dicision level of strategy

8/7/2019 Dicision level of strategy

1/40

Dicision level of strategy

Let us begin with corporate level strategy which has the largest domain. By definition, corporate

level strategy concerns itself with the whole corporation as a unit and consequently, aims toanswer the purpose or the mission of the organization.

Corporate level strategy makers analyze the commonalities of various business units and work toadd value to the whole system besides individual growth of participating business units. In otherwords, corporate level strategy takes a view at the overall scope of an organization and how toenhance stakeholder value. Issues concerning the introduction of new products or expansion intonew markets or segments are all a part of this strategic level. Assessing the value of a businessunit in the overall portfolio of activities is also a corporate level decision alongside optimalresource allocation for units.

Corporate level strategy forms the trunk of the strategic decision tree and the management has tobe fully aware of its implications as well as the sensitivity of all succeeding strategies, no matterat what level. It is of prime importance that corporate level strategy is fully aligned with theoverall vision of the organization and the values and expectations of stakeholders. Any deviationcan result in serious repercussions for the management as also the stakeholders. A detailedanalysis ofcorporate level strategy shall be dealt with in detail later.

Business level strategies are essentially positioning strategies whereby businesses tend to securefor themselves an identity and position in the market. The aim here is to increase the businessvalue for the corporate and stakeholders by increasing the brand awareness and value perceivedby the customers. If we understand products or a services offered by a business unit as a deck of

cards, then we can safely decipher that businesses do not have many suits to play with.

In fact, they can either focus on pricing or product differentiation to increase the perceivedcustomer value. It is a different thing that for either of the suit there are many parameters thatneed to be studied which is a painstakingly complex and time consuming process.

The third level of strategy is the operational level which primarily is concerned with successfullyimplementing the strategic decisions made at Corporate and business unit level through optimalutilization of resources and competencies of the business unit. This level of strategy is extremelysignificant in shaping the success of other strategies as it translates strategic decisions intostrategic actions by directly impacting the design of operational processes and networks.

A thorough understanding of the three levels of strategy makes their strong co-dependence andnon-hierarchical nature evidently clear. All strategies have to be in complete harmonization witheach other since the success of one is inseparably linked to the other. So instead of being in atop-down order, the inter-linking can be visualized as a triangle with the three cornersrepresenting the three levels. The impact of one node on the other is judged by the flexibility oftheir relationship which further depends upon the success of the adopted business framework.


2/40

In A Board Culture of Corporate Governance, business author Gabrielle O'Donovan definescorporate governance as 'an internal system encompassing policies, processes and people, whichserves the needs of shareholders and other stakeholders, by directing and controllingmanagement activities with good business savvy, objectivity, accountability and integrity. Soundcorporate governance is reliant on external marketplace commitment and legislation, plus a

healthy board culture which safeguards policies and processes.

O'Donovan goes on to say that 'the perceived quality of a company's corporate governance caninfluence its share price as well as the cost of raising capital. Quality is determined by thefinancial markets, legislation and other external market forces plus how policies and processesare implemented and how people are led. External forces are, to a large extent, outside the circleof control of any board. The internal environment is quite a different matter, and offerscompanies the opportunity to differentiate from competitors through their board culture. To date,too much of corporate governance debate has centred on legislative policy, to deter fraudulentactivities and transparency policy which misleads executives to treat the symptoms and not thecause.

It is a system of structuring, operating and controlling a company with a view to achieve longterm strategic goals to satisfy shareholders, creditors, employees, customers and suppliers, andcomplying with the legal and regulatory requirements, apart from meeting environmental andlocal community needs.

Report ofSEBI committee (India) on Corporate Governance defines corporate governance as theacceptance by management of the inalienable rights of shareholders as the true owners of thecorporation and of their own role as trustees on behalf of the shareholders. It is aboutcommitment to values, about ethical business conduct and about making a distinction betweenpersonal & corporate funds in the management of a company. The definition is drawn from the

Gandhian principle of trusteeship and the Directive Principles of the Indian Constitution.Corporate Governance is viewed as business ethics and a moral duty..

The Strategic Planning Process

In today's highly competitive business environment, budget-oriented planning orforecast-based planning methods are insufficient for a large corporation to survive andprosper. The firm must engage in strategic planning that clearly defines objectives and

assesses both the internal and external situation to formulate strategy, implement thestrategy, evaluate the progress, and make adjustments as necessary to stay on track.


3/40

Mission &

Objectives

Environmental

Scanning

Strategy

Formulation

Strategy

Implementation

Evaluation

& Control

The Strategic Planning Process

Mission and Objectives

The mission statement describes the company's business vision, including theunchanging values and purpose of the firm and forward-looking visionary goals thatguide the pursuit of future opportunities.


4/40

Guided by the business vision, the firm's leaders can define measurable financial andstrategic objectives. Financial objectives involve measures such as sales targets andearnings growth. Strategic objectives are related to the firm's business position, andmay include measures such as market share and reputation.

Environmental Scan

The environmental scan includes the following components:

y Internal analysis of the firmy Analysis of the firm's industry (task environment)y External macro environment

The internal analysis can identify the firm's strengths and weaknesses and the externalanalysis reveals opportunities and threats. A profile of the strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities, and threats is generated by means of a SWOT analysis

An industry analysis can be performed using a framework developed by Michael Porterknown as Porter's five forces. This framework evaluates entry barriers, suppliers,customers, substitute products, and industry rivalry.

Strategy Formulation

Given the information from the environmental scan, the firm should match its strengths

to the opportunities that it has identified, while addressing its weaknesses and externalthreats.

To attain superior profitability, the firm seeks to develop a competitive advantage overits rivals. A competitive advantage can be based on cost or differentiation. MichaelPorter identified three industry-independent generic strategies from which the firm canchoose.

Strategy Implementation

The selected strategy is implemented by means of programs, budgets, and procedures.Implementation involves organization of the firm's resources and motivation of the staffto achieve objectives.

The way in which the strategy is implemented can have a significant impact on whetherit will be successful. In a large company, those who implement the strategy likely will bedifferent people from those who formulated it. For this reason, care must be taken to


5/40

communicate the strategy and the reasoning behind it. Otherwise, the implementationmight not succeed if the strategy is misunderstood or if lower-level managers resist itsimplementation because they do not understand why the particular strategy wasselected.

Evaluation & Control

The implementation of the strategy must be monitored and adjustments made asneeded.

Evaluation and control consists of the following steps:

1. Define parameters to be measured2. Define target values for those parameters3. Perform measurements

4. Compare measured results to the pre-defined standard5. Make necessary changes

The McKinsey 7S Framework

Ensuring that all parts of your organization work in harmony

How do you go about analyzing how well your organization is positioned to achieve its intended

objective? This is a question that has been asked for many years, and there are many differentanswers. Some approaches look at internal factors, others look at external ones, some combinethese perspectives, and others look for congruence between various aspects of the organizationbeing studied. Ultimately, the issue comes down to which factors to study.

While some models of organizational effectiveness go in and out of fashion, one that haspersisted is the McKinsey 7S framework. Developed in the early 1980s by Tom Peters andRobert Waterman, two consultants working at the McKinsey & Company consulting firm, thebasic premise of the model is that there are seven internal aspects of an organization that need tobe aligned if it is to be successful.

The 7S model can be used in a wide variety of situations where an alignment perspective isuseful, for example to help you:

y Improve the performance of a company.

y Examine the likely effects of future changes within a company.

y Align departments and processes during a merger or acquisition.

y Determine how best to implement a proposed strategy.


6/40

The Seven Elements

The McKinsey 7S model involves seven interdependent factors which are categorized as either"hard" or "soft" elements:

Hard Elements Soft Elements

Strategy

Structure

Systems

Shared Values

Skills

Style

Staff

"Hard" elements are easier to define or identify and management can directly influence them:

These are strategy statements; organization charts and reporting lines; and formal processes andIT systems.

"Soft" elements, on the other hand, can be more difficult to describe, and are less tangible andmore influenced by culture. However, these soft elements are as important as the hard elementsif the organization is going to be successful.

The way the model is presented in Figure 1 below depicts the interdependency of the elementsand indicates how a change in one affects all the others.

Let's look at each of the elements specifically:


7/40

y Strategy: the plan devised to maintain and build competitive advantage over the competition.

y Structure: the way the organization is structured and who reports to whom.

y Systems: the daily activities and procedures that staff members engage in to get the job done.

y Shared Values: called "superordinate goals" when the model was first developed, these are the

core values of the company that are evidenced in the corporate culture and the general work

ethic.

y Style: the style of leadership adopted.

y Staff: the employees and their general capabilities.

y Skills: the actual skills and competencies of the employees working for the company.

How to Use the Model

Now you know what the model covers, how can you use it?

The model is based on the theory that, for an organization to perform well, these seven elementsneed to be aligned and mutually reinforcing. So, the model can be used to help identify what

needs to be realigned to improve performance, or to maintain alignment (and performance)during other types of change.

Whatever the type of change - restructuring, new processes, organizational merger, new systems,change of leadership, and so on - the model can be used to understand how the organizationalelements are interrelated, and so ensure that the wider impact of changes made in one area istaken into consideration.

You can use the 7S model to help analyze the current situation (Point A), a proposed futuresituation (Point B) and to identify gaps and inconsistencies between them. It's then a question ofadjusting and tuning the elements of the 7S model to ensure that your organization works

effectively and well once you reach the desired endpoint.

Sounds simple? Well, of course not: Changing your organization probably will not be simple atall! Whole books and methodologies are dedicated to analyzing organizational strategy,improving performance and managing change. The 7S model is a good framework to help youask the right questions - but it won't give you all the answers. For that you'll need to bringtogether the right knowledge, skills and experience.

When it comes to asking the right questions, we've developed a Mind Tools checklist and amatrix to keep track of how the seven elements align with each other. Supplement these withyour own questions, based on your organization's specific circumstances and accumulated

wisdom.

7S Checklist Questions

Here are some of the questions that you'll need to explore to help you understand your situationin terms of the 7S framework. Use them to analyze your current (Point A) situation first, andthen repeat the exercise for your proposed situation (Point B).


8/40

Strategy:

y What is our strategy?

y How do we intend to achieve our objectives?

y How do we deal with competitive pressure?

y How are changes in customer demands dealt with?

y How is strategy adjusted for environmental issues?

Structure:

y How is the company/team divided?

y What is the hierarchy?

y How do the various departments coordinate activities?

y How do the team members organize and align themselves?

y Is decision making and controlling centralized or decentralized? Is this as it should be, given

what we're doing?

y Where are the lines of communication? Explicit and implicit?

Systems:

y What are the main systems that run the organization? Consider financial andHR systems as well

as communications and document storage.

y Where are the controls and how are they monitored and evaluated?

y What internal rules and processes does the team use to keep on track?

Shared Values:

y What are the core values?y What is the corporate/team culture?

y How strong are the values?

y What are the fundamental values that the company/team was built on?

Style:

y How participative is the management/leadership style?

y How effective is that leadership?

y Do employees/team members tend to be competitive or cooperative?

y Are there real teams functioning within the organization or are they just nominal groups?

Staff:

y What positions or specializations are represented within the team?

y What positions need to be filled?

y Are there gaps in required competencies?

Skills:


9/40

y What are the strongest skills represented within the company/team?

y Are there any skills gaps?

y What is the company/team known for doing well?

y Do the current employees/team members have the ability to do the job?

y How are skills monitored and assessed?

What Is An Environmental Scan?

Whether you are planning a trip, or an excursion to buy groceries, or the direction of acorporation, you need to consider the larger external environment. For example, youwant to go grocery shopping in the next town. You'd like to get this done as quickly as

possible. So, you turn on the radio to listen to the traffic report. Oops. There's been anaccident on the highway you usually take to get to the store. What do you do? You planto take an alternate route that will keep you out of the traffic jam. You've done alimited form of environmental scan.

In terms of organizations and strategic planning, an environmental scan involvesconsidering the factors that will influence the direction and goals of your organization.And, it includes consideration of both present and future factors that might affect theorganization, since, of course, we're planning for the future, not just the present.

For example, an environmental scan might project that in the next ten years, the

number of people (potential customers) between the ages of 18-24 will increase from30% to 40%. That's important information if we want to decide what kinds of newproducts we might consider introducing into the marketplace. Should we work ondeveloping products targeted at a dwindling seniors population? Or should we developproducts to take advantage of the shift to a youth dominated market. Theenvironmental scan forces us to look at these factors.

While some suggest the environmental scan should address only factors external to theorganization (e.g. markets, legislation and government actions, demographics,marketing trends, etc)

An internal environmental scan involves looking at the present capabilities of theorganization (infrastructure, hardware, personnel, abilities, structure, etc) and thatinformation can be compared to what the organization WILL need in the future toachieve its strategic goals.


10/40

Mission Statements & Vision Statements

Unleashing the power of purpose

Vision Statements and Mission Statements are the inspiring words chosen by successful leaders

to clearly and concisely convey the direction of the organization. By crafting a clear missionstatement and vision statement, you can powerfully communicate your intentions and motivateyour team or organization to realize an attractive and inspiring common vision of the future.

Mission Statements and Vision Statements do two distinctly different jobs.

A Mission Statement defines the organization's purpose and primary objectives. Its primefunction is internal to define the key measure or measures of the organizations success andits prime audience is the leadership team and stockholders.

Vision Statements also define the organizations purpose, but this time they do so in terms of the

organizations values rather than bottom line measures (values are guiding beliefs about howthings should be done.) The vision statement communicates both the purpose and values of theorganization. For employees, it gives direction about how they are expected to behave andinspires them to give their best. Shared with customers, it shapes customers understanding ofwhy they should work with the organization.

First we look at creating mission statements. Then we create vision statements.

Mission Statement Creation

1. To create your mission statement, first identify your organizations winning idea.

This is the idea or approach that will make your organization stand out from its competitors, andis the reason that customers will come to you and not your competitors (see tip below).

2. Next identify the key measures of your success. Make sure you choose the most important

measures (and not too many of them!)

3. Combine your winning idea and success measures into a tangible and measurable goal.

4. Refine the words until you have a concise and precise statement of your mission, which

expresses your ideas, measures and desired result.

Vision Statement Creation

Once youve created your mission statement, move on to create your vision

statement:

1. First identify your organizations mission. Then uncover the real, human value in that mission

2. Next, identify what you, your customers and other stakeholders will value most about how your

organization will achieve this mission. Distil these into the values that your organization has or

should have.


11/40

3. Combine your mission and values, and polish the words until you have a vision statement

inspiring enough to energize and motivate people inside and outside your organization.

BCGGrowth-Share Matrix

Companies that are large enough to be organized into strategic business units face thechallenge of allocating resources among those units. In the early 1970's the Boston ConsultingGroup developed a model for managing a portfolio of different business units (or major productlines). The BCG growth-share matrix displays the various business units on a graph of the

market growth rate vs. market share relative to competitors:

BCGGrowth-Share Matrix

s

Resources are allocated to business units according to where they are situated on the grid asfollows:

y CashCow - a business unit that has a large market share in a mature, slow growingindustry. Cash cows require little investment and generate cash that can be used toinvest in other business units.

y Star- a business unit that has a large market share in a fast growing industry. Stars maygenerate cash, but because the market is growing rapidly they require investment to

maintain their lead. If successful, a star will become a cash cow when its industrymatures.y Question Mark (or Problem Child) - a business unit that has a small market share in a

high growth market. These business units require resources to grow market share, butwhether they will succeed and become stars is unknown.

y Dog - a business unit that has a small market share in a mature industry. A dog may notrequire substantial cash, but it ties up capital that could better be deployed elsewhere.Unless a dog has some other strategic purpose, it should be liquidated if there is littleprospect for it to gain market share.


12/40

Limitations

The growth-share matrix once was used widely, but has since faded from popularity as morecomprehensive models have been developed. Some of its weaknesses are:

y

Market growth rate is only one factor in industry attractiveness, and relative market shareis only one factor in competitive advantage. The growth-share matrix overlooks manyother factors in these two important determinants of profitability.

y The framework assumes that each business unit is independent of the others. In somecases, a business unit that is a "dog" may be helping other business units gain acompetitive advantage.

y The matrix depends heavily upon the breadth of the definition of the market. A businessunit may dominate its small niche, but have very low market share in the overall industry.In such a case, the definition of the market can make the difference between a dog and acash cow

ansoff's product / market matrixThe AnsoffGrowth matrix is a tool that helps businesses decide their product and market growthstrategy.

Ansoffs product/market growth matrix suggests that a business attempts to grow depend on whetherit markets new or existing products in new or existing markets.


13/40

The output from the Ansoff product/market matrix is a series of suggested growth strategies that setthe direction for the business strategy. These are described below:

Market penetration

Market penetration is the name given to a growth strategy where the business focuses on sellingexisting products into existing markets.

Market penetration seeks to achieve four main objectives:

Maintain or increase the market share of current products this can be achieved by acombination of competitive pricing strategies, advertising, sales promotion and perhaps moreresources dedicated to personal selling

Secure dominance of growth markets

Restructure a mature market by driving out competitors; this would require a much moreaggressive promotional campaign, supported by a pricing strategy designed to make the marketunattractive for competitors

Increase usage by existing customers for example by introducing loyalty schemesA market penetration marketing strategy is very much about business as usual. The business isfocusing on markets and products it knows well. It is likely to have good information oncompetitors and on customer needs. It is unlikely, therefore, that this strategy will require much

investment in new market research.

Market development

Market development is the name given to a growth strategy where the business seeks to sell itsexisting products into new markets.

There are many possible ways of approaching this strategy, including:

New geographical markets; for example exporting the product to a new country

New product dimensions or packaging: for example

New distribution channels

Different pricing policies to attract different customers or create new market segments

Product development


14/40

Product development is the name given to a growth strategy where a business aims to introducenew products into existing markets. This strategy may require the development of newcompetencies and requires the business to develop modified products which can appeal toexisting markets.

Diversification

Diversification is the name given to the growth strategy where a business markets new productsin new markets.

This is an inherently more risk strategy because the business is moving into markets in which ithas little or no experience.

For a business to adopt a diversification strategy, therefore, it must have a clear idea about whatit expects to gain from the strategy and an honest assessment of the risks.

Gap Analysis

Gap analysis is a very useful tool for helping marketing managers to decide upon marketingstrategies and tactics. Again, the simple tools are the most effective. There's a straightforwardstructure to follow. The first step is to decide upon how you are going to judge the gap over time.For example, by market share, by profit, by sales and so on.

This will help you to write SMART objectives. Then you simply ask two questions - where arewe now? and where do we want to be? The difference between the two is the GAP - this is howyou are going to get there. Take a look at the diagram below. The lower line is where you'll be if

you do nothing. The upper line is where you want to be.

What is Gap Analysis?


15/40

Your next step is to close the gap. Firstly decide whether you view from a strategic or anoperational/tactical perspective. If you are writing strategy, you will go on to write tactics - seethe lesson on marketing plans. The diagram below uses Ansoff's matrix to bridge the gap usingstrategies:

Strategic Gap Analysis

You can close the gap by using tactical approaches. The marketing mix is ideal for this. Soeffectively, you modify the mix so that you get to where you want to be. That is to say youchange price, or promotion to move from where you are today (or in fact any or all of theelements of the marketing mix).

Tactical Gap Analysis


16/40

Network Layers

The layered concept of networking was developed to accommodate changes in technology.

Each layer of a specific network model may be responsible for a different function of thenetwork. Each layer will pass information up and down to the next subsequent layer as datais processed.

The OSI Network Model Standard

The OSI network model layers are arranged here from the lower levels starting with thephysical (hardware) to the higher levels.

1. Physical Layer - The actual hardware.

2. Data Link Layer - Data transfer method (802x ethernet). Puts data in frames and ensures

error free transmission. Also controls the timing of the network transmission. Adds frametype, address, and error control information. IEEE divided this layer into the two following

sublayers.

1. Logical Link control (LLC) - Maintains the Link between two computers by

establishing Service Access Points (SAPs) which are a series of interface points. IEEE

802.2.

2. Media Access Control (MAC) - Used to coordinate the sending of data between

computers. The 802.3, 4, 5, and 12 standards apply to this layer. If you hear

someone talking about the MAC address of a network card, they are referring to the

hardware address of the card.

3. Network Layer - IP network protocol. Routes messages using the best path available.

4. Transport Layer - TCP, UDP. Ensures properly sequenced and error free transmission.

5. Session Layer - The user's interface to the network. Determines when the session is begun

or opened, how long it is used, and when it is closed. Controls the transmission of data

during the session. Supports security and name lookup enabling computers to locate each

other.

6. Presentation Layer - ASCII or EBCDEC data syntax. Makes the type of data transparent to

the layers around it. Used to translate date to computer specific format such as byte

ordering. It may include compression. It prepares the data, either for the network or the

application depending on the direction it is going.

7. Application Layer - Provides services software applications need. Provides the ability for

user applications to interact with the network.

Many protocol stacks overlap the borders of the seven layer model by operating at multiplelayers of the model. File Transport Protocol (FTP) and telnet both work at the application,presentation, and the session layers.

The Internet, TCP/IP, DOD Model

This model is sometimes called the DOD model since it was designed for the department of


17/40

defense It is also called the TCP/IP four layer protocol, or the internet protocol. It has thefollowing layers:

1. Link - Device driver and interface card which maps to the data link and physical layer of the

OSI model.

2. Network - Corresponds to the network layer of the OSI model and includes the IP, ICMP,and IGMP protocols.

3. Transport - Corresponds to the transport layer and includes the TCP and UDP protocols.

4. Application - Corresponds to the OSI Session, Presentation and Application layers and

includes FTP, Telnet, ping, Rlogin, rsh, TFTP, SMTP, SNMP, DNS, your program, etc.

Please note the four layer TCP/IP protocol. Each layer has a set of data that it generates.

1. The Link layer corresponds to the hardware, including the device driver and interface card.

The link layer has data packets associated with it depending on the type of network being

used such as ARCnet, Token ring or ethernet. In our case, we will be talking about ethernet.

2.T

he network layer manages the movement of packets around the network and includes IP,ICMP, and IGMP. It is responsible for making sure that packages reach their destinations,

and if they don't, reporting errors.

3. The transport layer is the mechanism used for two computers to exchange data with

regards to software. The two types of protocols that are the transport mechanisms are TCP

and UDP. There are also other types of protocols for systems other than TCP/IP but we will

talk about TCP and UDP in this document.

4. The application layer refers to networking protocols that are used to support variousservices such as FTP, Telnet, BOOTP, etc. Note here to avoid confusion, that the application

layer is generally referring to protocols such as FTP, telnet, ping, and other programs

designed for specific purposes which are governed by a specific set of protocols defined

with RFC's (request for comments). However a program that you may write can define its

own data structure to send between your client and server program so long as the program

you run on both the client and server machine understand your protocol. For example when

your program opens a socket to another machine, it is using TCP protocol, but the data you

send depends on how you structure it.

Data Encapsulation, a Critical concept to be understood

When starting with protocols that work at the upper layers of the network models, each set ofdata is wrapped inside the next lower layer protocol, similar to wrapping letters inside anenvelope. The application creates the data, then the transport layer wraps that data inside its

format, then the networklayer wraps the data, and finally the link(ethernet) layer encapsulatesthe data and transmits it.

Each network layer either encapsulates the data stream with additional information, or managesdata handling or come part of the connection.


18/40


19/40

topology

In computer networking, topologyrefers to the layout of connected devices. This article introduces the

standard topologies of networking.

Topology in Network Design

Think of a topology as a network's virtual shape or structure. This shape does not necessarily correspondto the actual physical layout of the devices on the network. For example, the computers on a home LAN

may be arranged in a circle in a family room, but it would be highly unlikely to find a ring topology there.

y bus

y ring

y star

y tree

y mesh

Bus Topology

Bus networks (not to be confused with the system bus of a computer) use a common backbone to

connect all devices. A single cable, the backbone functions as a shared communication medium that

devices attach or tap into with an interface connector. A device wanting to communicate with another

device on the network sends a broadcast message onto the wire that all other devices see, but only the

intended recipient actually accepts and processes the message.

Ethernet bus topologies are relatively easy to install and don't require much cabling compared tothe alternatives. 10Base-2 ("ThinNet") and 10Base-5 ("ThickNet") both were popular Ethernetcabling options many years ago for bus topologies. However, bus networks work best with alimited number of devices. If more than a few dozen computers are added to a network bus,

performance problems will likely result. In addition, if the backbone cable fails, the entirenetwork effectively becomes unusable.

Ring Topology

In a ring network, every device has exactly two neighbors for communication purposes. All messages

travel through a ring in the same direction (either "clockwise" or "counterclockwise"). A failure in any

cable or device breaks the loop and can take down the entire network.

To implement a ring network, one typically uses FDDI, SONET, orToken Ring technology.Ring topologies are found in some office buildings or school campuses.


20/40

StarT

opologyMany home networks use the star topology. A star network features a central connection point called a

"hub" that may be a hub, switch or router. Devices typically connect to the hub with UnshieldedTwisted

Pair (UTP) Ethernet.

Compared to the bus topology, a star network generally requires more cable, but a failure in anystar network cable will only take down one computer's network access and not the entire LAN.(If the hu b fails, however, the entire network also fails.)

Tree Topology

Tree topologies integrate multiple star topologies together onto a bus. In its simplest form, only hub

devices connect directly to the tree bus, and each hub functions as the "root" of a tree of devices.This

bus/star hybrid approach supports future expandability of the network much better than a bus (limited

in the number of devices due to the broadcast traffic it generates) or a star (limited by the number of

hub connection points) alone.

MeshTopology

Mesh topologies involve the concept of routes. Unlike each of the previous topologies, messages sent

on a mesh network can take any of several possible paths from source to destination. (Recall that even

in a ring, although two cable paths exist, messages can only travel in one direction.) Some WANs, most

notably the Internet, employ mesh routing.

A mesh network in which every device connects to every other is called a full mesh. As shown in the

illustration below, partial mesh networks also exist in which some devices connect only indirectly to

others.


21/40

Summary

Topologies remain an important part of network design theory. You can probably build a homeor small business computer network without understanding the difference between a bus designand a star design, but becoming familiar with the standard topologies gives you a betterunderstanding of important networking concepts like hubs, broadcasts, and routes.

Basic point-to-point data link

A traditional point-to-point data link is a communications medium with exactly two endpointsand no data orpacket formatting. The host computers at either end had to take full responsibilityfor formatting the data transmitted between them. The connection between the computer and thecommunications medium was generally implemented through an RS-232 interface, or somethingsimilar. Computers in close proximity may be connected by wires directly between theirinterface cards .

When connected at a distance, each endpoint would be fitted with a modem to convert analog

telecommunications signals into a digital data stream. When the connection used atelecommunications provider, the connections were called a dedicated, leased, or private line.The ARPANET used leased lines to provide point-to-point data links between its packet-switching nodes, which were called Interface Message Processors.

Modern point-to-point links

More recently (2003), the term point-to-point telecommunications relates to wireless datacommunications forInternet orVoice over IP via radio frequencies in the multi-gigahertz range.It also includes technologies such as laserfortelecommunications but in all cases expects thatthe transmission medium is line of sight and capable of being fairly tightly beamed fromtransmitterto receiver. Today (2009) there are online tools to help users find if they have suchline of sight, one example is the PTP estimator from AlphiMAX.

The telecommunications signal is typically bi-directional, eithertime division multiple access(TDMA) orchannelized.


22/40


23/40

Definitions of brand on theWeb:

y trade name: a name given to a product or servicey a recognizable kind; "there's a new brand of hero in the movies now"; "what make of car

is that?"y burn with a branding iron to indicate ownership; of animalsy identification mark on skin, made by burningy stigmatize: to accuse or condemn or openly or formally or brand as disgraceful; "He

denounced the government action"; "She was stigmatized by society because she had achild out of wedlock"

y a piece of wood that has been burned or is burningy mark with a brand or trademark; "when this product is not branded it sells for a lower

price"y mark: a symbol of disgrace or infamy; "And the Lord set a mark upon Cain"--Genesisy post: mark or expose as infamous; "She was branded a loose woman"y sword: a cutting or thrusting weapon that has a long metal blade and a hilt with a hand

guard

Creating a new brand

If you want to create a new e-commerce brand then a good name is extremely important. Somefactors to consider when selecting a new brand name are that it should:

y suggest something about the product

y be short and memorable

y be easy to spelly translate well into other languages

y have an available domain name

Co-branding

Co-branding occurs when two businesses put their brand name on the same product. Thispractice is quite common on the internet and has proved to be a good way to build brandrecognition.

Five brand success factors

An efficient and scalable business model combined with innovation is necessary to stay ahead ofthe competition. But individually these are not sufficient to make a successful global brand. Fivefurther overlapping components are required:


24/40

1. A great brand experience

Brand experience is not limited to the product or service. Every contact with the brand counts.

2. A clear and consistent positioning

People need to know what a brand stands for. That's why an established and successfulmarketing campaign should not be abandoned simply for the sake of saying something new.When change is required, the challenge is to re-interpret the brand positioning in a way that isappropriate to the current time and culture.

3. A sense of dynamism

Innovation is key to brand success but it is not limited to the functional benefits of the brand. Abrand that sets the trends rather than reacting to them is likely to be seen as different and morepopular.

4. A sense of authenticity

Today consumers in developed countries have a finely tuned sense for what is true and authenticversus shallow and contrived. They are still drawn to brands with a strong heritage.

5. A strong corporate culture

Today people seek out brands that display their values by the actions they take. In industries witha strong customer-service component it is particularly important that everyone involved with thebrand understands and embodies its values.

Which brand epitomizes these success factors? Apple. In the 2008 Millward Brown BrandZTop 100 Most Powerful Brands ranking, Apple's brand value increased 128 percent as a result ofstrong business growth based on innovation and strong customer loyalty.

Brand Equity

A brandis a name or symbol used to identify the source of a product. When developing a newproduct, branding is an important decision. The brand can add significant value when it is well

recognized and has positive associations in the mind of the consumer. This concept is referred toas brand equity.

What is Brand Equity?

Brand equity is an intangible asset that depends on associations made by the consumer. There areat least three perspectives from which to view brand equity:


25/40

y Financial - One way to measure brand equity is to determine the price premium that abrand commands over a generic product. For example, if consumers are willing to pay$100 more for a branded television over the same unbranded television, this premiumprovides important information about the value of the brand. However, expenses such aspromotional costs must be taken into account when using this method to measure brand

equity.y Brand extensions - A successful brand can be used as a platform to launch related

products. The benefits of brand extensions are the leveraging of existing brand awarenessthus reducing advertising expenditures, and a lower risk from the perspective of theconsumer. Furthermore, appropriate brand extensions can enhance the core brand.However, the value of brand extensions is more difficult to quantify than are directfinancial measures of brand equity.

y Consumer-based - A strong brand increases the consumer's attitude strength toward theproduct associated with the brand. Attitude strength is built by experience with a product.This importance of actual experience by the customer implies that trial samples are moreeffective than advertising in the early stages of building a strong brand. The consumer's

awareness and associations lead to perceived quality, inferred attributes, and eventually,brand loyalty.

Strong brand equity provides the following benefits:

y Facilitates a more predictable income stream.

y Increases cash flow by increasing market share, reducing promotional costs, and allowing

premium pricing.

y Brand equity is an asset that can be sold or leased.

However, brand equity is not always positive in value. Some brands acquire a bad reputation thatresults in negative brand equity. Negative brand equity can be measured by surveys in whichconsumers indicate that a discount is needed to purchase the brand over a generic product.

Building and Managing Brand Equity

In his 1989 paper, Managing Brand Equity, PeterH. Farquhar outlined the following three stagesthat are required in order to build a strong brand:

1. Introduction - introduce a quality product with the strategy of using the brand as aplatform from which to launch future products. A positive evaluation by the consumer isimportant.

2. Elaboration - make the brand easy to remember and develop repeat usage. There shouldbe accessible brand attitude, that is, the consumer should easily remember his or herpositive evaluation of the brand.

3. Fortification - the brand should carry a consistent image over time to reinforce its placein the consumer's mind and develop a special relationship with the consumer. Brandextensions can further fortify the brand, but only with related products having a perceivedfit in the mind of the consumer.


26/40

Alternative Means to Brand Equity

Building brand equity requires a significant effort, and some companies use alternative means ofachieving the benefits of a strong brand. For example, brand equity can be borrowed byextending the brand name to a line of products in the same product category or even to other

categories. In some cases, especially when there is a perceptual connection between the products,such extensions are successful. In other cases, the extensions are unsuccessful and can dilute theoriginal brand equity.

Brand equity also can be "bought" by licensing the use of a strong brand for a new product. As inline extensions by the same company, the success of brand licensing is not guaranteed and mustbe analyzed carefully for appropriateness.

Managing Multiple Brands

Different companies have opted for different brand strategies for multiple products. These

strategies are:

y Single brand identity - a separate brand for each product. For example, in laundrydetergents Procter & Gamble offers uniquely positioned brands such as Tide, Cheer,Bold, etc.

y Umbrella - all products under the same brand. For example, Sony offers many differentproduct categories under its brand.

y Multi-brand categories - Different brands for different product categories. CampbellSoup Company uses Campbell's for soups, Pepperidge Farm for baked goods, and V8 forjuices.

y Family of names - Different brands having a common name stem. Nestle uses Nescafe,

Nesquik, and Nestea for beverages.

Brand equity is an important factor in multi-product branding strategies.

Protecting Brand Equity

The marketing mix should focus on building and protecting brand equity. For example, if thebrand is positioned as a premium product, the product quality should be consistent with whatconsumers expect of the brand, low sale prices should not be used compete, the distributionchannels should be consistent with what is expected of a premium brand, and the promotionalcampaign should build consistent associations.

Finally, potentially dilutive extensions that are inconsistent with the consumer's perception of thebrand should be avoided. Extensions also should be avoided if the core brand is not yetsufficiently strong.


27/40

Brand personality

Just like people, all brands have a personality. Whether it is shallow and instrumental or deep,emotionally charged and carefully managed.This personality is crucial. Why? To put it boldly: personality is a key issue in our society. Look

at politics: the popularity of politicians and government leaders is personality based. It is notabout their identity, it is not about their views, which are elements of the overall concept thatmatter most: their personality. Was Tony Blair so successful because of his identity, his views, orhis overall personality?

In my view, the situation for brands is no different. It is all about personality. Personality is theconcept to give life to a brand, to manage identity and image, to create likeability.

Identity Personality

So what is the main difference between identity and personality? Lets set the record straight: of

course they are not complete opposites, like Mars and Venus. It has to do with a fundamentallydifferent approach. Identity as a term refers to background and facts in most languages. Youridentity is about characteristics you share with others, like the country and culture you comefrom, your race, your religion, and facts, like the place where you live.

In communication it mostly refers to your true inner self - as a company or a brand. To quoteKapferer: Having an identity means being who you are, following your own, determined, butindividual path. Be who you are. This is the paradigm of identity.

The concept of brand personality combines inside-out and outside-in; identity and image. Apersonality has its roots in the identity but is strongly externally focused. It is not be who

your are. Personality is: Become who you should be.

In the words of Carl Jung: Personality is the supreme realisation of the innate idiosyncrasy of aliving being. It is an act of courage flung in the face of life, the absolute affirmation of all thatconstitutes the individual, the most successful adaptation to the universal conditions of existence,coupled with the greatest possible freedom of self-determination.[C.G. Jung, 1875-1961]

In psychology, three elements are defined as a part of personality:-private personality (thoughts, feelings, fantasies, ambitions, talents)-public personality (how you want others to see you)

-attributed personality (how others see you)

The private personality overlaps identity; the public and attributed personalities indicate theexternal aim and nature of personality.


28/40

Identity -> Personality

In historic perspective, the shift from identity to personality was organic and logical. Identity-based thinking was a logical reaction to marketing-based thinking. Forgive me for droppingnames, but in many dynamic processes, I use the theory of dialectic development of the German

philosopher Georg Hegels to explain the developments that took place: thesis -> antithesis ->synthesis. It also applies in this matter: the thesis is marketing (outside-in), the antithesis isidentity (inside-out), the synthesis is personality.

This is an ongoing process that, fortunately, never stops. I am curious to see what will comenext.

The use of brand personality

OK, now we have established the logic behind the concept of brand personality: what should wedo with it? We use brand personality to bring brand strategy to life. Dont forget, consumers

demand a brand of flesh and blood. The consumer will treat your brand like you treat theconsumer. If your brand has no personality and no warmth, the consumer will treat it likewise:zero loyalty, high price sensitivity.

The fact of the matter is that brand-strategy models are extremely important to modern business.But they are an intellectual piece of work, not necessarily a practical one. They are vital in tellingwhat a brand should be all about and why; but less useful in helping professionals finding outhow they should manage to achieve, follow and contribute to this strategy in the day-to-daybusiness environment.

The brand personality should be clearly defined; like you would describe the personality of a real

person. Obviously this does not apply to every brand. You can choose other verbal concepts toexpress the brand personality. It is most important to define a brand personality without usingany professional lingo.

Use peoples language, simple words, create a lively picture of a personality that is absolutelyclear to anyone. It will be a big contribution to what I call the internal governance of your brand.It brings you beyond the strategic words that are too abstract to manage a brand in daily businessand beyond the strict guidelines that are too inflexible.

The power of paradox

One essential thing I would like to add to this outline about personality is the power of paradox.The point is that organisations are not one-dimensional, markets are not one-dimensional, peopleand personalities are not one-dimensional. So.....: why should a brand strategy be worded in one-dimensional keywords? Why is it that three or four keywords should stand for the eternal truthabout the brand? Life isnt as simple as that. And you limit yourself from a commercialperspective. Unless, maybe, you are talking about a very simple fast-moving consumer product.Any brand with more richness and complexity (and therefore: power) in its personality canachieve more by crossing the line of one-dimensional key words.


29/40


30/40

Consumers develop various associations with the brand. Based on these associations, they formbrand image. An image is formed about the brand on the basis of subjective perceptions ofassociations bundle that the consumers have about the brand. Volvo is associated with safety.Toyota is associated with reliability.

The idea behind brand image is that the consumer is not purchasing just the product/service butalso the image associated with that product/service. Brand images should be positive, unique andinstant. Brand images can be strengthened using brand communications like advertising,packaging, word of mouth publicity, other promotional tools, etc.

Brand image develops and conveys the products character in a unique manner different from itscompetitors image. The brand image consists of various associations in consumers mind -attributes, benefits and attributes. Brand attributes are the functional and mental connections withthe brand that the customers have. They can be specific or conceptual. Benefits are the rationalefor the purchase decision. There are three types of benefits: Functional benefits - what do you dobetter (than others ),emotional benefits - how do you make me feel better (than others), and

rational benefits/support - why do I believe you(more than others). Brand attributes areconsumers overall assessment of a brand.

Brand image has not to be created, but is automatically formed. The brand image includesproducts' appeal, ease of use, functionality, fame, and overall value. Brand image is actuallybrand content. When the consumers purchase the product, they are also purchasing its image.Brand image is the objective and mental feedback of the consumers when they purchase aproduct. Positive brand image is exceeding the customers expectations. Positive brand imageenhances the goodwill and brand value of an organization.

Celebrity branding

Celebrity branding is a type of branding, or advertising, in which a celebrity uses his or herstatus in society to promote a product, service or charity. Celebrity branding can take severaldifferent forms, from a celebrity simply appearing in advertisements for a product, service orcharity, to a celebrity attending PR events, creating his or her own line of products or services,and/or using his or her name as a brand. The most popular forms of celebrity brand lines are forclothing and fragrances. Many singers, models and film stars now have at least one licensedproduct or service which bears their name.

Lately there has been a trend towards celebrity voice-overs in advertising. Some celebrities have

distinct voices which are recognizable even when they not present on-screen. This is a moresubtle way to add celebrity branding to a product or service. And example of such an advertisingcampaign is Sean Connery voice-over for Level 3 Communications.

More recently, advertisers have begun attempting to quantify and qualify the use of celebrities intheir marketing campaigns by evaluating their awareness, appeal, and relevance to a brand'simage and the celebrity's influence on consumer buying behavior.


31/40

For example, Omnicom agency Davie Brown Entertainment has created an independent indexfor brand marketers and advertising agencies that determines a celebritys ability to influencebrand affinity and consumer purchase intent. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Davie-Brown Index (DBI) will "enable advertisers and ad-agency personnel to determine if a particularpublic figure will motivate consumers who see them in an ad to purchase the product

advertised."

Celebrity branding is a global phenomenon and it assumes paramount importance in developingcountries like India where celebrities are given the status of demi Gods by the masses. There is acertain correlation between successful celebrity branding and brand endorsements. There's abook by Kisholoy Roy (an Indian who has been deeply investigating the world of brands andbranding for quite some years now) that has been successful in highlighting the abovephenomenon. The book's titled Celebrity Branding and Brand Endorsements - An Insight.

With the increased visibility of social networking celebrities are being created in new mediumsdaily. Cyberlebrities often use the internet as a resource to follow celebrity branding trends. Once

great resource is TheBrandCoach.com. The site has proven to offer insight into the successes andpitfalls of celebrity brands.

Good layout helps to make your writing attractive to read. A good document is easy to look atand easy to read. Keep the format and appearance simple and clear. Here are some tips to giveyour text a good appearance.

LAYOUT

y Use clear, short and specific headings and subheadings to guide your reader through the text.

y

Use bold tex

t instead of underlined tex

t in headings.y Use Mixed Case instead ofALL CAPITALS in headings.

y Do not justify text to the right if it leaves ugly spaces between words.s

y Use single-spaced text for letters, memos and reports.

y Avoid dividing words at the end of lines if possible. Too many end-of-line divisions cause the

reader difficulty or even confusion. For example:

y Never leave fewer than three letters at the end of a line or the beginning of the next line if you

are dividing words.

y Do not use several different typefaces or type sizes on one page.

y Use block paragraphs (without indents) and a line between paragraphs for general business

writing.

y Try to avoid breaking paragraphs between pages of typed text, especially if you leave one line of

a paragraph on the previous or next page.

y Make sure you leave the reader plenty of white space. Have adequate margins, headings and

footers. Don't crowd your page.

y Don't overuse long paragraphs. Use short paragraphs. A good guide in business writing is to

keep the average below six lines.

y Use dot points to break up lists but don't overuse this technique. Readers need sentences and

paragraphs to read through your text and to follow your message


32/40

Steps to Media Planning

Every media plan begins with target audience. The target audience can be classified in terms of age, sex,

income, education, occupation and other variables. The audience can also be classified as children

teenagers, yound adults, office goers, newly married couples,parents, grandparents,etc. i.eDECIDING

ONTARGET MARKETS

The classification of the target audience helps the media planner to understand the media consumption

habits, and accordingly choose the most appropriate media or media-mixThe media planner can also

select the most appropriate programme (in case of radio and TV) to insert advertisement.

Matching media and market

Advertisers must always attempt to match the profile of the target market with the demographic

characteristics of a given mediums audience.Let us consider an example of cigarette advertising. The

target market for this is men in the age group of 25 to 60 years. The advertiser would consider placing

ads in magazines having a predominantly male readership. Advertising in magazines having a

predominantly female readership would be mostly wasteful for this product. It may be true that rarely

does any magazine have a 100 percent male readership. Even so, when selecting a predominantly mens

magazine, the advertiser would minimize wasteful expenditure, Some media, such as general interest

consumer magazines and newspapers, network radio and television offer to an advertiser the means of

transmitting ad messages to a cross-section of the consumer market.Against this, some other media,

such as spot radio and television, special interest magazines, business publications, and some business

newspapers offer the means of reaching selective group of audience. The selectivity offered by some

media is useful for advertisers, for it enables them to reach a distinct target market with minimum

waste. In fact, a great deal of information on the media about their demographic characteristics is

provided by the media themselves.The objective of any media planner is to achieve the best possible

matching of the media and the market.

DECIDING ON MEDIA OBJECTIVES:

The media planner has to decide on the media objectives. Media objectives often are stated in terms of

reach, frequency, gross rating points and continuity.

Media objectives

You can contribute most to the media process in the definition of objectives (what you want the plan toaccomplish). Before media planning can start, companies have to define the marketing objectives of the

product/ idea proposed to be advertised.

For example, if a professional camera manufacturer decides to launch an automatic camera to expand

his market, his marketing objective would be to reach those segments of the population who are photo

enthusiasts but do not want to be hassled by the intricacies of operation of professional cameras, the


33/40

fun loving people who want to capture moments of joy and togetherness. The manufacturer may also

target the existing professional camera users to consider a replacement in order to have the pleasure of

an automatic camera, which obviously will be faster, having mastered the manual one. The marketing

objective, hence, would be to extend distribution into new geographic markets or income groups as also

the current users of cameras

The following could be the media objectives

y To reach photo enthusiasts of that age and income group who are the chief purchasers.

y To concentrate the greatest weight in urban areas where the target audience would normally be

found and where new ideas gain a quicker response.

y To provide advertising support at a consistent level except when it needs extra weight during

announcements and the holiday season, when such target buyers are planning to visit exotic

places or to meet their kith and kin.

y To select those media, which will help strengthen the creative strategy and help demonstrate

convenience, ease of shooting and, of course, excellent results. The Hot Shot camera with

theKhatak sound became an instant success with the photo enthusiasts in the late eighties in

India.

y To reach target buyers through those media to gain greater frequency and lesser cost per

opportunity

Media objectives are built around answers to five questions: who, when, where, how often, and in what

way?

MEDIA EVALUATION

After the objectives are defined there is a need to evaluate each media in order to reach a conclusion

about the type of media that will be most effective for the accomplishment of the objectives.

The objects of the evaluation are:

y To see which media are feasible.

y To pick the main medium.

y To prepare for the decision on how it should be used.y To see whether there are suitable supporting media if required.

Creative suitability:


34/40

There may be obvious reasons why a particular medium is especially suitable for the campaign or

another is unsuitable, a coupon is to be included or the absence of colour is critical. Often the

preference of the creative group is not backed up by concrete evidence but they have strong views

nevertheless about the media to use and those not to use.

The agency is not in the business of reaching consumers with exposures of advertisements (which tend

to be the media departments natural criterion), but in the business of selling the product. So if the

creative choice looks at all reasonable in media terms, it is usually sensible for the planning to accept it.

Sometimes the creative choice is unreasonable and may have been reached without full consideration

of the alternatives.

An idea:

Sometimes a media idea, or better an idea which involves media and creative content, is obviously

right or simply a novelty, which is expected to attract attention and so work. A press advertisement inthe shape of the product, using publications that have never before carried this type of advertising, a

radio commercial announcing officially there is now no shortage of the product, a TV commercial that

starts with silence and black screen, a poster that looks like a shop window and so on. Sometimes a

change is as good as an increased budget.

Proven effectiveness:

When there is evidence that a particular medium is the most efficient, the choice is obvious.The

evidence may come from the tests on our own product or from a study of competitors activities.

The advertiser often insists on using the same medium as before, even without testing its effectiveness.

The best predictor of an advertising schedule is the schedule for the previous year. This is not always

laziness. It is partly because the media scene is not very different from year to year: media change is

dictated by a major shift in the market place, a new medium, a new definition of the target, or a new

advertising idea. Advertisers resist change because it involves more risk than to continue with a proven,

viable strategy.

Availability and timing:

The type of product or copy claim may prevent the use of a medium- this is most likely to rule out

TV, on

which, for example cigarettes are not advertised. The flexibility required by the advertiser, for example

being able to cancel or change advertising at a few days notice, may also rule out a medium-for

example it may make colour press impossible.

Competition:

We cant come off the box, thats where our competitors are.


35/40

Look, theres no advertising for this product in womens magazines: lets dominate there.

Of the two policies- match the competition or avoid it- the first is more common in media choice. This

may be because the main purpose of the advertising is defensive- to reassure existing buyers and

reassure existing buyers and diffuse competitors attacks. It may also be a fear of leaving him to

dominate a medium. Or the medium normally chosen is simply the most suitable for that product group.

Or the consumer and the trade have come to expect the advertising to be in that medium and look for it

there, so it works best there.; on the same principle, shops often do better together in theHigh Street

than scattered over the town.

These arguments apply to large advertisers: McDougalls will not leave spillers to be the only large flour

manufacturer on TV, nor Cadburys leave TV to Mars. But for the small budgets it could be inefficient to

hit competition at knee-level. A small advertiser might do better to dominate a less used medium.

CHOOSINGAMONGMAJOR MEDIATYPES:

The media planner has to know the capacity of the major media types to deliver reach, frequency, and

impact. The major advertising media along with their costs, advantages, and limitations are to be well

understood. Every media plan requires that specific media types be selected Doordarshan, Direct mail,

satellite TV, newspapers, magazines, etc. Media planners must consider several variables before

choosing among major types:

Target audience media habits:

This is the most important factor. Housewives watch more of television, whereas, working women go for

magazines. Again television programmes have different viewers. For instance, world this week isviewed by teenagers and young adults. Therefore, it would be advisable to advertise during World this

week such products which are of interest to teenagers and young adults. Radio and television are the

most effective media for reaching teenagers.

Products:

Products that require demonstration can suit for television. For example, the demonstration of the use

of a vacuum cleaner by Eureka Forbes. Financial advertising such as new issue of shares is good in

newspapers.Women's dresses are best shown in color magazines, and Polaroid cameras a best

demonstrated on television. Media types have different potentials for demonstration, visualization,explanation, believability, and color.

Again there are media restrictions on certain products. For instance, alcoholic drinks and cigarettes

cannot be advertised in press as well as on DD and AIR, hence these two options are totally ruled out.

Message:


36/40

The type of message dictates the type of media. For example, an ad that features technical information

is best suited for specific magazines. Again, an ad from retailer announcing major sale on discount

requires more of local newspapers.

Cost Factor:

Television is very expensive, where as, radio is very economical.However, cost is not the only factor,

even if it is calculated on the basis of cost per- person reached. The impact of the media is to be taken

into account.

SELECTING SPECIFIC MEDIA VEHICLES

Once a decision is made on media types, specific media vehicles within each medium must be chosen.

For instance, the media planner may take a decision to select only magazines. The question now appears

in which magazines. There are several classes of magazines- General interest likeReaders digest,

Women Interest magazines like Femina, Savvy, Elle, Business interest magazines like Business India,Business Today. If the decision is to select Business Interest Magazines- then the media planner may

consider the following:

y Business India

y BusinessWorld

y Fortune India

y Dalal Street Journal

y Business Today

y Advertising & Marketing


37/40

Building Brand Personality

In a situation where customers have a choice, their satisfaction with your brand goes only

so far, and you may find that their loyalty to you is fickle. Brand equity by itself is an

intangible asset. Its development depends on associations made by other companies,

consumers as well as the media.

Brand Personality is one of the core dimensions ofbrand equity. Brand personality refers

to the emotional side of a brand image. It is created by all experiences of consumers with a

brand, but advertising plays a dominant role in personality creation. Brand personality

and brand attributes, when combined, represent the image that a brand has in consumers

minds. A company's brand personality can be thought of as the objective descriptors,

attributes, or characteristics consumers apply to a company, e.g., reliable, good quality,well established, honest, and competent, etc.

For developing a strong brand personality, companies need to know two known points of

reference before they can develop their creative solution. The first point of reference is a

crystal clear picture of their business goals and objectives. The second step is the clear

understanding of customers opinions, wants, and needs. Companies must learn and clearly

understand the consumer's feelings, habits, motivations, insecurities, prejudices, and

desires. They must understand how their brand fits into their life and how they might

respond to different branding messages.

According to the Aakers framework for building brand personality, brand personalityrevolves around customers ideologies reading their self expression about a brand, their

relationship with brands and the functional benefits derived from their preferred brands.

These ideologies lead to stronger customer association with brands leading to brand

loyalty.

Even in our usual research, we look for ways to dig deep beneath the typical surface

answers. This can be done by asking the customers to discuss their association/involvement

with a brand. Such exercises make it easier for customers to respond and companies to

analyze where their brand's personality stands now and where the desired brand

personality should be.

How to build Brand Personality:

Building strong brand personality requires special focus on advertising and packaging.

Advertising:

The contents shown in the ads communicate a very strong message that leaves a very


38/40

strong and lasting impression in customers minds

Packaging:

Second major component ofbrand personality is the packaging factor. It communicates

much about brand personality e.g. color association - Golden/Silver colors are used torepresent premium products.

The crux is that the creation of a brand personality is becoming more and more important

for companies as they try and reach out to customers. As competition becomes harder for

nearly all companies, it is becoming more and more important to have that little extra;

something that makes you different from your competitors. All elements of the promotional

mix need to be used to develop and sustain customer perceptions. Initially, the challenge is

to build awareness, then to develop the brand personality and reinforce the perception.

Building strong brand personality results in strong brand equity which leads to brand

loyalty. Of course, all the research shows that to build customer loyalty utilities mustcontinue working to close performance gaps that exist between what customers want from

their utility and what they perceive they get. But if utilities want to move up from earning

customer satisfaction to building customer loyalty, they must devote far greater efforts on

closing communications gaps that exist between their performance and customer

perceptions of the value-added, branded utility itself.

Outline:

I. The Importance of BrandingII. When Should You Brand?

III. Types of Brands

IV. What Goes Into a Brand?V. What's in a Name?VI. Brand PositioningVII. Building Brand PersonalityVIII. Strengthening Your Core Brand

IX. Creating an Online IdentityX. Resources

Copywriting

Copywriting is the use of words to promote a person, business, opinion or idea. Although theword copy may be applied to any content intended for printing (as in the body of a newspaperarticle or book), the term copywriteris generally limited to promotional situations, regardless ofthe medium (as advertisements for print, television, radio or other media). The word copywritingis regularly used as a noun or gerund, and copywrite is sometimes used as a verb byprofessionals. The author of newspaper or magazine copy, for example, is generally called areporter or writer or a copywriter.


39/40

Thus, the purpose of marketing copy, or promotional text, is to persuade the reader, listener orviewer to act for example, to buy a product or subscribe to a certain viewpoint. Alternatively,copy might also be intended to dissuade a reader.

Copywriting can appear in direct mail pieces, taglines, jingle lyrics, web page content (although

if the purpose is not ultimately promotional, its author might prefer to be called a content writer),online ads, e-mail and other Internet content, television or radio commercial scripts, pressreleases, white papers, catalogs, billboards, brochures, postcards, sales letters, and othermarketing communications media. It can also appear in social media content including blogposts, tweets, and social networking site posts.

Content writing on websites is also referred to as copywriting, and may include among itsobjectives the achievement of higher rankings in search engines. Known as "organic" searchengine optimization (SEO), this practice involves the strategic placement and repetition ofkeywords and keyword phrases on web pages, writing in a manner that human readers wouldconsider normal.

MEDIA BUDGET

And so as a social media agency from here we are either a) given a baseline amount and thenasked what we can do with it or b) asked our recommendations and then to propose a budgetamount from there. Regardless of either, the following are typical questions that we ask tonarrow this down a bit (some elaborated from Jims previous post).

1)What are your overall objectives and campaign timeframe? If the whole objective is toachieve a drastic spike in sales or promote a limited time offer, we believe more of your budget

should be allocated to advertising. Social media is a slower burn, and you will just bedisappointed.

2)How much is your overall marketing budget? To put things into perspective. the averagecost of TV production for a 30 second spot is around $303,000 just to make it: not to mentionmedia costs to run it. With this in mind, you may want to produce one less spot for a campaign,and re-allocate these funds towards a very decent social media campaign with a longer life-span.

3)What tactics are you using already and how are they working? How your current effortsare working should determine how much you can reallocate to social media. Is your direct mailinitiative working? What is your ROI on your current advertising model? What is the result of

your interactive budget? Take a hard look at what results you are getting with traditionalmethods.

4)What are your internal resources? To put it simply- your internal resources will determineyour social media budget amount. If you have appropriate staff that can devote time to socialmedia, you may find that you only need the set-up and development of a social media strategy ortools to get the campaign going. If you dont, a social media budget will likely be higher toinclude the actual execution.


40/40

dicision level of strategy

Documents