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SERVQUAL or Service Quality is an approach to manage the business processes so as to ensure full satisfaction of the customers by providing high-quality services. It is a framework developed by Zeithaml, Parasuraman & Berry in the eighties, aiming at measuring the scale of quality in service sectors. SERVQUAL was originally measured on 10 aspects of service quality and later on reduced to 5 to measure the gap between customer expectations and experience.   These gaps are caused by various factors like not knowing the customer’s expectations, using the wrong service quality standards, service performance gap, etc. The 5 SERVQUAL dimensions used for assessing the service quality include Responsiveness, Assurance, Tangibles, Empathy and Reliability (R-A-T-E-R). Initially designed for the use of service firms and retailers, the SERVQUAL model became widely discussed when it comes to customer satisfaction and service quality. But it takes a much more broader perspecti...

Multilingual content marketing refers to the process of content marketing done in more than one language. It is considered to be a difficult task especially with the difference in cultural beliefs and expectations coming into play. As per the Common Sense Advisory study in the year 2012, it takes 12 languages to reach at least 80% of the total Internet users. In multilingual content marketing, content is not only produced in English but also in different languages like French, German, Korean and so on to reach untapped customers in regions where these languages are native. This type of marketing does not have a content marketing strategy but follows the one used for content marketing itself with a cohesive message that resonated with your customers in any selected languages. Before starting off with multilingual content marketing, first, conduct a thorough research to understand your market in accordance to the local preferences. Then, create content that goes along with y...

Marketing Attribution is defined as the process of identifying a set of user actions known as events or touchpoints that contribute in some way to achieve the desired output. Each of these actions is later assigned a value. These events or touchpoints include any branded interaction caused from a TV commercial to a promotional email offer. Marketing attribution is a strong tool for those individuals who can uncover various inner workings of their efforts and to use this knowledge in creating game-changing marketing strategies. By using this tool, marketers understand their customer and touchpoints with highest engagements to create effective marketing strategies. They also use it to understand the value of the customer and looks into the campaign to get insights on how to creatively solve the problems faced by the company and its customers. The common types of marketing attribution models are First-Touch Attribution, Last-Touch Attribution and Multi-Touch Attribution....

Next-best-action marketing aka best next action or next best activity or recommended action, is a customer-focused marketing paradigm that considers the various actions that can be taken for a particular customer and then decides on the best one among those actions. It could be an offer, proposition or service which is determined by the customer’s interests and needs on one hand, and the organization’s business objectives and policies on the other hand. Next-best-action marketing strategy is in sharp contrast to traditional marketing methods where a proposition for the product/service is first created and then they make an attempt to find the interested and eligible prospects for that proposition. This practice, typically automated as a campaign management tool, is often product-focused and usually always marketing-focused. This approach requires professionals to collect data about customers using different methods. While this might take the form of simple interactions...

Absorption Costing is an accounting cost method which entails the complete cost of manufacturing or providing a service. It includes not just the cost of labour and materials but also the total manufacturing overheads, either fixed or variable. The cost of each cost center can be direct or indirect and is identified with individual cost centers like accounting, IT, maintenance, etc . Direct cost can be identified with individual cost centers whereas indirect cannot be. The distribution of overheads among each department is called as apportionment. Apportionment can be done in two methods – the primary distribution of overheads and secondary distribution. In primary distribution, the selection of the base on which the overheads are apportioned depends on service or use basis, survey basis and ability to pay basis. Whereas in secondary apportionment the cost of service departments i.e., apportioned overheads along with the values of direct materials, labour and expenses of the...

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a continuous process of detecting and decreasing/eliminating manufacturing errors, streamlining supply chain management, boosting customer experience, and ensuring that all the staffs of the business are up to speed with their training. It aims in holding all the parties involved in the production process who are accountable for the total quality of the final output. TQM is a set of management practices that places a strong focus on process measurement and controls as means of constant improvement. While it was originated in the manufacturing sector, its principles can be used in a variety of organizations or industries like manufacturing, banking and finance, and medicine. And TQM techniques can be applied to all departments within the organization as well and ensures that all employees are working toward the goals fixed by the company thereby improving the function in each and every department. The essential requirements for successf...

Crowdsourcing is a practice of approaching a body of people to obtain needed knowledge, goods or service. It is a combination of two words – crowds and outsourcing, coined in the year 2006 by Jeff Howe in his article “The Rise of Crowdsourcing”. Crowdsourcing involves obtaining information, word or opinion from a group of people who submit data through online platforms like social media and smartphone apps. These people involve in Crowdsourcing works as paid freelancers or on a voluntary basis. For example, an app involved in reporting traffic updates to its users encourages drivers and the public to report any cases of accidents and roadway incidents. The advantages of this practice is its cost savings feature, speed and the ability to work with people of all skill sets which may not be possible with the in-house team. If a particular task takes about one week to complete by an employee, it can be broken down by the business and completed in a much faster time period....

Permission marketing is a marketing approach to sell goods and services in which the intended audience i.e., the consumers receive promotional messages upon consent from them. First coined by Seth Godin in one of his books later became constantly used in Internet marketing tactics. Opt-in email is a good example of permission marketing where users sign up in advance to a website’s information about certain brand’s product/service. Permission marketing is considered to be an effective approach as the project is more receptive to a message, requested in advance. It is also more cost-efficient as the prospect or target audience is easily identified and targeted. With digital platforms like email and social network a direct access to consumers is possible removing many overhead costs. Subscription to SMS, newsletters, RSS feed, blogs or loyalty cards are opportunities for permission marketing. The process of permission marketing begins with the business offering something va...

Affiliate marketing is an advertising model where an online retailer pays a commission amount to an external website for generating traffic or sales from its referrals. It is one of the most popular ways by which a party partners with a business to make money by referring visitors or users to a business’s page/product/service. The parties involved in affiliate marketing are the merchant or the creator/seller/brand that creates the product. These merchants need not be actively involved in this process but should have a product to sell. The second party is the affiliate or publisher who promotes one or more affiliate products to attract potential customers to buy merchant’s products. For example, a person submitting a review blog on the merchant’s product can paste a unique link for that particular affiliate product. When a user clicks on that link to purchase the product, the affiliate receives a fixed commission on that sale. The final party is the consumer or the user who r...

Reverse marketing, as the term suggests, refers to a marketing concept wherein the customer seeks the firm for its product/service on their own and not vice-versa. It is usually done by traditional advertising methods like television ads, print ads in magazines and through online platforms. Here, companies provide valuable information to its consumers without asking them to purchase anything. Reverse marketing is used by firms to improve their brand image rather than just spreading awareness about their offerings. This approach is also used in B2B markets and supply chain management. One of the most famous ad campaigns is that of Dove Campaign for Real Beauty launched in 2004. Rather than advertising the key points of the products the campaign focused on the natural beauty of women to sell their product. As a result, their sales skyrocketed above $1 Billion and caused the brand to recreate their brand around this strategy. To start off with reverse marketing, the first ste...

Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is a list of results displayed on search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. in response to a specific query or phrase. The results include a listing of linked web page titles, its URL, a brief description of the contents in that page and at times, points of interest within that website. The term SERP is often used by Search Engine Optimization (SEO) specialists and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) practitioners. It contains two types of content – paid and organic results. Organic results are those pages that are displayed on the pages of SERP as a result of its algorithm. SEO specialists aim at optimizing web content to bring their webpage in the top positions of SERP because it is regarded to be the most useful content pages and as it goes down, it becomes less relevant. Whereas, paid results are ads from brands that are displayed when keywords provided by advertiser matches with the user’s query. Such ads are configured either through sea...

Online reputation determines how others perceive when they search for your business online. In simpler terms, it’s your image on the internet, what people talk about you and what people perceive. Online reputation management or ORM is about improving or restoring your name or your brand’s good standing online. This is majorly done by countering, weakening or eliminating the negative materials found in the internet and enhancing the positive reviews and stuff about the brand so as to improve the customer’s trust in you when they search for you online. It’s infact not only about managing negative business reviews and content in search engines but also encouraging happy customers to provide positive feedbacks as well. ORM is very important for your business since – Prospective customers who are looking to buy your product may change their purchase decisions when they see bad reviews, negative blog posts or comments. Infact according to BrightLocal - “85% of the consum...

Contextual Advertising is a form of advertising on a website relevant to its page contents. This form of online advertising displays ads on a website based on the theme, content and keywords of that website. Here, advertisements are selected and displayed by automated systems like Google AdSense based on the user identity and content displayed. Contextual advertising is commonly used in ads displayed on blogs, websites and other online platforms like search engines. For example, a person running a movie review blog could have ads to buy movie tickets or a sign up from a movie streaming service. The ads to be displayed are selected by automated systems from the inventory of online registered advertisers. Contextual advertising can be done for both text and videos through Google Adwords and YouTube Ads respectively. Start off by setting up campaign for your ads and choose the type of campaign – text or video ad. Prepare ad text or video file and then move on to targeting, de...

The Deming Cycle is a repetitive four-step management method that includes Plan, Do, Check and Act. It is used for controlling and increasing improvement of a business’ functioning. Deming cycle was popularized by an American engineer, statistician and management consultant Dr. W. Edwards Deming. He is considered as the father of modern quality control (QC). The following are the elements of Deming Cycle: •     Plan – To plan ahead for changes, analyze and predict the concerned results. •     Do – To execute the plan and take steps to control the circumstances. •     Check – To check and study the results. •     Act – To take actions to standardize and improve the process. The benefits of Deming cycle are plenty. It benefits a business in problem-solving process, project management, constant development, process trials and daily routine management within the firm. It is widely used in product li...

Reactive Marketing strategy is referred to a marketing strategy that takes place due to unforeseen competition. The big wide world of social media is now the major place of reactive marketing. At certain times, companies go with this approach to ensure their survival in the market and gain profits. Social media is now the major place of reactive marketing as it helps in generating an incredible rate of engagement for brands. Here, brands place their product or service in places where consumers are already looking for it actively. Reactive marketing can be done through many channels. Search Engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing is one among the many channels that lets you display your brand’s offerings via results displayed on the search engine results page (SERP) by entering keywords your consumers are searching for. It can be done either through paid ads, local search or through organic search results. Directory websites, another channel for reactive marketing, lets you ...

Boil the Ocean refers to an impossible task taken up by an overly ambitious company or individual given the reality of your resources. This phrase is used when someone goes overboard or makes a project unnecessarily difficult. For example, a manager directs his employees to prepare a presentation for a business client. He insists the employees to prepare different versions of it in four different languages when the probability of someone speaking a different language is less or nill. Here, the manager might be accused of trying to boil the ocean with his command to prepare the presentation in different versions. In addition to the term being referred to in business situations, it is often used in group settings to highlight an out-of-control discussion. To minimize the threat of such ocean boiling in group settings practicing effective meeting and discussion management helps. Also prior to a meeting, gain agreement for your proposed meeting agenda to avoid any further ad...

Scope creep in project management refers to continuous or uncontrolled changes/growth in a project’s scope, after the project begins. This takes place when the scope of a project is not defined, documented or controlled properly, considered to be a harmful process. It starts with small adjustments and the project ends up taking a longer duration to complete or even fails before completion. Score creep can occur due to lack of clarity of the project and its objectives, changing market conditions, poor communication between the team, poorly defined initial requirements, etc. To avoid such kinds of scope creeps, the project leader/manager should consider minute adjustments to the original project scope carefully to make only those necessary changes and ensure it does not go beyond the limits of the project’s scope. For example, ‘A’ assigns an ad campaign to Team B with a fixed budget, schedule and requirements. Once the team starts with the project, B takes up new requireme...

Buyer Persona is a semi-fictional representation of a brand’s ideal customer based on market research. Being a research-based profile it describes who your ideal customers are, their challenges and decision making patterns. This provides a complete structure and insight to determine where a company should focus their time on, guide product development and also allow alignment across the organization. As a result, the company will be successful in attracting more valuable visitors, leads and convert them into their customers. A company should go deep into sources that provide insights into attitudes, concerns and criteria influencing the buying decision. With this data, companies align marketing decisions according to their buyer’s expectations. To collect such data, refer industry articles about the present consumers, conduct online surveys or personal interviews, analytics tools for websites, etc. Buyer Personas guide a company in many ways. Building effective marketin...

In digital marketing, A/B Testing or Split Testing is the process of comparing two variants simultaneously to test small differences. This helps marketing departments to take data-backed decisions and remove the guesswork. As a result, companies can understand why certain marketing efforts did not hit the mark, thereby giving them insights into constructing much better versions for their users. A/B Testing is now being commonly used as it became economical with the development of digital platforms. It also paved the way in providing insights to the company about user behaviour, increasing chances for the rate of conversion. Be it the title of a newsletter/mail, ad text, text on call-to-action buttons or a web page’s layout, this testing method gives you insights that might influence customer behaviour. To start with A/B Testing, determine the metric of success for your marketing campaign. It could be the no. of sales, click-through rate, downloads, sign-up, etc. Trial ...