MARKETING STRATEGY OF AIRTEL

THE INDIAN INSTITUTE OF PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT NEW DELHI

THESIS ON

“MARKETING STRATEGY OF AIRTEL”

SUBMITTED TO: PROF. SUMANTA SHARMA

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF: PROF. DIPTI SHARMA

MR. ASHWANI RANA

(INTERNAL GUIDE)

(EXTERNAL GUIDE)

SUBMITTED BY: HARISH KUMAR

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

ALUMNI ID NUMBER: DS/09/11-M-047 BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

ABSTRACT

The project is an extensive report on how the Airtel company markets its strategies and how the company has been able in tackling the present tough competition and how it is cooping up by the allegations of the quality of its products. The report begins with the history of the products and the introduction of the Airtel company. This report also contains the basic marketing strategies that are used by the Airtel company of manufacturing process, technology, production policy, advertising, collaboration, export scenario, future prospect and government policies. The report includes some of the key salient features of market trend issues.

In today’s world of cutthroat fierce competition, it is very essential to not only exist but also to excel in the market. Today’s market is enormously more complex. Hence forth, to survive in the market, the company not only needs to maximize its profit but also needs to satisfy its customers and should try to build upon from there.

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SIGNATORY PAGE

TO WHOMESOEVER IT MAY CONCERN

This is to confirm that Mr. Harish Kumar, student of IIPM, NEW DELHI, is doing a live project(Thesis) on the topic “Marketing Strategy of Airtel ” under my guidance and that the work being done by the candidate is original and is of the standard expected by an MBA student.

May god bless him with all success in his career.

Warm regards

Ashwani Rana

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TOPIC APPROVAL LETTER From: Thesis <thesis@iipm.edu> Date: Mon, 27 Dec 2010 11:57:51 +0530 Subject: Thesis Topic Approval (M) SS 09-11 To: thakur.dh@gmail.com Dear Harish Kumar, This is to inform that your thesis proposal on "Marketing Strategies of Airtel", to be conducted under the guidance of Mr. Ashwani Rana is hereby approved and the topic registration id number is DS/09/11-M-047 Make it a comprehensive thesis by ensuring that all the objectives as stated by you in your synopsis are met using appropriate research design; a thesis should aim at adding value to the existing knowledge base.

You are required to correspond with your internal guide Prof. Dipti Sharma at dipti.sharma@iipm.edu Ph.-0124-3350713 by sending at least six response sheets (attached along with this mail) at regular intervals before the last date for thesis submission.

NB: 1) A thesis would be rejected if there is any variation in the topic/title from the one approved and registered with us.

2) The candidate needs to handwrite summary of thesis at the time of viva

at least 1200 to 1500

words on the

Regards, Prof .Sumanta Sharma Dean (Projects) IIPM Sumanta.sharma@iipm.edu Phone: +91 0124 3350701 (D) +91 0124 3350715 (Board)

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is well-established fact that behind every achievement lays an unfathomable sea of gratitude to those who have extended their support and without whom the project would never have come into existence.

I express my gratitude to IIPM, New Delhi for providing me an opportunity to work on this thesis as a part of the curriculum.

Also, I express my gratitude to Prof. Sumanta Sharma and Prof. Dipti Sharma on the completion of my project and I am very thankful to Mr. Ashwani Rana my external mentor for his excellent guidance and kind cooperation throughout the work.

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APPROVED THESIS SYNOPSIS Name: Section: Batch: Phone Number: Email Address: Specialization:

Harish Kumar SF-1 PGP/SS/2009-11 9971555307 thakur.dh@gmail.com Marketing & Finance

Desire Area of Student to do research: Marketing

Title of the thesis: “HOW DOES AIRTEL KEEP HOLD OF ITS MARKET BECAUSE OF ITS GREAT MARKETING STRATEGIES?”

Problem definition/Hypothesis: •

Effective marketing strategy makes the business profitable

•

Marketing strategy is important for attracting customer towards business

Research Objective: This study will try to analyze how Airtel keeps hold of its market because of its great marketing strategies with the following objectives: •

To identify the factors considered by the Airtel in making the marketing strategies for their business

•

To identify how effectively Airtel is currently using his marketing strategies to attract new customers

•

To identify the current marketing strategies of Airtel

•

To suggest them effective marketing strategies to get success in the current competitive environment in the telecommunication industry

Introduction to the area of research:

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Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources

on

the

greatest

opportunities

to

increase

sales

and

achieve

a

sustainable competitive advantage. A marketing strategy should be centered on the key concept that customer satisfaction is the main goal. Marketing strategy is a method of focusing an organization's energies and resources on a course of action which can lead to increased sales and dominance of a targeted market niche. A marketing strategy combines

product

development,

promotion,

distribution,

pricing,

relationship

management and other elements; identifies the firm's marketing goals, and explains how they will be achieved, ideally within a stated timeframe. Marketing strategy determines the choice of target market segments, positioning, marketing mix, and allocation of resources.

Research Methodology: First I will review the existing literature concerned with how Airtel keeps hold of its market because of its great marketing strategies. Once I am through with the subject I will have a better understanding of it. A thorough research will be conducted among the executives in the company. The primary as well as secondary data collection method will be used in this research.

Primary Data: Primary data will be collected by structured interviews. Executives will be interviewed with the help of questionnaire. I will be interviewing Airtel employees. The questionnaire will be close ended question as per my mentor’s guidance Analyzing quantitative data will be presented with the help of bar graphs and charts. Quantitative data can also be analysed through statistical tools eg sorting your data into categories and locating subset of these of these data according to its criteria.

Secondary Data:

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The secondary data in this research will be collected through news articles, journals, magazine, peer reviews and published databases. A comprehensive of the collected data will be presented with the help of tables, charts and graphs.

Sample Size: To conduct this research work the researcher has taken 30 manager level employees Sampling Area: Company executives who have good knowledge about marketing strategy of the company

Scope of the work: A detailed study on estimated sales current market size is essential. This can be arrived at by reviewing statistical data and figures and by discussions with distributors and sales representatives. Market surveys will help identify customer base and loyalty to products and services currently in the market and will help gauge customer response to new product launches. A clear cut agenda to generate awareness of company's products and services is an absolute must to hold your own against competition. Visibility is the need of the hour and hence, use of strategic tactics like participation in trade shows, promotional offer campaigns, public relations exercises contribute to the growth of the company. It is therefore of key relevance to factor in advertising and promotional expenditure in the expenses portfolio.

Justification of choosing the topic: I have chosen this research work to suggest the best ways of marketing by which company can increase its customer satisfaction and this will also assist them in retaining their market share. This research work would present the effectiveness of marketing strategy used by the Airtel. The main factors considered when making a successful marketing strategy. A marketing strategy often integrates an organization's marketing goals, policies, and action sequences (tactics) into a cohesive whole. Similarly, the various

strands

of

the

strategy,

which

might

include advertising, channel

marketing, internet marketing, promotion and public relations, can be orchestrated.

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CONTENT

ABSTRACT.................................................................................................ii COMPLETION LETTER FROM EXTERNAL GUIDE...........................iii TOPIC APPROVAL LETTER...................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT..............................................................................v APPROVED THESIS SYNOPSIS.............................................................vi

1.

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................1

2.

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE & METHODOLOGY..............................................11

3.

LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................................13 COMPANY PROFILE........................................................................................31 MARKETING STRATEGY OF AIRTEL..........................................................36

4.

PRIMARY FINDING AND ANALYSIS...........................................................72

5.

RECOMMENDATION.......................................................................................86

6.

CONCLUSION & IMPLICATIONS..................................................................87

7.

BIBLIOGRAPHY...............................................................................................88

8.

COPY OF QUESTIONNAIRE...........................................................................89

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INTRODUCTION The telecom industry is one of the fastest growing industries in India. India has nearly 200 million telephone lines making it the third largest network in the world after China and USA. With a growth rate of 45%, Indian telecom industry has the highest growth rate in the world. History of Indian Telecommunications started in 1851 when the first operational land lines were laid by the government near Calcutta (seat of British power).

Telephone services were introduced in India in 1881. In 1883 telephone services were merged with the postal system. Indian Radio Telegraph Company (IRT) was formed in 1923. After independence in 1947, all the foreign telecommunication companies were nationalized to form the Posts, Telephone and Telegraph (PTT), a monopoly run by the government's Ministry of Communications. Telecom sector was considered as a strategic service and the government considered it best to bring under state's control.

The first wind of reforms in telecommunications sector began to flow in 1980s when the private sector was allowed in telecommunications equipment manufacturing. In 1985, Department of Telecommunications (DOT) was established. It was an exclusive provider of domestic and long-distance service that would be its own regulator (separate from the postal system). In 1986, two wholly government-owned companies were created: the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) for international telecommunications and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) for service in metropolitan areas. In 1990s, telecommunications sector benefited from the general opening up of the economy.

Also, examples of telecom revolution in many other countries, which resulted in better quality of service and lower tariffs, led Indian policy makers to initiate a change process finally resulting in opening up of telecom services sector for the private sector. National Telecom Policy (NTP) 1994 was the first attempt to give a comprehensive roadmap for the Indian telecommunications sector. In 1997, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was created. TRAI was formed to act as a regulator to facilitate the growth of the telecom sector. New National Telecom Policy was adopted in 1999 and cellular services were also launched in the same year.

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Telecommunication sector in India can be divided into two segments: Fixed Service Provider (FSPs), and Cellular Services. Fixed line services consist of basic services, national or domestic long distance and international long distance services. The state operators (BSNL and MTNL), account for almost 90 per cent of revenues from basic services. Private sector services are presently available in selective urban areas, and collectively account for less than 5 per cent of subscriptions. However, private services focus on the business/corporate sector, and offer reliable, high- end services, such as leased lines, ISDN, closed user group and videoconferencing.

Cellular services can be further divided into two categories: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). The GSM sector is dominated by Airtel, Vodafone-Hutch, and Idea Cellular, while the CDMA sector is dominated by Reliance and Tata Indicom. Opening up of international and domestic long distance telephony services are the major growth drivers for cellular industry. Cellular operators get substantial revenue from these services, and compensate them for reduction in tariffs on airtime, which along with rental was the main source of revenue. The reduction in tariffs for airtime, national long distance, international long distance, and handset prices has driven demand.

Fixed/Basic Network Services Although nearly a decade has elapsed since India laid out a regulatory framework for the liberalization of basic telecom services, competition in fixed local loop telephone services, so far, extends to only a fraction of the total population. Competitive entry has focused principally on services for urban customers in relatively affluent areas. Even the pattern of switching capacity (which indicates the capacity in a circle) indicates that around 57% of the switching capacity of the private operators at end-September 2003 was in metros and Category A circles. Further, an estimated 68% of the fixed network telephone connections of private operators at end-March 2004 were in metros and Category circles.

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In terms of subscriber connections, private operators had a market share of around 5.5% at end-FY2004, as compared with 2.3% at end-FY2003, and 1.5% at end- FY2002. While private operators accounted for 25% of subscriptions in urban areas at end-March 2004 (17% at end-September 2003), their market share in rural areas was negligible at 0.2% (0.2% at end-September 2003). Because subscriber density and income (and ability to pay) are low, providing access in rural areas is unprofitable because of the higher costs and lower revenues. The cost of providing telephone service in rural areas is much higher than in urban or suburban areas. The demand for profitable long distance services and value -added fax and Internet services is insignificant in rural areas. Above -cost long distance services are often bundled with cheaper local services in urban areas.

Cellular Services For cellular GSM and CDMA services, there presently exists significant extent of competition in nearly all service areas. In GSM services, during January 2005, of the 23 service areas (reduced from 24 after the merger of A&N Islands into the WB circle), fourteen service areas had 4 operators, seven service areas had 3 operators, and two service areas had 2 operators, and one had only one licensed operator. However, the intensity of competition is higher in Metros and Category A circles, which have higher potential and penetration. For example, all the four metros and five Category A service areas had four licensed operators. By comparison, six out of 8 Category B circles, and none of Category C circles had four operators.

Increasingly GSM service providers are facing competition digital CDMA based wireless services.

Unlike GSM, which offers seamless national and international roaming, WLL-LM services did not offer roaming. However, CDMA mobile services are, currently, competitive on product offerings and prices as compared with cellular GSM services. At end-2004, there were an estimated 11.08 million CDMA mobile connections, as compared with 37.38 million cellular subscriptions. Thus, CDMA subscriptions

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accounted for 22.9% of the total wireless mobile connections in India at end-December 2004.

National Long Distance The Indian NLD market was estimated at around Rs. 50 billion during FY2004. Because of the significant decline in prices of NLD services caused by regulatory interventions and market competition, the NLD market has declined from around Rs. 59 billion during FY2003. Though the number of minutes of NLD traffic has increased, the market has shrunk because of intense competition between the various operators—BSNL, BIL, RIL, and VSNL. Competition is steadily leading to a decline in NLD prices as they more accurately reflect true costs. However, long-distance service hinges on access to local networks, which for now is controlled by BSNL, MTNL, and private operators such as BTV, and Reliance.

Long-distance service hinges on access to local networks. Thus, new entrants without a significant fixed/cellular local access customer base will have to use the customer access networks of the existing local access network operators (fixed and cellular) to originate and terminate their traffic.

International Long Distance The Indian ILD market was estimated at around Rs. 43 billion during FY2004. Because of the significant decline in prices of ILD services caused by regulatory interventions and market competition, the ILD market has declined from around Rs. 50 billion during FY2003.

Though the number of minutes of ILD traffic has increased from 3.7 billion during FY2003 to 5.2 billion during FY2004, the market has declined in value terms because of intense competition between the various operators—VSNL, DAIL, BIL, and RIL •

In the pre-reform period, growth was primarily driven by public sector monopoly showing very marginal growth.

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•

Reform process was started with new telecom policy 1994.

•

When telecom reforms were initiated in 1994, there were three incumbents in the fixed service sector, namely DoT (Department of Telecom), MTNL and VSNL.

•

Of these, DoT operated in all parts of the country except Delhi and Mumbai. MTNL operated in Delhi and Mumbai and VSNL provided international telephony.

New Telecom Policy’ 94 •

In 1994, the Government announced the National Telecom Policy which defined certain important objectives, including availability of telephone on demand, provision of world class services at reasonable prices, ensuring India’s emergence as major manufacturing / export base of telecom equipment and universal availability of basic telecom services to all villages.

•

NTP 1994 also recognized that the required resources for achieving these targets would not be available only out of Government sources and concluded that private investment and involvement of the private sector was required to bridge the resource gap. The Government invited private sector participation in a phased manner from the early nineties, initially for value added services such as Paging Services and Cellular Mobile Telephone Services (CMTS) and thereafter for Fixed Telephone Services (FTS). After a competitive bidding process, licenses were awarded to 8 CMTS operators in the four metros, 14 CMTS operators in 18 state circles, 6 BTS operators in 6 state circles and to paging operators in 27 cities and 18 state circles. VSAT services were liberalised for providing data services to closed user groups. Licences were issued to 14 operators in the private sector out of which only nine licensees are operational.

New Telecom Policy’ 99 •

Access to telecommunications is of utmost importance for achievement of the country's social and economic goals. Availability of affordable and effective

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communications for the citizens is at the core of the vision and goal of the telecom policy.

•

Strive to provide a balance between the provision of universal service to all uncovered areas, including the rural areas, and the provision of high-level services capable of meeting the needs of the country's economy;

•

Encourage development of telecommunication facilities in remote, hilly and tribal areas of the country;

•

Create a modern and efficient telecommunications infrastructure taking into account the convergence of IT, media, telecom and consumer electronics and thereby propel India into becoming an IT superpower; .

•

Transform in a time bound manner, the telecommunications sector to a greater competitive environment in both urban and rural areas providing equal opportunities and level playing field for all players;

•

Strengthen research and development efforts in the country and provide an impetus to build world-class manufacturing capabilities.

•

Enable Indian Telecom Companies to become truly global players.

In line with the above objectives, the specific targets that the NTP 1999 tried to achieve were: •

To encourage development of telecom in rural areas making it more affordable by suitable tariff structure and making rural communication mandatory for all fixed service providers.

•

To increase rural teledensity from the current level of 0.4 to 4 by the year 2010 and provide reliable transmission media in all rural areas.

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Achieve telecom coverage of all villages in the country and provide reliable media to all exchanges by the year 2002.

Fig:

Tele-Density

Growth Post-Reform

From the above graph we see that: •

Growth started in phase I of the reform 1998-2003.

•

Growth during phase I was not exponential due to the apprehensions private players had for the government policies.

•

Phase II growth was mobile driven and was consequent to certain decisions taken by the govt.  TRAI facilitated huge reduction in forborne tariffs in 2003-05.  Allowed handsets sales in instalments.

•

The growth in tele-density each year in 2003-04 (2%) and 2004-05 (2%) has been greater than the growth in the last 50 years 1948-98.

•

In phase III each year the growth has been greater than 4.5%

Michael Porter’s “Five forces model” describes the threats to a company’s competitive advantage in an industry. Here is a breakdown of the "five forces model:” 1. Degree of rivalry of existing industry competitors.

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2. Degree of barriers to entry by new competitors in the industry.

3. Threat of substitute products/services.

4. Bargaining power of buyers.

5. Bargaining power of suppliers.

Below are five areas that exemplify the concepts of the “five forces” and show how trends can really be pressures on an organization’s competitive nature: •

Industry Consolidation: As in the wireless / cellular service provider market, this can mean threats from existing companies who consolidate their position and acquire additional market share by purchasing their competition (Rivalry).

•

Wireless Local-Area Networks: The Internet and broadband-based VoIP market could soon face competitors from the wireless / cellular service providers (Substitutes) via wireless local area networks, WLANs.

•

Security/Fraud: When we think about using a free VoIP service, like Skype, we do not necessarily think about fraud. However, when you start looking at the pay VoIP services, fraud becomes a much larger issue (Barriers to Entry).

•

Pricing: Wireless / cellular and traditional phone service providers have seen demands from consumers drive their price per minute via lower tiered minute and flat rate plans. Pay VoIP providers are entering not at the top, but closer to the bottom of these pricing levels (Buyers).

•

Broadband Access: The penetration rate of broadband access, the lifeblood of pay VoIP services, is around 55 to 60 percent. This effectively caps the number of customers that have access to VoIP services and places more power in the hands of the broadband access providers (Suppliers).

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These conditions create a highly competitive environment particularly for the pay VoIP market. However, in this highly lucrative industry; telecom service providers need to create a competitive advantage to become or stay successful.

The Telecom sector in India exhibits the features of an oligopoly form of market structure.

Key Features of Oligopoly •

A few firms selling similar product

•

Each firm produces branded products

•

Likely to be significant entry barriers into the market in the long run which allows firms to make supernormal profits.

•

Interdependence between competing firms. Businesses have to take into account likely reactions of rivals to any change in price and output.

Major Players There are three types of players in telecom services: •

State owned companies (BSNL and MTNL)

•

Private Indian owned companies (Reliance Infocomm, Tata Teleservices,)

•

Foreign invested companies (Hutchison-Essar, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Escotel, Idea Cellular, BPL Mobile, Spice Communications)

1) The Indian Telecom sector is controlled by a few major players Bharti Airtel,

Vodafone (Earlier Hutch), Idea Cellular, BSNL, Tata Tele Services and Reliance Infocomm. Players like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, regional players like Spice, Aircel, BPL, etc sell similar products SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards for mobile phones. They also provide Value Added Services such BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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as ring tones, news, etc by charging some price. Companies like Reliance Infocomm and Tata Tele Services are CDMA providers.

Fig: Market share of the top telecom players (%)

Concentration Ratio: The degree by which an industry is dominated by a few large firms. Calculation of four- firm concentration ratio:

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RESEARCH OBJECTIVE AND METHODOLOGY Research Objective: This study will try to analyze how Airtel keeps hold of its market because of its great marketing strategies with the following objectives: •

To identify the factors considered by the Airtel in making the marketing strategies for their business

•

To identify how effectively Airtel is currently using his marketing strategies to attract new customers

•

To identify the current marketing strategies of Airtel

•

To suggest them effective marketing strategies to get success in the current competitive environment in the telecommunication industry

Research Methodology: First I will review the existing literature concerned with how Airtel keeps hold of its market because of its great marketing strategies. Once I am through with the subject I will have a better understanding of it. A thorough research will be conducted among the executives in the company. The primary as well as secondary data collection method will be used in this research.

Primary Data: Primary data will be collected by structured interviews. Executives will be interviewed with the help of questionnaire. I will be interviewing Airtel employees. The questionnaire will be close ended question as per my mentor’s guidance Analyzing quantitative data will be presented with the help of bar graphs and charts. Quantitative data can also be BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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analysed through statistical tools eg sorting your data into categories and locating subset of these of these data according to its criteria.

Secondary Data: The secondary data in this research will be collected through news articles, journals, magazine, peer reviews and published databases. A comprehensive of the collected data will be presented with the help of tables, charts and graphs.

Sample Size: To conduct this research work the researcher has taken 30 manager level employees Sampling Area: Company executives who have good knowledge about marketing strategy of the company

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LITRATURE REVIEW "Marketing" is an instructive business domain that serves to inform and educate target markets about the value and competitive advantage of a company and its products.

“Value” is worth derived by the customer from owning and using the product.

“Competitive Advantage” is a depiction that the company or its products are each doing something better than their competition in a way that could benefit the customer.

Marketing is focused on the task of conveying pertinent company and product related information to specific customers, and there are a multitude of decisions (strategies) to be made within the marketing domain regarding what information to deliver, how much information to deliver, to whom to deliver, how to deliver, when to deliver, and where to deliver. Once the decisions are made, there are numerous ways (tactics) and processes that could be employed in support of the selected strategies. As Marketing is often misinterpreted as just advertising or sales, Chris Newton, in What is marketing?

(Marketing Help Online, 2008), defined marketing as every strategy and decision made in the following twelve areas:  Identifying and quantifying the need in the marketplace  Identifying and quantifying the target markets  Identifying the optimum cost effective media – online and offline - to reach the target markets  Reviewing the priorities of the product offering in your overall product mix ‘matrix’  Identifying and developing the most effective distribution channels, be they wholesaler networks, partnering alliances, franchising, or any number of conduits to the market.  Testing different ways of packaging the concepts or products to find their most 'easy-to-sell' form BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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 Testing to find the optimum pricing strategies  Developing effective promotional strategies and effective advertising and supporting collateral, offers, and launch strategies  Developing and documenting the sales process  Finding the optimum execution of the sales process – through testing of selling scripts, people selection, supporting collateral, skills and attitudinal training, tracking, measuring and refining  Ensuring that sales projections reflect realistic production capacities  Developing nurture programs to optimise the lifetime value of the customer The goal of marketing is to build and maintain a preference for a company and its products within the target markets. The goal of any business is to build mutually profitable and sustainable relationships with its customers. While all business domains are responsible for accomplishing this goal, the marketing domain bears a significant share of the responsibility. Within the larger scope of its definition, marketing is performed through the actions of three coordinated disciplines named: “Product Marketing”, “Corporate Marketing”, and “Marketing Communications Two levels of marketing Strategic marketing: attempts to determine how an organization competes against its competitors in a market place. In particular, it aims at generating a competitive advantage relative to its competitors. Operational marketing: executes marketing functions to attract and keep customers and to maximize the value derived for them, as well as to satisfy the customer with prompt services and meeting the customer expectations. Operational Marketing includes the determination of the porter's five forces.

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4 Ps In the early 1960s, Professor Neil Borden at Harvard Business School identified a number of company performance actions that can influence the consumer decision to purchase goods or services. Borden suggested that all those actions of the company represented a “Marketing Mix”. Professor E. Jerome McCarthy, also at the Harvard Business School in the early 1960s, suggested that the Marketing Mix contained 4 elements: product, price, place and promotion. In popular usage, "marketing" is the promotion of products, especially advertising and branding. However, in professional usage the term has a wider meaning which recognizes that marketing is customercentered. Products are often developed to meet the desires of groups of customers or even, in some cases, for specific customers. E. Jerome McCarthy divided marketing into four general sets of activities. His typology has become so universally recognized that his four activity sets, the Four Ps, have passed into the language.

Product: The product aspects of marketing deal with the specifications of the actual goods or services, and how it relates to the end-user's needs and wants. The scope of a product generally includes supporting elements such as warranties, guarantees, and support.

Pricing: This refers to the process of setting a price for a product, including discounts.

The price need not be monetary - it can simply be what is exchanged for the product or services, e.g. time, energy, psychology or attention.

Promotion: This includes advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and personal selling, branding and refers to the various methods of promoting the product, brand, or company.

Placement (or distribution): refers to how the product gets to the customer; for example, point of sale placement or retailing. This fourth P has also sometimes been called Place, referring to the channel by which a product or services is sold (e.g. online vs. retail), which geographic region or industry, to which segment (young adults, families, business people), etc. also referring to how the environment in which the

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product is sold in can affect sales. These four elements are often referred to as the marketing mix, which a marketer can use to craft a marketing plan. The four Ps model is most useful when marketing low value consumer products. Industrial products, services, high value consumer products require adjustments to this model. Services marketing must account for the unique nature of services. Industrial or B2B marketing must account for the long term contractual agreements that are typical in supply chain transactions.

Relationship marketing attempts to do this by looking at marketing from a long term relationship perspective rather than individual transactions.

As a counter to this, Morgan, in Riding the Waves of Change (Jossey-Bass, 1988), suggests that one of the greatest limitations of the 4 Ps approach "is that it unconsciously emphasizes the inside–out view (looking from the company outwards), whereas the essence of marketing should be the outside–in approach". Nevertheless, the 4 Ps offer a memorable and workable guide to the major categories of marketing activity, as well as a framework within which these can be used.

7 P’s As well as the standard four P's (Product, Pricing, Promotion and Place), services marketing calls upon an extra three, totaling seven and known together as the extended marketing mix. These are: People: Any person coming into contact with customers can have an impact on overall satisfaction. Whether as part of a supporting service to a product or involved in a total service, people are particularly important because, in the customer's eyes, they are generally inseparable from the total service . As a result of this, they must be appropriately trained, well motivated and the right type of person. Fellow customers are also sometimes referred to under 'people', as they too can affect the customer's service experience, (e.g., at a sporting event).

Process: This is the process(es) involved in providing a service and the behaviour of people, which can be crucial to customer satisfaction.

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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Physical evidence: Unlike a product, a service cannot be experienced before it is delivered, which makes it intangible. This, therefore, means that potential customers could perceive greater risk when deciding whether to use a service. To reduce the feeling of risk, thus improving the chance for success, it is often vital to offer potential customers the chance to see what a service would be like. This is done by providing physical evidence, such as case studies, testimonials or demonstrations.

Personalization: It is here referred customization of products and services through the use of the Internet. Early examples include Dell on-line and Amazon.com, but this concept is further extended with emerging social media and advanced algorithms.

Emerging technologies will continue to push this idea forward.

Participation: This is to allow the customer to participate in what the brand should stand for; what should be the product directions and even which ads to run. This concept is laying the foundation for disruptive change through democratization of information.

Peer-to-Peer: This refers to customer networks and communities where advocacy happens. The historical problem with marketing is that it is “interruptive” in nature, trying to impose a brand on the customer. This is most apparent in TV advertising. These “passive customer bases” will ultimately be replaced by the “active customer communities”. Brand engagement happens within those conversations. P2P is now being referred as Social Computing and is likely to be the most disruptive force in the future of marketing.

Predictive modeling: This refers to algorithms that are being successfully applied in marketing problems (both a regression as well as a classification problem).

Product Steps in product design  Design and development of product ideas.  Selection of and sifting through product ideas.

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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 Design and testing of product concept.  Analysis of business instead of product concept.  Design and testing of emotional product.

Packaging  Requirements of good packaging  Functional - effectively contain and protect the contents  Provide convenience during distribution, sale, opening, use, reuse, etc.  Be environmentally responsible  Be cost effective  Appropriately designed for target market  Eye-catching (particularly for retail/consumer sales)  Communicate attributes and recommended use of the product and package  Compliant with retailers' requirements  Promotes image of enterprise  Distinguishable from competitors' products  Meet legal requirements for product and packaging  Point of difference in service and supply of product.  For a perfect product, perfect colour.

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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Forms of packaging  Specialty packaging — emphasizes the elegant character of the product  Packaging for double-use  Combination packaging two or more products packaged in the same container  Kaleidoscopic packaging — packaging changes continually to reflect a series or particular theme  Packaging for immediate consumption — to be thrown away after use  Packaging for resale — packed, into appropriate quantities, for the retailer or wholesaler Trademarks  Significance of a trademark  Distinguishes one company's goods from those of another  Serves as advertisement for quality  Protects both consumers and manufacturers  Used in displays and advertising campaigns  Used to market new products Brands A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that distinguishes products and services from competitive offerings. A brand represents the consumers' experience with an organization, product, or service. A brand has also been defined as an identifiable entity that makes a specific promise of value. Co-branding involves marketing activity involving two or more products BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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Pricing Pricing refers to the amount of money exchanged for a product. This value is determined by utility to the consumer in terms of money and/or sacrifice that the consumer is prepared to give for it.  Increase sales volume  Increase revenue  Achieve or increase profits  Increase or maintain market share  Eliminate competition  Achieve advantages of mass production  Factors influencing price-determination  Production and distribution costs  Substitute goods available  Normal trade practices  Fixed prices  Reaction of distributors  Reaction of consumers  Nature of demand:  elastic/inelastic  Form of market:

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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 Perfect competition  Monopolistic competition  Monopoly  Oligopoly  Steps to determine price  Determine market share to be captured  Set up price strategy  Estimate demand  Evaluate competitors' reactions  Channels  Manufacturer to consumer (most direct)  Manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer (traditional)  Manufacturer to agent to retailer to consumer (current)  Manufacturer to agent to wholesaler to retailer to consumer  Manufacturer to agent to customer ( ex : DCL,AMWAY )  Manufacturers  Reasons for direct selling methods  Manufacturer wants to demonstrate goods.  Wholesalers, retailers and agents not actively selling.

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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 Manufacturer unable to convince wholesalers or retailers to stock product.  High profit margin added to goods by wholesalers and retailers.  Middlemen unable to transport  Reasons for indirect selling methods  Manufacturer does not have the financial resources to distribute goods.  Distribution channels already established.  Manufacturer has no knowledge of efficient distribution.  Manufacturer wishes to use capital for further production.  Too many consumers in a large area; difficult to reach.  Manufacturer does not have a wide assortment of goods to enable efficient marketing.  Direct on-selling advantages.

Reasons for using wholesalers  Bear risk of selling goods to retailer or consumer  Storage space  Decrease transport costs  Grant credit to retailers  Able to sell for the manufacturers  Give advice to manufacturers  Break down products into smaller quantities BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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 Reasons for bypassing wholesalers  Limited storage facilities  Retailers' preferences  Wholesaler cannot promote products successfully  Development of wholesalers' own brands  Desire for closer market contact  Position of power  Cost of wholesalers' services  Price stabilisation  Need for rapid distribution  Make more money  Ways of bypassing wholesalers  Sales offices or branches  Mail orders  Direct sales to retailers  Travelling agents  Direct Orders

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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Agents  Commission agents work for anyone who needs their services. They do not acquire ownership of goods but receive del credere commission.  Selling agents act on an extended contractual basis, selling all of the products of the manufacturer. They have full authority regarding price and terms of sale.  Buying agents buy goods on behalf of producers and retailers. They have an expert knowledge of the purchasing function.  Brokers specialize in the sale of one specific product. They receive a brokerage.  Factory representatives represent more than one manufacturer. They operate within a specific area and sell related lines of goods but have limited authority regarding price and sales terms.

Marketing communications Marketing communications breaks down the strategies involved with marketing messages into categories based on the goals of each message. There are distinct stages in converting strangers to customers that govern the communication medium that should be used.

Advertising  Paid form of public presentation and expressive promotion of ideas  Aimed at masses  Manufacturer may determine what goes into advertisement  Pervasive and impersonal medium  Functions and advantages of successful advertising

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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 Task of the salesman made easier  Forces manufacturer to live up to conveyed image  Protects and warns customers against false claims and inferior products  Enables manufacturer to mass-produce product  Continuous reminder  Uninterrupted production a possibility  Increases goodwill  Raises standards of living (or perceptions thereof)  Prices decrease with increased popularity  Educates manufacturer and wholesaler about competitors' offerings as well as shortcomings in their own.  Objectives  Maintain demand for well-known goods  Introduce new and unknown goods  Increase demand for well-known goods/products/services  Requirements of a good advertisement  Attract attention (awareness)  Stimulate interest  Create a desire  Bring about action BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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 Eight steps in an advertising campaign  Market research  Setting out aims  Budgeting  Choice of media (television, newspaper, radio)  Choice of actors (New Trend)  Design and wording  Co-ordination  Test results  Personal sales Oral presentation given by a salesman who approaches individuals or a group of potential customers:  Live, interactive relationship  Personal interest  Attention and response  Interesting presentation  Sales promotion  Short-term incentives to encourage buying of products: An example of this is coupons or a sale. People are given an incentive to buy, but it does not build customer loyalty, nor encourage repeat buys in the future. A major drawback of

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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sales promotion is that it is easily copied by competition. It cannot be used as a sustainable source of differentiation.  Marketing Public Relations (MPR)  Stimulation of demand through press release giving a favourable report to a product  Higher degree of credibility  Effectively news  Boosts enterprise's image  Customer focus Many companies today have a customer focus (or customer orientation). This implies that the company focuses its activities and products on consumer demands. Generally there are three ways of doing this: the customer-driven approach, the sense of identifying market changes and the product innovation approach. In the consumer-driven approach, consumer wants are the drivers of all strategic marketing decisions. No strategy is pursued until it passes the test of consumer research. Every aspect of a market offering, including the nature of the product itself, is driven by the needs of potential consumers.

The starting point is always the consumer. The rationale for this approach is that there is no point spending R&D funds developing products that people will not buy. History attests to many products that were commercial failures in spite of being technological breakthroughs.

A formal approach to this customer-focused marketing is known as SIVA Solution, Information, Value, Access). This system is basically the four Ps renamed and reworded to provide a customer focus. The SIVA Model provides a demand/customer centric version alternative to the well-known 4Ps supply side model (product, price, place, promotion) of marketing management.

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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Product -> Solution Promotion -> Information Price -> Value Place ->Access The four elements of the SIVA model are: Solution: How appropriate is the solution to the customer's problem/need?

Information: Does the customer know about the solution? If so, how and from whom do they know enough to let them make a buying decision?

Value: Does the customer know the value of the transaction, what it will cost, what are the benefits, what might they have to sacrifice, what will be their reward?

Access: Where can the customer find the solution? How easily/locally/remotely can they buy it and take delivery?

This model was proposed by Chekitan Dev and Don Schultz in the Marketing Management Journal of the American Marketing Association, and presented by them in Market Leader - the journal of the Marketing Society in the India.

Product focus In a product innovation approach, the company pursues product innovation, then tries to develop a market for the product. Product innovation drives the process and marketing research is conducted primarily to ensure that a profitable market segment(s) exists for the innovation. The rationale is that customers may not know what options will be available to them in the future so we should not expect them to tell us what they will buy in the future. However, marketers can aggressively over-pursue product innovation and try to overcapitalize on a niche. When pursuing a product innovation approach, marketers must ensure that they have a varied and multi-tiered approach to product innovation. It is claimed that if Thomas Edison depended on marketing research he would have produced BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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larger candles rather than inventing light bulbs. Many firms, such as research and development focused companies, successfully focus on product innovation (Such as Nintendo who constantly change the way Video games are played). Many purists doubt whether this is really a form of marketing orientation at all, because of the ex post status of consumer research. Some even question whether it is marketing. An emerging area of study and practice concerns internal marketing, or how employees are trained and managed to deliver the brand in a way that positively impacts the acquisition and retention of customers (employer branding). Diffusion of innovations research explores how and why people adopt new products, services and ideas.

A relatively new form of marketing uses the Internet and is called Internet marketing or more generally e-marketing, affiliate marketing, desktop advertising or online marketing.

It typically tries to perfect the segmentation strategy used in traditional marketing. It targets its audience more precisely, and is sometimes called personalized marketing or one-to-one marketing. With consumers' eroding attention span and willingness to give time to advertising messages, marketers are turning to forms of permission marketing such as branded content, custom media and reality marketing.

The use of herd behavior in marketing.

The Economist reported a recent conference in Rome on the subject of the simulation of adaptive human behavior.[5] Mechanisms to increase impulse buying and get people "to buy more by playing on the herd instinct" were shared. The basic idea is that people will buy more of products that are seen to be popular, and several feedback mechanisms to get product popularity information to consumers are mentioned, including smart-cart technology and the use of Radio Frequency Identification Tag technology. A "swarmmoves" model was introduced by a Princeton researcher, which is appealing to supermarkets because it can "increase sales without the need to give people discounts."

Large retailers Wal-Mart in the United States and Tesco in Britain plan to test the technology in spring 2009. Other recent studies on the "power of social influence" include an "artificial music market in which some 14,000 people downloaded previously unknown songs" (Columbia University, New York); a Japanese chain of convenience BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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stores which orders its products based on "sales data from department stores and research companies;" a Massachusetts company exploiting knowledge of social networking to improve sales; and online retailers who are increasingly informing consumers about "which products are popular with like-minded consumers" (e.g., Amazon, eBay).

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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COMPANY PROFILE Airtel comes to you from Bharti Airtel Limited, one of Asia’s leading integrated telecom services providers with operations in India and Sri Lanka. Bharti Airtel since its inception, has been at the forefront of technology and has pioneered several innovations in the telecom sector.

The company is structured into four strategic business units - Mobile, Telemedia, Enterprise and Digital TV. The mobile business offers services in India and Sri Lanka.

The Telemedia business provides broadband, IPTV and telephone services in 95 Indian cities. The Digital TV business provides Direct-to-Home TV services across India. The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and international long distance services to telcos.

Highlights REC signs multi-year contract with Airtel for Network Management services Issued in public interest by Bharti Airtel Bharti Airtel to Observe Silent period from December 31, 2009 Airtel digitial TV replaces Worldspace radio channels Bharti Airtel’s Middle East Connect Network to serve global carriers in the region Bharti Airtel presents India’s First Mobile Phone Usage Survey Our Brand Airtel was born free, a force unleashed into the market with a relentless and unwavering determination to succeed. A spirit charged with energy, creativity and a team driven “to seize the day” with an ambition to become the most globally admired telecom service.

Airtel, in just ten years of operations, rose to the pinnacle to achivement and continues to BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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lead.

As India's leading telecommunications company Airtel brand has played the role as a major catalyst in India's reforms, contributing to its economic resurgence.

Today we touch peoples lives with our Mobile services, Telemedia services, to connecting India's leading 1000+ corporates. We also connect Indians living in USA, UK and Canada with our callhome service.

Our Vision & promise “We at Airtel always think in fresh and innovative ways about the needs of our customers and how we want them to feel. We deliver what we promise and go out of our way to delight the customer with a little bit more” For Your Business Airtel is proud to be the trusted communications partner to India’s leading organisations, working for them to meet the challenges of growth. Across India. Beyond India.

We offer a full suite of business communication services across data, voice and managed services. Our solutions are tailored to fit your particular needs.

We are a part of the Bharti Group. We have always been challenging the limits of innovation and striving to find new and better ways of doing things.

Our people are committed to helping you succeed. We will stick with you through thick and thin.

Innovation Fund

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“Innovation has been at the core of our company's DNA-be it our unique business model based on outsourcing or world-class products and services. The Bharti Airtel Innovation Fund is a pioneering step to promote innovation and help budding entrepreneurs realise the dream of running their own enterprise. We are confident that this initiative will promote the twin pillars of innovation and entrepreneurship to usher in path breaking changes in the sector.”

Bharti Airtel Innovation Fund (BAIF or the Fund) is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and innovation in the field of telecommunication services. The objective of the Fund is to give opportunities to budding entrepreneurs with a vision to build businesses based on innovation. The Fund has an initial corpus of Rs 200 crores. BAIF provides seed money to entrepreneurs who may not otherwise be able to access funds to realize their dreams.

Certified Organisation Bharti Airtel, Asia's leading integrated telecom services provider announced that it is now a fully ISO 27001:2005 Certified Organization. The ISO 27001:2005 certification from BSI: British Standards Institute ensures a high quality information security environment in Airtel and is one of the most stringent information security standards in the world.

With this achievement, Bharti Airtel has successfully institutionalized a strong security foundation based on a robust Information Security Management System that is process oriented, person-independent and self-sustaining.

With a total of 29 certificates awarded under the ISO 27001:2005 Certification Program, Airtel has the unique distinction of being awarded the largest number of certificates to any company in India across sectors and is amongst one of the largest in the world. The ISO 27001:2005 certification program encompassed all strategic business units - Mobile Services, Enterprise Services and Telemedia Services, covering around 300 locations.

The scope included all central and zonal office locations, data centers, network zones, landing stations, switch locations and Airtel Center. In terms of personnel, the scope included all employees of Bharti Airtel.

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

"The completion of the program is a significant milestone in the journey towards our 2010 vision of being the most admired brand in India. With around 40,000 information assets under security management, it is a momentous achievement by the team at Airtel to have made this certification program a huge success" said, Dr Jai Menon, Director Technology & Customer Service, Airtel. He added, "This certification will help build trust and confidence amongst our customers and further enhance the confidence of our employees in operational processes."

The journey to be a ISO 27001:2005 compliant organizations began with the BISP (Bharti Information Security Policy) being launched in 2003, followed by a great deal of technology rollout through outsourcing beginning 2004, and a systemized approach for certification starting 2005 with the first certification being awarded in 2006. Airtel achieved

complete

enterprise-wide

certification

in

February,

2009.

ISO develops and publishes standards that establish best practices across a variety of industries. The ISO 27001:2005 certification is an endorsement of Bharti Airtel commitment to deliver managed and monitored security solutions that are benchmarked to the highest international standards.

About Bharti Airtel Limited Bharti Airtel Limited, a group company of Bharti Enterprises, is Asia's leading integrated telecom services provider with operations in India and Sri Lanka with an aggregate of over 91 million customers as of end of January 2009, consisting of 88.38 million mobile customers. Bharti Airtel Limited has been voted as India's most innovative company, in a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal.

Bharti Airtel is structured into three strategic business units - Mobile services, Telemedia services and Enterprise services. The mobile business offers services in India and Sri Lanka. The Telemedia business provides broadband and telephone services in 95 cities, DTH services and has recently forayed into the IPTV services. The Enterprise business provides end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and international long distance services to carriers. All these services are provided under the BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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Airtel brand. Airtel's high-speed optic fibre network currently spans over 90,205 kms covering all the major cities in the country. The company has two international landing stations in Chennai that connects two submarine cable systems - i2i to Singapore and SEA-ME-WE-4 to Europe.

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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MARKETING STRATEGY OF AIRTEL Search engine marketing Search engine marketing, or SEM, is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages (SERPs) through the use of paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion.

Search engine optimization consultants expanded their offerings to help businesses learn about and use the advertising opportunities offered by search engines, and new agencies focusing primarily upon marketing and advertising through search engines emerged.

Advertise on 2800 keywords •

30% of total signups coming from Google SEM for all the countries.

•

Real-time monitoring to optimise traffic

•

Cost per click

Five buckets of advertising on SEM •

Airtel brand terms- all possible permutations and combinations around the word Airtel

•

Calling cards – keywords around two main theme Call India and India Calling Card

•

Competition – keep track and update any new competitors aggressively on SEM

•

Context- the ad appears when a person is reading articles about call india etc.

•

Long tail keyword themes – innovative keyword themes

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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Third Party Ad Serving – What Is It? Third party ad serving is the technology that pushes ads out to websites and allows advertisers to track the performance of these ads. Almost every banner ad, interstitial, or paid search listing is delivered by or tracked by a third party ad server.

Why do advertisers rely on third party ad serving technology?

A third party ad server allows advertisers to know how many times an advertisement has been served, the number of clicks associated with the ad, conversions resulting from the ad, etc…And these sites are Google, Yahoo, MSN, BloomsandBulbs.com, and FlowerPower.net. I want to buy search ads (text listings on Google, Yahoo, and MSN) and banner ads on BandB.com and FP.net. I could create text ads for Google, Yahoo, and MSN and have them link directly to jimsflowerpots.com, I could also do the same for the banner ads for BandB.com and FP.net.

3rd Party Advertising -

Innovations give better CTR (click through rate)

-

Text ads on rediff and other sites give better CTR as compared to flash banners

-

Deeper penetration by using regional sites like Dinamalar, Divya bhaskar etc as well as ad networks

Affiliate marketing Affiliate Marketing is an Internet-based marketing practice in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's marketing efforts.Affiliate marketing overlaps with other Internet marketing methods to some degree, because affiliates often use regularadvertising methods. Those methods include organic search engine optimization, paid search engine marketing, e-mail marketing, and in some sense display advertising.

The Affiliate Marketing industry has four core players at its heart: the Merchant (also known informally as 'Retailer' or 'Brand'), the Network, the Publisher (also known BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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informally as 'the Affiliate') and the Customer, Affiliate marketing—using one website to drive traffic to another—is a form of online marketing, which is frequently overlooked by advertisers. [1] While search engines, e-mail, and website syndication capture much of the attention of online retailers.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of traffic to a web site from search engines via "Organic", "Algorithmic" or "Natural" search results rather than Pay Per Click (PPC).Traffic exists on Google as well as the other major search engines.Search Engine Optimization is the process of studying that BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

traffic for a specific keyword, theme or area. We can then ascertain your ROI(Return on Investment) before any work is carried out.

Once we know the traffic volumes available for your business area, we can make amendments to your site in order to position it it the traffic stream for the highest traffic, themed keywords.This ensures that once your site reaches the top ten for each keyword your site will receive a know volume of traffic on a daily basis.

Ninety Nine percent of Web Site Design is carried out by designers who know little if anything about Search Engines or Optimization. This can create major problems for their customers who initially fail to realise that the construction of their website will effect its ability to rank well in the major Search Engines.

Airtel CallHome Ranking in Google.com Keywords

Position

Keywords

Position

1

calling cards from india

5

airtel calling cards

1

phone cards india

6

airtel calling card

1

calling card india

6

airtel call to india

1

calling cards for india

8

airtel call india

1

call usa to india

8

india calling card

2

call to india from usa

8

call to india

2

india prepaid cards

9

call india

2

cheap calling cards india

9

calling to india

3

cheap call india

9

calling india

3

calling cards to india

9

calling cards india

3

cheap india calling cards

10

call india usa

3

calling card to india calling card for india

15

airtel international calling card

3

India phone cards

20

india call card

4

cheap calling card

23

Call India from USA

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Airtel CallHome Ranking in Google.com

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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Online Reputation Management ORM is the practice of consistent research and analysis of one’s personal or professional, business or industry reputation as represented by the content across all types of online media.

Why ORM

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•

Influence consumer perception

•

Respond to / protect against negative reviews

•

Thwart competitor attacks and bogus reviews

•

Improve online brand / service awareness

41

3 steps of ORM 1. Monitor: Monitor and track what is Being Said Online 2. Analyze: Analyze How the visible information affects your Brand, your reputation.

3. Influence: Influence the results by participating in the conversation and eliminating negative Sites.

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

Ranking of Negative postings in Google.com

Keywords

2202-JanOct-08 09

URL

Positio Positio n n AirtelCallHo http://blog.amanthan.com/2006/12/airtelcallhome-sucks-bigme time.html 2

Remov ed

AirtelCallHo www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/airtel-call-homeme c44386

3

Remov ed

AirtelCallHo me http://blog.amanthan.com/category/airtelcallhome

4

20

AirtelCallHo http://www.consumercomplaints.in/complaints/airtelcallhom me e-c28730.html 5

Remov ed

AirtelCallHo http://www.consumercomplaints.in/bycompany/airtelcallho me me-a17214.html 6

Remov ed

AirtelCallHo www.consumercomplaints.in/complaints/airtelcallhomeme c105314.html

12

Remov ed

AirtelCallHo www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/poor-serviceme c36248.html

14

Remov ed

AirtelCallHo http://pratti.wordpress.com/2006/12/23/airtel-call-hell-akame airtelcallhome/ 18

Remov ed

AirtelCallHo www.complaints.com/2006/december/19/Airtel_call_home_ me service_15051 19

27

AirtelCallHo garvitindian.sulekha.com/blog/post/2006/12/beware-ofme airtelcallhome.htm

20

Remov ed

AirtelCallHo http://www.desifans.com/calling_cards/phone_cards/index.p me hp?post=13 22

Remov ed

AirtelCallHo http://www.desifans.com/calling_cards/phone_cards/index.p me hp?post=4 16

10

Social Networking Sites BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

A social network service focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, e.g., who share interests and/or activities. A social network service essentially consists of a representation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, and a variety of additional services. Most social network services are web based and provides means for users to interact over the internet, such as email and instant

messaging.

Although online

community services

are

sometimes

considered as a social network service in a broader sense, social network service usually means an individual-centered service whereas online community services are groupcentered.

The main types of social networking services are those which contain category divisions (such as former school-year or classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self-description pages) and a recommendation system linked to trust. Popular methods now

combine

many

of

these,

withFacebook, Bebo and Twitter widely

used

worldwide; MySpace and LinkedIn being the most widely used in North America; Nexopia (mostly inCanada); Bebo, Hi5, StudiVZ (mostly in Germany), iWiW (mostly in Hungary), Tuenti (mostly in Spain), Decayenne, Tagged, XING; Badoo and Skyrock in parts of Europe; Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America; and Friendster, Mixi, Multiply, Orkut, Wretch, Xiaonei andCyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands and Orkut and Facebook in India.

Typical structure In general, social networking services allow users to create a profile for themselves, and can be broken down into two broad categories: internal social networking (ISN); and external social networking (ESN) sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and Bebo.

Both types can increase the feeling of community among people. An ISN is a closed/private community that consists of a group of people within a company, association, society, education provider and organization or even an "invite only" group created by a user in an ESN. An ESN is open/public and available to all web users to communicate and are designed to attract advertisers. ESN's can be smaller specialised communities (i.e. linked by a single common interest eg The Social Golfer, BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

ALUMNI ID NO.: DS/09/11-M-047

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

44

ACountryLife.Com, Great Cooks Community) or they can be large generic social networking sites (eg MySpace, Facebook etc).

Social networking sites typically have a section dedicated to comments by friends. On Friendster, this section is called "Testimonials". On Facebook, this section is called "The Wall". In the beginning, this was a feature that encouraged people to write messages about the person in the profile. But over time, people started writing creative testimonials back, creating a form of conversation Social network hosting service A social network hosting service is a web hosting service that specifically hosts the user creation of web-based social networking services, alongside related applications.

Business model Few social networks currently charge money for membership. In part, this may be because social networking is a relatively new service, and the value of using them has not been firmly established in customers' minds. Many do not charge money because these social networks are not much more novel than the forums.

Facebook Facebook is a social networking website that is operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. Users can add friends and send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves. Additionally, users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school, and region. The website's name stems from the colloquial name of books given at the start of the academic year by university administrations with the intention of helping students to get to know each other better.

Orkut

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

45

Orkut is a social networking website that is owned and operated by Google Inc. The service is designed to help users meet new friends and maintain existing relationships Although Orkut is less popular in the United States than competitors Facebook and MySpace, it is one of the most visited websites in India and Brazil. In fact, as of December 2009, 51.09% of Orkut's users are from Brazil, followed by India with 20.02% and United States with 17.28% Email Marketing E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fundraising messages to an audience. In its broadest sense, every e-mail sent to a potential or current customer could be considered e-mail marketing. However, the term is usually used to refer to: 

sending e-mails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or previous customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business,



sending e-mails with the purpose of acquiring new customers or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately,



adding advertisements to e-mails sent by other companies to their customers, and



sending e-mails over the Internet, as e-mail did and does exist outside the Internet (e.g., network e-mail and FIDO).

Researchers estimate that United States firms alone spent US$400 million on e-mail marketing in 2006 Advantages E-mail marketing (on the Internet) is popular with companies for several reasons:

BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi 

A mailing list provides the ability to distribute information to a wide range of specific, potential customers at a relatively low cost.



Compared to other media investments such as direct mail or printed newsletters, e-mail is less expensive.



An exact return on investment can be tracked ("track to basket") and has proven to be high when done properly. E-mail marketing is often reported as second only to search marketingas the most effective online marketing tactic.[2]



The delivery time for an e-mail message is short (i.e., seconds or minutes) as compared to a mailed advertisement (i.e., one or more days).



An advertiser is able to "push" the message to its audience, as opposed to websitebased advertising, which relies on a customer to visit that website.



E-mail

messages

are

easy

to

track.

An

advertiser

can track users

via autoresponders, web bugs, bounce messages, unsubscribe requests, read receipts, click-throughs, etc. These mechanisms can be used to measure open rates, positive or negative responses, and to correlate sales with marketing. 

Advertisers can generate repeat business affordably and automatically.



Advertisers can reach substantial numbers of e-mail subscribers who have opted in (i.e., consented) to receive e-mail communications on subjects of interest to them.



Over half of Internet users check or send e-mail on a typical day. [3]



Specific types of interaction with messages can trigger (1) other messages to be delivered automatically, or (2) other events, such as updating the profile of the recipient to indicate a specific interest category.



E-mail marketing is paper-free (i.e., "green").

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi 

47

Tracking and response metrics enables tuning and optimisation of the E-mail marketing channel by a process of testing different variants and calculation of statistically significant results.



E-mail is popular with digital marketers, rising an estimated 15% in 2009 to £292m in the UK.

Airtel generally get 25% response in our promotional campaigns, we use Cheetah Mail for our campaigns that tell us: -

mails opened

-

mails bounced

-

URLs and Buy Now clicked

-

complete tracking

Mobile service provider Airtel which claims to have a strong footprint in 20 states in the country, has forged a strategic mobile alliance with online destination MSN India and Mobile 365 which deals with mobile messaging services. Airtel customers will now be able to access their MSN Hotmail accounts via two-way short message service (SMS), as well as send and receive messages using MSN Messenger via their Airtel mobile phone.

With this new service, users of MSN Hotmail will have the option to receive email sent to their MSN Hotmail accounts via SMS on their Airtel mobile phones whenever and wherever they are. They will also be able to reply to those email messages directly to the senders inbox using SMS, as well as perform other common tasks directly from their phone. The 'MSN Messenger over SMS' service is also a form of two-way SMS, which enables users and their MSN Messenger buddies to keep in touch with each other at any time via a PC and any mobile phone that supports SMS technology.

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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PRODUCT OFFERING •

My Plan – 299

•

249 Delight

•

Supersaver 399

•

399 full value

•

All-in-one 699

•

1299 pack

•

2499 pack

•

125 pack (for government employee)

Corporate plan: •

CUG-EMI-249

•

CUG-249 (R1)

•

CUG- 249 AES

•

CUG Gold- 299

•

CUG platinum- 399

Toppings Available •

Local Mobile pack

•

Local Airtel pack

•

Local Landline pack

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ALUMNI ID NO.: DS/09/11-M-047

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

•

Night pack

•

STD pack

•

Local SMS pack

•

Local + National SMS pack

•

International pack

49

SITE MAP OF ORGANIZATION At present, AirTel has been operating with a footprint in 15 states covering all 4 metros providing with a choice of postpaid, prepaid, short messaging service and Multi media Service.

Following are the states where AirTel has been working: Andra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, and Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal.

Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai(4 Metro Cities).

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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Services of the organization AirTel provides a host of value added services. These services are divided in to six headings as per customer needs:  Fun Unlimited •

Voice unlimited.

•

Ring tones and downloads.

•

AirTel messengers.

 Mobile Plus •

Dial a service.

•

Short Message Service (SMS).

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ALUMNI ID NO.: DS/09/11-M-047

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

•

Information Service.

•

Send and receive E-Mail.

•

Mobile Banking.

51

 Anytime anywhere •

Reach me.

•

Roaming.

 Business on the Move •

GPRS

•

AirTel Tango WAP Services

•

Multimedia Service (MMS)

•

FAX & Data Services

 Call Management •

Call line identification (CLIP).

•

Call line identification Restriction (CLIR).

•

Call Waiting.

•

Call Divert.

 Others •

STD / ISD Facility.

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ALUMNI ID NO.: DS/09/11-M-047

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

•

Safe Custody.

•

Itemized Billing.

52

Services offered by the company 1. AirTel Prepaid Bharti Enterprises, India's leading integrated telecom service provider gives AirTel Prepaid Ready Cellular Card and Recharge Cards are available, all over the city at our retail outlets including 24 hour outlets. AirTel gives maximum benefits as it has no rental, no bills, and no deposits. It gives crystal clear communication all over the cities in Karnataka.

•

Total Cost Control

Enjoy the liberty of total cost control with your AirTel Pre-paid! Re-charge as much as you feel the need to! Now that's what we call complete freedom!

•

No Rentals and No deposits

Buy an AirTel prepaid card without having to pay any rentals!. Your AirTel prepaid card comes without you having to pay hefty deposits!

•

STD /ISD facility till the last rupee

Now experience complete freedom like never before with AirTel! Our STD / ISD facility allows you to make long distance calls in India and Overseas from your cellular phone!

•

Instant Balance Inquiry

Check your talk-time instantly by calling our toll-free number!

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ALUMNI ID NO.: DS/09/11-M-047

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

•

53

60 second pulse

AirTel provides you with a 60-second pulse rate! Freedom for you to experience like never before!

•

Instant Recharge

Avail of instant recharge on your AirTel prepaid card with just a few simple steps!

•

24-hour recharge facility

With our round-the-clock recharge facility, recharge you AirTel prepaid card anytime, anywhere!

•

Caller Line Identification

Call Line Identification gives you the power to know the phone number of the calling party even before you answer the call, thus giving you the choice to either reject or take the call. It provides the added advantage of saving the incoming number directly in the Handset Phone Book. So that the next time you want to call the same person, you don't need to retype his number, simply use your phone book.

Call Divert, Call Hold and Call Wait Avail of special services like call waiting, call hold and call divert – all with your AirTel prepaid card!

•

Short Messaging Service (SMS)

With AirTel’s Short Messaging Service (SMS), send messages and jokes to your friends and colleagues, anytime anywhere!

•

SMS based Information Services

With AirTel’s SMS based information services; you can get up to-the-minute cricket scores, order flowers as well as send couriers or check your daily horoscope!

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ALUMNI ID NO.: DS/09/11-M-047

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

•

54

Voice Mail service

Voice Mail lets you receive messages even when your handset is switched off or when you are outside the coverage area. You can listen to your messages whenever you feel like, from anywhere in the world. Voice Mail can store up to 75 messages.

•

Widest availability

AirTel prepaid ready cellular card are available all over the city at over 7000 retail outlets including 24 hours outlets.

Incoming, out going Rates And Rate Plan •

Easy Talk Plan

Pulse Rate

60 seconds

Incoming Calls (Rs.)

Free

LOCAL CALLS To GSM Mobile/WLL (Rs.)

1/min

To Landline (Rs.)

1/min

To AirTel (Rs.)

1/min

STD (To GSM and WLL-M) All India(Rs.)

Rs. 1.50/min

To AirTel (Rs.)

Rs. 1.50/min

STD (To Landline) All India(Rs.)

BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

Rs. 1.50/min

ALUMNI ID NO.: DS/09/11-M-047

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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ISD America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, Rs. 6.40 /min Canada (Rs.) Gulf countries & Africa

Rs. 9.20 /min

& SAARC countries(Rs.) Other countries(Rs.)

Rs.9.20 /min

SMS SMS Local(Rs.)

Re.1/msg ,

SMS National(Rs.)

Rs. 1.50/message

SMS International(Rs.)

Rs. 5/message

Value Added Services(Rs.)

Rs. 3/message

SMS to local CDMA at Rs.1/msg. In case the customer would like to cancel the daily rental, customer to send "AirTel One Cancel" as SMS to 222 and will be migrated to the "AirTel Easy Talk" tariff plan without daily rentals.

AirTel Postpaid AirTel postpaid connection offers enhanced full rate with distortion free high clarity voice. It provides seamless, crystal clear noncongested, easy accessible, network and finest 24 Hours customer service facility.

Experience complete freedom AirTel welcomes you to a vibrant world of unlimited opportunities. More exciting, innovative yet simple new ways to communicate, just when you want to, not just through words but ideas, emotions and feelings. To give the unlimited freedom to reach out to special people in special way.

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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As an AirTel Post-paid customer you can enjoy the following facilities •

Easy Billing

Now enjoy the luxury of viewing details of your last 3 billing cycles and the convenience of paying your AirTel bill online! Experience complete freedom with AirTel! •

Call Divert, Call Hold and Call Wait

Avail of special services like call waiting, call hold and call divert – all with your AirTel postpaid connection!

•

Short Messaging Service (SMS)

With AirTel’s Short Messaging Service (SMS), send unlimited messages and jokes to your friends and colleagues, anytime anywhere!

•

Caller Identification

Call Identification gives you the power to know the phone number of the calling party even before you answer the call, thus giving you the choice to either reject or take the call. It provides the added advantage of saving the incoming number directly in the Handset Phone Book. So that the next time you want to call the same person, you don't need to retype his number, simply use your phone book.

•

Voice Mail

Voice Mail lets you receive messages even when your handset is switched off or when you are outside the coverage area. You can listen to your messages whenever you feel like, from anywhere in the world. Voice Mail can store up to 75 messages, with each message of two-minute duration.

•

STD/ISD Facility

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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Now experience complete freedom like never before with AirTel! Our STD/ISD facility allows you to make long distance calls in India and Overseas from your cellular phone!

•

Roaming (National and International)

AirTel’s Roaming service allows you to use your mobile phone to make or receive calls from almost anywhere in India and abroad! Enjoy roaming within the country as well as across international destinations!

Incoming, out going Rates & Rate Plan •

AirTel One 250 SUK

Pulse Rate

60 sec

Incoming Calls(Rs.)

1/min

Making Calls(Rs.)

1.50/min

STD (To GSM and WLL-M) All India (Rs.)

Rs.1.50 /min

To AirTel (Rs.)

Rs. 1.50 /min

STD (To landline) All India (Rs.)

Rs.1.50/min

ISD America, Europe, Asia, Oceania & Canada (Rs.)

Rs.16.99

Other countries, & SAARC countries (Rs.)

Rs.40.00

SMS

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ALUMNI ID NO.: DS/09/11-M-047

The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

SMS Local(Rs.)

50 ps

SMS National(Rs.)

Rs.1.50ps

SMS International(Rs.)

Rs.5

Value Added Services(Rs.)

Rs.3

58

SMS to local CDMA (Reliance, Tata Indicom) at Rs.1msg.

In case the customer would like to cancel the daily rental, customer to send "AirTel One Cancel" as SMS to 222 and will be migrated to the "AirTel Easy Talk" tariff plan without daily rentals.

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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GROWTH AND STATUS OF THE ORAGANIZATION AirTel has an aggregate of 4.5 million customers during the period of 2003-2004. The market share of the company is 26 %. In June 2003 the company made gross investment of over 10,650 crore (US$ 2.3 billion) in building telecom in India during the year ended June 30 2003 mobile services represented approximately 63% of their total revenue.

According to the survey conducted by economic times “Most Trusted Brands” 2003.

AirTel stands in the third position among all the telecom.

Consequently for 4 years 1997 to 2000, AirTel has been noted as the best Cellular service in the country and won the Techies award. The Asia pacific award for the most innovative human resources practices in 2000. The Golden Peacock National Training Award for excellence in training practices in 2000. The Golden Peacock National Quality Award in 2001.

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY Airtel to “Touch Tomorrow” with a new brand vision The Bharti Mobile promoted AirTel cellular service will go in for repositioning of its brand image. The new brand ethos is portrayed in two distinct fashions - the tag line "Touch Tomorrow", which underscores the leading theme for the new brand vision, followed by "The Good Life", which underscores a more caring, more customer centric organization. Aimed at re-engineering its image as just simply a cellular service provider to an all out information communications services provider, Touch Tomorrow is meant to embrace the new generation of mobile communication services and the changing scope of customer needs and aspirations that come along with it The new communication is about a new dimension in the cellular category that goes beyond the Internet, SMS, roaming, IVRS, etc but which engulfs the whole gamut of wireless digital broadband services that will constitute tomorrows cellular services. The new campaign is in two phases - the first of which will communicate overall brand philosophy and the second products and services. According to Mr. Jagdish Kini, Chief BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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Operating Officer, Bharti Mobile Limited, Karnataka "We are adopting a new brandplatform - Touch Tomorrow - not only to reflect our corporate ethos but also business strategy".

The new identity will have the logo in Red, Black and White colours along with lower case typography to convey warmth. AirTel will incorporate the latest branding in all of its communication and will soon be going in for an enhanced promotional drive to establish the brand's presence.

Life time Plan PRE-PAID card users need not worry anymore about recharging their coupons every month. Company has launched a plan that allows users to take a pre-paid connection with lifetime validity for a one time payment of Rs. 999. Subscribers availing themselves of this scheme will also get full talk time for the recharge coupon they purchase and also have the option to buy Taiwanese manufactured Bird mobile handsets for as low as Rs. 1,399.

The move is aimed at stopping the churn in the pre-paid subscriber base. Once a subscriber takes this plan, he will always be an Airtel subscriber whether the mobile is being used or not.

MARKET SITUATION At the time of launch The first mover in the market was Airtel which launched its services in Delhi in Aug 1995 (Informal launch). Essar Cellphone followed by launching its services informally in Oct 95. At this point of time, the market was at a nascent stage, awareness level was low and both operators independently tried to spread awareness and educate the people Once the networks were commercially launched, it became a number game with a multitude of schemes being offered to woo customers Initially the cellphone was perceived as a status symbol and utility took a back seat The target segment in Delhi were BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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corporate and the high income group. The average capacity installed was for 1.5 lakh subscribers. This coupled with the steep license fee paid to DOT put pressure on the operators to break-even by rapidly expanding their markets. In the first two years, this led to a number of schemes being offered and prices crashing.

COMPETITIVE SITUATION. Airtel launched its services before Essar and skimmed the market picking up the bulk of the high usage premium clients.

This is a very competitive industry with the two

companies differentiating either on value-added services or price. Airtel is perceived as the high quality provider and has a premium image.

Essar, on the other hand, is

perceived as the lower end service provider. Airtel positions itself as the market leader on the basis of the number of subscribers. Essar is trying to counter this by emphasising on the reach of its network and the quality of its service. However, Essar is somewhat not been very successful largely due to the inconsistency in advertising To promote themselves, both the players have been dependent on tactical advertising However, they have restrained from using comparative advertising Hoardings have been a very popular medium for carrying the advertisements Airtel has also been advertising on television using the Bharti Telecom name.

SALES DEPARTMENT AND STRATEGY A.

Major Accounts (Direct Channel) •

Handles corporate (named and famed) accounts

•

Forecasting of sales

•

Mapping the accounts

•

Providing after sales support to the subscribers.

•

Maintaining call reports for records.

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

•

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Providing Feedback to the marketing department regarding the requirement of the market.

B.

IDC (indirect Channel) •

Handling distribution

•

Maintaining records and level check of the channel partner

•

Liaisoning between the channel partner and the company.

•

Target achievement

•

Training the executives of the channel

C.

Distribution Support 1.

Logistics •

Monitor handset and SIM card requirements of channel partners and coordinate with stores

•

Settle areas of concerns such as incentive claims of channel partners

2. Rental •

Provide cellular services (SIM cards) on rent.

•

Provide cellular phones on rent

•

Useful for people visiting Delhi for a short interval.

3

Telesales

•

Call customers and generate sales lead.

•

Follow up with the customers, if they need any assistance

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

• 4

Pass on the sales lead to the channel department.

Audit •

Consultant to the AirTel showrooms.

•

Monitor the operations at the AirTel distribution outlets Organize training.

5. Retail •

Locate shops to open retail counters.

•

Monitor the retail counters.

MARKET SEGMENTATION Segmentation is beneficial because of better predictability of the target consumer group, minimization of risk exposure, better ability to fine-tune a product / service to the requirement of target buyer and the resultant ease in designing a proper designing marketing mix strategy In this case segmentation is on the bade of income.

In evaluating different market segments the company looks at two factors The overall attractiveness of the segments and the company's objectives & resources The present market for Cellular phones, pagers and conventional phones is as follows Premium

Middle

Economy

Upper

Lower

Upper

Lower

Upper

Lower

Cellular Phones

X

X

X

-

-

-

Pager

X

X

X

X

-

-

Conventional Phones

X

X

X

X

X

-

X Market Segment Targeted BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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TARGET MARKET SEGMENT Airtel has targeted the premium and upper middle class. The rationale behind it is that only those segments should be targeted who value time and have the paying capacity. It Is also planning to target the business tourists during their stay in the capital About 60% of the clientele are top executives of corporate houses. About 15% are foreign organisations and the rest are professionals and small businessmen. During the introduction stage there was intense pressure to get consumers across to hook up with their brand, because getting them to switch brand loyalty later would be hard So far Airtel marketers have been concentrating totally on the business executive class but now that the basic viable volumes has beer) built up and prices have declined to a certain extent they are planning to venture further a field.

POSITIONING The product is sought to be positioned as a business efficiency tool. a lifestyle revolution and a status symbol The emphasis is to remove misconception that the cellphone is an expensive means of communication and drive home the point that the cellphone is actually a day-to-day utility PRODUCT POLICY AND PLANNING The product or service is the heart of the marketing mix. Without a product or a service customers' needs cannot be satisfied.

The basic product promise by Airtel is mobility. Airtel's main marketing strategy is to be a first mover all the time. It has recognised the significance of making the first move-because in the field of Communication & Information Technology changes occur at a tremendous pace.

Effective product segmentation has to be carried on continuously because basic services can be and will be copied and in time become expected component of the product. Airtel BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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seeks to carry out this segmentation through provision of new information services and making new facilities available. The product policy and planning depends on the stage of the product life cycle. At present the cellular phone market has reached the maturity stage. Since, the premium segment is nearing saturation the company targeting the upper middle and middle-middle class. In order to do so Airtel is trying to optimise the price performance package by offering suitable "product bundling".

This involves the selection of the suitable hardware (handset) and its software (its services.) with reasonable price in order to deliver maximum price performance to its customers. In addition, it offers free Airtime services and other concessions to make the prices and thus the product more attractive. It has also opened a 24 hours customer service.

Only price doesn't serve as an effective differentiator, value added services become the effective differentiator.

The "Value Added Services" provided from Airtel are:1) Voice Mail service This system is similar to the answering machine - if the user is not able to answer a call for some reason the caller can leave messages in the voice mail box which can be later retrieved by the user 2) Short Message Service The short message service is like a two-way pager. It gives an option of sending and receiving text messages directly from one mobile phone to another without the intervention of an operator.

3) Mobile Fax 1 Data Service This service helps the subscriber to send and receive Faxes, access E-mail, download computer files from other systems and remotely log on to another computer and surf the Internet.

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The Indian Institute of Planning & Management, New Delhi

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4) Cash Card The cash card is a pre-paid and pre-activated card which allows the buyers to buy air time in advance. All it requires is the payment of an initial amount. This is a useful service for people who travel to Delhi often and those who want to control the expenses on their calls.

5) Caller ID Displays calling person's number.

6) Outgoing call restriction To prevent or limit outgoing calls, for example, in peak hours. Also possible to exclude one or several countries, or any geographical region, to permit only local calls, or to limit the outgoing calls to a listed number.

7) Call forward Incoming calls can be forwarded to another fixed or mobile phone.

Besides these some other services provided by Airtel are - Call conferencing, Call Broadcast et cetera.

It is in the operators -Interest that they not only get many subscribers but also get them to use the mobile facility frequently. In the early stages getting increases to subscribe may be easier than getting them to talk since they will find it costlier to use the mobile phone as compared to a conventional phone [if is believed that initially cellphones would be used buy] 8) Roaming Facility Roaming facility is available while the subscriber is travelling. The billing is done in the home network (Delhi).

Roaming facility is available manually* as well as semi-

automatically. Once a subscriber is In any other city or country, where a GSM network is BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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available, simply insert the SIM card of the local operator Into your handset and start talking. * Manual Roaming means a separate SIM card is provided for each city ** Semi automatic roaming means one card has the facility for different cities.

AIRTEL'S MARKETING ORIENTATION. Since this is a high-involvement expensive product, the service provider has to fully take care of the customers. a)

They take personal responsibility to "get" the answer for any problem faced by the

customer b)

They anticipate customers' problems and take pro-active steps to prevent them

c)

They give answers to the questions & requests, quickly & efficiently.

d)

They have a positive tone & manner while interacting with customers.

e)

They end the interaction on a positive or a humorous note-making the last 30

seconds count.

Airtel realises that attracting people 'Is easy but converting them into loyal customers is hard, hence emphasis is on maintaining a 'Smiling and a Friendly Atmosphere' to please and retain the customer.

PRICE AND PRICING POLICY AIRTEL has realised that the Indian market is price sensitive. Therefore it care of the has come up with various innovative tariff schemes to take needs of different category of customers- Generally, the cellular services are more expensive than the land line based telephone services. This is due to the reason that the operating companies are required to pay a fee to the government for using airtime.

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Marketing Strategy Adopted by Bharti Bharti has spent a considerable amount on advertising its mobile phone service, Airtel.

Besides print advertising, the company had put up large no of hoardings and kiosks in and around Delhi.

The objective behind designing a promotion campaign for the ‘Airtel’ services is to promote the brand awareness and to build brand preferences.

It is trying to set up a thematic campaign to build a stronger brand equity for Airtel.

Since the cellular phone category itself is too restricted, also the fact that a Cellular phone is a high involvement product, price doesn't qualify as an effective differentiator. The image of the service provider counts a great deal. Given the Cell phone category, it is the network efficiency and the quality of service that becomes important. What now the buyer is looking at is to get the optimum price-performance package. This also serves as an effective differentiator Brand awareness is spread through the' campaigns and brand preference through brand stature. Airtel's campaign in the capital began with a series of 'teaser' hoardings across the city,' bearing just the company's name and without explaining what Airtel was. In the next phase the campaign associated Airtel with Cellular only thereafter was the Bharti Cellular connection brought up. Vans with Airtel logos roamed the city, handing out brochures about

the company and its services to all consumers. About 50,000

direct callers were sent out. When the name was well entrenched in the Delhiites’s mind, the Airtel campaign began to focus on the utility of Cellphone. In the first four months alone Airtei's advertisement spend exceeded Rs. 4 crores.

As of today the awareness level Is 60% unaided. This implies that if potential or knowledgeable consumers are asked to name a Cellular phone service provider that is on the top of his/her mind 60% of them would name Airtel. As for aided it -is 100% (by giving clues and hints etc.).

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Brand strength of a product or the health of a brand is measured by the percentage score of the brand on the above aided and the unaided tests. The figures show that Airtel is a healthy and a thriving brand.

Every company has a goal, which might comprise a sales target and a game plan with due regard to Its competitor. Airtel 's campaign strategy is designed keeping in mind its marketing strategy. The tone, tenor and the stance of the visual ads are designed to convey the image of a market leader in terms of its market share. It tries to portray the image of being a "first mover every time" and that of a "market leader".

The status of the product in terms of its life cycle has just reached the maturity stage in India. It is still on the rising part of the product life cycle curve in the maturity stage.

The diagram on the left hand side shows the percentage of the users classified into heavy, medium and low categories. The right hand side shows the revenue share earned from the three types of users.

Airtel, keeping in mind the importance of the customer retention, values its heavy users the most and constantly indulges in service innovation. But, since heavy users comprise only 15 - 20% of the population the other segment cannot be neglected.

The population which has just realised the importance of cellular phones has to be roped in. It is for this reason that the service provider offers a plethora of incentives and discounts. Concerts like the "Freedom concert" are being organised by Airtel in order to promote sales. The media channel is chosen with economy in mind. The target segment is not very concrete but, there is an attempt to focus on those who can afford. The print advertisements and hoarding are placed in those strategic areas which most likely to catch the attention of those who need a cellular phone. The product promise (which might cost different 1 higher) is an important variable in determining the target audience.

Besides this, other promotional strategies that Airtel has adopted are .

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(i)

People who have booked Airtel services have been treated to exclusive premiers

of blockbuster movies. Airtel has tied up with Lufthansa to offer customer bonus miles on the German airlines frequent flier's programs. (ii)

There have been educational campaigns, image campaigns, pre launch

advertisements, launch advertisements, congratulatory advertisements, promotional advertise-ments, attacking advertisements and tactical advertisements.

DISTRIBUTION Company

Franchisee

Dealer

Customer

Distributor

Dealers

Customer

The- company whose operations are concentrated in and around Delhi. It 27 Franchisees and 15 Distributors- They also have 8 'instant access cash card counters- Each franchises or distributor can have any number of dealers under him as long as the person is approved by the Airtel authority. Each franchises has to invest Rupees Ten Lakhs. to obtain a franchise and should employ an officer recruited by Airtel. This person acts as an liaison between the company and the franchises. The franchises can it any number of dealers as long as their territories do not overlap. But unfortunately Airtel has not been very successful in controlling territorial overlaps of dealers. The franchises can carry out his 1 her own promotional strategy. For this the. company contributes 75% of the money and the franchises contributes 25% of the money. The dealers under the franchisee receive the same commission. The franchises and the dealer obtain the feedback from the BATCH: PGP/SS/2009-11

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customers and they are sent through the liaison officer on a day-to-day basis to Airtel.

The dealer has to invest Rupees. One Lakh as an initial investment. The dealer of Airtel are not allowed to provide any other operators' service.

Target set for distributors and the dealers is 100 -150 activations per month. Hence the dealers can also go for their own promotions like banners and discounts on festivals etc.

The dealer provides service promptly. The consumer on providing the bill of purchase for the handset and proof of residence has only to wait an hour before getting connected.

The staff of the dealers and the franchisees are provided training by the Airtel personnel.

The complaints encountered by the franchisees and dealers are either handset being nonfunctional or the SIM Card not getting activated. Anything more complicated is referred to the main Airtel office in Delhi.

WHAT DOES AIRTEL OFFER? With Airtel, the subscriber wouldn't just get a personal phone that lets him/her be in touch, always, but also gets a host of benefits that let him/her manage his/her time like never before.

An Airtel subscriber is provided with a Subscriber Identity Module Card (SIM card) that is the key to operating his/her cellular phone. His card activates Airtel cellular services and contains a complete micro-computer chip with memory to enable one to enjoy one's cellular phone thoroughly. Each SIM card contains a PIN code (Personal Identity Number) which may be entered by one. Just plug your SIM card into your cellular phone, enter the PIN code and it becomes 'your' personal phone'.

PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE The pattern of cellphone subscriber growth observed elsewhere in the world reveals that the growth in the market is Initially slow followed by a sharp acceleration, but so far that has not happened in India. As far as the Product Life Cycle is concerned. Indians are at the beginning of the maturity stage.

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introduction

growth

maturity

Marketing Objectives Create product awareness Maximise market share and trial

Maximise profits whole defending market share

Strategies Product

Offer

a

basic Offer value added Increase in number

product/ service.

services

of

value

added

services.

Price

Charge cost- plus

Price to penetrate Price to match or market

Distribution

Build

best competitors

selective Build

distribution

Intensive Build

distribution.

more

intensive distribution.

Advertising

Build

product Build

awareness

awareness Stress

among and interest in the differences

early adopters and mass market

brand and

benefits.

dealers.

Sales Promotion

Use

heavy

sales Increase to build Increase

promotion to entice and people to subscribe.

maintain encourage

relationships

to brand-

with switching.

customers.

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PRIMARY FINDING AND ANALYSIS

No. of Respondents

1. Age Group:

Age group 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 10-20

20-40

Above 40

Age

2. Gender: Gender

42%

Male 58%

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Fem ale

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3. Which type of connection do you prefer?

Connection

42%

Prepaid 58%

Postpaid

Through the above analysis we can easily find out that, majority of the people still prefer prepaid connections more. There are 58% people who prefer prepaid connections whereas 42% people prefer postpaid connection in west Nagpur area. shows that there is tough competition for prepaid. It is because of billing problems in postpaid connections.

4. Whose service(s) are you rendering now?

Airtel 50%

50%

Idea

Through the above analysis it is found that 50% people prefer Airtel connection and 50% people prefer Idea connection.

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5. How long have you been using this connection of your service provider?

No. of Respondents

12 10 8 Airtel

6

Idea

4 2 0 Less than 3-6 3 months months

6-12 months

1-2 years 2-3 years

More than 3 years

Duration

The above graph shows that more no. of people is keeping Airtel and Idea connection from 1-2 years. These factors are responsible to gain the market share over the competitor. Whereas there are few who are associated with service provider less than 3 months.

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6. What are the key factors/reasons for your association with current cellular service

Airtel

Other Reasons

Advertisement Recommended

Retailer Influenced

Idea

Friends Recommended

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Awareness of the service provider

No. of Respondents

provider?

Factors/Reasons

From the above graph it is clear that people are using Airtel because their friends had recommended. Whereas people are using Idea because of advertisement attraction. After that awareness of the service provider is the factor which influenced customer to render the service.

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No. of Respondents

7. How do you find the behavior of customer care executives of your service provider?

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Airtel Idea

Professional & Warm & prompt helpful

Not Responding

Lazy & slow

Behavior

Acceptance or rejection of any product is largely depended on the services provided by the customer care which is also known as after sales service or Customer Relationship Management (CRM). If a company provides better services to the customer by solving their queries, it can be successful to retain them. Similarly, in case of the telecom service providers play a major role to retain customers by solving their problems.

As per the survey conducted and its findings, it was concluded that Airtel is the leader in maintaining the good relations with its customers and it solves customers’ problems efficiently and effectively than Idea. But still people feel that customer care executives are not responding and lazy & slow.

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8. What kind of expectations do you have from your service provider?

Cheap SMS 22%

Cheap Roaming charges 8%

Improved Service 14%

Good Network 24% Cheap Call rates 32%

As per the research, the people of west Nagpur are more inclined towards cheap call rates of their service providers followed by the good network. After that people expects cheap SMS, improved service and cheap roaming charges from their service provider.

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9. Rate your satisfaction level with your service provider

12 10 8 Airtel

6

Idea

4 2 0 Very Good

Good

Satisfied

Bad

Very Bad

Customers’ satisfaction plays a crucial role for the service provider. It is found that more number of people are satisfied with Idea whereas same number of people thinks that Airtel and Idea is good. It shows that satisfaction level of Airtel and idea is near about same.

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10. How much do you spend per month on your mobile connection?

12 10 8 Airtel

6

Idea

4 2 0 Rs.100

Rs. 200

Rs. 500

More than Rs. 500

Spending pattern is also another criterion which is crucial for any telecom service providers. Customers’ spending habits ultimately help in deciding their loyalty towards the product. For example, if a customer frequently spends money on the same product then it shows that he prefers to buy that product than other products which ultimately leads to his loyalty towards that brand.

Above graph shows that more no. of people spend more than Rs. 500 for their mobile connection. Then the people are spending upto Rs. 500.

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11. Given a choice with same number, which service provider will you select?

10 9 8 7 6

Airtel

5

Idea

4 3 2 1 0 Reliance

Vodafone

BSNL

Tata Indicom

As per the above chart suggests and as per the findings, it can be seen that Airtel people have Vodafone as preference opinion whereas Idea people have both Reliance and Tata Indicom because of their good network coverage.

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12. How do you find STD rates of your service provider?

16 14 12 10 Airtel

8

Idea

6 4 2 0 Costly

Affordable

Economical

Unaffordable

As the above chart shows both Airtel and Idea customers find the STD rates of both service providers are costly. Whereas few customers feel that STD rates are affordable, economical and unaffordable.

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13. Do you find availability of network of your service provider at following area?

16 14 12 10 Airtel

8

Idea

6 4 2 0 Remote Area

Hill Stations

Outskirts

As per the findings, it was found that Idea has very good network coverage in remote area. Airtel and Idea shoes very close competition for coverage. Because in Hill stations and outskirts it more or less same.

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14. What are the different schemes provided by your service provider?

14 12 10 8

Airtel

6

Idea

4 2 0 SMS

Talktime

Festival Schemes

Other

As the graph shows, the customers’ preferences in case of Idea and Airtel is same with both the schemes SMS and talk time as the preference is same for both.

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15. How long do you have to wait in customer care?

14 12 10 8

Airtel

6

Idea

4 2 0 Up to 1 minute

2 minutes

3-5 minutes

6-10 minutes

11 minutes or more

The customer’s liking about a particular service provider is also depended on how the customer care executive solves his problem and how much time he takes to reach the customer. So, here the data is collected on the basis of how much a customer has to wait while calling the customer care.

The data reveals that majority of the customers have to wait for 6-10 minutes. Then some customers have to wait for 3-5 minutes. There are less number of customers who have to wait for 11, 2 and upto 2 minutes.

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16. Are you aware of 3G technology?

20 18 16 14 12

Yes

10

No

8 6 4 2 0 Airtel

Idea

There are new inventions and technologies come up in the market to enhance the competition and make the usage much faster and also useful as well as easy to use. 3G technology is one of those technologies. In the survey, it was asked to the customers whether they are aware of new 3G technology or not. The results are mentioned in the above chart. Airtel customers are aware about 3G than Idea customers. It can be seen that there is very less difference between awareness about 3G in Airtel and Idea customers.

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RECOMMENDATION On the basis of the primary research and secondary research, the following recommendations can be concluded:  Lowering the tariff plans of service providers will increase more competition.  Bringing more up gradation in VAS for the betterment of the users.  Improvement of network infrastructure in both the urban and the rural areas.  Reducing the STD and ISD charges for the users.  Companies can provide new and different schemes to their customers.

After talking to customer care executives of telecom sector, the following recommendations can be concluded as a part of their strategies for acquiring or retaining new customers:  The telecom operators should take less time for the solving customer’s queries.  Majority of the operators focus on the special occasions to launch new schemes but they can also launch schemes on weekly or monthly basis to attract new customers.  Customer care executives should concentrate more on pre-paid connections for the price sensitive customers and post-paid connections for business class people or high class people. They should use their media tools accordingly.  They should concentrate more on the attributes like talk-time facility, network, voice clarity etc apart from SMS, VAS and schemes.  They should focus more on VAS like GPRS facilities, games, astrology, and music for young people and business news for business people.  They should also focus on new technologies like 3G.  They should also focus on pilot projects before launching a product, especially in case of rural areas.

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CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION India has one of the world’s largest telecommunication networks. The telecom story continues to be the best evidence of the efficacy of the reforms process. In just six years, the number of mobile subscribers has gone up from just about one million to 100 million, a subscriber base that only four other countries China, the US, Japan and Russia can boast of. None can doubt the correlation between this explosive growth in numbers and the steep decline in the cost of the mobile phone and of its usage.

After analyzing the findings of the research, it can conclude that Airtel is the leader in customer service and availability. The maximum no. of people who use the mobile is in the age group of 20 to 28. Prepaid is popular type of mobile connections, as they are consumer friendly and recharging the connection is not a problem. People do not prefer postpaid because of billing problems.

Maximum no. of people spends more than Rs 500 on their connections. As Airtel is the only company having the maximum no of mobile connections so it must seriously look into the loop holes of the existing customer service department.

We can say that in spite of so many competitors in the market Airtel is having a good position just because every time, it tries its best to understand the need of its important customers.

Idea is having particular customer potential. Mostly it is preferred by business class people because of availability of network. Idea provides the same scheme as that of Airtel. People also spend more money on Idea connection.

Considering both Airtel and Idea have same features and benefits. Only the difference is between the subscriber base. Airtel has more subscriber base than that of Idea.

Recently both Airtel and Idea has launched 1 paisa / second scheme to compete with TATA DOCOMO. This shows that service providers are more into competition trend which should be followed by them to sustain in the market.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Reports: 1. DoT Report 2008-09 2. TRAI Report 2008-09 3. TRAI Report 2007-08 4. COAI Report 2008 5. COAI Report 2009  Articles: 1. Bernhard Goldberger- 19th Bled e-Conference eValues 2. The Economic Times  Websites: 1. www.airtel.in 2. www.ideacellular.com 3. www.dot.gov.in 4. www.wikipedia.org 5. www.micrositemobile.com

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COPY OF QUESTIONNAIRE Put a tick ( ) for the right option.

1. Age Group:

10-20

2. Gender:

Male

20-40

Above 40

Female

3. Which type of connection do you prefer?

Pre-paid

Post-paid

4. Whose service(s) are you rendering now?

Airtel

Idea

5. How long have you been using this connection of your service provider?

Less than 3 months

6-12 months

3-6 months

1-2 years

2-3 years

More than 3 years

6. What are the key factors/reasons for your association with current cellular service provider?

Awareness of the service provider

Friends Recommended

Retailer Influenced

Advertisement Recommended

Other Reasons

7. How do you find the behavior of customer care executives of your service provider?

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Professional & prompt

Not Responding

Warm & helpful

Lazy & slow

8. What kind of expectations do you have from your service provider? _______________________________________________________________________ _ _______________________________________________________________________ _ 9. Rate your satisfaction level with your service provider.

Very Good

Good

Satisfied

Bad

Very Bad

10. How much do you spend per month on your mobile connection? _______________________________________________________________________ _ 11. Given a choice with same number, which service provider will you select?

Tata Indicom

BSNL

Reliance

Vodafone

12. How do you find STD rates of your service provider? _______________________________________________________________________ _ 13. Do you find availability of network of your service provider at following area?

Remote Area

Hill Stations

Outskirts

14. What are the different schemes provided by your service provider?

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SMS

Talk-time

Festival Schemes

Other

15. How long do you have to wait in customer care?

Up to 1 minute

3-5 minutes

2 minutes

6-10 minutes

11 minutes or more 16. Are you aware of 3G technology?

Yes

No

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