Elements Of The Service Marketing Mix Marketing Essay

Elements Of The Service Marketing Mix Marketing Essay Marketing mix is the key concept in the marketing task. It is the strategy used to perform marketing functions. Marketing mix according to De Aze is the planned package of elements which will support the organization in reaching its target markets and specific objectives. Marketing mix helps to position the library or information service very firmly in the perceptions of their communities served the wider community for the public library, academic community for the academic library or the clients and customers for the business or specialist information service. Marketing mix needs more properly to be termed marketing mixes, to encourage librarians and information managers to perceive the value of different marketing mixes for specific market segments or groups of users. These are inter-related, interdependent, and also a combination of many factors. C:UsersAjayDownloads69e6aa0beac8f353cdcc2768df8d9bdb_LARGE.png Product: As seen in the goods-service continuum, your product can have both tangible and intangible aspects, and is the thing you offer to satisfy your customers wants and needs. Within this element, you need to consider such things as your product range; its quality and design; its features and the benefits it offers; sizing and packaging; and any add-on guarantees and customer service offerings. Price: Sound pricing decisions are crucial to a successful business and should be considered at both long-term strategic and short-term tactical levels. Within this element of the mix you should consider list price and discount price; terms and conditions of payment; and the price sensitivity of your market. Worth remembering is the connection of price to your position in the marketing specifically that only one operator in any market can be the cheapest. Jostling between competitors for this position is rarely wise. Promotion: This is the element of the marketing mix that most people mean when they talk about marketing. But jumping straight into decisions about what promotional tools to use without considering their relationship to the rest of the mix can be a sure-fire way to waste money. There are many different promotional techniques, each with their own strengths but essentially they can be broken down into four broad categories: Advertising; Public Relations; Sales Promotions; and Direct Selling. These techniques are used to communicate the specific benefits of your product to your customers. Place: Marketers love models that explain the way they work; they love it even more when elements of each model begin with the same letter hence the use of the word Place to describe distribution channels. Your choice of such channels is important, as is the variety of channels you use. For example, a common issue for businesses beginning to trade on-line is how that will affect their off-line business, for example selling directly through the web could alienate retail outlets that have been the mainstay of your business in the past. People: The impact that your people can have on your marketing cannot be underestimated. At its most obvious, this element covers your front line sales and customer service staff who will have a direct impact on how your product is perceived. You need to consider the knowledge and skills of your staff; their motivation and investment in supporting your brand. Any element of the marketing mix will also have its impact on other elements of your business, but the people element is one where the importance of regarding marketing as an integral part of the way you do business is crystal clear. Process: The process part of the mix is about being easy to do business with. If youve ever become frustrated at call centers that cant answer your questions, or annoyed when you cant buy something in a shop because the computerized till doesnt recognize that it exists, even when you can see it on the shelves, youll know how important this element can be. The more high contact your product, and the more intangible, the more important it is to get your processes right. Remember to look at this from your customers point of view. The process problems that are most annoying to a customer are those that are designed for the providers convenience, not the customer. Physical Evidence: When you sell tangible goods, you can offer your customer the chance to try before they buy, or at least see, touch or smell. With services, unless you offer a free trial, your customer will often be buying on trust. And to help them do so you need to provide as much evidence of the quality you will be providing as possible. So physical evidence refers to all the tangible, visible touch points that your customer will encounter before they buy, from your reception area and signage, to your staffs clothing and they images you include in you corporate brochure. 7ps service marketing mix in mc Donalds After segmenting the market, finding the target segment and positioning itself, each company needs to come up with an offer. The 7 Ps used by McDonalds are: Product   Product is the physical product or service offered to the consumer. Product includes certain aspects such as packaging, guarantee, looks etc. This includes both the tangible and the non tangible aspects of the product and service. McDonalds has intentionally kept its product depth and product width limited. McDonalds studied the behaviour of the Indian customer and provided a totally different menu as compared to its International offering. It dropped ham, beef and mutton burgers from the menu. India is the only country where McDonalds serve vegetarian menu. Even the sauce and cheese used in India are 100% vegetarian. McDonalds continuously innovates its products according to the changing preferences and tastes of its customers. The recente xample is the introduction of the Chicken Maharaja Mac. McDonalds bring with it a globally reputed brand, world class food quality and excellent customer specific product features.   McDonalds Indian Menu: Vegetarian McVeggie McAlooTikki Paneer Salsa Wrap McCurry Pan Pizza McPuff   Non vegetarian Chicken Maharaja Mac McChicken Burger Shahi Chicken McCurry Wrap Chicken Mexican Fillet-O-Fish Chicken McNuggets   Price   Pricing includes the list price, the discount functions available, the financing options available etc. It should also take into the consideration the probable reaction from the competitor to the pricing strategy. This is the most important part of the marketing mix as this is the only part which generates revenue. All the other three are expenses incurred. The price must take into consideration the appropriate demand-supply equation. McDonalds came up with a very catchy punch line Aap ke zamane mein ,baap ke zamane ke daam. This was to attract the middle and lower class consumers and the effect can clearly be seen in the consumer base McDonalds has now. McDonalds has certain value pricing and bundling strategies such as happy meal, combo meal, family meal and happy price menu to increase overall sales volumes. Place   The place mainly consists of the distribution channels. It is important so that the product is available to the customer at the right place, at the right time and in the right quantity. Nearly 50% of U.S.A is within a 3 minute drive from a McDonalds outlet. There is a certain degree of fun and happiness that a customer feels each time he dines at McDonalds. There are certain value propositions that McDonalds offer to its customers based on their needs. McDonalds offers hygienic environment, good ambience and great service. Now McDonalds have also started giving internet facility at their centers and they have been playing music through radio instead of the normal music. There are certain dedicated areas for children where they can play while their parents can have some quality time together. Promotion The various promotion channels being used by McDonalds to effectively communicate the product information are given above. A clear understanding of the customer value helps decide whether the cost of promotion is worth spending. There are three main objectives of advertising for McDonalds are to make people aware of an item, feel positive about it and remember it. The right message has to be communicated to the right audience through the right media. McDonalds does its promotion through television, hoardings and bus shelters. They use print ads and the television programmers are also an important marketing medium for promotion. Some of the most famous marketing campaigns of McDonalds are:  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   You deserve a break today, so get up and get away- To McDonalds   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Aap ke zamane mein ,baap ke zamane ke daam.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Food, Folks, and Fun Im loving it. People   McDonalds understands the value of both its employees and its customers. It understands the fact that a happy employee can serve well and result in a happy customer. McDonald continuously does Internal Marketing. This is important as it must precede external marketing. This includes hiring, training and motivating able employees. This way they serve customers well and the final result is a happy customer. The level of importance has changed to be in the following order (the more important people are at the top): 1. Customers 2. Front line employees 3. Middle level managers 4. Front line managers Processes   McDonalds worldwide is well known for the high degree of respect for the local customs and culture. McDonalds has developed a menu especially for India with vegetarian selections to suit Indian tastes and preferences. Keeping in line with this, McDonalds does not offer any beef or pork items in India. In the last decade it has introduced some vegetarian and non-vegetarian products with local flavors that have appealed to the Indian palate. There have been continuous efforts to enhance variety in the menu by developing more such products. It is completely transparent and visible to the customers, allowing them to judge hygiene standards where the process takes place. The customers are even invited to check the ingredients used in the food. McDonalds has also re-engineered its operations repeatedly in its 11 years in India to address the special requirements of a vegetarian menu. Vegetable products are 100% vegetarian, i.e. They are prepared separately, using dedicated equipment and utensils. Only pure vegetarian oil is used as a cooking medium. Cheese and sauces are completely vegetarian and egg less. Separation of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food products is maintained throughout the various stages of procurement, cooking and serving. Food manufacturing transparent to customers across the counter. Training to the licensees about how to operate the franchise. Invented the most efficient cooking equipment with use of latest technology. New methods of food packaging and distribution are followed Physical evidence   The physical appearance affects not only the impression outsiders have of a business but also the way that business functions. McDonalds focuses on clean and hygienic interiors of its out lets at the same time they are attractive. It maintains a proper decorum at its joints. Staff members dress in McDonalds Dress code with Green shirts, Blue trousers, Black caps and Customized Ronald McDonalds tie. Building maintenance and visible cues are provided by the golden arches, the trademarks and the logos in the premises. The delivery scooters also add to the physicality of the company. 7ps service marketing mix in Pizza Hut After segmenting the market, finding the target segment and positioning itself, each company needs to come up with an offer. The 7 Ps used by Pizza Hut are: PRODUCT Worldwide and in India, Pizza Hut has come to become synonymous with the best pizzas under one roof. This is because at Pizza Hut the belief is that every pizza has its own magic, thus making it a destination product which everyone seeks. It is this belief that has ignited the passion to create, innovate and serve the finest product the industry has to offer, while setting standards for others to strive to replicate. Pizza Hut is committed to providing uncompromising product quality, offering customers the highest value for money and giving service that is warm, friendly and personal. A critical factor in Pizza Huts success has been its unique dining experience. Crewmembers at Pizza Hut strive each day to provide customer mania the kind of service that ensures that every visit of the customer is a memorable one. Over the years Pizza Hut has also developed and successfully introduced a range of products especially suited to the Indian palate. These products like Chicken Tikka, Spicy Korma, Spicy Paneer and the Masala and Tandoori pizzas have been a tremendous success. What has also given Pizza Hut a competitive edge is that in addition to an extensive range of internationally renowned pizzas like The Italian, the proprietary Pan Pizza and Stuffed Crust, in India the menu offers the option of a complete meal. It includes appetizers, a Salad Bar where the customers can make their own fresh salads, a range of soups, pastas and desserts PRICE In the past, Pizza Hut has successfully used the high/low pricing strategy when setting the retail price of its products. The high/low retail pricing strategy allows Pizza Hut to charge a price that is above the competition, but also promote frequent sales to lower the price below them. Both Pizza Hut and the beverage Mountain Dew are Pepsi subsidiaries, bundle pricing will be used.. Pizza Hut will be able to sell two products together at a single price to suggest a good value. Different groups of customers are willing to pay different prices for the same product. Pizza Hut can sell The Extreme to the customers who will pay the higher price to be the first to buy and also to the bargain hunters Finally, this strategy will emphasize product and service quality. Pizza Hut sets a high initial price for its products to send a signal to customers that its products are quality and the service is excellent. PROMOTION The objectives of promotion are to introduce a new product, stimulate demand, change the short-term behavior of the customers, and encourage repeat or greater usage by current customers. Pizza hut uses many promotional strategies. The main promotion is a coupon to purchase. This promotion is also distributed mainly by mail (VIP members), but also by fliers on college campuses around the country in order to reach the target market. They are using billboards on main stream places to get there customer. They are also distributing door to door brochures to capture more and more customers. Pizza huts also using marketing techniques. These are the strategies Pizza hut is using for its marketing. Pizza huts trys to attract the younger generation as their main market segment. Apart from this Pizza Hut is using intense marketing strategies they are also giving ads in magazines. Advertising camping will creates awareness of the products in our target markets. PEOPLE Here the job design is not the most difficult task to do. Also there is no specific requirement for recruiting process. After talking one of the employees in Pizza Hut, we came to know the criteria of selection. The girl was from west India, she was only 10th passed out. After this we it was confirmed that there is no proper requirement of the educational background. The only factor they were considering on the communication skills, how they communicate with the customers. Since the communication is the most important factor between the customer and employee because the whole process is depended on giving the orders for food. For this the Management conducted the training process for the new employees. The Training is given for total 5 days. Out of 5 days, they have 3 days for kitchen training and other 2 days in the main dining, that is, how to take orders and basically how to communicate with customers and make them happy by their services. PROCESS The design of the process of the pizza hut is very efficient .pizza hut do not follow any kind of hierarchy , all the employee is at the same level ,pizza hut has a very prescribe and well known process by adopting various technology software which help them to upgrade their supply management and also manage their crowd of customer efficiently. PHYSICAL EVIDENCE The ambience of the pizza hut is good enough to catch up the people .they provide a very good dining experience with high quality of atmosphere in terms of their physical evidence. And pizza hut always try to upgrade with changing environment and modernization is key of success of the pizza hut.

Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut :: Harrison Bergeron Essays

1. Define 'satire' and provide one example of personal or social satire that yoou have encountered. You may use any source for your example:TV, media, news editorials, movies, comedy, etc. Satire can be defined as any work in which a human vice or folly is attacked with irony or sarcasm. An example of satire can be found in the song "When the President Talks to God" by Bright Eyes. In this song, the lyrics lay out hypothetical conversations between the President and God, which mocks current President George W. Bush and his use of strong religious influence while in office. 2. In a well-developed p-graph, I.D. and explain at least one symbol vonnegut presents in the story. Explain how he uses the symbol and what the symbol represents some other entity in the story. In the story, Harrison Bergeron represents many symbols. A major symbolic moment occurs when Harrison breaks away from his chains. This represents Harrison's freedom. 3. In the story, what is the purpose of 'handicaps' and how do they keep people equal? Handicaps can be defined as a hinderance that gives a disadvantage. In the story Harrison Bergeron, handicaps are given to anyone considered to be pretty, smart, and out of the ordinary. Masks are worn so beauty is hidden, an ear piece prevents intelligent thought, and the extraordinary are chained up. 4. Explain the role Diana Moon Glampers plays in the story and describe the authority she possesses over the people. Diana Moon Glampers plays the Handicapper General. Basically, she is large and in charge. Diana has the power of to control the life and death of everyone in the story, and this is shown. 5. Explain why Hazel Bergeron is not plagued with frequent brain blasts like her husband. Hazel Bergeron does not need a handicap to prevent her from having intelligent thoughts like her husband simply because she is not as smart as he is. 6. In a p-graph, write a brief character sketch of Harrison Bergeron. Include not only his physical appearance, but the emotional characteristic which leads him to behave so bizarrely. Putting Harrison Bergeron's seven-foot stature asside, he appears to be what we would call normal today. 7. This story has a well-developed theme which Vonnegut parodies against certain American beliefs. In a paragraph or two, explain what you believe the theme of this story is.

Regeneration and Delusion

Explore how Pat Barker portrays the theme of escape in Regeneration and explain what this tells you about the effects of war. â€Å"In peace, children inter their parents; War violates the order of nature and causes parents to inter their children. † † Herodotus (484BC – 430BC) Regeneration is a novel that tells the story of soldiers of World War One sent to an asylum due to emotional tribulation. Regeneration connects as a â€Å"back door into the present†, particularly with the theme of escape; and Barker chooses to portray this through her faction novel.Inveterate indications of escape throughout the novel are masculation, sex, death and a sense of reality. It is genuinely hard to be sure what the majority of people in Britain knew about the war and battles like the Somme from the media of the day. The newspapers and their reporters offered a wide range of styles and opinions – as they still do – but often walked a difficult line between pa triotic support for the war and a desire to convey its terrible nature. An extensive atmosphere of patriotism was generated by insincere information such as the propaganda.The media were supercilious, dehumanising the Germans to attract more soldiers, promising them that they would gain rare pportunities such as travel. Men, as well as women, were disillusioned. The reality of war was distorted and no longer became a heroic affair. Sassoon may be disillusioned when he mentions that this war may have been Justified â€Å"†¦ when it started†¦ † (Pg. 13). The authenticity of world war one was erroneous to the world surrounding the war. What the world saw was a picture that was glorified by the continuous mendaciousness made by the government and the commanding officers themselves.In Regeneration the reader is presented with Sassoon's ‘Soldier's Declaration' (Pg. 3) written in July 1917 to declare that the war is futile. Sassoon's declaration, a â€Å"wilful defi ance of military authority', clearly and logically states his decision to stop fghting as a soldier in world war one and clearly paints a vision of escape in the readers minds. He believes that the purpose of war has changed; what was once a war of liberation and defence has become one of aggression. This is a historical document and is one that was not suppressed merely due to the fact that Sassoon was a commanding officer.Because he was a commanding officer his document truly revealed the ways his beliefs got him to escape the war but make a trong argument too.. In Regeneration mental escape is the only way to relieve yourself of the war for a second until the next gunfire, the next shell blows or the next person comes into your care. Burns is a character who seems to be incapable of escaping his mental trauma caused by the war. He would tell you that the images of dying men and being ‘inside the stomach of a half blown German soldier' (Pg. 19) with the stench of rotting inn ards devouring your nostrils would scar you mentally. eing wedged into a hole; and the heroic adventure was not nearly as heroic as the oldiers would have hoped for, Barker represented this through the struggle of men being sent to Craiglockhart and still never escaping the trenches as victims were immune to normal human life and trench life was still attached to their lives. The verisimilitudes of the characters of this novel conform to our sense of reality. Barker uses unadorned dialect and language which was not used at the time to maintain a sense of veracity. It seems as though every character has a need to escape and Barker presents us with this idea through her language.Barker changes her use of language by changing the tmosphere and stripping away the dialogue, to romantic and poetic. She does this to remind us that Sassoon is sensitive and has a poetic side to him and this makes the reader feel closer to him, particularly when Graves identifies him as â€Å"Sass.. † A technique in which Barker depicts escape is bird imagery. This could be linked with religion in a way that white doves were a major symbol in Christianity and were symbolic of freedom and peace. Just the idea of birds makes the reader wonder about how they fly so freely and Burns manages to grab hold of this by â€Å"drifting off to sleep† (Pg. ) He is entering a dreamful state in which â€Å"he could stay there forever†. His dream reminds the reader of the preciousness of escape â€Å"A shaft of sunlight filtered through the leaves (†¦ ) shone sapphire, emerald, and amethyst. † This is proof that he can in fact escape in his dream world. This shaft of light filtering through the leaves could be perceived as a motion of escape; Barker is hinting a glimmer of escape but not fully letting the light shine through representing the mental state of Burns. There is also a sense of escape though bird imagery again when Rivers is â€Å"under the spell of flickeri ng birds† (Pg. ) however this is in a different light. With Burns, his sense of escape was in a dreamful manner but with Prior's suffocation, the bird imagery sheds a new light, one of no escape. Even though Prior is out of war, his own problems still bother him and this shows that escape is Just an illusion. Another way Barker chooses to portray momentary escape is through the theme of sex and death. She chooses to depict her use of this type of escape through her creation of a character; Prior and her fairly new character, Sarah Lumb.Barker uses sensual language in the graveyard scene which is highly contrasting the general etting; sex in the midst of death. Generally, you are not meant to have this kind of interaction in such a holy place, this was a sign of disrespect. Barker could perhaps be commenting on how the war shook people's religious views. Living through the war and being surrounded by death must have changed people's views and no wonder attitudes towards sex cha nged as it was for some if only means of comfort and life affirmation. as Barker is subtly suggesting.However, the life ofa chick consists of living and dying in the hands of humans and this resembles the scene of the war; men were orn, sent to war, and slaughtered in the hands of human beings. It almost seems as though Barker is using allegory to describe the process of a hatching chick which ironically resemble the lives of the soldiers. (Pg. 1 52) â€Å"He remembered them struggling out of the eggs (†¦ ) curiously powerful (†¦ ) now the same chicks were scruffy, bedraggled things running in the coops. † Rivers escapes the environment of Craiglockhart however he doesn't escape his patients.He writes to â€Å"David Burns† which shows what a caring fgure he is. He also begins to address Burns as ‘David' and this shows how the relationship between hem is progressing. The perspective of escape changes when a female is finally given the opportunity to want to escape: Sarah Lumb. Barker being the omniscient narrator finally allows the reader to see how Sarah really feels. She needs to escape as she â€Å"began to feel distinctly green and hairy'. (Pg. 159) because the state of the men were too hard to handle.The irony of this is that men harmed man, but couldn't handle the sight of their destruction. Earlier Barker presented us with Sassoon's resentment towards the older generation for seeing the war as glory, and now Sarah Lumb also feels a sense of anger as â€Å"she trode on through the heat, not caring where she was going, furious with herself, the war†¦ everything†. She is angry at the country for sending all of these men to war as is Prior and this could represent a link between how men and women felt the same about war if you had been one of the very many to experience it.In a reader's perspective, this also shows and agreement between social class differences as Prior and Sarah are both of different class and shar e the same resentment which shows an escape of the social barrier and some sort of relief of the war. Herodotus' quote at the beginning sums up that in war there's no escape, you get hrown into a war torn asylum and spend the rest of your life, if any, trying to escape, through writing, through poetry, through art, Just like Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon.However there was a chance of escape if you were seriously injured, and even then you were seen as a shirker and a failure and never mentally escaped the torture of war. Propaganda lead to young boys wanting to go to the war to fght for their country, meaning the children did in fact inter their parents, and once theyd lived the reality and managed to get away and go home, their parents did inter their hildren. Older generations that didn't experience war saw it more as a playground of little toy soldiers they could fling around making it seem a lot more calm and fun than it actually was, but the reality was quite different.Men became so lonely in the trenches and at the hospitals that any kind of physical contact from women became precious and in Priors case, the feeling of war was â€Å"like sex† and euphoria. His escape was Sarah, and many other men would find sex through prostitutes and this shows through death; even then their souls would not be at peace and fully escaped as the ar would go on, but as one soldier departed the battle grounds, a new recruit would be put in his place allured by the propaganda and media.This displays a cycle of curtailed escape. There was no real escape in war as the pattern of death and new recruitment followed the cycle of life and even though this shows a great level of patriotism, futility is the only word to describe war. Bibliography Barker, Pat – Regeneration (England, 1991. Viking) Reusch, Wera – ‘A backdoor into the present' an interview with Pat Barker, Germany. Lolapress (Translated from German) Nixon, Rob – An Interview with Pat Barker (England, February, 1992)

The U.S. Environmental Movement

When did the U.S. environmental movement begin? Its hard to say for sure. Nobody held an organizing meeting and drew up a charter, so there is no absolute definitive answer to the question of when the environmental movement really began in the United States. Here are some important dates, in reverse chronological order: Earth Day April 22, 1970, the date of the first Earth Day celebration in the United States, is often cited as the start of the modern environmental movement. On that day, 20 million Americans filled parks and took to the streets in a nationwide teach-in and protest about critical environmental issues facing the United States and the world. It is probably around that time that environmental issues also truly became political issues. Silent Spring Many other people associate the beginning of the environmental movement with the 1962 publication of Rachel Carsons groundbreaking book, Silent Spring, which spelled out the dangers of the pesticide DDT. The book awakened many people in the United States and elsewhere to the potential environmental and health hazards of using powerful chemicals in agriculture and led to a ban on DDT. Up until that point, we understood that our activities could be harmful to the environment, but Rachel Carsons work suddenly made it clear to many of us that we were also harming our bodies in the process. Earlier, Olaus and Margeret Murie were early pioneers of conservation, using the burgeoning science of ecology to encourage the protection of public lands where functioning ecosystems could be preserved. Aldo Leopold, a forester who later laid the foundations of wildlife management, continued focusing ecological science on the quest for a more harmonious relationship with nature.   A First Environmental Crisis An important environmental concept, the idea that active engagement by people is necessary to protect the environment, probably first reached the general public at the very beginning of the 20th century. During the period 1900-1910, wildlife populations in North America were at an all-time low. Populations of beaver, white-tailed deer, Canada geese, wild turkey, and many duck species were almost extinct from market hunting and loss of habitat. These declines were obvious to the public, which largely lived in rural areas at the time. As a result, new conservation laws were enacted (for example, the Lacey Act), and the very first National Wildlife Refuge was created.  Ã‚   Still, others might point to May 28, 1892, as the day when the U.S. environmental movement began. That is the date of the first meeting of the Sierra Club, which was founded by noted preservationist John Muir and is generally acknowledged as the first environmental group in the United States. Muir and other early members of the Sierra Club were largely responsible for preserving the Yosemite Valley in California and persuading the federal government to establish Yosemite National Park. No matter what first sparked the U.S. environmental movement or when it actually began, its safe to say that environmentalism has become a powerful force in American culture and politics. Ongoing efforts to understand more clearly how we can use natural resources without depleting them, and enjoy natural beauty without destroying it, is inspiring many of us to take a more sustainable approach to the way we live and to tread a little more lightly on the planet. Edited by Frederic Beaudry.