Customer Relationship Management

Customer Relationship Management is something all businesses must use effectively to run a successful business. Verizon however continually fails when it comes to this aspect. Verizon's relationship status with their customers is often ruined in large part because of their horrendous customer service. However, Verizon does use the data they obtain from their customers to their advantage and that is how they run their business successfully. Verizon uses the data it obtains to build a profile of its customers to effectively cross sell. Consumers who buy Verizon's droid models are often knowledgeable when it comes to the latest technology. They are also will to spend a large amount of money on the newest technology. This profile allows Verizon to cross sell products such as the newest televisions, newest home phone technology and newest Internet technologies. Also, since Verizon offers their droid models at a much cheaper price if the customer agrees to a two year contract, Verizon will have that customers brand loyalty for at least the life of that contract and it also gives them time to collect data and build the relationship beyond those two years.

Integrated Marketing Communications

 

Verizon uses many things to communicate its messages to its target market and uses all four concepts of a promotional mix. One of Verizon's major ways of communicating to its market is through sponsorships. Verizon uses its sponsorships to communicate its message through them in a positive and very public way. They evaluate how much exposure the sponsorship will give them and how much positive emotions it will cause to be associated with the Verizon brand. Verizon also uses social networks to send out its message, using sites such as facebook.com/Verizon and myspace.com/Verizon. Also, the message Verizon tries to send through its advertisements is that people who have Verizon have many friends and are the typical happy family as evidenced by there commercials that include hundreds of people following the "Verizon Guy". In Verizon's most recent commercial, a advertisement for their newest droid model the Verizon Fascinate, Verizon shows the phone with many different attention provoking colors in the background, while also playing exciting and attention grabbing music. In a way Verizon communicates its message that the Fascinate is a great "sexy" phone without saying a single thing in its advertisement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJGL3-0idic

Product Concepts

Verizon wireless has many products but its main products are their cellular phones and the monthly bill, warranty, customer service and all the features and convenience that their phones like their droid model comes with. Speaking of Warranties, Verizon offers free warranty for a year and if you would like to continue it, it will cost you upward of five dollars a month and research shows that after a year or so there are more problems with Verizon phones, which could be a form of planned obsolescence. Verizon has also extended their product line to include an internet system, home phones, a type of television brand, among many others which has separated them from some of their prime competition in the phone industry such as AT&T and T-Mobile. Verizon's brand is often identified not only by its name but by its colors, in that the word "Verizon" is always black but the "z" is always red, resembling its red check mark above the word. Verizon has many product line as well, but their most successful is their cellphone product line which they have added hundreds of new phones since its inception due to the accelrated rate at which technology evolves.

Sales Promotion and Personal Selling

Verizon uses many different sales promotions. Verizon uses premiums, loyalty programs, training programs, rebates, and various online promotions. A premium Verizon has recently started is a buy one get one free promotion on their newest droid model, the Fascinate. The promotion is over at the end of the month and by
putting a clock on how long the premium will last, Verizon has created a need and urgency for customers to buy their product. Verizons upper office also provides training for the "middle man".  When the newest droid came out, Verizon trained all its store employees and its technical support staff on how to use the phone and fix any potenial problems customers have. This is a sales promotion because people will buy the product if the the sales person doing the personal selling can show them the features of the phone and explain them intelligently. Verizon also uses several online promotions such as their online only discount on their droid models. When buying the phone in stores, you get a  hundred dollar rebate, which from personal experience takes very long to arrive. However if you buy the phone online you get the hundred dollars off the top and
dont have to wait for anything. Lastly, Verizon also rewards its current and loyal customers by allowing them to upgrade their droid phones once every year.

Advertising and Public Relations

Verizon implements institutional advertising, product advertising, and comparative advertising along with many others. Institutional advertising is a type of advertisement that makes the company look better while also promoting a product but only to a certain extent. Verizon does this in there commercials where they often call it the Verizon family showing a typical family all using Verizon phones, this commercial makes Verizon look like a family friendly company.  Product advertising is when a company only promotes a product and its benefits and capabilities. Verizon does this with their recent Droid commercials in which there are no people in the commercial it is only the Droid model they are selling as well as a demonstration of its capabilities. Lastly, comparative advertising is an advertisement that shows the differences between two similar products. In many Verizon advertisements, they often display two maps comparing their coverage with that of their competitors.
Public relations is the way companies get a feel for the attitude people have toward them as well as how a company tries to influence these attitudes. Verizon did this through press releases when they release new Droid models. They used a press release to get the word out about the newest Droid while saving a lot of money doing it.

Retailing

I have recently visited a Verizon store in Queens near Lefferts Boulevard, and after leaving I was not impressed. While the Verizon store is a specialty store and the brand itself is very popular, the customer service is not as good as the product. Upon entering the store I made several positive observations in that the store was very neat and clean and well organized, everything was easy to find. However I soon came to find the reason for this was that there were so little customers to mess anything up. As a matter of fact the store was empty accept for me and two employees who were just standing around and did not even acknowledge me in anyway. I ended up approaching them after about five minutes of just browsing around the store. I asked about my Verizon Fascinate (which I had recently purchased) and to my surprise they were very knowledgeable when it came to my phone even though they seemed disinterested. However I cannot say I was very surprised as Verizon's reputation is good product without good customer service which was reinforced in my visit. 

The Importance of Understanding Consumer Behavior

Verizon uses several aspects of consumer behavior to tweak their product in order to be very marketable to several groups. Verizon uses the need recognition step in the consumer decision making process by understanding two things. One is that people have been made to believe that they need a cellphone. The second is that people also need to have the most updated, technologically advanced phone that can be produced. Verizon takes advantage of these needs by making and selling their Droid models. While using need recognition to make the product, when developing their prices and plans for the Droid phones, Verizon markets to the age and family life-cycle. While it is often the kids in the family that want the newer phone models, it is typical that the parents are the ones paying the bill. Due to this Verizon makes use of its family plan and fairly low cost service. This also helps in the fact that the social classes Verizon targets is the middle and working class and cost effective things are very attractive to the people in these classes.