I saw a mother who was carrying a piece of newspaper which contained a promotional advertisement of one of the stores. The mother met the store assistant to ask about the promotion of electronic goods with the special price. The store assistant just said that the stuff is gone without giving a clear reason even though the store has just opened.
From that incident, we can see that the marketing activities through the advertisements in the newspaper by the store management was quite successful because there are people who come to ask for promotional items. But unfortunately, the promotion in the newspaper actually makes people disappointed because the item was not exist anymore or has run out. The mother above did not protest and this does not mean it is okay but it can be dangerous because the disappointed mother would tell her experience to others.
According to my analysis, the store has done a very good marketing program that is by writing a very cheap price despite the fact that the goods are only limited. The purpose of the store management to attract more people to come was very effective. The people who were receiving the information about the promotion are encouraged and wants to buy it.
I’m sure, the readers have also experienced similar things, although perhaps not as extreme as the story above. The reality on the outside shows that many businessmen have made extraordinary marketing strategies to make people aware and interested, but they do not do a good execution strategy on the ground. This results in ineffective marketing activities and it becomes a boomerang because people becomes disappointed and may not want to come to that store anymore.
Another example I’ve seen is when a customer came to a restaurant. The customer shown a discounted voucher but the frontliner who served her, just asked ‘Mam, where is this voucher comes from? How I do not know anything about it?’ The question made her shocked. But that woman also answered, ‘I get from one of the banks’. Then the frontliner said ‘Well, this must be our marketing that does not give information to me’.
From the second story, it is clear that there is no coordination between the Department of Marketing and Operational Section so that the program which was created by the Department of Marketing was not known by the frontliner earlier. Internal coordination that does not work well will make the customer have the perception that you are not professional.
In the business world, marketing strategy is often referred to as Pull Strategy, which is how to attract people to come because of an attractive offer either through advertising, for vouchers, or other means. While the customer service activities in the store is called Push Strategy. The goal is to make people to have more trust with products/services that are offered. Push strategy can be done by understanding the customer’s wishes, providing product explanation well and completely, and many other ways.
These two things cannot be separated and must complement each other. Business will work well if the pull strategy is supported by the right push strategy. A survey said that if a company improve customer service (push strategy), it will improve the effectiveness of the advertisements (pull strategy).
If the businessmen has understood that Pull and Push Strategy should support each other, then the example of the incidents that were experienced by the two women above may not happen. Businessmen should start realizing that marketing activities alone are not enough without being supported by excellent service (service excellence).
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