Global Marketing Professor

Managing a cleaning service business is a lot of work. It involves coordination, careful planning, and diligence. You should be able to effectively manage your team to offer the best service to companies and organizations.

The following are tips to guide you

• Have your kind of clients

To maximize your profits and skills, specialize in cleaning for a particular kind of clients. Target specific audience such as commercial businesses. This creates a brand for you and people in that area know who to contact. Don’t try to be everywhere. This also allows for referrals/ recommendations.

• Attract office clients

Print fliers and business cards to give to prospective clients. You can also create a website that lists the services you provide. Include locations you specialize in and testimonials from old clients. You can also email managers or visit firms and note areas of improvement and then offer your services.

• Charge enough to cover expenses

When you charge your clients, calculate the amount spent on acquiring cleaning supplies and time taken to get the job done. This will give you an idea of how much it costs to clean an office or firm and determines what you charge your client.

• Have a cleaning method

Develop a system that doesn’t waste time. You can clean one office once and then move on to the next one or you can do the basic in each room then vacuum the whole office or block.

• Get the best price for your cleaning supplies

While you are working on getting the right products for your cleaning tools and equipment, you should also try as much as possible to save money.  You can do this by buying your supplies in bulk. Buying in bulk reduces cost and maximizes profits. You can also get concentrated cleaners and dilute them in part.

• Offer discounts to new customers

You can offer discounts to your new customers for their first cleaning service. This will bring more clients your way. You can also allow for refunds in cases where your clients are dissatisfied with your job.

• Hire passionate employees

Hire people who are passionate and enjoy their work. Your clients are trusting you to deliver the best and your employees should understand that too. You can use an employment agency to help you hire the best candidates. Good employees get the job done well and earn you loyal clients. Your employees are a representation of your company and determine what feedback you get. Take your time and hire the right ones. You can also use GPS tracking systems to monitor your mobile employees.

 

In all, a cleaning business can be profitable, but you can lose a lot if you don’t do your homework well. Managing your employees is a top priority as they are mobile and it can be hard to keep up with, as you are not always with them. Have clear expectations and be flexible as a cleaning business owner. State your goals and clear standards.

The world has continued efforts to globalize the market. Global players, including BMW, a prominent automaker from Germany, are vigorously articulating marketing strategies to create value that better serves customer needs.

In order to create a successful marketing plan, managers must configure the varying aspects of the marketing mix and identify precise market segmentation to understand different patterns of customer purchasing behavior.

BMW implemented a different marketing mix to sell cars to different socioeconomic segments, aggressively emphasizing premium segments. BMW initiated the goal of segmenting the premium market by optimizing the fit between the purchasing behavior of consumers and the marketing mix to maximize sales to that segment. Responding sensitively to unique values and purchasing behavior enabled BMW to transcend intended performance.

To begin with, BMW vehicles sell well to consumers who have high standards for quality, luxury, and performance because BMW builds those attributes into its automobiles.
The fact that BMW concentrates on premium segments on a global scale and consistently defines high-end brand identification renders success. Attractive and trendsetting products ranging from the 3 to 7 series that deliberately focus on affluent customers demonstrate the success of the automaker’s global marketing strategy.

The firm’s global marketing strategy represents leadership through innovation. Originally an aircraft engine manufacturer, BMW incessantly sought an innovative spirit to satisfy the premium market’s demands.

Recently, requirements for clean energy and green environmental factors have rendered many companies to concur with their business strategies with the shifting paradigms of environmental demands.

BMW’s innovation initiates from the realization of such requirements for clean energy, such as hydrogen. The innovative spirit of BMW’s testing of hydrogen-fueled automobiles since 1978 and applying the technology to production demonstrates its futuristic mindset and innovative leadership.

BMW creates value, competitive advantage and ramifications of innovation through various marketing efforts heavily committed in the premium segments of significance.

Though disciplines of marketing are universal, the method of global marketing strategy that BMW addresses reflect the significance of premium relevance.

BMW does not feature minivans segmented as MPV (multi-purpose vehicles) in its product lineup.

The logic is simple. BMW is a premium brand that does not compromise and cater to any segment of the market. Its global marketing strategy underscores the selected premium target market.

In addition to premium marketing, BMW has shifted its position as “the ultimate driving machine” to “sheer driving pleasure” that refers to a gradual movement from the emphasis on automobile performance to the involvement of customers and taking emotional factors into serious consideration.

The company attempts to underpin the new theme of communication that integrates superior performance of automobiles into emotionally sensual marketing communication worldwide. The global marketing strategy underscoring activities that form an emotional foundation spotlights consumers actually enjoying driving premium and superior automobiles that BMW create.

Not to be conventional, the emotional marketing perspective that intertwines with the premium marketing in BMW’s global marketing strategy interplays synergistically to maintain its strong leadership in the automobile industry.

Advertising appeal is the communicative approach relevant to the motives of the targeted customers. Emotional appeals may evoke feelings of response that directly affect customers purchasing behaviors. BMW perspicaciously combined premium marketing and molded into emotional marketing to represent the company’s global marketing strategy.

Overall, BMW’s global marketing strategy bridging premium and emotional marketing have compensated the company with superior economic performance and a strong leadership position in the automobile industry.

BMW strides further alongside its profitability to commit in an outstanding manner to long-run corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to create shared value. BMW vividly pays attention to CSR activities, specifically in obligations to science and engineering education and an eco-friendly environment.

 

In the late 1990s, Haier Group entered “Internationalization Strategy Stage”, in an effort to tap into overseas markets.

Marketing is vital for Coke to maintain its competitiveness. Marketing and advertising are designed to make customers brand loyal while nourishes consumer awareness. This helps with maintaining the long-term growth. With regard to Coke’s localization strategy, Coke made sure that its Chinese name had an appropriate meaning along with sounding like Coca-Cola. It has created a Chinese version for its famed logo. They believed that many aspects such as music, color and Chinese people’s interests are important to bear in mind if they wanted to capture the local people’s hearts. They take on innovative approaches to advertising and promotions to strive for the difference. Whenever there was a chance Coke would sponsor football games and many other types of media and activities that the Chinese are interested in to achieve maximum exposure. These also participated in SMS campaigns and hired famous celebrities to help promote the brand. The SMS campaigns were implemented taking into account China is the largest mobile market in the world.

Coke had to constantly keep up with the changing local trends to maintain the ability to be up to date with the Chinese taste which best suited every occasion. Coke must implement an efficient distribution channel to remain competitive. The quality of their products must no doubt be kept at its best at all times, therefore bottlers only chose certain inputs that met Coke’s global standards. Coke had the intention to localize every aspect of the business from sourcing inputs, to production, sales and distribution but this had proven to be a difficult and lengthy process. The consequence from adapting this strategy is the strong market presence it has created today. With an increased sales profit since 1990, it was able to generate yearly revenue of $1.2 billion. Without Coke, the mass additional employment opportunity of over 55000 people would have been forgone and China would lose all the technological updates and training Coke had invested over the decades.

Product positioning and Market segmentation

Coke’s marketing campaigns were customized with the local areas since different geographic locations would contain diverse people of various ages who share a different mindset and taste. Doing this had helped the company establish a traditional and consistent company in China. Consumers in the rural and urban areas had a vast difference in their per capita income which affects the purchasing power in every region. There is a large consumer potential in rural areas. So imperatively China’s market should be considered to be segmented according to economic diversity. The four largest cities in China consisted of 4% of the population with only 15% of retail sales, on the other hand, the small cities constituted 80% of the population with the retail market of 50%, according to 2003 statistics. Strategic marketing mix

The Coca-cola strategy is a mixture of various factors aiming to capture the global market. The strategic binding of these factors enabled it to make its presence in the target market. The following includes two of the four marketing tactics which Coke had implemented in order to achieve its significant positioning in China.

Product

By recognizing consumers’ wants and needs Coca-cola was able to produce diverse products which include carbonated drinks like Coke classics, Sprite, Fanta; Beers like Barq’s Root Beer and Dr. Pepper. It also supports the local brand names Qoo, Sensation, Tianyudi, and SMART which are ready to drink (RTD) tea drinks and juice drinks to suit local preferences. The growing demand of healthy beverages had influenced it to get diversified in soft drinks sectors. Meeting the diverse demand and taste had resulted in the packaging in different sizes and shapes of glass bottles, plastic containers, and cans. A key to Coke’s success is the differentiation in products; this makes the customers coming back for more.

Price

The pricing strategy of Coke is influenced by the strategies of its competitors. In China the biggest competitor of Coke is Pepsi and its price fluctuates according to Pepsi’s pricing. However, coke has always held a better position in the market due to a head start of several years which had lead Pepsi to suffer some downfalls. Still, the price of Coca-cola is the benchmark in the market with it costing 15 to 20 cents higher than Pepsi. This high price is supported by the brand equity of its various products in the market. The competition has lead to better improvements in products and more attractive promotions which are favourable to customers. Without a strong brand image consumers would choose a product with the most competitive price.

Marketing commercial office space can be a very challenging task. It is even more difficult than marketing a residential space. Prospective tenants of a commercial office space look out for different things. They see the office space as a place to generate income. Other than working on logistics like pricing, renovations and offering quality services, there is still the factor of getting businesses and organizations to sign leases and fill up space.

Below are tips to consider when marketing your office space

• Publicity

Prospective tenants cannot lease your property if they are not aware of its availability. Publicity is, therefore, an integral part of getting tenants. As a landlord, make good use of the internet. Google is a great search engine used by businesses and organizations when searching for space. You can send email marketing messages to everyone you know. Provide a link to your website for additional information. You can also place a sign on the property you want to lease out. The point is to get the word out there. You can also make use of online newspaper ads.

• Update your website

Put up photos of all the areas of your space. List the amenities you have to offer; unit sizes, parking space and available utilities. You can also list things they can easily access, like transportation, nearby shopping areas etc. Help them see what is so great about your property. Add your phone number and email to make it easy for prospects to contact you.

• Promote other businesses

As a landlord, when advertising your space, you can also market the products of other small businesses that have rented your space or are occupying it presently. This will help potential tenants see your interest in not just their money but their business as well. They see you as someone interested in the welfare of others and are willing to trade with you.

• Get social

There are social avenues that can be used to market your commercial space. Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and LinkedIn are examples of such medium. By adding your property to LinkedIn or Facebook and connecting with professionals in your area, you are increasing the exposure of your assets.

• Stay in touch

Every potential tenant usually takes time to make inquiries before making a decision. A potential tenant that contacts you today may not have plans of moving into the new office space till after a year. Don’t lose contact with them. Post reminders online and stay connected. Answer as many questions as you can.

• Offer incentives

You can also offer finder’s fee to people who help you find tenants. This will serve as a means of encouraging referrals.

It is pertinent to state that there is a lot to consider when it comes to leasing commercial office space. It is therefore important when you are leasing a commercial space to go as public as you can but don’t be in so much hurry that you end up getting the wrong tenants.