Christian Broadcasting Network Cbn Africa

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

STRATFORD ACADEMY

Strategic Marketing

GRACE AKINBIYI

SA 04/12 AKGR-PGDSM-OL/ABJ

JULY 2012

3211 Words

Table of Contents

Title Page 1

Content page 2

1 Introduction 3

2 Marketing strategy formulation 4

3 Environmental analysis 5

3.1 Internal Environment 6

3.2 External Environment 8

3.3 Integration of internal and external analyses 12

4 Approaches to positioning 13

5 Levels of strategy 15

6.1 Marketing strategies 17

6.2 Marketing communication strategies 20

6.3 Marketing strategies for CBN Africa 21

6.4 Implementation of strategies 22

7 Conclusions 24

8 References 25

1 INTRODUCTION

The chosen organisation for this study is Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN Africa). It is a non-profit organisation that provides programming by cable, broadcast and satellite to various countries. It also helps disadvantaged people and communities by meeting their basic needs such as fresh water, medical treatment, clothing, education and other necessary items.

An issue that will greatly impact CBN Africa is the development of a well structured and effective marketing department in the organisation. Marketing/marketing department plays an important role within any business type.

Marketing is a human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange processes (Kotler and Armstrong, 1987). Strategic marketing calls for a more structured approach where the company defines what it is trying to accomplish, measures and analyses the markets and media options, and implements an integrated campaign that will help capture the most value for its marketing budget by achieving the defined objectives (Grifin Strategic Marketing, 2011).

Through strategic marketing, an organisation carries out market research and environmental analysis which enables the company to gather information about markets and consumers, its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This gives the company an understanding of market trends. Therefore, it helps the organisation to analyse the relevance of its products within the market, to create different products to meet consumers’ specific needs and to strategically place the products where consumers can easily access them.

Strategic marketing involves developing marketing strategies that would help an organisation gain competitive advantage, increase its sales and profits and achieve its marketing and organisational objectives. Strategic marketing can also benefit the society at large by reducing unemployment rate as a result of business growth and expansion.

2 MARKETING STRATEGY FORMULATION

In developing a marketing strategy, all these components are necessary:

Market Research - An organised effort to gather information about markets or consumers

Environmental Analysis – Gathering information about the internal and external environment of the organisation in relation to its marketing activities

Marketing objectives – The setting of goals to be achieved within a certain time frame

Market segmentation and positioning – Dividing consumers into smaller groups with similar needs, targeting a particular group and creating an identify for the organisation within the group

Marketing Mix - The set of marketing tools the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market; illustrated in the diagram below.

emarketing-mix-diagram.jpg

Source: http://emarketingconsult.com/blog/marketing-mix/

Strategic Option and Choice – Agreeing on a given strategy or set of strategies

Implementation and Control – Ensuring that the chosen strategy is effectively applied and yields expected results through proper monitoring and control.

3 ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

Environmental analysis involves the gathering and analysis of intelligence on the business environment. This encompasses the external environment (general and competitive forces), the internal environment (resources, competencies, performance relative) and stakeholders (Boddy, 2005).

3.1 INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

The internal environment of an organisation can be analysed using tools such as: SWOT analysis, Value Chain analysis and Three Circles analysis.

Value Chain Analysis attempts to understand how a business creates customer value by examining the contributions of different activities within the business to that value.

cut

Source: Pearce and Robinson (2011)

Three Circles Analysis involves examining customers’ needs, company offerings, and competitor’s offerings in order to clearly articulate what the company’s competitive advantage is and how it differs from those of its competitors.

Source: Pearce and Robinson (2011)

SWOT is an acronym for Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. SWOT analysis is a very useful tool for environmental analysis of CBN Africa because:

It is simple to carry out and versatile in nature

It combines both internal and external forces

It reveals the company’s core competencies

It helps the organisation to build on its strengths and maximise opportunities

It reveals weaknesses and threats to be dealt with

It is useful in developing organisational goals, objectives and strategies

It can easily be applied to a non-profit organisation

A SWOT analysis of CBN Africa is given below:

STRENGTHS

Volunteer workers provide savings on company costs

Committed, dedicated and passionate staff

Internet facilities available

Impacting several lives daily through various activities outreach programs

WEAKNESSES

Total dependence on donations and contributions

Stagnant income level

No marketing manager

Marketing activities not well structured

Slow response to partners’ requests

OPPORTUNITIES

Untapped fundraising constituencies

Building and maintaining strong relations with partners and donors

THREATS

Economic crisis and global recession

Rising cost of advertising and airing television programmes

Reduction in funds sent from the headquarters

The rise of several organisations providing similar services can affect funding

3.2 EXTERNAL ENVIRONMENT

The internal environment of an organisation can be analysed using tools such as: PEST or PESTEL analysis, Porter’s five forces analysis and stakeholder mapping.

Porter’s Five Forces Analysis is a tool developed by Michael Porter. It helps on organisation to analyse the attractiveness of an industry by considering five forces within the market. These forces are illustrated in the diagram below:

Stakeholder Mapping is a tool that is used to identify stakeholders and their level of power and interest in an organisation. This enables the company to assess the stakeholder’s effect on the organisation thereby ensuring each stakeholder is related with appropriately.

maps6

PESTEL is an acronym for the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal forces affecting the organisation. PEST analysis was chosen due to the following advantages (Haughey, 2009):

It is simple and only costs time to do

It provides an understanding of the wider business environment

It encourages the development of strategic thinking

It may raise awareness of threats to a project

It can help an organisation to anticipate future difficulties and take action to avoid or minimise their effect

It can help an organisation to spot opportunities and exploit them

Also, for a non- profit organisation PEST is better than Porter’s five forces and is more comprehensive than stakeholder mapping. The PEST analysis for CBN Africa:

Political and legal factors: The Government’s little involvement in unemployment reduction and rural development makes the services of the organisation increasingly relevant in the society. The interest of foreign embassies in rural development provides more opportunities for partnerships and funding.

Economic factors: Global recession and increase in unemployment rate has led to a drastic increase in people needing assistance as well as a decline in available resources.

Socio-cultural factors: Nigerians are generally religious love to support charitable organisations. The constant religious crisis in the country has also increased the relevance and need for CBN Africa’s services. But has also made some areas inaccessible.

Technological factors: Technological advancement provides more awareness through social media, easy payment through online donations and e-banking and better relations with partners through the use of e-mails.

3.3 INTEGRATION OF INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL ANALYSES

Strategic decisions cannot be properly made without obtaining information from the business environment. SWOT analysis integrates the internal and external environment; it combines information gotten through internal analysis (strengths and weaknesses) and external analysis (threats and opportunities).

pea54224_ex0602

Source: Pearce and Robinson (2011)

Marketing strategies can be developed by combining the information gotten in the following ways:

Maximising strengths to exploit opportunities; relating strengths to opportunities for better strategic value (Cell 1)

Maximising strengths in order to eliminate threats (Cell 2)

Minimising weaknesses in order to improve the organisation and exploiting opportunities (Cell 3)

Minimising weaknesses in order to eliminate threats (Cell 4)

The environmental analysis of CBN Africa shows that the organisation provides services that are very useful and relevant in the market. Also, it has employees (including marketing staff) that are dedicated to the company. But it lacks proper funding, suffers staff burnout and limited awareness. Yet, it is surrounded by numerous funding opportunities. As stated earlier, a company can increases sales, profits/funding and create awareness for its products/services through strategic marketing. Therefore, a well-structured marketing department in CBN Africa will empower the company to minimise its weaknesses and exploit its opportunities.

4 APPROACHES TO POSITIONING

Positioning is the process of creating an identity or image in the mind of target consumers. A company can be positioned through the following ways:

Customer needs or benefits – Positioning based on the benefits the product provides to consumers

Product price or quality – By providing high quality, high price or low price products

Application – Positioning based on how the product can be used

User category – Positioning based on the class or group of people that use the product

Product class – Positioning based on the unique kind of product or service produced

Competitors – Based on competitors activities, by directly trying to outwit, eliminate or minimise competition

Cultural symbols – Using cultural symbols to differentiate the company’s brand from others

The positioning approach adopted by CBN Africa is based on user category. Although the organisation aims at helping the underprivileged in the society at large, it focuses its activities on certain groups within the society. For example, medical services are provided in rural areas, cleft-lip surgeries are for children, scholarships are for AIDS orphans, television programmes are focused on the youth and counselling services deal mainly with family-related issues.

5 LEVELS OF STRATEGY

3-levels-of-Strategy.jpg

Source: http://www.ceo2go.com.au/our-services/ceo-self/strategy

Corporate Strategy – This is the highest level of decision making and it is done by top management. Strategic decisions that affect the organisation as a whole are made and they are usually long-term decisions.

Business Unit Strategy – It is found in organisations with different line of business and is done by senior executives. Each business unit has its unique strategy. It deals with how to achieve organisational objectives in each unit and makes long and medium-term decisions.

Functional Level Strategy – Strategies implemented by department managers and supervisors within all functional units of the organisation. It involves both short and medium-term planning. Some functional levels include marketing, research and development, human resource, finance, information systems and production.

Marketing strategy is found both at the business unit and functional level. It is a process that allows an organisation to concentrate its (always limited) resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage (Dynamic Integration, 2010). Corporate strategy defines the overall purpose, goals and objectives of an organisation. It involves decision making that affects marketing, as well as other units in the company. Marketing is an important part of corporate strategy; it is the company’s direct link to its environment. Corporate strategy gives the overall direction for marketing activities. Strategic marketing seeks to achieve the overall objectives of the organisation through marketing activities. Corporate level decisions required in CBN Africa and how they influence marketing activities:

Mission statement – It is the overall purpose of the organisation, its vision, aims and values. It should be reviewed to fit the current strategic direction of the organisation. The mission statement provides direction for marketing activities; it sets boundaries on operations and enables proper prioritisation of all activities.

Organisational structure – The structure of the organisation needs to be adjusted. The marketing function should be separated from the partners’ relation unit and a separate marketing department set up, led by an experienced marketing personnel. This would make marketing activities more effective.

Directional Strategy direction – This involves decisions on strategies such as growth, stability or retrenchment (Wheelen and Hunger 2003). The organisation should employ a stability strategy; focusing on its current activities and markets. This defines the kind of marketing strategies to be adopted.

Resource Allocation – Corporate decisions involve allocating resources among business units and functional levels. More resources should be allocated to the marketing department because of its strategic role. This would make it easier to set up marketing department and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of marketing activities.

6.1 MARKETING STRATEGIES

There are several sets of marketing strategies an organisation can implement depending on what the company wants to achieve. Some strategies include:

Porter’s Generic Strategies

Cost Leadership – Providing goods at the lowest cost possible

Differentiation – Providing high quality goods at relatively higher prices

Focus – Targeting a segment of the market and meeting their needs. It has two variants; cost focus and differentiation focus

porter_generic.gif

Strategies for Market Dominance

Leader – It is the dominant company in its industry and the leader in developing innovative new products and business methods. In a hypothetical market structure, it holds 40% market share.

Challenger – A strong company that is not dominant but seeks to become the leader. It targets the market leader. Hypothetically, it has 30% market share.

Follower – A strong company that is not dominant but is comfortable with its position. It has 20% market share.

Nicher – The company focuses its efforts on smaller market segments that others may not be reaching. It has 10% of the market share.

Innovation strategies

Strategy based on an organisation’s technological capability and other innovative abilities where new products are being developed.

Pioneers – They are the leaders in innovation. Usually the first to start something new or use new technology in the development of its products

Close followers – They wait for innovations by the pioneers and improve on it to suit the organisation.

Late followers – They wait till the technology or innovation has been tested and well proven before using them to save the risk of recalls or design problems.

Growth strategies

Horizontal Integration – Merging with a similar company in order to gain market dominance and sideline competition

Vertical Integration – Starting or acquiring a business that produces goods or services necessary for the production of the company’s products

Diversification – Producing new products for new markets where there are great profits

Intensification – Improving on company products or producing new ones in order to increase market share and customer loyalty

6.2 MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY

Marketing communication is the promotion aspect of the marketing mix. It involves all processes used to communicate with a market. An effective marketing communication strategy uses one or more of the marketing communication components - advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, personal selling and public relations. The three main marketing communication strategies are the push, pull and profile strategies.

Push Strategy

This strategy involves getting the products to buyers with as little advertising as possible. It promotes a product to retailers/distributors in order to force the product down into the distribution channel. Push strategy can be used when there is low brand loyalty, when relatively new products are launched or for products that consumers have a reasonably adequate knowledge about. Personal selling enables a company to communicate product benefits directly to the customer, as in a retail setting.

Pull Strategy

This strategy directs marketing efforts to the consumer or end user. Pull strategy can be used when there is a high demand of the product, when brand loyalty is reasonably high and when consumers make brand choice decisions before they go to the store. The components used are advertising, sales promotion and direct marketing. This strategy can be quite expensive due to the high cost of advertising.

Profile Strategy

This strategy deals with achieving the company’s corporate goals and satisfying stakeholders. It involves communicating with stakeholders to keep them informed and up-to-date on the company’s activities. Public relations deals with the outflow of the company’s information to customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers and other groups affected by the company’s operations.

6.3 MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR CBN AFRICA

CBN Africa’s main goals are to increase awareness (for more impact) and funds; therefore I recommend a combination of these strategies:

Differentiation Focus – CBN Africa is positioned based on focus and should build on that strength. Differentiation can be established through the emphasis of religion in all its activities since it is a Christian organisation. This gives it a competitive advantage over secular companies providing similar services because Nigerians are very religious and love to support religious activities.

Intensification – A major challenge the organisation faces is creating awareness for its products and getting them to end users. The organisation does not have any direct competition, therefore the best option to improve on its products and services, especially in the area of service delivery.

Profile Strategy – This is the main function the marketing department should be involved in. Marketing is a company’s direct link with its environment. As a non-profit organisation, the main stakeholders are donors, partners, employees and the public. Keeping them informed is as good as creating awareness and increasing funds.

6.4 IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIES

Planning – This involves tactical and operational plans such as:

Hire a marketing manager

Develop a well-structured marketing department

Explore the various fundraising opportunities; there are many companies and agencies willing to partner with non-profit organisations

Develop an effective partner relations system

Organize trainings for marketers

Improve on television programmes

Print out and distribute brochures about CBN activities

Resources - The following resources should be properly managed:

Money: A budget should be drawn and adhered to.

Human resources: The required people should be identified, employed and/or trained

Structure: Strategy implementation roles should be properly distributed

Systems: Necessary equipment such as computers, phones, cameras should be made available

Culture: Values and norms that determine how the people can best work together should be established

Timescale – Some proposed targets and timelines include:

Hire a marketing executive within three months of strategy implementation

Develop a well-structured marketing department within the first six months

Partner relations system – clear back-logs in the first months

Train marketers quarterly

Review television programmes bi-annually

Produce brochures within the first month

Control – Monitoring and correcting current performance

Financial control: Setting financial targets, allocating resources and appraising current performance.

Strategic control: Evaluating marketing activities and current position and matching them with marketing goals and proposed targets, making adjustments where necessary

General control: Comparing both qualitative and quantitative measures with respect to stakeholders’ expectation.

7 CONCLUSIONS

Marketing plays a strategic role in the activities of any organisation. It is the company’s direct link to its environment. Strategic marketing enables an organisation to gain competitive advantage; it also increases company sales and profits.

In order for CBN Africa to achieve its goals and objectives, it needs to develop a well-structured marketing department that would effectively carry out the company’s marketing activities. Although every employee in the organisation is expected to be involved in marketing, this technique is not totally realistic. This is because the employees have the main responsibilities for which they were hired to focus on. Therefore, marketing activities would not be given priority. But if people are hired for the sole purpose of carrying out strategic marketing, it would greatly increase the company’s effectiveness.

Before a marketing strategy is selected, it is necessary to carry out an environmental analysis of the organisation. This enables the company to discover its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. These discoveries will help the organisation to select the most suitable range of strategies. Based on this, some marketing strategies were suggested for CBN Africa. These include differentiation focus, intensification and profile strategies. But strategy formulation and selection is not enough. It is also necessary to set up structures that would ensure that these strategies are implemented. Therefore, appropriate monitoring and control systems have also been suggested in this study.