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LONDON SCHOOL OF COMMERCE, DHAKA Business Research Methodologies CityCell- Promotion of the 4p’s of Marketing Samiul islam Rikth 0058OTOT1008 Semester 4

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Page 1: BRM CityCell Marketing Promoton

LONDON SCHOOL OF COMMERCE, DHAKA

Business Research

MethodologiesCityCell- Promotion of the

4p’s of Marketing Mix

Samiul islam Rikth0058OTOT1008

Lecturer: Dr.Anisur Rahman

Semester 4

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Business Research Methodologies Marketing- Promotion of Marketing Mix- CityCell

Table of Contents

PagesContent’s Page 2Executive Summary 3

1 Introduction 41.1 Background of Study 4

1.1.1 Introduction to Organisation 41.1.2 Products/Services of Organisation 4

1.2 Specific Focus Area 51.3 Aims and Objectives 6

2 Academic Literature 62.1 Marketing 62.2 Marketing Process 62.3 Marketing Strategy 72.4 Marketing Mix 8

2.4.1 Product 92.4.2 Price 92.4.3 Place 92.4.4 Promotion 9

2.5 Promotion- Details 102.5.1 Integrated Marketing Communication 102.5.2 Communication Process 102.5.3 Effective Communication Process 11

2.6 Importance of Promotion Mix 142.7 Promotion Techniques- Push/Pull 142.8 Promotional Tool/Communication Mix 14

2.8.1 Advertising 162.8.2 Personal Selling 172.8.3 Sales Promotion 192.8.4 Public Relations (PR) 202.8.5 Direct Marketing 212.8.6 Events 22

3 Methodology 233.1 Research Objective/Approach 233.2 Research Methods/Designs 233.3 Limitations 23

4 Results 244.1 Advertising 244.2 Sales Promotion 254.3 Personal Selling, Public Relations and Event 254.4 Direct Marketing 274.5 Budget for Promotion 27

5 Conclusion/Recommendations 28List of References 30Questionnaire 31

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Business Research Methodologies Marketing- Promotion of Marketing Mix- CityCell

Executive Summary

This Business Research Methodologies assignment is more of a mini-dissertation done on

Marketing.

This report has been focused on Promotion of the 4Ps of Marketing of the first mobile phone

service provider of Bangladesh CityCell.

CityCell’s promotional activities are the major reasons for the success till date, however recently,

their success has been hindered since most of their competitors are adopting stronger

promotional strategies compared to CityCell.

The major purpose of this report is to analyse and evaluate the importance and effectiveness of

Promotion for any organisations in general, which is later compared with CityCell’s current

promotional activities to find out the loopholes in CityCell’s current strategy.

In this report, an overview of CityCell has been given, followed by a detailed literature review on

marketing and promotion. The methodology of carrying out the research has also been provided.

Finally the results obtained from the evaluation, followed by the conclusion and recommendation

has been given.

I would like to thank Mr. Anand Rajasingham, Head of Marketing of CityCell, because he has

provided us with all the necessary and relevant information regarding CityCell’s promotional

activities.

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Business Research Methodologies Marketing- Promotion of Marketing Mix- CityCell

1. Introduction

1.1 Background of Study

1.1.1 Introduction of Organisation

CityCell was first introduced in 1994 as a brand name under Pacific Bangladesh Telecom

Limited (PBTL) in 1994. CityCell provides wireless telecom or mobile phone products/services

to public and corporations and is the only Code Division Multiple Access operator in

Bangladesh.

CityCell’s aim is to satisfy customers by providing their needs developing innovative and

creative ideas for communicating. They are a customer-driven organisation who wants to build

and maintain a strong customer relationship with customers and ensure brand loyalty to survive

in the competitive telecommunication market.

The key objectives include increasing market share, improving customer service, and using high

standards of technology to offer services, packages and deals at affordable rates.

Currently, CityCell has the least subscribers of 1.67 million with a market share of 4%

approximately.

1.1.2 Product/Service of Organisation

CityCell is the first mobile operator service in Bangladesh. They provide both post-paid

(monthly rental) and pre-paid (pay-as-you-go) mobile connections. However, to attract more

customers they offer a wide range of devices and services listed in the table below.

Devices Services

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Business Research Methodologies Marketing- Promotion of Marketing Mix- CityCell

Handsets

Voice Services

CityCell One

Fixed Phone

Modems

Data

Zoom

Zoom Ultra

Fixed Wireless Terminals

Value Added Services

Hello Tunes

Gift Shop

Dost

Music Box

Voice Based Info

Email@Mobile

Mobile Banking

International Services

International Calling

International Roaming

Infrastructure Services

Backbone Lease

Loyalty and Retention

Ace

Table 1. Products and Services

(PBTL,2009)

1.2 Specific Focus Area

This study on CityCell is being carried out on the Marketing Department with the 4Ps of

Marketing, the most important concepts in the today’s modern marketing, as the major focus

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All the P’s- Price, Product, Place and Promotion are highlighted, however the key emphasis will

be placed upon the fourth P of the marketing mix, PROMOTION.

1.3 Aims and Objective

The major objective of this report is to understand the effectiveness of a sound promotion for any

organisation. In this report, the various promotional tools of CityCell- advertising, sales

promotion, personal selling, events, direct marketing and public relations are analysed.

From this report, it can be evaluated that advertising and sales promotion are the most efficient

for of promotion for CityCell. However, they are under utilising direct marketing, which if

utilised properly, can turn out to be one of the major promotional tool leading to CityCell’s much

needed success.

1. Academic Literature

1.1 Marketing

Marketing is all around you. Wherever you go marketing will follow either in the form of

billboards and posters or advertisements on televisions, newspapers and magazines. Marketing is

that aspect of a business that identifies the needs of customers to derive benefits (profits) from

them. It is the two-fold process through which companies create value for customers and build a

strong relationship to capture value from them in return (Kotler and Armstrong,2006,p.24-25).

The major objective is to attract and retain customers by providing them with a high value, good

quality and high satisfaction levels (Kotler and Keller,2005,p.5)

1.2 Marketing Process

The marketing process is a five-step model that companies follow in order to develop an

effective and sound marketing procedure for organisational success.

The first step involves identifying the needs and wants of customers and recognising the market

of operations. Followed by the design of a customer-driven marketing strategy focusing on the

target audience and market and what they will offer. This is based on the five major concepts-

production, product, selling, marketing and societal concept. The third stage, an outline for the

marketing plan and programs are prepared with the help of the marketing mix tools. It is during

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this stage when the relationship between customers and companies is initiated. In the fourth

stage, this relationship is made stronger to increase brand loyalty and earn profits. The last stage

is where benefits and value from customers are derived in the form of current and future sales,

market share and profits as well as long-run returns (Kotler and Armstrong,2006,p.24-39)

The model below illustrates the marketing process.

Fig. 1 Marketing Process(Kotler and Armstrong,2006,p.25)

1.3 Marketing Strategy

The marketing strategy is the plan and process through which companies hope to achieve their

marketing goals and objectives. The marketing planning process consists of evaluating the

marketing opportunities, selecting target markets, developing marketing plans and programs and

managing the marketing effort (Kotler and Keller,2005,p.27). The figure below illustrates the

marketing processes and the various factors that build up the marketing strategy.

Fig. 2 Marketing Strategy and Marketing Mix(Kotler and Armstrong,2006,p.67)

Capture value from customers to create profits and customer quality

Build profitable relationships and create customer delight.

Construct a marketing program that delivers superior value.

Design a customer-driven marketing strategy.

Understand the marketplace and customer needs and wants.

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It can be seen that the customer is placed in the middle. This indicates that customers are the

centre for any organisation. This is followed by developing the major elements of effective

marketing strategy- segmentation, targeting and positioning.

Then organisation needs to identify the growing demands of customers and fulfill them better

than their competitors to increase satisfaction levels (Kotler and Armstrong,2006,p.66-67). Then

the marketing mix tools which can be defined as a set price, product, place and promotion used

by companies to persue its marketing objective (Kotler and Keller,2005,p.19). Finally, after the

market plans and program are planned out, companies should involve in market analysis,

planning, implementation and control illustrated through diagram below.

Fig.3 Marketing Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control(Kotler and

Keller,2005,p.71-74).

1.4 Marketing Mix

Marketing mix refers to the things organisations do to influence the demand for

products/services. It is a set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that companies employ to

achieve their marketing objectives and aims. There are four major tools, better known as the 4Ps

of marketing.

Analysis

Control

Measure Results

Evaluate Results

Take corrective action

Implementation

Carry out the plans

Planning

Develop Strategic Plans

Develop Marketing Plans

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1.4.1 Product

From the name of this P it is quite understandable it refers to good/service being offered to the

customers.

1.4.2 Price

This refers to the amount of money customers must pay to purchase the product to fulfill their

needs and wants.

1.4.3 Place

Place refers to the various mediums which companies use to distribute their products/services to

their customers.

1.4.4 Promotion

This refers to the activities that communicate the benefits and merits of the product/service to the

customers.

(Kotler and Armstrong,2006,p.70-71)

The 4Ps has several elements (shown below) which are used by companies to design a strong and

effective marketing mix strategy.

Product Price Place Promotion

Product Variety List Price Channels Advertising

Quality Discounts Coverage Personal Selling

Design and Features Allowances Assortments Sales Promotion

Brand Name Payment Period Locations Public Relations

Packaging Credit Terms Inventory Direct Marketing

Sizes Transport Events/Experiences

Services

Returns and Warranties

Table.2 Elements of the 4Ps(Kotler and Keller,2005,p.19)

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1.5 Promotion

This report highlights the effectiveness of Promotion.

Promotion is all about communication. It deals with informing, persuading and reminding

customers about their products/service/brand. It builds a relationship with customers by the

interaction between the two parties (Kotler and Keller,2005,p.536).

1.5.1 Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)

In the 21st century, developing a product of high quality and attracting the right customers is not

enough. A clear, consistent and compelling message regarding the organisation, its products and

brand name must be delivered to the customers by integrating and coordinating various

communication channels (Kotler and Armstrong,2006,p.450). This is known as Integrated

Marketing Communication.

1.5.2 Communication Process

The communication process explains to us how the promotional messages can be transmitted

effectively. There are nine elements involved- sender and receiver (parties), message and media

(communication tools), encoding, decoding, response and feedback (communication functions)

and finally noise (interference) (Kotler and Keller,2005,p.538).

The sender sends a message which is first put into form (encoding) and then via any forms of

media is delivered to the receiver. The receiver then understands the message (decoding) and

reacts to it (response). Following which the receiver sends back a feedback to the sender. While

all this is going on, various barriers affectthe authenticity of the message known as noise (Kotler

and Armstrong,2006,pg.451).

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1.5.3 Steps in Developing Effective Communication

Once organisations have understood the communication process, they need to design a proper

and efficient communication strategy.

Fig. 4 Eight Steps in Planning Communication strategies(Lancanster and

Massingham,1993,p.179)

Identify target audience, establish marketing strategies and mix elements

Establish behivoural influences

Determine information needs of target audience

Determine objectives and task for promotion

Determine overall budget on promotion

Determine the promotion mix allocation of tools

Implementation

Measurement, Control and Feedback

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1.5.3.1 Identifying the Target Audience

The first step in is to recognise the target audience (potential buyers/current users) and develop

strategies and promotional elements to achieve goals/objectives. (Kotler and

Armstrong,2006.p.452).

1.5.3.2 Behavioural Characteristics of Target Audience

This refers to the characteristics of the target audience that is understand the attributes of

customers to determine they way to sell and market product/services (Lancaster and

Massingham,1993,p.178-181)

1.5.3.3 Establishment of Information Needs

This focuses on recognising needs of the customers through extensive analysis and research

programs. It also highlights areas from where customers can gain information regarding products

(Lancaster and Massingham,1993,p.180).

1.5.3.4 Determine Objectives and Tasks

In this step, organisations need to understand at which stage of the Lavidge and Steiners

“Hierarchy of Effects” model the target audiences stand and where they should be taken to

establish specific and quantified objectives. The six stages are- awareness, knowledge, liking,

preference, conviction and purchase (Lancaster and Massingham,1993,p.180).

1.5.3.5 Determine Communication Budget

Once organisations are aware of their objectives and tasks they need to evaluate the budget

required to achieve the objectives. There are four methods to prepare the budgets (Lancaster and

Massingham,1993,p.181).

1.5.3.5.1 Affordable Method

The promotion budget is set according to the affordability level of organisations. The amount is

determined by deducting the operating expenses and capital outlays from the total revenue.

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1.5.3.5.2 Percentage of Sales Method

The promotion budget is determined as a percentage of forecasted sales or as a percentage of the

unit sales price.

1.5.3.5.3 Competitive-Parity Method

The promotion budget is set based by matching the outlays of competitors.

1.5.3.5.4 Objective-and Task Method

This promotion budget is determined on what organisations wants to achieve with their

promotion. This is the sum of three major elements- specifying promotion objective, identifying

the activities to achieve and estimating the costs of performing these objectives.

(Kotler and Armstrong,2006,p.460-461)

1.5.3.6 Determine the Promotional Mix

This is the most important step of developing an effective communication strategy. According to

IMC, organisations need to develop a strong promotional mix which a mixture of various

promotional tools- advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, direct

marketing and events/experiences.

1.5.3.7 Implementation

At this step, the selected promotional tools are implemented to see the effect on the market. This

is yet another important step since it determines whether the developed strategies work in favour

of the organistion (Lancaster and Massingham,1993,p.184).

1.5.3.8 Measurement, Control and Feedback

At this stage, the effectiveness of the communication is evaluated against the standards that have

been set. If there are some discrepancies organisations should control it and take necessary steps

for amendments. Feedback after implementation should also be considered (Lancaster and

Massinghamd,1993,p.184)

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1.6 Importance of Promotion

Promotion is an essential component to determine organisational success. It helps companies

make people aware of their product and provides the necessary information to customers to

purchase. Promotion allows companies to retain and attract customers. It builds customer loyalty

by giving companies opportunities to build strong customer-relationships. It helps earn more

profits through increase sales and provides improved customer service.

1.7 Promotional Techniques- Push/Pull

Push/Pull strategies are marketing techniques which can be used by companies to reach to their

target market.

In a push strategy, companies try to inform and attract customers towards their product/services

via aggressive advertising, e-mails and other techniques. The features and benefits of the

products are highlighted and consumers are pushed to make a decision on purchasing. It involves

short-term strategies and campaigns during a particular period of time. This is appropriate to use

when there is low brand loyalty, brand choice is made within stores, impulse buying and product

benefits are well understood (Kotler and Keller,2005,p.468).

On the other hand, pull strategy is where customers are keen to know the product/service to

make a purchase. This is because customers believe that the company can fulfill their needs and

demands. This is achieved through interviews, word-of-mouth and many more. This helps

develop a good brand and grow your business. It focuses on development of trust and perceived

value (DoshDosh,2010). This is appropriate when there is high brand loyalty and high

involvement, when people perceive differences in brands and select brands before going to the

store (Kotler and Keller,2005,p.468).

1.8 Promotional Tools/Communication Mix

This include advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing and

events/experiences. The table below identifies various components of the promotional tools.

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Advertising Personal

Selling

Sales

Promotion

Public

Relations

Direct

Marketing

Events /

Experiences

Print/

Broadcasting ads

Sales

Presentation

Contests, games,

sweepstakes and

lotteries

Press Kits Catalogues Sports

Packaging Sales

Meetings

Premium and

gifts

Speeches Mailings Entertainment

Motion Pictures Incentive

Programs

Sampling Seminars Telemarketing Festivals

Brochures/

Booklets

Samples Fair and Trade

shows

Annual

Reports

Electronic

Shopping

Art

Posters/Leaflets Fair and

Trade shows

Exhibits Charitable

Donations

TV Shopping Causes

Directories Demonstrations Publications Fax Mail Factory Tours

Reprints of ads Coupons Community

Relations

E-mail Company

Museums

Display signs Rebates Lobbying Voice Mail Street activities

Point-of-

purchase

displays

Low-interest

financing

Identity

Media

Kiosk

Marketing

Audiovisual

material

Entertainment Company

Magazine

Symbols/Logos Trane-in

allowances

Videotapes Continuity

Programs

Tie-ins

Table 3. Components of Promotional Tools(Kotler and Keller,2005,p.537)

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1.8.1 Advertising

Advertising refers to the promotion of ideas, goods and service indirectly and with no personal

contact with customers providing reasons to purchase goods/services sponsored and paid by the

advertiser (Lancaster and Massingham,1993,p.185).

1.8.1.1 Decisions

The four major advertising decisions as illustrated in the diagram below. In the beginning the

advertising objective should develop a specific communication task to be achieved with a

specific target audience during a specific period of time based on past decisions about target

market, positioning and marketing mix. The three possible types of advertising objectives are

informative, persuasive and reminder advertising. Followed by determining the budget decision

based on the four methods discussed earlier. The third decision is developing the strategy which

involves creating the message and how it should be conveyed to customers using the various

advertising mediums (Table 3). Finally, the effectiveness of the advertisement should be

analysed in terms of communication and sales.

Fig. 5 Decisions in Advertising(Kotler and Armstrong,2006,p475)

Developing Advertising Strategy

Message Decisions

Message Strategy Message

Execution

Budget Decisions

Affordable Approach

Percent of Sales Competitive

Parity Objective and

Task

Objective Setting

Communication Objective

Sales Objective

Campaign Evaluation

Communication Impact

Sales ImpactMedia Decisions

Reach, frequency, impact

Major media types Specific media

vehicles Media timing

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1.8.1.2

Advantages Disadvantages

Excellent Coverage High Costs (in some cases)

Extremely Flexible Various Legal Restraints

Highly Acceptable and builds Awareness Increase in Media Clutter

Low Cost (in some cases) Not Highly Persuasive

Complete Control High competitive since widely used

Helps build trust amongst customers and

reaches a wider audience

Provides very limited information and cannot

satisfy all customer queries

Table 4. Advantages and Disadvantages of Adverting(Tutor2u,2009 and Kotler and

Keller,2005,p.575)

1.8.2 Personal Selling

Personal selling is the direct two-way communication between customer and salesperson

representing the company via face to face meeting, telephone or video or web-conferencing with

the intention to make a sale. The role of personal selling can vary from companies to companies

in respect of sales people. Some companies can have sales people while others might make their

sales online. Salespeople also tend to represent customers to the company by learning about their

needs and wants. The most important thing in personal selling is to build up a strong customer-

company relationship.

1.8.2.1 Decisions

The major decisions in personal selling can be illustrated through the diagram below.

2.

3.

4.

Fig.6 Decisions in Personal Selling(p.509)

Designing sales force strategy and structure

Recruiting and selecting salespeople

Training salespeople

Compensating salespeople

Supervising salespeople

Evaluating salespeople

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The first major decision is to decide what structure of sales force the company should employ.

This is based on the type of operation and product line of the company. Companies can have a

territorial, product, customer or complex sales force or a combination of any. This is followed by

the effective process of recruiting and selecting the right salespeople to represent the company.

This is very important decision since these salespeople are communicating with the customers on

behalf of the company. Once the appropriate salespeople have been acquired they should be

given the proper training to carry out their duties and responsibilities. To attract competent

salespersons organisations need to also decide on giving them the right wages, incentives and

rewards to retain them and also increase their efficiency and morale. Supervising the salespeople

is another important decision that needs to be made. This focuses not only training salespeople

but also motivating and increasing their performance. This decision revolves around various

variables of monitoring, motivation and performance. The final decision is of evaluating the

salespeople and providing feedback. The performance is evaluated through- sales report,

personal observation, customer surveys amongst others.

2.8.2.2 Steps

There are seven major steps in the selling process. The first step is prospecting where the

potential customers are identified and good customers are differentiated from the poor ones.

Followed by the step where the salesperson understands the company and the customer known as

the preapproach step. In the approach step, salesperson interacts with customers for the first time

followed by presentation and demonstration where the salesperson tells the customer about the

product and its benefits. In the next step, the salesperson tries to overcome all sort of doubt and

contradiction regarding the product. Once accomplished the salesperson and customer strike a

deal and finally checks on the customer to ensure their satisfaction level.

Fig.7 Steps in Personal Selling(p.521)

Prospecting and qualifying

Preapproach ApproachPresentation

and demonstration

Handling Objections

Closing Follow-up

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(Kotler and Armstrong,2006,p.507-21)

2.8.2.3

Advantages Disadvantages

High personal attention due to direct

communication

Highly costly due to employing several hidden

costs

Response is directly and prompt to customer

queries

Not suitable for a large customer base

Face-to-face interaction gives chance to

demonstrate product

Only concentrates on one customer at a time

Helps build a long term relationship with

customer

Table 5. Advantages and Disadvantages of Personal Selling(Tutor2u,2009)

2.8.3 Sales Promotion

In today’s world sales promotion tools are widely used. It is the short-term provision of

incentives and rewards to customers to influence the purchase of goods/services. This technique

offers reasons to but instantly (Kotler and Armstrong,2006,p.489). It can be offered to customers,

retailers and sales force. The various reasons for the popularity of sales promotion are-

It increases sales of organisations.

It helps compete by providing differentiated offers.

Advertising has become less efficient due to rising costs media clutter and legal

restraints.

Consumers are more offer and deal orientated.

(Kotler and Armstrong,2006,p.490)

2.8.3.1 Decisions

For an efficient sales promotion strategy, organisations need to make important decisions. First

they need to identify the objectives of sales promotion. This mainly involves attracting and

retaining new and old customers as well as retailers. After the objectives have been specified, the

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promotion tools for consumers, retailers and sales forces (Table 3) should be determined. Finally

they have to develop the program by integrating the campaign concept with the media. The final

decisions are the amendments made into the campaign that is determined from the pretesting of

the program followed by the implementation, control and evaluation (Kotler and

Keller,2005,p.587-591)

2.8.3.2

Advantages Disadvantages

Implement Price Discrimination strategy

through discounts and coupons

Can hamper the brand image

Increase sales by targeting promotional

incentives

Increased price sensitivity since customers

might wait for offers to make purchase

Attract customers to try new products Devalue product in customer mind

Effective short-term promotional tool Customers might get used to it, if used for a

long-term period

Helps manufacturers adjust to short-term

variations in supply and demand

Table 6. Advantages and Disadvantages of Sales Promtion(Tutor2u,2009, Drypen.in,2009

and Kotler and Keller,2005,p.586)

2.8.4 Public Relations (PR)

Public Relations (PR) deals with the development of a good and strong relationship between the

company and the public via favourable publicity, reputated corporate image and proper dealings

of rumours and unfavourable events and stories (Kotler and Armstrong,2006,p.495). It involves

the design of different programs to promote or protect the brand image or products. Due to the

growing importance of PR, organisations have a department dedicated to PR. This department is

in charge of press relations, product publicity, corporate communications, lobbying and

counseling. Through PR companies want to build a good relationship with all their stakeholders.

Organisations pay nothing to promote themselves through PR, instead if an interesting story,

event strikes the eyes of the media, the media voluntarily publishes it ((Kotler and

Armstrong,2005,p.593-596)

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2.8.4.1 Decisions

The first decision in PR is establishing the objectives. The objectives include awareness,

credibility, boosting sales force and dealer enthusiasm and reducing promotion costs. Following

this, organisations need to select messages in forms of interesting stories regarding the product or

the organisation itself to publish to customers while selecting an appropriate component (Table

3) to deliver this message. After the plan for PR has been finalised, it should be executed and

evaluated to make necessary amendments (Kotler and Keller,2005,p.595-596)

2.8.4.2

Advantages Disadvantages

Highly credible since information is received

from third party

Lack of control since publicity is being done

by a third party

Cost effective promotional tool Depends highly on the judgment of third party

Target market is subject to large volume of

valuable information

Distortion of information since information is

published via a third party

Table 7. Advantages and Disadvantages of PR(Tutor2u,2009 and KnowThis LLC,2010)

2.8.5 Direct Marketing

Direct marketing is informing about product/services to customers through consumer-direct

channels (Table 3) without the use of middlemen. It is an efficient way of building a long-term

relationship with specific customers since it allows the preparation of a personalised message

(Kotler and Keller,2005,p.604). Companies get a direct response from customers. This provides

a new and complete model for doing business. An effective customer database is required for an

efficient direct marketing process (Kotler and Armstrong,2006, 525).

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2.8.5.1

Advantages Disadvantages

Convenient, easy to use and private Can increase costs during implementation,

distribution of promotional material and

making distribution material

Immediate and interactive Risk of fraud since customer data is with

company which can be lost anytime if not

secured properly

Builds strong customer relationships

Low cost and efficient

No intermediaries to take part of profits

Table 8. Advantages and Disadvantages of Direct Marketing(Tutor2u,2009 and Kotler and

Armstrong,2006,p.525)

2.8.6 Events/Experiences

By participating in various events that hold special value to customers, companies can build a

stronger bond with customers increasing brand loyalty. Organisations can sponsor events to

connect with their target customers, to increase the awareness level of company and product

name. They can participate to express commitment to the community or a social issue amongst

many other reasons. An event or experiences provides an opportunity to organisations to get

closer with all their major stakeholders (Kotler and Keller,2006,p.591-2)

2.8.6.1 Major Events/Experiences Decisions

The first and foremost decision for organisations is to select an appropriate event opportunity

that they are related to. This must be done with great care since a great deal of money is

involved. The target market and the purpose of the event should be aligned to ensure success. An

ideal event can also be an event which is unique in nature and happens once in a lifetime, or that

generates the maximum level of attention followed by a design of the sponsorship program or

banners or signs. These have to be innovative and highly creative. Finally, the return from the

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events should be measured via supply-side method (media attention received by the brand) or

demand-side method (exposure from customers) (Kotler and Keller,2006,p.592-3).

3 Methodology

3.1 Research Objective/Approach

The report’s purpose is to understand the promotional activities that are being carried out by

CityCell to reach out to their customers. Thus, it can be said that this is mixture of majorly

descriptive research with a little exploratory research. The report has combination of both

quantitative and qualitative research. A deductive approach has been taken since it is better to

understand the theory and observing properly before narrowing down to a confirmation and

conclusion.

3.2 Research Methods/ Designs

A wide range of research methods have been used in order to complete this research. The

primary research method is of primary data which was collected by conducting a face-to-face

interview with Mr. Anand Rajasingham, Head of Marketing of CityCell based on an open-ended

questionnaire (Appendix)

Apart from that, various secondary data were used from different marketing reference books and

the marketing websites (List of References). One of the prime websites used was of CitycCell,

www.citycell.com.

3.3 Limitations

No research carried out for preparing reports are free from limitations. Hence there are some

drawbacks of this report which analysis the Promotion tool of the 4Ps of Marketing.

Due to the lack of time, information on various aspects of promotion was not collected.

Company policies, rules and regulations did not allow the interviewee to share their facts,

figures and financial statements to get a clear quantitative idea.

Lack of experience of taking good interviews lead to insufficient collection of data.

The secondary data collected may not be 100% accurate apart from CityCell’s website.

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Due to shortage of time, perspective of CityCell employees and customers on promotion

could not be taken.

4 Results

The telecommunication industry of Bangladesh day by day is becoming highly competitive due

to the entrance of new companies such as Airtel as well as the rising demands of customers. In

this time of rising competition, companies need to come up with new strategies to hold onto their

current market share. And CityCell is trying their level best to do the same by connecting with

their valued customers by the means of extensive promotional activities.

CityCell does not follow the eight steps leading to an effective communication strategy. After

segmenting the market and identifying their target audience, they just plan up a combination of

promotional tools to start promoting their product/services. In some major cases, they evaluate

the effectiveness of the promotional tools, however most of the times they just implement it and

hope that their promotional tools will be able to attract and retain customers.

4.1 Advertising

CityCell believes that advertising is the best way to interact and connect with customers. Hence,

they develop new advertisements to promote their mobile phone services along with their value

added services.

CityCell considers that television advertisements are the most effective way of communicating

with the customers since it is able to show them the essence of CityCell. Their television- ads are

often built on a story line which the ordinary man can relate with and is directed in such a way

that it attracts all kinds of customers. Through their ads they show beautiful scenery and

landscapes to highlight that wherever you go CityCell will always keep you connected. CityCell

ads are always about the ordinary people because they are their target market. Their ads on value

added services (Table 1) all keep the ordinary man in mind. Apart from that CityCell do have ads

regarding corporate and how CityCell makes them better.

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CityCell’s most touching and innovative ad till date is of a school boy who

walks into a CityCell Customer Care Centre. Through this ad, CityCell

tried to portray that even if you are child, you are a valued customer for

CityCell. Overall, it highlighted that CityCell belongs to everyone.

Apart from television ads, CityCell uses newspapers, magazines, billboards

posters and even brochures to share the benefits of CityCell with their users and

keep them up-to-date with CityCell’s latest and most innovative development.

CityCell even uses the radio to promote their new products, services and offers to

their customers.

4.2 Sales of Promotion

According to Mr.Rahman, CityCell considers that providing various forms of incentives and

rewards will retain and attract customers. Thus, they believe of undertaking various sales

promotion policies to increase their market share.

The main form of sales promotion activities is through discounts, contest and other activities.

CityCell provides discount offers from various departmental stores and rewards customers these

discounts on the basis of various contests and lotteries. CityCell Ace is an example of such a

practice. This provides discount benefits to all CityCell

subscribers from 150 CityCell Partner Outlets. All the customer

has to do to enjoy instant discounts is just sent a text.

Also they provide discounts to students when they go to various

educational institutions to promote their products/services on instant purchase.

Apart from that CityCell tries to offer products/ services at a reduced rate from their competitors

to attract customers towards them just as they did by offering high speed

low cost internet facility through Zoom.

Another form of sales promotion done by CityCell is through

entertainment where they help organise concerts and other events to help a

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cause and raise funds for public exposure. In 2004, they organised a

concert in association with MBA Club to raise funds for the flood

victims

4.3 Personal Selling, Public Relations and Events

To build up a stronger customer bond, CityCell makes use of the

benefits revolving around personal selling, public relations and events.

CityCell considers that through the components of these promotional

tools CityCell can get closer to their customer and develop a strong

relationship. By a combination of these three techniques, an efficient, quality and improved

customer service can be provided to customers.

CityCell uses personal selling and public relations to attract and retain their customers. They

believe satisfying and keeping customers happy is the best way towards success. They apply the

rule of Personal Selling by sending SMSs, MMSs to their existing customers telling them about

their new offers and promotions that will benefit them and make them more satisfied. They also

take part in various fairs and trade shows to inform people about their new offers just like they

did for CityCell Zoom. They even went to the extreme of allowing their visitors to try out Zoom

internet for around 30 minutes and have a word with them to promote their new product.

CityCell is involved in various charitable donations, speeches and seminars from the public

relations perspective to inform their customers their awareness towards

society and social welfare. In 2008, CityCell donated 5 golf carts to the

Kurmitola Golf Club (KGC) to promote CityCell Zoom internet to

convey to people how this new technology will improve the lives of

Bangladeshis. They also donated around TK490,000 to Dhaka Shishu Hospital to help the

underprivileged children for a better future. They have even made donations and relief for the

various people affected during floods cyclone Sidr and other natural disasters within Bangladesh.

Apart from that, CityCell sponsors various events and also works with various organisations to

form a better bond with customers and increase customer loyalty. Through these events, they

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want to inform customers about their awareness of various social issues and their efforts to make

the society of Bangladesh better. Recently, they joined the Khulna Metropolitan Police in a rally

against drugs and also in order to increase the awareness of breast feeding in Bangladesh they

collaborated with Japan Bangladesh Friendship Medical Services Limited. CityCell also

sponsored the Bangladesh Football Federation to bring back the passion for football in the

country.

All these personal selling, public relation and events activities help CityCell connect with their

customers leading to an increase in their market share because it shows people that CityCell is

always there for the people of Bangladesh.

4.4 Direct Marketing

When it comes to the new rising phenomenon of direct marketing, CityCell uses it mostly for

major corporate. CityCell uses mainly e-mail and faxes to inform corporate regarding their new

business offers and services their organisation can benefit from. Other than that, they have not

yet invested highly on Direct Marketing techniques for customers.

(PBTL,2009)

4.5 Budget for Promotion

Planning up the right budget for promotion is the most important aspect of a successful business.

CityCell believes that promotional activities are the next best thing after innovation they are most

concerned about. Innovation because research and development helps improve quality and

develop new products/services to maximise customer satisfaction.

As mentioned earlier in 2.5.3.5, there are four major budgeting methods. Based on those methods

and the interview, it was evaluated that CityCell uses the Affordable Method. This is where the

budget is determined based on the level of affordability. By doing so, Citycell has full control

and flexibility over the amount of money to be spent on promotion. It is the most easy and

common method used. However, to use this method CityCell needs to have employees who are

highly experiences otherwise they might end up spending less on promotion which might be

disadvantageous for them (Merrie Marketing,2010)

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The table below shows the amounts of money CityCell spends on Promotion annually.

Promotional Technique Amount (Taka)

Advertising 150,000,000

Personal Selling 30,000,000

Sales Promotion 50,000,000

Public Relations 10,000,000

Events 25,000,000

Direct Marketing 5,000,000

Table 9. Budget on Promotion(PBTL,2009)

Fig.8 Budget on Promotion (Financial Report of CityCell)

5 Conclusion/Recommendation

The main purpose of this report was to analyse to what extent the theory of promotion relates to

the actual use of promotion for a particular company, in this case CityCell.

CityCell relies on promotion to a great extent to be successful. Promotion is one of the major

ways they try to attract and retain customers to gain a greater market share.

From the report, it can be concluded that CityCell uses all the major tools of promotion. Till date,

all their major television ads have earned them many accolades. Not only that their various sales

promotions has been popular amongst the customer. However, in today’s digitalised world, the

usage of direct marketing for promotion has began to grow rapidly. And this is the only

promotional tool that CityCell is not using properly. In order to ensure successful promotional

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activity, CityCell should start investing more on direct marketing and make it one of their most

important tools for carrying out promotional activities. CityCell should also implement a

customer relationship management system in order to ensure that the direct marketing is a

success so that they can reap the maximum benefits from it.

CityCell should also start adopting the proper ways of creating an effective promotional strategy

(the eight strategies) to ensure success.

In this competitive telecommunication industry, it is necessary that CityCell has a sound

marketing plan otherwise considering its current situation; it may soon be out of business if it

does not start regaining its market share and accomplish all their key objectives and goals. Thus,

CityCell needs to become innovative not only in terms of product and services by also in terms

of a reliable and good promotional tactics.

List of References

Interview with Mr. Anand Rajasingham, Head of Sales and Distribution of CityCell

conducted on 25th March 2010 at 12:00pm.

Kotler, P & Keller, L 2005, Marketing Management, 12th Edition, Prentice Hall, India

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Kotler, P & Armstrong, G 2005, Principles of Marketing, 11th Edition, Prentice Hall

Lancaster, G & Massingham, L 1993, Marketing Management

PBTL 2009, CityCell, viewed on 3rd April 2010, <www.citycell.com>

DoshDosh 2010, Push Marketing vs Pull Marketing: Using Both Strategies to Promote

Your Site, viewed on 5th April 2010, < http://www.doshdosh.com/push-marketing-vs-pull-

marketing>

Tutor2u 2009, Promotion-Introduction to Promotional Mix, viewed on 5th April 2010,

<http://tutor2u.net/business/marketing/promotion_mix.asp>

Tutor2u 2009, Promotion- Personal Selling, viewed on 5th April 2010,

<http://tutor2u.net/business/marketing/promotion_personalselling.asp>

Tutor2u 2009, Direct Marketing, viewed on 5th April 2010,

<http://tutor2u.net/business/gcse/marketing_promotion_direct_marketing.htm>

Drypen.in 2009, Advantages of Sales Promotion, viewed on 5th April 2010,

<http://drypen.in/sales-promotion/advantages-of-sales-promotion.html>

Drypen,in 2009, Disadvantages of Sales Promotion, viewed on 5th April 2010,

<http://drypen.in/sales-promotion/disadvantages-of-sales-promotion.html>

KnowThis LLC 2010, Disadvantages of Public Relations, viewed on 6th April 2010,

<http://www.knowthis.com/principles-of-marketing-tutorials/public-relations/

disadvantages-of-public-relations/>

Merrie Marketing 2010, Budget Marketing aka The Affordable Market Budget, viewed on

7th April 2010, <http://www.marketing-your-network-marketing-business.com/budget-

marketing.html>

Questionnaire

This was the open-ended questionnaire presented to Mr. Anand Rajasingham, Head of Marketing

of CityCell to carry out the interview. I am highly grateful to Mr.Rajasingham for giving us time

out of his busy schedule so that the research on CityCell’s promotional activities could be carried

out.

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1. What is the importance of Promotion to CityCell?

2. To what extent do you think Promotion influences CityCell’s rate of success?

3. What are the major promotional tools of CityCell?

4. What are the major features that is taken into consideration when selecting a promotional

tool?

5. When you create an advertisement, what tends to be your major focus?

6. Till date, which CityCell televised ad is the most popular?

7. What are the various Sales Promotion activities that CityCell does?

8. What are the major public events and PR activities that CityCell has been a part of?

9. To what extent is Personal Selling important to CityCell? How does CityCell carry out

personal selling?

10. Why is direct marketing not one of the major promotional tools used by CityCell?

According to you, by not using direct marketing CityCell are losing out a great deal of

the market?

11. Which is the best promotional technique that CityCell uses the most? Why?

12. What is the budgeting technique of CityCell? How is it finalised?

13. If possible, can we get the budgeting details for a particular year?

14. How do you think CityCell can improve their promotional techniques?

15. According to you, what are the major risks to CityCell is a sound marketing strategy is

not implemented?