Case Study on Etiko for Believes in Leading.

About the company

Etiko is a sports brand established in 2005 that strongly believes in 100% trade fair. The company has strong values and believes in leading by example. It is one of the rare companies that ensures that all its products are procured ethically. Since the company has a strong philosophy in helping the community, they provide micro-credit and health care support for the local communities. The agenda behind this was that the founder of Etiko Nick Savidis realized that stable employment and small businesses can help communities progress. However, to continue funding these activities the need to increase the sales of the company had become prime. To ensure the same the company would have to create a strong brand image in the market, thereby attracting customers who are generally restricted to reputed brands (Wijaya, 2013).

Available Options

Etiko currently has three options under consideration to increase its sales. The first is to use the traditional advertising and PR through which the company would gain popularity quickly. The array of advertising media available would be a plus. However, the investment for the same is substantially high. Also, the risk of sales dropping post promotion period exists. The second choice is to build the brand as the business develops. The option is economical however, the heavy competition in the current market may overthrow the company altogether. The final option is to Leverage word-of-mouth using digital marketing through corporate blogging and social networking along with press releases.

The apt option

Etiko cannot financially support heavy PR but they can make low-investment into advertising in the digital market. The best option for the company to increase sales and brand image is to implement a combination of option one and three. With the advent of internet, digital marketing has gained immense popularity especially with a lot of young generation actively using the same for communication, trade and knowledge (Tiago, 2014). The technological advances and the use of smartphones and wireless networks have increased the digital population exponentially in the new millennium. Making this place an advertising medium can be extremely beneficial. The investment is significantly low when compared to traditional advertising and the number of views are higher (Ryan, 2014). Also, managing content online can be much easier than in the real world. Some of the options available to Etiko to explore the digital market are as follows.

YouTube Advertisements

YouTube is the new T.V. The online site is home for millions of videos over thousands of channels that are subscribed by millions of users. Etiko would have to select a few channels that post videos that are related to community development, fair trade, environment sustainability and sports and have a good number of subscribers. YouTube provides companies to promote their products over these channels by running a short Ad before the video plays (Goerg, 2015). Also, the first five seconds of the Ad cannot be skipped by the user. This is the key for Etiko. The company would have to develop a short five second Ad or a simple slide show which is crisp and helps people understand in five seconds what the company does (Miles, 2014). Images of the communities it helps, there slogans and products can be used in these ads and a hyperlink to the company’s website can be provided. The page displayed by clicking the hyperlink should have bullet points of what the company does and how consuming Etiko’s product would help the user serve the community. These images would have an emotional connection to the user and help them find ways to help the community.

Instagram Ads

Instagram is an online photo and video sharing social application that had gained immense popularity. The app has around 500 million users who share images from all around the world and use pictures as a means of communication. The company has recently launched the facility to allow business to promote products on Instagram. Instagram has several Ad formats available and price ranges according to the scale of business. Photo Ads, video Ads, Carousel Ads, can all be used to reach users (Karlsson, 2016). This option can be used by Etiko to promote their brand .This is a relatively new option and hence the market is not yet crowded with these kind of promotions (Miles, 2013). There is another way as well to advertise on Instagram. For this the Etiko would have to search for users that post pictures related to the activities of Etiko and can use their accounts to post pictures of the company’s products. This is usually termed as “sponsoring the users”, where the users are paid for the promotion posts. Etiko has to make sure that these users have significant number of followers and the links to the website are provided in the comments section.

Flash Sales on online markets

Considering Amazon as one of the potential online market, Etiko can tie up with Amazon to conduct flash sales on the online market. The trend of flash sales is increasing, where a product is made available only for a certain period of time. The products to be sold on this flash sale have to be unique to make the consumer feel special (Wolverson, 2012). Having only 10 pieces of each design for sale can be a good tactic. However, these products should not be available on the Etiko’s website. Etiko can manage this as the company has an option of custom development. It is not suggestible for Etiko to become a partner with Amazon as the market place cost would be high. Rather having a sale would inculcate interest in public.

The Outside option

There is one other option that Etiko can make use of to increase its sale and brand image, that is to tie up with corporate giants. Today almost all the organizations have a Corporate Social responsibility policy through which they pledge to work for the betterment of the society (Carroll, 2015). The CSR of organizations can be an advantage to Etiko. The company would have to choose organizations that conduct regular sports activities such as corporate tournaments and runs and tie up with them as their sports apparel partner. That is Etiko would be the sports apparel vendor for these corporates. The organizations would require T-shirts for all their runs for promotions and also in there sports events. This would help Etiko make significant sales and long term customers and help the organizations increase their CSR value. Both would eventually result in the betterment of the community (Clapp, 2014).

Conclusion

All the three options provided are significant choices to develop a brand image. However, with the immense competition in the market, the most efficient way to increase sales and brand images by combining investment in advertising and taking an advantage of the digital market. Etiko can increase their sales by investing in digital advertising especially on the highly used online sites like the YouTube and Instagram. Flash sales in popular online markets is another choice that would increase the craze of the products in the market, at the same time promoting them. A out of box option is to tie up with corporates that have several sports activities and be their vendors for sports apparel there by helping the corporate fulfill their corporate social responsibility policies. All the above options incur low costs and high returns and can hence be advantageous for Etiko.

References

Carroll, A. B. (2015). Corporate social responsibility. Organizational Dynamics, 44, 87-96.

Clapp, J., & Rowlands, I. H. (2014). Corporate social responsibility. Essential Concepts of Global Environmental Governance, 42.

Goerg, G. M., Best, C., Shobowale, S., Koehler, J., & Remy, N. (2015). Advertising on YouTube and TV: A Meta-analysis of Optimal Media-mix Planning.

Karlsson, K. M. (2016). Marketing through Instagram.

Miles, J. (2014). YouTube marketing power: How to use video to find more prospects, launch your products, and reach a massive audience. McGraw Hill Professional.

Miles, J., 2013. Instagram power: Build your brand and reach more customers with the power of pictures. McGraw Hill Professional.

Ryan, D. (2014). Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation. Kogan Page Publishers.

Tiago, M. T. P. M. B., & Veríssimo, J. M. C. (2014). Digital marketing and social media: Why bother?. Business Horizons, 57(6), 703-708.

Wijaya, B. S. (2013). Dimensions of Brand Image: A Conceptual Review from the Perspective of Brand Communication. European Journal of Business and Management, 5(31).

Wolverson, R. (2012). High and low: Online flash sales go beyond fashion to survive. Time Magazine, 180(19), 9-12.

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