MKTG 2003 - Marketing for Financial Services - Blog Post 4

                                           Market Segmentation and Targetting

I found the following advertisment about the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to be interesting and relevant to the concepts of market segmentation and targetting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fZjGOQDbsE&feature=related

The advertisment shows a pregnant women on a public transportation bus trying to find a seat. She is waiting for a man who is seated to give up his place as common courtsey but since he does not she beats him with a rubber toy to force him to give up his seat. The question is then asked "Where are all the people who used to give up their seat?" basically referring to the kind and courteous people. The answer to the question is that they all work at the Commonwealth Bank. Firstly everyone uses bank services, the rich and the middle class and thus the market for people who use financial services is enormous. Since banks cannot focus on the entire market at once they break the market into distinct segments and select one or more segments to target with a distinct marketing mix. This process is called Segmentation. In this advertisment the Commonwealth Bank is clearly targeting the average income earners as the ad takes place on a public transport bus which is typically used by average income earners rather than the high income ones. Thus average income earners especially, pregnant women, the elderly and other types of people who expect common courtsey from others can relate to the advertisment. This will cause them to believe that Commonwealth understands their needs of patience and courtsey and will expect the staff to behave like how they are depicted in the advertisment. Appealing to the need of this distinct segment of the market is called targetting. Hence in this way through the use of segmenting and targeting the Commwealth Bank is focused on what customers they want and who the ad will most appeal to.

MKTG 2003 - Marketing for Financial Services - Blog Post 3

         Buyer Decision Process - Opening a savings/transaction Account at Commonwealth

The topic I found most interesting in Unit 3 of this course was the 'Buyer Decision Process'. This process consists of 5 stages (listed below). This process is very important to understand how a marketer needs to market their product or service to the customers based on their needs. I have used the example of me opening a savings/transaction account at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia when I first came to Australia to study at the ANU. The following are the 5 stages in the buyer decision process and how it applies to the example:

1) Need Recognition: I am an international student and one of my major needs when I come to a new country is my ability to access funds when I require and to earn a good interest rate amongst others. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia understands this need and for this reason has set up a branch at the ANU itself with a very easy set up account creation systems which yields a relatively high interest rate.

2) Information Searches: The second step in the process is the abiltiy to find information on how to create an account, what interest rate is given, what the other alternatives are etc. Commonwealth addresses this step by having information brochures available in every branch and support staff in case one needs more information or just someone to talk to. In addition to this there is very detailed information about their services available on their website in case people do not want to visit the branch itself or prefer doing it online.

3) Evaluation of Alternatives: As an international student I had several alternative banks I could to start an account in namely NAB, Westpac and ANZ. However I chose the Commonwealth Bank over the others because number one there is a branch on campus and two because there are lot of ATM branches all over Canberra. This satisfies by primary need of having easy access to the funds wherever I am in Canberra. Also in case there is a need to visit the branch itself I can easily go to the bank. Hence Commonwealth Bank was the most convinient option for me. Commonwealth understood this need of international students and catered to the need.

4) Purchase Decision: All the above mentioned factors influenced me to open an account in the Commonwealth Bank. The knowledgibility of the Commonwealth staff and the pleasant atmosphere further assured me that the decision of opening an account at Commonwealth was the right one.

5) Post-Purchase Behaviour: A lot of banks take good care of potential customers and raise their expectations of the service before they open the account only to not live up to the expectations leading to dissatisfaction. However Commonwealth Bank was not one of them as even after the account was opened the staff was very friendly and answered any doubts or questions clearly. They always kept me upto date with their latest offers etc without being too aggressive or annoying. Hence it can be clearly seen that the Commonwealth Bank understood the 'Buyer Decision process' very well and followed each of the stages to the best of their ability.

MKTG 2003 - Marketing for Financial Services - Blog Post 2

                                                       SWOT Analysis

The most interesting concept I found in Unit 2 of this course is one of the most fundamental concepts in marketing/management, it is the SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Strengths are positive internal characteristics of a company whereas Weaknesses are negative internal ones. Opportunities are positive and external whereas Threats are negative and external. Each entity be it an individual or a firm has all 4 of these characteristics. The goal of every entity is to maximise and use their strengths to the best of their ability and reduce the impact of their weaknesses while exploiting opportunities and avoiding/tackling threats. The beauty of the concept lies in its simplicity and its easy applicability to everyday life. For example my strength lies in test taking whereas my weakness lies more in writing assignments. Using SWOT I try to ace all my tests (my strength) and practice improving my assignment writing skills (my weakness). The assessment of the course is decided by the lecturer and hence is out of my control. Therefore the structure of the assessment is external. An example of an opportunity to me would be if the assessment became more 'test based' and thus more suited to my strengths and an example of a threat would be if it became more 'assignment based'. Almost all businesses around the world use the SWOT analysis to analyse their business and improve their ability to compete in the marketplace and thus this is a very important concept in marketing.

MKTG 2003 - Marketing for Financial Services - Blog Post 1

                                                 Impact vs Urgency

There were several interesting topics/concepts discussed and demonstrated through examples in the first lecture/chapter of this marketing course, however, the concept that interested me the most was the 'Impact vs Urgency' matrix discussed by the lecturer. The concept consists of a simple 3 row, 3 column matrix with 'Impact of issues affecting a business" put on the column side of the matrix and "Urgency of issue" on the row side. Each column and row was given a strength level of High, Medium and Low. Research was conducted across several different businesses on what type of issues were faced by businesses and which issues were tackled first by management. The management of the businesses first gave a value of how 'impactful' the issues were (if the issue was not addressed the business would suffer greatly in the 'high level' and not as much in the 'low level'),and then on how 'urgent' they were. They were then asked which issues they addressed first and which were postponed. It was discovered that managers of high performing businesses tackled the more 'impactful' issues before the more 'urgent ones' whereas managers of lower performing businesses did the opposite. This is an interesting discovery as normal human behaviour is to address the more urgent issues first, even if they are not as important and postpone dealing with issues which can be addressed later. This concept has opened my eyes and made me look at my personal goals differently and changed the order and importance I give issues in my own life.