Relationship Between the Brand Equity and the Sales of Bottled Water Industry free essay sample

This research basically pertains to find out the relationship between the brand equity and the sales of the product. The questionnaire was constructed and the pilot study using 15 respondents from ICBS was carried out to ensure that there were no confusions or ambiguities in the questionnaire. All ambiguities or confusions found were removed before administering the final questionnaire. The questionnaires were divided into two parts. On first of June the questionnaires were administered among half of the sample. The other half of the questionnaires among the remaining samples on 1st July 2007. As our research was basically descriptive in nature, we then quantified the values we were given in the questionnaire results and used them to graph the responses of the elements of the research. The results were then analyzed. Introduction The broad area of the research is related to the currently existing situation in the bottled water industry. As the bottle water industry is flourishing in Pakistan and new competitors are entering the market but still Pure Life has managed to maintain the considerable amount of market share due to its brand equity. We will write a custom essay sample on Relationship Between the Brand Equity and the Sales of Bottled Water Industry or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The concept of brand is integral to the success of any given product. Brand equity necessarily affects the performance of a product. The concept of brand equity can have a marked effect on the longevity of a products performance. Brand equity is defined as the bundle of intrinsic features/attributes delivered by a branded product or service. It is measured as the price differential someone is willing to pay for a particular branded product or service over an identical product or service that is unbranded. Alternatively, this definition can be re-crafted to state that brand equity is the difference in utility between two products or services that are perceived to deliver an identical set of tangible benefits at the same price. Consumers see a particular brand name as a contract. A brands name may reduce consumers sense of uncertainty, allowing them to purchase, uncertainty reduction, or trust, thus improving their sense of value. Background Nestle have taken a strong interest in Pakistan at a time when the country’s food, drink and retail industries in general are all actually struggling to attract large-scale multinational investments of this nature. Although these companies all have more profitable product categories, which are their primary concerns in more developed markets, in Pakistan a key element of their business strategy at the present time is a strong presence in the increasingly competitive bottled water industry. Should economic growth continue, the introduction of their added-value, more premium products, will simply prove a bonus at a later date? Such investment cannot help but drive bottled water sales in Pakistan, while inflows from multinationals also provide much needed jobs and contribute to essential infrastructural developments in the country. However, there is a huge flipside to these advantages the creation of a population, which can barely afford to spend beyond necessity, reliant on a product that is still considered a luxury item in some of the worlds most developed economies. Pakistan’s response to this dilemma affects not just its population, but its likelihood of establishing itself as a destination for much sought after food, drink and retail industry investment in the future. Literature Review Brand equity is the value built-up in a brand. It is measured based on how much a customer is aware of the brand. The value of a companys brand equity can be calculated by comparing the expected future revenue from the branded product with the expected future revenue from an equivalent non-branded product. This calculation is at best an approximation. This value can comprise both tangible, functional attributes (e. g. TWICE the cleaning power or HALF the fat) and intangible, emotional attributes (e. g. the brand for people with style and good taste). It can be positive or negative. Positive brand equity is created by effective promotion and consistently meeting or exceeding customer thoughts. Negative brand equity is usually the result of bad management. In the early 2000s, the Ford Motor Company made a strategic decision to brand all new or redesigned cars with names starting with F. This aligned with the previous tradition of naming all sport utility vehicles since the Ford Explorer with the letter E. The Toronto Star quoted an analyst who warned that changing the name of the well known Windstar to the Freestar would cause confusion and discard brand equity built up, while a marketing manager believed that a name change would highlight the new redesign. The aging Taurus, which became one of the most significant cars in American auto history, would be abandoned in favor of three entirely new names, all starting with F, the Five Hundred, Freestar and Fusion. By 2007, the Freestar was discontinued without a replacement, and Ford announced record losses. In a surprise announcement, the discarded Taurus nameplate would be re-used on an improved Five Hundred which had disappointing sales and whose nameplate was recognized by less than half of most people, but an overwhelming majority was familiar with the Taurus. Brand Equity and Market Share Very often only the market share of a brand is looked at as a means of determining how successful the brand is. Although market share is of importance in assessing the performance of a brand, its relationship with brand equity is of great significance, as this relationship can be an indication of the potential success of a brand, or alternatively can direct strategy on how to attain such success. The following diagram illustrates the relationship between brand equity and market share: Brand equity and market share are not always proportionate. As can be seen from the diagram, the ideal place for a brand to be situated is in the top-right quadrant. This shows that the brand is successful in that it has a strong brand equity and high market share. However, this may not always be the case. It is possible that a brand may have high brand equity, but may not have an accordingly high market share (top-left quadrant). In order to improve the market share of a brand in cases such as this, regard must then be had to in-store issues such as display, shelf space, distribution etc. Thus, understanding brand equity plays an important role in that it gives an indication of how a brands performance can be improved. Where there is low brand equity and a strong market share (such as the bottom right-hand quadrant), the situation is extremely tenuous. Although the picture may look good owing to the strong market share, the reality is that, with weak brand equity, the product is vulnerable to competitor or other in-market activity. Therefore, measuring only the strong market share does not give the complete picture brand equity must also be considered, and by improving this, the full potential of the brand can be secured. What is Brand Equity? In layman terms brand equity is the value that a consumer attaches to a certain brand. Although brand equity can be measured tangibly by way of certain indicators, a large component of the concept is intangible, i. e. what perceptions and associations people have of a certain brand, and the familiarity of those brands in the mind of the consumer. The diagram below illustrates how brand equity is made up: From the diagram, it is evident that the sources that drive brand equity (brand awareness, consideration and the factors associated with it) will lead to certain outcomes. And the more powerful the sources are, the more significant these outcomes will be. Thus, a strong brand loyalty and ability to command a price premium will lead to resilience against any negative short-term market factors. And this is why brand equity is essential in assessing the performance of a brand: it has the potential to secure the success of the brand against many variable in-market factors. Further, the importance of brand equity is that, by understanding how brand equity drives market share, it is then possible to make use of this knowledge in order to grow the market share of a brand. Understanding the link between brand equity and market share will thus assist marketers in which strategies are required to grow market share. The Benefits of Brand Equity: What are the benefits of strong brand equity? Well, strong brand equity leads to, inter alia, strong market share, customer loyalty, more favorable response to price increases, less vulnerability to competitor activity, brand extension opportunities, and communication messages which reach the consumer. In attaining these benefits, strong brand equity will ensure that a product is of an enduring nature. Ultimately, strong brand equity will improve profitability. To build a winning brand, therefore, is to understand the relationship between brand equity and market share, and to leverage both to their full potential. In so doing, a brand will be successful and sustainable in the long term. It must be kept in mind that increasing market share does not increase brand equity, whereas increasing brand equity invariably leads to increased market share. Another benefit of brand equity is that it’s an asset which can be sold or leased. The importance of brand equity to customer loyalty: Keller (1998) argues that brand equity is unique from customer loyalty, and can be defined as: †¦ the differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer response to the marketing of that brand. He argues that a brand possesses positive customer-based brand equity when customers react more favorably to a (brand identified) product and the way that it is marketed as compared to when it is not. Brands can also possess negative customer-based brand equity, expressed when consumers react less favorably to the marketing activities associated with a brand, as compared to an unnamed or fictitious named version of the product. Keller (1998) further states that one of the characteristics of brands possessing strong brand equity is stronger brand loyalty. This position appears consistent wit that of Aaker (1991) who argued that brand loyalty could be considered both a dimension and an outcome of brand equity. Problem Statement The problem statement of the research is to find out that â€Å"Are pure life sales greater than competitors due to brand equity of Nestle? † Nestle pure life was launched in Pakistan in 1998. The brand now holds a solid position as number 1 in Pakistan by having more than 50 per cent of the countrys small bottled-water market of 33 million liters (35 million quarts) a year. Pure Life is everywhere at roadside stalls, gas stations and rest stops. Its hawked at street corners in traffic-clogged Lahore. Middle-class shoppers buy it by the case in supermarkets. On the remote mountain road leading from Islamabad to the hill town of Murree, Pure Life billboards urge drivers to drive only Nestle Pure Life. At small stores along the way, a flurry of banners proclaim: Pure Safety, Pure Trust. The ideal water. From Nestle with love. As the purchase of the bottled water involves low involvement of consumers therefore factors such as price, packaging and taste are not as important as compared to the brand image of the product. Therefore, the research is conducted to find out whether the equity of a brand affects the sales of the product or not Limitations, Delimitations and Assumptions The concept of brand equity is important to every brand therefore it can be applied to every product in the Pakistani market. For the purpose of simplicity, researchers chose water bottled industry of Pakistan. In this industry Nestle Pure Life was chosen due to the fact that as purchase of bottled water involves low involvement of consumer so the only thing that matters for the consumer is the brand name. Furthermore another reason for choosing Nestle Pure life was that the researchers assumed that the sales of Nestle Pure life were greater than competitors due to brand equity of Nestle. There was another limitation that the researchers would only focus on a particular age group of people i. . people between 20-25 yrs of age. Theoretical Framework In the research the independent variable is brand equity, the dependent variable is sales, whereas there are three intervening variables identified which affect the relationship of independent variable and the dependent variable which are, production capacity, distribution and availability. There is a positive relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable because it’s assumed that the brand equity causes an increase in the sales of a product which is Nestle Pure Life. Coke and Pepsi entered the bottled water industry as their production capacity was 18000 crates but after production of sodas their production plant was idle so they decide to jump in the bottled water. industry. They had the advantage that the industry is developing and consumers are becoming conscious of the importance of pure drinkable water. And their setup was already developed. Their distribution is extensive and they can capture all the consumers who buy their sodas. There is a positive relationship between sales and the intervening variables that are production capacity, distribution and availability. Nestle has an advantage over the other bottled water competitors due to the fact that they are the market leaders and their production and distribution is much more then the other competitors and their production plant and capacity is only used for the bottled water only. Their availability is much more extensive because nestle food products are distributed all over the country and hence they utilize their already developed distribution setup. Hypothesis The hypothesis that the researchers intended to test was the following: â€Å"Pure life sales are greater than competitors due to brand equity of Nestle† Nature of study The type of research is basic or pure because the study aimed to find out the affect of brand equity on sales of Nestle Pure Life and literature review was done to find out the relationship between brand equity and sales and primary study was also conducted by distributing questionnaires to MBA students of various universities. The relationship between the brand equity and sales is also generalizable. No matter what the product is there is always the positive relationship between them. Purpose of Study The purpose of the study is descriptive. The study will help in better understanding of the relationship of brand equity of a product and its sales. It will also help the organizations to make decisions related to brand awareness, brand loyalty and brand preference that will affect the brand equity of a product. It will also help other researchers to work on the similar concept. Throughout the study the researcher interference was minimal as there was no control of researcher on the independent variable which was brand equity. The type of investigation was correlation as the study aimed at finding the relationship between the independent variable and dependent variable. It was a field study done in non contrived settings. Methodology Data Collection The initial data for research was obtained through secondary sources of information, which included internet articles, journals and books. It would not be enough to substantiate the hypothesis; therefore, the data collection technique of questionnaire survey shall be used. Population Our target population consists of business schools students in the age group of 20-25 years using Nestle Pure Life. Sample â€Å"Proportionate stratified random sampling technique† was used for the sample. UniversitiesNumber of Elements Proportionate sampling NCBA250250 * 32% = 80 LSE350350 * 37% = 130 GCU200200 * 25% = 50 Sample Size Out of the total of 800 students the size of the population, the sample was 80 students of National College of Business Administration, 130 Students of Lahore Scholl of Economics and 50 students of Government College University Lahore. The sample sizes were determined using table given by Uma Sekeran, using 90% confidence interval and standard error of 9. 5. Instruments Questionnaires were used as a tool to gather the primary data for the research. The questionnaire consisted of 7 questions and was administered among NCBA, LSE and GCU students. The questionnaire used in this study was a non-standardized instrument constructed solely for the purpose of this study. Copy of the questionnaire is attached in Appendix I in the report. Scale Dichotomous scale was used for five questions. YesNo Category scale was also used. Multiple items were given to elicit a single response from the respondent. From ranking scale forced choice scale was used which enabled the respondents to rank the brands of water bottles according to their preferences. Pilot Study A pilot study using 15 respondents from ICBS was done to ensure that there were no confusions or ambiguities in the questionnaire. All ambiguities or confusions found were removed before administering the final questionnaire. Reliability The reliability of the instruments was ensured through split- half reliability method. The instrument of the study which was questionnaires was divided into two halves. On first of June the questionnaires were administered among 40 NCBA students, 75 LSE students and 25 GCU students. The other half of the questionnaires among the same number of students on 1st July 2007. The reliability test will reflect the correlation between the two halves of the questionnaires. Validity The validity of our instrument was checked by the content and construct validity test. Results Question 1 Do you buy bottled water? Our population included only those elements who are users or buyers of the bottled water. So as the sample is the replica of the population then it can be said that the sample contained all the users or buyers of the bottled water. Question 2 Rank the following brands of water bottles according to your preference. As this question asked to rank the brands in order of preference it helped us to find out what brand people prefer. The results showed that 45% or 117 consumers prefer Nestle Pure life. Aside from that the other preference were 20% or 52 prefer Aqua Fina , 15% or 39 prefer kinley, 13% or 34 prefer Sufi and the least was aqua safe which is 7% or 18. It showed that the highest demand or preference is of Nestle Pure life. The name Nestle Pure Life was used because it is known as Nestle or Nestle Pure Life among people. Question 3 What are the reasons of your preference? This question asks about why the brand is preferred? And what is the reason for there preference? The results showed that 37% or 96 for international brand, 21% or 55 marked companied credibility, 18% or 47 went for quality seal, 11% or 29 marked packaging, 9% or 23 for price and 4% or 10 for certification. By these results we concluded that most people don’t know about quality seal and certification and some brand don’t have them so it wasn’t marked. One aspect was that those who marked nestle as their preferred brand marked international brand and company’s credibility as their reason for preference. Price and packaging was not such a major factor in their reason for the preference. It was only marked by consumers who use aqua safe and Sufi. Question 4 Do you recall any advertisement of your preferred brand? The results showed that 83% or 216 answered yes and 17% or 44 answered no. It showed that one reason of preference was the advertisement showed. Research shows that it has a major impact on people as it repetitive. It leaves the impression and the companies or brands qualities and messages in peoples mind. They do remember and recall it when buying a product. Question 5 How long have you been using your preferred brand? The results showed that most of the people have been using the brand for more than a year 45% or 117. 37% or 96 were using it for a year, 12% or 31 for 6 months and 6% or 16 for a month. The results also showed that most of the people have been using Nestle and Aqua Fina and Sufi and Aqua safe had a few consumers as they have not been using it for so long. Question 6 In your opinion are you brand loyal to your preferred brand? The results showed that 87% or 226 were brand loyal and 13% or 34 were not. The result showed that students are not brand loyal. But it has been observed that when people ask for drinking water they ask for nestle water. We also observed this at super stores that while passing by the water bottle shelves they pick Nestle. This behavior is same as schools and colleges. Question 7 What if your preferred brand is involved in an unethical business or fraud, will you still buy it? The results for this were that 64% or 166 answered as Yes and 36% or 94 answered as No. It showed that if a companied credibility is in doubt people back of from it. It does show a sense of rightness in people and also that for a brand to be successful it’s important that the company should be credible. As brand equity is the goodwill of the company and it’s important for a company to succeed and be reputable. Is also important because now, with media awareness people are becoming more conscious to these factors, so, the companies have to be conscious of these factors. Question 8 Would you prefer a brand which is popular in your social circle? The results of this question were that 55% or 143 answered as Yes and 45% or 117 answered as No. t helped to show that is the preference dependent on the social behaviors. But the result showed that it has a 10 % difference so it is slightly significance. For some people it who look for acceptance from their circle but it’s not that important as it low involvement purchase and it related to thirst which know no boundaries. But for some its status symbol to use bottled water as some peop le don’t care as long as its water. Discussion If the hypothesis is selected it would mean that the brand equity and brand image is important for the customers. They do take it into consideration while buying as its imprinted in their minds. Advertisement helps the customers to see the attributes of the company and the product . It keeps the brand equity in the minds of the customers. If the hypothesis is not substantiated by the questioner’s results, it would mean that some other factors are involved in the greater sales of the brand besides it brand name and the research would have to be conducted again with a new hypothesis. . Conclusions The conclusion of the study is that the Pure Life sales are greater than competitors due to brand equity of Nestle. The company should concentrate on things like brand preference and brand loyalty. They can do this by a lot of advertising and other promotional campaigns like public relations. Brand preference, brand loyalty and trust leads to establishment of brand equity which can be said as goodwill. Implications Brand equity is the customer’s subjective and intangible assessment of the brand, above and beyond its purely perceived value. In a market where many products are rather similar (i. e. commoditization), the brand can have a large effect on whether customers want to buy the product and what price theyre willing to pay. Brands therefore add more and more value to the basic product or service. Example: although a blind test panel taught researchers that most people prefer Pepsi above Coca-Cola, yet Coca-Cola is much stronger on the market. Our research findings shall help marketers understand the relation between brand equity ad sales. We have used Nestle Pure Life as a model for the study to illuminate the same relationship. As mentioned earlier, if there is a relationship between the variables, the marketers need to take it into account while designing their marketing strategies and policies.

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Direct and Online Marketing the New Marketing Model Essay I. INTRODUCTION With the growth of the Internet community and the limitless possibilities the Internet gives to the single user, it didnt take long before someone realized that the World Wide Web is a really good place for the commercial entrepreneur. So, very quickly the online market was born, offering almost all kinds of goods to be purchased and delivered to your door. This new online sensation was called electronic commerce, or ecommerce. E-commerce is a complex term referring to the process of selling and buying products and services over the Internet or other electronic systems. Considered as the sales aspect of the e-business, the electronic commerce has revolutionized trade as a routine activity for the contemporary man by bringing the marketplace to your home or the office, thus saving you time and efforts. 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The plural of the abbreviation SEO can refer to search engine optimizers, those who provide SEO service. * Pay-Per-Click Advertising (also called cost per click) is an Internet advertising model used to direct traffic to websites, where advertisers pay the publisher (typically a website owner) when the ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market. Content sites commonly charge a fixed price per click rather than use a bidding system. PPC display advertisements, also known as banner ads, are shown on web sites or search engine results with related content that have agreed to show ads. In contrast to the generalized portal, which seeks to drive a high volume of traffic to one site, PPC implements the so-called affiliate model that provides purchase opportunities wherever people may be surfing. It does this by offering financial incentives (in the form of a percentage of revenue) to affiliated partner sites. The affiliates provide purchase-point click-through to the merchant. It is a pay-for-performance model: If an affiliate does not generate sales, it represents no cost to the merchant. Variations include banner exchange, pay-per-click, and revenue sharing programs. Websites that utilize PPC ads will display an advertisement when a keyword query matches an advertisers keyword list, or when a content site displays relevant content. Such advertisements are called sponsored links or sponsored ads, and appear adjacent to, above, or beneath organic results on search engine results pages, or anywhere a web developer chooses on a content site. Among PPC providers, Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and Microsoft adCenter used to be the three largest network operators, and all three operate under a bid-based model. In 2010, Yahoo and Microsoft launched their combined effort against Google and Microsofts Bing began to be the search engine that Yahoo used to provide its search results. Since they joined forces, their PPC platform was renamed AdCenter. Their combined network of third party sites that allow AdCenter ads to populate banner and text ads on their site is called BingAds. The PPC advertising model is open to abuse through click fraud, although Google and others have implemented automated systems to guard against abusive clicks by competitors or corrupt web developers. * Email Marketing is directly marketing a commercial message to a group of people using email. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. It usually involves using email to send ads, request business, or solicit sales or donations, and is meant to build loyalty, trust, or brand awareness. Email marketing can be done to either cold lists or current customer database. Broadly, the term is usually used to refer to: * Sending email messages with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or previous customers, to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business, * Sending email messages with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately, * Adding advertisements to email messages sent by other companies to their customers Researchers estimate that United States firms alone spent US $1.51 billion on email marketing in 2011 and will grow to $2.468 billion by 2016. * Affiliate Marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliates own marketing efforts. The industry has four core players: the merchant (also known as retailer or brand), the network (that contains offers for the affiliate to choose from and also takes care of the payments), the publisher (also known as the affiliate), and the customer. The market has grown in complexity to warrant a secondary tier of players, including affiliate management agencies, super-affiliates and specialized third party vendors. Affiliate marketing overlaps with other Internet marketing methods to some degree, because affiliates often use regular advertising methods. Those methods include organic search engine optimization (SEO), paid search engine marketing (PPC Pay Per Click), e-mail marketing, and in some sense display advertising. On the other hand, affiliates sometimes use less orthodox techniques, such as publishing reviews of products or services offered by a partner. Affiliate marketing is commonly confused with referral marketing, as both forms of marketing use third parties to drive sales to the retailer. However, both are distinct forms of marketing and the main difference between them is that affiliate marketing relies purely on financial motivations to drive sales while referral marketing relies on trust and personal relationships to drive sales. Affiliate marketing is frequently overlooked by advertisers. While search engines, e-mail, and website syndication capture much of the attention of online retailers, affiliate marketing carries a much lower profile. Still, affiliates continue to play a significant role in e-retailers marketing strategies. * Display Advertising is a type of advertising that typically contains text (i.e., copy), logos, photographs or other images, location maps, and similar items. In periodicals, display advertising can appear on the same page as, or on the page adjacent to, general editorial content. In contrast, classified advertising generally appears in a distinct section, was traditionally text-only, and was available in a limited selection of typefaces. Display advertisements are not required to contain images, audio, or video: Textual advertisements are also used where text may be more appropriate or more effective. An example of textual advertisements is commercial messages sent to mobile device users, or email. One common form of display advertising involves billboards. Posters, fliers, transit cards, tents, scale models are examples of display advertising.. Display advertising appears on web pages in many forms, including web banners. Banner ad standards continue to evolve. * Blogging. A weblog, also called a blog, is a journal that is maintained by a blogger and contains information that is instantly published to their blog website. Blogging is a very popular activity. The number of online users creating and maintaining blogs has increased dramatically over the past year. The number Internet users who read these blogs has also shot up, with some blogs boasting thousands, even millions of daily dedicated readers. Blog marketing is any process that publicizes or advertises a website, business, brand or service via the medium of blogs. This includes, but is not limited to marketing via ads placed on blogs, recommendations and reviews by the blogger, promotion via entries on third party blogs and cross-syndication of information across multiple blogs. * Community Building. An online community is a virtual community that exists online and whose members enable its existence through taking part in membership ritual. An online community can take the form of an information system where anyone can post content, such as a Bulletin board system or one where only a restricted number of people can initiate posts, such as Weblogs. Online communities have also become a supplemental form of communication between people who know each other primarily in real life. Many means are used in social separately or in combination, including text-based chat rooms and forums that use voice, video text or avatars. Significant socio-technical change may have resulted from the proliferation of such Internet-based social networks. * Social Media Marketing refers to the process of gaining website traffic or attention through social media sites. Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social networks. A corporate message spreads from user to user and presumably resonates because it appears to come from a trusted, third-party source, as opposed to the brand or company itself. Hence, this form of marketing is driven by word-of-mouth, meaning it results in earned media rather than paid media. Social media has become a platform that is easily accessible to anyone with internet access. Increased communication for organizations fosters brand awareness and often, improved customer service. Additionally, social media serves as a relatively inexpensive platform for organizations to implement marketing campaigns. Social media marketing involves the use of social networks, COBRAs and eWOM to successfully advertise online. Social networks such as Facebook and Twitter provide advertisers with information about the likes and dislikes of their consumers. This technique is crucial, as it provides the businesses with a â€Å"target audience†. With social networks, information relevant to the user’s likes is available to businesses; who then advertise accordingly. Consumer’s online brand related activities (COBRAs) is another method used by advertisers to promote their products. An activity such as uploading a picture of your â€Å"new Converse sneakers to Facebook† is an example of a COBRA. Another technique for social media marketing is electronic word of mouth (eWOM). Electronic recommendations and appraisals are a convenient manner to have a product promoted via â€Å"consumer-to-consumer interactions†. An example of eWOM would be an online hotel review; the hotel company can have two possible outcomes based on their service. A good service would result in a positive review which gets the hotel free advertisement via social media; however a poor service will result in a negative consumer review which can potentially ruin the companys reputation. ADVANTAGE OF ONLINE MARKETING These are some of the many advantages that online marketing offers over traditional media outlets: 1. Reduced Cost The starting cost of online marketing is only a fraction of the thousands of dollars that Yellow Pages, television and radio ads cost. For example, you can get a free listing on Google Local that will be just as effective as a costly online Yellow Pages ad. In addition, while traditional ads may only run for a short time, a search engine optimization campaign can deliver long-term results. You can also save money with online Pay-Per-Click advertising where it is easy to experiment with small ad volumes until you perfect your strategy and then expand your marketing budget when you are assured of a positive sales return. 2. Everything Is Measurable When you place an ad in the newspaper or a magazine, it can be difficult to assess the direct sales impact for your business. With online marketing, everything can be tracked and illustrated in detailed graphs that illustrate traffic growth, leads and sales conversions from your specific search marketing campaigns. Using a free traffic analysis tool like Google Analytics, it is easy to calculate your return on investment (ROI) so you can appreciate the excellent value generated from your online marketing budget. 3. Brand Engagement In the crowded market, you need to establish and maintain positive brand awareness and client loyalty. Apart from word-of-mouth and leveraging your personal relationships with your established clients, a website is the most important marketing tool a business can have. A regularly updated website with well-written content that maintains people’s interest is essential to showing people exactly how your business is distinctive and how you offer the best value to your clients. 4. Demographic Targeting The degree to which an online marketing campaign can target and measure the response from specific demographics and regions is often astonishing to business owners who normally use traditional media. New demographic prediction and online advertising platforms allow you to specifically target the specific consumer demographics most likely to buy your products. In particular, if you want to target young people between the ages of 16-30, youll need an online marketing strategy to reach them where they spend the bulk of their time: On the Internet and on social media sites. 5. Real-Time Results With online marketing you don’t have to wait weeks to see a significant boost in your business. With a paid search marketing campaign you can experience real-time results that enable you to fine-tune your marketing message to achieve your desired effect. If your marketing strategy isnt working effectively, real-time monitoring tools allow you to easily pin-point exactly where you are going wrong. 6. Easily Refine Your Strategy Using online marketing analytics and tracking tools you can test conversion rates at a fraction of the cost of a traditional media campaign. Online marketing levels the playing field and allows savvy small businesses to compete in competitive niches that previously would only be open to large corporations and their massive marketing budgets. If your marketing strategy is not bringing in the return on investment (ROI) that you desire, you can work to perfect it without having to launch an expensive new campaign as would be required with most traditional media outlets. 7. Long-Term Exposure The benefit of an organic search marketing campaign that optimizes a website for specific keywords is that you will achieve a long-term return on your investment. Once your website’s visibility is well-established with search engines, it is easy to do regular low-cost maintenance of your strategy. The early adopters of new online marketing platforms like social media marketing will have a significant head start over their competition. 8. Product Information Today’s savvy consumers want to compare reviews and opinions of friends, trusted bloggers and industry experts before they make a decision. If you can provide quality, linkable information that is what people are looking for, then the next step of converting users into paying clients can be very easy. With social media networks like Facebook and Twitter re-enforcing the value of positive word-of-mouth exposure, trust is more important than ever in the marketing field. 9. Less Intrusive Most savvy consumers dislike intrusive traditional marketing methods like direct mailing, print ads and television advertisements. When someone buys a newspaper or magazine, they want to read interesting articles not be bombarded with irrelevant ads. While mediums like television can still be useful for maintaining awareness of large corporate brands, it is not an effective medium for most small and medium-size businesses. With online marketing, you can target consumers precisely when they are searching for products and services that your business can provide. 10. Holds Their Attention When people read the newspaper or a magazine they may scan over the advertisements beside the article but there is no way to engage their attention. With online marketing you can encourage them to take action, visit your website and read about your products and services which results in vastly increased â€Å"stickiness† of your marketing message.

Mafia - Original Writing :: Papers

Mafia - Original Writing â€Å"Bang, bang, bang!† Francesco fell to the ground with a thunderous thud. His body on top of Fabio’s, who was taken out only moments earlier. Marco was the only one left; this attack has completely gone wrong. He hid behind a crate in the dark room, surrounded by five other men, all his compatriots have been killed or seriously injured. â€Å"Bang, bang† Marco shot blankly around the room; his inexperienced had just cost him dearly, those two shots gave a clear indication of his whereabouts. One of the men crept up behind him, and smashed his solar plexus with a baseball bat. Soon all five men were circling around him; an elbow struck him in the face, at this point his vision was blurred he couldn’t see clearly anymore. Shortly after the attack towards his face, he received a huge blow in the kidney area, he slowly went down. He could hear the chatter amongst the five men; he could hear their footsteps walking away from him. Marco’s once gigantic figure, lay there motionless, in too much pain to move any part of his body. Thoughts started rushing through his head, the events of the past week, has completely changed his life. A week ago, 16th July 1928, Marco Camoranesi was an ordinary man, earning average income, as a taxi driver in the busy street of New York. That night at about 1:30 in the morning, two middle-aged men entered his taxi. Marco approached them in his usual friendly way, but he soon realized that these men weren’t your ordinary New-Yorker. â€Å"Just loose those two cars behind us, you will be rewarded.† Marco was frightened, he knew that there were Mafia gangs around where he lived, but he was one of those people that thought that he was never going to see or be involved in their activities. â€Å"B†¦..but†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Marco stutters, but he had no chance to finish, as one of the men behind him put a gun on his head, â€Å"Drive!!!† Marco had no