :

1. Any time and any where transaction capability.

2. Services through wireless handheld devices.
3. Wider reach.
4. Attractive, interactive and collaborative.
5. Provides adequate security.
M-BUSINESS PROS & CONS :

1. Conduct business from remote locations 1. Use of limited graphics due to low
bandwidth.
2. Saves time and costs 2. Expensive to set up mobile
infrastructure
3. Not limited by geographical boundaries 3. Compatibility constraints of mobile
devices
4. Customized services can be offered 4. Security of data and transactions.
5. Helps in maintaining competitive edge. 5. User interface is not friendly.

M-BUSINESS APPLICATIONS :

 Mobile ticketing
 Mobile banking
 Mobile stock trading
 Mobile utility payments
 Mobile marketing
 Mobile retailing
 Mobile auctions
 Information services
 Weather updates
 Traffic info
 Stock trackers
 News services etc.
 Local maps
 Learning and training

4. SOCIAL NETWORKED MARKETING

Social media marketing has gained momentum in the recent past, companies not just using
social media to market product and service but to pinpoint the right candidate for a job and this is
prompting a wave of change in corporate hiring.

Social networked marketing is a process of use social media to persuade customers

which involves a set of activities like creating content that attracts attention and encourages
readers to share it with their social networks.

5. VIRAL MARKETING
Viral marketing is a new tactical strategy which uses people as a medium to promote
product or service. A good example for viral marketing is the form of text messages and email.
Viral marketing also involves use of social networks to promote & increase brand awareness or
to achieve other marketing objectives such as sales, understand customer needs etc.

Viral marketing has become a buzzword these days and definitely has a place in the
business world today for various reasons such as: it is more effective ways to market on the
internet, cost effective, and with a good campaign marketers can take advantage of the viral
characteristics and potential of social media and the search engines. As people are constantly
searching, following and networking; make this clear trend work for marketers.

6. INTERACTIVE TELEVISION
With inception of organized digital cable service & interactive television, marketing in
India can change the picture of business, however interactive tv marketing is well established in
countries like USA, UK and Australia. Interactive television has created the possibilities for
marketers that are endless. The majority of us now have cable or digital TV and with this comes
the ability to interact with our TVs, programs and watch or re-watch what we want when we
want, even pause live TV. Interactive television (iTV) marketing describes a number of
techniques that allow customers to interact with television content to shop and transact using
Interactive Digital Television.

7. GREEN MARKETING
According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is the marketing of
products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. On account of increasing global
warming and other ecological disorder a need for environment friendly products and services has
arisen and marketers these days either due to government pressure or as a social responsibility
has taken up green marketing i.e., marketing products and services based on environmental
factors or awareness. Green marketing is not just producing environment friendly products, it
also includes decisions relating to the entire process of company’s products, such as methods of
processing, packing and distribution. This concept also applies to marketing of services example:
eco-tourism, green capital, etc.

CHARACTERISTICS :
1. Products naturally grown
2. Products are recyclable, reusable and biodegradable
3. Products contains natural ingredients without preservatives
4. Products are made in a way that they do not damage or pollute the environment
5. Products packing is eco-friendly.

NEED, BENEFITS & IMPORTANCE :

1. There is growing interest among the consumers all over the world regarding protection of
environment.
2. Our quality of life is increasingly impacted.
3. To fulfill the obligation of social responsibilities towards society.
4. To comply with governmental policies and pressures.
5. To be ahead of competitors, green marketing can be used as strategy.
6. Effective & efficient use of natural resources can attained through green marketing.
7. Helps in reducing costs on account of recycling.
8. It helps in accessing the new markets where environmental standards are given prime
importance e.g., developed nations.
 9. Employees feel proud for being part of environmentally responsible company.
10. Customers also feel satisfied by using green products as they contribute to nature.

PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES :

1. Firms may use green marketing to mislead the customers by means of giving false
information.
2. Educating all the customers about use and need of green products is difficult.
3. Environmental policies are not uniform throughout the country and across the globe this
makes standardization of products difficult.
4. Green marketing involves huge capital investments in adopting environmentally friendly
technology and SMEs may not afford this.
5. Established companies fear alienating their base of mainstream consumers by appealing to
the green consumer.

8. RETAIL MARKETING
A retail is an intermediary in the marketing channel who connects producer to consumer,
retailing is the last stage in the distribution channel. It is not necessary to have intermediaries like
wholesaler, distributor and retailer, a producer can directly the product to the customer, however
this method of distributing products and services to end consumers is inconvenient, expensive
and time consuming as it involves plenty of activities such as warehousing, storing, etc. And
therefore to this job a retailer is required.

Retail comes from the old French word ‘tailer’, which means to cut off a piece or to break
bulk.

According to Philip Kotler :Retailing includes all the activities involved in selling goods
or services directly to final consumers for personal and non-business use.

A retailer or retail store is any business enterprise whose sales volume comes primarily
from retailing. Therefore retail marketing simply refers to the business of selling products and
services to consumers and it includes all the activities such as promotion, advertisement and
customer service that assist in selling products or services directly to consumers a medium such
as stores, internet, malls, kiosks, vending machines or other fixed locations.

CHARACTERISTICS :
1. A retailer mainly focuses on building customer relation and not just selling products.
2. Retailer is last stage in the distribution channel and therefore direct interaction with
customers is possible.
3. Purchases goods in large quantities from the wholesalers and distributors and sell in small
quantity to the consumer.
4. Retailer develops personal contact with the customer and customer centric.
5. Sales promotions are offered at this point only.
6. Location and layout plays a vital role in retailing.
7. Retailer deals in general products or a variety of merchandise.
FUNCTIONS & ROLE :

1. Procurement and assembling

2. Warehousing and storing
3. Grading and packing
4. Selling
5. Assumption of risk
6. Financing
7. Supply of market information
8. Advertisement and communication

9. RELATIONSHIP MARKETING

In the present competitive business environment one of the prime objective of marketing
is to create an in-depth and accustomed relationship with not just customers but all the stake
holders of the business who directly or indirectly affect the success of the firm’s marketing
activities. Relationship marketing includes a set of activities and strategies aimed at developing
customer loyalty, interaction, managing trust and long-term engagement with all the stake
holders of the business. Stake holders of business includes – customers, suppliers, distributors,
retailers, shareholders, government, employees and other marketing partners.

NEED, BENEFITS & IMPORTANCE :

1. Builds trust & Loyalty :

For a business it is important to note that acquiring a new customer can cost more than
retaining an existing one and therefore it becomes invariably important to retain the existing
customer, customers who are continuously acknowledged, interacted and reminded of presence
of brand are less likely to switch over to other brands. Making those customers feel recognized,
known and appreciated can go a long way toward locking up their loyalty. And, it’s also a great
way to get them referring others.

2. To regain lost customers :

Despite of implementing proper retention strategies, some customers will inevitably break
down for various reasons such as better offers and service from competitors. However this
doesn’t mean the customer is lost permanently, marketers can win back these once-valuable
customers by implementing certain relationship marketing strategies such as sending greeting
cards, offering special discounts, better service and offers brochure etc.,

3. Builds reputation and brand value :

Relationship marketing is about establishing long term relationship with the customers. It
includes understanding customer needs throughout the lifecycle and providing the goods and
services accordingly, by building a good relation with customers, marketers fulfill or exceed
customer expectations and provide not just a product or service, but an experience. By doing this
a marketer maintains a long - term customer relationship which leads to enhanced brand image
and value.

4. Create Business Opportunities :

Satisfied customers are ready to pay more for services/products if there are adjustments
in pricing because they are loyal to you and trust your services/products. Further word of mouth
from satisfied customers about the brand influences other customers at the time of buying a
product for the first time or when products are relatively expensive. People are more likely to
buy a product or a service when recommended to do so by a person they know.

5. A tool to gain competitive edge :

Relationship marketing is more than another sales tool for increasing sales and market
share. It’s a powerful device for retaining key customers as well. The goodwill generated through
improved consumer interactions will help the marketer to stay ahead of their competitors.
Gaining competitive advantage through customer satisfaction and customer retention.

10. CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM)

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a business strategy intended towards
understanding, interacting, anticipate and respond to the needs of current and potential
customers using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes.
In other words CRM describes the strategy that a company uses to handle customer
interactions.

The e-CRM or electronic customer relationship management concept is derived from e-

commerce. (e-CRM) involves use of hardware and use of new web-based technologies to
handle customer interactions.

NEED & OBJECTIVES :

1. To facilitate marketing and sales process.
2. To provide better customer service.
3. To attract new customers and increase revenue.
4. To cross sell products more effectively.
5. Lowering operations cost by using CRM technology.
6. To create better and consistent customer experience.
7. Understand customer needs better and maintain long-term relation.

IMPORTANCE & BENEFITS :

1. CRM strategies helps in winning customer loyalty and confidence.
2. Aids in providing personalized products & services to customers.
3. Acquiring better knowledge of customers and their buying habits.
4. Profiling of individual customers is possible & this helps in segmentation.
 5. Can be used as an effective tool against global competition.
6. Developing better communication channels.
7. CRM system will also help in expanding business operations.
8. CRM helps in coping with the increased numbers of customers & data.

SCOPE & CONTENTS :

1. Companies adopting & initiating CRM.
2. Customers, suppliers and other marketing channel partners of those companies.
3. Vendors of CRM software: E.g.: Oracle, SAP
4. CRM application service providers or software service providers.
5. Vendors of CRM hardware and infrastructure.
6. Management consultants.

STEPS IN CRM IMPLEMENTATION :

1. Develop CRM strategy
2. Building basic framework for CRM initiatives.
3. Need specification and partner selection.
4. Project implementation
5. Evaluation of performance.

THE ROLE OF CRM CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT :

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is the newest and the most innovative innovations
of recent time in order to provide better service to customer. CRM is always a helpful tool for the
management and customer service stuffs which cope up with customer concerns and issues.
CRM involves accumulating a lot of data about the customer. And when all the data of customer
are being captured, it is then used to facilitate customer service transaction by making the
information needed to resolve the issue or concern readily available in order to deal with the
customers. Thus, it results in satisfying more customers, which means more profitable business
and more resources available to the support stuff. In addition, customer relationship management
system is a great help to the management in deciding on the future course of the company.

11. SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING :

Search engine marketing (SEM) is a method of marketing on internet which includes
promotion of websites gaining traffic from or visibility on search engines in search engine
result pages in the form of paid placement. SEM includes search engine optimization, pay-per-
click advertising, and other techniques for making your site and content more visible to internet
users.

How Search Engine Marketing works?

Search engine marketing helps in promotion of product, service or brand, website by

making it more visible to possible clients/customers using search engines. As most online sales
start with a web search – therefore visibility of product, service or brand, website of marketer
helps in attracting the prospective sale.
1. SEO/Search Engine Optimization – This is done by developing web pages by relevant
content , this is to help it gradually rank well in the ‘natural’ search listings for a
particular keyword; successful SEO will increase your site’s ranking in the natural search
results listings.

2. PPC/Pay-per-click – It is a strategic marketing model in which the marketers bid to

exhibit their ads on searches for a particular keyword or phrases and pay only when some
clicks through from the search page to the marketers website. This can be regarded as an
outstanding and very cost-effective marketing model that can bring a guaranteed listing at
the top of the search engines – but required quite a bit of research and testing to get right.

3. The effectiveness of search engine marketing success depends on the back office team
which collects data of customers from websites and therefore the office team should
make sure that when they get all this traffic it can be converted into the required
sales/newsletter sign ups/brochure requests, etc.