Marketing Communication in the Wine Industry

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary
Background
Objectives
Internet as a communication tool
The use of flyers and for promotion of sales
Catalogues as a marketing tool
Personal selling, direct marketing and sponsorship
Recommendations
References

Executive Summary

This paper involves analyzing business activities of given companies all operating on wineries industry. This is a very competitive industry, and every aspect regarding business should be well disseminated to the prospective customers. This is where the web/ internet marketing comes in handy.

It is a common knowledge that everything in the world is becoming globalized, and the internet is playing an integral role in globalization This means that the paper will be concerned with how these companies apply marketing strategies to make sure that their businesses achieve their goals. This means that the organization makes sure that they employ good marketing communication strategies.

This also means that they have good public relations, utilize effective direct marking, and social marketing among other ways of enhancing marketing communication. It is recommendable that all these organizations should make sure that their websites retain a good average mark in order to reach all customers well.

As a result, these organizations will get to positions where they can reap good results from marketing through the internet. Marketing communication objectives for this organization include reaching more customers. This means that the organization should increase its customer base, hence being able to realize huge returns in terms of profits.

This means that marketers have to do everything within their reach to make sure that their customers remain loyal to the company. Marketing communication practices should be done in a way such that it achieves its set objectives.

For instance, marketers should make sure that their organizations aim at meeting customers’ expectation. Marketing communication should be done in a timely manner, to make sure that the company achieves its goals and objectives.

Background

For the products and services of a certain company to be brought to public limelight, there needs to be a well designed means of ensuring that the right information reaches the targeted group. The importance of marketing should be considered, as it sensitizes the general public about the existence and the importance of the company’s commodity and services.

Wineries industry, which is being studied in this report, is a very competitive industry and thus the management of these companies should come up with very effective strategies of marketing to ensure they attract new customers and retain the existing ones.

It is a common knowledge that everything in the world is becoming globalized and the internet is playing an integral role in globalization (Jones, 2012). These aspects are well captured in the integrated marketing communication. In essence, web marketing has everything to do with integrated marketing.

It helps to cement the relationship between the market players, who can also be termed as marketing stakeholders. The most important ones here are the producers and consumers, who are the end users of those goods and services, which need to reach the market in time.

This kind of marketing is commended for its effectiveness, thus, it increases profits of the business ventures, which have adopted it (Kuratko, & Hodgetts, 2008). It is effective in the sense that it covers a wide geographical area, thus putting the wider market in one place.

This could be facilitated by the lucrative services, which are offered by the web marketing, whereby one could develop a constant communication with customers as it boosts both advertising and prompt mail shot responses (Ouwersloot, & Duncan, 2007).

The carefully linked message do help customers a lot, by giving timely reminders on special offers, and updated information, which when offered in a meticulously planned sequence, would arouse them to move comfortably through several stages of their buying processes. This aspect has helped ease the mysteries of customers in terms of choice in this busy complex globe.

The purpose of the report

It has been realized that wineries industry plays a vital role in the shaping of the economy of any country. This industry has helped in promoting both the local and international tourism.

Therefore, it involves the stakeholders, including even the government, to marshal the forces towards strengthening the four companies as formidable institutions that not only creates jobs to the locals, but also promotes foreign exchange earnings, thus contributing positively to the economy of the country.

The purpose of the report, therefore, is pegged on the use of marketing communication strategies in promotion of the four companies, including Dulcinea, Bevrybridge, Captainscreek and Hardys. This is particularly achieved through adoption of web/ internet marketing to create awareness (Ouwersloot, & Duncan, 2007).

The report, therefore, seeks to advise the management of these companies on the relevance of the marketing communication. The report has also come up with a detailed recommendation concerning how companies can particularly improve their internet marketing, together with other marketing communication tools.

Scope of the report

The report captures the ancient and modern marketing strategies being adopted by the local small hotels like the Captainscreek, which serves a population of approximately 500 people per day.

Objectives

To increase sales by improving web communication through well designed websites, as well as other marketing communication strategies.
To advise the management on the key issues which are vital to the running of the companies as far as web communication is concerned, through a well drawn recommendation so as to revamp the profitability trend.

Internet as a communication tool

As noted before, the modern world is moving toward a complex Information Technology (IT), and therefore, every sector needs to move together at the same pace by which it moves. It has reached a time when everybody is turning to the website for any information.

The revelers are not also left behind in the use of the website to fish for good joints, which offer the best bargains as per their standards. This is why it would be quite imperative for the hotel to adapt to the current trend of joining information technology compliance.

This is where the internet draws its strength due to its ability to covers wide audience; therefore, it can reach every corner of the world. It is, therefore, cheap if the coverage area is taken into consideration. This aspect helps companies to have a competitive advantage over the others. As such, the sales would shoot up and consequently improve the profitability of the companies.

The four companies have used the internet to assess the frequency by which the people visit their websites, thus making them gauge the quality of their services. They can, therefore, single out the new customers from the old ones, and easily welcome back those who had left.

As observed by Lewin, LIippit, and White (1939) the internet communication makes massages more consistent, which shows that those massages are more credible to the targeted market. This actually serves to reduce the need for the buyer to shop elsewhere due to the assurance that is crated by the credibility of the goods and services which are advertised.

According to Kaushik (2009), web marketing gives the companies a competitive advantage over the others. This show that the four companies would move a step ahead of the park, the moment they adopt the web marketing as it boosts sales, as well as the profit margin.

It also means that the companies will, as a result, save money which would have been put in other sales promotion ventures, and the time which such venture consume. All these show that the company would not undergo any stressful situations, which normally come as a result of not meeting the target.

It is a common knowledge that a company that adopts the internet marketing its image both locally and internationally through developing a dialogue that creates strong relationship with customers. By developing this dialogue with customers means that the business would build a strong will and gain more competitive advantage over the others.

This is important to the development of the organization as every business organisation is judged by its will, which must always be put into consideration whenever the business worth is premeditated (Ouwersloot, & Duncan, 2007). This idea of constant dialogue between the company and its customers through the internet marketing serves to protect the company from the inevitable onslaught of competitions.

This idea of constant dialogue with customers serves to create loyalty to the company, therefore, it would be very difficult for competitors to convince them otherwise. The ability to maintain strong customer base is quite a formidable competitive advantage over the others.

Indeed this is the main reason why marketing must be done by the right thinking industry and so the best form of marketing is the one that reaches quite a large number of prospective customers.

The main aim of every business venture is to cut on cost and maximize on the sales, which is a function of profit margin. This is encouraged by the web marketing as it eliminates duplication of information by adverts. Thus, the company saves money in areas such as graphic designs and photography, as these services can be shared and used in different arenas to serve one purpose of marketing, such as in exhibition and advertising.

It is true that the world has embraced Information technology, but there are some parts of the world that are still finding it a bit difficult to embrace it fully due to their economic standards especially the third world countries.

This means that the web market will only reach those who can afford to have it and use it at the same time. It is a technological skill, which needs to be learnt first in order to utilize it properly. Many people cannot handle this, and thus this remains a challenge.

Internet information normally spreads widely and faster, thus any negative comment would impact negatively on the four companies, lest they respond quickly to such negativities. For instance, the company can overhaul its production process when a customer rates the company’s excessive production as its most negative feature.

There is also the issue of unfocused website experience. It is always hard to meet the specific customers’ expectations as they shop online. It becomes a disadvantage to the company, if it posts multiple listings of similar products, as this will send customers elsewhere.

Clear posting of phone numbers or other contact information on the website of a company is important as this helps customers to keep track of the company services. Failure to do so may cause the company to lose up to one-third of its customer’s base.

The use of flyers and for promotion of sales

Flyers are designed to serve for a specific period of time. They advertise on some crucial commodity and services at that specific time. They often target the customers within the locality as they are given to people who are within the proximity where they are being distributed (Lewin, LIippit, and White, 1939).

It should be noted that a cheap looking flyer will always drive the customer away, by creating a notion of bad picture in the mind of their minds, thus causing more damage than good. The company should only emphasize on the best designed flyers if it decides to use them in business promotion.

This also applies to catalogues, which give the picture of what is being offered. They should be meticulously deigned to arouse the interest of the prospective customers. It is important to note that flyers can be posted in the internet for the web marketing. Therefore, they must be meticulously done, such that they meet the international standards.

Catalogues as a marketing tool

These are small pamphlets, which contain simplified information about a product or services. They are designed in a manner that helps the prospective customers to read through quickly so as to convey the massage within a short period of time.

They should be designed in such a way that they catch the attention of the customers instantly. Their advantage is that they save time as they are precise and to the point. They can be posed in the internet after having been carefully designed to target a wider market.

Personal selling, direct marketing and sponsorship

Personal selling is the one-on-one communication with the potential customer. It is the type of marketing that engages the potential customers physically by seeing and talking with them. It normally starts by building a relationship.

It is a kind of marketing, which has been there since the start of marketing as a profession, and one does not need to pay any fee in order to do personal marketing to his or her potential customers so long as the two parties agree.

The most important thing that the marketer needs to know is to understand the customer’s needs. This will be in relation to the products and services, which are sold, thus calling for the marketer to have knowledge of every product and service on offer (Lewin, LIippit, and White 1939).

It also needs the sales person to adopt creative selling skills in order to entice the customers to buy the product. However, there are misconceptions on this type of marketing as customers may think that the sales people are being manipulated and dishonest. Personal selling does require prospecting in order to make the first contact, which often leads to meeting of the customer’s needs and the eventual closing of sales.

Direct selling

Direct selling means more or less the same as personal selling, only that the targeted buyer may not be in proximity, thus the marketer just reaches him or her through letters, flyers, post cards or emails with an aim of developing a constant and lasting business relationship.

It is important as it helps the company learn the needs of the customers on the one-on-one kind of arrangement. It also helps in meeting the needs of the customers, regardless of the distance barrier as long as the marketer knows the location of the customers.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship is also another way that an organization can market itself to increase sales. For example, through identifying a popular team of football or any other game, which is liked by many and sponsor it so that whenever they play their attires depicts the organizations prospectors. This can also be posted online so as to market products of the organization, by use of teams (Jones, 2012).

Public Relation (PR)

In general, marketing serves to build confidence in customers so that the public relationship (PR) is between the customers of the organization and the organization. Business will automatically market itself if it adopts good public relation. This is because the customers who would have been dealt with would turn out to be the promoters of the same business.

Social media marketing

Social media marketing has become very popular with companies that want to reach a wider audience, especially because they have realized the effectiveness of using social sites such as Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Twitter. The considerable increase in social media marketing has not only attracted traffic to their websites, but also passed on content that increases demand on company’s products.

Essentially, businesses that undertake marketing online are increasingly focussing on video marketing because more traffic and engagement are really dependent on the number of videos a company has posted on its site. Indeed, 52% of B2B marketers are planning to use videos as part of their marketing strategy because of its strong impact.

Since there are massive online searches in social media sites, companies use Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) strategy to increase traffic to their sites. Use of videos is one of such strategy, especially because Video is 53 times more likely than text pages to appear on the first page of search engine results.

Setting up video sharing options to be shared by viewers guarantee a positive outcome, because videos that originate from customers are trusted more than the ones that originate from the company itself. This makes it possible for the customers to sell products on behalf of the companies.

Use of videos in social media is apparently a platform that can be easily accessed by the present and potential customers, who use the internet. This has increased traffic on online companies, hence fostering product and company awareness. Finally, this mode of marketing is relatively cheap and hence very viable for mounting serious marketing campaigns.

Brand promotion strategies

Kotler and Zhao (2008) believe that a product could considerably communicate benefits to its consumers, which will create a positive and ineradicable perception in the mind of consumers.

Emphasizing on the inherent benefits to consumers on issues that related to them, such as health and safety, status, environment, prestige and so on, broadens the appeal of sustainable brands. The fashion houses should create podiums on which they can invite their customers to enter dialogue and discuss on ways of matching and meeting their needs through their fashion designs.

Kotler (2000) and Urde (1999) point out that branding is a critical issue in product strategy. According to Kapferer (1997), branding is a sign whose aim is to disclose intrinsic qualities, which are not accessible to contact. However, Kohli and Thakor (1997) believe that branding is creating strong and distinctive images for product in the hearts and minds of consumers.

Urde (2003) observes that brand building is a two-part process: internal and external. Internal process aligns the brand to the internal organizational objectives, whereas external process relates with the brand’s customers.

Doyle (2001) emphasizes that if brand strategies are not connected to the external, customers are bound to fail. Therefore, when making a successful branding, the external environment cannot be ignored. The external environment is a significant aspect of the internal environment – they supplement each other.

Recommendations

A variety of factors are attributed to website effectiveness. Factors such as usability, user focus, links, usefulness, design and layout and richness of the content, have been found to determine the effectiveness of a website. The sites need some more incorporation and redesign to appeal to a wider cultural diversity.

Apart from aesthetic of color and design, there is a couple of ways the designer can do to come up with a site that cuts across cultures easily. This keeps the content separate from the design so that a complete redesign is not required for every time the language is changed.

All the procedures should have a simple outlook. This is because visitors get tempted to navigate away from the site if they feel that the steps are quite involving. For example the membership registration form should be simple and easy to follow.

The information asked in the forms should be accurate and should not require the visitors to reveal information that is not necessary. The procedures for making a purchase should be minimal to avoid losing customers to the competitors. In that regard, a shopping cart is a perfect match.

As evidenced by the report, the designers needs do more to ensure that the visitor has a reason to come back. Interesting content that make the visitor think about the site all the time can be necessary in this case. Something interesting will stick in the visitors mind and inspire them to come back and look at it. For example a blog relating to the company business can make the visitors keep coming back.

Regarding the appearance of the web home page, more needs to be done to improve its effectiveness. The number of text can be reduced to remain with only the most important component. Also, a change of the font style to a more artistic type can improve the attractiveness of the website.

Nowadays, social media have become a strong marketing communication tool. For example, the companies discussed in this report, which particularly deal with wineries products and services can use social media to retain past hotel guest and attract potential clients – this can be achieved especially by use of online reviews.

The companies should come up with social media strategies and departments that could deal with social media issues. The management of these companies should take the issue of social media very seriously and should not ignore it thing that it will fade away – its wave is expected to grow stronger with time.

References

Doyle, P (2001). Building Value-Based Branding Strategies. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 9, 255-268.

Jones, D (2012). Macro Forces in Market Confound Stock Pickers. Web.

Kapferer, JN. (1997). Strategic Brand Management, Great Britain, Kogan.

Kaushik A. (2009). Web Analytics: An Hour a Day. London: McGraw-Hill.

Kohli, C., & Thakor, M. (1997). Branding Consumer Goods: Insights form Theory and Practice. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 14 (3), 206-219.

Kotler, P. (2000). Marketing Management. The Millennium Edition. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Kottler, M & Zhao, K. (2008). Branding Fashion in China. Journal of China Marketing, 8(1), 52-59.

Kuratko, D. F., & Hodgetts, R. M. (2008). Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, and Practice. New York: Cengage Learning.

Lewin, K., LIippit, R. and White, R. K. (1939). Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally created social climates. Journal of Social Psychology, 10, 271- 301.

Ouwersloot, H. & Duncan, T. (2007). Integrated Marketing Communications. London: McGraw-Hill.

Urde, M. (1999). Brand Orientation: A Mindset for Building Brands into Strategic Resources. Journal of Marketing Management, 15(1), 117-133.

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