LONDON SCHOOL of PUBLIC RELATION

STRATEGIC MARKETING COMMUNICATION

SESSION 12

Oleh:

Joshua Boanerges Tampi

21072140019

POSTGRADUATE PROGRAM

MARKETING COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT

JAKARTA

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 STATEMENT LETTER

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I grant permission to the London School of Public Relations to make copies of assignments for
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ready to bear any consequences including a fail grade in the subject, ineligibility to proceed to thesis
defense, and/or graduate in the given year without any complaint or dispute.

Name : Joshua Boanerges Tampi

Signed : Date : 1st July 2021

Saya menyatakan dengan ini bahwa tugas yang dibuat ini adalah pekerjaan saya sendiri dan semua
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mengandung plagiarisme.
Saya mengizinkan The London School of Public Relations untuk menilai, mengevaluasi, dan/atau
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thesis, maupun tidak dapat mengikuti wisuda tanpa melakukan protes dalam bentuk apapun.

Name : Joshua Boanerges Tampi

Tanda Tangan : Date : 1st July 2021

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Weekly Discussion

Janelle Barlow and Claus Møller (1996) in their book A Complaint is a Gift: Using Customer
Feedback as a Strategic Tool wrote a revolutionary notion that customer complaints are a
valuable feedback mechanism that can help organizations rapidly and inexpensively strengthen
products, service style, and market focus. In fact, they're the best bargain around in market
research. Do you agree with them? Please explain why!

The marketing philosophy nowadays is consumer-oriented marketing, meaning that it

emphasizes the needs and wants of consumers. This is different with the previous aim which
focuses on product and sales (Dharmmesta & Handoko, 2018). Also, due to the consumer
oriented aim and philosophy, research on consumer behaviour becomes important. Consumer
behaviour is necessary to help manager to make decision, provide knowledge to marketing
researcher with consumer analysis knowledge. Also it helps regulator and legislator to create
laws and regulation related to purchasing and selling products and services. Moreover, the
impact to consumers is offering them a better purchase decision (Sunyoto, 2018).

Furthermore, Kotler and Keller define marketing as the way to identify and meet social
and human needs. They add that marketing provides a higher life standard. Also, marketing from
a social perspective is about a societal process by which individuals and groups can obtain what
they want and need through creating, offering, and freely exchanging products and services of
value with others (Kotler & Keller, 2009). This definition also strongly points out the importance
of others, in this case, consumers. Without consumers who purchase the products or services,
there is no way a company still exists.

Moreover, a stakeholder is about any party who has an interest in a company where they
can influence or be influenced by its activity . Therefore, consumers are also regarded as
stakeholder (Wibisono, 2007). Consumers can either influence or be influenced by a company,
thereby allowing them to be regarded as stakeholders. Hence, since consumers are also important
stakeholders for a company and a company needs consumers, seeking and heeding their
complaints, suggestions must not be disregarded. A company needs to heed their thoughts as a
part to adjust with the consumer behaviour. Since the marketing orientation is centred on
consumers, the aim is to meet their needs and satisfaction.

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 Philosophy is not about being arrogant and getting full of oneself because perceiving
themself as an intelligent being. For example, a physicist considers himself smart, disregarding
others, thinking that others fields are useless. After knowing that reality is so complex that his
knowledge alone won’t allow him to comprehend the complexity, he realizes that actually he is
limited and fragile. Similar to what Socrates said that he knew that he knew nothing. Philosophy
is not boasting as an intelligent being but trying to question anything and seek it thoroughly
(Suriasumantri, 2010). That is, a philosopher must have the humility to learn and not feel better
than others.

A philosopher is the one who loves wisdom because philosophy comes from the word
philos (love) and sophia (wisdom). People who hold to philosophy are humble, do not just
believe in what they know, and question everything. A person who lives philosophy will carry
out a dialectical process, namely combining different, even contradictory things to form a
synthesis (Nuradhawati, 2020). Therefore, people who adhere to philosophy must humbly accept
and correct their mistakes, open-minded to heed many perspectives, willing to change and
combine many useful perspectives to produce something better.

In this case, a company must uphold this philosophy, meaning that they have the
willingness to listen to other perspectives. Others here are consumers due to the latest marketing
concept is consumer orientation marketing. Consumer behaviour is subject serves as evidence
about the importance of consumers. If consumers are not necessary, there will be no consumer
behaviour. This isn’t about what they need and want, but marketers and their company must
allocate their time to understand their thoughts. Since behaviour derives from thoughts,
therefore, studying their thoughts is necessary.

According to the theory of attitude, there are cognitive, affective, and conative
components. Cognitive is related to consumer’s emotions. Affective is about how someone feels,
emotional feelings about an object. Conative is the likelihood to act (AVA Publishing SA, 2009).
This explains that what consumers think and feel drive their action. In this case, any complaints,
suggestions, critiques are important aspects. Companies must pay attention to check what they
think and feel through all of those aspects they utter. This is the reason why we must agree to
Janelle Barlow and Claus Møller. Those explanations above serve as the philosophical
understanding of why we have to accept customer feedback and complaints.

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 Customers' complaints can be a valuable feedback mechanism because those complaints
serve as the perspective to adjust with their likings. This is the adjustment associated to the study
of consumer behaviour. Also, since consumer behaviour is important, keeping up with updates
related to consumer behaviour is a must. Consumer is a moving target, they can change their
behaviour. For example, lifestyle can influence their behaviour, allowing them to change
(Judisseno, 2019). L.L. Bean, a marketing company, stated that a customer is not dependent on
them, but the company is dependent on them. A customer is not an interruption of their work.
However, a customer is the purpose of it. The company is not doing a favor by serving him. The
customer is doing them a favor by allowing them to do so (Sulaksana, 2007).

Thus, understanding that consumers are entities that must be carefully understood
because consumers have dynamic behaviour and how important consumers are because they give
companies a purpose to serve means that companies must understand and serve consumers
seriously. Through this, the company will definitely earn a decent and ethical profit. As the old
saying goes, listening to others' perspectives makes one wise. A company must heed the advice,
complaints, and suggestions from consumers to offer products and services even better, matching
their wants and needs. In this case, surely consumers will most likely purchase the offered
product and service.

Complains can help organizations rapidly and inexpensively strengthen products, service
style, and market focus. This statement is true, because we are avoided from wasting our times to
research their behaviour, meaning that we can save our time to understand their thoughts. Since
they have complained, therefore we know. Their feedback can be collected and combined with
feedback from other stakeholders, thereby dialectic is formed to produce a synthesis. A company
must be capable of collecting many suggestions and decide which one is better. Also, combining
many suggestions to produce a new idea is pivotal for a company.

For example, consumers perceive that a food company must add another flavour, while
other stakeholders suggest not to spend much money. Thus, this company may produce a new
variant with less budget and new taste according to most consumers liking. This is a dialectic to
meet both parties, consumers, and the stakeholders who suggest spending less money. People
who complaint, intentionally allowing a company to know their desire. This shall help a

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company to adjust the product and service to meet their criteria. Adjusting can also be the market
focus, meaning that they focus more on consumers with their unique demands.

For example, many costumers complain to a company because it does not provide the
product they want, then the company can produce the product they want. If it turns out that after
the product is released, many buy it, sales increase, this can be a consideration for the company
to focus on this market segmentation, namely providing the products they want earlier. This
confirms that complains may give enlightenment to get another market focus. Service style and
product, complains can help companies to make adjustment according to what costumers ask. In
this case, if a company uses this philosophy, the company can secure loyalty of their customers.

A consumer is an entity that engages in searching, selecting, using and disposing of

products, services, experiences, or ideas. On the other hand, the customer is an entity who
regularly purchases a particular brand or company's product or purchases from a particular shop
(Judisseno, 2019). In this case, companies try to get as many consumers as possible to be their
customers. This shows how important consumers for companies. Hence, once they are
successfully persuaded to be customers, a company must not disregard them. If consumers are
important, when they become customers, catering to them, researching their behaviour, heeding
their thoughts should be even more important. Or else their loyalty is lost, and they might switch
brands.

How if their complaints are baseless, irrelevant, or may ruin the company. If this is the
case, this explains how important it is to do consumer research. Companies must also understand
whether the suggestions or complaints they provide are important to accept or not. Does it
represent the majority of consumers or only one consumer? If it's only a small part and following
their advice will lose a bigger customer, don't do it. However, a company may also follow the
advice of a small number of consumers without compromising the interests of the majority of
consumers. This is casuistic in nature, must depend on the conditions.

Therefore, philosophy states that something must be analysed in-depth, keep asking
questions about any feedback, accept incoming input but not directly apply it, think of it
thoroughly. There needs to be an in-depth analysis until conclusions are made. A company needs
to check every feedbacks and complaint because it may give insight regarding what consumers

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feel and think. This shall be the enlightenment to treat a product or service, make a new market
focus, and use the feedback as data to do anything that may benefit the company and customers.

If their feedbacks are not suitable for the company, don't just dispose of it. Try to think of
it thoroughly. Perhaps there is something to be improved from their feedbacks and complaints. In
short, a company must be smart enough to understand and use any incoming feedback to serve
the company's interests and customers. A company must remember the importance of
maintaining the company's existence by not hurting consumers, especially loyal customers.
There must be a balance. A company must not carelessly produce something according to the
budget without considering the consumers' desire. Therefore, complaints need to be considered.
However, the company should not follow the consumer's will to do something different.

Maybe only a small percentage of consumers ask for it, or the request should not be
implemented because it will be bad for other consumers, companies, and even consumers who
ask for it. Suppose that the company goes bankrupt because it follows complaints and
suggestions from consumers without careful consideration, or just doing according to what
consumers ask, the company will be destroyed. Employees lose their jobs. Consumers also lose
companies that can meet their needs. Companies need to do socialization to change their
perception. For example, they think that product A is not good. In reality, product A is already
excellent. Hence, it is necessary to implement the right marketing mix to change their perception
to affect their attitude.

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 REFERENCES

AVA Publishing SA. (2009). Basic Marketing Consumer Behaviour. AVA Publishing SA.

Dharmmesta, B. S., & Handoko, T. H. (2018). Manajemen Pemasaran Analisis Perilaku

Konsumen. BPFE-Yogyakarta.

Judisseno, R. K. (2019). Branding Destinasi dan Promosi Pariwisata (First Edit). PT Gramedia.

Kotler, P., & Keller, K. L. (2009). Manajemen Pemasaran. Penerbit Erlangga.

Nuradhawati, R. (2020). Teori & Filsafat Ilmu Pemerintahan. Deepublish.

Sulaksana, U. (2007). Integrated Marketing Communication: Teks dan kasus. Pustaka Pelajar.

Sunyoto, D. (2018). Konsep Dasar Riset Pemasaran & Perilaku Konsumen. PT Buku Seru.

Suriasumantri, J. S. (2010). Filsafat Ilmu Sebuah Pengantar Populer. PT Penebar Swadaya.

Wibisono, Y. (2007). Membedah Konsep dan Aplikasi CSR. Fascho Publishing.