Answer questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Answer questions - Assignment Example 102). It became apparent that mass advertising and promotional programs were quickly losing their effectiveness. Several new segments began to appear and it was becoming costly for companies to satisfy these customers with the same approaches. Southeast Asian companies entered the markets and began using their core competency of operational efficiency to lure customers and price competition to beat competitors. However, the same did not translate into sustainable competitive advantage for most of the players as brand loyalty and profit margins continued to decrease (LeSueur, 2007, p. 98). Experts were quick to realise that the rules of the game have changed and companies that wish to survive and prosper will have to differentiate between transactional marketing and relationship because the former only focuses on customer acquisition, whereas, the latter has a more balanced focus on customer acquisition and retention (Nash, 2000, p. 52). Discussion At its very core, the goal of market ing is to generate value for the customers while also maximising the profits of the organisation. However, transactional marketing and relationship marketing take very different approaches to achieve these objectives. The transactional marketing approach views the client solely as a means to an end while, the relationship marketing approach takes the liberty to consider the person with whom the sale is being as the end in himself or herself. The transactional marketing approach places the utmost importance on making as many sales as possible in the shortest span of time. Therefore, transactional marketers do not find themselves in position of spending time and resources at building relationships with their customers (Nash, 2000, p. 52). Also known as the traditional marketing approach, transactional marketing mainly focuses on pushing the product through mass advertising and promotion. There is little or no emphasis on customer services. Organisations that employ a transactional app roach are highly likely to follow a pull technique, where the focus would remain on the four Ps of marketing without any focus on the activities that are strategically required once the purchase has been made by the customers (Clow, 2007, p. 47). Relationship marketing, on the other hand, remains focused on building valued and close long-term personal relationships, which are built through highly targeted and personal interactions. Important here to note is that organisations that follow a relationship marketing approach do not consider their brand to be their greatest asset, but rather they take the greatest pride in their ability to satisfy their customers and keep them happy (Spiller & Baier, 2005, p. 75). Furthermore, following relationship marketing is a time consuming and painstaking process because it requires a complete rethink of the entire value chain, business model and operations strategy of the organisation. It requires a top-down shift of the organisational strategy. R elationship marketing, at its very core, represents a strong commitment from the side of the organisation to understand the customers and invest at building relationships with customers (Morgan & Hunt, 1994, p. 25). Customers who feel connected with companies are likely to profit the company in