Research Proposal on "Moving Forward to the Organizational Era"

Research Proposal 7 pages (2630 words) Sources: 10

[EXCERPT] . . . .

moving forward to the organizational era, we are observing new marketing trends around the world. Even the non-profit organizations which were supposed to be totally charity and trust-based have adopted different techniques and methods very much similar to other businesses that are earning profits (Goerke, 2003). This change in non-profit organizations is due to the political pressure from governments and other institutions (Vromen 2005), and some of it is due to the response of globalization and changes in the perceptions of localities.

Huge importance is given to this sector now and it is considered as all other organizations in different industries (Treasury 2001). Now, even non-profit organizations are also facing competition for getting funds and for it they require proper marketing of their ideas to fulfil their mission (Andreasen and Kotler, 2003). In this regard marketing has a huge role to play. But very unlikely to the profitable businesses, non-profit organizations cannot be customer focused as their idea is not for fulfilling the needs or wants of the customers (Gonzalez et al., 2002), they need to be "organization focused," try to focus on selling their story, and shaking the hearts of people not minds. Yet profit is not the focus of these organizations but still it is a factor of huge importance.

Now, nonprofit organizations also think about the profit and make profitability analysis of the various activities done in marketing. But as a non-profit organization's marketer do not need to focus on the changing demands but more on the changing perceptions keeping focus on your own organizational idea. The desired outcomes of the marketing activities are evaluated before implementing it. With the emergence of technology in every field, social marketers are also using web-based marketing mostly focused on marketing through social networking. Apart from the fact that considerable amount of work is done in the marketing of non-profit organizations but still we lack the true definition of the customer of non-profit organizations. Scholar have classified these customers in two broad groups that are: (1) end customers who may include "clients, patrons, patients, donors, volunteer workers, advocates, trustees, committee members, local government inspectors, the local community" and (2) intermediary customers who are involved in the process but are not the prime customer group (for example, government agencies who refer patients to non-profit organizations).

All customers of non-profit organizations' are mostly termed as beneficiaries, as this term is mostly used by scholars (Bruce 1995). One more thing that non-profit organizations lack is the true globally accepted definition of their sector. Different scholars have defined it very differently (Gonzalez 2002). One thing which we only observe in this sector is that non-profit organizations possess quite good and cooperative relationships with heir competitors, as they all are working for a cause (Gallagher and Weinberg, 1991). In this report, several marketing differences are discussed which directly or indirectly gives an impact in the deviation of marketing of profitable and non-profit organizations.

DIFFERENCE in MARKETING TOOLS

Application of marketing Mix:

Whether it is a product or a service, marketing mix is the key stone of the marketing strategy for any organization. Without developing the marketing mix or what it is famous as 4Ps we cannot obtain the desired marketing objectives. These 4Ps of marketing include Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. In organizations' point-of-view, these four Ps are also mentioned as 4Cs that include Commodity, Cost, Channel and Communication. The combination of these 4Ps actually gives you the target market for your product or service. These four Ps as the broad constraints of marketing, and drawing those constraints give us the most feasible region that are the most likely customers to be targeted.

Any marketing strategy whether it is or a product or a service, is followed by these 4Ps or 4Cs. But making marketing mix for a non-profit organization is almost impossible because of the fact that it is based on the idea, a cause or a story (Rothschild, 1999). And personifying that story or cause is some unachievable due to following reasons

The intangibility of non-business products: The idea of a cause on which the non-profit organizations are based, is totally intangible. And as already discussed it cannot be shown as something satisfying the needs or wants of a person.

The non-monetary "price" of purchase: For any profitable organizations, the marketers try to convey the idea that the customers are getting more value in exchange of the price they are actually paying. The customers while making the exchange always compare the value in return for what they are giving a particular price. If they think that the value they are getting is less than the value they have paid, they will be unsatisfied and cannot be retained. But if they think that the value provided in exchange is equal to the value they have paid then they will be satisfied (Day, 1994). The most ideal condition for marketers is that they evaluate the value in exchange greater than the value they have paid, that makes them delighted and they not only make regular returns but also spread the good word. There is nothing value in exchange sort of thing in non-profit organizations. They are not providing any kind of value in exchange to their customers. The return of value is not only non-monetary but most of the times it is of not any value. Their only return is their credibility and trustworthiness that they are doing exactly what they have said to perform for the cause or story they are working on.

The extreme lack of frequency of purchase: Nobody wants to consume their money for which they do not get anything. So giving funds to non-profit organizations is of very low probability in any country's population. So the chances of the retention are very low. So one need to get as much as possible in the first attempt as second arrival is very rare.

The complexity of the non-profit environment: The most important constraint in the marketing of the non-profit organizations is their complex environment. One cannot give any value, cannot be customer focused and even cannot change the cause for changing demands of customers, so marketers have very less room to work on the marketing strategy. Apart from that the focus on cause is itself very complex where you have to bear people with totally opposite ideas. Even you can face competitors having totally opposite cause and the will try to throw mud on your cause, thus promoting their own cause. So there are lots of complexities in this sector which one does not observe in the marketing of profitable organizations.

The extreme level of involvement varying from very low to very high: it is observed that in the involvement scale people lie in total extremes. Either the people remain very much involved and check each and everything of the organization before giving to them. On the hand there are some who do not even try to remember the name of the organization; they just know the cause which makes them giving the funds. So, these two extremes also make a lot of problem for the marketers as whom to target because you can not target the whole population at the same time. If one tries to do so, it will make conflicts in their own marketing strategy.

Customer Focused vs Organizational centred:

The major difference in between the profitable and non-profit organizations is their approaches of marketing. Most profitable organizations are customer focused. Even if they were not customer focused then they are at a shifting phase and making a more customer focused marketing strategies. At the start of mass industrialization the companies are more products focused due to mass production, but this strategy does not award them the bet return. After all everybody realizes that no business can run without fulfilling the needs and wants of the customers. And customers only pay if they think that it will satisfy some of their need(s) or want(s).

Organizations even change their strategies due to changing demands of the customers. But in non-profit organizations, there is nothing like fulfilling or satisfying a need or want of a customer. They are solely based on their idea or a cause for which they are working. Apart from that they do not offer anything else to their customers. They cannot even change their story for the changing demands (Flynn, and Hodgkinson, 2001. They have to remain focus on the single story and to build their credibility on supporting the single cause. Yet it is slow procedure but if you remain with your cause continuously support it and market it, one will definitely get the attention of the customers.

Marketing through achievements:

This is the biggest way of getting funds for a non-profit organization. They prove their credibility and improve the trustworthiness through completing the tasks required for their cause and they show them to their targeted customers as what they have achieved. This not only creates a good name for the organization but also… READ MORE

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