Market

I will refer to this company how it has diversify its market products, the price range, places for distribution and the promotional strategies they have used to promote their products. SONY Corporation In Brief Sony Corporation is a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world’s largest media conglomerate with revenue of US manufacturers of electronics, video, communications, video game consoles and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. Its name is derived from Son’s, the Greek goddess of sound.

Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group, which Is engaged in business through its five operating segments-?electronics, games, entertainment (motion pictures and music), financial services and other. These make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. Sonny principal business operations Include Sony Corporation (Sony Electronics In the U. S. ), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony BMW Music Entertainment, Sony Ericson and Sony Financial Holdings.

As a semiconductor Akers, Sony is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders. The company’s slogan Is Sony. Like no other. SONY products The first market mix element is Product. A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a need or want. Product decision normally base on brand name, Functionality, styling, Quality, Safety, Packaging, Repairs and Support, Warranty, accessories and Services.

These product attributes can be manipulated depending on what the target market wants. Also, customers always look for new and Improved things, which is why marketers would Improve existing products, develop new ones, and discontinue old ones that are no longer needed or wanted by the customer. Sony has a variety of products ranging from electronic devices, games and entertainment. So, briefly Sony products Projectors: Brave LCD TV, CRT TV, Home theatre projector, Business Projector, Public Display Panel.

Home video: Blue-ray disc player, DVD player, DVD portable player. Iii. Home Audio: HI-If Systems, Home audio accessories. E. G. Digital media port.  Home Theatre system: DVD Home Theatre System, Home Theatre Component System, Home Theatre System Accessories. V. Digital Photography: Digital SSL, Coversheet Digital Camera, Digital Photo Printer, Digital Photo Frame. Hand cam video camera: Handyman high definition video Camera, Handyman Standard Definition Video Camera, Handyman Accessories, Digital Photo Printer, Digital Photo Frame. Ii. Computer Peripherals: AVIVA laptops and computers, AVIVA accessories, Business Projectors, Memory Stick. Viii. Portable Audio: Walkway amp series, CD Walkway series, CD/Radio/Cassette player, Radio, Voice recorder, Audio Accessories ‘x. Game: Pollination 3, Pollination 2, SSP (Pollination Portable) x. In-Car entertainment: Exploded CD receiver, Exploded in car visual, Exploded Cassette receiver, Exploded Amplifier, Exploded Speaker/Suborder. Mobile phones: Phones, Phone Accessories.

Storage and Recording media: Memory Stick, USB storage media, Data storage media, Video Storage media, Audio media, Storage media, Professional media. Xiii. Battery and Charger SONY Promotion Brief Introduction: Promotion is a key element of marketing program and is concerned with effectively and efficiently communicating the decisions of marketing strategy, to favorably influence target customers’ perceptions to facilitate exchange between the marketer and the customer that may satisfy the objective of both customer and the company.

A company’s promotional efforts are the only controllable means to create awareness among publics about itself, the products and services it offers , their features and influence their attitudes favorably. Advertising: SONY has advertised its products through many different ways and media. Through TV we have seen different advertisements of its products such as Brave televisions or Sony wage TV. Sony also advertise its products by targeting those favorable television programs, like sports, series and also it has its own channel called Sony TV channel.

Sony uses some events like Miss Indignant to promote its products. Also, Sony has advertised its games like Pollination 3, Pollination 2 and SSP using sports like football in England premiere league. Through newspapers like Times of India, Sony has advertised a wide range of products it offers to its customers. And also through Posters a message has been sent to a lot of people to be aware of the products which Sony offers. Sony also uses erect – response advertising.

This is type of advertising that encourages the consumer to respond either by providing feedback to the advertiser or placing the order with the advertiser either by telephone, mail or the internet. Such advertising is done through direct mail or catalogues. Sony incorporates co-operative advertising in its advertising process. Sony corporation provides the dealers (e. G. Sony World) with the materials and guidelines to develop ads for print, television or radio commercials. This ensures that message is in line with, what the manufacture wants to communicate.

The company and the dealers usually share the media costs and hence, the name ‘co-operative advertising. Of incentives techniques to structure sales – related programs targeted to customers, trade, and/or sales levels that generate a specific, measurable action or response for a product or service. Sales promotions for example includes free samples, discount, rebates, coupons, contents and sweepstakes, premiums, scratch cards, exchange offers, early bird prizes, etc. Sony has promoted its products through different sales promotional strategies.

For example after the release of the Sony BRAVE television sets, Sony promoted them by earl bird prizes by saying that all BRAVE full HAD Lists purchased during July 2008 and registered within two weeks of purchase qualify for a Bonus Pollination 3 as long as the customer claims is one of the first,OHO received and validated by Sony. Also Sony has promoted its Sony Ericson Pl I phones by including a scratch cards which gives the customer the offer to download 10 free software application for that mobile phone.

Sony Ericson has also promoted its Sony Ericson Kiwi Mid-Range Cyber-shot Phone that if you buy it o get a free Bluetooth headset with one year manufacturer’s warranty Public Relations and Publicity: Public relations is a broad set of communication activities employed to create and maintain favorable relationship with employees, shareholders, suppliers, media, educators, potential investors, financial institutions, government agencies and officials and society in general. Through its website, Sony corporation has its provided contacts for those customers who will be in need of any information from the company. Read also PlayStation  SWOT Analysis.

In this way Sony can create a mutual relationship tit its customers and ensure that it serves the wishes and demands of its customers. SONY Place (Distribution) Decisions with respect to distribution channel focus on making the product available in adequate quantities at places where customers are normally expected to shop for them to satisfy their needs. Depending on the nature of the product, marketing management decides to put into place an exclusive, selective or intensive network of distribution, while selecting the appropriate dealers or wholesalers.

Sony being the company which positions itself as a seller of durable and high-end products, it is racketing selective distribution of its products from the selective dealers I. E. SONY World. Apart from this there are grey-markets in India and other countries where a practice of intensive market coverage is practiced, and the products in these kind of markets normally do not posses all the features and benefits which Sony offers e. G. Warranty and guarantee. Sony distributes its products in various channels.

Company In and renamed It Johnson Wax. It Is a 128 year old business that has been owned and managed by five generations of the Johnson Family. The company offers home cleaning products for deep cleaning, disinfecting and removing dust, pest control products for protecting families form pests, and home storage products for keeping food fresh. It also provides air care products, such as home fragrances to fill a room with fragrance and eliminate odors, and auto care products including waxes, cleaners, protectors and much more. Describe Main Line of Business of the Company S. C.

Johnson and Son has became one of the leading manufacturer of household cleaning and scent products, products for home storage, personal care, car care, floor care, shoe care products, and Insect control. It markets such well known brands as Winded, Pledge, Fantast’s, Tempo, Grand PRI, Johnson Bribe, Copilot, Glade, OFF, and Raid. The company is committed to high-quality products, the environment, and the communities in which it operates. Name Four Countries in which the Company Operates S. C. Johnson and Son manufacture s one of the global leaders in manufacturing and marketing their products around the world.

It is present in more than 70 countries and market its products in over 110 counties such as Canada, China, France and Egypt. Sc Johnson and son is known around the world as, “A Family Business. ” A business that I owned and managed by family and it represents family. SC Johnson has been taking steps recently to Jazz up its marketing, without losing sight of its core positioning. With new campaigns for products like Off, and Fantastic brand, SC Johnson and is taking creative risks with its traditional image. In the process, they are revising the product demo, with funny and creative campaigns.

The goal was an overall change in the tone of the SC] voice to make it more modern and engaging,” The goal, therefore, was to put a new spin marketing of household goods. The ad needs to teach consumers what the product is and how it works. Implementation of Target Market S. C. Johnson targets the family for its advertisement with its products. Through market research, customers today don’t want to spend a full day scrubbing and cleaning home. They want to use convenience products that get the Job done. Parents want to spend as much time with family as possible. Such products as

Winded, Fantastic and pledge wipes allow consumers to wipe away dust, dirt as well as Disinfecting. Implementation of Product Strategy According to that research, Americans prefer products from family- owned companies to those from publicly-held corporations by a wide margin. “More than 80 percent believe that family companies make products they can trust versus 43 percent for publicly-traded companies. ” Others perceived family-company products to be of higher quality. To reinforce these attitudes, SC Johnson created the new campaign using Sam Johnson to tell the family company’s story.

A great family business, no matter its size, has to be more than a financial investment. ” To survive long term it has to be a social positive for the employees, a benefit for the community, a passion for future generations of the family, and committed to earning the goodwill of the consumer. Implementation of Distribution Strategy “One of the MIT program’s sponsors is spending more money on more frequent deliveries to make sure the inventory is actually delivered to the point of use more regularly. ” They don’t have a central warehouse that keeps a large amount of product n hand or stored at retail locations.

By doing this the company has freed up lots of working capital and compensates the cost of increased shipments. They use an express courier service to provide rapid replenishment, eliminating the need to warehouse product anywhere for very long. Therefore allowing retailers to maintain less inventory. Instead of getting a full truckload once a week they’re paying a premium to have it delivered on a daily basis. Implementation of Communication Strategy “As a family company, listening and responding to consumers is SC Johnny’s top priority.

Today’s families want to know what’s in the household cleaning and air freshening products they use in their homes. Making information about the ingredients in their products readily accessible and easy to understand helps the consumers know they can continue to trust . C. Johnson and son’s products. S. C. Johnson and Son continually conduct extensive research and testing to ensure their products meet health, environmental and safety standards, and are effective. Many companies will follow the example that SC Johnson has now set for its household cleaners and air freshening products.

This is a market map that identifies the market segment each boutique is covering, as this provides an insight into the areas of the market that are not covering designer wear. This map shows a huge gap in the market for designer women’s wear in Peckham. The clothes retailers in this area sell low quality women’s wear at cheap prices which shows strong competition amongst them for cost leadership. I believe my business can fill ths gap because there are no boutiques offering high quality clothes in this area, as the other clothes shops don’t sell designer wear, they sell cheap clothing for women.

The only boutique that sells designer wear in the area is Kolors, and they cater for men, only, which gives me the advantage of establishing myself in Peckham, as my business will fill up the gap in the market for designer wear retailing for women. Consumers seek for the best bargain prices where they get to purchase products at low prices which is why many retailers in Peckham aim to sell products at cheap prices that are quite attractive to customers.

Also, market research data shows that expenditure on clothing accounts for a diminishig percentage of total consumer expenditure as an increasing amount is spent on leisure (holidays), household and personal services. This data shows thatconsumers have been spending less on clothing in the past years as consumers spend an average of 5% to 6% of disposable income on clothes and this relatively small amount is shrinking. (Snapshots International).

However, my pricing will be different from theirs, as I’ll be selling designer apparels at discount prices. Although the price I’ll be charging is higher than the average price of clothes in my area, the differentiation of my product means that consumers should be willing to pay more quality. My research showed that the boutiques in Peckham are located near each other.

There’s a cluster of these low cost boutiques at the beginning of Peckham Rye Lane. There’s a big Safeway store opposite these stores which offers free car parking, which is an added convinience for shoppers. The location is important because it is at the heart of the Town Centre,, which attracts a lot of shoppers, and it’s important I locate there, as that is where the gap is. There is a mixed secondary school on the High Road (about 5 minutes away) which is an advantage as teenagers are also part of the market I’ll be appealing to.

Designer labels benefit from main media advertising by their manufacturers and also, as part of retailers’ promotions. Extensive advertising is seen in the daily press, lifestyle and fashion magazines, on TV and on outside posters, and often uses personalities such as models, actresses and sports stars. Keynotes Most designer wear discount retailers promote their goods by advertising heavily on the internet. For example, e-bay sells designer wear online at bargain prices.

They also advertise on local radio stations and local magazines. They use mainly, below-the-line promotion because they are not as expensive as above-the-line promotion(e. g. TV). Also, as they are selling designer wear at discount prices, they have to keep their costs low, so they can make profit. Extensive market research conducted by Key Notes shows that between 1995-1999, the number of pair of jeans bought, fell by millions as younger people turned their backs on garments worn by their parents and over 40’s(e. g. Levi’s).

However, the rising popularity of designer wearing celebrities and their innovative added details (e. g. embroidery) helped in reversing the trend. Nevertheless, while volume sales have gained ground, value has not because of high levels of cheap imports and heavy discounting. International brands such as Spain’s Zara and Mango are showing more impressive growth and are increasingly invading the high streets with their international designs. Manufacurers and retailers are doing their best to exploit the ‘Tweenager’ market, as children are growing up faster than ever.

Most parents find their offspring develop thoer own, sometimes bizzare, opinion of what they want to wear and nowadays, even younger children want fashionable clothes because of what they see pop idols and movie stars wearing on TV. Manufacurers and retailers are doing their best to exploit the ‘Tweenager’ market, as children are growing up faster than ever. Most parents find their offspring develop thoer own, sometimes bizzare, opinion of what they want to wear and nowadays, even younger children want fashionable clothes because of what they see pop idols and movie stars wearing on TV.

The number of 15-19 year olds has increased substantially, and they are the highly influential consumers in the fast moving market. As teenagers, they are demanding more stylish and fashionable designer garments, aiming to achieve the looks of pop idols like Britney Spears. They are highly active clothes shoppers because by this age, they are beginning to earn money and spend it freely on clothes and personal adornment. The chart above shows that there are 125, 045 females and 119, 822 males in the population of Southwark.

As a percentage, 51% females and 49% males which justifies my target of the female market. The chart above shows that there are 56. 1% employed females and 6. 2% unemployed females in Southwark which means females in this area have jobs that they earn money from and spend on clothing – designer wear or non-designer wear. This is the process of gathering, collation and analysis of information relating to the marketing and consumption of designer wear. This information is gathered so as to help me in decision making. There are two main methods used in carrying out this research;

Secondary Research This is also known as DESK research, which involved gathering information that already exists. I used marketing research reports from Minel, Keynotes International and Snapshots International from the Business Library in Leicester Square. Information from the Internet was also used to gather information on demography: statistics. gov. uk and upmystreet. com. The benefit of this secondary research is that it is already available and at no cost. However, they were not always 100% accurate, as some of the reports are outdated.

Primary Research This is also known as Field research, which involves the gathering of data that doesn’t exist. In other words, it’s the data I collected by myself in the form of questionnaires to customers and a personal interview with the manager of Kolors, the designer shop for men. The sampling method used was quota sampling based on females between the age of 15-44, however, results from this quota sample are not statistically representative of the population. This primary information is going to be used in determining my start up costs, running costs, analyse competition, the market and customer views.

In this paper I review the history of fair value accounting and the ethics behind whether fair value accounting gives an accurate picture or is it causing a need for higher capital requirements and necessary concern with investors. There Is a need for transparency. It is Accounting Standards and Ethics that helped restore the Investors trust after the corporate scandals, now with financial Institutions wanting to suspend the mark-to- market accounting It would further decrease the trust Investors have.

Mark-to-Market Accounting and Ethical Issues Accounting standards and ethics are directly related, we see this when we look at the issue of mark-to-market accounting. Is it ethical to not truly disclose the true value of assets, or the paper that is being held? Should financial institutions be able to suspend the FAST 157 (accounting for fair values) due to their lack of not wanting to disclose their losses or have a need for further capital requirements? Is fair value accounting causing the concern and the problem for the current financial crisis?

Are there further ethical Issues that are of concern when companies do not want to disclose potential losses that they are holding on their books? Background of Mark-to-Market / Fair Value Accounting Accountants and regulators have always discussed whether the changes in market value assets should be incorporated into accounting reports or not. This is contentious in that accounting reports are used in the regulatory process: The numbers reported have direct implications for the supervision and regulation of the firm.

This could be in terms of capital requirements or even contributions to pension plans. Companies even have concerns on whether or not accounting rules will affect the volatility of earnings. When we look to understand what we are talking about in historical cost accounting and fair value accounting, we have to realize that accounting for assets at fair value and accounting for them at book are the exact opposite. When we refer to fair value accounting It shows the changes to the balance sheet and measures how the changes effect the firm based on the changes In fair value.

Historic cost accounting on the other hand relies on cash flow to measure changes in the financial condition of a company. Fair value accounting puts more sheet and focuses on net income. Fair value accounting provides a measure of changes in resources available to shareholders. Both assets and liabilities reflect future cash flows and the profits and losses generated by the asset revaluations are recognized at one time. When firms are operating a loss under the historic cost accounting but a profit under fair value it was possible to borrow equity to fund current operations through expected gains.

Complaints against fair value accounting are:

1 . Many feel that asset valuations under fair value accounting are easily manipulated. This is partially true, however it is also possible to manipulate earnings with accrual accounting.

2. Some argue that earnings are volatile under fair value accounting. A firm does have the ability to make footnotes in the financial statements if they feel the earnings are volatile. The main point though is if asset values are changing that rapidly then it is likely to be information that is of interest to owners and stakeholders of the firm.

3. In the SEC study (SEC, 2008) it is mentioned that there is concern that fair value is inconsistent between the fair value accounting model and the typical company’s business model. This objections implies that a company may be cash poor with valuable assets, this ignores the fact that a company can use temporary financing to fund current operations with future cash flows.

4. Valuations may be flawed or imperfect. This is an understandable objection, because some assets are more easily valued than others. That does not mean though that fair value method should not be used when the alternative method is Just as flawed.

When we look at a benefit of the fair value accounting method we see that a firm will behave differently, and will take this method into consideration when they are purchasing this asset. The decisions tend to be less risky if they know that they will have to devalue the asset in the future. Bad decisions would be something that they would have to identify publicly with future marking to market. Companies would no longer have a motivation to sell assets for the benefit of recognizing an accounting gain. Historically a major financial event or crisis prompts reconsideration of accounting rules governing reported asset valuations.

The credit crisis in 2008 generated reconsideration. In the sass’s the savings and loan crisis prompted accounting rules move away from historical cost accounting. Had there been a fair value accounting system in place in the sass’s the savings and loan crisis would have not taken years to realize. The banks had made long term mortgage loans and borrowed short term. When the interest rates increase they suffered economic losses, yet they were using the historical cost accounting which resulted in a delay in the realization of this crisis. In 1993 SEAS 115 created an accounting structure for debt and equity securities that is still used today.

SEAS 115 states “Debt securities that the enterprise has the positive intent and ability to hold to maturity are classified as held to maturity securities and reported at amortized cost. Debt and equity securities that are bought and held to principally for the purpose of selling them in the near term are classified as trading securities and reported at fair value, tit unrealized gains and losses included in earnings. Debt and equity securities not classified as either held-to-maturity securities or trading securities are classified as available-for-sale securities and reported at fair value, with unrealized gains and shareholder’s equity. (SEC, 2008) Under the SEAS 115, debt securities that are seen as a permanent loss are required to be marked to market with the loss showing on the income statement. The SEAS 157 defined fair value as the “price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer the liability in an orderly transaction teens market participants at the measurement date. ” (SFA, 2006) SEAS 1 59 (2009) expanded the range of assets that fair value treatment could be used on. This meant fair value could be used on available-for-sale assets, and gains or losses on those assets would flow to the income statement.

It permitted firms to market their own liabilities to market. The Significance of Mark-to-Market Accounting Why is mark-to-market accounting even an issue: This has come about as many banks, brokers and mutual funds became inter-related investing in financial products. These products were difficult to determine true values. At times these assets were thinly traded, meaning it was an asset that could not be easily sold, traded, or exchanged for cash without impacting the price substantially. This is why the mark-to-market rule started becoming an issue.

Financial institutions were not selling tangible items that could be easily bought and sold and a true valuation could be determined. Prior to the economic crisis, this was not an issue as there was never a reliance on these products and how to accurately determine an actual price. Previously financial institutions were in the business of trading traditional products such as Equities, Fixed Income, Currency or Commodities. It was not until the financial institutions started trading paper in a whole new market, that the ability to properly value these assets became an issue.

The reason this was an issue was because the paper being traded in essence was garbage paper that had little value. “Accounting is a way of portioning economic results by time periods. It doesn’t affect the cash flows, but tries to allocate economic profits proportional to release from risk. If we were back in the era where the financial instruments were simple, then the old rules would work. But once you introduce derivatives, and securities that are called bonds, but are more akin to equity interest, you need to mark them to market. (Marker, 2008) If these assets are not marked to market, than you are left with a company who made capital allocations as well as investment decisions that was kept undisclosed from their owners (the shareholder) as well as investors. In the case of the financial institutions, they had garbage on their books in the form of bad mortgage loans and bad investment decisions that nobody wanted to admit to the original error of investing in such assets. The key players in the financial sector knew the situation existed and needed to admit that their business model and decisions were flawed.

By admitting this, it would affect their investors, and change their capital requirements. Financial institutions created a false appearance of having more attractive returns. The higher risk and creating a risky potentially higher return paper was part of this process that was very misleading. Financial institutions suspended the FAST 157 amounts as an attempt to hide the truly flawed business model from investors, regulators and even the public. This resulted in an inability to guru out what the liabilities were relative to the assets.

If FAST 157 is suspended it invest blindly. Their decisions would not be based on disclosure of and institutions holdings, but purely on speculation not knowing what their assets were backed by if anything. Institutions currently have other methods to deal with their thinly traded paper that is hard to truly value. They could sell the paper at market price, whatever price that is that someone is willing to pay for it. They can write down the values to zero and then later if they are able to recover any value they can show a mark up in true quarters. Related article: 

“you don’t listen to me because you are always talking on the phone with her.”

Suspending the mark to market accounting of this paper is not the most ethical solution to this problem. Suspending the true value of the loss is an unacceptable solution to the current economic crisis. Japan learned this in their economic crisis that not taking the write down only delays the process. When they chose to not disclose the true scenario of their insolvent banks it prolonged their recession that ended up lasting a decade. “Suspending mark-to-market accounting, in essence, suspends reality. ” -Beth Brooke, global vice chair, at Ernst & Young

Financial institutions continued to apply pressure to lift the current mark to market pricing ever since the crisis began, “Banks began lobbying Congress to do away with mark-to-market, arguing that they couldn’t lend because it had bled away so much capital. Congress in turn put the heat on the Financial Accounting Standards Board, a group of five ;beer-accountants based in Connecticut who write all the rules. After months of pressure, including threats to take away its authority, the FAST caved and voted to loosen the rule” (Phillips,2009) >”As the debate intensified in late

September of 2008, SEC Staff and the FAST staff issued a Joint press release clarifying the application of SEAS No. 157. 4 This Joint release clarified the measurement of fair value when an active market for a security does not exist. On October 10, 2008, the FAST issued FAST Staff Position (“FSP’) 157-3, Determining the Fair Value of a Financial Asset When the Market for That Asset Is Not Active (“FSP FAST 157-3″), which further clarified the application of fair value measurements. (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2008) This change allow financial institutions to use their significant Judgment” in order to value their assets. With this change is the concern of many that this will allow banks to disguise their garbage paper, which is what led to the financial crisis in the first place. On April 2, 2009, FAST voted to revise SEAS 157 this changed the fair value calculations when a market is inactive. This rule was to “Affirm that the objective of fair value when the market for an asset is not active is the price that would be received to sell the asset in an orderly transaction. That is, not a forced liquidation or distressed sale) between market participants at he measurement date under current market conditions. The Board also said that it would “require an entity to disclose a change in valuation technique and the related inputs resulting from the application of the FSP and to quantify its effects. “(FAST – Staff Position) What this was saying is that if the market was deemed inactive, the banks would have the authority to use their own Judgment to determine if an asset has suffered a decline in fair value.

This could in return cause regulatory capital and asset values to be artificially elevated, which is what got the banks into the problem n the first place. “It’ll help big banks like Cit recoup billions in losses. But it does little to solve the underlying problem: piles of troubled assets no one wants. (Phillips, 2009) “The SEC determined that the suspension of fair value, returning to historical cost measurements, would adversely impact debt and equity security valuation. Withholding current (fair) value information would introduce greater uncertainty, information asymmetry among market participants, and further lessen market liquidity.

In our currently depressed markets, suspending fair value would result in moving useful information from investors at a time of great uncertainty and risk, when it is needed most. Also, suspending fair value rules would not relieve companies from recognizing impairment losses” (Seas, Ford, 2009) When we think about ethics, we believe that ethics should provide the ultimate guidance to accounting professionals. “The ethical standard is fairness (honesty, freedom from bias). Fair value accounting requirements have existed for a number of years.

Only recently, when market values necessitate write-downs have preparers questioned the relevance of these measurements. When bull markets existed, no one objected to fair value rules. As suggested by the SEC study findings, fair value accounting has increased the quality and relevance of financial reporting for investors. Investors have indicated that fair value provides more relevant information, reflecting current economic reality that should not be replaced by other alternative accounting measures, such as historical cost. (Seas, Ford, 2009) An investor’s confidence is gained by having transparency when it comes to the asset value of their investments. If we took that transparency away there would be greater concern and uncertainty eating to instability in the financial markets. “Accounting firms argue that such a change would deceive investors about troubled loan values and the value of mortgage-backed assets. Ultimately, the point of fair value accounting is to provide accurate information to investors–companies should account for their assets at their real values. Goldman Cash Group Inc.

CEO, Lloyd Blanking, upheld mark-to-market accounting and argued that it should be even more rigorous. Goldman, which has largely avoided the current financial crisis, cites adherence to fair value accounting ales as “a key contributor to our decision to reduce risk relatively early. ” He states that if financial institutions had properly valued their positions/commitments at the outset, they could have substantially reduced their risk exposure. ” (Seas, Ford, 2009) The ethical issue is will the suspension of fair value accounting, only mask the real problem?

Avoiding asset write-downs and losses may help out in the short term, but like Japan is this going to continue to prolong the economic crisis that we are facing. Avoiding the write down is a temporary fix that will meet the regulatory capital acquirement and allows the banks to report earnings but could result in further unwanted surprises down the road. “Financial institutions had no problem in using mark-to-market to benefit from the drop in prices of their own notes and bonds, since the rule also applies to liabilities. And when the value of the securities loans they held was soaring, they eagerly embraced mark-to-market.

Once committed to that accounting discipline, though they were obligated to continue doing so for the duration of their holding of securities they’ve marked-to-market. The question here s: are firms equally as willing to forego mark-to-market for valuing the same illiquid securities in client accounts for margin loans as they are for their proprietary trading greed will always exist. This is where other regulatory agencies will come into play. “The PEPCO has recently issued audit alerts addressing risks associated with fair value measurements. Disappointingly, the most recent guidance from the FAST leaves gab in reporting Level 3 fair values.

It is estimated that the global output volume of aerosol products will exceed 16 billion cans by 2017. The CARR will maintain around 3% during 2011-2016. Proportion of China aerosol output volume in the world will increase from 1 1. 2% in 2012 to 18. 8% in 2017. China has become an important aerosol producer, aerosol MEMO and aerosol consumer in the world. Buy a copy this report @ http://www. Aromatherapies. Com/contacts/purchase? Rename=96219. In China market, there are more than 1,000 aerosol brands, which mainly encountered in insecticide, paint and auto-care.

In the early stage, most factories were low-end product manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers with lagging production lines and technology. The major product strategies were following strategies. With the rapid development in SEAN and other BRICK, China’s industry advantages in international competition gradually become weak. The performance in domestic market is also inconsistent with the huge Chinese market. In recent years, some leading aerosol enterprises actively engage in evolving new aerosol products and bring in foreign advanced production lines.

Since the second half of 2010, the demand for auto-care products, personal care products and aluminum aerosol cans home and abroad has been increasing. As a result, the aerosol industry achieved a full recovery. At present, there are various aerosol products in Chinese market, which include insecticide aerosol, paint aerosol, household aerosol, personal-care aerosol, auto-care aerosol, food aerosol, medical aerosol and industrial aerosol. Request sample for this report @ http://www. Marchionesses. Com/contacts/ request-sample? Rename=96219.

Aerosol industry in China develops rapidly in recent years with huge market China Aerosol Market annual output volume of aerosol will reach 3. 15 billion cans by 2017 By willingness’s volume was only 30 million cans in the mid sass. The output volume rocketed to 560 million cans in 2000 and even reached 1. 61 billion cans in 2012. China has already been one of the largest aerosol producers in the world. In 2008-2012, although the cardinal number was very large, CARR still reached 1 1. %, which is higher than the GAP growth rate.

However, in terms of consumption per capita, the annual consumption per capita of aerosol was 0. 79 cans in 2008 and it was 1. 19 cans in 2012. It is greatly different from that of the world, which is 2 cans. It is equivalent to less than 1/10 of that in the U. S. (12. 3 cans). The data also shows that there is huge potential for aerosol products in Chinese market. It will be a superb opportunity to develop for aerosol manufacturers. Request discount for this report @ http://www. Marchionesses. Com/contacts/ discount? Rename=96219. Aerosol is direct-to-consumer products.

In recent years, consumer markets develop rapidly, which brings great market demand in aerosol industry. With the continuous development of national economy, people’s consumption level improved, life quality and spending habits changed and knowledge on aerosol products deepened. All of these will provoke the consumption and output volume of aerosol and China aerosol industry will enter a rapid development stage. According to China Research and Intelligence, the annual output volume of aerosol will reach 3. 15 billion cans by 2017 and the annual per capita consumption will reach the world average.

China Research and Intelligence composed this report by investigating aerosol manufacturers and trade companies and interviewing the industry experts. Through this report, the readers will acquire the following information.

BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Question 1: PESTEL Answer: Political One of the macro-environment factors which influencing Volvo’s strategy is the large taxation toward automotive trade by the government. Government is putting in place taxation structures that penalize large cars, with large CO2 emission. According to the case, Volvo’s biggest seller was its XC range, now being particularly successful in America, where big cars typically equated to big success.

This government acts is encouraging consumers to move to hybrid or fuel efficient cars from big cars because the selling price of big cars would be more expensive when governments impose larger taxation on large vehicles. Consequently, the demand for big cars would drop significantly as consumers would prefer smaller cars due to high price sensitivity level and benefits gained from the government on smaller cars (Yoon and Tran, 2011). Therefore, large taxation on large cars will affect the sales and revenues of Volvo who mostly sells big cars.

Legal The enforcement of US government toward the safer initiatives for automobile industry has challenged most of the automobile manufacturer which included Volvo. Therefore recently, Volvo invested heavily in safety research and development; its Goteberg Safety centre is world-renowned. Hence, Rudall (2011) emphasizes that the cost per unit of car has increased as research and development require a lot of experiments and tests to assure the performance. Besides that, research and development in new products involves a risk of whether the consumers will like the new features that have been added to the new or existing product.

The more Volvo invests in research and development, the less cash flow they have in hand, thereby affecting the smooth running of daily operations. Economic Oil is the major ingredient in the production of tires. According to Li and Zhao (2011), increase in oil prices means that the cost to make the tires also increases. These tire production affects the Volvo as the increase in the price in tire production affects their profit margin. Additionally, rising commodity prices also affects Volvo’s strategy as 1 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing he raw materials for automotive industry are basically rubber and steel. Since, the prices of these commodities have gone up; Volvo would have to spend more money to purchase the auto component to make the entire cars. The higher the price Volvo purchases these commodities, the higher the selling price that Volvo would have to charge their customers. If they were to transfer the cost to their customers, there is a possibility that customers would shift to Volvo’s competitors as customers are very price sensitive (Lee and Cheong, 2011).

Hence, the sales and profits of Volvo will decline and they might lose market share. Moreover, with the rising price of oil in the American market, sales and revenues of Volvo has dropped dramatically because their main business comes from fuel grueling SUV’s. With the increasing fuel prices, the trend has shifted from bulky cars to smaller and fuel efficient cars, thus, Volvo will be faced with many competitors such as Toyota while dealing with satisfying their customer demand (Hilmola, 2011), and hence, it affects the profit margins of Volvo.

Moreover, increased oil prices is affecting the type of vehicles demanded by the customer and the way those vehicles are designed. According to Xia and Tang (2011), since there is a big shift from SUVs to fuel efficient or hybrid cars due to the rise of fuel prices, the problem of manufacturing overcapacity has incurred, where supply is more than demand, thereby, sharply dropping the SUV price. Additionally, when Volvo lowers down the selling price of SUVs, the profit margins of each car will become smaller, as their selling price might just be sufficient to cover the total cost of the production.

Besides, when supply is more than demand, they would need more space or bigger warehouse to store the cars, and hence, higher cost of storage would incurred. Consequently, it forces Volvo to change their strategy to produce fuel efficient cars instead of SUVs. Environmental Furthermore, the community realizes that the transportation sector is becoming increasingly linked to environmental problems. With a technology relying heavily on the combustion of hydrocarbons, notably with the internal combustion engine, the impacts of transportation over environmental systems has increased with motorization (Bernon, et al. 2011). According to case study, Volvo’s main strategy is to produce SUVs but the consumers are engaging with environmental concerns where they are 2 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing demanding from fuel-efficient cars that release less pollution and absorb lesser fuel. Hence, this forces Volvo to offer Flexi-Fuel (combination of Petrol and Ethanol) in certain geographic markets in order to catch up the latest trend. Due to this reason, Volvo has to spend vast amount of money to purchase new raw materials and develop the technology to produce fuel-efficient cars to meet the current demand.

Under such conditions maintaining market share and customers is difficult as the selling price needs to be lower to beat the competition, thereby, forcing Volvo to absorb the production costs (Needles, et al. , 2010). Social On the other hand, the changing social culture is affecting Volvo’s strategy as well. There are declining birth rates in Europe, smaller families and more couples choosing to remain childless. This demographic change has influenced Volvo significantly as their main product, SUVs, as it is suited well for big-size families.

However, due to the increase of nuclear families consumers are willing to purchase smaller cars because of their small family size and smaller cars consume less petrol, thus it saves cost (Gwartney, et al. , 2008). In addition, many cars on the road today are used by just single occupants, commuting to work. Hence, the socio-cultural changes affect Volvo business strategy as the demand for SUVs is declining but demand for smaller and fuel-efficient cars is increasing. Besides that, they have to invest a big amount of money to do research and development for fuel-efficient cars in order to compete with Toyota for market share.

Baumol and Blinder (2011) emphasizes that heavy R&D will lead Volvo to incur higher cost of production and profit margin will decline as they cannot sell the cars at a high price since to their competitor (Toyota) is offering reasonable price for fuel-efficient cars. Technological Technological factor plays an important role in automotive industry because consumers always demand for better and higher quality technologies in their cars so that the technologies can help consumers to save petrol, bring greater convenience to them, and ensure their safety (Hage, 2011).

Based on the case study, Volvo took the first step as the pioneers of the safety cage, crumble zones, side-impact protection, antilock brakes, whiplash protection, and airbags. As the first mover, Volvo is able to 3 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing enjoy great profits before their competitors come out with the similar technologies but with lower prices or better quality (Aswathappa, 2005). Hence, Volvo would have to invest heavier in R&D to develop innovative technologies that create the safest most exciting car experience to customers. Additionally, Volvo also needs to invest in R&D for fuel-efficient cars as it is the current of the market.

If Volvo fails to produce hybrid or fuel-efficient cars with a reasonable price, they will lose market share due to competitors are offering customers with the demanded products (fuel-efficient cars) (Schwartz, et al. , 2010). Heavy R&D is required from Volvo and at the same time they cannot charge higher prices, and hence, the profit margin of Volvo will be smaller. 4 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Question 2: Five Forces framework Answer: Five Forces framework included the bargaining power of supplier and buyer, threat of substitute, threat of new entrants and power of rivalry.

Any changes from any of the forces will bring huge impact to an industry. As the world is going to global, competition arise and it make the five forces framework even more competitive and it affect the global automobile market directly. Bargaining power of buyer Bargaining power of buyer are referring to the negotiation power or influencing power of the buyers toward the prices charge by a company (Jones and Hill, 2010), the buyer of the automobile company may refer to the end user of the automobile. As year by year, there are more and more new players joining the market of automobile.

One of the reason contributes to high bargaining power of buyer is low switching (Jones and Hill, 2010). As times past, there are more and more players join to the automobile industry. For example, U. S’s automobile market shares which used to dominate by the Big Three (Ford Motor Company (Ford), General Motors Corporation (GM) and DaimlerChrysler (DC)) had been taken over by foreign brands such as Honda, Toyota and Mitsubishi in 2005 (Gopal, n. d. ). Hence, this provides larger range of choices for the consumers and this makes the buyers have high bargaining power toward the industry.

Since there are more choices in the market, consumers’ dependency toward the particular brands will decrease, as the product does not fulfil the customers’ expectation, they might switch to another brand with low or even non switching cost. For example, as according to research, the sale of new car in U. S market has increase, as people are willing to pay for better quality cars (Gopal, n. d. ). The world now is moving to the environmental friendly site, thus, most of the automobile firms are facing challenge by switching their focus from big car, large engine to fuel-efficient engine.

Beside, due to the availability of information, buyers nowadays are more educated and they are very concerning about the effect of the automobile to the environment and this has relatively increase their bargaining power as buyer. For example, there are more than 100 type of motor magazine in the market 5 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing which provides reliable and sufficient information for consumers (Gopal, n. d). Since the switching cost of the buyers is low due to the fierce competition, buyers’ brand loyalties have decrease.

Bargaining power of supplier Bargaining power of supplier is referring to the negotiation power of the supplier for the business which may include supplier of human resource, supplier of raw material, and other outsourcing partners (Jones and Hill, 2010). For the auto component supply industry, the bargaining powers of suppliers are relatively low, as there are many available suppliers of raw materials in the market, the switching cost of the cars manufacturer to other suppliers are low or even none.

For example, large automobile manufacturers such as GM, Ford and Toyota have strong bargaining power as they always purchase the raw material in large quantities (Jones and Hill, 2010). The sizes of auto components are typically small (Ahmadjian and Lincoln, 1997), meanwhile the big players are able to use the threat of manufacturing a component themselves rather than buying it from auto component suppliers to played off suppliers against each other, forcing them to lower down the price and increase the quality (Ahmadjian and Lincoln, 1997).

Hence, we can say that the bargaining powers of auto component suppliers are relatively low. Unlike air line industry, which the air line are highly depend toward the suppliers, automobile manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda or Volvo, it has own research and development department (R&D) which helps in exploring all the latest technology. It contributes in lowering down the dependency toward the suppliers as suppliers merely involve in supplying raw material instead of important technologies as like Boeing (air plane manufacturer) and other air line.

Hence, in short, the bargaining powers of suppliers are relative low as the low dependency toward the suppliers and the threat of switching to other suppliers always work as a strong bargaining tool for the automobile manufacturers. Threat of Substitution This refers to the product of different businesses or industry that can satisfy similar customer needs (Jones and Hill, 2010). For automobile industry, due to the increasing 6 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing number of public transport and other way of transportation, the demand toward automobile has gone down.

For example, as according to research, nowadays people might choose to take public transport as their daily transport instead of own private car due to cost and environmental issues (Eboli and Mazzulla, 2008). Beside as government is placing pressure toward the environmental issue, public transports are being well develop day by day (Eboli and Mazzulla, 2008), and it actually decrease the dependency of owing a private car. In addition, as the social-culture has changed, people nowadays are reluctant to give birth and hence it decreases the willingness of consumer to own a car.

As according to research, the birth rate of developed countries such as Japan, Korea and State are relatively low and it actually affected the several industries and this included automobile industry (Powell and Hendricks, 2009). In this case we can justify that only small part of the automobile industry are highly affected by the substitution, however, for those luxury brands such as Volvo, BMW or Audi, their target markets are hardly affect by the improvement toward the public transport (Svensson and Wagner, 2011).

In short, the threat of substitution toward the automobile industry is not high as it merely affected those below middle-income. Threat of New entrant New entrant may refer to potential competitors that are not currently competing in an industry but have the capability to do so if they choose so (Jones and Hill, 2010). As refer back to the case, the automobile industry has facing increasing deregulation; this had broken down the entry barrier for new entrance.

For example, Volvo needs to compete with not only the local market players but also the Asia market player such as Toyota since there entry barrier of foreign brands to the local market had been broken down. As more new entrance coming into the market, the switching cost of the consumer from one brand to another brand is even lower than before (Che and Seethu, 2008). Hence, there deregulation may affect partly of the industry but not whole. Firstly, setting up a new automobile manufacturing company requires huge capital injection which decreases the willingness of new player to enter the industry.

This may due to the high risk of huge capital injection and hence potential companies dare not to grab the opportunity. Beside there are already few strong players in the automobile manufacturer industry such as GM, Ford, Toyota and Honda, which have 7 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing already gain certain economic of scale in term of buying large quantity of auto components (Xia and Tang, 2011), and this had build barrier of entry for potential players. In short, the threat of new entrant is low as it is high risk business.

Rivalry among established companies It refers to the current struggle between companies in an industry to gain market share from each other (Jones and Hill, 2010). For automobile industry, the rivalry is intensified due to the high exit cost and the industry demand. As mentioned earlier, the set up cost of an automobile manufacturer is relatively high and hence this has created exit barrier. Hence, even the business of an automobile manufacturer is bad; it will still lock into the industry where overall demand is static or declining (Jones and Hill, 2010).

For example, GM, had struggled in the industry for more than 8 years due to declined sale, because of the high exit cost, it had been locked within the industry (Terlep, 2011). Besides, the declining demand from customers as mentioned earlier had contributed to intensify the rivalry as well. As consumers are reluctant to buy a new car due to environmental issue or declining birthrate, it actually forcing the automobile manufacturers to play off against each other for larger market shares (Eboli and Mazzulla, 2008).

Hence, we can conclude that the rivalry among the established companies of automobile industry is intensified due to the declining demand and high exit cost. 8 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Question 3: Answer: There are many different brands of vehicles. As to stand with one foot crossed in front of the other competitors, Volvo has adopted the focused differentiation strategy (Dinitzen, 2010). A focused differentiation strategy is aimed at a niche group of customers with unique tastes (Schermerhorn, 2010). The cars produced by Volvo are targeted at a niche market of safety conscious upscale families.

These upscale buyers of Volvo are those who value Volvo’s reputation for durability, and are willing to pay high dollars for this Swedish brand of luxury. Volvo has differentiated their cars by adding additional features that are not available on other cars. Their cars are known as extremely safe cars for families due to the design, which its innovation in car safety enhancements, being pioneers of the safety cage, crumble zones, side-impact protection, antilock brakes, whiplash protection, and airbags, as stated in the case.

One primary means of differentiating Volvo’s cars is through its research and development department to produce cars model that exude quality, performance and safety which emphasize on creating luxury automotive brand for family sector. This can be seen from the case that the model of XC90 is well-designed with a large SUV and the price range from ? 33,000 to ? 54,000. However, Volvo continually develops and adds new features that increase values to customers.

Some recent innovation of Volvo’s that differentiates their products is Volvo’s sporty hatchback S30 which the engine and brake system of the S30 is designed differently from any compact executive hatch class cars in existence and is destined to compete against high-end versions of VW’s Golf. This shows Volvo attempted to broaden their target market by attracting younger drivers to their car marque (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2007) and Volvo sees their future as delivering safe, premium and exciting driving suitable for families.

At the same time, Volvo has reached a level of maturity, by providing a better balance between sportiness and comfort, and also achieved high level of safety. Besides using focus differentiation strategy, Volvo should use differentiation strategy with a little of expansion strategy. A differentiation strategy depends on developing resources that set the company’s offer apart in a way that is meaningful and difficult 9 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing to duplicate (Lowy and Hood, 2004).

This can be achieved through keeping ahead of competition, satisfying customer’s wants and also expectations better than business rivals (Moynihan and Titley, 2001). Volvo’s cars consist of those attractive features which meet customers’ exact demands in terms of passenger comfort, driving safety and total economy. This enables Volvo to sell their cars at a premium price and satisfy the unique needs or preferences of customers (Hills and Jones, 2007). Furthermore, people are becoming more conscious about what they are buying, and are more environmentally and safety conscious too in today’s trends (Aarts, 2010).

This means that quality work is a crucial part of all areas in their global organisation from product development and design to purchasing, manufacturing, sales and service. Therefore, Volvo should expand their products and focus on product innovation that developing product features that customer value to prevent eroding the current market and increase overall sales and profits (Hunt, 2003). This is to ensure that in case the existing market for the type of product that Volvo offers is already saturated and there are convenient ties to other product types.

This strategy helps reduce overall business risk by offering products in a variety of customer categories. With this, Volvo may build up a brand name that evokes the feeling of safety and luxury in an expanding market base. The uniqueness of Volvo may insulate the company from competitive rivalry and reduce customer sensitivity toward price increases. Consequently, these will increasingly affluent public and they will become more famous and trusting of automotive industry. 10 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Reference List Aarts, L. (2010) Feeding People. United Kingdom: Academy Press. Aswathappa, A. (2005) International Business. nd ed. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Baumol, W. J. and Blinder, A. S. (2011) Economics: Principles and Policy. 12th eds. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Bernon, M. , Rossi, S. and Cullen, J. (2011) ‘Retail reverse logistics: A call and grounding framework for research’, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 41, No. 5, pp. 484-510. Dinitzen, H. B. (2010) Organisational Theory: A Practical Approach. Denmark: Hans Reitzels Forlag. Eboli, L. and Mazzulla, G. (2008) ‘Willingness to pay of public transport users for improvement in service quality’, European Transport.

Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 107-118. Gwartney, J. D. , Stroup, R. L. , Sobel, R. S. and MacPherson, D. (2008) Economics: Private and Public Choice. 12th eds. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Hage, J. (2011) Restoring the Innovation Edge: Driving the Evolution of Science and Technology. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Hills, C. W. L. and Jones, G. R. (2007) Strategic management: an integrated approach. USA: Cengage Learning. Hilmola, O. P. (2011) ‘Benchmarking efficiency of public passenger transport in larger cities’, Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 23-41. Hunt, B. 2003) The Timid Corporation: Why Business is Terrified of Taking Risk. England: John Wiley and Sons. Jones, G. and Hill, C. (2010) Theory of Strategic Management. 9th eds. South-Western Cengage Learning. Lee, K. H. and Cheong, I. M. (2011) ‘Measuring a carbon footprint and environmental practice: The case of Hyundai Motors Co. (HMC)’, Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 111, No. 6, pp. 961-978. Li, Z. and Zhao, H. (2011) ‘Not all demand oil shocks are alike: Disentangling demand oild shocks in the crude oil market’, Journal of Chinese Economic and Foreign Trade Studies, Vol. , No. 1, pp. 28-44. Lowy, A. and Hood, P. (2004) The power of the 2×2 matrix: using 2×2 thinking to solve business problems and make better decisions. United States: John Wiley and Sons. 11 BK 3037 Strategic Marketing Moynihan, D. and Titley, B. (2001) Advanced business. New York: Oxford University Press. Needles, B. E. , Powers, M. and Crosson, S. V. (2010) Financial and Managerial Accounting. 9th eds. Ohio: Cengage Learning. Powell, J. and Hendricks, J. (2009) The Welfare State in Post-Industrial Society: A Global Perspective. London: Springer. Rudall, B.

H. (2011) ‘Research and development: Current impact and future potential’, Kybernetes, Vol. 40, No. 3/4, pp. 581-584. Schermerhorn, J. R. (2010) Management. United States: John Wiley and Sons. Schwartz, R. A. , Carew, M. G. and Maksimenko, T. (2010) Micro Markets: A Market Structure Approach to Microeconomic Analysis. Hoboken: John Wiley and Sons. Svensson, G. and Wagner, B. (2011) ‘Transformative business sustainability: Multilayer model and network of e-footprint sources’, European Business Review, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 334-352. The Sydney Morning Herald. 2007) Smallest, cheapest Volvo targets younger customers. [Online]. Available from: http://www. smh. com. au/news/news/new-targetmarket-forvolvo/2007/03/20/1174153023503. html%20Achieved%2013%20July%202011 [Accessed 13th July 2011]. Xia, Y. and Tang, L. P. Thomas. (2011) ‘Sustainability in supply chain management: Suggestions for the auto industry’, Management Decision, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 495512. Yoon, K. and Tran, T. V. (2011) ‘Capturing consumer heterogeneity in loyalty evolution patterns’, Management Research Review, Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 649-662. 12

Q:  I run a small business and need some marketing ideas that I can use offline to get people to visit my store.

A: I review dozens of business plans each year. In the marketing section, nearly all of these plans say “We are going to market our company through social media.” This is great, but many attractive customer groups do not spent a lot of time on their computers or smart phones. In addition, the jury is still out on how effective social media is in actually producing sales in some industries. Most of the successful companies I work with use a combination of online and effective offline marketing activities.

Here are some low-cost offline strategies that can significantly increase your sales:   

Related: 

1. Free publicity

Media sources are always looking for interesting stories – so why not yours? Contact your local newspapers, radio stations and television networks and provide interesting facts about you, your products and why you started your business.  

2. Low-cost newspaper ads

Most high schools and colleges have newspapers. If your product appeals to this demographic, these are excellent resources for low-cost advertising. Also, you can approach more widely read papers and offer to buy any advertising space they can’t sell for a significantly reduced price.

3. Media giveaways  

Radio and television stations are always looking for free products they can give away to their listeners and viewers. Offer to donate free products in exchange for advertisements and publicity about your company.  

4. Endorsements

Give your product to prominent local, regional and national individuals for free. If they like it, they will use it, tell other people about it and maybe even endorse it formally.      

5. Networking

Join clubs, business groups and associations that attract prominent business leaders. Get to know people who may know potential customers of your business and ask if you can use their names in making calls.  

Related: 

6. Free lunches

Invite potential customers to a free luncheon. This works well with business-to-business models.  For a few hundred dollars you can introduce potential buyers to your products and services.                                

7. Vendor trade shows

Go to vendor trade shows even if you cannot afford a booth. Sometimes you can split a booth with another company that sells compatible products. Many successful entrepreneurs attend trade shows with only prototypes and sell hundreds of products.

8. Trade association publications

Nearly every industry association has a trade publication. These publications often feature new products and services, and include interesting stories about entrepreneurs and new businesses in the industry.   

9. Educational workshops

Hold a workshop that has educational value for potential customers. Your products and services can be included as a solution to challenges they face.

10. Coupons, flyers and handouts

With desktop publishing you can create professional coupons, flyers and handouts for very little cost. Distribute these from your place of business or from distribution points where potential customers congregate.  

11. Free products 

Giving away your products for free is an excellent low-cost marketing strategy. This works well when you are selling low-ticket items people use regularly. Even when you are selling high-ticket products, you can always give away lower cost accessories and related items.         

12. Direct mail

Direct mail can be an inexpensive strategy for targeting specific geographic markets. The cost per piece can be as little as 50 cents, and a 2 to 3 percent response rate can cover the entire cost of the campaign. You can also hire young people to deliver door hangers to potential customers in targeted markets.  

Related: 

13. Cross promotions

Cross promotions are popular in retailing but can be used in any type of business.  Find companies with related products or services, and then explore ways to promote each other’s business. You can do this in your respective business locations, through joint advertising and with links to each other’s website.