There are too many myths associated with public relations and few of them are going to be discussed now. First is that PR is not all about glamour although glamour is part of PR. It involves advertisements, campaigns and activities to build credible relation with audience. People say we know everyone in PR but on the other hand PR jobs are not just about who you know. PR does not support the fake new. PR is all about what others think about you. It does not support yellow journalism or you can say paid journalism. It is not paid but it is earned with efforts and time. You have to be consistent and provide quality to earn it. PR is not about paying or asking influencer to talk good about our product or service or endorse it but it’s about making them feel good and loved about our product or service genuinely and then give review about it. PR generate real and authentic audience which truly believe in your product and your brand.
Corporate Communications
Corporate communication is defined as communication issued by corporate\organization\ institute to all its public or audience. Audience of corporate communication is employees, stakeholders, shareholders, agencies, channels, partner, media, government, general public etc. Need of corporate communication is because to show the commitment by brand. For example few years back a rumor started that Dhabi group is wrapping up its operation from Pakistan so all the stakeholders were in panic. So to resolve this rumor their corporate communication team came to Pakistan and announced a big amount of investment in Pakistan to show their commitment and build the confidence back of their users. Another important point is to show the leadership. For example, EBM use to be leaders and communicate this point of being leader everywhere but they lost their leader position for some time and regain it so after regaining it they have approx. 60 percent market share and they start calling themselves as dominant leader and with the help of corporate communication they were able to tell everyone about this. Because of this leadership point being marketed and spread through corporate communication it generated goodwill for the brand. Then come quality and innovation. National foods were the first ones to get the quality certification and implement saap in their all brands and through corporate communication they inform their stakeholders and everyone about it. Corporate communication also helps in promoting CSR activities conducted by brand. It builds more trust of shareholders that the money they have invested in firm is utilized in good way and it also build soft image of firm.
Corporate communication promotes strong corporate culture, when new employee joins firm they are informed about the strong corporate culture being followed in firm. When firms visit universities and tell students why to join them after graduating so they are being informed about strong corporate culture like we are safe firm, we are reputable, we pay on time to build the soft image. It also promotes coherent corporate identity like many times brand get so popular and big that people forgot which is company and which is brand like people forgot that luxe is not a company but it’s a brand and own by Unilever company. It is corporate communication team who clarifies this which is brand and which is company. Corporate communication team also promotes the genuine sense of corporate citizenship in this CSR activities are being promoted like which CSR projects are in process and how good they are for society. They also promote an appropriate and professional relationship with the press. They also play quick, responsible ways of communication in a crisis like we have discussed above about the Dhabi groups crisis when rumor was spread that they are moving out of Pakistan.
Elements contributing towards building and strengthening ‘brand loyalty’
Key elements contributing towards building and strengthen brand loyalty are following. First one is brand awareness, it happens at the introduction stages in which target audience is informed about the brand or you can say we introduce our brand to consumers because if they don’t know about us so how will they use our products and services. After brand awareness than comes brand image, brand image is made when a consumer buys a product or service, he also buys a brand image if he gets satisfied with the product and service so brand will be able to register positive brand image in consumers mind, in this process we make and tries to maintain the brand loyalty through different techniques. Like I phone has made their brand image of providing best quality phones, coke has made brand image of happiness, joy and good experience. After making brand image now comes brand recall stage, it totally depends on brand image like if I want to buy high quality phone so I will be recalled brands and think about I phone or Samsung or if I want to a buy cheap phone so after recalling I will be going for Q mobile. The stronger the brand awareness and brand image so your brand recall will be more efficient and stronger. Then comes brand relationship, in this we have to make and maintain a great relation ship with our customer if he is satisfied with our product and services like customer care etc., so there are high chance of great brand loyalty with that customer.
Then comes to maintain brand loyalty in this process brand managers should play a key role. To maintain the brand loyalty your brand has to provide functional benefits along with emotional benefits like Dalda does, in everything they bring element of family and motherhood. In maintaining brand loyalty your top management characteristics and traits play a big role. Like if we talk about virgin brand their top management person is popular and consider to have swag, good attitude, Steve jobs is considered to be innovator so his firm too replicate this in field. Ultimately traits of top management can be seen in brand and people feel proud and good in using products and part of the brand. Adding value to consumer is very important in maintaining and strengthening brand loyalty. For example, I phone make its user believe that if they are using, I phone so people will think I have good status and reputation and it gives inner satisfaction to the consumer. Differentiation is also one of the most important elements. If brand doesn’t differentiate so one day, they will vanish just we can see Nokia they didn’t improvise and differentiated so they have lost their loyalty from consumers.
Difference between customer and consumer
Customer is the person who buys the product but it is not necessary that he is the one who will consume that product but on the other hand consumer is the person who is going to consume or use that product or services. For example, there is firm in which a new employee is hired but unfortunately there is no laptop available in firm to give him for office use. To fulfill this requirement IT department, get the orders from management to buy a laptop with particular specifications for the new employee. IT person buy the laptop and hand it over that that particular employee to use it for office purpose. In this example IT person is the customer who gave the money and buy that product but he is not using it himself. The new employee is the consumer because he is going to use the laptop. If a person buys any product or service, he is the customer to that shop or brand but if he also consumes that product or service the he is consumer too.
What is Market place?
Market place can be anywhere where potential buyers and suppliers can meet and their needs, wants and demand are fulfilled, it is not compulsory to be on physical grounds but it can be on internet to for example Daraz, Amazon etc where millions of buyers and suppliers meet and buying and selling take place. If we talk about the perfect example for market place it could be the place everyone can reach easily both buyers and sellers so that trade can take place between them so, it can be Sunday bazars, Vegetable markets, Shopping malls, Stock exchange market. 5 Ps could be product, price, place, promotion and packaging. Product is basically the solution to consumers problem or need for example a person facing difficulty in washing clothes so washing machine is the product which can resolve his or her problem. Price is the cost to customer on which he can get that product or service for example a girl needs a make over for her party look so she gave 5 thousand rupees to get the services of Saloon, that 5k rupees is price on which she get those services. Place is considered how easily a product or service reachable or available for example a person wants to buy a new Samsung phone so he will look from where he can get it so can he can buy from internet store or he can visit any mobile shop to buy that which means it is easily approachable to consumer. Promotion is considered to be how well you convey information about your product or service to consumer or in other words we can say it to be communication with customer for example a new phone is launched so promotion is being done so that people can know about its arrival in and they get to know about its specifications. Packaging is how a customer will get it in hand, basically it is the first look what a customer will see for example a person wants to buy a new dress to his partner so he is expecting to be in a good appearance and packaging so that he can gift to her
Food Panda SWOT Analysis
Taking Food panda in to consideration we can develop swot analysis for Pakistan market.
Strengths:
- Good brand recognition
- Easy to use application
- Fast deliveries
- Good team of riders
- Quite good customer support
- Good marketing team
Weakness:
- Can place order only from nearby restaurant
- Not available in all parts of the country
- Quite high commission charges
Opportunities:
- Can expand in more areas of country
- Increase market share
- Enhance technology
- Joint ventures with different brands
- Increase customer loyalty
Threats:
- Change in economic conditions
- Change in buying power
- Controversies
- High commission charges may cause damage
- Competitors increasing
Importance of Swot Analysis.
SWOT analysis is quite significantly important in my opinion because it help us to review or evaluate to determine that our idea or product is eligible to get success in market or not. It helps us to know about the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats of our idea, product, service or about our whole firm or brand. It is important because it gives analysis about both internal and external factors. It helps us to know what we do well, to address what we are lacking, to minimize risks, and to take the greatest possible advantage of chances for success. It helps us to maintain and maximize our strengths, focus on our weaknesses to over come them, avail the opportunities and consider threats before they can put negative impact on the brand. It helps us to make strategies and do evaluation.
Marketing create value for customers and build strong relationships to capture value from customers in return.
It is true that brands try to create value for customers and build strong relationship to capture value from customer in return. For example, if take Apple company into consideration we can clearly see how loyal their customers are its because of marketing and branding they do. They give premium service to their users with quality products. Apple give customer support service which is quite impressive which helps them in making strong relation with their customer. Apple after sale service is also quite good which increase the confidence of their customers. They properly market their product either its I phone, I pad, mac book or any device they deal in. They also marketed about the privacy and security they provide which also helps them in creating value for customers and build strong relationship to capture value from customers in return. Through marketing apple is able to make value of their services. Apple also marketed their operating system so well that they were able to retain user to its platform and continuously there are successful in expanding their market share. Because of their marketing strategy and other factors, they most renowned brand across the globe, people think it’s a prestigious product and wants to buy and show others that they own a product of apple. Marketing helped apple to become a status symbol for its user. According to general perception a person has an I phone people consider him to belong from upper class. Apple has contribution in value addition of person personality. If there are 5 friends in a group 2 are iphone user and 3 are other brand user so the 2 iphone users will have different sort of behavior because of marketing strategy, they made everyone believe that they are the best in market. Through marketing they made it premium product that everybody love to own it.
SWOT analysis of Paul bakery.
Paul is a French bakery came into existence in 1889. They have almost 450 outlets
across the globe. Approx. 4 million customers are served per month in France
alone. They have expanding quite fastly and aims to expand more in foreign
market with in next 10 years. They are currently operating in Pakistan too.
They describe themselves as an affordable luxury. Their aim is to provide high
quality products to their customer. They aim to provide convenience of the
standardized.
Products:
• Pastries
• Bakery goods
• Sandwiches
• Baguettes
• Beverages
• Salads etc.
Target Market:
If we consider Pakistan market it is little different from French one. Major target
market could be upper middle class, upper class and elite class because they are
from that community that loves to spend money on luxury eateries. They can
target college and universities if they offer some sort of special offers to student
body because this community likes to enjoy foods with friends mostly. If we talk
about the age group it could 16 to 35 year. They have to target community which
is more into concept of Hi-Tea and brunch. According to their menu it suits elite
cities like Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad etc. They will also target to people who
are more brand conscious and people here in Pakistan loves international brands
more then local ones so it is Bonus point for De Paul to operate in Pakistan. It all
depends how well they do marketing.
Pricing:
As we know De Paul is a luxurious brand and have products with quite high
price range. According to my opinion if bakery want to gain market share, they
have little bit compromise in starting years because there are many local and
international brands operating in Pakistan. The menu and the pricing follow in
France and other part of the world will only be able to target small market which
can be categorized as niche market. My recommendation would be to lower
down little bit prices so that middle class, upper middle class, upper class and
elite class can be targeted this will help brand to spread their name among large
number of people later Brand can increase their prices when every one starts
loving them and become addicted to brand products.
SWOT Analysis:
Strengths:
International Brand
Paul bakery and pastry, is a French chain established in 1889. With multiple
branches/bakeries spread over worldwide in several countries, it is one of the
well-known brands. And in countries like Pakistan, people have next level of
attraction for foreign brands.
Quality
Paul bakery and pastry never compromise on quality which is why they are able
to operate across the world since a long time. Sweet and other bakery products
are prepared with immense care using traditional and authentic recipes to give
unforgettable taste. In Pakistan, where getting hygienic food is kind of rare, this
bakery provides with one of the best services.
Luxury Brand
This French bakery outlet in Pakistan, do provides with best variety of products,
and their customers can always expect to find their desired items at each bakery,
no matter where that bakery is located across the world. So customers in
Pakistan can expect no difference in products while comparing to brand’s
foreign chains.
Weakness:
Local Bakeries
With quality and fame comes the price. Paul bakery and pastry offers their
products in quite high rates, and it’s justified, but still here many local wellknown bakers, provide same quality products in the much lesser price. People
other than those who are brand conscious, would prefer local bakers.
Paul bakery and pastry, is well known in other countries, but it’s not much well
known among Pakistani locals. Very few people actually know about it and its
origin. So it will take some time to get popular here.
Opportunities:
Online Service
Paul bakery and pastry should consider online service, as there are many locals
here who prefer ordering online rather than going to the store.
More outlets
Currently Paul bakery and pastry has opened its first outlet in Karachi. They
need to be expanding it to other cities. Even in Karachi itself, a single branch
won’t be enough.
They can offer drive thru service as they offer in France.
Less Competition
For now, there are few known bakery brands operating here. So there is a great
opportunity for Paul Bakery and Pastry to grow their brand.
Threats:
Day by day increase in taxes places additional financial burdens on Paul bakery
and Pastry. As to overcome increasing taxes they would’ve to increase their
prices which are already too high for majority of locals.
Increased competition from some other overseas brand, which could lead to lack
of interest in products/services of Paul Bakery and pastry. Also the extra
competition from local good brands could be a threat. Baker Pakistan and be a
threat.
Too much competition from local and international bakers as market share
shrinks
Price wars between competitors, price cuts and so on could damage profits.
Controversies are the major threat to bakery as negative rumors spread vigorously
through social media.
Current conflict between France and Pakistan because of blasphemous content will
leads to boycott of the French brand.
BCG Matrix Of Hollister
Star (High Market Growth / High Market Share):
• Tops
• Jeans
• Jackets
• Shorts
• Denim wear
• Active wear
Cash cow (Low Market Growth /High Market Share):
• Track suits
• Hoodies
• Bottoms
• Pajama
• Belts
• Inner wear
Question Mark (High Marker Growth / Low Market Share):
• Sun glass
• Body care
• Perfume
• Swim wear
• Shoes
• Hats
• Lounge wear
Dog (Low Market Share / Low Market Growth):
• Scarves
• Pins
• Rompers
• Air fresheners
• Candles
Review Time 