Candidate Number

12115954

CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing

Marketing Management

Task Number One

1. Review of the different types of orientation.................................................................................2

1.1 Sales Orientation................................................................................................................2
1.2 Production Orientation.......................................................................................................2
1.3 Product Orientation............................................................................................................2
1.4 Marketing Orientation........................................................................................................3
1.5 Relationship Marketing......................................................................................................3
2. Description of orientation at TMN Media................................................................4
2.1 Recap of TMN Media.........................................................................................................5
2.2 Evidence of the sales orientation at TMN Media...............................................................5
2.3 Short-termism at MutualPoints..........................................................................................5
2.4 Possible change on the horizon..........................................................................................6
3. Developing a relationship orientation.........................................................................6
3.1 Establish sense of urgency.................................................................................................7
3.2 Form a powerful coalition..................................................................................................8
3.3 Create a vision for change..................................................................................................8
3.4 Communicate the vision.....................................................................................................9
3.5 Remove obstacles...............................................................................................................9
3.6 Create short term wins........................................................................................................9
3.7 Build on the change..........................................................................................................10
3.8 Anchor the change in company culture............................................................................10
3.9 Summary...........................................................................................................................11
References....................................................................................................................................12
Appendix........................................................................................................................................14
Company Overview................................................................................................................14
Company Details....................................................................................................................14
Key Customer Groups............................................................................................................14
Principal Competitors.............................................................................................................14

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Candidate Number
12115954

CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing

Marketing Management

Task Number One

1. Review of the different types of orientation

1.1 Sales Orientation
An approach to business that centres its activities on selling whatever it can produce, assuming
that customers are inherently reluctant to purchase. (Pearson 2008)
A sales orientation focuses heavily on selling the products that the company produces. As such it
can often have a short-term outlook and focus overly on selling to a customer and not on building a
long-term relationship with them. As such this approach is often popular in markets where the
ticket item is of high value and with limited repeat purchase potential.
Whilst a sales orientation does bare some similarities to a marketing orientation in that both make
use of pricing, promotion and distribution skills, the sales orientation differs in that little thought is
given to what the customer actually wants.
As the sales orientation assumes that salesmanship is required to sell the product it can also be
assumed that the products are typically not necessities. A popular example of a sales orientation is
in life insurance where overt selling is a common tactic.

1.2 Production Orientation

An approach to business that centres its activities on producing goods more efficiently and cost
effectively, assuming that price is the only factor important to customers. (Pearson 2008)
As mass production technologies and techniques became pervasive in the 20 th century the lure of the
production orientation proved too much for many businesses. The focus was on making items more
and more efficiently in the belief that the cheapest producer would gain market share.
This approach makes a number of assumptions. Firstly that all markets operate on a lowest cost
wins methodology, which considering the success of luxury products in many markets is clearly not
the case. Secondly it assumes that all customers are the same and delivers the same product to each
one with the aim of achieving economies of scale.
In many ways governments are a fine example of this orientation, with sectors such as health and
education operating largely on a one size fits all methodology. Of course it is worth remembering
that production efficiencies remain important, and methodologies such as Total Quality
Management, Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing have given companies the tools to enable highly
efficient production of goods and services.

1.3 Product Orientation

An approach to business that centres its activities on continually improving and refining its
products, assuming that customers simply want the best possible quality for their money. (Pearson
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Candidate Number
12115954

CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing

Marketing Management

Task Number One

2008)
The product orientation was arguably the first orientation popular in business as it centred on what
the company could produce. The obvious example is Henry Ford stating that customers could have
any colour model T as long as it was black. The company ruled the roost and produced what it did
and a lack of choice led customers to like it or lump it.
In the contemporary business environment a product orientation focuses primarily on the quality of
the product under the belief that as long as good quality product is sent to market that the demand
will always exist. This insular approach to business causes many product led companies to fall
behind changing shifts in the marketplace as they fail to notice competitors activities or changing
societal shifts. Apple for instance focused too heavily on producing their own personal computer
and failed to spot the growing demand in the market for Windows based platforms.

1.4 Marketing Orientation

an approach to business that centres its activities on satisfying the needs and wants of its
customers. (Pearson 2008)
A marketing orientation is typically found when an entire company practices a customer-focused
approach to their activities. So all departments act with the customer in mind, not purely the
marketing department.
A key element in a marketing orientated company is the use of and collection of knowledge about
the customer. If it is to be implemented successfully then all departments must learn to collect and
share knowledge about the customer every time they come into contact with that customer.
In addition to collecting information about customers collectively, the marketing orientated
company must also transmit information to customers collectively, with a common message being
communicated by all departments, every time they touch a customer.
Kohli and Jaworski (1990) define market orientation in terms of three dimensions:
1. The generation of market information about the needs of customers and external
environmental factors
2. The dissemination of such information among organisational departments
3. The development and implementation of strategies based upon this information
Amazon.com are an excellent example of a company with a marketing orientation, indeed one may
suggest they are an excellent example of a company with a relationship orientation, as they attempt
to offer a personalised shopping experience to each of its customers.

1.5 Relationship Marketing

a form of marketing that puts particular emphasis on building a longer-term, more intimate bond
between an organisation and its individual customers. (Pearson 2008)

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Candidate Number
12115954

CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing

Marketing Management

Task Number One

With the onset of advanced IT, and in particular database, solutions the relationship marketing
orientation has come into its own under the guise of customer relationship management (CRM).
This advance in database technology has coincided with improvements in manufacturing and
logistics to enable companies to offer personalised solutions to each customer.
The relationship marketing orientation focuses on the long-term relationship with the customer and
as such can often only enter profitability several years into the relationship.

However once a relationship has been established with customers it enables the company to target
customers far more effectively and therefore become more profitable by providing exactly what the
most profitable segment of the customer base requires.
Amazon was mentioned in the previous section as a good exponent of relationship marketing.
Another excellent company is American Airlines, who use their frequent flyer program to target
their most profitable customers and deliver exceptional customer service and value to that segment.

2. Description of orientation at TMN Media

As with many organisations, TMN Media exhibits different orientation traits at both different
circumstances and in differing divisions of the company. Each will be explained below but the
predominant orientation at TMN Media is the sales orientation, which will comprise the bulk of the
following section.

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Candidate Number
12115954

CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing

Marketing Management

Task Number One

2.1 Recap of TMN Media

As the appendices to this document outlines, TMN Media is primarily an email marketing company
and despite the tremendous potential for using email as a means of enabling customer relationship
management (Wilson et al, 2002) the predominant view in the email marketing industry is one of
making use of the medium for short-term gains (Burston, 2008). The bulk of the companys
revenue comes from the sale and management of email marketing services, both to its existing
database of subscribers or the email database of clients.
The company operates several websites in areas such as cashback shopping and prize draw
competitions. These websites are member driven and because they typically provide incentives for
subscribing to the site mailing list, and subsequently receiving email newsletters, they provide an
active audience for the receipt of commercial emails.
In addition the marketing approach at TMN Media relies heavily on obtaining new members for
each website rather than on building deeper relationships with existing members. This strategy
exists largely for financial reasons as the cost of acquiring new members to the company website
portfolio can be managed on the balance sheet as the accumulation of assets (ie the email database)
rather than a cost of trade. This subsequently allows profit margins at the company to be extremely
high and further entrenches this approach over a more traditional relationship marketing orientation.

2.2 Evidence of the sales orientation at TMN Media

The previous chapter described a sales orientation as focusing heavily on selling the products that
the company produces. As such it can often have a short-term outlook and focuses overly on selling
to a customer and not on building a long term relationship with them.
The view of both the email marketing industry, and TMN Media in particular seems to support this
very outlook. Whilst many sectors of the burgeoning online advertising industry have used the
advanced tracking mechanisms available to drive up efficiency, email marketing still operates in a
kind of black box with accountability quite low, certainly in relation to other forms of online
advertising such as pay-per-click and affiliate marketing.
Unfortunately TMN Media seem to embody this approach, and whilst it remains extremely
profitable in the short/medium term, doubts persist over its longevity as both customers and
subscribers demand greater relevance and accountability from email marketing campaigns.

2.3 Short-termism at MutualPoints

The companies flagship website is MutualPoints.com, a website that led the way in rewarding
members with rewards for shopping online. Whilst the website was highly innovative and popular
in its early days, recent trends in the marketplace have seen competitors overtake it by offering far
more rewarding cash back deals to customers. Whereas MutualPoints persists with offering
customers 50% cash back deals, newer sites such as Quidco have stolen large chunks of the market
by offering 100% cash back.

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Candidate Number
12115954

CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing

Marketing Management

Task Number One

This change in the competitive marketplace has left MutualPoints in an interesting quandary, as the
site continues to enjoy a very large membership of in excess of 1 million members but suffers from
a fall in quality of those members. This fall in quality is epitomised by the nature of rewards
generated through the site, with in excess of 60% of all rewards earnt via so called quick rewards at
websites such as Pricerunner and Kelkoo that provide little value for those companies but help to
keep up the appearance of high volume at both MutualPoints and these partners.
However the falling quality of these leads does raise serious concerns over the longevity of this
approach as advertisers realise the poor quality they are getting from their online advertising
through these channels. Attempts have been made recently to engender a greater relationship
marketing approach on the website but these attempts are still very much in the minority in
comparison to existing strategies.
Equally the monetisation of the customer database at MutualPoints takes a similarly short-term
view. The site provides incentives for members to open and click through to advertisers via the
email bulletins sent out to them and this basic relationship provides very large numbers for
advertisers in the basic email marketing metrics of open rate and click through rate. Whilst these
metrics remain the predominant units of measurement in the email marketing sector the strategy
works very well for the TMN Media company and is extremely profitable to it. However the
quality of those clicks for the advertiser is low as there is little inherent motivation for the customer
to click through to the advertiser above earning their reward for doing so.
Finally the value for the members of the website is low because the offers advertised to them are
excessively generic. It has been suggested that untargeted email, even from a known sender, is
overwhelmingly thought of as spam (Taylor, 2008), with half of respondants in a Q Interactive and
Marketing Sherpa study regarding email to be spam even if it is not of interest to them. So the
relationship between MutualPoints and its members is overwhelmingly transactional, with little
relationship between the two parties. Customer service is a fine example of this approach, with a
low cost call centre used on the sub-continent despite frequent complaints from users about the poor
service offered.

2.4 Possible change on the horizon

There are signs however that a change in orientation is being considered, and this will be covered in
more depth in the following chapter. The staffing budget at the company is a telling example of the
potential change in approach. Whilst the sales team out numbers those in the marketing department
by three to one the company has recently employed a marketing director for the first time. The new
recruit has the remit of improving the marketing orientation at the company, and to hopefully
encourage existing and future web properties to employ greater customisation for each member.

3. Developing a relationship orientation

The previous chapter outlined a number of issues regarding both the short-term success of TMN
Media and the long-term positioning of the company in the marketplace. Thankfully there are a
number of measures that can be taken to evolve the company towards a relationship marketing
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Candidate Number
12115954

CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing

Marketing Management

Task Number One

orientation and therefore position the company well for future challenges, whilst maintaining
current profitability. Finnegan and Willcocks (2007) outline a number of cultural and psychological
contracts within an organisation that are fundamental to developing a successful relationship
orientation, including knowledge sharing and company culture.
Other advocates of relationship marketing suggest alternatives. Patricia Seybold for instance has
advocated the following steps in a number of her studies into relationship marketing (1999 & 2001)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Make it easy for customers to do business with you

Focus on the end customer for your products and services
Redesign your customer-facing processes from the end-customer's point of view
Design a comprehensive, evolving electronic commerce architecture
Foster customer loyalty-the key to profitability in electronic commerce

In her later work she suggests building a customer flight deck, with the following stages involved
in its creation.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Create a Compelling Brand Personality

Deliver a Seamless Customer Experience Across Channels and Touchpoints
Care about Customers and Their Outcomes
Measure What Matters to Customers
Hone Operational Excellence
Value Customers Time
Place Customers "DNA" at the Core
Design to Morph

For this report however the organisational change model used will be based upon the Three Stage
Process of Change model devised by social scientist Kurt Lewin (1951) and developed further by
John Kotter (1996).
Lewin
Unfreeze
Change
Refreeze

Kotter
Establish sense of urgency
Create guiding coalition
Develop vision and strategy
Communicate the change vision
Empower others to act
Create short-term wins
Consolidate gains and produce even
more change
Institutionalise new approaches in the
future

3.1 Establish sense of urgency

For successful change to happen in an organisation, the whole organisation has to want to change
and creating a sense of urgency is the first step to achieving that. This could be done by raising
awareness of poor sales figures or highlighting changes in the marketplace. At TMN Media the
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Candidate Number
12115954

CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing

Marketing Management

Task Number One

following steps could be taken to create the sense for change.

o Identify potential threats, and develop scenarios showing what could happen in the
future. For instance use scenarios of competitive threats in the marketplace where greater
care over customer satisfaction is given, using the example of the MutualPoints website,
where market share has been severely eroded due to innovative competition.
o Examine opportunities that should be, or could be, exploited. The web 2.0 landscape
provides ample opportunity to expand the existing websites into new customer focused areas
whilst maintaining the core competitive strength of email marketing. The lack of
competitive movement in this field offers a tangible opportunity to regain market leadership.
o Start honest discussions, and give dynamic and convincing reasons to get people
talking and thinking. The use of statistics and marketing environment analysis can
encourage frank exchange of views between all stakeholders.
o Request support from customers, outside stakeholders and industry people to
strengthen your argument. By using customers and suppliers to support the need for
change would provide significant impetus to the change process.
Kotter suggests that for change to be successful it requires 75% of managers to buy into the change
required, so this first step cannot be over emphasised.

3.2 Form a powerful coalition

To successfully filter this change throughout the organisation requires the use of influential
leadership and visible support from management. This doesnt necessarily have to consist of
traditional corporate power bases, but merely a group of influential leaders whose power derides
from a variety of sources, including job title, status, expertise, and political importance. At TMN
Media this stage would consist of:
o
o
o
o

Identify the true leaders in the organization, such as the E-Commerce manager.
Ask for an emotional commitment from these key people.
Work on team building within the change coalition.
Check the team for weak areas, and ensure that it has a good mix of people from different
departments and different levels within the company.

3.3 Create a vision for change

When the notion of change is first mooted many ideas will be pushed forward to implement the
change. The third step of the change model is to harness all of these ideas and focus them into a
coherent vision for change. When this vision for change is clear and visible to all within TMN
Media it will enable change to occur far more quickly and effectively. Some steps to achieve this
may include:

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Candidate Number
12115954
o
o
o
o

CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing

Marketing Management

Task Number One

Determining the values that are central to the change.

Develop a short mission statement for the change.
Create a strategy to implement the vision.
Ensure the change coalition can describe the vision in a succinct elevator pitch.

3.4 Communicate the vision

Communicating the vision after it has been formulated will determine the success of the change to a
relationship orientation. The vision will be competing with day-to-day operational tasks so will
need to be bold and clear to get through. Finnegan and Willcocks emphasise the importance of
using tacit conversations to deliver this message and the use of conversation will be used in place of
large scale corporate meetings. This in combination with walking the walk will form the focal
point of communicating the vision:
o
o
o
o

Talk about the vision often.

Openly address concerns.
Apply the relationship vision to all aspects of the business.
Lead by example.

3.5 Remove obstacles

Hopefully once this stage of the change process has been reached both leaders and staff are
beginning to buy in to the change vision so the next stage is to remove obstacles and allow them to
implement the relationship marketing orientation. A number of steps can be used to ensure that
barriers to change are removed:
o
o
o
o

Identify change evangelists to deliver the change.

Recognise and reward people for change.
Identify those that resist change and work with them to establish whats required.
Act swiftly to remove barriers to change.

3.6 Create short term wins

Few things motivate change better than seeing success first hand, especially amongst managers
eager to see profitability maintained. With a number of short-term targets on the way to meeting the
long-term goal this can be achieved and drive the team on through each stage of the change process,
with each win motivating staff further.
o Choose inexpensive projects early in the process.
o Analyse the importance of each goal because failure early on can severely harm the change
process.
o Reward those that helped attain the goal.

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Candidate Number
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CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing

Marketing Management

Task Number One

A fine example of this at TMN Media is the implementation of a consumer reviews section on
MutualPoints to provide a low cost example of how consumers increasingly want to interact with
websites. The project was low cost and delivered in excess of three hundred reviews in the first day
of operation.

3.7 Build on the change

Whilst short-term gains are clearly important in building momentum they also run the risk of
persuading the company that success has been prematurely achieved. Therefore its important to
maintain the long-term vision and understand the principal of Kaizan, or constant improvement as
shown so successfully at Toyota (Liker, 2004):
o After every win, analyse what went well and improve upon it.
o Set fresh goals to build on the momentum.
o Freshen up the change team with new members and new ideas.

3.8 Anchor the change in company culture

The final, and arguably the most important, element of any process of knowledge and cultural
change is what Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) refer to as Internalisation, or when knowledge
becomes internalised within each employee and becomes habitual and part of the company culture.

The SECI model of knowledge creation shown above emphasises the important aspect of
continuous change to ensure that all changes are built upon rather than reneged and this forms the
focal point of the actions required in this section:
o Talk about progress; tell stories (Brown 2004).
o Enthuse about the culture in recruitment decisions.
o Ensure original change agents have a legacy at the company.

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Candidate Number
12115954

CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing

Marketing Management

Task Number One

3.9 Summary
Changing an organisational culture is not an easy process to undertake, but if done correctly can
lead to long and lasting success. When you plans are carefully made and built upon the proper
foundation, implementing change can be much easier, and the chances of success are much
improved. The previous eight steps all play a part in achieving this change and making change and
improvement a part of company culture. Only when this is fully engrained can true victory be
declared.
Word Count = 3320

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CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing

Marketing Management

Task Number One

References
Wilson H, Daniel E and McDonald M (2002) Factors for Success in Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) Systems. Journal of Marketing Management Volume 18 (1-2) p193-219
Burston, J (2008) Email marketing, making it customer centric. DMA Email Marketing Council.
http://dmaemailblog.typepad.com/dma_email_marketing_counc/2008/06/email-marketing.html
[accessed on 11th June 2008]
Taylor, T (2008) Spam is in the eye of the beholder. DMA Email Marketing Council.
http://dmaemailblog.typepad.com/dma_email_marketing_counc/2008/06/spam-is-in-the.html
[accessed on 11th June 2008]
Pearson (2008) Marketing Glossary. Pearson Education.
http://wps.pearsoned.co.uk/wps/media/objects/1452/1487687/glossary/glossary.html [accessed on
11th June 2008]
Finegan D and Willcocks L (2007) Implementing CRM: From Technology to Knowledge. John
Wiley & Sons
Kholi, Ajay and Bernard J. Jaworski. 1990. Market-Orientation: The Construct, Research
Propositions, and Managerial Implications. Journal of Marketing 54 (April): 1-18.
Seybold, P., (1999) Customers.com, Random House
Seybold, P., (2001) The Customer Revolution, Random House
Lewin, K. (1951) Field theory in social science; selected theoretical papers. Harper & Row
Kotter J (1996) Leading Change. Harvard Business Press
Liker, J., (2004) The Toytota Way, McGraw Hill

Nonaka, I and Takeuchi, H. (1995) The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies
Create the Dynamics of Innovation Oxford University Press
Seely-Brown S, Denning S, Groh K and Prusak L. (2004) Storytelling in Organizations: Why
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CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing

Marketing Management

Task Number One

Storytelling Is Transforming 21st Century Organizations and Management Butterworth-Heinemann

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Candidate Number
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CIM Professional Diploma in Marketing

Marketing Management

Task Number One

Appendix
Company Overview
TMN Media has over 5 years experience in managing email marketing campaigns. Their long-term
clients range from international blue-chip companies to local enterprises, all of which take
advantage of the wide range of media services available.
In-depth knowledge of the email and list marketplace enables TMN Media to provide a competitive
and effective approach to reaching a target audience via opt-in consumer databases of 8 million
emails and 4 million unique postal records. Their services range from email marketing to blind
network and website advertising, all of which are managed by professional and experienced team
members.
The MutualPoints website was one of the first exponents of rewarded shopping in the UK,
providing members initially with shares in the company in return for shopping, and subsequently
with cash back. The website has over 1 million members.

Company Details
TMN Media is part of TMN plc, an AIM listed PLC since 2000. TMN plc was founded in 1999.

Key Customer Groups

The market for MutualPoints is the consumer market. Customer research shows that the key
demographic for the website are females aged 31-60 and in the lower echelons of the social/wealth
classifications.

Principal Competitors
The rewarded shopping sector has grown tremendously since MutualPoints led the way in 1999 and
now contains a large number of competitors. QuidCo leads the market with other major
competitors including Rpoints, Pigsback and Greasy Palm.

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