Which Mass Media Forms are Most Appropriate as a Part of your Marketing Strategy?

Deciding on which mass media forms are most appropriate is a challenge for marketers. This would also require them to weigh out each of the respective benefits and disadvantages derived from either TV ads, radio or print ads.

In using radio ads, marketers find that it has flexibility in terms of costs in producing and placing it. It also has short closings which allow quick response from its audience. In addition, radio ads could be adjusted for creating a broad and localized market coverage and is found to be very effective if used during the morning. Its disadvantage however, is in its lack of visuals that could create passive response to its audiences. But others see this as a more creative means for listeners to have their own interpretation to create a much more relevant imagination brought by its accompanying sound and music.

TV ads are very effective to consumers. It both uses sounds and images to portray a creative demonstration of product attributes and benefits. Aside from reaching a wide coverage of consumers, it could persuasively explain a product’s benefits to its target market and at the same time give a dramatic portrayal of user and usage imagery and brand personality. But because of the creative elements that go with it, brand image and or the ad’s message can be overlooked aside from the fact that it entails high cost per exposure. There are also a lot of TV ads that clutter on every station causing TV ads and its intended message to be forgotten easily or even mixed up with that of other brands’ by its viewers.

Print ads on the other hand, like magazines and newspapers, are able provide much detailed information due to its self-paced nature. Because it gives detailed descriptions, it can effectively create user and usage imagery just with the use of words. It could also utilize images but only to provide a static presentation of the ad. Magazines are more colorful and effective in building user and usage imagery compared to newspapers which have poor reproduction quality and short shelf life that gives only a limited impact to brand consumers.

With the pros and cons mentioned, it is up to you to weigh them in relation to the nature of your products and or services offered, your intended target market and the budget that you have. Best of luck in choosing the right one or you can hire a professional marketer or set up a marketing department to do it for you, as long as you have the resources to fund it.

Brand Equity Significance

Ever wonder why some of your friends are brand conscious? Why a brother or sister usually buys one brand of jeans or blouses? Why does mother recognize only one brand of toothpaste and why do you see that same old appliance name all over the kitchen? There is definitely something behind the mindset of people that sellers are keen on---brand equity. What's that?!

Brand equity as stated in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_equity refers to the marketing effects or outcomes that accrue to a product with its brand name compared with those that would accrue if the same product did not have the brand name. Brand equity then, is the added value endowed to products and services, is reflected in how customers think, feel and act with respect to the brand. Strong brand equity influences buying decision and shapes the ownership experience. It creates trust and an emotional attachment to the product or company. This attachment causes the market to make decisions based, or in part upon emotion towards a brand and not just for logical reasons. It helps make purchasing decisions easier particularly in a commodity market where features and benefits are virtually identical. It makes customers create a set of expectations about a product without even knowing the specifics of its features.

Brand equity is also important to companies because it facilitates a more predictable income stream. It increases cash flow by increasing market share, reducing promotional costs and allowing premium pricing. It can command a premium price and maximize the number of units that can be sold at that premium.

Moreover, brand equity builds a lasting impression, which is name recognition for the company and its products. It communicates a strong, consistent message about the value of a company and helps it sell value and intangibles that surround its products. It fences off competition and protects market share while building mind share where customers think of the company first when thinking of the product category where it belongs. As an asset, it can be sold or leased. Therefore, a brand is nearly worthless unless it enjoys some equity in the market place. Without brand equity, companies simply have a commodity product.

This is why meticulous efforts are focused alone on creating a brand name together with designing its logo color, figure and print. Businesses even employ the services of advertising agencies to make the most of their market branding and positioning. Other firms provide warranty and customer service centres in order to improve customer experience in the hope to avoid or even lessen post purchase behaviour and look forward to their purchase again in the future.

Motivation In Times of Bankruptcy

We have been through the world economic crisis and many have learned to get over from their fall while other businesses are still constantly trying their best to be back on track. During these hard times, the stressed workforce are starting into their job hunting skills scouring around for greener pastures. As employee turn over had started to become an issue, additional costs of having delayed work for vacated positions and the loss of skilled, trained and experienced employees are gradually incurred by the company. If ever new ones come in, costs of giving them the orientation and training needed will still be there. So how can management motivate their employees to prevent them from moving to more stable companies and avoid additional costs?

The answer lies in trying to be the best company around who cares most for their employees. The catch here is, even if they could indeed find a better offer somewhere else, they would not have the benefits that make them feel more attached and cared for by an employer. A company then, can provide employee wellness and assistance programs. An idea would be providing counseling for emotional stress, family discord, and alcohol abuse. This will both improve willingness to stay with the organization and at the same time, help develop their overall performance by alleviating some of their personal issues. Effective communication can also sooth employees' anxieties by informing them updates on the company's financial condition, as well as modifications done on policies and procedures.

It would also be helpful if management then becomes more sensitive to personnel needs by conducting attitude surveys to figure out employee concerns and carry out relevant programs which can deal with the most indicated issues. Other efforts to reduce turnovers include the help of motivational speakers during group sessions and recognition programs to concurrently enhance retention and performance. Those given recognition awards would then serve as role models for other employees. In addition, a suggestion-box or link on the company website could also be made available for everyone to share their ideas on the most beneficial and practical means of bettering quality, marketing strategies, customer satisfaction, outsourcing opportunities and in employing cost cutting programs.

Is OB MOD a Form of Manipulation?

OB- Modification as a human resources management strategy is geared towards enhancing work-relevant behaviors which are observable and measurable, just like absenteeism or perhaps tardiness, and even toward behavior products, which include quality or quantity of performance output. It requires intervention to stimulate desired performance behavior as well as discourage unfavorable behaviour. The primary intervention approach consists of feedback on the important performance-related behavior along with positive reinforcement designed for improvement and accomplishment Feedback on the important performance-related behavior involves coaching sessions of lagging employees in a team whereas positive reinforcement could come in the form of cash bonuses on top of basic salaries to strengthen and continuously motivate desirable performance output.

Because it creates situations for employees to get them to do tasks in relation to company goals, OB- Mod is indeed a form of manipulation yet it is an understandable method used by management in order to provide such a controlled environment, wherein they can assess and ensure that the firm with everyone, is moving towards the overall goals of the company. It revolves around the principle that states every action has an opposite, shall we say, a corresponding reaction, conditioning the mind of employees of the after effects of every behavior and or accomplishment. It is manipulation because it uses certain consequences in order to control the behavior and performance of every employee. What is the use of management and its leaders then if it cannot lead and drive its workers to meet their common goals? It’s just that it is in a controlled environment meaning there are specific things to be done and accomplished and those which has to be avoided so as not to hinder nor negatively affect the organization and its business.

The question if it is unethical has something to do with those means or ways not agreed upon by both the employer and its workers (like those not mentioned in the contract) and against the legality of laws, be it government mandated for the smooth flow of the business or related to humanitarian or Department of Labor and Employment laws. It also becomes unethical if certain means of managing workforce and performance is against ones profession’s code of ethics. Other than these, such a strategy of management is ethical, which was mentioned already, for the benefit of everyone or by the majority. After all, why would we force ourselves to work if we know the management of the company we are working for is conniving, deceitful and unfair to us as workers? That is the reason why we have the option as workers to resign, join a labor union or report to the Labor and Employment Department of our government if the situation is at its worst.

However, sad or impossible as it may seem, I have known some who still choose to work for certain companies whose management is not just manipulative yet also taking advantage of their position over their workers. In such case, the worker has made his choice to stay and endure his situation with his current employer for whatever practical reasons he may have considered.

Hate My Loafing Teammate!

Have you been in a team wherein your group mates are slacking off

pretending to be busy or not even doing anything at all while some of

of you in the team are doing almost everything?After all the hard work,

they are basking as well in the glorious spirit of a victory party when

everything turns out right for a job well done. Must be irritating

huh? Well your group mates are definitely social loafers.

Social Loafing is the tendency of group members to slack or exert less effort when a task is assigned in a team. There is diffusion of responsibility wherein social loafers can get a free ride because someone else will do most of the job for them allowing the occurrence of laziness to be concealed or become undetected.

Such a tendency takes place when other members feel that some are not putting as much effort as themselves so as to balance the negative inequity that is perceived in the workplace. In addition, if compensation, rewards and or benefits are not divided amongst individual members equally, this can also happen. Social loafing also happens when there are several people already working on a particular task that has a well defined goal, thus a few more members feel their efforts are no longer needed to attain it. In addition, when some members realize that they can just hide in the crowd and can get away with the consequences of not contributing any to the given assignment, this can also cause social loafing. Another reason would be the nature of some people who are so concerned about their uniqueness and individuality. These people feel lost in a crowd and thus lost their motivation to offer their full ability since they will not gain recognition or acknowledgement for their contributions as the output will be recognized as a group work. Another factor that strengthens social loafing is the absence of individual evaluation by the working environment brought about by monitoring of performance and if their output reaches set standards, if there is any.

So how can tendencies of social loafing be prevented or even lessened in managing teams? Possible solution involves the establishment of rules in the beggining to emphasize what the team objectives and goals are and how they should be attained. Consequences of not following the rules should be included and implemented when necessary. Another solution is to establish individual accountability and responsibility, in a way that each member specializes on a specific task so that each one will not rely on the group for his assigned task. Moreover, creating the appropriate group size or number of members whose experiences, abilities, skills and knowledge complement for other group members will show each member the importance of their role and tasks in the team and will lead to having less people to diffuse responsibility to. Another alternative that cures social loafing is the creation of opportunities for members to socialize and establish trusting relationships as the sense of belongingness can help make members feel comfortable to be working with and interacting within a group leading them to fulfill their duties more efficiently (Maslow's Hierarchy Theory). The presence of an evaluation system that monitors the progress of each individual member will also prevent this. To make the monitoring more valuable it is best to personally meet with each member to let them know which areas they still need to improve on and that during group meetings or team sessions, both individual and team efforts and achievements are recognized and awarded in front of everyone including superiors.

So to all managers, team leaders and supervisors, watch out for loafers lurking around your teams. Allowing these free riders to linger could definitely demotivate or even infect your most dedicated and skilled members in due time which will gradually affect the performance of the whole team, change the norms of the company and negatively affect your performance and image as a professional leader as well.