TOPIC 6:

COMMUNICATING
EFFECTIVELY OUTSIDE
THE ORGANIZATION

FIA 1383: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

Relating to Clients and Customers
 Client – a person or group that seeks and uses the advice,
skills or services of a professional such as lawyer, accountant,
advertising agency, architect, designer, etc.

 Customer – a person who purchases goods or services from a

business (rather than an individual or group of professionals);
buyer or patron.

 Why should we have effective communication with client/customer?

a. Provide enough information about products and services – to
convince clients and customers
b. To market products and services
c. Marketing has to do with an exchange relationship in which all
parties derive satisfaction
d. Relating to your customer is one of the best ways to keep them
coming back
Relating to Clients and Customers
• Differences between Clients and Customers
Customer
It is a person that purchases goods or
services from another person or company
It is also called buyer or patron.
i.e.: when you buy milk at the
supermarket, you are a supermarket
customer.
Implies a short-term, primarily economic
relationship.
It is a patron who buys something, and
the relationship ends after that.
Your company’s business emphasis is on
selling; thus your goal is to get the
customer to buy something.
Client
It is a person that purchases goods or
services, AND is under the protection and
engages the professional advice/
knowledge of another person/business
leader.
i.e.: when you employ the services of a
lawyer, you are his/her client.
Implies a long-term, protective, loyal, and
ongoing business relationship.
Your company’s business emphasis is on
serving; thus your goal is to look out for
your client needs and provide them with
the best service you can.
The Value and Use of Advertising and
Public Relation
 Commercial advertising is communication between a seller and
potential buyers that is publicly addressed to a mass audience and is
intended to induce members of this audience to buy the seller’s
products.

 Also defined as a form of “information” and an advertiser as “one who gives

the information”.

 In short, advertising is to provide information to consumers.

 Commercial advertising are done through the television, magazines,

billboards, the Internet, printed on sides of buses, etc.

 Public relations are ongoing activities to ensure the overall company

has a strong public image. Public relations activities include helping the
public to understand the company and its products.

 Often, public relations are conducted through the media such as

newspapers, television, magazines, etc.
The Marketing Mix
 The marketing mix is a crucial tool to help understand
what the product or service can offer and how to plan for
a successful product/service offering.

 The marketing mix consists of everything the firm can do to

influence the demand for its product.

 The many possibilities can be collected into four groups of

variables known as the “Four P’s”: Product, Price, Place
and Promotion.
The Marketing Mix

1. Product – product is either a tangible good or an intangible service

that satisfies what a customer in the target market needs or wants.
Intangible products are service-based like products in the tourism
industry, the hotel industry and the financial industry. Tangible
products are those that have an independent, physical existence
like car, food, television, etc.

2. Place – place refers to providing the product at a place or places

which is convenient for consumers to access it. For example, the
best place to open up a petrol pump is on the highway or in the city.
A place where there is minimum traffic is a wrong location to start a
petrol pump. Similarly, a software company will be better placed in
a business hub with a lot of companies nearby rather than being
placed in a town or rural area.
The Marketing Mix

3. Promotion – promotion represents all of the methods of

communication that a marketer may use to provide information to
different parties about the products. These may include advertising,
sales promotions, special offers and public relations. Whatever the
channel used, it is necessary for it to be suitable for the product,
the price and the end user it is being marketed to.

4. Pricing – price is the amount a customer pays for the product. The
price is very important as it determines the company’s profit and
hence, survival. Adjusting the price of a product/service has a
profound impact on the marketing strategy, as it will affect the
demand and sales as well.
Establishing Customer Needs
 The most basic concept underlying marketing is that of human needs. Human needs are
states of felt deprivation.

 They include basic physical needs for food, clothing, warmth, and safety; social needs for
belonging and affection; and individual needs for knowledge and self-expression.

 Wants are the form human needs take as they are shaped by culture and individual
personality.

 Example: A Malaysian customer needs to have a hot refreshing beverage but decides to
satisfy his wants by sipping coffee in a fashionable Starbucks Café in downtown Kuala
Lumpur.

 Wants are shaped by one’s society and are described in terms of objects that will satisfy
needs.

 When backed by buying power, wants become demands. Given their wants and resources,
people demand products with benefits that add up to the most value and satisfaction.

 Outstanding marketing companies go to great lengths to learn about and understand their
customers’ needs, wants, and demands. They conduct consumer research and analyze
mountains of customer data.
Establishing Customer Needs
• Marketing Research

 Marketing can be defined as the process whereby we ‘identify,

anticipate, and satisfy customer requirements profitably’, and as
such we need systematic means of undertaking each of these
stages.

 Market research is generally agreed to give information about:

1. Buyers habits
2. Demography
3. Consumer product/service knowledge
4. Opinions/attitudes
5. Intentions
6. Motives
7. Perceptions

 It operates in two key dimensions: (a) in acquiring information about

current products/services, and their position in the market; (b) in
identifying new market opportunities.
Establishing Customer Needs
• Marketing Offers – Products, Services and
Experiences

 Consumers’ needs and wants are fulfilled through a marketing

offer – some combination of products, services, information, or
experiences offered to a market to satisfy a need or want.

 Marketing offers are not limited to physical products. Marketing

also offers services, activities or benefits offered for sale that
are essentially intangible and do not result in the ownership of
anything.

 Examples include banking, airline, hotel, children’s tuition, and

home repair services. More broadly, marketing offers also
include other entities, such as persons, places, organizations,
information and ideas.
Establishing Customer Needs

• Persons Marketing

 Think of the extensive marketing that is needed to create new

superstars and celebrities in Asia.

 For example, Jackie Chan worked hard to get himself accepted

as a Hollywood celebrity although he was already famous in
Asia.

 In addition to celebrities, other personalities such as politicians

and business leaders use marketing to project and maintain
their popularity.
Establishing Customer Needs

• Places Marketing

 Asia is full with tourism campaigns to woo foreign visitors to its

shores.

 Malaysia has its “Malaysia Truly Asia” theme, there is “Amazing

Thailand”, and Singapore’s “Uniquely Singapore”.

 Probably one of the best known place marketing case is the

“100% Pure New Zealand” tourism campaign which helped to
create a powerful niche destination brand.
Establishing Customer Needs

• Organizations Marketing

 Organizations work actively to build strong corporate images in

the minds of their key publics.

 LG, Petronas, Sony and countless other Asian companies

create strong visibility through their corporate communication
programs.

 These companies seek to build reputable corporate brand

names in order to support their product and services, as well
as raise equity capital in the stock markets around Asia.
Establishing Customer Needs

• Ideas Marketing

 Products and services are marketed on the platform of some

key ideas.

 Nike says “Just Do It”, signifying a distinguishing lifestyle that it

wants its customers to identify its products with.

 In the not-for-profit and government sectors, there is social

marketing, where ideas are promoted in campaigns such as
drug prevention, antismoking, AIDS, drunk driving and others.
Establishing Customer Needs

• Products vs Solutions

 Smart marketers look beyond the attributes of the products and

services they sell.

 They create brand meaning and brand experiences for

customers.

 For example, MTV means much more to consumers than just

music television – it has become an international icon
associated with all aspects of entertainment for the young
and trendy.
The Organization and Its
Environment
 Organizational environment: set of forces surrounding an organization
that may affect its operation and access to scarce resources. It may offers
threats or opportunities for potential market exploitation.

 Organizational environment include factors such as technological,

economic, sociocultural, political-legal and international.

 Organization is the product of the technological, political-legal, economic,

sociocultural and international factors in which it functions due to the
following three features:
1. There is symbolic relationship between organization and its
environment. The organization is influenced by its environment and in
turn, it will also influence the external forces.
2. These environment forces are dynamic as they keep on changing
and as years roll by, so does business.
3. A particular organization, by itself, may not be in a position to change
its environment. But together with other organization, it will be in a
position to shape the environment in its favour.
The Organization and Its
Environment
The Organization and Its
Environment
• Technological environment
 Technology is understood as the systematic application of
scientific or other organized knowledge to practical tasks.
 Technology changes fast and to keep pace with it,
businessmen should be ever alert to adopt changed
technology in their business

• Economic environment
 It refers to the totality of economic factors such as employment,
income, inflation, interest rates, productivity, and wealth, that
influence the buying behavior of consumers and organizations.
 There is a close relationship between organization and its
economic environment.
 Organization obtains all its needed inputs from the economic
environment and it absorbs the output of business units.
The Organization and Its
Environment
• Political-legal environment
 It refers to the influence exerted by the political institutions,
legislature and the judiciary in shaping, directing, developing
and controlling business activities.
 A stable and dynamic political environment is crucial for
business growth.

• Socio-cultural environment
 It refers to the people’s attitude to work and wealth; role of
family, marriage, religion and education; ethical issues and
social responsiveness of the organization.
The Organization and Its
Environment

• International environment
 Due to globalization, all organizations are forced to view
business issues from a global perspective.
 Business responses and managerial practices must be fine-
tuned to survive in the global environment.