Online Consumer Behavior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Online Consumer Behavior - Essay Example In the physical commercial world, the IT used for operations remains mostly in the background, invisible to the consumer. In e-commerce, however, the technology has been moved to the foreground and has become the store itself as a Web site. Such Web-based stores that use "networks and Internet technology for communications and transactions between various groups of stakeholders like businesses and consumers" have recently also been called Net-enabled organizations (NEOs). A key difference between online and offline consumer behavior is that the online consumer is generally more powerful, demanding, and utilitarian in her shopping expeditions. As a result, customer loyalty on the Web is low overall; although, as in the physical world, it is influenced by the availability of good, relevant content in an enjoyable context. Now that nearly all marketers have accepted that tapping a promotion's full potential requires strategically integrating the online and offline components, considering the differences between online and offline consumer behavior becomes important. Some professionals contend that these differences are enormous; a common refrain, for example, is that where consumer behavior offline is passive, the Web is all about engagement. But what those observers really are comparing is consumer behavior relative to advertising media; they're comparing how consumers interact with ads on television as compared with ads on the Internet. Where online and offline promotions are concerned, the differences are far less pronounced. In many cases, a Web site is really just a digitized retail store. Still, the simple insight that the exact same triggers motivate transactions both on- and offline has tended to become obscured amid the excitement accompanying the rise of online marketing. Promotions that focus on connecting the dots between in-store and online merchandising have, in fact, proved highly successful. Pepsi enjoyed runaway success with its E-Stuff promotion, which drove traffic from the store to the Web and back again. Simon Brand Ventures similarly fielded an online promotion that drove online shoppers to the company's malls, and mall shoppers to the Web. That's not to say that anyone who knows everything about offline promotions can consider himself armed and dangerous when it comes to online promotions. Some interesting, and sometimes surprising, trends and patterns have emerged with regard to online consumer behavior. One such interesting development concerns the profile of the online population: According to a recent newspaper report, the fastest-growing consumer segment on the Web is blue-collar workers---up 52% since spring 2001. A separate and somewhat contradictory report has it that seniors actually are the fastest-growing segment, even though 87% of people over age 65 don't yet have Web access. Meanwhile, a third survey found that online games, in particular, hold surprising appeal among older consumers. This survey discovered that 42% of frequent online garnets are over age 35, while just 30% are 18-to-35 years old. These groups have nowhere to go but up in terms of their online use; still, their growing ranks among the wired population point to as-yet uncharted opportunities for promotion marketers, and their online behavior bears watching. Plenty of opportunity remains among the younger set, to

The Influence of Marketing on Consumer Behaviour Coursework

The Influence of Marketing on Consumer Behaviour - Coursework Example Teacher and staffs of the Department and the Faculty Dean are extremely helpful. Devoid of their assistance this study could not have reached its ultimate conclusion. What motivation methods are used in the Total UK's Carwash Marketing Activity to motivate Consumer Behaviour in the U.K. have analysed from different social thinkers interpretation. The U.K. Government cooperated entirely to collect data for this study. State employees helped with their openness, dedication and sincere desire to serve. Encouragement, love and caring of my family ensured a working environment for such a project without disturbing the normal family routine. All the optimistic attributes of this dissertation have driven from those mentioned above. The conclusions or any other errors, omissions and mistakes within this dissertation are attributable just to the author. Carwash market is an environmentally sensitive segment and its customers are of varied characteristics. Carwash market is a big user of water and also energy. The leaders of the industry are making efforts to reduce demand on environment for the growth in their business. Many present in the industry are already using water reclamation systems to reduce water usage and a range of energy efficient solutions. My present dissertation is 'The Influence of Marketing on Consumer Behaviour: A Review of Total UK's Carwash Marketing Activity'. ... This covers mainly 'Consumer behavior - how consumer buys a product, the way he uses it and mode of its disposal'. It also includes post-purchase behavior. Product used by the consumer is of great interest to the marketer; because they know better how best to position their products or better still how could the marketing managers could influence consumers to consume more of the same product. Most of the environmental problems are emerging from product disposal or the wastage of resources during the provision of service. This is of particular interest to Carwash industry. The Total UK's Carwash market is an important segment of the Transport Industry of UK and its employees play a key role in delivering the services to its customers that goes a long way in enhancing the image of the business. Provision of improved and quality service creates long lasting positive experiences for the customers - the spirited supply of first-class services of Total UK's Carwash play an important role in achieving high satisfaction among its valued customers. The motivation of employees, whether professional one or not, skilled or unskilled, is a major issue in all service organizations. For the Carwash Market, employee motivation is of major importance. It is a big challenge for the management of the Total UK's Carwash Market to motivate employees to stay on the job, maintain low attrition level and to offer the efficient, good service, which customers expect from it. If Customers are not satisfied, they will not comeback to buy service again, it means less sale and los s of revenues. To understand customer's needs, managers should first understand key theories of Consumer Behaviour that will help them do a profitable

Prison Reform Essay Example for Free

Prison Reform Essay Reform was a major issue in early 19th century America because it was a time when more middle-classed Americans were able to devote time to social causes and issues that they saw that concerned them. One of these important social movements was prison reform, and how men and women in prison were treated. In the early 1800’s the United States was regarded as having the best penal system in the world. This is why during the early 1800’s Alexis de Tocqueville was sent from France to the United States to study the penal system there. What he was coming here to study was how the system of prisons had been reformed already by Americans. Many individuals, in particular religious advocates who took up the cause of prison reform, had established themselves as the voice of prisoners. They felt that while prisoners needed to do time for their crimes and be punished accordingly, they also had the right to have good conditions within the prisons themselves. These people had a goal of creating prisons that were conducive to not only punishing individuals, but reforming them became an important part of their time in prison. These religious reformers felt that prisoners should be reformed to become good citizens and, if they never left jail, then at least they could be religious individuals.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The successes of these reformers were that they did create a great amount of interest in reform. Many new prisons began to be built that would be more conducive to reforming prisoners. These successes were shortly lived, however, because sadly the prisons did not go up as quickly as the prisoners were going in and therefore old prisons that were not good conditions were still in use, and many prisoners still languished in them, in even worse conditions than before.

The Travel And Tourism Sector Tourism Essay

The Travel And Tourism Sector Tourism Essay As with everything else, the travel and tourism business is changing constantly with more people booking trips on the Internet, increasing numbers of adventure travellers and fewer people having disposable income since the financial crash of 2009. To get people to bring their tourist dollars to your destination, your plan must accurately identify whose vacation needs you can best serve and get the word out specifically to them. PREMIER INN RESORTS: TASK 1 Know Your Customers Know who is visiting your tourist destination. Texas, for example, did a marketing survey that showed the state brought in nearly $470 million in 2008 with European visitors, most from the United Kingdom. Washington State noted that it made about two-thirds the amount of income from people staying with friends and families as it did from those staying in hotels, so that was a significant market. Make sure local institutions keeping as close track as possible on where people travel from and their demographics so you know where your marketing is working and can more aggressively target areas where the response could be stronger. Set Specific Goals Decide what your specific goals are, such as wanting to double your tourism revenues in the next two years; draw more families to visit your tourism site; increase traffic from a neighboring state to a specified amount; or triple the number of visitors to a specific sightseeing attraction. Identify Travel Trends Stay abreast of travel trends, such as increasing interest in adventure travel, growing numbers of girlfriend getaways, changing demographics that mean more seniors traveling and increased use of Internet for bookings. Use this information to shape how your tourist destination will brand itself, what attractions it will invest in and emphasize and what marketing vehicles it will use. Get Your Message Out Figure out what vehicles will be most effective for promoting your message to the markets you have chosen, including travel review forums, social marketing avenues, Internet broadcasts, and magazine and news articles in general interest and special-interest publications or television ads. Enlist local businesses in advertising and offering specials and discounts for slow periods. Keep in mind, travellers sharing their positive experience at your destination is going to be your strongest marketing tool. TASK 2 . Do a Situational Analysis Target Markets Even if you are experienced at managing holiday rentals, it pays to do an on paper assessment of your target renters. If youre brand new to renting, you may have to do a little bit of research into your area to determine which groups you should target. Demographic Try to determine which demographic groups the majority of your guests belong to, such as: gender, familial status, household income, and education level? Its likely that other belonging who call into the same category as your past guests will also enjoy your home. Geographic What geographic area are your guests from? Do they travel from overseas? Do they fly or drive to your destination? If they drive, how far is a typical journey? Psychographic What do your guests do in their leisure time? What do they want out of their holiday? Market Needs Trends Look at your local holiday rental market as a whole. Are there any traveller groups that dont seem to be well catered for? Has your local area undergone any major changes in the past year? 5 years? 10 years? Look for trends in the number of visitors, demographics of visitors, new construction in the area, sharp increases or decreases in the value of property, significant increases in property taxes, or new or proposed regulations regarding short-term rentals. SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis Completing a SWOT analysis will help you determine where the strengths of your holiday rentals business, where you can improve, and what opportunities exist in the market, and what threats loom on the horizon. Strengths: What does your holiday home offer that other homes in your area do not? What makes your home special? Are your rates competitive? What do you do as an owner that is better than other owners in your market? Examine your online adverts.   What does your ad do well? Weaknesses: What do other holiday homes in your area offer that you do not? Are there any areas where your home could be improved (facilities, dà ©cor, furnishings, etc.)? Examine your portal website listings.   What could be improved about your ads (better photos, better written descriptions, etc.)? Opportunities: Are there any improvements being made or attractions being added in your market (have the beaches been given a special award, or is there a new activity centre opening)? Does your property cater to any of the following growing market segments: retirees, business travellers, families with grown children? Is the area opening up to travellers from a new geographic region? Threats: Are there any new property developments coming to your area (i.e. increased competition)? Has there been a significant increase in property taxes for second homes? Are there any new regulations being imposed on holiday rentals in your area? Competition In positioning your holiday home, you should consider who you are competing with for business, what they offer, and how their pricing compares to yours. After youve compiled a list of your biggest competition, take note of where they currently advertise, which marketing tactics theyve chosen to implement. Then launch your counter attack, by applying strategies that will more effectively or persuasively reach the target customers you have in common. Other Holiday Accommodations in Your Holiday Market This could include other holiday rentals in your area, as well as hotels, bed and breakfasts, all-inclusive resorts, hostels, caravan parks or camp sites. Other Holiday Destinations Often youre not just competing against other accommodations in your area. You may also be competing against holiday homes and hotels in surrounding areas, or even other markets altogether. Holiday Rental Benefits What does your home have to offer travellers? Amenities An amenity is anything included in your home that may be of interest to potential guests. The next time youre at your vacation home, go room-to-room and make a list of the items in each room. Download the Equipment and Facilities Checklist to see if youre missing anything. Suitability Who is your home perfectly situated for? Families with small children? People with disabilities? The elderly? Travellers with pets? 2. Determine Your Marketing Strategy Marketing Objectives What are your most important goals for marketing your holiday home? To receive enquiries? To book a certain number of weeks? To generate a specific amount of revenue? Positioning When setting your marketing strategy, its important to determine how you plan to market your retnal. That is, who your home is suitable for, and how you plan to ? Many holiday home owners make the mistake of trying to target uncomplimentary groups of travellers. For example, if you have a large property in the Algarve, Portugal, creating a home that is too family friendly (for example turning ample sized bedrooms into childrens bedrooms) could alienate groups of adult friends on golfing breaks or girls getaways. However, become too broad in your appeal, and you could seem bland or irrelevant to travellers. Marketing Mix Most marketing activities conducted by holiday rental homeowners fall into the categories of online advertising, offline advertising, and word-of-mouth marketing. Online Advertising Portal websites like HomeAway.co.uk or OwnersDirect.co.uk Specialised websites like your local tourist board Personal websites (your holiday rentals business website) Offline Advertising Print media like newspapers and magazines Radio or TV Collateral material like business cards, fliers or vouchers Word-of-Mouth Customer relationship marketing efforts to past guests, or friends and family discounts Referrals Charitable donations Marketing Research Get to Know Your Target Customer Take the time to do some research about your target renter. The best way to do this is by talking to past guests, friends, and family members about what they enjoy about your home, what could be improved, and whether or not it fulfils the requirements they are looking for in a holiday home. You can also download our Guest Feedback Survey to send to your previous guests Become an Expert on Your Local Area Travellers will often look to you for advice about your area. Put on your travel agent hat and learn about the area attractions and restaurants that may interest your target renters. Stay Current with Events in Your Market Its important to stay abreast of events in your area. Consider subscribing to the local newspaper in your vacation home market or set up Google News Alerts to come to your email. Follow Industry Trends Staying educated on the holiday rental industry will give you a leg up in marketing your home. Keep an eye on our Industry News section, for the latest reports. 3. Get Your Financials in Order (Budgets and Forecasts) Break-Even Analysiskeys to success Even if you do not rely heavily on rentals to cover the expenses for your home, its important to determine how much money you have coming in and how much you have going out each month. Revenue How much rental income do you hope to generate from your holiday home this year? Formula for projected revenue for primarily weekly rental markets: (Number of Peak Weeks x Peak Rate) + (Number of Off-Peak Weeks x Off-Peak Rate) + (Number of Weekends x Weekend Rate) Formula for projected revenue for primarily nightly rental markets: (Number of Peak Nights x Peak Nightly Rate) + (Number of Off-Peak Nights x Off-Peak Nightly Rate) Expenses What do you expect to spend this year to keep your holiday rental running? Note: This formula does not include capital improvements. Cash Flow Calculating your projected cash flow should help keep you aware of where you stand in relation to your rental goals. In addition, consider setting milestones or benchmarks for where you should be when. If you hit a milestone and determine that youre not on course, then its time to implement a contingency plan. Sales Forecast During which months do you get the majority of your income? Be sure to factor in payment schedules, but to simplify the cash flow process, do not include any refundable deposits (otherwise youll have to also include the refund in your expenses). Expense Forecast Determine when you will have money coming out of pocket. Which expenses occur monthly (e.g. mortgage, utilities, etc.)? Quarterly?   Annually? Dont forget about seasonal fixed expenses like such as home or grounds maintenance. Contingency Planning What potential difficulties do you foresee in renting your holiday home? Brainstorm all of the potential problems you could face in your rentals process, and create a plan and a backup plan to deal with each one if it occurs. By preparing contingency plans, you wont be caught off-guard when a less-than-ideal situation arises. 4. Determine Your Personal Keys to Success in Renting Your Home After creating a marketing plan for your holiday rental home, you should be able to answer the following questions: Who is your target market and how is your home best suited for them? What is your homes theme or position in the market? Which marketing vehicles should you use to reach your target renters? How many peak weeks, off-peak weeks, and weekends do you need to rent to break-even on your fixed expenses? What are the potential risks in renting your holiday home and what can you proactively do to prepare for them? What you define as success may be different to what other owners in your area would. The key to personal success in renting is to set goals for yourself and your holiday rental. By setting goals before you begin, you always have a number of booked weeks (or nights) to work toward and will more likely stay motivated and fulfilled (INSKIPP, Carol, 2008) COMMUNICATION SKILLS: As a tour guide, communication will be your main tool in informing and guiding guests around sights and keeping their interest. Below, we have some suggested reasons why communication is so important in a tour guiding context. After reading through them, why dont you tackle the activities which follow, which are based on some of the main reasons for communicating in tour guiding. To inform, remind and advise You will use communication to present your country to tourists. As a tour guide you will have to answer many questions, handle queries and present information to tourists. Among these types of information will be: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ giving directions and commentaries; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ explaining procedures and itineraries; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ providing advice on safety and security; and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ describing tourist attractions. This information to guests can be: helpful suggestions to prepare themselves for a tour, advice about personal belongings to take, medical advice on preventative medicines, and information about available services at tourist destinations. To clarify, and to avoid confusion and misunderstandings Communication helps to clarify facts so that there is no confusion or misunderstandings. Also, sometimes there are unexpected events during a tour which can force the tour guide to change plans, and these changed plans have to be communicated to the tour group as soon as possible, to get consensus on alternative itineraries. To promote and persuade Communication is also the tool youll use to promote the tourism products and services of your country, such as the destinations and events they will visit and enquire about. Remember, tourists visit your country in order to see what attractions the country has to offer and to perceive and experience the country from your perspective. As a tour guide, therefore, it will be your responsibility to motivate and reinforce the tourists interest in your country. Your commentaries are the  « eye  » through which tourists will see the country and you are the representative of the people of your country. To build relationships How well you communicate with your tour group will determine the success of the tour and how successful you are in your career as a tour guide. Conversations help to develop rapport which will build interpersonal relationships. This is important for sustaining the tourism activities. To evaluate your services Communication will enable you to collect relevant feedback from the tourists with a view to gauging the interests and expectations of the tourists. This feedback obtained can be communicated to all concerned. From this you will be able to explore ways of improving subsequent tour activities. TASK 1 Email To: XXXX From Anamika Sinha CC Subject Cox kings share Holdings Dear XXXXXX I have recently visited Cox kings share Holdings and attach my report. The prospects for devolving HR activities to the line are examined in this article. Evidence drawn from a wider study of HRM in practice suggests that, while line manager involvement is possible, their practices tend to be inconsistent in implementation and uneven in quality. A number of constraints on line management practice were identified. First, there is limited reinforcement of practice through institutional forces. Secondly, the short-term nature of managerial activity means that a greater priority is placed on the achievement of the numbers rather than the achievement of numbers through people. Finally, downsizing and delivering place tremendous pressures on the time which line managers could allow for people matters generally. These findings challenge much of the rhetoric associated with the idea of giving HRM back to the line by arguing that the quality of line management practice may distort the overall impact of HR policies. TASK 2 Phone Communication Phone communication remains an important means of business communication because it can link partners, employees and business professionals nationally and globally. Costs of phone communication can be significant, particularly if a business requires a lot of international calls. Verbal Communication Verbal communication in groups and between individuals is still a critical and popular method of business communication. Mastering the art of verbal communication can help you articulate ideas and solve problems in ways that everyone will understand. The Internet and social media Web-based portals, such as Face book and Twitter, have taken the business world by storm. Email and social media represent ways for businesses to communicate important information in a matter of seconds. Fax Faxing is a fast way to communicate information and data as well. Faxing can be especially beneficial when information needs to be communicated in hard copy. Written Communication Believe it or not, companies still write memos and other reports that communicate information internally throughout a company. Written communication is an important method of communication because it helps establish a paper trail. TASK 4  · Speed and Costs of Communication The most significant impact of technology on communication is the spread of the internet and the possibility of sending emails and chatting. In the pre-information technology days, a document often required re-typing on the typewriter before the final version. Sending the letter across to someone else required a visit to the post office and a postage stamp. Faster methods such as telegrams had severe limitations in text, and remained costly. Computers and the internet have made easy the process of creating and editing documents and applying features such as spell check and grammar check automatically. Email allows sending the document to any part of the globe within seconds, making telegrams, and even ordinary letters mostly obsolete. The internet has thus increased the speed of communications manifold, and reduced the costs drastically.  · Quality of Communication The huge amount of knowledge accessible by a click of the mouse has helped improve the quality of communication. Translating a text from an unfamiliar language to a familiar language, seeking out the meaning of an unknown word, and getting follow up information on an unfamiliar concept are all possible thanks to the internet. Technology allows easy storage and retrieval of communication when needed, especially verbal communication, the storage of which was very difficult before. It now becomes easier to rewind and clear misconceptions rather than make assumptions, or contacting the person again to clear doubt.  · Change in Communication Style The invention of new gadgets such as mobile phones makes communication easier by allowing people to communicate from anywhere. An underestimated impact of mobile gadgets is their impact on the nature of communications. The nature of such impact includes the following: The possibility of high quality communication from anywhere in the world to anywhere else at low costs has led to a marked decline in face-to-face communications and to an increased reliance on verbal and written communication over electronic mediums. The small keyboards in mobile phone and other hand held devices that make typing difficult has resulted in a radical shortening of words and increasing use of symbol and shortcuts, with little or no adherence to traditional grammatical rules. Such change now finds increasing acceptance in the business community. Communication has become concise and short, and the adage brevity is the soul of wit finds widespread implementation, though unintentionally.  · Accessibility to Communication The answer to the question how has technology changed communication is incomplete without a mention of the role of technology in the democratization of communication systems. Technology has brought down the costs of communication significantly and improved peoples access to communication. The proliferation of online forums, live coverage of news, and other such media related initiatives have resulted in world wide access and participation in news and information for almost everyone. In the realm of business, access to communication or privileged information was hitherto a major source of competitive advantage. Technology helps remove such barriers and ensure a level playing field in this aspect for the most part.  · Nature of Communication The ease of communication and the spread of interactive communication methods such as instant messengers and video conferencing has increased the volume of communications, but reduced the average length of communications. People now communicate whatever comes up instantly, and tend to break up different topics into different communications. Finally, technologies such as the internet help spread the net of communication by tracking down old friends, shedding light on new business opportunities, and the like (JOHN SWARBROOKE, Susan Horner, 2001) PEOPLE IN THE ORGANISATION: TASK 1 All these organisations are connected to either the National Government, which is departments or ministries, or to local Government. This chart shows the range of commercial and non commercial organisations involved in Travel and Tourism. The government organisation, the DCMS (The Department for Culture Media and Sport. This is one of the many civil service departments which serve the elected government of the day, whatever their political views. These departments do not have any political bias. Examples: Treasury doles out all the money the taxpayers money to other departments, e.g. education, defence, DEFRA (Department for the Farming and Rural Affairs), which is the department for the environment.  · The DCMS is responsible for and to oversee: Government policy on the arts, Sport The National Lottery, Tourism, Libraries, Museums and galleries, Broadcasting, Film, The music Industry, Press freedom and regulation licensing, Gambling Historic environment.  · The present secretary of the DCMS is Tessa Jowell. Funding of the DCMS ===================  · Funding comes from the taxpayer (income tax)  · In addition, the Treasury decides what share each government department will get. Stakeholders Stakeholders are anyone who has an interest in an organisation. The people who are hold an interest in the DCMS range from: Government of the day. This is because DCMS carries out the policies. This relates to Tomorrows Tourism Today, which outlines plans for action and responsibilities for delivery for the DCMS and its key partners in five areas. These are the four joint priorities agreed by the DCMS and the tourism industry; marketing and e-tourism, quality, skills and data, plus a fifth priority for the DCMS advocacy for tourism across Whitehall and the EU. Tomorrows Tourism Today, which had the working title of the Tourism Prospectus, is the result of consultation by the DCMS with its key partnership organisations; Visit Britain, the England Marketing Advisory Board (EMAB), the Tourism Alliance, the Local Government Association and the Regional Development Agencies. It also reflects comments from over 30 organisations and individuals who responded to a final round of general consultation. The idea for Tomorrows Tourism Today came from the series of Hartwell Conferences between the DCMS and the tourism industry. They were part of the process of tackling the downturn in tourism that followed the Foot and Mouth outbreak and the September 11th attacks in 2001. The public as the taxpayers, as the DCMS is spending our money. Customers of tourism in the UK. Businesses, which benefit from the work of the DCMS. Employees of the DCMS civil servants. NGO`s (Non Governmental Organisations), which are not elected and have no political bias. Organization Chart Non-Governmental Organisations  · These are non-elected organisations, which advise the main government departments or ministries and through them advise the elected Minister of the day.  · NGO`s: Advise the department on policy. Co-ordinate activities. Produce strategic plans such as Tomorrows Tourism Today. Allocate government funds to all organisational and activities connected with tourism.  · Examples of NGO`s are: Visit Britain English Heritage Countryside Agency Sport England TASK 2 REPORT SECTION A: Communicating effectively can be the difference between the success and failure of any business endeavour. Effective business communication involves time-honoured practices and customs you can easily learn. These business communications best practices remain as relevant now as they were in the past. These best practices also apply to any form of business communication you choose to employ; whether it is a print brochure or an online website. Be Clear and Concise The most important business communication practice is to be clear with your message. Too often, business communicators load their messages with jargon and technical terms the intended audience cannot understand. Dont be vague. Use concrete terms and be specific. You should use clear, easily understood words. Avoid industry-specific terms and acronyms unless they are common knowledge to your audience. Err on the side of caution, however; dont assume you know what your audience will understand. Focus on Audience Effective business communication practices target a specific audience. Communicators should always ask Who is my audience? What is their level of knowledge about what you are presenting? What are their needs and values? Knowing the answers to these questions can help focus your message. Business communication author Ken OQuinn, writing for the International Association of Business Communicators, says you should frame your appeal in a way that makes it relevant to your audience. Your ideas need to be in their realm of experience, he writes. Dont Sell Features. Sell Benefits. Whether you are writing an internal memo or a sales brochure, your business communications should focus on value. A best practice is to sell benefitshow your idea or product will improve the lives of your internal and external customers. Selling benefits will grab attention and sustain interest far more than simply selling the features or physical attributes of a product or service. In an International Association of Business Communicators article, writing coach Daphne Gray-Grant says selling features is dull. Selling benefits generates excitement, she says, and leads to business communication with high impact. Use Multiple Channels Peter Lowy of the Business Communications Strategies group, Brookline, Mass., writes that you cannot afford to deliver your message using only one medium. The proliferation of media offers people numerous choices for consuming information. People have their preferences, and they process information at different times, Lowy says. In addition, for your communications practices to be effective, you should optimize your message for each medium. For example, a message delivered through a website will typically be shorter and more to-the-point than the same message in a print newsletter article. REPORT SECTION B: There are numerous advantages of teamwork in business. Some of the genuine advantages of teamwork have been discussed below. The following advantages of teamwork are not only applicable for businesses but they can also be noticed in departments that function with the help of united efforts. United Effort Teamwork in any business ensures that the task at hand is executed with the help of a united effort. The significance of the united effort is that the business organization that is concerned, functions like a single person, thereby enhancing the quality of the operations. There are, also, some other related factors, such as ensuring equality in profit-sharing and division of work. It also helps the members/owners of the organization to maintain a very good system, that designates appropriate authority and responsibility. A united effort, also, reflects good team building and team spirit. Division of Work Teamwork ensures that there is an equal and fair distribution of work within the organization. A fair work distribution ensures that every person or every working unit, executes any task at hand, with the best possible efficiency. The division of work, also, ensure that the work is done on time and deadlines are not extended. Reduction of Risk When the task at hand is executed with the maximum possible efficiency, there is a reduction in risk. The best advantage of teamwork in business is that the burden of failure is borne by all the members of the team and it does not fall on the shoulders of just one person. Specialization in Work Another very good advantage of teamwork in business is that a person is able to specialize in one specific field. That is, he can optimize the quality of the work that he does, and can also work with the maximum possible efficiency. This ensures a high quality output from all individuals and the whole team. Subordination of Personal Interest to Organizational Interest One of the biggest advantages of teamwork is that personal interest is subordinate to organizational interest. This ensures that all the team members put in the maximum possible efforts into their work, thereby ensuring a high quality and timely output. You must have noticed that the list of advantages points out to two basic facts that work when distributed reduces one persons workload and a reduced amount of

Brave New World - Is Individuality a Threat to Society, or a Gift to So

As man has progressed through the ages, there has been, essentially, one purpose. That purpose is to arrive at a utopian society, where everyone is happy, disease is nonexistent, and strife, anger, or sadness is unheard of. Only happiness exists. But when confronted with Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, we come to realize that this is not, in fact, what the human soul really craves. In fact, Utopian societies are much worse than those of today. In a utopian society, the individual, who among others composes the society, is lost in the melting pot of semblance and world of uninterest. The theme of Huxley's Brave New World is community, identity, and stability. Each of these three themes represents what a Brave New World society needs to have in order to survive. According to the new world controllers, community is a result of identity and stability, identity is a part of genetic engineering, and stability is what everyone desires to achieve. These themes are represented in the bo ok by the symbolic meaning of the phrase "Children are from bottles" and the hypnotic phrase "Everybody belongs to everybody else. For a better understanding it is useful to explore these themes in detail. Community refers to the thought of one whole unit. Everyone is connected, by their actions toward each other in every day life, sexual desires, and what they do to remove the feeling of horrible emotions. This connectedness and lie, and its effects can be seen in the character of Bernard, a person who hates what society has become. The year is A.F. 632 (After Ford; Ford is the equivalent to God in Brave New World and with the available technology, citizens are mass produced. But have an underlying theme in common. The stability of this brave new w... ...ch.† It is this willingness of man to make the same mistake twice that in 2000 the ideas in Brave New World do not seem that far off base. Most people thought that with the collapse of the Soviet Union it would put an end to the suffering and an all-controlling government. But with an influx of clones, test tube babies, government controls of television, needless violence, and the search for the perfect mood altering drug. Who is to say that Brave New World is not earth in fifty years? As more people lose their individuality they become connected with community. It is with this connection that they begin to let others control their lives and humanity is already headed in that direction. Brave New World should not only be seen as a great piece of science fiction. It should be seen as a warning. Of what can happen when people live up to the influence of outside sources.

Ghost Story of Split Rock Road :: Urban Legends Ghost Stories

Split Rock Road This tale was told by a twenty-year-old Caucasian male from Boonton, New Jersey, who was very excited to share his paranormal experiences. According to the narrator, Split Rock Road runs through a nice residential neighborhood. However, at one point the pavement stops and turns to gravel. At this point, there are no lights on the road, which is surrounded by woods. As you continue down the road, you come to a bridge on top of a dam and an abandoned guard tower. Legend has it that if you turn off your headlights and stop the car while on the bridge, everyone in the car dies. The narrator attempted this once with his friends late at night. He managed to turn off the headlights and stop the car, but all of his friends started screaming and begging him to go back, so he left very quickly. He said that it was one of the scariest experiences of his life. Additionally, there is rumored to be a ghost that wanders on Split Rock Road, a young girl in a white sundress. However, the narrator ha d never personally seen this ghost. Split Rock Road is a notoriously creepy place in New Jersey, with references on both the â€Å"Weird New Jersey† website and the â€Å"Lost Destinations† website. While neither site directly states that if you turn off your headlights and stop the car that you will die, the â€Å"Lost Destinations† site mentions the urban legend that if you try to drive across the bridge at night, gangs will block the exits on either side and trap you in. Additionally, while there is no specific mention of a girl in a white sundress, there are rumors that the bridge is haunted by drowning victims, mostly teenagers who get sucked into the underwater drain and smash into the concrete â€Å"waterfall† on the other side. Both sites also mention practices of the occult allegedly performed on Split Rock Road; the â€Å"Lost Destinations† site describes piles of bones and structures shaped like furnaces that are supposedly haunted by ghosts late at night. Similar furnaces can be found on Clinton road, another creepy spot in New Jersey. The primary scary feature of the story is the concept that doing something as innocent as stopping a car can cause death. Death is something that most people fear, or wish not to encounter until they feel that they have lived their lives to the fullest.

External Communications Anaylsis †Walt Disney Corporation Essay

Public relations have always realized the importance of communication with its target audiences. Without it, an organization runs the risk of inconsistent public opinion from both its internal and external publics. Effective external communication is a vital part of an organizations public relations strategy. An organization may have several objectives in mind when it communicates with its external publics. Some of these include: Providing information to consumers about the organizations products and services Promoting the organization Respond to inquires concerning the organizations products and services Adverting the organization This paper will examine the effectiveness of the Walt Disney Company’s communications process when promoting its 1995 film, Pocahontas. This paper will also discuss impact of these effective communications to its external publics. Walt Disney once said, â€Å"I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.† In 1928, Walt Disney and his brother Roy created what would eventually become the Walt Disney Company, in a small office in Los Angeles. One would be hard pressed to find an organization that knows it audience more accurately than the Walt Disney Company. For over 75 years, Disney has been appealing to children and their parents in not only the United States, but also worldwide (Harris, 167). Disney released its very first full-length feature animated film, Snow White, in 1937, to critical acclaim and worldwide success. The 1940’s and 50’s produced films such as Fantasia, Bambi, and Alice in Wonderland. These films became instant classics and the Walt Disney Company found what every company dreams of – a recipe for success. After the success in the early 1990’s with Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin, and especially the record breaking, The Lion King, Disney needed to find a way to keep its momentum going for its next animated feature film, Pocahontas. In order to attract public interest, Disney began promoting the film five months before the film’s scheduled release, in June 1995. A Disney source says the campaign for Pocahontas â€Å"is every bit as great as it was for The Lion King. In some aspects, it’s even greater† (qtd in Broeske). Disney went on to fuel the media frenzy with a Pocahontas press presentation in New York’s Central Park on January 31, 1995 (Broeske, 8). Not only did Disney begin promoting the film early, they also launched a 24-city mall display that offered mall goers a â€Å"sneak peek† at the process of creating an animated film. The mall attraction also included a 26-foot replica of John Smith’s ship in which kids could climb and explore (Harris, 168). The mall attraction generated hundreds of thousands of visitors and gathered local publicity in every city reached from February through June 1995 (Harris, 168). Disney also teamed up with such brands as Nestlà © TM, Mattel TM, and Payless Shoe Source TM, in order to reach its target audience. By offering animated candy bars, doll figures of the main characters, Pocahontas and John Smith, and offering Native American-style moccasins, Disney was able to cross into the hands of its key target – children. In early June, Disney’s CEO Michael Eisner went on to invite all New Yorkers to participate in a free lottery for tickets to preview Pocahontas, once again in Central Park. Over 500,000 people participated in the lottery and 100,000 lucky winners won the opportunity to see the film on four 120-foot screens (Harris, 168). The impact surrounding the public relations strategies in promoting the Pocahontas film was unprecedented by Disney. In response to the overwhelming success of The Lion King, Disney executives knew they needed to generate a high level of interest in Pocahontas. The story itself, for the first time in Disney history, is based on American History. While there is still a  debate between scholars as to whether Pocahontas’ role in history was accurate, this version focuses on the love story between her and Captain John Smith, a British settler (Broeske, 8). While history dictates that most children do not like movies based on history, Pocahontas proved that opinions could be changed, as it brought over $300 million in box office sales before finally being released on VHS and DVD. The Walt Disney Company name is synonymous with words like wholesome, family values, and moral. Disney’s longstanding popularity with children and adults alike has fueled this media juggernaut into one of the largest corporations in the world. Essential to the success of all of the public relations activities was Disney’s efforts to leave no stone unturned in its attempts to generate unprecedented interest in its new film, Pocahontas (Harris, 169). Works Cited Broeske, Pat H. â€Å"The Pocamotion.† Entertainment Weekly. 260 (1995): 8 Harris, Thomas L. Value Added Public Relations – The Secret Weapon of Integrated Marketing. Chicago: McGraw-Hill, 1998.