The new trend of telecom globalization and international competition has brought unprecedented pressure and challenges to China telecom industry. According to the industry characteristics and marketing focus of China's telecom enterprises, this paper puts forward some strategies, such as all-staff marketing, abandoning traditional advertising methods, building a brand-new corporate culture, broadening the scope and implementing differentiated management.
The so-called service industry does not exist at all, but the proportion of service components in different industries is different, and everyone is serving him. (TheoeloeLevitt) obviously, telecom enterprises should belong to industries with large service components. The author tries to explain the marketing strategy of telecom enterprises from the present situation of telecom enterprises and the characteristics of service industry.
First, the correct positioning of telecommunications companies
The new trend of telecom globalization and international competition has brought us unprecedented pressure and challenges. Some new management concepts, competition concepts, means and strategies are coming to the Chinese people at an alarming speed, and are increasingly profoundly affecting the domestic communication market.
After the reorganization of assets, the strength of telecom enterprises is obviously weakened due to the stripping of wireless paging, the separation of postal services and telecommunications, and the independence of mobile companies, and the business scope and market space are correspondingly narrowed. While the overall strength of China's telecom enterprises is weakening, our competitors are no longer as weak as before, both in number and strength. The time when we once monopolized the telecommunications market is over. There is no longer a "big MAC" in the telecom market, but a group of competitors. At the same time, it has experienced the rapid development of the telecommunications market in recent years, and the ability and technical level of posts and telecommunications have improved rapidly. Posts and telecommunications are no longer the bottleneck department that affects the development of national economy. Generally speaking, compared with the market demand, there is no shortage of communication capacity. What's more, under the general weak domestic demand, the WTO is coming to us step by step, and our future competitors will be more than ten times more terrible than now.
Therefore, in the current relatively saturated market, "accelerating development and doing everything possible to meet the needs of users" should no longer be the propaganda slogan and action guide of our telecom enterprises. In the face of growing competitors and relatively narrow space, if we only meet the needs of users, we will lose the existing market. We must clearly realize that marketing is the primary task of enterprises. This is both the starting point and the end result of enterprise work. Enterprises can't survive without marketing. This is why "market first, products later" has become a popular business policy in recent years. It can be seen that marketing is the only way for enterprises to develop. Strengthening marketing, finding demand and choosing market demand are the primary tasks of enterprises, which are related to the survival and development of enterprises. Therefore, our current task is to create markets, create demand and guide consumption. Only in this way can our telecom enterprises be in an invincible position in the market competition.
Second, the characteristics and marketing focus of the telecommunications industry
Telecom enterprises belong to the service industry, so we must make a marketing plan according to the characteristics of the service industry. "Service is any effect or benefit that one party can provide to the other party, which is basically invisible and does not lead to any ownership. Its production may or may not be closely related to a tangible product. " This determines that telecom enterprises have the following industry characteristics:
Dalit system
Service is intangible. Unlike tangible products, services can't be seen, tasted, touched, heard or smelled before they are purchased. In order to reduce the uncertainty caused by this non-contact, buyers will inevitably seek signs or evidence of service quality. They will judge the service quality from the places, personnel, equipment, communication materials, symbols and prices they see.
Therefore, the task of service providers is to "operate evidence" and "turn intangible into tangible". Product marketers are faced with the challenge of adding abstract concepts, while service marketers are faced with the challenge of adding tangible evidence to their abstract supply.
If we want to make our enterprise seem to serve quickly and effectively, we should try the following tools to make this positioning strategy feasible.
1, the physical environment of local telecommunications must mean fast and effective service. The external and internal design of enterprises should be neat and lively, and the layout of desks and pedestrian walkways should be carefully designed and planned. From the appearance, the customer queue waiting to be held should not be too long, and there should be enough seats for customers who are handling business.
All employees should be very busy. They should dress appropriately and uniformly, wear uniform signs, such as work permits, and always smile and serve when greeting and sending messages.
3. Communication materials Communication materials should show high efficiency. Brochures should be printed clearly and pictures should be carefully selected.
4. Signs are symbols of enterprises, such as the emblem of telecommunications.
5. The prices of various services should always be simple and clear.
(2) indispensable
The production and consumption of services are generally carried out at the same time. This is different from the case of tangible goods, which are first manufactured, put into warehouses, then sold and finally consumed. If the service is provided by one person, then that person is part of the service. Because customers are also present when providing services, the interaction between service providers and customers is a feature of service marketing, and both service providers and customers have an impact on the results of services.
changeability
The service has changed greatly. Because the service depends on who provides it, when and where. There are two steps to control service quality: the first step is to invest, select and train excellent employees. Train service providers to make them respond appropriately to customers' various situations, thus reducing the variability of services; The second step is to track customer satisfaction through customer suggestion and complaint system, customer investigation and purchase comparison. In this way, poor quality services can be detected and corrected.
(4) easy to disappear
The service is not storable. It is impossible to produce services in advance for later consumption. Its production process itself is the process of consumption, so it is easy to disappear.
Because service enterprises have the above characteristics, it is inevitable that it is difficult for service enterprises to operate only by traditional marketing methods. In service enterprises, customers are faced with unstable and changeable service providers, and the service results are not only influenced by service providers, but also by "undisclosed" production processes. Therefore, the marketing of service enterprises needs not only traditional marketing, but also two other kinds of marketing, namely internal marketing and interactive marketing.
Internal marketing means that service companies must cultivate and encourage the personnel who directly receive customers and all auxiliary service personnel, so that they can cooperate with each other to satisfy customers. The biggest contribution that the marketing department may make should be: "It is especially good at urging everyone in other departments to implement marketing." (Bailey)
Interactive marketing means that the perceived quality of service depends largely on the quality of interaction between buyers and sellers. In product marketing, product quality has nothing to do with how to obtain it, but in service marketing, service quality is mixed with service providers. Customers evaluate service quality not only according to their technical quality, but also according to their functional quality. Therefore, professionals must master interactive marketing skills.
Compared with traditional marketing, internal marketing and interactive marketing constitute modern marketing-all-staff marketing. In other words, the focus of marketing is all-staff marketing.
Third, the marketing strategy of all-staff marketing
Total marketing includes not only the integrity of marketing means, but also the integrity of marketing subjects and marketing strategies. Traditional marketing centers on producers and aims at selling products, while modern marketing centers on customers and aims at customer satisfaction. The ultimate goal is just as the manager of Toyota Company in Japan said when he launched Lexus: "We should not only be satisfied with the customer's satisfaction, but our ultimate goal is to satisfy the customer."
How do we do this? This requires us to firmly establish the concept of "marketing is the core of enterprises and customer satisfaction is the core of marketing", and unify product development, technological transformation, structural adjustment, production management, internal reform and capital operation. Enter the center of service and obedience to the market, put marketing in the first place in all business activities, take the marketing department as the center, and the management, production and logistics departments provide services for the marketing department with the goal of customer satisfaction. In other words, to do external marketing well, we must first do internal marketing well. A tourism company once put forward the slogan of "employees first, customers second", which is not to say that customers are ignored, but that the purpose of putting employees first is to satisfy employees and meet customers with a brand-new look, so as to achieve customer satisfaction. While establishing the idea of "employees first", firmly establish the idea of "the former department is the customer of the latter department" to maximize internal marketing.
An obvious feature of all-staff marketing is that every process, every employee and customer are in the same inseparable value chain, and every employee's work is closely related to customers, but the closer to customers, the greater the impact on customers. As a telecom enterprise, it is limited to the external window, not just the business hall. In the past, we focused on the business hall and neglected the management of other major service groups, such as operators. For telecom enterprises, the service quality of operators has a more intuitive impact on our business operations. However, in our previous practical work, we only paid attention to the service of shop assistants, ignoring the standardized service of machine line personnel, which led to our machine line personnel not being employees of state-owned enterprises, but individual contractors in rural areas, which greatly affected our reputation. All-staff marketing should pay attention to these important links, and no loopholes are allowed.
Another premise of all-staff marketing is the improvement of the overall quality of employees. This requires our employees not only to be proficient in their own business, but also to fully understand all the businesses of our telecom enterprises. Weihai Telecommunications Bureau once implemented the "first inquiry responsibility system", that is, every employee should not answer "I don't know" when answering customers' calls and providing consulting services to customers, but should be responsible for consulting relevant departments for customers and giving them satisfactory answers. Although this practice has made some progress than before, it has the disadvantages of wasting customer time and reducing customer satisfaction. Please imagine how much it will promote the development of our enterprise if every employee can answer every question and understand every business. Therefore, from front-line employees to support system employees, we should not only have the consciousness of serving customers wholeheartedly, but also have excellent service skills. Strengthen the skills training of all employees, so that they can not only know why, but also know why, and provide quality services to customers.
All-staff marketing also needs to provide corresponding technical support to improve the technical level of service. Service technology and service means also reflect the service level. It includes not only the technicalization of service means, but also the improvement of communication ability and the increase of communication means. With the help of high-tech means, we can achieve a leap in service level. For example, the popularity of computers has greatly improved the speed of charging; Network charging allows customers to realize the advantages of wide network; The upgrading of products meets the consumption needs of different levels of consumer groups.
Because of the above characteristics, in practice, if combined with traditional marketing methods, it will get twice the result with half the effort.
Fourth, abandon traditional advertising and establish a brand-new corporate culture.
Compared with manufacturing enterprises, service enterprises have many shortcomings in marketing. According to the survey of George and Merksz Del in the United States, we can draw the following conclusions: (1) Generally speaking, the marketing department is less likely to implement marketing mix activities; (2) It is less likely to conduct marketing analysis in the service area; (3) They are likely to handle their own advertisements internally instead of resorting to external advertising agencies; (4) It is less likely to make a comprehensive sales plan; (5) It is less likely to formulate and implement the sales training plan; (6) Less use of marketing research companies and marketing consultants; (7) If the percentage of total sales is used to express the expenses for marketing, it is possible to spend less in this respect.
As a telecom enterprise once monopolized by the state, its actual marketing methods are even worse than those discussed above. As "officials and businessmen", we once believed in the dogma that "the emperor's daughter doesn't worry about getting married". As a "bottleneck department", we once said that "good wine is not afraid of the deep alley". These stereotypes lead us to turn to market economy, and at the same time, we inevitably leave the birthmark of planned economy. Many of our telecom enterprises only advertise at home, in the business hall, and only do dry goods advertisements on TV, radio and newspapers. As a means to guide consumption, advertising has actually degenerated to the point of "what customers should know", and the charm of advertising has disappeared in the argument that we think it is done in vain. Our advertisements only let people see that we have advertised. Fortunately, some of our operators have found these problems. Although we lack the generosity of international business giants, we must not lose confidence and courage in business. The experience of some telecom enterprises is worth popularizing: for example, in different periods, different advertisements were carried out for different consumer groups, which received better social and economic benefits. But in all our advertisements, we lack the most fundamental theme-the promotion of corporate culture.
Corporate culture includes management ideas, management methods, group consciousness and behavior norms formed in the long-term production process. It runs through all aspects of enterprise development, production, operation and management, as well as the ideological and political, cultural literacy and professional and technical quality of employees. High-level quality service culture can create high-quality service, which can effectively promote the construction of enterprise quality service culture. As we all know, when Haier merged Hongxing Electric Appliance Factory, only a few managers were stationed, which made Hongxing Factory turn losses into profits within five months. They rely on the inculcation of Haier brand and Haier corporate culture. It can be seen that corporate culture is undoubtedly the soul of an enterprise.
Therefore, while using traditional advertising marketing methods, we should pay attention to the construction and publicity of corporate culture and learn to use various media to establish our own image. For example, preferential policies can be implemented for groups with social influence to enhance their visibility; Actively participate in public welfare activities and establish a good corporate image. Such an input-output ratio will definitely be better than the effect of advertising. At the same time, pay attention to the construction of corporate culture, promote enterprises, create corporate brands, seek brand-name benefits, and strive to achieve good social and economic benefits.
Five, the price means, can not be used, can not be abused.
Price war has always been a common marketing tool in business circles. Once upon a time, price became the magic weapon of our enterprise and the only way to promote products. As if raising the banner of price, you can be invincible and invincible. And our consumers are maturing step by step, no longer satisfied with a small price cut, which eventually leads to a vicious circle of price war. In recent years, the famous national color TV price war has caused at least 5.3 billion losses in the national color TV industry. "There is a fire at the city gate, which affects the fish in the pool." The color TV war caused the color TV picture tube industry to stop production in the first half of this year. The color TV picture tube industry can only pray for a price rebound by reducing supply. The same is true in our communication market. The final result of the price war is that "the snipe and the clam compete, and the fisherman gains". Fishermen here don't mean consumers who benefit from price reduction, but international communication giants who stare at our world's largest unopened communication market with wide eyes. We are not enough to compete with them. We should join hands to compete with them. The price war we took was undoubtedly to sell our market to them cheaply. Of course, the price war is not without its merits. Through the price war, the survival of the fittest can be achieved, leading to the redistribution of market resources, thus exercising our enterprise's ability to resist the wind and waves. But after all, price means is a double-edged sword, which should not be used more, let alone abused. Instead, we should cooperate with the establishment of corporate social image and take a price offensive against special groups; At the same time, the price can't come down, which will make customers wait, but it will be worse.
6. Broaden business scope and implement differentiated services.
When price wars and overwhelming advertisements can't stimulate consumption, we should broaden the business scope and implement differentiated management. But it is difficult to distinguish our services from those of our competitors. The narrowing of business scope and the increase of competitors have intensified price competition. Many customers don't have much demand for products, as long as they save money. It can be seen that as long as customers think that the service is not much different, they will not care so much about providing, but about the price. The solution to price competition is to develop differentiated supply, establish differentiated image and improve customer satisfaction. Because a satisfied customer doesn't care about the price more than a service provider, and at the same time, a satisfied customer is easy to accept new business, the cost of developing a new customer is far higher than attracting an old customer. Therefore, China's telecom enterprises should rely on their own resource advantages to implement differentiated service management.
This differentiated service management has two meanings. One is the difference between this enterprise and foreign enterprises, which makes customers clear that the services we provide cannot be provided by others. This can be carried out in line with the cultural construction of enterprises. Its work should focus on the expansion of business scope, so that our service will always be ahead of others. Secondly, adopt different marketing strategies for different customers.
The expansion of business scope includes not only extension, but also connotation. It is not only an increase in quantity, but also a qualitative improvement. At the same time, market segmentation, targeted. For example, in areas where students are concentrated, install and sell free phone cards to stimulate consumption; For people with low consumption level, we should teach them to use many functions of program-controlled telephone, such as "call waiting" and "transfer call" to improve the call rate; For people with high consumption level, we should vigorously promote advanced services such as "one-line communication"; For large users (mainly users with a small number of groups but a large proportion of business), it is necessary to set up a large user room, establish a large user file, and even adopt the method of Qingdao Bureau: set up a "green channel" for large users to handle special affairs, so that the business of large users will rise steadily, and at the same time, take the lead in demonstrating to him after launching new business, thus guiding consumption.
In short, in the marketing work of China's telecom enterprises, modern marketing concepts should be given priority to, supplemented by traditional marketing concepts; Leading by marketing ideas, highlighting the position of the marketing department; Dilute the advertising effect and attach importance to the construction of corporate culture; Ignore price leverage and strictly differentiate service management; Based on the existing market, create consumer demand; Armed with advanced marketing concepts, our telecom enterprises will always be in the forefront in the future competition and forge ahead.