Marketing Communications In Kenya

Presentation to CIM Class By Herbert Thuo

Marketing communications can & will deliver positive customer value

Marketing communications. What is it?

What is it?  Marketing

communications is a diverse yet very crucial aspect of modern marketing

 MC

can be defined as all communication from the organization to potential or existing consumers

 It

is important to not that MC is not an island of a topic. Integration with existing strategy islands is crucial!

The strategy ladder

 Due

to globalisation & integration of business functions, marketing communication is changing very rapidly

 All

departments in an organization is therefore responsible for modern marketing. They all have a small contribution to make.

 If

we are to liken marketing to the human body, if corporate strategy is the head, marketing communications is the mouth & face.

 If

firms are to survive, they must address key issues in marketing communications:  The

switch from traditional media to more unconventional & innovative media E.g. Large digital screens, PR 2.O, CSR 2.0, Branding 2.0  AD agencies can make or break achievement of your MC objectives. Smaller agency can work for you

too!

 Consumers

are continuously talking to companies. They need to listen!! Investment in ICT know how and equipment.  The move from advertising to innovative PR. Consumers sometimes feel that ads are subjective and skewed. Opinion leadership is powerful!

Did you know that Michael Jackson is worth more dead than alive? After his death sales of memorabilia & CD Sales grew by over 700%

Customer Value. In detail

What is customer value?  This

is the sum total of all benefits which a company/brand/product promises that a consumer will receive in return for purchase or loyalty. E.g. When you buy a range Rover sport… …Panadol…..a sean paul concert ticket

 Customer

value can be deduced by the consumer in the following ways:  Price  Competitor

offerings  Its marketing communications  Brand promise

WH O?

Who ar e y ou l oo king a t impr essin g wi th y our br and pr omi se?

WHA T ?

What do y ou i nt end t o of fer to your who’ s?

WHE RE ?

Where wi ll you conn ect wit h your who’ s?

 The

who seems very important doesn’t it?



Without a good understanding of your target, your firm is likely to end up spending a fortune and end up with a withered bouquet of different flowers.



i.e. a Wide array of different customers who may

look good initially but eventually fail to influence business growth and fail to contribute or erode shareholder value



The most powerful creator of customer value is branding.

 Customer

value is a result of experiences, perceptions,

interactions with the brand. 

Customer value ensures that future business growth is secured & short term objectives are achieved.



Customer value can be created through pain & time by marketing communications. Remember that customer value is a result of planned and unplanned experiences and interactions in the market.

Did you know that Africa doesn’t have a single brand in the top 200 brands of the world? A challenge to African marketers.

MC & Customer Value. The link The 3p’s & MC Mix

Marketing communications 3P’s PUSH Key account management

Members of marketing channel. Geared at gaining their trust & commitment

PULL Branding

Generate & sustain dialogue with end consumers

Customer retention PROFILE Corporate identity

Perception building for the whole organization.

Diving into the sea with no clothes. The HB Foods way A fictional case study

PUS H HB foods has 10 dealers and 200 resellers in Kenya. HB Foods has a product portfolio consisting of breakfast cereals, bread spreads, biscuits, beef jerky etc with over 300 employees. HB foods organizes an annual one week retreat in Mombasa with all our resellers and dealers just to make sure ‘we are on the same page’ HB foods has set-up a rewards scheme for dealers who achieve their targets. We sit down with our dealers and help them with their business plans. We set targets together to be achieved in a certain time. HB foods has also debt financed some of our dealers especially those in financial trouble with an aim of selling back

PULL HB foods has invested heavily in brand building. HB Foods has a rich brand architecture which leverages some of the older brand’s equity and pours it on to some for the newer brands. HB Foods Breakfast cereals Sprea ds Snacks

Beverages

HB foods has employed the services of a full service agency to handle PR, Advertising and experiential marketing. We pay a monthly retainer of about KSh 3.5Mn and this excludes any 3rd party costs like printing HB foods uses the following brand building framework 4. Understand the consumer through audit 5. Get valuable insights from the audit about consumers their preferences and behaviours 6. Map out your different consumer needs on a grid and this will automatically segment your brands and their respective users. 7. Construct the brand essence of the brands. 8. Come up with a brand promise 9. Deliver a contemporary identity system 10. Deliver the promise through marketing communications!!

PROFILE HB Foods is interested a lot in how consumers and the public in general perceive us. We employ the following tactics to keep our reputation up: 4. Equal employer 5. Employ interns as a source of future consumers and fresh ideas 6. We have a CSR department that urges employees to take 21 paid days off work to help in HB Foundation. 7. We have an internal marketing programme that takes care of our internal consumers 8. We are always at the forefront of research & development. We have funded 2 programmes at the Nairobi University that seek to come up with new ways of making foods safer and reducing the waste produced at HB foods industries in Thika. 9. In addition to the full service agency, we have a small PR department to handle crisis communications as they arise.

Did you know that marketers are the 3rd highest paid people in the world?

Ab ove t he l in e Pla ce d in pa id for med ia . Abo ve the lin e de pic ts an agen cy accou nts for com mis sions ea rn ed fr om bu yin g medi a spa ce fo r cl ien ts e.g. TV, Ra di o, Pri nt, Bill boa rd

Thr ough the line

i.e. di rec t ma rketin g

Bel ow th e li ne Pro du ct in te gr al initi atives that are shown be low th e lin e in th ei r accou nts e.g. Lea fle ts , pos te rs , ex per ien ti al, sale s pro mo, PR, Per son al sell in g et c

THE M ARK ET ING COM MUNICA TOIO N MIX AD VERTI SIN G PE RS ONAL SE LLIN G PU BLI C REL ATIO NS DI RE CT MARKET ING SAL ES PROMO TIO N

Adv er tising 

This is a non-personal paid for communication targeted through the mass media in order to achieve certain objectives



Advertising messages can either be rational or emotive. § Rat io na l messages can be descriptive, factual, comparative e.g. if you wash your clothes with Jik, you get a whiter wash § Emo tio na l me ssage s can be based on fear, humour, sex, music e.g. E-Pill contraceptives communications.



What are some of the best Ads you have seen based on the previous criteria?



What makes them so good and memorable? § They employed the appropriate media especially B2B § They followed a coherent theme across different platforms e.g. Mimi ni member § They were targeted e.g. FA Men beauty products ranges § They were innovative e.g. Strepsils, NTV relaunch, my dog ate my homework?, Nissan product ranges, Virgins § They connected at a higher level e.g. Safaricom’s natakuwa kuwa mkenya

Pers ona l s ellin g 

This is an oral presentation by a salesperson to a customer with the aim of getting a sale through persuasion.



Personal selling exists within the overall marketing communication mix as a support and effecter/ implementer!



Common tasks in personal selling includes prospecting, selling, servicing, allocating e.g. most computer hardware firms like copy cat invest heavily in personal selling. They understand the powerful role it plays.

Publ ic r ela tions 

This is the planned & sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill & mutual understanding between an organization & its publics



4 angles 

Publicity i.e. commonly propaganda e.g. kencell & safaricom



A source of information i.e. with no persuasive intent. Simply information. E.g. Ministry of health



2 way asymetric i.e. with consumer attitudes and behaviours in mind, aims to change consumer attitudes to fit within the organization. E.g political parties



Two way symetric i.e. PR practitioner serves as a mediator between public & organization to quell anger & discontent e.g KQ strike

Dir ec t mark eting This is the planned recording, analysis & tracking of consumer behaviour in a bid to foster long term customer relationships.  Strengths of direct marketing? 



Get down to the individual



Communication can be personalized



Reinforcing other marketing mix tools Unlimited creative platforms available e.g. telemarketing, inserts, door to door, take ones, direct mail, blast emails.





Direct marketing will be the spring board for future marketing initiatives in the near future for Kenyan firms. As budgets become tighter, more innovative forms of communication will be found in direct marketing.

Sa les pr omo tion 

These are a range of tactical marketing techniques designed to add value to a product or service to achieve a specific sales objective.  The Barclays mkopo wa salo promo was an incentive for non-barclays consumers to acquire accounts and benefit.  Buy one get on free promotions e.g. K1 BOGOF  Nakumatt loyalty programmes  Safaraicom live win a Mercedes promo etc



Sales promotions have varied aims like increase awareness, switch in buyer behaviour



Sales promotions have varied aims like § Increase awareness of new products e.g. BMW X6 § Switch in buyer behaviour e.g. Orange Thursday poa promo encourages consumers to buy more than 100 bob airtime to get double rewards. § Incentives towards purchase e.g. joining an elite group of male sophisticate types i.e. Adam magazine § Smooth seasonal deeps in performance e.g. coke? § Generate a consumer database for tracking & targeting purposes e.g. Nakumatt smart card § Increase shelf space allocated to your brand e.g. Notorious brands like blueband & tusker have been known to understand the value of shelf space. NB 80% of purchases decision are made at POP.

Did you know that love is the most profitable emotion? So many millionaires have made money from this emotion.

THE PLC & MC 

Intro (awareness & acceptance) • PR, Advertising, personal selling & sales promotion



Growth (differentiation) § Advertising. Direct marketing, personal selling



Maturity ( retaining customer loyalty) § ALL



Decline (remind & reassure brand loyalists) § Direct marketing & personal selling

Conclusion.  The

future of marketing communications lies in delivering customer value in newer more innovative and cost efficient means.

 The

emphasis on customer value is justified as it is at the heart of securing future revenue streams and loyalty.

 In

these hard times that remain uncertain & erratic customer value can be built diligently through marketing communications.

CO NT ACTS herb o85@gma il .com ww w.l in kedi n.c om/ in/ herb ert ka ma u My Blog: ht tp :/ /t huob rands .bl ogsp ot.com / Cel l: +2 54 7 2040 5080

Brands can’t be copied, they can succeed in difficult times & can’t grow old….they are timeless

END

Thanks for your time