Liquid Marketing Communications

“ONLINE MARKETING SERVICES”

if you build it, will they come?

That depends on how well you market it. Like the proverbial tree that falls in the forest without making a sound, the first lesson of Online Marketing Services says that even the fanciest Web site in the world won’t generate one inquiry or attract one new customer if nobody visits it. If you have a well-designed Web site but aren’t getting many hits, perhaps it’s time to revisit your strategy for directing people to your site.

To achieve the best Online Marketing Services from media campaigns, it is essential that your website is making the most of its visitors. As well as Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC) and Affiliate Marketing Fruitful Media undertake in-depth usability studies to ensure maximum conversion rates are achieved when sending online visitors to a website.

Online Marketing Services also refereed to as eMarketing, internet marketing, is the marketing the product or the services over the internet. Internet marketing ties together creative and technical aspects of the internet, including design, development, advertising and sales. Internet marketing methods include search engine marketing, display advertising, and e mail marketing.

Online Marketing is the process of growing and promoting an organization using online media. Internet marketing does not simply mean ‘building a website’ or ‘promoting a website’. Somewhere behind that website is a real organization with real goals. Internet marketing is associated with several business models. he model is typically defined by the goal. These include e-commerce, where goods are sold directly to consumers or businesses; publishing, or the sale of advertising; and lead-based sites, where an organization generates value by getting sales leads from their site. There are many other models based on the specific needs of each person or business that launches an internet marketing campaign.

Online Marketing Services marketing is relatively inexpensive. Companies can reach a wide audience for a small fraction of traditional advertising budgets. The nature of the medium allows consumers to research and purchase products and services at their own convenience: An internet marketing campaign puts an organization’s message in front of consumers precisely when they want it.

Online Marketing Services has had a large impact on several industries including music, banking, and flea markets, as well as the advertising industry itself. As Advertisers increase and shift more of their budgets online, it is now overtaking radio in terms of market share. The increasing speed of Internet connections is the main reason for the fast growth.

“DENTAL MARKETING ONLINE”

What type of Marketing Plan is right for your Practice?

You need to start looking at your dental practice as what it really is….a business. And like all successful businesses, you must advertise and promote your business to nurture it. If you’re a new dentist just opening your first start-up, you need a way to get patients in the door. If you’re a dentist who has been in business for years, you need to show your patients that you’re capable of adapting to changing times. We’re talking about Web sites, of course, quite possibly the hottest trend in the field of dental marketing online.

The fast widespread of internet allows even individuals to market its practice online. Maximizing revenue by offering the latest techniques to more patient apart from you could be made possible by conducting Dental Marketing Online. Like any other company conducting business online an individual practitioner like a dentist could take his lead by doing so. Dental practitioner also optimizing search engine just to make it known to the market world. The only difference between the in-store dental services and making dental services online is the physical presence.

Dental marketing Online is simply conducting dental services over the internet. Offering its services with the use of effective online media. Dentists consider it complex, confusing activity. But when it comes to your own dental practice, all it takes is an understanding of some fundamentals and identifying the segment that could benefit from your dental services. Entities making business over the internet varies only to the products and services they offer to the public. But all of them are after on how they could be available to its targeted consumers. What really the question for those conducting business online is, how to attract visitors to their web site and be known to its perspective clients.

More important, Dental Marketing Online does so in a very cost effective manner. With the aid fast changing technollogy allows you to reach targeted audiences in cleary defined geographical markets. Marketing dental services online also uses search engine optimization like site coding and other social media application to attract more visitors.

“ONLINE MARKETING SERVICE”

“Online marketing Service is growing faster than other types of media”

Online Marketing Service is about using the Internet as another channel to market your business or organization. It’s about establishing your web presence, and reach your target market through online marketing and Search Engine Optimization efforts. It’s about broadening your Web visibility, attracting qualified visitors to your website or getting interested people to email or call without even needing to come to your site. When visitors do come, through on-site marketing efforts and strong usability features, you lead them to do what you want them to do: fill out a form, register for an event, download a PDF or make a purchase from you.

Online Marketing Service uses traditional marketing media, such as radio spots, billboards or magazine ads to forcibly grab the viewer’s attention. Unlike these media, however, the Internet is voluntary. In order to find your Web site, people have to come looking for you. So when marketing your Web site, the number one goal is making it easy for people to find you. In this rapidly-changing industry, it is refreshing to work with a company who can guide us through the very complex world of search engine marketing.

Since exposure, response and overall efficiency of Internet media is easier to track than traditional “off-line” media. Online Marketing Service offers great sense of accountability for advertisers. However, marketers and their clients are becoming aware of the need to measure the collaborative effects of marketing like how will it affects in-store sales. In some cases it requires newer technologies that not all people may get the message.

Search engine optimization is one the advantages of making online marketing services. It helps your website get noticed by people searching for your targeted keywords and it’s a proven fact that this type of search results, known as organic instead of paid will be more likely to get you the kinds of visitors you want on your web site which are targeted customers. Regardless of what you sell or how big or small your company is, search engine optimization services can be of great benefit to you from sales and recognition perspectives.

The fast changing technology had played a vital role in the development of civilization especially in the market world. Online marketing services acts only as an intermediary between the client and the service provider. An individual could make the availability of its product or services in the market by conducting it online. Today’s era sets no limitation on how to response to unsatisfied consumer demands. Having an online access makes it possible even without risking your cash and efforts. As consumer demand continuous, the whole supply chain must react. This probably one of the reason why were having a situation that seems so fast.

The words loan origination and consumer housing credit make a lot of people anxious these days and it’s no wonder with the housing credit crisis and insecurities about the economy. For financial institutions looking for ways to provide secure and efficient as well as fast loan options and gain customer acquisition, they are turning to instant prescreen solutions.

  What is the Difference Between an Instant Prescreen and a Prescreen?

 

To prescreen some one is screen them before commitment, similar to pre-screening someone in an interview for a job. You want to make sure that person is qualified and they are who their resume says they are before you hire them. When it comes to prescreening someone before trusting them with a loan, the bank needs to be assured the customer will pay the loan back and has a steady job and or co-signer that can attest to it.

 

One method financial institutions would previously do for prescreening is to send identical prescreen offers to a large batch of already pre qualified consumers at one time like in a mass mailing. It’s easier of course to offer loans to people who are already pre-qualified. As mail, paper, envelopes and printing become more expensive and as the public’s attention to mass mailings is slack, what was once an effective way to grab pre-qualified people’s attention isn’t as effective as it once was. People want everything NOW, not weeks from now.

 

An instant prescreen is now what is needed in today’s competitive banking marketplace. In conjunction with the right instant credit decisioning and loan origination solutions company, a financial business can provide its customers with fast answers to their qualifying questions in a matter of minutes.

 

Imagine a customer makes a call, goes on to your website or makes an appointment in person, in real-time you can upload their information and moments find out if they are qualified for a loan- and almost instantly they can find out if they are qualified.

 

Looking for some sure-fire ways to increase customer acquisition? There are several things your company needs to know to make sure that your organization stays current, viable and attractive to customers in this competitive market.Know the CompetitionToday’s banking services use software as a service SAAS technology to offer customers more options and faster. Imagine a customer makes a call, goes on to your website or makes an appointment in person, in real-time you can upload their information and moments find out if they are qualified for a loan- and almost instantly they can find out if they are qualified. An business rules engine is now what is needed in today’s competitive banking marketplace. In conjunction with the right instant credit decisioning and loan origination solutions company, a financial business can provide its customers with fast answers to their qualifying questions in a matter of minutes.•    Lower customer acquisition rates- fewer mailing, phone calling, ads•    Higher acceptance rates•    A better overall experience for you and your customersDon’t Forget the Classic Customer Acquisition StrategiesCold CallingThe phone call is the best way to immediately know if a potential customer is interested or not saving you loads of time. Feel free to practice first, perhaps make a list of things you want to say so that if you get nervous, you will have something to resort to. Having a pencil and a pad of paper ready to write down important notes is essential. Don’t forget to write down your potential client’s name as soon as you learn it so that you sound professional and on top of your game at the end of the call, concluding by saying “Thank you for your time, (name).”Acting NaturallyIf you don’t think that cold calling is really something you want to make your main way of customer acquisition, there are some less intrusive ways to approach people and get customers. One way is called the soft sell. By acting naturally, truly showing that you believe in your product can be just what a customer needs to see to believe in the product themselves and be willing to buy.•    Be their friend •    Find something in common•    Be approachable•    Be confident Once you get customers, the next most important thing is following up. Just leaving a message asking how they enjoy their product or service may be all you need to do to let them know you care. These secrets of customer acquisition are not really secrets, they are tricks of the trade that are happening all of the time and have most likely been used on you once or twice when you have purchased something, and if you bought something obviously they worked! Help you, your company and your customers by making it easier on everyone. Happy customers mean return customers which equal better business practices and more business! Whether your business is a small operation or a huge mega bank, an instant credit decisioning and loan origination solutions company can provide the entire business with a flexible system that easily integrates into your current system without a lot of headache.

Recent trends in Indian & global capital markets.

Dr. Piyush prakash (Reader: D.A.V. College Kanpur)

and Sandhya Dubey

_____________________________________________________________________________ 

Overview of Indian Capital Market

The Indian capital market is more than a century old. Its history goes back to 1875, when 22 brokers formed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Over the period, the Indian securities market has evolved continuously to become one o the most dynamic, modern, and efficient securities markets in Asia. Today,

Indian market confirms to best international practices and standards both in terms of structure and in terms of operating efficiency .Indian securities markets are mainly governed by a) The Company’s Act1956, b) the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act 1956 (SCRA Act), and c) the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Act, 1992. A brief background of these above regulations are given below

a) The Companies Act 1956 deals with issue, allotment and transfer of securities and various aspects relating to company management. It provides norms for disclosures in the public issues, regulations for underwriting, and the issues pertaining to use of premium and discount on various issues.

b) SCRA provides regulations for direct and indirect control of stock exchanges with an aim to prevent undesirable transactions in securities. It provides regulatory jurisdiction to Central Government over stock exchanges, contracts in securities and listing of securities on stock exchanges.

c) The SEBI Act empowers SEBI to protect the interest of investors in the securities market, to promote the development of securities market and to regulate the security market.

The Indian securities market consists of primary (new issues) as well as secondary (stock) market in both equity and debt. The primary market provides the channel for sale of new securities, while the secondary market deals in trading of securities previously issued. The issuers of securities issue (create and sell) new securities in the primary market to raise funds for investment. They do so either through public issues or private placement. There are two major types of issuers who issue securities. The corporate entities issue mainly debt and equity instruments (shares, debentures, etc.), while the governments (central and state governments) issue debt securities (dated securities, treasury bills). The secondary market enables participants who hold securities to adjust their holdings in response to changes in their assessment of risk and return. A variant of secondary market is the forward market, where securities are traded for future delivery and payment in the form of futures and options. The futures and options can be on individual stocks or basket of stocks like index. Two exchanges, namely National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the Stock Exchange, Mumbai (BSE) provide trading of derivatives in single stock futures, index futures, single stock options and index options. Derivatives trading commenced in India in June 2000

Other leading cities in stock market operations

Ahmedabad gained importance next to Bombay with respect to cotton textile industry. After 1880, many mills originated from Ahmedabad and rapidly forged ahead. As new mills were floated, the need for a Stock Exchange at Ahmedabad was realized and in 1894 the brokers formed “The Ahmedabad Share and Stock Brokers’ Association”.

What the cotton textile industry was to Bombay and Ahmedabad, the jute industry was to Calcutta. Also tea and coal industries were the other major industrial groups in Calcutta. After the Share Mania in 1861-65, in the 1870’s there was a sharp boom in jute shares, which was followed by a boom in tea shares in the 1880’s and 1890’s; and a coal boom between 1904 and 1908. On June 1908, some leading brokers formed “The Calcutta Stock Exchange Association”.

In the beginning of the twentieth century, the industrial revolution was on the way in India with the Swadeshi Movement; and with the inauguration of the Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited in 1907, an important stage in industrial advancement under Indian enterprise was reached.

Indian cotton and jute textiles, steel, sugar, paper and flour mills and all companies generally enjoyed phenomenal prosperity, due to the First World War.

In 1920, the then demure city of Madras had the maiden thrill of a stock exchange functioning in its midst, under the name and style of “The Madras Stock Exchange” with 100 members. However, when boom faded, the number of members stood reduced from 100 to 3, by 1923, and so it went out of existence.

In 1935, the stock market activity improved, especially in South India where there was a rapid increase in the number of textile mills and many plantation companies were floated. In 1937, a stock exchange was once again organized in Madras – Madras Stock Exchange Association (Pvt) Limited. (In 1957 the name was changed to Madras Stock Exchange Limited).

Lahore Stock Exchange was formed in 1934 and it had a brief life. It was merged with the Punjab Stock Exchange Limited, which was incorporated in 1936.

Indian Stock Exchanges – An Umbrella Growth

The Second World War broke out in 1939. It gave a sharp boom which was followed by a slump. But, in 1943, the situation changed radically, when India was fully mobilized as a supply base.

On account of the restrictive controls on cotton, bullion, seeds and other commodities, those dealing in them found in the stock market as the only outlet for their activities. They were anxious to join the trade and their number was swelled by numerous others. Many new associations were constituted for the purpose and Stock Exchanges in all parts of the country were floated.

The Uttar Pradesh Stock Exchange Limited (1940), Nagpur Stock Exchange Limited (1940) and Hyderabad Stock Exchange Limited (1944) were incorporated.

In Delhi two stock exchanges – Delhi Stock and Share Brokers’ Association Limited and the Delhi Stocks and Shares Exchange Limited – were floated and later in June 1947, amalgamated into the Delhi Stock Exchange Association Limited.

There are two major indicators of Indian capital market- SENSEX & NIFTY:

What are the Sensex & the Nifty?

The Sensex is an “index”. What is an index? An index is basically an indicator. It gives you a general idea about whether most of the stocks have gone up or most of the stocks have gone down. The Sensex is an indicator of all the major companies of the BSE. The Nifty is an indicator of all the major companies of the NSE. If the Sensex goes up, it means that the prices of the stocks of most of the major companies on the BSE have gone up. If the Sensex goes down, this tells you that the stock price of most of the major stocks on the BSE have gone down. Just like the Sensex represents the top stocks of the BSE, the Nifty represents the top stocks of the NSE. Just in case you are confused, the BSE, is the Bombay Stock Exchange and the NSE is the National Stock Exchange. The BSE is situated at Bombay and the NSE is situated at Delhi. These are the major stock exchanges in the country. There are other stock exchanges like the Calcutta Stock Exchange etc. but they are not as popular as the BSE and the NSE. Most of the stock trading in the country is done though the BSE & the NSE . Besides Sensex and the Nifty there are many other indexes. There is an index that gives you an idea about whether the mid-cap stocks go up and down. This is called the “BSE Mid-cap Index”. There are many other types of index.Unless stock markets provide professionalized service, small investors and foreign investors will not be interested in capital market operations. And capital market being one of the major source of long-term finance for industrial projects, India cannot afford to damage the capital market path. In this regard NSE gains vital importance in the Indian capital market but if we see the sensex & nifty graph there is a great variation.

Down fall or variability in returns. To measure all these crisis FM (Finance  minister) of India has done some measures which are following  :

FM says state-run banks ready to provide credit to small, medium business sectors

RBI to keep a close watch on liquidity

Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will keep a close watch on liquidity and state-run banks are ready to provide credit to the small and medium business sectors. The finance minister today met the chiefs of state-run banks.

Exports growth slumps to 10.4% in September 2008

Exports up by 30.9% in April-September 2008

Indian   merchandise exports during September 2008, recorded meager 10.4% growth at US $ 13.75 billion, taking the toll from recessionary tendencies in major export destination in US and Europe. On the other hand import growth remaining buoyant surged 43.34% to US $ 24.38 billion, causing the trade deficit to more than double to US $ 10.63 billion in September 2008 compared to US $ 4.55 billion in September 2007. Global financial crisis and recessionary tendencies in major economies have severely impacted India’s export growth, though import surged rampantly.

Soaring crude oil prices placed immense pressure on import bill during the month of September 2008. The share of oil import in total imports surged to 37.31% in September 2008 compared to 34.05% in the corresponding period last year. Oil imports during September 2008 surged 57.1% to US $ 9.1 billion, whereas non-oil import increased 36.2% to US $ 15.28 billion. Cumulative oil import during April-September 2008 stood 59.2% higher at US $ 55.06 billion, while non-oil imports surged 29.3% to US$ 99.68 billion over corresponding period last year.

Exports during April- September 2008 expanded 30.90% to US $ 94.97 billion (36.7% to Rs.405118 crore) while imports advanced 38.6% to US $ 154.74 billion (44.9% to Rs 661208 crore).

In rupee terms, exports scaled up 24.7% to Rs.62641 crore, while imports increased by 61.9% to Rs 111085 crore, in September 2008 compared corresponding period last year.

Trade deficit in April-September was estimated at $59.77 billion as against $39.1 billion in the same period the last fiscal.

PM says govt will take all steps to protect growth

Govt working closely with other countries for coordinated policy action

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told top business leaders on Monday, 3 November 2008, that the government will take all the necessary monetary and fiscal policy measures to protect growth. The Prime Minister also said the government was working closely with other countries to ensure coordinated policy action for the containment of the global financial crisis.

RBI slashes CRR and SLR by 100 bps each and Repo rate by 50 bps

CRR revised to 5.5%, Repo rates to 7.5% while SLR stands reduced to 24%

RBI has cut CRR by 100 basis points to 5.5%, SLR by100 basis points to 24% and repo rate by 50 basis points to 7.5%, in a surprise move on 1st November 2008. Though the market was expecting a cut, the market is surprised by strong dose of cut in all the three rates in one go.

The cut in CRR will be implemented in two phases of 50 basis points each. CRR will come down to 6.0% effective from the fortnight beginning 25th October 2008 and further down to 5.5% effective from the fortnight beginning 8th November 2008. Incidentally, this is in addition to 250 basis points cut in CRR effective from the fortnight beginning 11th October 2008. Thus, in October 2008 alone, we are seeing 300 bps cut and another 50 bps cut in November 2008. The latest 100 basis point cut in CRR will bring in Rs 40000 crore into the banking system. Together, the 350 basis points cut across October and November 2008 will bring in Rs 140000 crore into the banking system

Since 16 September RBI has been offering an additional liquidity support for banks to the extent of 1% of NDTL under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) along with waiver of penal interest. Now, RBI making this reduction permanent has reduced the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) by 100 bps to 24% of NDTL effective from the fortnight beginning 8th November 2008.

Other Measures

RBI has also introduced a special refinance facility for all scheduled commercial banks (excluding RRBs) to provide refinance up to 1% of the relevant bank’s NDTL as of 24th October 2008 at the LAF repo rate up to a maximum period of 90 days. RBI said that during this period, refinance could be flexibly drawn and repaid.

In addition to the cut in SLR and special refinance facility, RBI also extended the limit of liquidity support for banks from 0.5% to 1.5% of NDTL under LAF through relaxation in the maintenance of SLR and the coverage is extended to NBFCs also. Further, RBI said that banks can apportion the total accommodation allowed between Mutual funds and NBFCs flexibly as per their business needs. But RBI directed that this relaxation in SLR should be exclusively used for the purpose of meeting the funding requirement of NBFCs and Mutual funds.

RBI has asked the entities with bulk forex requirements to approach it through their banks. Accordingly, RBI will sell foreign exchange through agent banks to augment supply in the domestic foreign exchange market or intervene directly to meet any demand supply gaps.

RBI has also allowed non-deposit taking NBFCs (NBFCs-ND-SI), as a temporary measure, to raise short-term foreign currency borrowings under the approval route. However, this will be subject to their compliance with prudential norms on capital adequacy and exposure norms.

Further, in the context of forex outflows in the recent period, RBI has decided to conduct buy back of MSS dated securities so as to provide another avenue for injecting liquidity of a more durable nature into the banking system. RBI indicated that this would be calibrated with the market-borrowing programme of the Government of India.

Outlook

On the growth front, it is important to ensure that credit requirements for productive purposes are adequately met so as to support the growth momentum of the economy. However, the global financial turmoil has had knock-on effects on our financial markets; this has reinforced the importance of focusing on preserving financial stability. The Reserve Bank has reviewed the current and evolving macroeconomic situation and liquidity conditions in the global and domestic financial markets. Based on this review, RBI has taken slew of above measures, including cut in CRR, SLR and repo rate. The total liquidity support provided through the latest reductions in the CRR, SLR and temporary accommodation under the SLR is likely to be in the order of Rs.1,40,481 crore. With RBI announcing slew of liquidity boosting measures overall interest regime in the country is likely to ease in the near term. Some of the banks have already announced interest rate reduction and more are likely to follow soon. The reduction in SLR would release much needed liquidity into the system and signals reduction in the interest rates.

The Reserve Bank will continue to closely monitor the developments in the global and domestic financial markets and will take swift and effective action as appropriate.

Rate cuts at corner

In the wake of the stress on our financial markets as a result of the global financial crisis, the Reserve Bank announced a series of measures starting mid-September 2008 to ease both domestic and foreign exchange liquidity. The task of monetary policy has always centered on managing a judicious balance between price stability, sustaining the growth momentum and maintaining financial stability. The relative emphasis across these objectives has varied from time to time depending on the underlying macroeconomic conditions. At this juncture, the apex bank of the country has focused on financial stability thanks to ease in inflation.

India witnesses the effects global meltdown through liquidity crunch, which reflected in significant growth in call rates- the rate at which banks borrows from each other. The month started with 16.51% weighted call rates which further moved up to18.53% as on 10 October 2008. On review of the liquidity situation, the RBI announced a reduction in CRR by 250 bps to 6.5% effective from fortnight beginning on 11 October 2008. As result of reduction of the reduction in the CRR around Rs 1,00,000 crore was expected to be released into the banking system. The RBI also decided to open a special 14-day fixed rate repo window for a notified amount of Rs 20000 crore with a view to enabling banks to meet the liquidity requirement of mutual funds.

Reflecting the impact of these measures, the average call rate declined to 9.92% as on 13 October 2008 and further tanked to 6.6% as on 17 October and slipped below reverse repo rate to 4.16% on 18 October 2008. However we have seen pressure mounting on inter bank call money rates since 25 October, as banks scrambled to borrow at call money market to meet funding requirements in a holiday-shortened week, while fresh debt auctions also weighed. The RBI has conducted the auctions of Rs 7000 crore worth of treasury bills on 29 October, while Rs 10000 crore worth of securities will be auctioned on 31 October. As result call rates surged to 8.56% on 25 October and further up to 9.35% and 11.26%, as on 27 and 29 October 2008, respectively. The RBI is committed to maintain close watch on the entire financial system to prevent pressures building up in the financial markets and it may take appropriate steps if pressures persist.

The sharp dip in the crude oil prices, RBI aims liquidity boosting measures and easing inflation has compounded bullish sentiments in the bonds market, raising the bond prices incessantly. The yield on 10- year benchmark government securities (g-sec 8.24% 22 April 2018) eased substantially to its 8 months low level 7.5% on 29 October 2008 from 8.44% on 1 October 2008. Bond yield and inflation has a positive co-relation, whereas bonds trade transmits an inverse price-yield relationship. During the week ended 18 October 2008, general price index popularly called inflation has down to 10.68%. It was the fifth sequential week were the inflation has declined on week on week basis. The downtrend in inflation will give leverage to the apex bank of the country to act aggressively on financial stability with further cut in interest rates.

Along with inflation, we have seen slight deceleration in money supply growth. According to the latest data released by RBI, the annual growth rate in broad money or M3 has below 20% mark. However it is still above the comfort zone of the apex bank (RBI holding 17% target for the current financial year).

Central banks across the globe are trying to curb an economic slowdown as the financial crisis weighs on consumer sentiment and business spending. The Federal Reserve’s reduced interest rates by 50 bps to 1% on 29 October in order to stimulate economic growth by encouraging consumer and business spending. In Asia, China’s central bank announced it’s third reduction by 27 basis points to 6.93%, while Taiwan’s central bank surprised with a 25 bps cut in lending rates to 3%, its fourth easing in two and a half months. Similarly the market expects rate cut to be announced in Japan on Friday, while European Central Bank and Britain may add to monetary easing in the ensuing weak to restrict the adverse impact of what could be the worst financial crisis in 80 years and its impact in terms of a long global recession. Against the backdrop of these global and domestic developments and in the light of measures taken by the Reserve Bank over the last month, we are excepting further dose of medicine from the apex bank of the country.

 

RBI prefers to buy time and leaves all rates unchanged

But cuts GDP growth projections to 7.5 to 8.0% for FY 2008-09

RBI has declared mid-term policy review with stable interest rates. Effective from the fortnight beginning 11th October 2008, the CRR was already cut by 250 basis points to 6.5% while repo rate was cut by 100 bps effective form20th October 2008. But still select Industry associations were expecting further cut in repo / CRR. Instead, RBI has decided to wait and watch, before taking further monetary measures.

However the Reserve Bank has revised the projection of overall real GDP growth for 2008-09 to a range of 7.5-8.0 per cent, down from its own projection of around 8.0% in July 2008, thanks to global and domestic development.

Highlights

1)The Bank Rate has been kept unchanged at 6.0 per cent.

2)The repo rate under the LAF has been kept unchanged at 8.0 per cent.

3)The reverse repo rate under the LAF has been kept unchanged at 6.0 per cent.

4)The cash reserve ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks is currently at 6.5 per cent of net demand and time liabilities (NDTL). On a review of the current liquidity situation, it has been decided to keep the CRR unchanged at 6.5 per cent of NDTL.

The market reaction on the policy was negative as market participants had expected further rate cut. However there is no change in any rate of interest as well as in CRR and SLR.

The apex bank of the country has already taken slew of measures in response to the developments in the global and domestic market in the last few weeks. Hence, RBI has preferred to observe the impact of these measures rather than rushing with additional dose of medicine.

Meanwhile, for four consecutive weeks, inflation rate has been coming down on week on week basis. Nevertheless, RBI has unchanged the inflation target for the remaining year, evidencing its discomfort on the underlying pressure on price level. At the same time we have not seen any change in target for money supply. With the reference of the recent date published by RBI, the growth in money supply was slightly down, but still far away from the target of the RBI (17%).

The recent measures taken by the apex bank (CRR and Repo cut) will boost the liquidity in the market along with the relaxation in ECB norms will play critical role in overall monetary assessments for the remaining financial year.

To sum up, the unchanged interest rate , and the downward revision in GDP growth target together indicate that apex bank has tried to maintain the balance between growth and inflation. However this is one of the most critical challenge for policy makers worldwide to make a choice between stable inflation or growth. At home ground, RBI preferred to buy the time to see the impact of the measures that has already placed.

No change in the policy rates or CRR in the Mid Term Review

RBI’s Mid Term Review of Annual Policy keeps all rates unchanged

Dr D Subbarao, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, unveiled the Mid Term Review of Annual Policy for the Year 2008-09 on 24th October 2008.

RBI has kept the Bank Rate, Repo Rate, Reverse Repo Rate and Cash Reserve Ratio unchanged. In effect, no major monetary measures have been taken in the Mid Term review on 24th October 2008.

RBI has revised India’s GDP growth projection for FY 2008-09 to a range of 7.5 to 8.0% on 24th October 2008, down from its own earlier projection of around 8.0% in July 2008.

RBI cuts India’s GDP growth projection to 7.5 to 8.0% for FY 2008-09

GDP growth projection cut from 8.0% made in July 2008

RBI has revised India’s GDP growth projection for FY 2008-09 to a range of 7.5 to 8.0% on 24th October 2008, down from its own earlier projection of around 8.0% in July 2008.

Dr D Subbarao, Governor, Reserve Bank of India, unveiled the Mid Term Review of Annual Policy for the Year 2008-09 on 24th October 2008. The downward revision in GDP projections were made in this review.

RBI indicated that in its First Quarter Review in July 2008, it had projected India’s projection of real GDP growth in 2008-09 at around 8.0 per cent for policy purposes. But RBI said that since then, there have been significant global and domestic developments which have rendered the outlook uncertain, and have increased the downside risks associated with this projection.

In particular, RBI highlighted that the global downturn may be deeper and more protracted than expected earlier. Consequently, the adverse implications through trade and financial channels for emerging economies, including India, have amplified.

RBI cautioned that if the recession is deeper and the recovery is long drawn as is the current expectation, emerging economies have also to contend with second round effects in the form of potential terms of trade losses, erosion of export competitiveness and restricted external financing. These adverse developments are overlaid on the moderation of growth in the industrial and services sectors in the first half of 2008-09.

RBI also said that the south-west monsoon conditions and water storage levels support the prospects of maintaining the medium-term trend growth rate in agriculture in 2008-09.

Taking these developments and prospects into account, the Reserve Bank has revised the projection of overall real GDP growth for 2008-09 to a range of 7.5-8.0 per cent

Foreign Institutional Investment in India

The liberalization and consequent reform measures have drawn the attention of foreign investors leading to a rise in portfolio investment in the Indian capital market. Over the recent years, India has emerged as a major

recipient of portfolio investment among the emerging market economies. Apart from such large inflows, reflecting the confidence of cross-border investors on the prospects of Indian securities market, except for one year, India received positive portfolio inflows in each year. The stability of portfolio flows towards India is in contrast with large volatility of portfolio flows in most emerging market economies.

The Indian capital market was opened up for foreign institutional investors (FIIs) in 1992. The FIIs started investing in Indian markets in January1993. The Indian corporate sector has been allowed to tap international capital markets through American Depository Receipts (ADRs), Global Depository

Receipts (GDRs), Foreign Currency Convertible Bonds (FCCBs) and External Commercial Borrowings (ECBs).Similarly, non-resident Indians (NRIs) have been allowed to invest in Indian companies. FIIs have been permitted in all types of securities including Government securities and they enjoy full capital

convertibility. Mutual funds have been allowed to open offshore funds to investing equities abroad. FII investment in India started in 1993, as FIIs were allowed to invest in the Indian debt and equity market in line with the recommendations of the High-Level Committee on Balance of Payments. These investment inflows have since then been positive, with the exception of 1998-99, when capital flows to emerging market economies were affected by contagion from the East Asian crisis. These investments account for over 10 per cent of the total market capitalization of the Indian stock market.

Limits on Foreign Institutional Investors

Each FII (investing on its own) or sub-account cannot hold more than 10 per cent of the paid-up capital of a company. A sub-account under the foreign corporate/individual category cannot hold more than 5 per cent of

the paid up capital of the company. The maximum permissible investment in the shares of a company, jointly

by all FIIs together is 24 per cent of the paid-up capital of that company. The limit is 20 per cent of the paid-up capital in the case of public sector banks. The ceiling of 24 per cent for FII investment can be raised up to

sectoral cap/statutory ceiling, subject to the approval of the board and the general body of the company passing a special resolution to that effect. A cap of US $1.75 billion is applicable to FII investment in dated

Government securities and treasury bills under 100 per cent and the 70:30route. Within this ceiling of US $1.75 billion, a sub-ceiling of US $200 million is applicable for the 70:30 route. (FIIs are required to allocate their

investment between equity and debt instruments in the ratio of 70:30.However, it is also possible for an FII to declare itself a 100 per cent debt FII in which case it can make its entire investment in debt instruments.)

A cumulative sub-ceiling of US $500 million outstanding has been fixed on FII investments in corporate debt and this is over and above the sub- ceiling of US $1.75 billion for Government debt.

Recent trends in the global capital markets :

Several current trends will continue to influence the world’s financial markets long after the present bout of turbulence ends.

FEBRUARY 2008 • Diana Farrell, Christian S. Fölster, and Susan Lund

Struggling credit markets, slumping stocks, and a sliding dollar have been generating anxiety among executives and policy makers in early 2008. Amid the turmoil, it’s easy to forget that long-term structural change in the world’s capital markets will probably prove more important than short-term fluctuations, as it did after the 1987 US stock market crash, the 1992 assault on the British pound, and the 1997 unraveling of Asia’s financial markets.

Recent McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) research highlights several trends that look set to continue during the years ahead, long after the present bout of market turbulence has ended:

the continued growth and deepening of global capital markets as investors pour more money into equities, debt securities, bank deposits, and other assets around the world

the soaring growth of financial markets in emerging economies and the growing ties between financial markets in developed and developing countries

the shift of financial weight in Asia from Japan toward China and other fast-growing emerging markets

the growing financial clout of the eurozone countries and the significance of the euro

the burgeoning role of oil-rich Middle Eastern countries as suppliers of capital to the world, along with the rise of new financial hubs in the Middle East to complement the rapidly growing hubs in London and Asia

While these trends reflect a shift in financial power from the United States toward other parts of the world, the sheer size and depth of the US market will give it a leading role on the international financial stage for years to come.1

The exhibits that follow track the progress of these long-term shifts. The research rests on several proprietary MGI databases that cover the financial assets, cross-border capital flows, and foreign investments of more than 100 countries since 1990. Most of the analysis focuses on developments through 2006, the most recent year for which comprehensive data are available. But some data also show that many of the broad trends continued through late 2007 and will probably persist in years to come.

The continued growth of global financial assets

The full fallout from the credit market volatility of 2007 remains to be seen. But over the longer term, the volume of global financial assets (the value of all bank deposits, government debt securities, corporate debt securities, and equity securities) will continue to expand. Over the past 25 years, through stable and stormy times alike, financial assets have grown robustly. In 2006, their value rose to $167 trillion, from $142 trillion the year before—a 17 percent increase, more than double the average annual growth rate (8 percent) from 1995 through 2005.2

For many years, as equity and bond markets thrived, bank deposits have accounted for a shrinking share of total financial assets. That trend continued in 2006, but the rate of decline slowed because the absolute value of bank deposits around the world jumped by $5.6 trillion—twice the average increase of the previous three years.3 The largest contributor to this rise was the United States, thanks largely to strong income growth and the housing boom, which enabled many households to tap their home equity for quick cash. This source of growth was shaky by 2007. Looking forward, the growth of deposits will depend to a large degree on China, where they are the primary savings vehicle.

Growing cross-border investment links financial markets

The rising level of foreign investment is making the world more financially inter-dependent than it was even a few years ago. By the end of 2006, the outstanding stock of cross-border investments reached the highest level, in real terms, in history—$74.5 trillion of assets. This sum includes the foreign investments of multinational corporations, purchases of foreign debt and equity securities by investors around the world, and foreign lending and deposits. Preliminary data indicate that the total grew to another record level in 2007, despite the disruptions in European and US credit markets during the second half of the year.

What’s more, the source and direction of cross-border investment flows are shifting. In 1999, the United States was the dominant hub of the global financial system. By 2006, it remained the largest single foreign investor and a major hub in global capital markets—but the eurozone countries together had as many financial links with other parts of the world, including emerging markets. The United Kingdom too has become a more significant global financial hub, and Middle Eastern countries are now major investors in global financial markets, thanks to the windfall generated by rising oil prices. In 2006, for the first time since the 1970s, the oil-exporting countries joined those of East Asia as the world’s largest net suppliers of capital.

Conclusion:

The Indian financial system has undergone structural transformation over the past decade. The financial sector has acquired strength, efficiency and stability by the combined effect of competition, regulatory measures, and policy environment. While competition, consolidation and convergence have been recognized as the key drivers of the banking sector in the coming years, consolidation of the domestic banking system in both public and private sectors is being combined with gradual enhancement of the presence of foreign banks in a calibrated manner. There has been improvement in banks’ capital position and asset quality as reflected in the overall increase in their capital adequacy ratio and declining NPLs, respectively. Significant improvement in various parameters of efficiency, especially intermediation costs, suggests that competition in the banking industry has intensified. The efficiency of various segments of the financial system also increased. The major challenges facing the banking sector are the judicious deployment of funds and the management of revenues and costs. Concurrently, the issues of corporate governance and appropriate disclosures for enhancing market discipline have received increased attention for ensuring transparency and greater accountability. Financial sector supervision is increasingly becoming risk based with the emphasis on quality of risk management and adequacy of risk containment. Consolidation, competition and risk management are no doubt critical to the future of Indian banking, but governance and financial inclusion have also emerged as the key issues for the Indian financial system. The capital market in India has become efficient and modern over the years. It has also become much safer. However, some of the issues would need to be addressed. Corporate governance needs to be strengthened. Retail investors continue to remain away from the market. The private corporate debt market continues to lag behind the equity segment.

In marketing, a niche refers to a product or a service that occupies a special area of demand. Actually, the niche market is a small corner in the market that accounts for a certain kind of specialty concerning an unmet customer need. Niches are involved in niche marketing, the process of finding market segments that are small but potentially profitable nonetheless. Thus, for affiliate marketing entrepreneurs, it is a brilliant idea to discover niche markets before choosing the affiliate products. There are many reasons why most of affiliate marketing entrepreneurs are failure and they can not earn big affiliate commission. Many experiences reveal that one of the significant reasons is that those affiliate marketing entrepreneurs are lack of well effective markets research skill. Most of them do not know exactly how to explore their markets for their profitable and success in affiliate marketing business.

The big mistakes for affiliate marketing entrepreneurs when they do their market research and tap in the niche products in the markets are to: (1) promote the best seller #1 products to sell online in their affiliate marketing business (2) advertise the affiliate products to enforce to sell people in the markets and (3) sell poor affiliate products to the market.

The right way to start your own marketing research could be: (1) find the small people who actively are willing to buy products (2) find new products to sell online and (3) find the niche products for small group of people in the market. Additionally, the best approach for doing your marketing research is to identify your skill, hobbies or passionate. With your passionate, you are in the great position to success in selling and earning huge profits. The highest recommendation is to follow to your passionate. However, it is obvious that you should narrow down your passionate for small group of people. With this sense, you are tapping in the niche market where people are actively willing to buy products.

To narrow down and explore the passionate or markets you are interested in, there are a few techniques to help you clearly identify needs in the markets.1. Search information based on focus keywords in the search engines. This is the easiest way to search and explore information on the internet. There are many search engines on the internet to help you. You should look for the information and websites related to your markets or passionate such as size of your markets, a number of websites in your market and major players in the market. With this action, you will gain some ideas for your markets.2. Checkout news website and articles websites. The affiliate marketing business is the content-driven business. It is a great idea to stop by those news or article websites. You should look for the tips, techniques, secrets, how-to and detailed information from those articles. Many experiences reveal that you will gain deeper ideas and information based on those given articles.3. Participant in well-known forums. With the active forums or web boards, it is a great place to exchange, share and take some ideas related to your affiliate marketing business. Many studies show that you can definitely gain ideas from forums where there are a lot of proactive members. With those members, they are willing to discuss, share and exchange the idea or information.4. Visit blogs and community groups. Other great places for exploring the markets are: (1) blog and (2) community groups like MSN group, Yahoo group and Google group. You should look for the questions, information and problem of people in the markets. It will be easier for you to earn more profits and success by discovering the solution or products to serve the people’s needs.5. Explore the market offline. The traditional approach to explore the market is to use the offline strategy. You can start exchanging the ideas or markets with your family, friends or partners. Also, you can start walking through the newspaper, books or magazines to explore the markets.

A final thought, the marketing research is the first critical step for your success in the affiliate marketing business. With the effective marketing research, you will tap in the niche profitable markets and earn more profits easily online. However, the highest recommendations for your success in marketing research are: (1) do not promote the best seller #1 product online (2) do not enforce to sell the affiliate products to people in the market and (3) do not advertise and market the poor affiliate products.Learn more secrets of how to become a wealthy affiliate millionaire. You will discover up-to-date affiliate information, top profitable recommended online affiliate marketing programs, do effective research, improve continuously your home based affiliate business, learn how to make big money online from home over $5,000 a day and participant with other successful affiliate marketing entrepreneurs. You will discover great tips on internet affiliate marketing for your highly successful. Also, you will save your time and money for your trial & error.Learn Affiliate Marketing on Video from Ewen Chia’s new brand video sets to discover top inside tips, techniques and secrets of how to make money over $100,000 within 7 days through your home base internet business affiliate marketing. You will learn affiliate marketing from one of the best affiliate teachers in the world. You will discover great 15 affiliate traffic tactics, which drive laser-targeted & high quality traffic to your affiliate website, like crazy. Also, you will learn how to become an outstanding among your competitors through 7 simple strategies. Finally, you will earn money every single month while you learn affiliate marketing from him.

Read more valuable articles, news and up-to-date information about home based affiliate business at: http://www.zMillionDollars.com/blog. You will discover a wealthy of informative about how to start, build, run and grow your home based affiliate business.

*Reprint Policy: Reprint in full with writer’s name, contact information, active links and brief bio.

Internet marketing covers a broad scope of online businesses. Below is a list of internet marketing business models:

* Pay per click advertising

* banner ads

* e-mail marketing

* affiliate marketing

* interactive advertising

* search engine marketing

* Blog marketing

* Article marketing

* forum marketing

* Niche marketing

Marketers would like to get the best ROI possible for their marketing investment. The fact is that marketing ROI is sometimes hard to track the penny.

Over 72% of the Internets search traffic is requested through Google. That being said, Internet marketing starts with Google and their search bots criteria for returning search engine results.

The popularity of your website is one major factor in how successful your marketing campaign will be. Whether you are marketing from other avenues such as Google Adwords or Adsense; when the individual pulls up your website, they will need to be interested in your content.

Pay per click can be tracked by conversion rate and other tracking tools provided by the advertising company.

Many companies specialize in implementing Internet marketing strategies and Search Engine Optimization services, which both are closely related. If you have a budget that will allow you to hire a marketing or SEO firm I suggest you do so because it will allow you to concentrate on your website content.

Since the first goal of marketing is to increase, the visibility of a product how you decide to do so is paramount.

I started with Google Adwords and made no money. Google Adwords for me was a pay per sale Internet marketing strategy in which I soon found I did not have all the information I needed to be successful.

I had an unfocused website with a theme but no valuable content. I researched how important website content was to marketing, and then a light went off. I began to not only focus my content but target my audience.

My Internet marketing research took me to several forums and expert SEO websites. To be a successful online marketer you have to learn how search engines evaluate website content. Search engine marketing plays a major role in website traffic generation.

Another important factor in marketing is generating backlinks to your website. Although backlinks or sometimes-called inlinks or inbound links are a form of Search Engine Optimization, it has a direct effect on marketing. Backlinks are the number of websites that have your URL listed within their content. Search Engines use this information to determine how popular your website is. The more popular your website is the better your chances of higher page rank. Create backlinks only to websites relevant to yours.

A popular high-ranking website will get more traffic, which will draw, in higher revenue from marketing campaigns.

I learned that Keyword and Keyword phrase search volume was not as important as quality themed content. Themed content includes but is not limited to keeping your entire site relevant to one topic. Straying away from your site theme can confuse search engine robots and visitors’ it could also effect how your website will be ranked with search engines’.

Search engine ranking plays an important role in Internet marketing but it is not the only factor to success. Google gives detailed instructions on their website on how to optimize for high page rank.

If your website is created from a broad keyword term or phrase, you will allow yourself the ability to create Niches out of subcategories of that term. The aforementioned will give you the ability to attract several segments of one broad market.

A website about Golf can set up a separate directory within the website that markets Golf clubs, Golf gloves, Golf shoes, etc.

Some people chose only to cover one segment or Niche (also known as Niche marketing).

Attempting to cover every segment of a keyword term or phrase can slowly allow a website authority status on a particular subject (as long as the content is of quality and the link structure is correct).

Email marketing explains is self-explanatory. Although it has been widely used for spam by those who obtain your email address without your consent email marketing is very effective when done properly.

Companies like Aweber communications inc. of Newton, PA allow its customers to set up email campaigns with verified opt-in. For instance; on our home page we offer you the opportunity to sign up to our newsletter, when you sign up you have opted in meaning you give us permission to send you email. Those on the email list have the opportunity to opt-out via a link that is attached to every email they receive. The cool thing about Aweber is that they make it easy for anyone with a website to setup an email campaign.

Through email marketing, you either are able to further your website marketing strategy by marketing products directly or by sending, them back to your website were you then market the product. I personally prefer the later…

Forum marketing is effective but does take some time as does most marketing strategies. With forum marketing you become a member to forums relevant to your website and participate with substantive posts as much as possible keeping your website link in your signature.

Forum marketing does two things; one, it can allow you to attract visitors to your website (if your posts lead them) and two, it creates backlinks when your URL is in your signature.

Viral marketing is exactly what it sounds like; a virus. It combines many types of marketing strategies such as video, banners ads, email, fax, pod cast, word of mouth, etc.

If you market anything long, enough you will become a viral marketer.

Article marketing does two things also, one creates an interest in your website and backlinks. On the other hand, if your articles are “garbage” then it will only create backlinks. Those that market via articles do so by writing about information relevant to their Internet business and submitting each article to as many article directories as possible. Many people search article directories for information of interest. Search engines also crawl article directories. It can take up to six months to see the results of article marketing campaigns.

Article marketing has been made easier with the numerous auto submission software on the market. Although there are many article databases that do not except articles from auto submitters there are still thousands that do.

It would be in every “webmasters’” best interest to ad article marketing to their marketing campaigns.

Although a combination of Internet marketing strategies are important to generate traffic to your website, once the search engines favor your website and your articles attract visitors, you will be able to market almost anything relevant to your website content.

Retail Marketing in India is in Recession

         The retail market in India is facing slowdown with the ongoing financial crisis happening across the world markets.  Since the markets always have internally linked with each other, the impact of the crisis is generally shared among all. The following circumstances are creating unwelcome interruptions to the Indian retail industry. The industry hopes for the best alternations to overcome the acrimonious situations

Markets in recession worldwide and India too:

          The current meltdown in the world markets is shaking the globe today. Not even a single country seems to be off the hook. The high level of inflation has been a wet blanket for the global markets. The roots of the world markets are nearly pulled away with the heavy downfall of the American financial giants. Amongst many countries, India too not exempted from the impact of world financial crisis. All this is leading to a temporary recess for the markets from a regular busy schedule. However, these fluctuations are not new for global market. For the decades long, markets, across the world, have been witnessing such ups and downs. But the ultimately fact is that the market growth rate is always constantly high when comparing to such downfalls.

Economic slowdown:

           The Financial crisis is adding to the pressure on global economies. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) now sees the world entering a major slowdown. The recovery would depend on three key factors: commodity prices stabilizing, the crisis in the US housing sector bottoming out, and emerging economies providing a source of resilience. But, if the current crisis were to last longer, the emerging economies are more likely to be affected.

The impact on retail industry:

           The inflation or the economic slowdown is adversely affecting the retail industry. With the suddenly disturbed economical status, consumers are gradually losing interest on buying. And for the interested, the unbalanced income, followed by the economic slowdown, is not meeting their buying requirements. This evolution had soon disappointed the hopes of retail industry. Anyhow, it’s all a short-term crisis for the retail industry until the things turn around.

Low marketing and advertising budgets will work out:

           To rectify the things, right solutions are always excavated. Whether the market growth is slower or faster, its potential should not be left unused. Anyway, new and innovative solutions must be invented to answer the current market slump. Cutting down the marketing and advertising budgets will reduce the financial burden on retailing industry. Marketing and advertising are the supreme factors for the retail industry to penetrate more into retail market. Following innovative marketing and effective advertising at low prices will be a brilliant move for the present day market trends.

Challenge to get more customers at low cost:

          In this current meltdown, driving the customers to the retail stores seems high and dry. But, the markets always have the hidden potential despite the slump. Today, the changing market trends demand the retail industry to expand its reach to the more customer touch points so as to drive them to the retail points. ‘Low investments and high returns’ is now made possible with the arrival of technology enabled marketing services. The retail industry should realize that it would be at a fair advantage of including technology enabled marketing services to unfold the immense retailing opportunities.

Present communication channel is ineffective and involves high costs:

         The present channel for customer communication is apparently ineffective which the retail industry has been following for the decades. Moreover, it always involves high costs too. The outdated communication channels should be modified according to the changing market trends. Now, an uninterrupted marketing channel, which will be continuously tied to the shoppers, is needed to boost up the retail industry. Going beyond the traditional marketing at low prices will cut down the high costs and brings good returns.

Best alternative is Online branding and marketing through effective presence:

          Now it is the time to find the right alternative for the retail industry to bring down the expenses and to move up in the market. With the lacks of online searches, happening daily for the different products, online market is now creating enormous opportunities in retail business. To reach the online shoppers, online retailing is the best alternative solution for the retail industry, through which online branding can be achieved. Online branding and online marketing are the ongoing retail business trends

PAVITHIRA.C

M .PHIL (COMMERCE) RESEARCH SCHOLAR

PERIYAR UNIVERSITY SALEM

 

Rural marketing and its Significance

 

Introduction

Rural marketing involves delivering manufactured or processed inputs or services to rural producers or consumers so as to soak up the huge size of the untapped rural market. In today’s congested and difficult markets, both local and global, all FMCG as well as other companies search for new opportunities, consumers and markets. The 800 million potential consumers in rural India presented both an opportunity and a problem, as this market has been characterized by unbalanced growth and infrastructural problems. Thus looking at the opportunities which rural markets offer to the marketers it seems that the future is very promising for those who can understand the dynamics of rural markets and exploit them to their best advantage.

Significance

In recent years, rural markets have acquired significance in countries like China and India, as the overall growth of the economy has resulted into substantial increase in the purchasing power of the rural communities. On account of the green revolution in India, the rural areas are consuming a large quantity of industrial and urban manufactured products. In this context, a special marketing strategy, namely, rural marketing has taken shape. Sometimes, rural marketing is confused with agricultural marketing– the later denotes marketing of produce of the rural areas to the urban consumers or industrial consumers, whereas rural marketing involves delivering manufactured or processed inputs or services to rural producers or consumers. Also, when we consider the scenario of India and China, there is a picture that comes out, huge market for the developed products as well as the labor support. This has led to the change in the mindset of the marketers to move to these parts of the world.

Strategies

Dynamics of rural markets differ from other market types, and similarly rural marketing strategies are also significantly different from the marketing strategies aimed at an urban or industrial consumer. This, along with several other related issues, have been subject matter of intense discussions and debate in countries like India and China and focus of even international symposia organized in these countries.

Rural markets and rural marketing involve a number of strategies, which include:

Conclusion

Rural markets, as part of any economy, have untapped potential. There are several difficulties confronting the effort to fully explore rural markets. The concept of rural markets in India, as also in several other countries, like China, is still in evolving shape, and the sector poses a variety of challenges, including understanding the dynamics of the rural markets and strategies to supply and satisfy the rural consumers.

                                                                             C.Pavithira

                                                                             M.Phil., (Commerce), Research Scholar

                                                                             Periyar University, Salem

                                                                             Ph. 9842550487. Pavithira01@yahoo.co.in

Marketing Practices throughout the World
Most of the contemporary business enterprises use marketing mix when establishing their marketing strategy. The four P’s are: Product, which is cargo and passenger travel in the case, Place, which is worldwide, Price- determined by particular case and Promotion- involves many steps and techniques. The choice of marketing techniques may vary in the marketing of services from the marketing of products, but the basic principles and concepts of marketing are equally important and relevant in both. Basically selling is a micro function which means offering existing products at an agreed price. Often sales people do not control (although they may influence) the production level or quality. Marketing is a macro function, which, in addition to selling, is involved in many other tactical areas, such as: Collecting, storing and analyzing important information regarding markets, competition and future trends. Segmenting the market and identifying specific needs of different customers. Adjusting existing products and creating new products to suit the changing customer needs. Deciding on price levels acceptable to the customers and to the company (ensuring value for money to the customers and ensuring long-term profitability for the company) is another significant task of marketing people. Selecting suitable channels which can be used as ‘pipelines’, either to distribute the products to customers or attract customers to the products/services. In this paper we are going to analyze marketing practices of three different countries of various states of development: developed, developing and underdeveloped. We are going to use Canada, Russia and countries of Latin America as examples for our research.
People in today’s global village are not defined by their ethnic origins any more than by their age or generation Contemporary marketing is, fundamentally, multicultural, as consumers live in a multicultural world. Multicultural marketing concentrates on learning about consumers rather than imposing definitions on them. Gone are the days (if they ever existed) when marketing could rely on sloganistic assumptions such as “generational,” “ethnic” and “life cycle” uniformity. There may be generational, ethnic and life cycle aspects to a marketone may even argue that consideration of these is a necessary part of marketing researchbut one cannot argue that consideration of these aspects alone is sufficient.
Life cycle marketing, in contrast, holds that generations are not unique, that all behavior can be predicated by a person’s age: It does not matter who you are, but merely how old you are. The limitations of both generational and life cycle marketing are most clearly shown when those who argue that the baby boom generation is uniquely defined, turn around and argue that as they age their behavior will follow life cycle patterns similar to those of previous generations. The reality of the marketplace is that consumers are defined by more than their age or the cohort they were born with. The consumer population of Canada has a diversity that is both wide and deep. One dimension of this diversity is ancestry based. Over five million Canadians, 18% of the population, were not born in Canada. Three percent of the population identify themselves as part of the aboriginal population, and 15% identify themselves as being part of a visible minority.
Only 64% of the Canadian population has a single ethnic origin, with 11% of British ethnic origin, 9% of French ethnic origin, and 43% of single ethnic origin other than British or French. Of the 36% of the population with multiple ethnic origins, 27% have at least one ethnic origin that is neither British nor French. Six and a half million people in Canada have some knowledge of languages other than English or French.
At first glance, this ancestry-based diversity may seem to offer support for what is often termed “ethnic” marketing, of approaching consumers as though their consumption patterns were solely defined by their ancestry. As with life cycle or generational marketing, ethnic marketing grossly oversimplifies the factors that determine consumer behavior: people, especially people in the global village, are not defined by their ethnic origins any more than they are defined by their age or their generation. What does determine people’s consumer behavior is their uniqueness in terms of the combination of their heritage, ancestry, age, education, income, life experience and, fundamentally, their valueswhat they believe in. Consumer behavior is culturally defined, where culture means values, interests, life styles, beliefs and aspirations. In effective marketing, it is as important that someone is a vegan as it is that they were born in the 20-year period after the Second World War: that they crave power tools as it is that they were born in Guangzhou; that they are fiscal conservatives as it is that they are 26 years old.
Marketing must not only acknowledge the cultural foundation of consumer behavior, it must also acknowledge that people are multi-, not mono-, cultural. Consumers actively belong to many distinct groups of shared interests, moving fluidly back and forth across the myriad of cultural layers that define contemporary society. At one moment a person’s behavior will be largely influenced by an ancestral context, in another by a peer context, in another by a career context and in another by chance. Today’s consumers comfortably switch from hockey to hoops, hip-hop to classical, dim sum to doughnuts, rap to the Rankin Family, without the need of boundaries or borders.
Just as marketing was starting to be taken seriously across the financial-services sector, a dramatic shift in what constitutes marketing is underway. The marketing that banks had accepted and endorsed has changed. A straightforward application of the traditional “marketing mix,” with the well-known “4Ps” – Product, Price, Place and Promotionis no longer sufficient in the financial marketplace of the 2000s. Instead, a new set of ideas has emerged, along with a new set of terms: individualized marketing, interactive marketing, relationship marketing and internal marketing. Banks can no longer be marketing-oriented; they must become market-oriented. To be marketing-oriented implies using a bag of promotional tricks to capture the bank consumer. To be market-oriented, on the other hand, banks must engage in dialogue with existing and potential customers. This requires bank services and approaches to be designed through close contact with the market.
It’s estimated that the average consumer is bombarded with up to 3,000 advertising messages each day, and that they remember only 2-3% of these advertisements without prompting. All this competition and noise means that banks have to rethink their advertising strategies. One recent trend has been a shift to more print advertising. Although television remains important, as financial services have grown more complex, banks have been forced to use magazines and particularly newspapers to explain the details of their services.
Changing consumer demographics and lifestyles are another reason for the decline in the traditional marketing approach. Financial consumers no longer fall into neat, visible target groups. A rise in the number of women in the work force, more single-person households and the growing seniors population have caused significant marketing change. Today banks must cater to smaller and smaller market niches, and all these changes make mass marketing inappropriate. Associated with lifestyle is the availability of the most valued of all commodities: time. For most consumers, time seems to be continually shrinking. Bank customers want to be able to access their accounts through ABMs and phones, and use new mini-branches, drive-through tellers and boutique branches. This may in turn lead to saturation of the distribution channels.
To help address these changes and the move to relationship marketing, some experts argue that any future marketing strategy should draw on the base of knowledge and experience that already exists within a company, or in our case a bank. In other words, before attempting to develop an image and market position, a bank must look first to its strengths, its customers and its marketplace. Allied to knowledge-based marketing is experience-based marketing. This requires a bank to get close to the customer (an idea promoted by Peters and Waterman 10 years ago in In Search of Excellence). Close feedback about customer needs, competitors, and technology and marketplace characteristics keeps the marketing effort on target. When a bank has a firm handle on knowledge-based and experience-based marketing, it can develop its strategy and position its services in the market. Most important of all, however, is that bank marketing is no longer restricted to marketing specialists. It involves everyone within the bank.
Much of the mystery is now gone and this report is about a changed and a changing Russia. Our impressions of the Former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation were formed over 40+ years of the Cold War. These impressions are generally not very favorable, but we should not allow ourselves to remain influenced by them. Rather, we should now look at a country and a marketplace that is certain to have a profound effect on international business in the decade ahead. Spanning 11 time zones, Russia is the largest country on earth. With an area of 6.6 million square miles (almost twice the size of the United States) and 150 million people, Russia possesses the population base, the natural resources and the potential overall productivity to become an economy almost equivalent to the European Community.
In Russia, however, you will not see A-B split run testing, sophisticated mailing lists, fulfillment reports and analyses, direct response television, database and interactive marketing. Not yet. But you will see emerging forms of direct marketing to include elemental telemarketing, print and broadcast media planning, vertical positioning and back-end promotions. Russians are learning. They call it Bizness- Russians do not ordinarily make references to direct marketing. They have not yet had the time, the formal exposure, the training or competitive requirement to focus on the components of Bizness in which direct marketing applications have become so interwoven. That time is fast approaching, however, as direct marketing “sneaks up” on Russia- and the value added is recognized in fact and for what direct marketing can do.
It can be termed “stealth direct marketing” in that the Russians are currently practicing direct response advertising, without direct intention, in a form and a scope that will soon coalesce into more purposeful applications. Direct marketing will be upon Russia before they know it. It is happening now and applications are increasing rapidly. Most print and broadcast ads in Russia now carry or feature telephone numbers, encouraging the public to call them and to check on their product line and prices. The use of direct response is more prevalent both to accelerate feedback, as well as to improve and emphasize convenience. Russia’s size, its widely scattered population centers and its rapid growth provide the necessary linkage for direct marketing. It is not simply a new Western concept- it is communications, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and marketing penetration and it is a necessity.
Direct marketing in Russia has not reached the point where there are esoteric discussions about predictability, media concentration, personalization or immediacy, but there is talk about reaching customers, response rates, acquisition costs and customer service. Marketing is a new (though not fully understood or appreciated) force in a new market. The marketplace that is Russia is clearly one of the biggest in the world with a dramatic and unfulfilled demand for consumer products and services. And direct marketing, as it is evolving, will help to propel the Russian economy forward.
Seen by many multinationals as a massive market with unrivalled scope for development, Latin America’s potential can only be realized if economic uncertainties and piracy problems can be overcome. The mantra has been heard at trade shows, boardroom meetings and executive paw-wows for years: ‘Keep watching Latin America. Keep watching Latin America.’ The watch-and-wait attitude is now, by and large, over. Latin America is very much at the front of the multinationals’ collective mind these days, thanks to robust sales, keen possibilities of crossover success both within and without the territory, and the feeling that the best is yet to come.
A regional economy is merging in the western hemisphere, and old stereotypes of poverty-stricken Latin Americans are out of date. Central and South American consumers are relatively sophisticated, and their culture remains different from the United States. Businesses can get on the right track by crossing national boundaries, targeting specific Latin groups, and taking their place in the New World’s new order. Does your product have a money-back guarantee? In the United States, this is a tried-and-true way to get a customer’s attention. But south of the Rio Grande, people simply don’t believe such claims. Once they part with their money, they don’t expect to get it back. Latin Americans are more likely than U.S. residents to believe celebrity endorsements, according to Roper Starch Worldwide. They are also more likely to believe the words “new and improved.” They respond more positively to products labeled “the official” choice of a sports team, and they even like the old hidden camera trick. But only an average of 27 percent of consumers in the urban areas of Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, and Argentina believe money-back guarantees, compared with 49 percent in the United States.
As novelists Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende have written, people in Latin cultures believe that life is much more complex than it appears at first glance. This is an important lesson for U.S. marketers to learn in the 2000s. Trade policy, corporate economies of scale, immigration, and popular culture are pushing North America, Central America, and South America toward one big hemispheric marketplace. In the 2000s, the Monroe Doctrine has been replaced by Wal-Mart, the Internet, and MTV. The sometimes simplistic perceptions Norteamericanos have of Latin America obscure a complex reality. Yes, Latin America is home to the exotic landscapes and ancient civilizations of the Andes and the Amazon. But it is also home to the enormous and bustling cities of Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas, and Buenos Aires. Latin Americans enjoy a dynamic consumer economy that is being reshaped by new technologies and media- just as it is in the United States.
Marketers who want to expand into Latin America will have to learn new rules for a different world. While the United States is dominated by a bulging middle class, Latin America is an economic pyramid. Ten percent of the Latin population is in our top ranking of socioeconomic status. Thirty-five percent are in the middle, which is somewhat poorer than the middle class of the United States. And most Latin households are truly poor, especially by North-American standards. Look closer, however, and you will find many similarities between north and south. Latin America, like the United States, is struggling to integrate traditional values with new ideas and attitudes. Even the family, the traditional bulwark of this Catholic-dominated region, is not immune. Only half of Latin Americans surveyed are optimistic about the institution of marriage and family, which is similar to the response in the United States. Despite this pessimism, Latin Americans and North Americans both like to spend time with their families. It is the most popular leisure-time activity, cited by at least three-quarters of those surveyed in all countries.
Among those who don’t stand by their brands, however, United States and Latin-American consumers diverge. In the United States, shoppers who are not brand-loyal typically choose from among two or three favorite brands. In Latin America, they are equally likely to look around for what seems to be the best deal at the moment. For example, 28 percent of United States consumers choose from two or three favorite brands of shampoo, while 22 percent look around for what seems best at the moment. In Brazil, however, 33 percent of urban shoppers go with what looks best at the moment, while only 17 percent buy from a standard list of favorites. These shopping patterns indicate that consumers’ brand “menus” are less developed in Latin America. Northern marketers may have opportunities to add their brands to Latin Americans’ shopping lists.
Consequently we see a common trend in marketing, which is leading marketing practices towards more national approaches. Each nation needs its particular marketing approach as we see it from the abovementioned three countries. There is no doubt that there are still some global influences and commonly accepted marketing strategies like for example direct marketing, that do touch and will in the closer future all places of the world, but there will always be necessary some adjustments according to the origins of the place the strategy is being applied to. All in all, in reality, there is no similarity in consumer behavior between a 54-year-old wine-loving heterosexual herbalist from Halifax and a 37-year-old gay vegan oil-patch worker from Hinton, Alta., yet both are supposedly part of the same baby-boom market. A 20-year generational cohort is far, far too wide to draw any practical conclusions about market behavior.
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The Development and Structure of a Marketing Plan: Towards the Development of Marketing Strategies 1. The Situation Analysis In the planning process there are steps that must be taken prior to the development of the marketing strategies; the first one is conducting a situation analysis. A situation analysis is “the overall process of collecting and interpreting internal, competitive and environmental information.” It presents a summary of these environments and summarizes the company’s current marketing objectives and performance in the market. Through the situation analysis business is provided with a systematic way of viewing marketing activities by analysing the customer, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) in relation to the competition. The situation analysis according to Gartrell includes internal, external and customer analyses, also known as the product, position, and prospect analyses. The product analysis includes a review of the current objectives, strategies, and company performance. Product capabilities are examined as well as the limitations of the tourist product. The whole destination and its facilities are examined to determine what is there to be offered to the potential traveller. This analysis eliminates poor performance since through this the marketing goals and objectives are reassessed in order to determine their effectiveness. Second is the position analysis, which addresses issues such as how the destination is “perceived” by the market, an analysis of the strength and weakness and how these can be compared to the threats and opportunities in the external environment, as well as the previous success of the destination shown in statistical reports. Also, the position of the destination in relation to the marketplace, the competitors’ products, services and their position in the market are examined. Position is important, since marketing strategies are developed based on the kind of image that the company expects to maintain in the eyes of the customer. Next is the prospect analysis also known as the customer analysis, which involves the selection of the best target markets, likely to increase the usage of the destination’s products and services. In this analysis factors like potential demand in certain markets, the criteria for selecting the competition, emerging markets, and what political, social and economical factor may influence the markets are examined. It must be noted that one of the major steps for conducting the situation analysis is the collection of research. Research is pertinent because it is the tool that allows the organisation to become aware of the customer needs, wants and preferences. Marketing research “monitors and evaluates marketing actions and performance, and communicates the findings and implications to management”. Its importance is even more highlighted since it allows for the collection of the necessary data and information to conduct a thorough prospect analysis. In an effort to thoroughly collect accurate and up-to-date data and information from the external environment, an organisation should also have strong marketing intelligence. Marketing intelligence includes “everyday information about developments in the marketing environment that helps managers prepare and adjust marketing plans and short-run tactics.” Besides, the product, position and prospect analyses, Gartrell speaks of a fourth, known as the promotional analysis, which examines the image of the destination in comparison to the competition and the allocation of resources of the two destinations. The bureau’s marketing budget, sales material and marketing programs are also compared to that of the competition. On completion of the situation analysis, this information is fed into the SWOT analysis, which provides a framework for viewing the company’s actual strategic position and developing appropriate marketing strategies. When performed correctly, “it can be especially useful in uncovering strategic advantages that can be leveraged in the firm’s marketing strategy”. 2. Program Planning: Development of Marketing Objectives and Strategies After analysing the information presented in the situation analysis, the next step is to develop effective marketing strategies and in order to do so, marketing objectives must be developed first. This step is a very vital part of marketing planning because without set objectives the marketer is unable to “measure their success in fulfilling the marketing strategy”. Marketing objectives according to Malcolm H.B McDonald are generally concerned with the 4P’s. Therefore, marketing objectives should be set for each one of these variables of the 4P’s and then the most effective strategies or means of achieving the marketing objectives should be developed for each variable of the marketing mix. The first variable, “product”, focuses on developing the right product and satisfying the needs of the target market. A product is “anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. It includes physical objects, services, places, organisations, and ideas.” In the tourism industry, the product is “intangible, variable, inseparable and perishable”. The product is more of an experience put together in a package. The “place” element on the other hand, refers to the channel distribution. It is imperative that a product be available to the customer and in order to do so there must be a channel of distribution that will bring the customer to the product as opposed to taking the product to the customer. This channel usually consists of “travel agents; tour wholesalers; specialists; hotel representatives; national, state and local tourist agencies; the global distribution systems; the internet; and concierges”. They must be very knowledgeable about the destination because they represent the main source of information for the tourists. In order for a traveller to know of product offerings of a destination and make the decision to travel to that destination, continuous communication with present and potential travellers is necessary. On developing effective communication strategies, the target audience must be understood and the most important communication channels for this audience must be known. Secondly, communication objectives must be developed. The response sought from the target market must be identified through objectives. It is believed that since the tourist product is intangible and cannot be tested beforehand, promotion “acts as the product as far as the potential tourist or leisure consumer is concerned” since through this, the customer receives a mental image of the destination, as its experiences are promoted. Images are portrayed through advertising and promotion as the only means of pushing the potential tourist to make a purchase decision. Therefore in tourism marketing heavy interest is placed on the promotional efforts of the bureau. Ferrell & Hartline make reference to the classic AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) model, which sets the basis for the development of the communication or promotional objectives. The model holds that the first goal of the communication campaign is to attract the attention of the target audience. Interest in the product must then be built through telling the customer about the components of the product. If the product matches the needs of the customer, desire for the product is stimulated, which pushes the customer toward actually purchasing the package. After setting the communication goals, the product must be shown to the target audience and the ways to do so are as follows: 1) Advertising – This refers to the use of information to “persuade consumers to take a desired action toward a particular product”. The main purpose of the advertising plan is to ultimately increase profits and sales for the company and also “to provide information that will change consumers’ mental and behavioral responses in a manner favored by the advertiser”. When setting advertising objectives, the overall marketing objectives must be used as a base. 2) Public Relations – This refers to “the process by which we create a positive image and customer preference through third party endorsements.” The major activities of public relations include, press relations, product publicity, corporate communications and counselling. 3) Sales Promotion – This concerns “short-term incentives to encourage the purchase or sales” Other communication strategy options include travel, trade shows, presentations, non-print media advertising, familiarisation tours, event hosting, site inspections, cooperative advertising and direct sales. In sum, for each communication medium selected, measurable objectives and detailed strategies must be developed. The final variable of the marketing mix is price. Price refers to that of the overall package that has been put together for the market and includes issues like car rentals, hotel rates, transportation rates and possibly air fare. 3. Implementation After the marketing strategies have been developed the programmes must be coordinated in an effort to achieve the plan’s goals and meet its objectives. Timing is a vital factor of consideration during the implementation stage. It “affects the placement of advertising and the degree of impact the marketing effort will have on the targeted market”. Evaluating Marketing Strategy Effectiveness 4. Evaluation After careful planning and implementation of the marketing strategies, they must be evaluated in order to determine how successful they have been in achieving the expected or projected. The strategies must be thoroughly examined so that appropriate adjustments may be made. Should marketing strategies prove to be ineffective, the redevelopment of objectives and or new positioning strategies may be necessary. During the evaluation process the firm “tracks results and monitors new developments in the environment”. Constant changes in the environment might also force the marketer to adjust the marketing strategies in order to better attract the traveller. Gartrell states that in evaluating marketing strategies employed in a marketing plan, first results must be quantifiable. In addition, weekly, quarterly, or monthly results should be used as benchmarks for evaluating the plan’s effectiveness. Besides meeting the objectives of the plan, there are a set of measurement criteria that must be used in order to determine the effectiveness of the programs implemented. These include: “total number of visitors to area, average length of stay, room nights booked / used, total economic impact and the total room-nights”. In addition, other measurements known as process variables like: “number of trade/travel shows attended, number of prospects/leads, quantity of brochures distributed, consumer reaction to brochures, number of familiarisation tours, number of participants at familiarisation tourism, number of ads placed, number of travel agents contacted, total number of visitor inquiries, number of direct mail programs, distribution of visitor inquiries, number of media kits mailed, number of editorial inches in publications and total number of direct mail pieces distributed. Undoubtedly, in order to make marketing programs a success, large funds must be invested into the communication strategies plan. This is why Gartrell highlights that for bureaus, “return on the investment” is yet another variable for measuring the success of marketing programs. The best way then to measure effectiveness is to examine the end result of the marketing campaign by using indicators of success generated by a plan, like “visitor expenditures, economic impact assessment and tourism employment”. Simon Kirby and Mark Richardson from the University of Central England mention that measuring effectiveness in marketing, calls for an analysis of the effectiveness “of each element of the marketing communication mix…” The communication mix as mentioned, involves communication vehicles such as advertising, public relations and sales promotion activities. In order to evaluate advertising effectiveness, since Nylen believes that advertising leads to sales, tourist arrivals in this case, then the more advertising done the more “sales” there should be. Therefore, increased tourist arrivals can be used as a measurement of advertising effectiveness. Since print or broadcast media can also be part of the advertising plan, Nylen adds that although the impact of this kind of advertising might be difficult, it is still pertinent to set “expected performance levels that can serve as evaluation standards”. It is also believed that the effectiveness of the promotional tools in the communication mix also varies with the stages of the “Tourism Area Life Cycle” (TALC). In other words, at certain stages of the TALC certain communication strategies will naturally be ineffective. With the TALC, it is believed that the tourist destination, “moves from evolution through involvement, development, consolidation before reaching stagnation”. In other words, during the introduction stage, advertising and sales promotion are extremely pertinent in creating an extremely high level of awareness. In the growth stage on the other hand, advertising and public relations are to remain considerably high, while slightly decreasing personal selling. Next is the mature stage, during which sales promotion is again of great importance as compared with advertising. In the last stage, known as the decline stage, sales promotions must be kept strong and “advertising is kept at a remind level”. Managers and marketers must therefore be aware of which stage they are at in the tourism product life cycle when developing communication strategies, in order to be more competitive and improve the sustainability of the industry. Clearly, companies have control over the development of effective marketing strategies, but as mentioned, in other instances, the external environment literally weakens this control. The external environment of marketing consists of the microenvironment and the macro-environment. The microenvironment is that part of the external environment which directly influences the organisation. The macro environment on the other hand, “refers to the broad environment outside an organization’s industry and market. It is generally beyond the influence of the individual organization” as it contains technological, economical, environmental and political influences that “affect the level and patterns of demand” for prodcuts.