(Interview with Prof. Rey Lugtu by JOSEPHINE B. VALLE Researcher, BusinessWorld, for the Best Practices Forum series, published in BusinessWorld, June 27, 2007)
After designing a product or service around a specific target market, a company will have to communicate its message to its audience. For this, it has an array of media to choose from. On one end, there is the traditional television (TV), print and radio, and on the other are the more non-traditional or alternative means.
Perhaps the most utilized alternative media is the Internet through tools such as E-mail, online advertisements, Web sites and Web buttons, among others.
Value-for-money real estate developer Phinma Property Holdings Corp., for example, maintains a Web site that showcases its projects with features such as virtual tours to further educate its prospective buyers of its offerings. It also maintains a mailing list through which it Emails details of projects to prospective buyers.
Although TV and print still comprise bulk of Phinma Property’s promotions, Phinma Property’s Associate Vice-President for marketing and design Grant Orbeta related that the company sees a growing trend in alternative media such as those provided
by the Internet.
For Level Up, a company engaged in the delivery of content consumed by virtual gaming communities, the Internet serves not only as a medium for communicating but is the product itself.
“When we communicate with our market using online media, they are already in a setting where they can readily consume the product,” said Jose Carlo Medina, director for new media of the online gaming firm.
“Think of it as doing product sampling of a shampoo brand for a group of 10,000 individuals who are inside one gigantic bathroom,” the Level Up executive added.
The edge of online media, Mr. Medina said, is that it is so captivating such that the market will be leaning forward to consume your message as opposed to listening to the radio or watching TV, which could be very passive.
“We also get to reach more target users and get real-time data on user behavior,” said Mr. Medina.
The Internet also facilitates inquiries and actual transactions, what we now call as e-commerce.
“Digitization technologies have lowered the cost of production, thus, allowing lower cost of marketing products and services to niche markets,” said Reynaldo Lugtu, Jr., De La Salle University Professional Schools professor of management and marketing.
A classic example cited by the De La Salle professor is the online music store of iPod, iTunes.
“iTunes has more than five million songs compared with atypical music store of 55,000 tracks... iTunes distributes all sorts of music to even the esoteric music lovers,” noted Mr. Lugtu.
“The Internet has allowed marketers to reach various niches more cost-effectively,” said the professor.
Mobile telecommunications, particularly text messaging, is another venue for communication brought about by the advent of new technology.
Phinma Property’s Mr. Orbeta related, “We’re thinking of a way that will make it easier for buyers to get information by text because text is becoming a commonplace item.”
The Phinma Property executive disclosed that the company is in the process of evaluating some software that would automate the processes of getting inquiries through text as well as sending promo information through text broadcast.
Another powerful alternative tool for communicating with the market is what marketing gurus call “buzz” or word of mouth.
For one, health care company Intercare Healthcare Systems, Inc., whose niche is the integration of traditional and alternative medicine, recognizes the importance of “buzz” as a marketing method.
“We did a study before; every person we treat had on the average six referrals,” said Jose Jesus Roces, director of shared services of Intercare and professor of marketing
at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM).
“So in terms of marketing, we ensure that part of our efforts is that we provide what we call the Intercare experience,” added Mr. Roces.
Likewise, Phinma Property’s Mr. Orbeta related that many of the company’s new buyers are, in fact, referrals by previous buyers of its other property developments.
As such, public relations and customer relations play important roles in the marketing efforts of the company. Corollary to this, corporate social responsibility is also a thrust of the company.
While both traditional and alternative media educate the market about what a company has to offer, alternative means provide more flexibility with regard to zeroing in on more specific market segments.
This does not, however, put one medium above the other. In fact, it is not necessarily the medium that is key to niche marketing but the method of communicating.
AIM’s Mr. Roces said, “Forget broadcasting... when you are in niche marketing, you are ‘narrowcasting,’ focused communication.
“It’s not about not utilizing the media but about utilizing what is appropriate at a specific time.”
At Intercare, for example, when the company advertises in broadsheets, it still targets specific areas. When Intercare gets television exposure, it is through various talk show appearances by Intercare’s Director of clinical services Martin Camara.
In terms of radio, Intercare engages in radio advertising through alliances for certain events like sports tournaments.
Through all these traditional media exposure, the approach is still non-traditional, it is still narrowcasting.
“If you keep doing what everybody else is doing, you will not be heard above the noise,” Mr. Roces explained of the company’s methods.
Meanwhile, Phinma Properties employs television and print ads but carefully designs its ads around its target market.
“We can’t do those conceptual types with a nice picture and one nice sentence because those are more catered to the high-end buyers,” related Phinma Property’s Mr. Orbeta.
In the end, there is truly no one specific formula for what medium will work for a certain company or industry, explained Mr. Roces.
“The application is that you have to have a value proposition, identify who you are valuable to and then communicate to that segment.”
For Phinma Property’s marketing executive, the most effective communication would be a combination or mix of means tailored fit to one’s target market.
After designing a product or service around a specific target market, a company will have to communicate its message to its audience. For this, it has an array of media to choose from. On one end, there is the traditional television (TV), print and radio, and on the other are the more non-traditional or alternative means.
Perhaps the most utilized alternative media is the Internet through tools such as E-mail, online advertisements, Web sites and Web buttons, among others.
Value-for-money real estate developer Phinma Property Holdings Corp., for example, maintains a Web site that showcases its projects with features such as virtual tours to further educate its prospective buyers of its offerings. It also maintains a mailing list through which it Emails details of projects to prospective buyers.
Although TV and print still comprise bulk of Phinma Property’s promotions, Phinma Property’s Associate Vice-President for marketing and design Grant Orbeta related that the company sees a growing trend in alternative media such as those provided
by the Internet.
For Level Up, a company engaged in the delivery of content consumed by virtual gaming communities, the Internet serves not only as a medium for communicating but is the product itself.
“When we communicate with our market using online media, they are already in a setting where they can readily consume the product,” said Jose Carlo Medina, director for new media of the online gaming firm.
“Think of it as doing product sampling of a shampoo brand for a group of 10,000 individuals who are inside one gigantic bathroom,” the Level Up executive added.
The edge of online media, Mr. Medina said, is that it is so captivating such that the market will be leaning forward to consume your message as opposed to listening to the radio or watching TV, which could be very passive.
“We also get to reach more target users and get real-time data on user behavior,” said Mr. Medina.
The Internet also facilitates inquiries and actual transactions, what we now call as e-commerce.
“Digitization technologies have lowered the cost of production, thus, allowing lower cost of marketing products and services to niche markets,” said Reynaldo Lugtu, Jr., De La Salle University Professional Schools professor of management and marketing.
A classic example cited by the De La Salle professor is the online music store of iPod, iTunes.
“iTunes has more than five million songs compared with atypical music store of 55,000 tracks... iTunes distributes all sorts of music to even the esoteric music lovers,” noted Mr. Lugtu.
“The Internet has allowed marketers to reach various niches more cost-effectively,” said the professor.
Mobile telecommunications, particularly text messaging, is another venue for communication brought about by the advent of new technology.
Phinma Property’s Mr. Orbeta related, “We’re thinking of a way that will make it easier for buyers to get information by text because text is becoming a commonplace item.”
The Phinma Property executive disclosed that the company is in the process of evaluating some software that would automate the processes of getting inquiries through text as well as sending promo information through text broadcast.
Another powerful alternative tool for communicating with the market is what marketing gurus call “buzz” or word of mouth.
For one, health care company Intercare Healthcare Systems, Inc., whose niche is the integration of traditional and alternative medicine, recognizes the importance of “buzz” as a marketing method.
“We did a study before; every person we treat had on the average six referrals,” said Jose Jesus Roces, director of shared services of Intercare and professor of marketing
at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM).
“So in terms of marketing, we ensure that part of our efforts is that we provide what we call the Intercare experience,” added Mr. Roces.
Likewise, Phinma Property’s Mr. Orbeta related that many of the company’s new buyers are, in fact, referrals by previous buyers of its other property developments.
As such, public relations and customer relations play important roles in the marketing efforts of the company. Corollary to this, corporate social responsibility is also a thrust of the company.
While both traditional and alternative media educate the market about what a company has to offer, alternative means provide more flexibility with regard to zeroing in on more specific market segments.
This does not, however, put one medium above the other. In fact, it is not necessarily the medium that is key to niche marketing but the method of communicating.
AIM’s Mr. Roces said, “Forget broadcasting... when you are in niche marketing, you are ‘narrowcasting,’ focused communication.
“It’s not about not utilizing the media but about utilizing what is appropriate at a specific time.”
At Intercare, for example, when the company advertises in broadsheets, it still targets specific areas. When Intercare gets television exposure, it is through various talk show appearances by Intercare’s Director of clinical services Martin Camara.
In terms of radio, Intercare engages in radio advertising through alliances for certain events like sports tournaments.
Through all these traditional media exposure, the approach is still non-traditional, it is still narrowcasting.
“If you keep doing what everybody else is doing, you will not be heard above the noise,” Mr. Roces explained of the company’s methods.
Meanwhile, Phinma Properties employs television and print ads but carefully designs its ads around its target market.
“We can’t do those conceptual types with a nice picture and one nice sentence because those are more catered to the high-end buyers,” related Phinma Property’s Mr. Orbeta.
In the end, there is truly no one specific formula for what medium will work for a certain company or industry, explained Mr. Roces.
“The application is that you have to have a value proposition, identify who you are valuable to and then communicate to that segment.”
For Phinma Property’s marketing executive, the most effective communication would be a combination or mix of means tailored fit to one’s target market.
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