Marketing Strategies in Corporate Sector

Marketing Management

Qaseem Zaidi [20141-17560]

Muhammad Rafi Raza [20141-17876]
Muhammad Talha [20141-17249]
Omer Shafi [20141-17594]
Latif Ur Rehman [20141-17668]
Submitted To | Noman Mehmood

Date: Dec 12, 2015

Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2
C Square Consulting (Pvt.) Ltd................................................................................................................... 2
Colgate Palmolive Pakistan Ltd. ................................................................................................................ 2
Pak Datacom Ltd. ...................................................................................................................................... 3
C Square Consulting (Pvt.) Ltd Interview ................................................................................................... 3
Identified Gaps .......................................................................................................................................... 5
Recommendations .................................................................................................................................... 5
Colgate Palmolive Pakistan Ltd. Interview ................................................................................................. 6
Identified Gaps .......................................................................................................................................... 8
Recommendations .................................................................................................................................... 9
Pak Datacom Ltd. Interview ....................................................................................................................... 9
Identified Gaps ........................................................................................................................................ 11
Recommendations .................................................................................................................................. 11
Limitation .................................................................................................................................................... 12
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 12

Introduction
The idea was to visit corporate organizations and tried to extract the information about the marketing
strategies and problems they are facing in their marketing domain. We also have to identify the areas
where they are lacking in approaching their customers and then propose a solution for their problems. In
order to achieve this we have visited three corporate organizations and meet their respective marketing
managers. We conducted an interview with marketing managers of the organizations and after getting
the information we have identified their problems and proposed a solution for them. The brief
introduction of the companies that we have visited are listed below.

C Square Consulting (Pvt.) Ltd

C Square Consulting (Pvt.) Ltd. was founded in 2009 with a vision to become a market leader in IT
Consulting Solutions. C Square Consulting prides itself in being a customer-centric organization, which
enables it to understand the needs of its customers and provide them with a solution suitable to their
business needs. With core expertise in Contact Center Solutions, IP Telephony, CRM Solutions,
Information Security Solutions and Customized Software Development, C Square guarantees its
customers a quantitative and qualitative improvement in business performance with an enhanced ROI.
C Square Consulting is privileged to service numerous leading edge Telecommunication Companies and
Financial Services Providers based out of the Middle East & African regions, with deployments in
Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Egypt and Pakistan in less than 3 years. Customers
include Byblos Bank in Lebanon, Standard Chartered Bank, Pakistan and Orange Telecom & Arab Bank
of Jordan amongst others.
Hareem Zahra: She is an IBA Graduate with a Masters degree in Marketing from UK. She is working as
Asst. Marketing Manager in C Square Consulting for last one year.

Colgate Palmolive Pakistan Ltd.

Colgate Palmolive started its operations in Pakistan in 1977 as joint venture between Colgate Palmolive
(USA) and Lakson Group. Over the years the company has successfully marketed some very popular
consumer products. Colgate Palmolive (Pakistan) is listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange with 60%
equity with the Lakson Group, 30% with Colgate Palmolive (USA), and 10% shareholder equity with the
general product. The Lakson Group is a prominent group with business enterprises in all-major sectors.
Pervaiz Mullick: He is an AGM (Associate general manager) of marketing at Colgate Palmolive Pakistan.
He has been working in Colgate Palmolive For the last 32 years.

Pak Datacom Ltd.

Pak Datacom Limited feels pride to be one of the largest and most reliable data network operators in
Pakistan with presence in more than 55 cities across the country. Soon in near future, PDL will also be
facilitating its customers in Middle East, Africa, and Afghanistan as a part of its expansion. Providing the
best possible and highly redundant services to the valuable clients in financial, telecom, airline, energy
and other sectors, PDL intends to grow both in terms of coverage and technology. Pak Datacom limited
is a member of Islamabad chamber of commerce and Industry. Being the pioneer in Pakistan in the field
of Data Communication, Pak Datacom Ltd. specializes in providing end-to-end high quality data
communication solutions through application of Optical Fiber, Radio and Satellite technologies
Junaid Alam: He is a Sr. Manager Marketing at Pak Datacom Limited September 2002 Present (13
years 4 months)

C Square Consulting (Pvt.) Ltd Interview

Interviewer: Hello! We are students of MBA at Institute of Business Management. Actually we have been
given a university assignment, in that assignment we have to visit some corporate organizations and meet
their Marketing Manager to get some information about their current marketing strategies and issues
they are facing.

Interviewer: So first of all please tell me something about C Square Consulting. And what is your role in
the organization?
Marketing Manager: C Square Consulting is a Systems Integration company with core capabilities in
Customer Experience Management solutions and Unified Communications. We are partnered with some
of the leading global technology companies like Genesys, Huawei, Cisco and Microsoft, and we provide
products and services from our partners as well as those that we created ourselves to clients all over the
globe.
I am the Asst. Marketing Manager here. My role actually includes several aspects given that we are a small
team of two people. So I handle planning, implementing and then the analyzing of results of all the
different kinds of marketing tactics and platforms that we usewhich would include event marketing,
print marketing, and very importantly the online marketing through emails, social media and our website.
Interviewer: Tell me about your marketing strategy?
Marketing Manager: Umm, well, before going on to that CSQUARE is a relatively new company,
completing our 6 years this year. And in this short span of time we have actually had great successes to
our name locally as well as globally. Weve had some of the big names as satisfied customers, our work
has also been recognized through several awards, and we have now even had great response to products
that we created in-house. So far our focus has been to develop our core expertise; now while our technical
teams continue doing great work, we also want the world to know more about us. To-date, our marketing
has been limited.
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So coming to your question, our strategy is more focused on informing our new and existing customers of
our identity, our corporate successes, and leveraging that to attract customers towards our partners as
well as our own in-house products.
Interviewer: How will your customer become aware of your business?
Marketing Manager: Our customers will get to know of us if were there where the customer is present
and looking for solutions to his problem. There is no point of any of my marketing efforts if it is not
reaching the right customers, at the right time, through the right channel. And today, all these rights are
determined by our customer. For CSQUARE, our customers are available at the key events that happen all
round the year, locally and internationally; they are reading the latest industry news; and they are online.
Your efforts are incomplete without an online presence, especially in the customer experience
management industry. And then after all this comes word-of-mouth. So events, PR, online mediums, and
word-of-mouth, thats how our customers get to know about us.
Interviewer: Who is your audience?
Marketing Manager: Every good marketing plan begins by profiling its customer. Briefly, CSQUAREs
audience is managers or executive level professionals who are key influencers in their organizations
customer experience management decision-making process. They are looking for a solution that is the
right investment for boosting their customer loyalty and business revenues. And they are working in any
industry that deals with creating memorable experiences for its customers retail, finance, telecom,
airline, and many others.
Interviewer: What does an ideal client look like?
Marketing Manager: (laughing) one who is always ready to buy our product or service at the best price!
Interviewer: Who is your competition?
Marketing Manager: Well All those working in the same industry, particularly doing contact center
solutions, IP Telephony, feedback kiosks, they are all our competitors. Internationally, all other partners
of our Partners become our competitors. So there are many direct and indirect competitors, it wouldnt
be really possible to give you a list.
Interviewer: what is your competitive advantage?
Marketing Manager: System integrators with international-level expertise and customizable solutions.
Interviewer: Does price impact the marketing strategy?
Marketing Manager: Umm, price does play a role in marketing in general. But not to a great extent in our
kind of business. One of our differentiating factors for international clients is that we provide leading
solutions at considerably more affordable rates. However that doesnt play into our marketing
communication.
Interviewer: How much importance is given to the customer feedback?
Marketing Manager: Oh a lot! So much that we have recently launched a product for our clients that
collects customer feedback. Customer experiences cannot be made memorable without understanding
our customer deeply. And the best way to know the customers thoughts and feelings is by asking them
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directly how their experience was so that we can learn and be better. CSQUARE definitely wants to be the
best out there! Good or bad, we want to know how our clients felt the experience was like and then we
act on the suggestions made.
Interviewer: Does word of mouth impact your organization negatively or positively?
Marketing Manager: It is a very social world these days and word-of-mouth is much quicker to be shared
around. For CSQUARE, word of mouth has been a great advantage as we have had many successes and
clients recommending us has been a bonus to that.
Interviewer: Does monopoly has any impact in strategy formulation?
Marketing Manager: (shrugs) it would I suppose impact where it exists. It doesnt in our industry. Hasnt
given us any problem.
Interviewer: Where do you want to see the organization after 10 years and what are the plans to achieve
these goals?
Marketing Manager: (excitedly) oh weve got big dreams and were all going to do our best to get there.
We want to see CSQUARE as the leading systems integration name across the globe. We want to be the
first choice of our clients, for not just the products and services of our partners, but for our own products
which have even today shown tremendous reception by our clients. And to achieve all this, itll be a
combined effort of all our teams, particularly the technical development and implementation teams, and
the marketing and sales sides. We are working hard, and deeply invested in what we do, and going the
way we are, CSQUARE will become the leader name.
Interviewer: Thank you for your time. It has been great getting know everything from you. Take care.
Hareem Zahra: It was a great pleasure talking to you. Take care.

Identified Gaps
C Square Consulting seems to be an emerging organization, they are working hard in order to achieve
companys goal. Based on the interview with Asst. Marketing Manager of the company we have found
some gaps in their marketing domain

Their strategy is not sufficient enough to encounter rapid changes of dynamic IT industry
Company lost some opportunities to competitions due to the difference in marketing strategy
The brand image of the company is not that much recognized that strikes in clients mind who
wants to have a contact center solution
Being a solution provider company they are not focusing on search engine optimization
No MIS or any other system which can help to track their performance

Recommendations
In order to become the market leader in contact center industry C Square Consulting should look into
below recommendations

They should build their strategy which fulfill marketing requirements and the dynamic changes
that occurs in IT industry
Company should try to mold their strategy appropriately in order to cash in maximum
opportunities
Company should create strong brand image in contact center industry
As C Square Consulting is a service based industry so in order to get new customers online they
should have to do search engine optimization.
Company should acquire some MIS system to get aware of their customer issues, feedback and
can fine tune marketing strategies accordingly

Colgate Palmolive Pakistan Ltd. Interview

Interviewer: Hello! We are students of MBA at Institute of Business Management. Actually we have been
given a university assignment; in that assignment we have to visit some corporate organizations and meet
their Marketing Manager to get some information about their current marketing strategies and issues
they are facing.
Interviewer: Tell me about Colgate Palmolive? And what is your role in this company?
Marketing Manager: Colgate Palmolive is a manufacturing and marketing company in Pakistan. It
manufactures different consumer goods.
My name is Pervaiz Mullick. I work for Colgate-Palmolive in their Marketing Department as Associate
General Manager in direct and indirect marketing.
Interviewer: Tell me about your marketing strategy?
Marketing Manager: We believe to work 360 degrees covering ATL and BTL activities in Pakistan.
Interviewer: Dynamics of IT industry changes every year or so, that ultimately impact the customers
expectations. How do you cope with such scenarios as marketer?
Marketing Manager: Every business needs to be in constant touch with what is happening in the market,
be it a change in related technology, economic or political changes, shift in customer preferences or any
other aspect that impacts business directly or indirectly. Marketing helps take into account the current
scenario and make the product seem relevant to the customer at all times. C Square's marketing regularly
updates its knowledge of the market through news and online reports, but most importantly through their
technical and sales teams who are directly aware of technology and customer requirement shifts
respectively. Accordingly new information is then incorporated in our next communications.
Interviewer: Do you think the strategy that you have to counter rapid changes is sufficient or needs
improvement?
Marketing Manager: Well... so far it has worked well enough for us. I wouldnt say its sufficient to have
this strategy ongoing forever... we should adapt according to needs as per our business goals as well as
external factors.

Interviewer: How does company marketing strategy differentiate between existing customers and with
the new ones?
Marketing Manager: Its all 360 degree marketing strategy where we differentiate all our customers and
their requirements by conducting different surveys and using the tools.
Interviewer: Have you ever lost some opportunity to your competition, if yes was it due to the difference
in marketing strategy?
Marketing Manager: Yes we have a few times. Every case has been different. Sometimes our marketing
strategy has won tough clients over. Umm... I think our strategy so far has achieved what it aimed for, but
soon we will need to do more, achieve different and even bigger goals, so I do think we will have to
improvise our strategy accordingly. We are a small team, there's lots more to do and achieve ahead.
Interviewer: How will your market become aware of your business?
Marketing Manager: This is our advertisements. ATL and BTL activities where we carry out different
activities like ATL publishing, TV commercials , Ads and different news prints and BTL activities like
conducting different survey carrying out different activities in Malls, events and on different occasions.
Interviewer: What does an ideal client look like?
Marketing Manager: As we are into consumer goods the ideal consumer is our regular customers. We are
almost in every household in Pakistan. We produce Brite, Express, Bonus, detergent powders, max, max
liquids. In oral care we produce well renowned Colgate and for bath soap there is Palmolive. These are
the requirements of every household. We are producing quality goods. We are almost in every household
in Pakistan.
Interviewer: what is your competitive advantage?
Marketing Manager: We are locally manufactured and national company with international affiliation and
that is our strength.
Interviewer: Who is your real competition?
Marketing Manager: There are three major competitors in Pakistan. Those are Unilever, P&G, and Reckitt
Benckiser.
Interviewer: Does price impact the marketing strategy?
Marketing Manager: Yes it does, its a very competitive and pricing is a major factor in Success.
Interviewer: What improvements to your product or service can be made to meet people needs even
better?
Marketing Manager: We live in a society where people needs keep changing and keep on growing. We
do our research and surveys to cater their changing needs and we always amend our strategy according
to the needs and requirements of the customers.
Interviewer: How much importance is given to the customer feedback?

Marketing Manager: Customer feedback is always welcomed and we do keep in mind to listen to them
and bring in the changes as per the feedback.
Interviewer: What KPI is most important to your business?
Marketing Manager: We have to be there on the shelf all the time being a manufacturing and producing
company and we cannot afford to lose a single costumer from the shelf.
Interviewer: Who is your audience?
Marketing Manager: Every household in Pakistan is our audience. We give extra importance to every
single consumer.
Interviewer: Does word of mouth impacting your organization negatively or positively?
Marketing Manager: Word of mouth does help us in growing costumers and in improving our companys
goodwill.
Interviewer: Do you use any information system?
Marketing Manager: We do. We are on SAP the leading IT software used all around the world.
Interviewer: Does monopoly has any impact in strategy formulation?
Marketing Manager: Obviously, We are in a world where we cannot afford to have a monopolistic
situation and that doesnt hurt us.
Interviewer: How does government policies and regulation impact marketing strategy?
Marketing Manager: We have to follow each and every government policy to bring in any sort of strategy
building.
Interviewer: Production industry often criticized for deceptive practices. Do you agree?
Marketing Manager: It does hurt us when some deceptive practices are carried out and we have strict
rules to forbid these kinds of practices.
Interviewer: Where do you want to see the organization after 10 years and what are the plans to achieve
these goals?
Marketing Manager: We are striving to be number 1 in Pakistan in FMCG and for attaining it we have
different plans and strategies .and the first and foremost thing is to always improve on quality to become
number 1. We are number 1 in different segments like detergents and toothpaste. We are lagging behind
in soap categories. We are planning to be Number 1 in soap categories also.

Identified Gaps

Colgate Palmolive has vision to reach number 1 but do not have proper direction, like in the
category of soap they just have single product for all classes, do not have product for poor, lower
middle class and elites.
Little presence on social media and online forum in this digital age.
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Company do not have proper 24 / 7 feedback collection program like Liver Rabta
Company is not capitalizing on its competitive advantage despite various campaigns in Pakistan
against Israeli products.

Recommendations

They should introduce products for all classes and categories if they really want to reach number
one in FMCG.
They should do CSR to create positive brand image
They should capitalize on their USP as mentioned by manager.
They should start strong presence on internet and publish consistent and creative content to
engage with their consumers.
They should start 24 / 7 contact center to listen to problems of their consumers

Pak Datacom Ltd. Interview

Interviewer: Hello! We are students of MBA at Institute of Business Management. Actually we have been
given a university assignment; in that assignment we have to visit some corporate organizations and meet
their Marketing Manager to get some information about their current marketing strategies and issues
they are facing.
Interviewer: Tell me about Pak Datacom Ltd. And what is your role in this company?
Marketing Manager: Pak Datacom Limited feels pride to be one of the largest and most reliable data
network operators in Pakistan with presence in more than 55 cities across the country. Soon in near
future, PDL will also be facilitating its customers in Middle East, Africa, and Afghanistan as a part of its
expansion.
I am Senior Marketing Manager at Pak Datacom Limited and my role is to look after business development
in Karachi.
Interviewer: Tell me about your marketing strategy?
Marketing Manager: Ah! See IT industry is a very different market than those to normal one, a customer
is always looking for multiple options at same time. When we started the business there were different
technologies available in the market when I joined the company in 2003. We introduced a technology
called DXX which was new to industry so that was our selling mantra as we were the pioneer in DXX.
Financial institutions and corporate clients were our main target. Currently we are still surviving on our
decade old mantra and major revamp is needed to grow in future.
Interviewer: How will your market become aware of your business?
Marketing Manager: See basically as we were pioneer in the initial stages so we doesnt need to do
anything extra. It was just simple marketing but as I have said earlier that a major revamp is need in our
marketing strategy.
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Interviewer: How does company marketing strategy differentiate between existing customers and with
the new ones?
Marketing Manager: After thinking for a moment, our policy for our old client is to retain them at every
cost because they have backed us in difficult times, annual discounts are offered to them etc. To attract
new customers our strategy is based on PR and networking.
Interviewer: What does an ideal client look like?
Marketing Manager: After a burst of laugh, the client which help us to grow our business.
Interviewer: what is your competitive advantage?
Marketing Manager: As we have already lost our initial advantage over the competitors so currently our
competitive advantage is 1 window solution across Pakistan. We have Relationships with every vendor
across Pakistan which helps us to provide network solution in an area where we have no physical
presence.
Interviewer: Who is your real competition?
Marketing Manager: Well, we have multiple competitors but few capturing our business at large like
Multinet, Mobilink and Cybernet.
Interviewer: Does price impact the marketing strategy?
Marketing Manager: Absolutely, Majority of the client always compromise on quality if there is major
difference in price. If we have to market our services which is of high quality then we Segment the target
market which solely requires high end products.
Interviewer: What improvements to your product or service can be made to meet people needs even
better?
Marketing Manager: The first thing I want to do is to introduce a MIS based tracking which helps us to
track our performance and this will also help us to provide customer with continuous service improvement
plan. Better customer support.
Interviewer: How much importance is given to the customer feedback?
Marketing Manager: If you ask me truthfully then Zero percent but it is not my individual fault. It is a
mindset of a system in which we are living.
Interviewer: What KPI is most important to your business?
Marketing Manager: Currently most valuable KPI for our business is customer Support.
Interviewer: Who is your audience?
Marketing Manager: Financial Institutions and Corporate world.
Interviewer: Does word of mouth impacting your organization negatively or positively?
Marketing Manager: Of course it impacts negatively in the longer run when customer trust and
confidence shattered by the product or service. They will always look for alternatives.
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Interviewer: Do you use any information system?

Marketing Manager: It was a straight away no but if I have the decision making power then it would be
the first thing I want to have actual performance analysis of my company.
Interviewer: Does monopoly has any impact in strategy formulation?
Marketing Manager: Monopoly is always cashed heavily.
Interviewer: How does government policies and regulation impact marketing strategy?
Marketing Manager: It always impact in the longer run especially in Pakistan where there is always an
uncertainty on taxes.
Interviewer: Service industry often being criticized for deceptive practices. Do you agree?
Marketing Manager: Minor deception is always used.
Interviewer: Where do you want to see the organization after 10 years and what are the plans to achieve
these goals?
Marketing Manager: We cannot planned for the next 10 years due to uncertainty in this global scenario
where technology is changing every day. If we to plan for the future than we have to implement research
based approach where we can identify the trend and dynamics of these changes.

Identified Gaps

No strategy evaluation as company is still cashing its old mantra which is not fruitful as it was
earlier.
Company is losing its existing business to its competitors and has no policy to counter it.
No MIS or any other system which can help to track their performance
Baby Boomers which retreat creative and innovative ideas.
No vision to move company forward.

Recommendations
After analyzing the keys issues which we discuss with the mentioned person earlier we came presented
following recommendations:

Major revamp is needed in the organization vision, mission and objective.

Company should explore new areas and offer services which are unique and has no competitor.
Introduction of MIS and other tracking systems
Business strategy for at least 10 years with constant evaluation.

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Limitation
Due to confidentiality and strong competition companies did not allow to take audio/video base interview

Conclusion
In the end we would like to say it was a great experience visiting corporate firms. We have visited three
different corporate organizations and got information about their marketing domain from respective
marketing managers. Based on the interview results some gaps were identified and appropriate
recommendations were shared.
One common gap that we have found in all three companies is that nobody have an appropriate marketing
information system in order to improve their marketing strategies to make smart decisions. We
recommend rather than wait for a dream to materialize, marketers need to improvise. They need a system
that enables them to make better decisions, and support those decisions with verifiable data.
Another similarity that we have found in all three companies is that all are relying on horizontal progress;
the strategy that contradict with their vision of becoming market leader, instead they should invest on
research work and adapt vertical progress to stand out in the market.

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