B123 Session 9

Ryan Fielding (E1712027)

Task 1
To help familiarise yourself or to recap on previous knowledge about marketing, read
Chapter 11 of the MGSG and think about and make notes on the following questions
as you read:

a.Broadly, does your organisation engage in transactional or relationship

marketing?

b.Can you describe your customers?

c.Can you see any of the ideas in the Marketing Mix (the 4Ps) in action in
your own organisations approach to marketing?

d.Do you think your organisations marketing activities are effective in

connecting with customers?

Dont worry if you are not sure of some of the responses to these questions you will
explore them further in this session.
Task 2
Document a summary of your thoughts on the questions in Task 1.
Post your summary to the Tutor group forum (TGF) and read what other students have
posted, responding to at least two (in the form of a comment or question).
AESSAL Engages in both forms of marketing because the product range is such wide
and open ended manufacturing. Requirements have to be met at customer demand.
Relationship marketing is all about creating longitudinal bonds with customers, which
will produce stronger, long-term purchasing and word-of-mouth activity. This type of
marketing will also increase referrals, price and service tolerance, plus a willingness
to provide information and active inclusion of purchasers in product development.
Transactional marketing is all about delivering the rational, or functional, basic tablestakes components of value delivery. This type of marketing generates passive,
transitory, and reactive relationships with the customer, and tends to be short-term in
nature. Transactional marketing also tends to commoditize the value proposition.
Reference http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/answer/Relationship-marketing-vstransactional-marketing-for-building-customer-loyalty/
We have a large amount of relationship marketed customers some of which have been
provided with our seals for years. We have a business motto as such that we aim to
provide such exceptional customer service that they never need seek alternative
sources of supply. As a company this has to be stuck to at all costs. With this in mind
our customers tend to stay loyal to us.

B123 Session 9

Ryan Fielding (E1712027)

Out of all the four Ps I would say most strongly we are product at heart and as a
company we have absolute faith in the end product. We currently control 5% of all the
world market which seems rather small but to put that into context we are currently
the fourth largest producer of mechanical seal in the world. This would be why I
would say that product is our strongest approach in marketing terms.
Currently I would not say that our marketing is connecting with enough customers
which is why we have slowed down growth in the last few years as well. In terms of
connecting with customers we do have a very professional front and we do advertise
everywhere. The biggest example I can think of is on New York stadium Rotherham
ground where we are the main sponsor of them. We have a huge logo on the side of
the stadium and also are in all of their programs for the season.
Task 3
Now that you have spent a bit more time thinking about marketing in your own
organisation and other students organisations, document your final thoughts.
My final thoughts on this are that we have a long way to go if we are ever to reach
world number 1. We do have a have a large amount of relationship marketed
customers. We need to expand massively via marketing our product to a much wider
audience in order to gain positions in the world market.
Activity 9.4
Spend approximately 1 hour 15 minutes on this activity.
Task 1

a.Look again at Task 1 in Activity 9.3 where you developed a diagram of

exchange relationships. Using the information in your diagram, complete
Figure 9.3 with a practical example of a three-level product analysis.
Decide what is the core product or basic benefit that customers expect from
your product or service (for example for a customer in a caf it may be
stopping hunger), then decide what the actual product or features are of your
product or service (the caf customer might expect a range of snack foods,
somewhere to sit and a good value price) and finally decide what the
augmented product or additional benefits are from your product or service (the
caf customer might expect waiter service and wi-fi access for example).

Figure 9.3 Three-level analysis of a product from your organisation

B123 Session 9

Ryan Fielding (E1712027)

Most organisations offer similar core products and actual products and most
competition takes place at the augmented product level this is where the
organisation has identified benefits that matter to the customer and build them into
their product or service. This is often what makes companies unique. Can you think of
examples of augmented product, perhaps from your own organisation, that provide
the organisation with some competitive advantage?
I am unsure if I would legally be allowed to discuss what material we make a certain
product from but we use a specialised metal that is very expensive to manufacture and
machine. This gives us an advantage over our competitors because their range of
similar product is made from regular steel which is far less resistive to corrosion than
ours.

d.Now compare your own organisations three level product analysis with your
analysis of your competitors product or service. Where are the key differences and
similarities? Are you offering broadly the same product or service? In what ways do
your organisation and the competitor organisation try to make your product or service
unique? Where are the key areas in which you compete most fiercely?
Our top level products, service; regular seal applications, bearing protection
application, customer service the key differences are we offer shorter lead time
greater reliability and a larger range. Our customer service unparalleled anywhere this
gives our competitors a major headache as they cannot offer this level of customer
service. Our customer service is also what makes us unique as well we offer so much
more and always go the extra mile to achieve exceptional customer service. The key
areas we compete so fiercely are our standard product ranges, that always seem to be
similar the problem with engineering is that rivals can reverse engineer you products
and alter something slightly and that isnt classed as breaching any copyright.

B123 Session 9

Ryan Fielding (E1712027)

E. Document your thoughts on where your product or service could be improved so

that it gains some advantage over competitors or so that it serves your market better or
so that it could serve a new market.
Our products could be improved by controlling more of the market that way our
competitors would have to work much harder to even get custom a company that
owns 100% of any market would be unstoppable although this is next to impossible to
achieve.