Marketing Discussion Question

Questions:

1. Marketing methodologies change depending upon the stage of your business. Les McKeown showcases stages of a business life curve.

As you develop your response for this Discussion Question, please consider the following outcomes for this week...

Discuss how to use product life cycle marketing strategies.

2. Amanda Palmer delivers a compelling business concept and marketing strategy.  The message is unique and challenges conventional thinking.

As you consider the video use her business as a metaphor for your own.  Many of the points she makes are transferable to any marketing platform.  How will you create a fan base for your business.  Please refrain from talking about the music industry unless this is where your marketing plan resides.   

• What are your perspectives?

Answers:

1. Les McKeown, well known as the serial entrepreneur, Founder and CEO of the consulting company named as Predictable Success. He is regarded as the trusted consultant to virtually shape the leaders, SVPs of large non-profit organizations, CEOs of global multinationals, and also the solopreneurs of developing companies. Les has significantly received critical acclaim from prominent business personnel on showcasing the stages of business lifecycle in its own terms (Akella 2013). He pointed seven stages of business lifecycle considering his own experiences and those are different than conventional lifecycle theory.  They are:

• Early Struggle – This stage considers the fight for the establishment of organization, which considers two main aspects i.e. enough cash to keep going, enough market for the service or product.
• Growth of business exponentially  and focus to  move from cash to sales
•  Whitewater-  Operations become complex whereas the emphasis shifts from sales to profitability
• Success- On successful navigation through water, organizations can consistently achieve their goals and objectives with a consistent degree of predictable success (McClendon 2013).
• Tread Mill- A lot of energy is being expended  however, a  forward thrust is achieved  
• The Big Rut- In this stage the organization must be self-aware and should be able to diagnose its own decline and sickness.  This declination is known as Big Rut.
• Death Rattle- the final attempt to save the organization, as it will not survive in a condition of Big Rut.

On comparing McKeown’s theory with the conventional strategies of product life cycle, significant changes can be observed. The four main stages of life cycle are considered in details below.

Introduction phase- heavy promotion and attractive marketing strategy is designed to raise awareness

Growth Phase- Promotion activities will now emphasize to expand the market in new segments considering geographic and demographic determinants (Kotler & Keller 2013).

Maturity phase- A stage to differentiate the product and refresh its features from time to time to stand away from the crowd and increase its market share

Decline- withdraws of marketing support to take the product off the market completely.

Hence from the above analysis it is evident that the marketing methodologies get altered depending on the stages of business and application to both the concepts of Les McKewon and conventional product life cycle theory.

2. Amanda Palmer’s marketing concept is entirely grounded on the platform of social media. Being a famous singer, Amanda believes in developing a huge fan base which she did by exploiting the social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Blogs, Instagrams, etc.  Her business concept relies on the same strategy. According to Amanda Plamer, Buisness should focus on developing a strong base of loyal customers, which is the only determinant to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

In her video “The art of asking” she explains that how she stopped worrying and relied on people for asking help from the society. Palmer mentioned that, in this society, certain kind of people are allowed to ask whereas, certain are not. Most importantly, she explained that the biggest obstacle to get help is the reluctance to ask.

The video by Amanda Palmer can be used as a metaphor for our business, as people forms the biggest asset.  Asking for help from the people will not only reduce worry but will also enable a firm base of fans (customers).

However, her proposal of marketing concept does not hold true in business sector.  The first reason being, new customers have very little or no probability of loyalty towards a particular brand, as there is no possibility that once they purchase, they stick to the company.  Nonetheless, referring Amanda Palmer’s marketing strategy a business needs to acquire 5000 new customers to eventually retain 500 of them as loyal customers (Marshall 2013).

On critical analysis of the fact, a fan base of 5000 new customers can be obtained by asking for help as shown in the video of Amanda Palmer’s “The art of asking”.

Hence, I disagree with the application of Amanda Palmer’s marketing strategy in music to business ground. However, likewise the Rockstars, they understand the strategy to acquire new fans tomorrow depends on their ability to delight the existing fans, hence for businesses; loyal customers can acquired only if their service and product experience from the brand is satisfactory.

References

Akella, D. (2013). Creating Successful Teams. Organization Management Journal, 10(3), 208-208.

Marshall, L. (2013). The Structural Functions of Stardom in the Recording Industry. Popular Music and Society, 36(5), 578-596.

McClendon, L. (2013). The Synergist: How to Lead Your Team to Predictable Success by Les McKeown. Organization Management Journal, 10(3), 209-210.

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2012). Keller, Delphine Manceau, Philip Kotler, and Philip Kotler.“Chapter 8-233|.”. Marketing Management. Paris: Pearson.