Marketing Strategies for International Business: Product, Place, Price, Promotion

Write a five to seven (5-7) page paper in which you:
1. Compare and contrast the major characteristics of the
political and reform eras of policing.
2. Identify the skills and knowledge that are imparted to police
trainees during their academy training and explain the
importance of these skills in relation to real world applications.
3. Provide your own definition of community-policing and
explain the difference between community policing and
traditional policing.
4. Critically examine the important elements of implementation
and evaluation phases of community policing and problem
solving.
5. Determine the top five (5) qualities that detectives and
undercover officers need to possess (one [1] being the most
important). Provide a rationale for your response.
6. Use at least four (4) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and
other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size
12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references
must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your
professor for any additional instructions.
MBA 6601, International Business 1
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit VI
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

8. Examine the major marketing considerations applicable to
international business.
Reading Assignment
In order to access the following resource(s), click the link(s)
below:
Dev, C. S., & Schultz, D. E. (2015). From the four Ps to the
four ‘why’s’. Marketing News, 49(9), 40–47.
Retrieved from
https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://s
earch.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direc
t=true&db=bth&AN=109289010&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Seeds, D., & Khade, A. S. (2008). Transforming a multi-
national corporation from a centralized organization to
a decentralized organization. Journal of International Business
Strategy, 8(3), 99–104. Retrieved from
Van Meir, C. (2016). Branding benefits: Apply the four Ps of
marketing to make benefits more engaging.
Benefits Magazine, 53(3), 34–39. Retrieved from

Unit Lesson
There are two ways to look at global marketing strategies. One
way is to look at a company’s marketing
orientation. Marketing orientation refers to the philosophy that
guides a company’s marketing strategies. In
the United States, marketing orientation started with the
production concept (1920s) and evolved to the
present day holistic marketing concept. Along the way, several
distinct variations emerged that seem to work
well in the foreign markets. These orientations depend on the
types of products produced and the types of
buyers purchasing the goods. The second way to study global
marketing strategies is to analyze the
marketing mix of the product. The marketing mix is the 4 Ps:
product, place, price, and promotion.
Marketing Orientations
There seem to be five types of marketing philosophies that have
managed to stay significant. Typically, a
company’s marketing strategy will depend on whether the
company is production oriented, sales oriented, or
customer oriented. A combined strategy of all three yields a
strategic marketing concept. Last and still
emerging is the force of social marketing, sometimes referred to
as nonmarket strategies.
Production orientation: The production concept focuses on
products that are mass produced, have a low
price relative to disposable income, come with a standard
design, have low risk of product failure, and a short
window from purchase to consumption. These types of products

require advertising and sales promotion to
pull them through the distribution channel. Consequently,
manufacturers achieve high production efficiency,
low costs, and mass distribution. This type of product could be
a low value-added commodity, such as copper
or wheat, or a high value-added product, like a candy bar or a
standard automobile. This type of concept
works well in a country that has low labor manufacturing costs,
such as in China or Vietnam.
Sales orientation: The sales concept focuses on products that are
custom made. The consequences of
failure might be high, the expense is so high only large
organizations like governments can afford them, and
UNIT VI STUDY GUIDE
Managing International Operations, Part 1:
Marketing and Organizational Structures
earch.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=1092
89010&site=ehost-live&scope=site

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the product takes years to build. This type of product might be a
dam, a nuclear reactor, a turnkey factory,
large airplanes, or ships. The manufacturer usually provides a
sales team to work out the details, and the
buyer usually reciprocates with a purchasing team to ask all of
the appropriate questions.
Customer orientation: Sometimes referred to as the marketing
concept, this philosophy is a customer-
centric concept. The job here is to find, develop, and produce
the products that the customer wants. One
version of this takes a basic product like a computer and allows
the customer to add on or take off features
they want and are willing to pay for. This approach works well
with products customized with little effort. A
good example is Burger King, a worldwide restaurant chain. Its
slogan—up until recently—“Have it your way”
implied a hamburger made with your choices of condiments and
sides (“Burger King ditches,” 2014).
Strategic marketing orientation: In the traditional view, you
first make the product (design, procure, and

manufacture) and then sell the product (price, sell, advertise,
distribute, and service). In the strategic
marketing concept, marketing is at the beginning of the
planning process. Instead of stressing production and
selling, firms decide on the product/service they are going to
provide based on their ability to create the most
value. According to this view, the firm first segments the
market, selects the target market, and conducts
value positioning. Then, the company develops the product,
prices it, manufactures it, distributes it, and
services it. The company also communicates the value to the
target market through sales, sales promotion,
and advertising.
Social marketing orientation: Companies, now more than ever,
are cognizant of the public’s attention to
environmental and public health issues that affect them.
Consumers tend to seek out products and services
that are environmentally friendly, healthy, and socially
responsible. In the United States, such programs are
not required. However, customers are more sophisticated and
gravitate to companies that show social
responsibility. Corporate social responsibility has become a
competitive advantage like branding or
advertising. In the 1970s, Nestlé pushed its infant formula into
African communities with disastrous results.
Consequently, while the consumer may not have the
sophistication to know better, most governments have
wised up, and many now require programs that consider not
only how a product is purchased but also how it
is made and disposed of, as well as how it might be changed to
be made more socially acceptable. This
philosophy is sometimes referred to as a nonmarket orientation
because it plays mostly to foreign
governments and activist groups.

Marketing Mix (The Four Ps)
Product strategies: The product is the item for sale. It can be
tangible like a car or it can be intangible like
the knowledge to build a nuclear reactor. According to the
World Trade Organization, tangible products are
“merchandise” and intangibles are “commercial services”
(2015). In 2014, the United States exported $687
billion in commercial services and $1.621 trillion in
merchandise (World Trade Organization, 2015).
Product characteristics include the product and/or service
qualities (e.g., types of warranties, service
contracts), labeling, packaging, and branding opportunities. By
branding opportunities, the product line can
extend the brand to similar products that may fit in, just as
General Motors has several brands like the Chevy
Malibu and the Chevrolet Impala. Companies strive to make
their product(s) as unique as possible to make
them stand out from other products. This is product
differentiation.
When it comes to producing the merchandise, the emphasis is
on product standardization. Companies can
usually cut production and inventory costs this way. However,
companies must adapt the products to meet
the legal, cultural, and economic needs of the customer in
different countries. While many countries have
adopted universal standards on some products, such as mobile
phones, other standards are lacking, such as
those for railroad gauges and power supplies. In fact, three
countries have yet to adopt the metric system for
weights and measures: the United States, Liberia, and Myanmar.
Pricing strategies: There are numerous strategies and tactics to
pricing. If the company is selling a premium

product, the price should reflect a premium. If the company is
building market share, then a low price that
barely covers the cost would be plausible. If the product goes
through a long distribution channel, then
consider there will be markups at each juncture of the channel,
making the price relatively high. A longer
distribution channel suggests higher transportation costs as
well.
One variable not encountered domestically is the foreign
government’s posture towards a given product. A
foreign government may have quota limits, which restricts the
number of products a company can send in or
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maybe a tariff that will cause the price of its product to go up.
The foreign government can also apply
penalties against products that are imported and sold below the
sales price in its domestic country (World
Trade Organizations, n.d.).
In Unit IV, hedging strategies were discussed. A company that
can bring a product in from a country with a
weak currency to a country with a stronger currency will have
the hedging advantage. The possibility of the
currency growing stronger will add to the profitability.

However, if the product comes in from a country with a
strong currency to a country with a declining currency, the
profits will be less.
Promotion strategies: The integrated marketing strategy should
address advertising, personal sales, events
and experiences, public relations, sales promotion, branding,
and direct marketing. This section includes all
forms of communication from the producer to the consumer.
The concept of push-pull originates in this area
of marketing. Sales people are responsible for contacting buyers
and pushing their product onto the buyer.
This type of communication works well for expensive
institutional size products like Boeing 767 airplanes.
Promotion and advertising are responsible for communicating
product attributes directly to the consumer
through social media, mass advertising, and sales promotions.
This is pull marketing because many
consumers will ask the distributor to stock the product, in
essence pulling the product through the distribution
channel. This type of communication works well for mass
produced products with lots of standardized
features like fast food restaurants or laundry detergent.
Promotion strategies include branding. A brand is an identifying
mark, picture, logo, sound, jingle, or word that
makes you think of the product. Advertisers will promote the
brand with all of the good and pleasant features
that the product has. Consequently, when a consumer sees the
brand, and they have a need, they buy the
product. Repetitive and frequent advertising causes the
consumer to link the need with the brand, and
purchase becomes automatic. Proctor & Gamble (P&G), the
world’s largest advertiser, spends $5 billion just
on repetitive and frequent advertising for consumer products
(Young, 2015). While the languages are

different, and the products are adapted to the cultural needs,
repetitive and frequent advertising works in all
cultural environments.
Place strategies: The word place in this context means
distribution strategies. The distribution strategy
should address the transportation of the product through the
distribution channel. Before the Internet, the
product had to be available in a physical location. The Internet
has changed that way of thinking because
people can order from social media or website intermediaries.
The range of physical distribution locations
ranges from discount stores to upscale department stores,
dealerships, farmer’s markets, convenience
stores, shopping centers, warehouses, and the list goes on. The
Internet has made it possible to order
virtually anything from anywhere. The problem in that situation
is product delivery and service after delivery.
The marketing mix is a way to look at the different marketing
techniques that affect any given product or
service. Some academics have gone as far to add additional Ps.
Other Ps could stand for people, processes,
programs, performance, and politics. Traditionally, the original
four Ps are inclusive, but if nothing else,
marketing is a flexible science.
Organizational Structures
Most people recognize that an organizational structure is the
arrangement of roles and positions of people in
multinational enterprises (MNEs). This arrangement represents
how assets, authority, and communication run
throughout the organization to achieve certain objectives. Rapid
changes in technology and economics
demand that businesses structure themselves such that they bend

with the stress and snap back to take
advantage of opportunities. Organizations that cannot adapt
quickly will not be competitive. Research shows
that certain organizational structures work better in certain
situations.
Centralization Versus Decentralization
The traditional structures of centralized and decentralized
organizations still abound and are probably still in
the majority of businesses. A quick review of what they do is
important.
Centralized organizations: Decision-making authority is
concentrated in the top executive levels. The
premise of this scenario is that senior executives have more
experience and have more information regarding
access to capital, staffing, corporate needs, and strategy.
Advantages would be avoiding duplicate activities in
different subsidiaries, dealing with strong unions (General
Motors & United Auto Workers Union) and strong
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vendors (P&G versus Walmart). The disadvantages of this
structure are bureaucracy, loss of initiative, and
mostly downward communication.

Decentralized organizations: Decision-making authority flows
down to the managers at the local level. The
premise of this scenario is that the local managers have
knowledge of what the current business trends are
through dealing with individual customers and vendors. The
advantages of this situation are that it
encourages entrepreneurial decisions, makes the organization
more innovative and flexible, and encourages
managers to become responsible for their decisions. The
disadvantages are that local decisions might
jeopardize global decisions, more risk is accepted, and duplicate
activities may take place at different
branches.
Some industries are prone to one type of organization over the
other. For example, fast food restaurants work
better with decentralized structures; however, companies with
capital-intensive operations do better with
centralized structures. In some cases, hybrids are evolving
where anything over the subsidiary level is
centralized, but anything below the subsidiary level is
decentralized. In principle, decision-making should
occur at the level of those who are most affected by the
outcome and those who have the most knowledge of
the situation (Daniel, Radebaugh, & Sullivan, 2015).
There are variations of these organizational structures that have
emerged in corporations that have wide
geographical coverage. The most common MNE organizational
structures are listed below:
tion allows the concept of
centralized decision-making to trump local
responsiveness. Essentially, the company is broken down into

functions such as production,
marketing, and administration with each function having a
foreign branch. All decisions are made at
the functional level.
functional structure except the company is
broken down into product divisions. A company may have
automotive and aerospace divisions, each
with a foreign subsidiary. Again, all important decisions rise to
the divisional level.
could be a geographic structure.
Decisions would be more focused on area needs but still distant
from the local branch. For example,
there may be a North American Division and a Western
European Division.
There are other variations such as the matrix structure and the
mixed structure, but they are also composed
of traditional command and control principles.
Non-traditional structures have emerged due to new Internet
technology, allowing the workforce and the
buyers and vendors to collaborate on the production and
consumption of new products. Social media
technology has improved to the point where people from
different locations around the world can work on any
given project. It is easier to acquire human talent, physical
resources, and distribution networks. These virtual
organizations are temporary: forming, disbanding, and
reforming as each new project comes forward.
Organizational Culture

An important byproduct of the organizational structure is the
organizational culture. From Unit I, we know how
country culture influences the country’s political, legal, and
economic decisions. Corporate culture has that
same impact in a company. People inculcated with a set of
beliefs have shared expectations of decisions and
outcomes. Because of this, international companies recognize
two problems. First, there are differences in
values from one company to another. Second, there are
differences in values from one country to another.
Putting a manager from one country over the workers of another
country can be disastrous if the manager is
not properly trained. Companies recognize the strategic
importance of culture, and many of the leading
corporations are actively training their employees on how to
make decisions based on company philosophy.
For example, Toyota, with 27 overseas plants, has trained over
700 foreign executives in the “Toyota Way,” a
collection of company values (Fackler, 2007).
References
Burger King ditches ‘have it your way’ slogan. (2014).
Retrieved from
http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/05/20/burger-king-
ditches-have-it-your-way-slogan/

UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
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Daniels, J., Radebaugh, L., & Sullivan, D. (2015). International
business: Environments & operations (15th
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Fackler, M. (2007). The ‘Toyota way’ is translated for a new
generation of foreign managers. Retrieved from
www.nytimes.com/2007/02/15/business/worldbusiness/15toyota.
html
World Trade Organization. (n.d.). Anti-dumping. Retrieved
from
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/adp_e/adp_e.htm
World Trade Organization. (2015) United States. Retrieved
from
http://stat.wto.org/CountryProfile/WSDBCountryPFView.aspx?
Language=E&Country=US
Young, N. (2015). P&G, the world’s biggest advertiser, gives
top media role to woman who ran their pet
empire. Retrieved from
http://www.thedrum.com/news/2015/01/17/pg-worlds-biggest-
advertiser-
gives-top-media-role-woman-who-ran-their-pet-empire

TRANSFORMING A MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATION
FROM A CENTRALIZED ORGANIZATION
TO A DECENTRALIZED ORGANIZATION
Dezaree Seeds, California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock,
CA, USA
Alan S. Khade, California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock,
CA, USA
ABSTRACT
“One thing that business, institutions, governments and key
individuals will have to realize is spiders and
starfish may look alike, but starfish have a miraculous quality
to them. Cut off the leg of a spider, and you
have a seven-legged creature on your hands; cut off its head and
you have a dead spider. But cut off the
arm of a starfish and it will grow a new one. Not only that, but
the severed arm can grow an entirely new
body. Starfish can achieve this feat because, unlike spiders,
they are decentralized; every major organ is
replicated across each arm” (Beckstrom and Brafman 2008).
There has been an ever going battle on which organizational
structure is the most effective and profitable
in today’s business world… centralized, decentralized, or
hybrid. Each model definitely has its own pros
and cons. This paper will detail each structure and give

examples. We conclude with the fact that we
believe the decentralized way of life is the best. I will provide a
detailed process on the steps needed to
change a centralized organization into a decentralized
organization.
1. INTRODUCTION
Innovation is an important part of any organization; it is a key
to success. Two structural dimensions of
the firm that affect innovation are centralization and
decentralization. Centralization is defined as, “the
degree to which decision-making authority is kept at top levels
of management.” Decentralization is
defined as, “the degree to which decision making authority is
pushed down to lower levels of the firm”
(Schilling 2008).” Many experts disagree which form of
organization is truly better.
Centralization and decentralization can refer to two types. There
is geographical centralization. An
example of geographical centralization would be having one
mega headquarter for your firm. A
decentralized example would be many headquarters scattered
over the country or world even. Another
form of centralization/decentralization is knowing where the
authority and decision making processes are
held. Many factors affect the need for a centralized or a
decentralized organization. Type of industry is
important in the decision. Later we will go into detail how
automobile manufactures are primarily
decentralized while computer manufacturers have more of a
decentralized feel. Experts have disagreed
for decades over which organization structure is better.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
Learning in the Large Enterprise: Centralized vs. Decentralized
(Ellis and Mauldin 2003 )
“The debate over the centralization versus decentralization of
operations within a large enterprise is a
never-ending one. It is an age-old battle of standardization
versus autonomy, corporate efficiency versus
local effectiveness and pressure on costs and resources versus
accommodation of specific local needs.”
Some experts believe that a complete transformation from a
centralized to a decentralized organization or
visa versa takes at least a minimal amount of time of three
years. Experts agree that when you step into a
centralized organization there is sometimes a sense of slow
timing to get new ideas or creative ways
implemented. When there is a strict form of command flow
charts to follow sometimes creativity is
indered. At this point in time decentralization would be the
easiest way to block the dam and allow
thoughts to flow freely.
There is another side to the centralized vs. decentralized
organization debate. Sometimes you can step
into an organization that is already decentralized. Sometimes
organizations that have been severely
decentralized can seem to be fragmented and do not appear to
be a company that is whole and
complete. Decentralization between different departments can
create a loss of company values and a
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BUSINESS
STRATEGY, Volume 8, Number 3, 2008 99

vision. In this case centralization would be the only way to
conform the entire company into one goal
oriented and passion driven alliance.
http://www.12manage.com/images/picture_centralization_decen
tralization.gif
www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/.../images/appendixDa_e.gif
Benefits of Centralized Learning
To achieve centralized learning, an organization will utilize one
central learning management system with
one central database. Such a system can manage many
functions. In general terms, the main benefit of
centralized learning is the cost savings that result from
standardization, central reporting and record
keeping and quality control (Ellis and Mauldin 2003). The
advantages of such a system include:
• Reduction in number of systems required to handle corporate
learning.

• Reduction of infrastructure requirements via consolidation of
IT resources.
• Immediate population of the company’s central database with
course completions and
certifications.
• Promotion of standardization via reduction in the number of
duplicate courses.
• Realization of significant cost savings advantages.
• Reduction in number of administrators.
• Standardization of content.
• Standardization of certifications and competencies.
• Ability to easily align employee objectives with corporate
objectives.
• Simplified reporting (from one system versus many).
• Accuracy in reporting (from one system versus many).
Benefits of Decentralized Learning
To achieve decentralized learning, an organization may utilize
several learning management systems,
each with its own database. These systems can also manage
many functions. In general terms, the main
benefit of decentralized learning is the ability to deploy and
manage large amounts of content, all of which
can be localized. The advantages of such a system include:
• Increased control at the local level.
• Local training departments tend to understand the specific
needs of their areas of responsibility
much better than corporate.
• Local training departments see efficiencies in creating their

own courses versus depending on
corporate.
• Local training departments can manage their own costs.
• Ease of creation of desired local reports.
• Control over local resources.
• Ability to manage more content.
• Ability to localize courses and learning events.
• Ability to add spot training instantly when needed.
3. THE HYBRID MODEL
There is always the old saying “the best of both worlds,” a
Hybrid model for organizations is exactly that.
Most experts agree that and organization that takes the positive
attributes of both options and puts them
together in one mega organization. This would ensure a
corporate feel as well as a more local training
type of environment. There are however two issues that a
corporation must address in order to implement
they hybrid form. The first is to infiltrate the technical
infrastructure of the system in order to make it
centralized and decentralized friendly. The must also execute
the plan in a way that shifts the old system
into a new place with the least amount of disruption.
Percentage of Companies in a Centralized, Decentralized or
Hybrid type of Organization:

www.benchdb.com/.../amex1/images/at10.gif
EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL CORPORATIONS TODAY:
General Motors
For the past six decades the automotive industry has been very
standardized when it came to the
organization structure. When it comes to the assembly line part
of the production the focus was primarily
on a centralized level. Today, many automobile manufacturers
are changing their ways. General Motors
was one of the first to implement the change for their industry
and are considered a revolutionary
company. Both have their pros and cons when it comes to the
strict and unique field of industry.
“Centralized operations benefit from economies of scale, better
utilization, and flexibility. However,
decentralized plants may have lower logistics costs and are
more responsive to the dedicated assembly
plant. Which arrangement is better for quality? Centralized
operations make quality control easier by
reducing a source of variability, while decentralized operations
could have less inventory and quicker
feedback from assembly (inman 2003).”
Diagram of a Decentralized Organization:
http://www.vs.uni-
kassel.de/systems/index.php/Architectural_Model
Intel Corporation:
Today Intel is considered the leading producer of microchips,

computing and communications products.
In the late 1980’s when Intel was just beginning to thrive they
started out with a decentralized view for
their corporation. Many technological companies such as Mac
feel like the average employee fits better
with a decentralized way of life but Intel faced problems. “Intel
realized that, as a result of the rising
complexity and information processing demands in the
semiconductor industry, its decentralized process
(which was scattered across diverse business groups) was
resulting in serious delays and cost overruns.”
Intel realized that something needed to be done and it needed to
be done quickly. During the 1990’s Intel
reshaped and redefined their company into a completely
centralized organization. The process
generation was given to a single facility in charge of fabrication
instead of multiple facilities. Once tested
at one facility Intel made the leap and converted all remaining
facilities.
Diagram of a Centralized Organization:
http://www.vs.uni-
eBay:
eBay is a unique and extremely successful form of a hybrid

organization. Just looking from the outside
you may see the eBay enterprise as centralized or decentralized
organization but in fact it is a wonderful
combination of both, the very meaning of hybrid organization.
The hub of the corporation is extremely
centralized where major decisions and ideas are held to the
higher management and team members.
What makes the organization a hybrid approach is the
decentralized customer approach that they are
famous for.
Diagram of a Hybrid Organization:
http://www.vs.uni-
4. HOW TO IMPLEMENT THE CHANGE
The first step to implementing the change is for the management
to realize a change is needed and must
be implemented in the first place. The experts say that a
complete change from centralized to
decentralized will take at the minimum three years. This is a big
step and this is a long commitment.
Management needs to be 100% committed to the change and the
results it will bring in order for the
employees to get behind the change as well.
The second step would be to make sure that employees know the
change that is about to take place and
make sure that they embrace the change. Change in the work
environment can be scary as well as

threatening to employees that are set in their ways.
Decentralizing a company will be forcing the
important decisions and company information down the chain of
command. This mean front line
employees will hold greater responsibility as well as authority.
Employees should be aware of this change
and be willing to grasp this new form of power. A meeting
should be held of some kind to ensure that all
employees are on board and ready. Getting insight from your
frontline managers can also be helpful in a
faster and more effective implementation process.
It is a proven fact that decentralized organizations needs glue
that holds them together in an almost
segregated world. They need one strategy and ideology to hold
the limbs of a scattered organization
together. It’s almost like tree. Each department of a
decentralized organization has its own separate tree
limb that is unique and separate form the other branches. At the
very bottom of the tree is one common
root that started it all and gave life to the existing limbs. This
glue can be as simple as a common goal or
mission statement that proves to the company that an
organizational melting pot can be obtained.
You need to also look at the managers you have on hand.
Managers have different personality traits
which may benefit a decentralized organization better than a
centralized organization. The decentralized
manager as I like to call it has more of a free spirited and

creative way of thinking. They like the free flow
of communication and do not feel threatened by the authority
shifting downward towards the lower level
employees. They embrace the fact that information and ideas
will be able to surge through every level of
the organization, not just the higher level.
Follow-up after the implementation is the biggest step of all.
Any change in an organization takes time,
patience, feedback, and follow-up. A major problem in a
decentralized organization is the presence of
repeated information. If the managers continue to communicate
and follow-up on the change at hand the
implementation should be nothing but a success.
5. CONCLUSION
We believe each structural dimension whether it is centralized,
decentralized, or hybrid has its own set of
amazing advantages and disappointing disadvantages. We think
the future lies n a decentralized
organization. It seems like corporations today have a freer
flowing and laid back approach and are
gaining success from this nonchalant way of life.
Decentralization takes creativity from every level of
employee and gives it a place for output. In a decentralized
organization this current of communication
and ideas is an excellent recipe for success. In the future we
believe biggest companies of our time will
be transforming into a decentralized way of life if they haven’t
already started.
REFERENCES:
Argyns, N.S., and B. S. Silverman, “R&D, organization

structure, and the development of corporate
technological knowledge,” Strategic Management Journal 25
(2004).
Beckstrom, Rod and Ori Brafman. The Starfish and the Spider.
http://www.starfishandspider.com/index.php?title=About_the_B
ook. February 2008.
Ellis, Joe and Todd Mauldin. Learning in the Large Enterprise:
Centralized vs. Decentralized.
http://www.clomedia.com/content/templates/clo_feature.asp?arti
cleid=128. March 2003.
Hagel, J., and J. Singer, “Unbundling the corporation,” Harvard
Business Review, March-April 1999.
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Research Opportunities From an Automotive
Industry Perspective. 2003, vol. 41, no. 9, 1953–1971.
http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:QckfvJ42bZMJ
Schilling, Melissa. Strategic Management of Technological
Innovation (2nd Edition). Boston: McGraw-
Hill/Irwin, 2008.
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marketing news | September 201540
MN Sept 2015 1-65-edit-8-20-15-v2.indd 40 8/20/15 5:19 PM
September 2015 | marketing neWS 41
From the Four Ps
to the Four ‘Why’s‘
Any marketer can spend money. The challenge is
to acquire and retain customers, and ultimately
generate worthwhile returns. Here’s how to
better connect the dots from the strategic, to the
tactical, to the desired and achieved outcomes.
By ChekitAN s. dev ANd doN e. sChultz
protected]
protected]
THE “CUSTOMER MIx” marketingmanagement
I
n the late 1950s, when the four Ps concept of marketing—

product, price, place and promotion—was conceived
and presented as the ultimate framework for planning,
implementing and measuring a marketing budget,
marketing objectives were simple, media options were
limited, and consumers were hungry for product information
and details. Mass communication was in full gear and
television was the new “darling” of the consumer.
Massive changes obviously have occurred in the
marketplace since then, yet many marketers cling
to the past, arguing that the “marketing mix” of
bygone years is still relevant, reliable and, most
importantly, pervasive for all marketers. That
seems to be particularly true with promotion.
However, with the rise in overall marketing
spending worldwide, the development of new
media forms including mobile and other hand-
held devices, the increasingly limited consumer
attention spans and a host of other changes,
marketing executives are feeling tremendous
pressure to identify and justify their marketing and
communications decisions, and to show a positive
return on investment—all in real time. Adding to
the challenge is the fact that what worked in the
past commonly doesn’t work anymore.
Many marketers respond by spending more and
more, or they cut expenditures or shift them all to
less expensive media alternatives, such as social
media and the Internet. Not a very viable answer in
a bottom-line-driven marketplace.
If marketing managers turn to the academic
or practitioner communities for advice, they get
even less help. A cursory content analysis of most

marketing publications, including this one, shows
that most content is about the “what” of marketing
and communication: strategies, tactics, tools and
techniques, usually aggregated as the four Ps.
There is much less discussion on the “why” of
marketing communication: the purpose, goals
and objectives, and the reason for engaging the
marketing communication initiatives in the first
place. And there is practically no discussion of
returns from all of that spending or all of those new
media initiatives. For example, in a market-leading
textbook, published in 2014 by Philip Kotler
and Gary Armstrong, the objectives and goals of
marketing are summarized in less than a page, and
limited to mentions only of revenue, profit and
market share—not a word about customers. That
seems a rather backward approach to the marketing
function in an interactive marketplace. It makes it
sound as if spending on product, price, place and
promotion, if done often enough, will create returns
that will simply fall from the sky.
That’s why we set out to provide a conceptual
framework to manage customers for both
long- and short-term growth and profitability,
and that’s done by organizing marketing
communications activities around what we call
the four “why’s”: customer acquisition, customer
satisfaction, customer retention and customer
recommendation. These are the real tools to make
marketing communications investments profitable,
focusing the entire organization on getting and
keeping customers. After all, in spite of all of the
hype and hoopla about new tools, tactics and
techniques, the goal of all marketing and marketing

communication is to get more customers to give
you more money over longer periods of time.
These four simple “why’s” encompass everything
that marketers do, and provide a framework to
organize and allocate resources (people, money
and time) in four, and only four, buckets. It’s
simple, easy, practical and profitable.
The Makings of The fraMework
Once upon a time in the U.S., circa 1960, as
was depicted in the television series Mad Men,
marketers concerned themselves primarily with
customer acquisition. The theory was that once a
marketer got a customer’s attention, all good things
would follow. Customers would buy and would
continue to buy with little effort on the part of the
marketing organization.
marketingmanagement THE “CUSTOMER MIx”
43 September 2015 | marketing neWS
In later decades, the focus of marketing and
communication shifted to customer satisfaction—
its measurement, monitoring and maximization.
Toward the end of the 20th century, conference
presentations, books and research articles on
retention and loyalty were all the rage, with new
models and approaches in abundance. With the
advent of the Internet, and especially social media,
the marketing communicator’s attention shifted
once again, this time to recommendations: getting

satisfied customers to “promote” the brand to
others. Now a return to basics is required, and that,
we argue, is a consistent focus on the customer, and
the use of the four “why’s.”
Recently, we examined the best marketing
practices of leading companies worldwide, and
that examination revealed how the companies
balance their customer mix between the four
types of customer investments through carefully
tailored strategies, tactics and resources. First,
smart brands are always communicating in the
marketplace, constantly seeking to acquire the
most profitable prospects using a combination of
the traditional and new marketing tools available
to them. The number of companies that can afford
to rest on their laurels and live off of their existing
customer bases—even brands with a large installed
customer base such as Amazon and Alibaba—are
very few in number. Even well-established, well-
known companies allocate a percentage of their
marketing budgets to acquisition, not by getting
new customers on the margin of their established
businesses, but by wholeheartedly committing
themselves to a clearly articulated and resourced
acquisition strategy.
While customer acquisition, per se, is not
a new idea, companies that excel at customer
acquisition today are doing it in new ways and
using new digital tools to account for how
customers now search and buy. Moreover, these
companies are carefully considering the impact
that new customers will have on the portfolio of
the brand’s customer mix, and are maximizing the
overall profitability of a brand’s customer base.

For example, the French hotel brand Accor is
investing several hundred million Euros in what
the company is calling “digital hospitality” to
make booking hotel rooms much easier on mobile
devices. That’s the company’s way of upping the
ante on competition for customer acquisition.
Accor’s internal analysis has shown that travelers
who book “direct,” using the company’s new
technology, are more profitable than those who
book using alternative or third-party websites.
Second, our examination revealed that success
depends on the ability to maximize the satisfaction
of as many current customers as possible. That
means matching the brand’s capabilities to
deliver—and to do so efficiently and consistently—
with what customers really want. These “right”
capabilities help a brand satisfy its customers and
commonly transform the way that they interact
with the firm’s products and services all along their
consumption journey. In January, the Daily Mail
reported on a passenger aboard Virgin Trains, the
train operating arm of U.K.-based airline Virgin
Atlantic Airways Ltd., who used social media to
help him out of an embarrassing situation. After
using the restroom, the passenger discovered a
lack of toilet paper, so he tweeted his predicament
to @VirginTrains. Within a matter of minutes, the
social media monitoring team tweeted back that
help was on the way, and a train attendant soon
appeared with a fresh roll. Real-time responses
to real-time customer issues are critical in an
interactive marketplace.

THese four siMPle “wHy’s”
encoMPAss everyTHing THAT
MArkeTers do, And Provide A
frAMework To orgAnize And
AllocATe resources (PeoPle,
Money And TiMe) in four, And
only four, buckeTs.
Third, our examination showed that while
acquisition and satisfaction are crucial, ongoing
retention is a major emphasis and makes up the
third “why.” Brands need to know how to maximize
overall customer lifetime value. It costs less to
bring lost customers back than it does to acquire
totally new ones. Commonly, returning customers
require a lower servicing cost, as they know their
way around the “store” and don’t have to be trained
to use the products and services. Plus, all else being
equal, returning customers often spend more per
capita than newly acquired ones.
Now, keep this in perspective: Bringing back
customers who are expensive, and hard to deal
with and manage doesn’t always pay off. That’s
where analysis and reviews of the customer
experience become crucial. It doesn’t take a
financial wizard to figure out that a clear, focused
retention strategy with the right customers can

have a substantial payoff for the firm. Making
sure that there is an explicit retention strategy in
place—more than just a “buy 10, get one free” type
of approach—supported by an appropriate level
of resource allocation is a key characteristic of
the better-performing brands. Mercedes’ fanatical
focus on customer retention via carefully curated
offers and special customer privileges at special
events—for example, VIP parking at the U.S. Open
golf tournament sponsored by Mercedes—helps
keep the brand top of mind among its customers.
Fourth, from our work, we’ve found that the
smartest companies balance their acquired,
satisfied and retained customers with a set of
approaches and methodologies to carefully
develop, orient, train, motivate and compensate
their employees to encourage present customers
to recommend the brands and encourage
acquaintances to give them a try. Surveys
consistently tell us that prospective buyers pay
greater attention to their peers’ opinions than
they do to experts’ advice or recommendations.
While these “member get a member” approaches
have been used by membership organizations
for years in businesses like country clubs, social
organizations, museums and the like, albeit in
a mechanical way, what is new is that in this
hyper-connected world, brand advocates can
create widespread “buzz” instantly. Travelers
refer to and cite the website TripAdvisor, where
ordinary people recommend hotels (or not),
more often than they do professional travel critics
at esteemed outlets like Condé Nast Traveler or
Travel + Leisure.

Making recommendations a key “why” of
marketing communications, and allocating the
right type and amount of resources to build and
September 2015 | marketing news 45
sustain this component of the customer mix, is
becoming a key priority for many companies. The
Chinese mobile text and voice messaging service
WeChat, the largest standalone messaging app in
the world, as measured by monthly active users,
has built a very successful business by getting its
mostly Chinese users to recommend the service
to their family and friends around the world.
Collectively, these four “why’s” represent
a high-level road map for marketing and
communications executives to broaden their
discourse far beyond the old, tired, out-of-date
approaches suggested by the four Ps. Clearly,
the devil is in the details and much else is
required to not only define strategies for
the four “why’s,” but also allocate the right
kind and amount of resources, and develop
the right metrics for tracking achievement
against goals, but all of that is “doable” in
today’s interactive marketplace.

46 marketing neWS | September 2015
iMpleMenTing The four ‘why’s’
Companies can get their customer mix right by
answering three important questions:
1. Where is the brand in its brand or customer
life cycle?
2. What are the tactics that managers are using
now, and how can they be improved or
enhanced? We’re making the assumption that
managers aren’t going to simply throw the
four Ps overboard. Generally, a transition is
the best policy.
3. What measures will be used to track progress
on each of the four “why’s”?
The life cycle stage of the product or service
can help determine the proportion of the budget
to be allocated to the four “why’s.” Moreover,
using a concept such as the stages of a product’s or
service’s life cycle (introduction, growth, maturity
and decline) helps frame the internal discussion.
Each stage requires a different commitment to
each of the four customer types: first-timers,
second-timers, repeat buyers and fans. Consider
the following hypothetical customer mix and
spending ratios based on the stage of a brand’s life

cycle scenario:
• introduction: 70% acquisition,
15% satisfaction, 10% retention, 5%
recommendation
• growth: 55% acquisition, 20% satisfaction,
15% retention, 10% recommendation
• maturity: 40% acquisition, 25% satisfaction,
• Decline: 30% acquisition, 30% satisfaction,
The logic of these allocations is based on the
idea that, while acquisition is job No. 1 during the
introduction stage, putting satisfaction, retention
and recommendation initiatives in place is an
important step as the customer base begins to
build and mature. One of our advisory clients,
a travel startup app called CheckedIn.Club, is
expending time and resources to build modules for
satisfaction, retention and recommendation even
as it continues to prepare for its initial launch.
Interestingly, even during the brand’s decline
or phase-out stage, it still needs to keep acquiring
the most profitable customers selectively, but it
should put more emphasis on preparing customers
to migrate to brand extensions or other brands in
the portfolio. Another of our consulting clients, the

47 September 2015 | marketing neWS
U.K.-based InterContinental Hotels Group, was
selectively acquiring profitable customers even as
it was phasing out its Holiday Inn Select brand, all
the while maximizing their satisfaction, focusing
on retention and tracking their recommendations
as the firm prepared to migrate the customers to
its Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and Express by
Holiday Inn brands.
Combining the four Ps and the four “why’s” in a
more nuanced way helps in planning your overall
marketing program. This step simply involves the
merger of the marketing mix (the four Ps) and
the customer mix (the four “why’s”). One way to
do this is to first create a 4x4 matrix with the four
“why’s” as the first column and the four Ps as the
first row. Each cell in the matrix represents an
intersection of the “why” and the “what,” which
makes the reason for each marketing initiative
very clear, easy to present to other stakeholders,
and easy to track. The Finger Lakes Tourism
Association implemented this matrix as part of
its annual marketing planning process, using
Google Docs to invite members to contribute ideas
for each cell in the matrix. From this model, the
association was able to identify and prioritize high-
value initiatives quickly.
Also bear in mind that developing key
metrics to track the four “why’s” is an important
determinant of success. As the old adage

goes, you manage best what you can measure.
Companies that have effective and efficient four
“why’s” programs have developed sophisticated
metrics for each of the “why’s.” For example, for
acquisition, it’s helpful to know the number of
new customers acquired, the cost per acquisition,
the revenue per acquisition, the bottom-
line profit for each acquisition and so on. For
satisfaction, it’s critical to calculate not only
the absolute measure of satisfaction, but also
the measures disaggregated by satisfaction on
the more important drivers for each customer
or type versus the less important drivers. For
retention, the key metric is not just the number
of customers retained, but the cost of retention
versus the benefit returned, as measured by
lifetime value. For recommendations, it’s not just
how many people were referred by each customer,
but the “clout” score of each customer and the
referral potential as measured by, say, “friends of
friends” on Facebook.
In our experience, without clearly addressing
the “why’s” of marketing and marketing
communications, and developing the capabilities
to execute against them, marketing managers face
a real danger of misallocating resources, under-
investing in the crucial elements of retention and
recommendation using state-of-the-art tools, or
not investing in them at all. m
ChekitAN s. dev is a professor of marketing and
branding at Cornell University. His work has been
published in the AMA’s Journal of Marketing and
Journal of Marketing Research, and in the Harvard

Business Review. Dev has served corporate, govern-
ment, education, private equity, startup and law
firm clients in more than 40 countries as a keynote
speaker, advisor, workshop leader and expert witness.
doN e. sChultz is a professor (emeritus-in-service) of
integrated marketing communications at Northwestern
University’s Medill School and president of Agora Inc.,
a global marketing, communication and branding
consulting firm. He is the author or co-author of 28
books and more than 150 trade, academic and profes-
sional articles. He is a featured columnist in the AMA’s
Marketing News and Marketing Insights magazines.
coMPAnies cAn geT THeir cusToMer Mix rigHT
by Answering THree iMPorTAnT quesTions:
1. wHere is THe brAnd in iTs brAnd
or cusToMer life cycle?
2. wHAT Are THe TAcTics THAT
MAnAgers Are using now,
And How cAn THey be iMProved
or enHAnced?
3. wHAT MeAsures will be used
To TrAck Progress on eAcH
of THe four “wHy’s”?
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benefits magazine march 201634
march 2016 benefits magazine 35
Branding
Benef its:
By thinking of employee
benefits as products, HR
professionals may be able to
use marketing techniques to
“sell” employees on taking
advantage of them.
by | Cindi Van Meir
Apply the Four Ps of Marketing to
Make Benefits More Engaging

W
ith four out of five em-
ployees basing their job
decisions on nonsalary
factors,1 employers in-
creasingly view benefits as a powerful
weapon to help them win the war for
top talent in a tightening job market.
At the same time, because of health
care cost increases and spurred on by
the Affordable Care Act (ACA), em-
ployer-sponsored health care is experi-
encing a dramatic shift toward a more
consumer-driven model, in which em-
ployees are being asked to take greater
responsibility for their health care costs.
Employers want employees to have
a positive, loyalty-inspiring relation-
ship with their benefit program—to
understand and appreciate the value
benefits provide. And in communicat-
ing that value, human resources (HR)
professionals no longer can assume a
traditional approach will work. It’s time
to get creative. That’s where marketing
can help.
The Four Ps of Marketing
Marketers create brand buy-in and
loyalty by determining the appropriate
mix of what are known as the four Ps

of marketing: product, price, promo-
tion and placement. If each element is
executed properly, the customer will
clearly see the value in the offering and
be perfectly willing to pay for it.
In terms of consumerism when it
comes to corporate benefit programs,
the employee represents the consumer
and the employer represents the brand.
The employee provides the employer
with labor and, in return, receives
cost-effective access to various means
of protecting personal health and
wealth—also known as benefits. Just as
with any other consumer good or ser-
vice, no perceived value means no buy-
in: If the employee is dissatisfied, he
or she most likely will look elsewhere
to an employer that better meets his or
her needs.
By applying the four Ps of market-
ing, HR professionals can turn their
benefit program into an engaging
brand to which employees can look to
address their needs, giving a lift to at-
traction and retention efforts.
Product
First things first, what are we selling?
Just as a market research team helps
determine what products to offer based
on what consumers want and need, HR

professionals need to determine which
benefits to offer to employees.
In marketing, this is accomplished
through research, including using sur-
veys, focus groups and demographic
analysis. The goal is to answer ques-
tions like: Who makes up our audience?
What challenges are they facing? What
solutions are they looking for? Once
marketers have this information, they
have a more complete picture of what
will satisfy consumer demands and are
better equipped to make product deci-
sions.
A similar approach can and should
be taken with benefits. In this new era
of health care consumerism, it’s impor-
tant for HR professionals to recognize
that benefits are not one size fits all. A
company’s workforce is a unique mix
of different ethnicities, generations
and socioeconomic statuses, and the
benefits program should reflect that
with an equally unique mix of prod-
ucts and programs that addresses the
varied needs of the employee popula-
tion. Achieving the right mix requires
HR professionals to take on the role of
researcher and ask the same types of
questions as their marketing counter-
parts.
E-mail or a free tool like Survey-

Monkey easily can be used to create
and distribute a survey to gain perspec-
tive on which benefits employees pre-
fer. Beyond that, HR professionals can
draw deep insight from examining how
current benefits are being used across
the workforce. Data analytics tools can
track benefit plan utilization and gen-
erate digestible reports that shed light
on how employees are managing their
health throughout the plan year. This
information can help identify potential
coverage gaps that can be addressed
communication
learn more
Education
Certificate Series
July 11-16, Brookfield (Milwaukee), Wisconsin
Visit www.ifebp.org/certificateseries for more information.
35th Annual iSCEBS Employee Benefits Symposium
September 18-21, Baltimore, Maryland
Visit www.ifebp.org/symposium for more information.
The Limitless Workplace: Technology & Social Media in the
World of Work
On-Demand Presentation. Society of Human Resource
Management. 2015.
Visit www.ifebp.org/books.asp?15SHRM2ODP for more
information.
through changes to plan design and result in a benefit offer-

ing tailored to fit employee needs.
But the research can’t stop there. When making product
decisions, marketers must also consider their competition
and develop a product that’s more appealing to their target
audience. Likewise, HR professionals should know what
competitors for talent are offering. As mentioned, every em-
ployee population is unique and coverage needs vary, but
companies can differentiate themselves from others in their
industry by exploring new and innovative benefits to add to
the package, such as pet insurance, floating holidays and tele-
medicine services (more on this later).
Price
A good product won’t go far if people aren’t willing to pay
for it, which is why marketers devote a significant amount of
time to pricing. If HR wants employees to take full advantage
of the benefits offering, the price must be right.
In the benefits world, rising health care costs—along with
ACA and the looming threat of the Cadillac tax on high-value
health plans—are compelling most employers to find ways
to cut spending on health insurance. Many organizations are
shifting more of the financial burden onto employees in the
form of high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) (i.e., greater
out-of-pocket costs). While this may make sense for the em-
ployer’s bottom line, it also introduces a potentially significant
coverage gap for employees, many of whom are not prepared
to take on unexpected medical expenses. An estimated 49% of
Americans have less than $1,000 to pay for unexpected out-
of-pocket medical expenses, and 53% would borrow from
their 401(k) or credit cards to cover such costs.2 Medical debt
accounts for a majority of the bankruptcies in the U.S.
If employers want to reduce spending without leaving

their workforce high and dry, they may need to offer greater
choice and greater value in their benefit packages, and em-
ployees may demand it. Voluntary benefits can bridge the
gap in coverage created by the move to higher out-of-pocket
costs, helping employees enjoy lower premiums while pro-
tecting their health and income. Traditional voluntary prod-
ucts have included short-term disability, critical illness and
life insurance policies. But employees may be able to build a
stronger financial safety net through nontraditional volun-
tary benefits such as financial planning and education, pet
insurance, legal plans and identity theft protection. An in-
creasingly popular addition to the benefits mix are telemedi-
cine services, which allow employees to receive basic prima-
ry care treatment virtually and for a fraction of the cost of an
in-person visit to a doctor’s office.
It’s important that employers design health plans to fit
their budgetary goals. But if employees can’t afford the plans,
then they stop being a benefit and start being a hindrance
to retention. Properly integrated into the program, volun-
tary benefits provide low-cost, easy-to-implement options
that can help employees get the protection they need without
breaking the bank.
Promotion
A product could be the most useful, most affordable avail-
able, but if people don’t know about it or don’t understand it,
it’s not really worth all that much. Marketers, of course, have
a deep appreciation of this concept, and the greatest portion
of their efforts—and their budgets—typically focuses on get-
ting the word out. HR professionals need not spend as much
money, but they should be thoughtful about how they com-
municate their benefits package to the workforce.

Benefits have always been difficult for the average em-
ployee to fully understand, but recent developments in
health care have introduced numerous new challenges. As
companies adapt their benefits strategy to comply with ACA
and combat rising costs, workers must now wrap their heads
around concepts like HDHPs, health savings accounts and
much more. They need more than the traditional booklet
outlining copays and deductibles; they need education on
these new elements and insight into what the changes mean
for them.
communication
takeaways
• An employee who doesn’t perceive value from employee
benefits
may look elsewhere for an employer that meets his or her needs.
• HR professionals working to determine the right mix of
benefits
can survey employees and use data analytics to examine how
cur-
rent benefits are used; they also should know what the competi-
tion for talent is offering.
• If employees can’t afford the benefits that are offered, those
benefits may actually become a disincentive to remain with the
employer.
• Benefits can be complicated, and employees need a simple,
conve-
nient and engaging way to learn about them.

To avoid confusion that can lead to poor decision mak-
ing at enrollment time, HR needs a communication plan that
gives employees a simple, convenient and engaging way to
inform and prepare themselves.
Most organizations believe they communicate benefits ef-
fectively, but only one out of five employees thinks that’s the
case.3 One explanation for this disparity could be that most
employers seem to ignore the fact that not every employee
communicates the same way. Despite the unprecedented lev-
el of diversity in today’s workforce, nearly 90% of HR profes-
sionals say they do not tailor their benefit communications
for specific groups of employees.4
Just as marketers segment their audience and use differ-
ent media to deliver their message to consumers, HR profes-
sionals should consider a variety of communication styles and
channels to reach employees. By making the message avail-
able in multiple formats, HR can engage workers the way they
want to be engaged. For instance, baby boomers may appreci-
ate verbal, face-to-face communication about changes to their
benefits, while Millennials may prefer e-mail, text messages
or videos. There are also many cases in which the spouse, not
the employee, is the actual decision maker. HR profession-
als need to know to whom they’re talking. This is another ex-
ample of when gathering employee input can be very helpful.
And as for the message itself, online benefits communi-
cation portals enable HR professionals to easily personalize
employee communications based on demographics and oth-
er data. After identifying the specific information an individ-
ual needs, they can send a tailored message that will resonate
on a personal level, driving engagement and more confident

benefit decisions.
But it goes beyond simply communicating different ben-
efit plans for annual enrollment. Putting benefits in the con-
text of total compensation and making information readily
available throughout the year also encourage greater loyalty.
Employees have a clearer picture of how their employer is
taking care of them—a very good thing for brand loyalty.
Placement
Once marketers have let their audience know about a
product, they must make sure consumers have ready ac-
cess to it. Convenience is king in the land of placement. If
the buying process is too complicated, consumers likely will
lose patience and move on. Worse yet, if a confusing buying
process leads them to buy the wrong product, it leaves them
disappointed and tarnishes the brand. While most employ-
ees don’t have the immediate option to walk away from their
benefits, a difficult enrollment experience eventually can
have serious repercussions for an employer.
As employees take more ownership of their health care,
they may need guidance to make smart benefit decisions.
Employees who make a choice that doesn’t fit their individu-
al needs could find themselves in a shaky financial situation,
which increases the likelihood of stress (negatively impact-
ing job performance) or even skipped treatments (leading to
all sorts of undesirable outcomes). Employees could blame
their employer for inadequate coverage, and that would not
bode well for retention.
The answer is to provide resources that make it easy for
employees to identify the coverage they need. Consumer-
centric benefits enrollment technology—featuring mobile
device access, step-by-step navigation, plan comparison and

other decision-support tools—can give employees an experi-
ence similar to that of shopping with popular online retailers
like Amazon or eBay. Voluntary benefits can be integrated
into the workflow, alongside traditional benefits, with clues
that let employees see how each benefit complements the
other. Through such simplicity and convenience, HR profes-
sionals can deliver a positive brand experience and help em-
ployees successfully navigate an otherwise complex process.
Benefits may never be considered fun, but they don’t have
to be painful. Employees shouldn’t dread open enrollment
or think it’s too much trouble to figure out which plans can
benefit them the most.
communication
Cindi Van Meir is the product
marketing manager at Benefitfocus,
where she led the cross-functional
teams that designed and developed
the BENEFITFOCUS® Marketplace.
Previously, Van Meir held positions in sales and
marketing at Trelleborg AB and Samsung Opto-
Electronics America Inc. She is a frequent guest
speaker on topics such as benefits administration,
multigenerational workforces and multicultural
workplaces. Van Meir holds a bachelor’s degree
from William Paterson University of New Jersey.
b
io

In Summary
Marketing works. Since 1960, companies around the
globe have used the four Ps to get people to see the value in
their products and become loyal customers. What is a mod-
ern benefits program but a product whose perceived value
can influence employee loyalty?
As the war for talent continues to escalate and a tech-
savvy talent pool looks for companies that can provide a pos-
itive work culture as much as career advancement, employers
need more ammunition. The four Ps of marketing represent
a time-tested approach that can increase the effectiveness of
benefits management efforts.
Endnotes
1. Benefits Buyers Study: New Perspectives on Balancing
Employer Costs
and Employee Protection, Unum, 2015, available at
www.unum.com
/Brokers/UnumThoughtLeadership.aspx.
2. Laura Ungar and Jayne O’Donnell, “Dilemma over
Deductibles:
Costs Crippling Middle Class,” USA Today, January 2015,
available at www
.usatoday.com/stor y/news/nation/2015/01/01/middle-class-
workers
-struggle-to-pay-for-care-despite-insurance/19841235.
3. “Employee Benefits: Are You Getting Your Money’s
Worth?” Colonial
Life white paper, Spring 2013.
4. 2014 Inside Benefits Communication Survey, National
Business

Coalition on Health and Benz Communications, November
2014, available
a t h t t p : / / b e n z c o m m u n i c a t i o n s . c o m / r e s o
u r c e s / i n s i d e - b e n e f i t s
-communication-survey-results.
communication
Reproduced with permission from Benefits Magazine, Volume
53, No.3,
January 2016, pages 34-39, published by the International
Foundation of
Employee Benefit Plans (www.ifebp.org), Brookfield, Wis. All
rights reserved.
Statements or opinions expressed in this article are those of the
author and do
not necessarily represent the views or positions of the
International Foundation,
its officers, directors or staff. No further transmission or
electronic distribution
of this material is permitted. M A G A Z I N E
pdf/216
Copyright of Benefits Magazine is the property of International
Foundation of Employee
Benefits and its content may not be copied or emailed to
multiple sites or posted to a listserv
without the copyright holder's express written permission.
However, users may print,
download, or email articles for individual use.

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