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Designing marketing programs from a branding perspective, how to integrate product, price and distribution strategies to enhance brand image, improve brand image and elicit brand response. New perspectives in marketing: strategies and tactics have changed due to technology, globalization, socio-cultural and competitive environment. Some of the influential current drivers are: digitization and connectivity( internet, mobile devices, etc); customization and customerization( special tailored products and getting customers to make product themselves with ingredients provided); industry convergence (blurring of industry boundaries). The new changes is forcing marketers to develop newer marketing programs to build brand image. Integration and personalization have become crucial factors and companies are carrying out target market research more thoroughly.

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Integrated marketing communications: different communications mediums are used to build brand equity. The manner of forming associations do not matter anymore, but emphasis is on awareness and strength and uniqueness of the association. Marketers should evaluate all possible means of communications to create knowledge not only considering costs and efficiencies but also effectiveness. The idea is to create contact, an information bearing experience, for the customer with the brand in the market where the brand is offered. Marketers are using even unconventional means to create contact and thereby brand equity. Ultimately creativity cannot be encouraged so as to sacrifice brand building goals, so the marketers must always try to create experiences that lead to awareness, to spurring demand and to cultivate loyalty. Personalizing marketing: the current global trends in the economy highlights the power of the individual customer.

 To adapt to the increasing desire of the customer for personalization marketers have developed concepts like experiential marketing, one to one marketing and permission marketing.
Experiential marketing: do not promote the product features only but connect it with unique or interesting experiences. The idea being to not only sell a product but to highlight how the product can enrich a customers life. EG: American express, a long time sponsor of the US Open tennis and in 2004, they wanted to create an experience for its customers and potential customers so they created a mini stadium at Rockefeller center in NYC, with seating, with USOpen merchandise for sale, a huge screen to show the live games, invited tennis players and also had activities in and around the center to keep the visitors involved. Special perks and discounts were given to card holders including special prizes/lotteries. The event drew around 337000 visitors and almost made the customers feel that Amex was an experience provider and an opportunity creator rather than a payment tool only.

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In conclusion, if you charge for stuff, then you in commodity business, for tangible things then you are in the goods business, if you charge for activities you are in the service business and if you charge for the time the customer is with you then you are in the experience business. Experiences need to be planned using surprise and creativity, think consumption situation not product grooming not razor, casual meal not hot dog, travel not transportation. Strive for holistic experiences that dazzle the senses, that appeal to the heart and challenges the intellect. Use all available methodologies to learn about the customer experience (GSTS). Use a lot of qualitative research and analysis and highlight the subjective elements. One to one marketing: focus on individual consumers by the creation of data base and using the information ( hotel records, restaurants menu, etc); respond to consumer queries via more inter activity; customize products and service. Devoting more time to more valuable customers and treating each customer differently because of differing needs, and differing values to the firm. EG: Tesco in UK keeps a DNA profile of all of its regular customers based on product, quantities, regularity, volume and let customers know periodically in statements. It also helps Tesco understand price elasticity, plan distribution outlets and even help to plan promotion schedules.

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Permission marketing as different from interruption marketing
like direct unsolicited mail, or even TVC and radio. The worse the clutter the more profitable is permission marketing. This is also a form of relationship marketing and with the help of technology and building data base, each customer can be asked if they would like information on new offerings. Some commonly followed steps are offering the customer an incentive, once hooked educate them over time, reinforce the permission or offer additional incentives and over time try and leverage this for better profits. EG: Amazon.com keeps data base of customers whenever a purchase is made and sends a follow up mail, reassuring or informing about other products, talks about schemes, sends name sof books by the same authors or books on similar themes, etc. and each message is personalized to capture the customers attention. Permission marketing increase customer dialogue and is also referred to as participatory marketing so that both the company and the customer can work together to satisfy needs. These broader aspects of have evolved into relationship marketing which believes on building stronger customer ties so as to enhance customer loyalty.

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Product strategy: for brand loyalty to exist the customers experience
with the product must at least meet or surpass expectations as these will form quality and value perceptions about the superiority of a product. Perceptions about performance, features, conformance, reliability, durability, maintenance and style and design influence attitudes towards a brand. Augmented qualities which are the brand intangibles, such as symbols, personality and social needs reflected in a brand are crucial to brand equity. By improving the customer experience with the product, companies can keep customers happier and also retain them longer. Customers combine quality perceptions which are shaped by expectations and with cost perceptions which are shaped by need recognition when they assess the value proposition. Relationship marketing: is based on the premise that current customers are the key to brand success. An average company loses about 10% of its customers per year, customer profit rate tends to increase over the life of a customer and acquiring customers can cost more than satisfying and retaining existing customers. Relationship marketing refers to mass customization, after marketing and loyalty programs.

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Mass customization: refers to making the product fit the customer specifications as it enables consumers to distinguish themselves. Dell computers from the mid nineties to Nike through its NikeiD program to not only choose colors and sizes but also affixing ID tags. Research shows that almost 15 to 20 percent of customers would like to customize products if they could and were willing to pay extra for that opportunity. It must be noted however, that not all products can be customized nor is it always required. Aftermarketing: marketers usually focus on sales and purchase activities and less attention was being given to consumption aspects. To enhance customer experiences marketers must develop user manuals in more simple terms, easy to use and make all instructions as user friendly as possible, even going to the extent of doing follow up on purchase by customers and educating them on how to use the products efficiently. This helps establish better relations, helps get feedback, helps conduct satisfaction surveys, and helps designs more effective communication programs. Sales of complementary goods can be a major revenue center like HP gaining more revenue from ink and paper for printers than from the sale of the printer itself.

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Loyalty programs: have been adopted by a wide range of industries even though airlines used this extensively at first as started by American Airlines. The purpose of such programs is to identify, maintain and increase yield over a longer term through value added relationships. These programs reduce brand defection and even increase retention. Typically loyalty programs are developed as follows: know your customer- keep exhaustive data bases and target customers whose purchase behavior can be changed; continue to change and make additions to the programs as remaining static is a sure way to kill the success, listen to your best customers both positive and negative comments as they contribute the most to your profits; engage people and make them want to join by sending greeting cards or special offers or even invites to special events.

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Pricing strategy: price is the one revenue generating element of
the marketing mix and price premiums are arguably the most important brand equity benefits. Consumer price perceptions: pricing strategy often dictates consumer perception of a brand not only on whether it is low or high or medium but how often they discount or how much firm companies are. Consumers rank brands according to price tiers and are willing to accept price bands within those tiers and usually quality perceptions and price tiers show a distinct direct ratio. Obviously, companies should try and create perceptions such that the perceived value should exceed costs to the company. EG: Hitachi and GE made television sets from the same jointly owned factory in the UK but Hitachi sold the same sets for a higher price than GE and sold more units too. Setting prices to build brand equity: factors relating to manufacture, marketing and selling and competitive forces. Value pricing: the right quality, right costs and right prices that the consumer is willing to pay for fulfillment of needs. It is known that customers will not pay a price premium that exceeds their perceptions of the value of the brand.

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EG: Walmart uses the slogan We sell for less, Southwest airlines
combined low fares and no frills with friendly service almost letting customers know of the trade off between price and expected benefits. Value based pricing is influenced by product design and delivery, production costs and product prices that a customer is willing to pay. Commonly used steps to better pricing: understand needs and value placed by a customer to your product, assess customers price sensitivity, identify optimal pricing structure again based on value perception, timing of purchase, etc, consider competition reactions, monitor the prices actually realized after return, warranties, discounts etc. try and assess customers emotional response. To build brand equity marketers must set prices carefully as these decisions will reflect on the customers perception of value. The benefits delivered with respect to competing offerings will determine what customers see as fair value.

 Channel Strategy: the manner by which a product is sold

or distributed can have an impact on brand equity. It includes the design and management of intermediaries.

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Channel designs: direct, personal selling, phone sales, emails,

etc and indirect by using third party intermediaries. If integrated shopping experiences can combine stores, internet catalogues and telephones, then the chances of success are more. EG: Nike goods are sold in retail locations like sports good store, department stores etc and also in branded Nike stores in the city, through the web at www.niketown.com, through catalogues and even through specialty stores for Nike golf or Nike shoes etc. Profitability and the product requirements determine the choice of options. Direct channels are preferred for industrial goods where product information is high, customization is high, purchase lot is high, and quality assurance is important.

Indirect channels are preferred whena wider assortment of goods are essential, availability is critical and after sales service is important.

 IMC to build brand equity: as per the CBBE model,

marketing communications can increase brand equity by increasing awareness, by highlighting PODs and emphasizing POPs, by eliciting positive brand feelings, by enforcing brand judgments and can also leading to getting differential response. The flexibility of marketing communications comes in part from the increasing availability of technology and the increase in number of choices of the media. The changed media environment has forced marketers to reevaluate how best to communicate with customers. Changes from the traditional mediums such as TV, radio and newsprint to the increasing use of the web has changed the ways in which customers gather information, almost 72% of teens exchange instant messages daily while more than 64 million Americans use some type of message applications daily. Research is showing a decreasing number of young adults watching TV or reading news papers and spending more time in online games and sharing information via the web. Some challenges in designing brand building communications: for any customer to be persuaded to make a purchase, there are some basic steps like exposure, attention, comprehension, conviction, intentions and behavior.

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The chances of any of these steps to go wrong is immense as it will affect the entire persuasion objective. Role of multiple communications: marketing budgets tends to be
higher when there is less channel support, when there are many hard to reach customers, when there are non-homogenous customer needs, and when there is frequent purchase in small quantities. Personal selling more prevalent in high brand value products, in products that require demonstration, when product needs to be customised more, when purchase is made infrequently and when customers can be easily identified. Invariably marketers will use multiple communications options but a the same time make an effort to give the same quality and value perceptions to the brand irrespective of which medium is used. IMC elements are advertising, web sites, bill boards posters n OOH. Sales promotions, event marketing and sponsorship, public relations and publicity, personal selling. Developing the 6 Cs of marketing communications so as to create the most effective collective impact.