GAP Analysis For Improving A Specific Aspect Of An Organization

Current State

The important issues for marketing are brand awareness, latest technology, market updates and creating a demand in the wholesale and retail market. These are the important strategies for marketing of every brand. The customer awareness is a major issue. The brands need to make sure that every brands need their own fame. Creating a demand in the market play a vital role. The product must have a market image and market demand to increase its sale and profit. Thus, they have to focus on the product demand in the market. Another important aspect is the wholesalers and retailers in short the customers of the company. The customers are the second variable for a company to run. If the first variable is the products then the second variable is the customers for whom the products will be produced. Thus, company must take initiative to improve the relation with the customers and create a demand in the market.

CRM management:

According to (Josiassen, A., Assaf, A. G., & Cvelbar, L. K. (2014). CRM and the bottom line: Do all CRM dimensions affect firm performance?. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 36, 130-136.) a crm system is required in every company as it consists of the  historical view and information of all the customers that would acquire the brand products or are acquitting the products. The crm system consists of all the details of the customer that makes easy for the company to track the customers and determine their steps to be taken fro increasing the sale. The system groups the customers the system not only tracks the present customers but also gives a detailed study about the other customers who might use the company brand.

According to (Awasthi, P., & S. Sangle, P. (2013). The importance of value and context for mobile CRM services in banking. Business Process Management Journal, 19(6), 864-891.) the customer data plays a vital role in the company running. The crm strategies are to attract the customers towards the company. It is all about acquiring , managing, cultivating and maintaining relation with the customers. it focuses on the software installation, change in process, change in operation. The operations will include day to day operations of a firm, the way of dealing with the customers and keeping a good relation with them in the market.

According to (Risselada, H., Verhoef, P. C., & Bijmolt, T. H. (2014). Dynamic effects of social influence and direct marketing on the adoption of high-technology products. Journal of Marketing, 78(2), 52-68.) the marketing of products is an important issue in company. The use of latest technology for marketing plays an evitable role in this case. The technological marketing strategy leads to an age of creativity and innovation. The artificial intelligence that asses and adapts tends to highlight the creativity of the company and create market name of the company. The use of technology reduces the work pressure of the marketing team. The research work becomes limited and to the point for this advancement.

GAP

According to (Theodosiou, M., & Leonidou, L. C. (2003). Standardization versus adaptation of international marketing strategy: an integrative assessment of the empirical research. International Business Review, 12(2), 141-171.) the influence of the society and customer demand is directly proportional to the company production and sale in the market. The company should make required changes to meet the demand of the modernized customers. the demand for product in the market is changing along with the changes in society thus the company should make the required changes. The firm with respect to the environmental constraints must make the adaptation. Therefore the company must depend on the external factors like customer leanings, demand turbulence, competitive intensity before changing their product quality and type.

• Customer relation management- the customer relations play a vital role for creating a increase in the sale and income. The customers are the primary source for income in business market (Armstron et al.,, 2015). Thus, the company must take initiative to attract the customers and increase the quantity in number. The company to maintain a record of the customers must track the customers. the record of customers helps the company to maintain the good relation with them and also build new customers in future (Fraering & S. Minor, 2013). Thus, customer relation management plays a vital role in the company. The mentioned company has both customers including wholesaler and retailers. The companies must maintain a good  relation with both the customers (Sun & Kim,2013).
• Usage of technology- the company must use better and advanced technology to update itself with evolution. The customer demands tend to change along with time. If the companies do not change their pattern and taste then it can result to a drop age to the company’s product (Scott, 2015). They must use advanced technology and systems to reach the customers and create the products that are on demand. Technology helps to ease the whole process of production. The latest machineries and equipments produce well framed systems that help to administrate and work the companies on a better scale. The customers always prefer hi technology and advanced products instead of sticking to the old versions or style (Payne & Frow,2013). If high technology is used then the company will produce hi standard products which will be readily accepted by the customers thus increasing the sale of the product.
• Adaptation according to customers- the customers has different choices and thus they demand for different products. The company has to keep a record of the customer preferences and provide them the products desired by them. The customers change their choice along with time. The company’s have to keep a record of the change in fashion and trends and produce the products as per their requirements (Rodriguez, Peter & Ajjan, 2015). If this is not followed then there will be a drop in the product demand in the market. The companies must observe the competitors and the other countries trend and production and produce new and creative products that will have a demand in the market. They cannot shift from the originality of the products but they have to maintain a change in the products. If the company changes along with the surroundings then they will produce the latest and on demand products that will be readily accepted by the society (Luck & Lancaster, 2013). This will increase the company sale and income.

The company has many good and positive initiatives to maintain a market image and compose bench mark. There are few flaws that the company must rectify to increase its production in the future days. The company can set up few benchmarks in the market to maintain its standard. The can take few initiatives to create the benchmark in the market:

• They can used latest and updated technology for marketing
• They can use digital strategies to advertise the products.
• They can use offers and discounts to attract customers
• They can create a team that will survey about the market demand and the demand for the company products.

These steps will help the company in following ways:

• The technology will help the brand name to reach the customers in short span of time.
• The technology will reach to an expanded scale of customers and increase the customer quantity of the company.
• The product knowledge and customer knowledge will help the company to produce the on demand products that will increase the sale and profit.
• The relationship with the customers will enhance the scope for the company to reach a new height in the market.
• If the strategies are fulfilled, the company will make a brand reputation and thus the competitors will not matter so much to the company.

Benchmark for this issue:

• The issues have decreased the demand for the products in the market.
• The company is losing its brand image in the market.
• The income scale has reduced in the company.

Rodriguez, M., Peterson, R. M., & Ajjan, H. (2015). CRM/social media technology: impact on customer orientation process and organizational sales performance. In Ideas in Marketing: Finding the New and Polishing the Old (pp. 636-638). Springer, Cham.

This article defines the importance of technology in managing relationship with the wholesaler and customers of a company. The important topic of CRM has been discussed in this article and how technology increases the sale of business and productivity have been mention.

Berisha-Namani, M. (2013). Information technology, internet, and marketing. International Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies, 4(1), 103.

The article states that todasy marketing system is impossible without technology. The IT sector is creating connection between business and organization.

Trainor, K. J., Andzulis, J. M., Rapp, A., & Agnihotri, R. (2014). Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), 1201-1208.

The article states that marketing scholars have defined CRM as the integrated customer facing ability for the company. The organizations are identifying the potential of social CRM and decided to made investments.

Risselada, H., Verhoef, P. C., & Bijmolt, T. H. (2014). Dynamic effects of social influence and direct marketing on the adoption of high-technology products. Journal of Marketing, 78(2), 52-68.

This article specially addresses the social influence  on adaptation of latest technology products. This article hi-lights how the latest technologies help to get a grip on the present days customers.

Preferred Future State

Naeem, B., Bilal, M., & Naz, U. (2013). Integrated marketing communication: a review paper. Interdisciplinary journal of contemporary research in business, 5(5), 124-133.

The article discusses about the integrated marketing communication. This is being practice worldwide and is receiving a huge feedback in the customer relationship departments. It says communication is a process of conveying the company creativity and innovation to the customers, thus, creating an awareness and demand about the product in the market.

Mintz, O., & Currim, I. S. (2013). What drives managerial use of marketing and financial metrics and does metric use affect performance of marketing-mix activities?. Journal of Marketing, 77(2), 17-40.

The article has divided marketing into sections. The first section includes a team for marketing, second links the marketing mix to financial measures, third sections defines how the firm profits are influenced by the metrics used.

Constantinides, E. (2014). Foundations of social media marketing. Procedia-Social and behavioral sciences, 148, 40-57.

The article defines marketing as academic discipline and management system. the old marketing tenets have lost their ground and the popular mass marketing techniques have made their way in this field.  

Rego, L. L., Morgan, N. A., & Fornell, C. (2013). Reexamining the market share–customer satisfaction relationship. Journal of Marketing, 77(5), 1-20.

The articles is about performance outcomes that are connected directly with marketing activities and market share. This also includes customer satisfaction that centralizes the need for business.

Yu, W., Jacobs, M. A., Salisbury, W. D., & Enns, H. (2013). The effects of supply chain integration on customer satisfaction and financial performance: An organizational learning perspective. International Journal of Production Economics, 146(1), 346-358.

The article is about supply chain management which enhances the competitive performance by closely integrating the internal function within a company.

Kaura, V., Durga Prasad, C. S., & Sharma, S. (2015). Service quality, service convenience, price and fairness, customer loyalty, and the mediating role of customer satisfaction. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 33(4), 404-422.

This article related to the eservice quality of the company. The service quality and product quality is the most important factor that is identified by the customers in the market.

The discussed factors are an important issues faced by most companies in the market. The measures will take the company to a new height where the company would flourish. There are few alternate measures that the company might take to improve the condition or meet the gap. The alternate measure that the company might take are:

• Instead of using digital marketing they can use manual marketing system like banners and poster in a repeated state to hammer the brand name in the customers mind.
• They can reduce the price of the products for few months and name it as off periods, this will attract the customers and the company can clear their stock during this period.
• They can make gift cards and coupons for the wholesaler and retailers who would find some interest to buy product from this company for those cards and coupons.
• They can continue with the old fashion and trend as there are demand s for old trends and fashions. There are customers who tends to buy unique and different products that are not going along the trend. Thus the company can keep few old stock and unique stock and hi-light them in the advertisement to attract the off-beat customers.
• They can arrange for digital reviews and surveys where the customers will review on the company product and also share their taste and preference that will help the company to rectify their flaws and build new strategies for production.

These measures can be useful to the company’s marketing system as they provide equivalent support to the company name and reputation in the market. The strategies that have been suggested have a good scope for making a demand for the product in the market and can be used as an alternative. However, it can not be assured whether they will have as much impact in the customers as the initially suggested measures have.

Summary

These suggested measures can create a benchmark for the company in the market. They provide a huge support to the digital world and enhances the use of digital technology and marketing strategies. The possible benchmarks that they will create are :

• The digital market already has a huge demand and thus  asking for reviews and personal preferences in this market would not be an issues (Alford & Page, 2015).
• The banners and leaflets are a traditional and common method for marketing. It will not only reach to the technical mankind but will also reach the group in th society who doesnot have a grip in technical world.
• The world tends to look different and unique in every sense and thus if the company collects few rare and old collections there are chances that they will be easily accepted by the society.

How will it prove that the measures are working or not???

• The company sale will increase
• The annual income will increase
• The demand for company product will increase.
• The brand name will be common among the customers.
• The company will be ready for growth and expansion from every aspects.

These measures will the company to a new stage where they will become a reputed brand I the market. Yet there are few measures that might occur and cause problem to the company. The challenges that the company might face area:

• The banners and leaflets might get replaced at any moment of time.
• The manual branding might not attract the youth and upper class society.
• The reduction in price might make the customers skeptical about the brand products.
• The gift cards and coupons might become an extra expenditure for the company.
• The old fashioned products might lose their value and has to be thrown away by the company.
• The brand name might remain in the middle class level of society due to its backward product and advertisement styling.
• The premium customer might not find the brand to be a standard one.

Major strategies that are needed to be taken to make successful changes are(Baker, 2014):

• The company must increase their marketing skills by developing technological usage.
• Although they are using e-commerce system, they must improve the quality and increase the usage
• The company should strictly take initiatives to change the product quality as per the customer requirement.
• They must implement the market strategies into a higher standard.
• They should not limit the product distribution only to the customer level. They must stretch the distribution scale to other sources also.

Change management needed to produce positive outcome(Heizer, 2016):

• A survey group is required to conduct the survey and get knowledge from the customers, this will help to produce customer demanded products and no vague products.
• A strict management team to manage the advertising and marketing team and implement the strategies with strict and urgent actions.
• A responsible and efficient IT team is required that will conduct the technical marketing and surveys.
• A responsible team is required that will create a good relationship with the customers and maintain PR relations.

The factors that would lead to the success of the issues are as follow:

• A well managed marketing team in the company. The team will not only cover digital marketing but also the manual marketing of the company.
• A well-framed marketing strategies and innovative ideas to build a brand image in the market.
• A team with public relation management knowledge that will handle the clients and maintain a record of the clients.
• A well framed record of the customers and the probable customers of the company. The record will help to keep a track of the customers.
• a team that has knowledge about the digital technologies and equipments that will help the company to produce latest products and market the products in the digital market.
• A team that will understand the distribution strategies and will know how to distribute the products in the market.

Conclusion:

Thus, if these measures re considered in the company then there are high chances that the company will flourish and the brand name will become popular among the customers. however, everything has a side effect that might change the outcome, but that happens only in exceptional cases. Hence, it is expected that if the company is abiding by the mentioned recommendations then the brand will find a brand image and the company will reach a height soon.

References:

Alford, P., & Page, S. J. (2015). Marketing technology for adoption by small business. The Service Industries Journal, 35(11-12), 655-669.

Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.

Baker, M. J. (2014). Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Berisha-Namani, M. (2013). Information technology, internet, and marketing. International Journal of Electronic Commerce Studies, 4(1), 103.

Constantinides, E. (2014). Foundations of social media marketing. Procedia-Social and behavioral sciences, 148, 40-57.

Fraering, M., & S. Minor, M. (2013). Beyond loyalty: customer satisfaction, loyalty, and fortitude. Journal of Services Marketing, 27(4), 334-344.

Heizer, J. (2016). Operations Management, 11/e. Pearson Education India.

Kaura, V., Durga Prasad, C. S., & Sharma, S. (2015). Service quality, service convenience, price and fairness, customer loyalty, and the mediating role of customer satisfaction. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 33(4), 404-422.

Luck, D., & Lancaster, G. (2013). The significance of CRM to the strategies of hotel companies. Worldwide hospitality and tourism themes, 5(1), 55-66.

Mintz, O., & Currim, I. S. (2013). What drives managerial use of marketing and financial metrics and does metric use affect performance of marketing-mix activities?. Journal of Marketing, 77(2), 17-40.

Naeem, B., Bilal, M., & Naz, U. (2013). Integrated marketing communication: a review paper. Interdisciplinary journal of contemporary research in business, 5(5), 124-133.

Payne, A., & Frow, P. (2013). Strategic customer management: Integrating relationship marketing and CRM. Cambridge University Press.

Rego, L. L., Morgan, N. A., & Fornell, C. (2013). Reexamining the market share–customer satisfaction relationship. Journal of Marketing, 77(5), 1-20.

Risselada, H., Verhoef, P. C., & Bijmolt, T. H. (2014). Dynamic effects of social influence and direct marketing on the adoption of high-technology products. Journal of Marketing, 78(2), 52-68.

Rodriguez, M., Peterson, R. M., & Ajjan, H. (2015). CRM/social media technology: impact on customer orientation process and organizational sales performance. In Ideas in Marketing: Finding the New and Polishing the Old (pp. 636-638). Springer, Cham.

Rodriguez, M., Peterson, R. M., & Ajjan, H. (2015). CRM/social media technology: impact on customer orientation process and organizational sales performance. In Ideas in Marketing: Finding the New and Polishing the Old (pp. 636-638). Springer, Cham.

Scott, D. M. (2015). The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, online video, mobile applications, blogs, news releases, and viral marketing to reach buyers directly. John Wiley & Sons.

Sun, K. A., & Kim, D. Y. (2013). Does customer satisfaction increase firm performance? An application of American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). International Journal of Hospitality Management, 35, 68-77.

Trainor, K. J., Andzulis, J. M., Rapp, A., & Agnihotri, R. (2014). Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), 1201-1208.

Yu, W., Jacobs, M. A., Salisbury, W. D., & Enns, H. (2013). The effects of supply chain integration on customer satisfaction and financial performance: An organizational learning perspective. International Journal of Production Economics, 146(1), 346-358.

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