SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION'S WAYS OF COMMUNICATING WITH THE ENVIRONMENT
Open Access MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2
SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTION'S WAYS OF COMMUNICATING WITH THE ENVIRONMENT
Joanna Pruchnicka, PhD. Research and Supervisory Centre of Underground Mining Co. Ltd, Poland e-mail: [email protected] DOI: 10.14611/minib.12.02.2014.06
Summary
The Internet has given its users ways for fast and inexpensive publication of information, dissemination of their creativity, experiences and thoughts. Blogs have become one of the forms particularly popular over the recent years. Impact of blogs on the audience has turned out to be so significant that they quickly have begun to be used as a marketing tool, both in the area of public relations as well as advertising. By definition, blog imposes a significant simplification on the message conveyed, both in terms of content and language, making them more legible, comprehensible and interesting for each recipient. This makes this form of communication extremely attractive for science, especially in the context of its commercialization and dissemination of information on the scientific and research achievements. For science, scientific and research institutions and scientists a certain dualism arises in the approach to using blogs as a means of communicating with the environment. On one hand, blogs provide a quick, simple transmission of information and knowledge, on the other hand, most people feel that scientific blogs lack credibility and seriousness usually associated with messages coming from the world of science, research and experiments. For many years, blog have been extremely popular, even the required form of communication used by the American and Western scientists. There is a growing awareness of the merits of blogging on the subjects of science in Poland. However, in the opinion of the respondents of the research presented in the article, the dominant tools for the dissemination and promotion of science are scientific conferences and publications, namely those which by their very nature limit the range and spread of information.
Keywords: scientific institution, marketing communication, blog, commercialisation of science, research, marketing
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Introduction
Commercialization of science required by market economy has led to a situation in which research achievements, the activity of research and development units are more and more often regarded from the point of view of marketing — in order to function it is necessary to attract clients by informing about and promoting one's own products. The changes taking place in contemporary media have forced also scientific institutions and scientists to introduce substantial changes to communication with the recipients. These changes concern both the used forms of informing about and advertising one's activities and achievements, as well as the method and the language of messages addressed at various target groups. New media have brought a broad range of possibilities of reaching recipients interested in particular subject and facilitating the system of communicating with them. Blogs have become a very popular form of marketing activity in the recent years. Blog is a simple and fast way to appear on the Internet market, which is now the most absorbent, common market with a global coverage, which allows reaching the recipient around almost the whole world. Blog has become the materialization of a futuristic vision of Vladimir Odoevsky from 1837 presented in the book ”Year 4338” which predicted the existence of a network of magnetic connections making it possible for everyone to publish their diaries1. This is because blog (originating from the word weblog) is defined as Internet log, diary, commentary. It appears in form of an Internet website which is often updated and which contains many posts marked with dates and arranged in chronological order. Depending on the author and the purpose of posts, the following kinds of blogs can be distinguished:
Private — typical diaries professional — run by experts on a particular subject, they serve the purpose of building the image of the author as a specialist in the area of particular subject. Often such blogs are written by journalists, or politicians expressing their opinions and commenting on the reality by means of Internet posts. partner — run by a private individual in cooperation with a company and ordered by the company corporate — prepared by a company for the purpose of improving communication with recipients and building own image2
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The more popular a particular blog becomes, the less it resembles a typical diary associated with writing down daily experiences, author's impressions etc. Over time it transforms into a kind of public debate. A good example of this phenomenon were blogs written after the September 11 attacks. Series of posts describing private tragedies evolved into discussion concerning terrorism, Islam and foreign policy of the United States3. Thus, blog is becoming more and more of a source of information about the world, political, sports, cultural events, source of knowledge and advice concerning various areas of life. Thus, depending on the subject of a blog and its character, many kinds of publications can be distinguished, among them the most popular are:
diary — the most typical blog, which emphasizes the individual character of the author and presents his experiences information — constitutes a kind of encyclopaedia consisting of a list of terms and their explanations instruction — a kind of blog which provides advice and training materials overview — source of analytical knowledge from a particular area, in which feedback from readers is particularly appreciated problems — concerns problems associated with the discussed subject interview — subject presented in form of a conversation with an expert biography — focuses on the presentation of both widely known characters and personalities, which are interesting for a particular group of Internet users bibliographical — constitutes a kind of bibliography and guide around other blogs discussion — it is based on building a community interested in and participating in discussion on a particular subject. 4
The development of technology has led to a situation in which every Internet user can publish not only text, but also photographs (photoblogs), videos (videoblogs, vlogs), can record audio messages (audioblogs). Computer is not the only tool that can be used to run a blog, as now it is also possible to write and read blogs (moblog) by means of mobile phones. This makes the message even more attractive and attractive form is particularly important in marketing activity. If we assume that a research-scientific institution and scientists function on the market based on rules analogous to those applying to other market entities, ways of promoting activity and achievements typical of market should also be the same in both cases. It seems that due to the characteristics of scientific units, the language and
5 www. minib.pl Scientific institution's ways of communicating with the environment substantial content of messages, frequent situations in which recipients don't understand the messages, the implementation of promotion programmes based on assumptions complying with the rules of marketing can contribute to the improvement of communication with clients, creating the image of a scientific unit as a modern institution following the latest trends and taking advantage of the possibilities offered by, for example, the Internet. In scientific units blog can serve analogous functions as in corporations:
informing — providing current information associated with the discipline, which is the domain of a scientific institution building relations — form of implementation of the strategy of public relations, that is, building durable contacts with the environment and its positive opinion about the activity and research-scientific achievements knowledge management — blog is an element of the system of bilateral communication, which a scientific unit uses to not only provide knowledge, but also to obtain knowledge from answers and discussion of the readers5 news room 2.0 — blog serving the purpose of cooperation with the media6. Thus, scientific blogs can be classified in the same way as corporate blogs: devoted to a research-scientific unit — presenting all information about an institution and its activity, current events, achievements, etc. devoted to particular actions — presenting a particular sample of activity of a scientific institution, which for various reasons should be propagated among blog's readers written by a scientist — personal in character, presenting the author as a private person, focusing on the subjective opinion of the author presenting information, or commenting on facts, the surrounding reality promotional — usually written by the public relations, or marketing department, which are supposed to build relations with the environment, providing recipients with promotional and advertising information concerning bot the whole institution and a chosen area of its activity thematic — prepared by experts on a chosen subject, serving as a source of knowledge building the image of an institution as a specialist in a particular discipline7.
Blog's characteristics
The authors of the research carried out by the Institute of Literary Research of
www. minib.pl 6 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 the Polish Academy of Sciences and Gazeta. pl pointed to the following aspects of blog as a means facilitating communication: quantitative (”there are more opinions”, ”everybody can have a say in a debate on any subject”); qualitative (”expressing one's opinion has become easier”, ”blog enables extreme subjectivity”); temporal (”utterance is more spontaneous and fast”, ”blogosphere forces journalists to react faster”), formal (multimediality, brevity, ”simplification, shallower message”) 8. Blog's most important and highly appreciated feature is its interactivity, the possibility of establishing bilateral communication. One of the best examples of interactivity is the possibility of writing comments on the author's post. These comments often complement knowledge, clarify doubts, often park a discussion in a greater group of Internet users. From the point of view of utilization of blog as a means of promoting science, the reader's response is first of all a signal that the information reached the recipient and caused a particular reaction, second thing is that the response is an expression of this reader's opinion — positive or negative — concerning the promoted institution, or the promoted product. Regular updates on blogs in combination with the above-mentioned interactivity leads to building an Internet community based on common interest in the subject proposed by the author of a blog. Establishing durable relations with readers makes it possible to obtain precious information, which may lead to attracting a recipient described in marketing as a loyal client. The trust of such a recipient, continuous contacts, including him in the created community also contributes to raising the efficiency of promotional activity, as properly formulated messages are targeted at more adequate auditorium. Efficient communication through a blog can be achieved thanks to the facility and high speed of posting content on the web. This allows immediate modification of content and reaction of the author to possible changes, continuous contact with readers taking part in the discussion. This aspect of blogging becomes especially significant in crisis situations. Blog can be faster than other media and can become a credible source of information about conditions, reasons and ways of solving a crisis. Thus, it is recommended to consider this form of communication in the strategy of conduct for times of temporary crises in an institution's activity. Blog, due to its informal character, guarantees the independence of statements. Thus, they can be used in situations, in which the publication of information or comment in other media may encounter formal limitations, or internal regulations. At the same
7 www. minib.pl Scientific institution's ways of communicating with the environment time it allows greater openness and directness of opinions expressed in posts. However, this also leads to certain risks associated with lack of control over texts published by Internet users participating in a discussion. If the goal of a blog is the promotion of an institution and its achievements, negative comments can unfortunately be detrimental for the institution. Blog is a dynamic form of Internet communication diversified in terms of language and style. Many publications emphasize the ”human” character of blog and the institution, which runs a blog — an institution with real people with names and not just products, offers and the intention to attract a client9. Basing on the prestige and renown of its employees an institution builds its own prestige; scientists are thus the most important attribute for the creation of the image of a friendly organization open to contacts with the environment, eager to share experiences and knowledge. Lack of strategy of promotion and arranged substantial content of messages conveyed to readers by means of blog posts can lead to another threat — the publication of confidential information (professional, commercial, technological) on the Internet. In this case openness may be more detrimental than helpful. Scientific blog is a marketing tool of scientific-research institutions in which direct promoting is avoided10. For this reason, this form of Internet communication is classified as public relations activity understood as informing the public opinion about the positive effects of research works. A post which bears the characteristics of an advertisement often makes the recipients assume negative approach, lose interest or even discourages them from reading such publication. Blog's advantage emphasized by Grzegorz Mazurek is the synergy of this form with other Internet marketing tools. Appropriately chosen keywords also contribute to such positioning of an institution in search engines, which guarantees high frequency of hits and visits on page11. Interesting information contained in a blog, the fact that it is easy to find on the web launches the mechanism of spreading this information also in other media. As the survey carried out by Fusion PR in 2007 shows, 78pc of the surveyed journalists read blogs, which makes it possible to assume that they drew information for their publications from blogs. Every third journalist recognized blog as a credible source and 35pc of the surveyed journalists declared that they were writing their own blogs. 12 Based on these figures, it is possible to conclude that blog is an efficient tool for building media relations. One of blog's characteristic features, similarly as in case of other forms of
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Internet communication, is language — simplified, colloquial and at the same time comprehensible and legible for every recipient. Language is an element which in case of science constitutes a communication barrier. Specialist terminology, specific for each discipline often leads to lack of understanding with a partner without specialist knowledge. According to the authors of the above-mentioned report titled ”Blog to blog”, the language of blogs is characterized by the following features:
Internet language — using so-called emoticons, netspeak, that is, colloquial Internet language, phonetic transcription, abbreviations colloquialism, everyday language — colloquial expressions, irregular sentence formation, simplicity, informal language transparency — which is achieved thanks to simple expression of thoughts, legible, vivid, comprehensible language, humour, dynamics.
Unfortunately, what is typical of many blogs is sloppy language, that is, bad style, spelling, grammar and punctuation, as well as using foul language and the so-called newspeak13. Despite the last, negative aspect, due to its vivid, often natural, humorous language, blogs attract the attention of readers. From the point of view of marketing activities, it can constitute an attractive way of providing information important for the author and raise the interest of recipients. For messages concerning science, up till now associated with seriousness, specialist terms, often high level of abstraction, blog and its characteristic manner of expression constitute a substantial change, which may make science friendlier, more comprehensible and closer to the recipient of conveyed contents. Efficient marketing activity of a scientific institution, similarly as activity of commercial entities involves not only editing a blog, but also participating in discussions initiated by other network users and monitoring posts concerning the scope of activity and interests of scientists. According to Glenn Fannick, by means of blogs organizations can follow the activities of their partners, contractors, clients and learn opinions about themselves14. Thus, blogging focuses on three basic actions: 1) initiating and directing discussion by launching and editing a scientific blog; 2) learning the environment by reading and participating in discussions on other blogs; 3) getting to know the rivals and partners,
9 www. minib.pl Scientific institution's ways of communicating with the environment as well as opinions about oneself by monitoring blog posts and accompanying discussions. Michał Łebkowski identified the following image benefits from writing a blog:
showing oneself/institution as a modern entity using modern communication channels distinguishing oneself from the competition showing ”human face” managing reputation — fast reaction to messages concerning an institution, its achievements, products/services, people managing public relations, including media relations. 15
Scientific blog
”Certain Polish professor, an experienced economist working for an important public institution, admitted to the author of the text in secret that he is a huge fan of blogs. Asked why he doesn't write blogs himself, he said candidly: I shouldn't. He is not the only person with such attitude. In Poland it would be a shame for a scientist to write a blog, but in the USA it is a shame for scientists to not write a blog.”16 — this quote from an article published by Forbes very well shows the condition of Polish scientific blog. Blog is becoming an ever more popular form of marketing contacts with the environment applied by units running business activity. However, research-scientific units and scientists are not fully using blog's communicative potential. This opposition can be traced back both to lack of trust in this kind of dissemination of knowledge, as less serious, unsuitable for science, as well as treating the Internet as a not very credible source of information. For this reason what we can observe is a kind of dualistic approach to blog — scientific blog as a fast, simple form of disseminating scientific knowledge and the opposing approach, which undermines scientific blog's credibility and seriousness, which up till now have been ascribed to messages from the world of science, research, experiments. Blogosphere, which can be found on the websites of universities to a large extent serves the purpose of building internal communication. It plays blog's typical role of facilitating communication, in this case — between lecturers and students — but only to a small extent it is being used to promote the scientific achievements of a unit.
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Below several examples of Polish websites publishing scientific blogs and an example of an American blog — one of numerous blogs written by scientists — are presented.
Source: http://nauka.webcri.net
Source: www.ihuwb.blogspot.pl
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Source: http: //naukowy.polityka.pl
Source: www.henryjenkins.com www. minib.pl 12 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2
It is very clear that for the world of science, in the context of its development, the dominating methods of presentation of the achievements of scientists and their self- presentation are scientific publications and scientific conferences. This to a large extent limits the dissemination of information and achievements among the group of recipients who aren't experts on a particular subject, don't have knowledge concerning the discussed area and thus don't understand specialist language used by authors and speakers. In this respect blog offers much greater possibility of reaching broad audience, even random audience under condition that several basic conditions are satisfied. First of all, information has to be formulated in such a way that it attracts the attention of the reader, the second condition is that the language of posts has to be clear and comprehensible for people without adequate knowledge on the subject. The third condition is that deliberations have to be casual, sometimes humorous and avoid the similarity to a scientific paper. Blog's specific rhetoric can contribute to stimulating the interest of recipients in the discussed subjects and facilitate the comprehension and understanding of the presented information. The credibility and proper interpretation of the information is guaranteed by the author-scientist building a group of loyal readers, who find this way of conveying knowledge as more attractive and accessible. ”When the achievements of science lie somewhere on desks, we lose the chance for development, making a step ahead, or learning something interesting. For this reason the dissemination and commercialization of the results of research plays such a huge role. Thanks to dissemination we learn about new discoveries and thanks to commercialization we can use them in everyday life. After all, science is supposed to serve the people. What still has a negative impact on the current situation is the stereotype that obscurity of scientific research proves its high quality, elite status and exceptional significance. It is time to end this way of thinking. Europe is evolving in the direction of »open access«, that is, open science, accessible for others, sharing own results with others, informing about them.”17 — this is how professor Lena Kolarska Bobińska, here playing a double role — that of a scientist-sociologist and a politician, in one of posts on her blog explains that science needs to move beyond the standard forms of presentation. For the scientist blog is also an attractive way of presenting his knowledge, interests and opinions. Internet posts concern not only the discipline that is the domain of a scientist, they also discuss problems associated with the surrounding reality, author's own experiences and thoughts. Personal character of posts in a significant way breaks the barrier between the scientist and usually regarded as inaccessible and often as incomprehensible and the reader. 'Science has always been my passion, so I became
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Source: kolarskabobinska.natemat.pl
Source: ryszardtadeusiewicz.natemat.pl a scientist. When I found out how much fun there is in science, I started trying to convince as many people as possible that science is fun. […] I'm also trying to popularize knowledge using various means: books, newspapers, magazines, radio, television and lectures. There have been a total of 400 printed papers and about that much in form of various presentations — live and in the media. […] Now I have been chosen to write on this blog.
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I'm wondering whether the Readers will accept me?”18 — in case of professor Ryszard Tadeusiewicz from the AGH University of Science and Technology writing a blog seems like a perfect tool for sharing one's knowledge and experiences with the environment. Comments under the texts written by professor Tadeusiewicz show that the problems and subjects from the world of science, university, teacher's experiences discussed on the blog contribute to building awareness, developing knowledge, looking for answers and discussing various aspects of science, which is also an element of culture.
Scientific blog — pilot research
The research was conducted in September 2010. It is a kind of pilot research and its goal preliminary identification of the opinions of the surveyed people concerning Internet blogs as tool for the communication of scientists and research-scientific institutions with the environment. The surveyed sample covered 51 people. This is not a representative group in terms of sex, age and education. However, the survey was carried out on purpose among the employees of universities, research-scientific institutes, as well as students and employees of companies taking advantage of scientific achievements. This group was treated as the one which due to its interests and professional needs would constitute the best point of reference for the identification of attitude towards information contained in blogs devoted to messages from the scope of various areas of science.
Picture 1. The preliminary opinion of respondents on Internet blogs as a tool communication researchers and research institutions with the environment
Do you read blogs?
YES NO
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Out of 51 people 41pc declared that they read Internet blogs. The distribution of age groups of people who don't read blogs was evenly spread among two age brackets: 26 to 40 and above 50. In each of these groups one third of respondents gave a negative answer. The remaining 40% was also spread evenly among the two other age brackets. The group of people aged 26–40 dominated among positive answers — 33pc of respondents. A little smaller group are people older than 50 who constitute 29pc of blog readers. However, it is necessary to remark here that both dominant age groups were also the most numerous. Readership of Internet blog depending on the age is presented on the following two charts.
Picture 2. Readership of Internet blog depending on the age a) I don't read blogs
above 50
b) I read blogs
above 50
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The most popular subject among the readers of blogs is definitely politics. Political blogs are here understood as blogs written by politicians and their comments on the events taking place in the government, parliament, political parties and Poland's foreign policy. Further areas that readers are particularly interested in are culture and sport. In the group of women blogs devoted to beauty, fashion, cooking are popular. Among the youngest respondents diaries discussing social issues, ”concerning life” and private blogs are most popular. Only one respondent admitted to reading scientific blogs. Asked whether blog is a credible source of information, most respondents didn't express their opinion. This concerns both people reading and the people not reading blogs — 22 people didn't express their view. A major group — 20 people — definitely denied that Internet blogs are credible. The analysis of these figures in the division into groups reading and not reading blogs (which is presented on the charts below) reveals that the trust of respondents in the information provided by means of blogs is small. 40pc of readers regard blogs as credible, but 60pc either undermine (25pc) the credibility of blogs, or have no opinion on the matter (35pc). The results looks much worse — which could be expected — among people who don't prefer blog as a source of information. Almost a half of the surveyed concluded that blogs are not credible and almost a half were unable to express their opinion on the matter.
Picture 3. Is blog a credible source of information (blog readers)
YES
NO
NO OPINION
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Picture 4. Is blog a credible source of information (people not reading blogs)
YES
NO NO OPINION
Only 7 people reading blogs know blogs devoted to science, or written by scientists. Out of 51 respondents 22pc declared that they knew posts concerning various scientific disciplines. Among them are also people who don't read blogs. Thus, it is possible to assume that they came in touch with such blogs, but are not interested in learning about their content. Considering rather poor utilization of blogs as a tool for the promotion of scientific institutions, scientific achievements and building the image of scientists themselves, the result of this research comes as no surprise.
Picture 5. Knowledge of scientific blogs
YES
NO
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A consequence of opinions expressed with regard to the two above-mentioned issues, that is, the credibility of Internet blogs and knowledge of scientific blogs is another question — should science promote itself by means of blogs. 35pc of the surveyed gave positive answer and every fifth gave a definitely negative answer. A major group — 45pc of respondents — didn't express their view.
Picture 6. Should science promote itself by means of blogs?
YES
NO
NO OPINION
Low evaluation of blog as a tool for promotion of all aspects of activity associated with science shown above, corresponds to the classification of efficiency of the forms of promotion made by the respondents. It confirmed that the utilization of blog still raises many doubts and the respondents don't associate it with efficient influence on the recipients. In the ranking of 10 advertising and PR tools, blog placed second from the bottom. Only brochure/leaflet was recognized as less efficient promotion tool. The respondents were also sceptical about Internet advertising. This suggests that commercial use of the Internet still raises many doubts, even though Internet website was highly appreciated and recognized as the second best tool of promotion. The highest mark was awarded to article in scientific press. Slightly worse marks were awarded to scientific conference and advertisement in branch magazine. Pilot research has confirmed that Internet blog, despite growing popularity is not regarded as an efficient tool of promotion. Especially in case of promotion of scientific- research institutions, scientific achievements and scientists' image. At the same time,
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Picture 7. Ranking of 10 advertising media and public relations tools
INTERNET ADVERTISING
LEAFLET/BROCHURE
SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE
BLOG
ARTICLE IN SCIENTIFIC PRESS
PRESS ARTICLE
PRESS CONFERENCE
NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING
ADVERTISEMENT IN THE TRADE MAGAZINE
INTERNET WEBSITE
apparently, there is a tendency to highlight traditional tools as best means of influencing the recipients and propagating information concerning science. What is noteworthy in this context is the fact that forms such as an article in scientific press, scientific conference, restrict promotional activities to the scientific environment and thus limit the coverage of dissemination of information.
References
1 M. Sokół, R. Sokół, Blog, więcej niż internetowy pamiętnik, Gliwice 2008, s. 9. 2 K. Łazowska-Widz, Blogi jako narzędzie komunikacji marketingowej w świetle badań empirycznych, Grudzień 2010, [in:] Świat Marketingu, czasopismo internetowe, www.swiatmarketingu.pl 3 M. Czubaj, M. Filiciak, O la bloga. Raport Polityki, [in:] Polityka, issue 20, May 20, 2006. 4 M. Sokół, R. Sokół, Blog, op.cit., p. 11–14. 5 K. Łozowska-Widz, Blogi, op.cit. oraz G. Mazurek, Blogi i wirtualne społeczności — wykorzystanie w marketingu, Kraków 2008, p. 18. 6 www.brianoberkirch.com
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7 K. Łozowska-Widz, Blogi, op.cit. 8 M. Maryl, Blog jako nowa forma piśmiennictwa [in:] Blog to…blog. Raport z badania jakościowego zrealizowanego przez Instytut Badań Literackich PAN i Gazeta.pl, p. 15. 9 K. Łazowska-Widz, Blogi, op.cit. 10 G. Mazurek, Blogi, op.cit., p. 19. 11 Ibidem, p. 19. 12 http://manager.money.pl/styl/media/artykul/jak; blogi; wplywaja; na; prace; dziennikarzy, 255,0,262399. html 13 Język blogów, [w:] Blog to…blog, op.cit., p. 35–37. 14 D. M. Scott, Nowe zasady marketingu i PR, Warszawa 2009, p. 74–75. 15 M. Łebkowski, E-wizerunek. Internet jako narzędzie kreowania image'u w biznesie, Gliwice 2009, p. 166–167. 16 K. Doliniak, Kryzysz według blogera, [in:] Forbes — www.orbes.pl, 2.03.2010. 17 kolarskabobinska.natemat.pl 18 ryszardtadeusiewicz.natemat.pl
Bibliografia 1. Blog to...blog, Raport z badania jakościowego zrealizowanego przez Instytut Badań Literackich PAN i Gazeta.pl 2. M. Czubaj, M. Filiciak, O la bloga. Raport Polityki, [in:] Polityka, no 20, 20 maja 2006. 3. K. Doliniak, Kryzysz według blogera, [in:] Forbes — www.forbes.pl, 2.03.2010. 4. K. Łazowska-Widz, Blogi jako narzędzie komunikacji marketingowej w świetle badań empirycznych, Grudzień 2010, [in:] Świat Marketingu, czasopismo internetowe, www.swiatmarketingu.pl 5. M. Łebkowski, E-wizerunek. Internet jako narzędzie kreowania image’u w biznesie, Gliwice 2009. 6. D.M. Scott, Nowe zasady marketingu i PR, Warszawa 2009. 7. M. Sokół, R. Sokół, Blog, więcej niż internetowy pamiętnik, Gliwice 2008.
Strony internetowe www.brianoberkirch.com http://manager.money.pl http://nauka.webcri.net http://naukowy.polityka.pl www.ihuwb.blogspot.pl www.henryjenkins.com kolarskabobinska.natemat.pl ryszardtadeusiewicz.natemat.pl
Joanna Pruchnicka, PhD. — doctor of human sciences, political sciences and journalism at the University of Silesia in Katowice and the Diplomacy Studies of Collegium Civitas in Warsaw, social communication specialist at Research and Supervisory Centre of Underground Mining Co. Ltd and senior lecturer at the Department of Journalism and Social Communications at J. Dietel Małopolski University in Kraków.Areas of professional interest include public relations, image creation, diplomatic protocol and marketing communications.Author of scientific, journalistic and promotional publications.
21 www. minib.pl THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STUDYING OUTCOME IN THE ASSESSMENT OF STUDENTS FROM THE SELECTED FACULTY
Open Access MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF STUDYING OUTCOME IN THE ASSESSMENT OF STUDENTS FROM THE SELECTED FACULTY
Anna Goliszek, PhD University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland e-mail: [email protected] DOI: 10.14611/minib.12.02.2014.02
Summary
The problem of this article is to answer the question whether and to what extent the learning outcomes are achieved by students? The problem is illustrated on the basis of own research carried out on one of edu- cation university, majoring in Economics. The effectiveness of the implementation of the effects will be stu- died based on the subjective opinions of students regarding the scope of their assimilation. Survey was re- alized within pilot program as a part of systematic survey program „An assessment of Economy study di- rection by the students” pointed in introducing students opinions concerning both quality and effectiveness of education but practical-implementation aim is to elaborate indications to improve education quality. An author used public opinion research — questionnaires to collect information. Subjective assessment of edu- cation effects realization level by students is positive but it is difficult to determine at that survey stage how realistic above mentioned assessment is. In the opinion of students an effectiveness of practical skills and competences gaining depends upon used research methods like: activating and project methods.
Keywords: National Qualifications Frameworks, learning outcomes, post-industrial society
3 www. minib.pl The effectiveness of studying outcome in the assessment of students from the selected faculty
Introduction
The reform of higher education in Poland started by the act from March 18, 2011 concerning the update of the act on higher education law, act on scientific degrees and titles in the area of art and amendment of some statutes, was beneficial mainly for the students. National Qualification Framework, which defines the effects of education in the area of knowledge, skills and social competences for the process of higher education introduced pursuant to the act is supposed to contribute to integral development of the student. Thanks to this the student is supposed to be better prepared for the changing and ever more demanding labour market. However, it is necessary to be aware of the fact that even the best-prepared reform doesn't always lead to the desired results. Its effects quite often lead to changes in unforeseen directions. The efficiency of a reform depends to a large extent on the passion and involvement of stakeholders (lecturers, students, university authorities, government, employers) in the process of implementation of changes. The goal of this article is to try to answer the question whether and to what extent the effects of education defined for particular areas of study are achieved by students. The problem will be discussed on the basis of own research carried out at one of universities in Lublin at the faculty of economy. The efficiency of achieving the goals of education will be investigated on the basis of students' subjective opinions concerning the extent to which they achieved these goals. This article presents just one component of systemic research on the quality of higher education, which apart from investigating subjective assessment of the quality of education by students, also cover the assessments by graduates and employers carried out under conditions of real labour market.
Education facing the challenges of post-industrial society
In order to understand the challenges that contemporary people face and this the system of education, it is necessary to first understand the characteristics of the soecity in which it functions. The unprecedented pace of development of information technology, which made it possible to generate, transform and spread huge amount of data, led to the establishment of information (post-industrial) society at the end of 20th century. The essence of this society is basing the production of goods and services above all on the transfer of information (Szacka 2003, p. 103).
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The development of information technology at the same time contributed to the intensification of the processes of globalization, which constitute an important attribute of this society, as well as to an unprecedented pace of social, cultural, political, economic changes, which are accompanied by changes in the system of education. The establishment of post-industrial society contributed to changes in the structure of employment. In this type of society most jobs are generated by information (services). In some societies of this kind the number of people employed in the services sector reaches up to 80%, at the same time production is maintained, or even increased (Dryden, Vos, 1999). This leads to a situation in which the demand for blue collar workers drops and the demand for white collar workers grows. Thus, the goal of the education system is helping contemporary people adapt to the challenges posed by the contemporary society. According to Dryden and Vos (1999) the education system of the industrial society, which shaped the social structure according to the proportion: 20% of people with higher education, 30% of craftsmen and office workers, 50% blue collar workers, does not correspond to the challenges posed by the post-industrial society. Maintaining this proportion would result in further growth of the ”lower class” — unemployed, people living in poverty. Changing and challenging labour market of the post-industrial society expects that graduates entering the labour market will be self-confident, independent and creative ”managers of own future” — acting and learning independently, self-motivating. Just a small portion of them will find half-time, or seasonal jobs, which require no specialist skills. The overriding goal, according to Schulz (1996), in the reality of post-industrial society, in which a new type of social-cultural environment (characterized by knowledge, change, risk, globalization) emerges, there is a need to create new models of behaviour. People's behaviour should become more innovative, that is, creative in all important scopes of social participation, rather than imitative. Thus, the education system should shift the focus from teaching how to imitate to teaching how to innovate; from school teaching to continuous teaching; from theoretical to practical teaching. The reform of higher education based on National Qualification Framework is a response to these needs. It tries on the one hand to respond to the challenges of modern civilization and on the other hand to respond to the needs and aspirations of students.
5 www. minib.pl The effectiveness of studying outcome in the assessment of students from the selected faculty
National Qualification Framework
National Qualification Framework for Higher Education was introduced by the amended Act on Higher Education from March 18, 2011 and implemented in October that year. The act defines National Qualification Framework as: ”description through definition of the effects of education, qualifications achieved in the Polish higher education system” (Article 2. Paragraph 1. Item 18a). The Act defines the effects of education as: ”scope of knowledge, skills and social competences achieved in the process of education by the student” (Article 2. Paragraph1. Item 18c). Qualifications are: ”the effects of education confirmed by a diploma, certificate, or other document issued by an authorized institution, which confirm the achievement of the assumed goals of education” (Article 2. Paragraph 1. Item 18b). The issues associated with National Qualification Framework have also been regulated in detail by the Regulations of the Minister of Science and Higher Education from November 2, 2011 concerning National Qualification Framework for Higher Education (Dz.U. 253. Poz. 1520), and from November 4, 2011 concerning model effects of education (Dz.U. Nr 253. Poz 1521). National Qualification Framework constitutes a basis for the preparation of areas of study and serves teachers as a foundation for preparation of academic syllabuses. The reason for the introduction of National Qualification Framework was to some extent the social demand, that is, the process of unification of Europe, which is opening borders and starting the process of migration of young people looking for work, education, striving to learn about the world. The current scale of this phenomenon is unprecedented. The Framework serves above all the purpose of raising the transparency, availability and quality of acquired qualifications. National Qualification Framework is also supposed to help develop competences among studying young people and adapt them to the current requirements of the market. The goal of the National Qualification Framework (Chłoń-Domińczak, 2011) is the development of society based on knowledge, including human capital through: z Making it possible for students to achieve the highest level of qualifications adapted to the aspirations and needs. z Full provision of diversified paths of education and ways of achieving required qualifications adapted to the needs of students. z Education better adapted to the needs of the labour market. z Higher quality of education. z Higher transparency of the education system z Support for the life-long learning perspective.
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National Qualification Framework was created, among others, to satisfy the needs of the labour market and the civil society.
Research methodology and the characteristics of the sample
The method of data collection used in the research was a survey based on a questionnaire1. Surveys were carried out in November 2013 by means of the Google Drive service. The surveys were carried out during students' classes and thus all students present at classes participated in the survey — the constituted 83.6% of the surveyed group. The research had the characteristics of a pilot project. The research constitutes a part of regular research planned in course of the project titled Assessment of the Economics area of study by students, which is supposed to reveal the opinions of students on the quality and efficiency of education and to work out guidelines for the improvement of the quality of education. The selection of the sample was non-random. The survey covered only the students from the second year of Economy. The substantial scope covers the assessment of the quality of education at the first year of studies. The limitation of the substantial scope comes from the fact that the research concerns the assessment of a new study programme launched in the academic year 2012/13 and according to the research plan, data sets are collected after completion of each academic year. In the surveyed group women constituted the majority (89%). Two thirds of the surveyed students came from small towns and villages: 43% from towns and villages with up to 5,000 inhabitants, 24% from towns with 5–15,000 inhabitants. Medium towns and big cities were represented by just 33% of students.
Achievement level of the effects of education
In order to identify the level of achievement of the effects of education, students were asked to what extent — in their opinion — they achieved the assumed effects of education after the first year of studies. For this purpose they were presented with a list of effects of education in the scope of knowledge, skills and social competences prepared by the Syllabus Council for the ”Economics” area of study and were asked to assess the achievement of each effect on a 7-degree scale (answers from ”definitely yes” to ”definitely not”). The list contained 13 effects of education from the scope of knowledge, 10 effects from the scope of skills and 5 effects from the scope of social competences.
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For the purpose of this article, on the basis of the students' answers, for each kind of education effects separately, an average was calculated. At the same time answers were allocated to four basic categories concerning the level of achievement of effects: high (answers: ”definitely yes” and ”yes”), medium (achievement level: ”rather yes” and ”rather not”), low (answers ”rather not” and ”not”), hard to say. Table number 1 shows subjective assessment of the level of acquisition of competences in the scope of knowledge, skills and social competences by students who have completed the first year of studies2.
Table 1. Poziom realizacji efektów kształcenia
Subjective assessment of the level of acquisition of competence (%) Type of competence High Medium Low Hard to say
Knowledge 44,8 44,8 1,2 9,2 Skills 31,9 45,6 1,6 20,9 Social competences 52,4 33,8 5,2 8,6
Source: Prepared on the basis of own research.
Most respondents think that they achieved particular categories of the effects of education to a high, or medium extent. Most students assessed their achievements as highest in the scopes of social competences and knowledge. They were least confident about their competences in the area of skills. Such distribution of the students' answers suggests still insufficient focus of syllabuses on the acquisition of particular professional skills, insufficient number of practical workshops helping develop certain skills. Students choosing academic education want to learn particular professional skills already from the beginning of studies. What also suggests that students are not satisfied with the opportunities to learn particular skills is the fact that 100% of the surveyed would choose a course run by a professional businessman. The respondents were also asked to express their opinions on the issue of didactic methods applied during classes, in particular, on the methods' efficiency for the achievement of didactic effects (table 2). In order to make the table more transparent, answers given by students on the 7-grade scale were allocated into four categories: very good, moderate, weak, hard to say.
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Table 2. The efficiency of didactic methods (%)
Didactic method Very good Moderate Weak Hard to say
Lecture 64 21 6 9 Discussion 67 24 0 9 Preparing papers 17 52 7 24 Preparing multi-media presentations 29 43 11 17 Preparing reports 46 45 2 7 Work on the basis of 'case study' 39 31 0 30 Methods of generating ideas and making decisions 57 28 0 15 Carrying out projects 65 26 2 7 Presentation and briefing 74 17 0 9 Psychological games 52 37 0 11 Solving tasks 78 20 0 2 Using books to learn on one's own 28 48 9 15 Learning on one's own 52 37 0 11 Individual work with the teacher 48 29 1 22
Source: Materials prepared on the basis of own research.
The analysis of data contained in the above table clearly shows one trend. Students assessing didactic methods in terms of their usefulness for the achievement of didactic effects gave highest marks to methods developing particular practical skills including: solving tasks, presentation and briefing, discussion, carrying out projects. Among methods making it possible to obtain knowledge, students appreciated lecture the most. Thus, students highly appreciate activating methods and practical methods which are usually applied in course of seminars, workshops, trainings and apprenticeships. However, for academic teachers applying these methods is often hard, as due to costs classes are organized as lectures, rather than laboratory classes. At the first year of study of the surveyed area of study, laboratory classes constitute just 17% of all classes and 41% of all workshops. Classes in workshop groups constitute 42% of all classes. This structure of classes makes it hard to achieve the basic goal of contemporary approach to education, which shifts the focus from imitating to innovating. (Skulicz, 2013). Skulicz (2013, p. 36) concludes: ”It is thus a misunderstanding to expect that students will achieve the effects »planned« in programmes (especially in the area of skills and competences) as well as to make academic teachers responsible for the effects achieved by students, without a dramatic limitation of methods of teaching based on lectures”.
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The profile of the graduate of economics suggests that students after graduation will be able to ”independently run business activity”. Moreover, among the effects of education set for students of the first year of Economics in the area of skills and social competences there are also effects which concern the aspect of students’ entrepreneurship: ”Student can take actions associated with starting and running business activity” and ”can act in an enterprising way”. In this context students were asked to assess the atmosphere at the University and in particular, whether it inspires them to create ideas for business and whether it encourages them to participate in initiatives from the area of entrepreneurship. The results are shown in table 3.
Table 3. The role of university in developing students' entrepreneurship (%)
Hard Claim Yes Rather yes Rather not Not Total o say
Atmosphere in the department inspires me to create concepts for new businesses 4 37 48 7 4 100 Students are encouraged to take part in initiatives from the area of entrepreneurship 17 33 17 26 7 100
Source: Prepared on the basis of own research.
Students point out that they are to a greater extent encouraged to participate in initiatives from the area of entrepreneurship, than they are inspired to create business concepts. It seems that in order to encourage and inspire students, it would be a good idea for the university to establish broad cooperation with business and organize meetings with businessmen, including graduates of Economic who achieved success in this area.
Conclusions
Monitoring students' opinions on the level of achievement of the effects of education should be a continuous process, which should be regularly repeated. This kind of research makes it possible to not just learn the opinions of students on the quality of education, but also to raise the quality of education and adapt it to the preferences of students themselves.
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Changing and challenging labour market absorbs people best prepared for competition on the market — that is, people with knowledge, professional and social skills — the fastest. Thus, it is necessary to strive to achieve a situation in which students achieve the effects of education at the highest and not just average level. Moreover, the concept behind the reform of higher education, which assumes on the one hand an integrated (multidimensional) development of students and on the other hand preparing students for the requirements of the contemporary labour market, obliges universities to achieve all categories of education effects, especially the effects from the scope of professional skills, that is, application of theory in practice. Already from the perspective of the conducted research it is apparent that the students' efficiency of learning practical skills and social competences depends to a large extent on the applied didactic methods. For this reason academic teachers should introduce active teaching methods to the area of their didactic activity. However, this requires reducing the share of lecture-like classes and at the same time raising the share of laboratory type classes, which is naturally raises the costs. It is also necessary to remember that investigating the opinions of students concerning the level of achievement of the effects of education, we learn only about their subjective opinions on the issue, but not about the actual state of affairs. For this reason, students' subjective assessment has to be supplemented with surveys carried out among employers hiring graduates of a particular university faculty, as their opinions constitute the second important measure of the efficiency of education in the National Qualification Framework formula. This article presents only one component of systemic research concerning the level of achievement of the effects of education, that is, students' subjective assessment.
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Survey questionnaire — specimen The goal of this research is learning your opinion concerning the time needed to achieve necessary effects of education worked out for particular subjects. The research involves estimating both the number of contact hours scheduled for teaching a particular subject, as well as the number of non-contact hours that students need to spend learning themselves to achieve the necessary effects of education. Contact hours (K) mean the sum of: hours of lectures and workshops, hours of individual consultations with teachers and hours devoted to tests/exams. Non-contact hours (N), are hours students have to spend studying on their own in order to achieve the effects of education: hours of studying to pass an exam/test from a particular subject, hours needed to prepare case study reports, projects, reading recommended literature. Before you start answering questions, please learn about the effects of education prepared for each subject separately — they can be found in the attached file. The survey is anonymous. We would like you to provide honest answers. We are interested in your opinion on the subject of this research.
1. Please estimate the time needed to achieve the intended effects of education for particular subjects.
NUMBER OF HOURS FOR Is the number of hours of lectures Is the number of contact hours with STUDYING ON ONE'S OWN Lp. and workshops scheduled for the teacher scheduled for particular NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE THE particular subjects sufficient? subjects sufficient? ASSUMED EFFECTS OF EDUCATION 1. Name of subject L (lectures):* K:** N:*** No No No yes yes yes How many?...... How many?...... How many?......
2. Name of subject L:* K:** N:*** No yes No No ile?...... yes yes
W (workshops): * How many?...... How many?...... yes No How many?......
* enter the number of hours of workshops, or lectures from the lesson plan ** enter the number of contact hours from the syllabus *** enter the number of non-contact hours from the syllabus www. minib.pl 12 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2
2. 2. Would you choose a course run by business specialists (practitioners)? a. Yes b. No 3. Please indicate to what extent you agree with the following statements:
Definitely Hard Definitely Claim Yes Rather yes Rather not Not yes to say not
The atmosphere in the department inspires me to create concepts for new businesses
Students are encouraged to take part in initiatives from the area of entrepreneurship
4. Assess the level of your achievement of particular effects of education.
Directional effects of education Definitely Hard Definitely Yes Rather yes Rather not Not (on the basis of the matrix of effects) yes to say not
Knowledge W1 W2 Skills U1 U2 Social competences K1 K2
5. What didactic methods do you find most efficient? (they help achieve the above- mentioned effects of education).
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Definitely Hard Definitely Methods Yes Rather yes Rather not Not yes to say not
Lecture Discussion Preparing speeches Preparing multi-media presentations Preparing reports Work with the use of case studies Methods of generating ideas and making decisions (eg. brainstorming) Carrying out projects Demonstration and briefing Psychological games Solving tasks Working on one's own with books Learning on one's own Individual work with the teacher Others what?......
6. Why did you choose Economics at *the name of university.
Definitely Hard Definitely Reason Yes Rather yes Rather not Not yes to say not
Raising chances for a good job Influence of the family Friends' influence Teachers' influence The faculty matches my interests I didn't qualify for another faculty I wanted to spend more time studying Family tradition Social prestige Chance Fashionable, popular area of study Location University's prestige University has good infrastructure
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7. Where did you learn about the faculty of Economics at *name of university. a. Leaflet b. From family/friends c. Internet d. Education fairs e. Radio f. Local tv g. Press h. From graduates i. Meeting with a representative of the university j. Others, what?......
8. What do you think of the usefulness of information about the faculty of Economics obtained from the following sources?
Full and Very Insufficient and Hard Haven't come Source of information Basic exhaustive general not really useful to say in touch with
Leaflet Friends/family Internet Education fairs Radio Local television Press Graduates Meeting with representatives of the university Others
Personal data: 9. Provide the average of all grades from your student book in the surveyed year: …………………………………………………………………...... 10. Year of studies: a. First b. Second c. Third
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11. Sex: a. Female b. Male 12. Place of origin: a. Places with up to 5,000 inhabitants b. Places with 5,000 to 15,000 inhabitants c. Places with 15,000 to 30,000 inhabitants d. Places with 50,000 to 100,000 inhabitants e. Places with more than 100,000 inhabitants
Table 1. Level of achievement of the effects of education (%)
Effects of education in the areas of knowledge high medium low hard to say
You have basic knowledge about the character of economic sciences, their place in the system of science and relations to other sciences 55 43 0 2 You know categories, laws, theories and economic models making it possible to describe market phenomena and processes, as well as relations between them 39 54 0 7 You have basic knowledge about other social sciences, that is, sociology, philosophy and law, as well as their relations with economic sciences 41 53 2 4 You have knowledge about mathematics, statistics and econometrics necessary for an economist 57 35 0 8 You know theoretical and practical aspects of international economic cooperation, as well as the chances and threats associated with ongoing processes of regionalization and globalization 61 33 2 4 You have knowledge about the rules, regulations and factors influencing the competitiveness of market participants 48 46 2 4 You have knowledge about the influence of market structures and business environment on the results of companies' business activity 41 35 2 22 You have knowledge about norms, rules and legal-organizational regulations determining economic structures and institutions and about the regularities governing them 30 59 2 9 You know the rules of registration of business operations and preparation of financial reports, has knowledge about the methods and tools for economic analysis 47 42 2 9 You have basic knowledge about management and its role in the functioning of a company and knows factors shaping managerial decisions 48 43 0 9 You know the methods and tools, including techniques of collecting data supporting the process of making reasonable economic decision taking into consideration the character of trade exchange 37 50 2 11 www. minib.pl 16 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2
cont. table 1
You understand mechanisms and rules of international trade policy and knows basic international trade formulas 41 48 0 11 You know the rules and forms of creating commercial ventures with consideration of the character of trade exchange 37 41 2 20
Effects of education in the area of skills high medium low hard to say
You know how to properly identify and interpret economic, financial and social phenomena 39 44 0 17 You know how to use theoretical knowledge to describe, analyse and predict economic phenomena and processes 32 51 4 13 You can handle economic calculations and takes advantage of theories of behaviour of market entities to interpret and solve economic issues 32 61 0 7 You are able to use quantitative tools for the purpose of solving decision-making, strategic and operating issues in economic processes 65 24 0 11 You are able to manage risk in domestic and international trade transactions 17 46 4 33 You are able to assess the influence of market structures on the behaviour of companies, as well as the character and intensity of competition, as well as to shape strategic decisions and build scripts of events 17 51 4 28 You take advantage of basic knowledge in the process of preparing financial reports and is able to make operating and strategic decisions depending on the results of economic analyses 31 39 2 28 You can identify factors determining managerial decisions and uses the acquired knowledge to carry out management functions 26 52 0 22 You are able to take advantage of methods and tools, including ICT to support the implementation of exchange processes 34 49 2 15 You are able to prepare reports from conducted analyses, papers and present opinions on the subject of exchange economy 26 39 0 35
Effects of education in the area of social competences high medium low hard to say
You can cooperate on carrying out tasks in economic structures 35 52 2 11 You can work in a group and assume various roles in it 76 22 0 2 You can supplement and improve acquired knowledge and competences 71 25 0 4 Preparation for work in public institutions and business entities 32 40 24 4 You can act in an enterprising way 48 30 0 22
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References
1 Questionnaire specimen in the attachment. 2 Detailed table in the attachment.
Bibliography 1. Dryden G., Vos J. (1999). Rewolucja w uczeniu. Poznań: Zysk i S-ka. 2. Act from March 18, 2011 on the amendment of the act on Higher education law, act on scientific degrees and titles in the area of art and change of some other acts (Dz.U. z 2011 r. Nr 84, poz. 455). 3. Skulicz D. (2013). Krajowe Ramy Kwalifikacji w kontekście taksonomii celów kształcenia w szkole wyższej. W: M. Kapiszewska (ed.) Krajowe Ramy Kwalifikacji. Biurokratyczna konieczność czy szansa na poprawę jakości kształcenia w uczelniach? Kraków: Krakowska Akademia im. Andrzeja Frycza Modrzewskiego. 4. Chłoń-Domińczak A. (2011). Opracowanie założeń merytorycznych i instytucjonalnych wdrażania Krajowych Ram Kwalifikacji oraz Krajowego Rejestru Kwalifikacji dla uczenia się przez całe życie, Instytut Badań Edukacyjnych. Obtained at: www.kwalifikacje.edu.pl/download/konferencje/Agnieszka_Chlon_Dominczak.pdf. 5. Szacka B. (2003). Wprowadzenie do socjologii. Warszawa: Oficyna Naukowa. 6. Schulz R. (1996). Studia z innowatyki pedagogicznej. Toruń: Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika 7. Regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education from November 2, 2011 on National Qualification Framework (Dz.U. Nr 253. Poz. 1520). 8. Regulation of the Minister of Science and Higher Education from November 4, 20122 on model effects of education (Dz.U. 253. Poz 1521).
Anna Goliszek, PhD. — sociologist, lecturer in the Management Department at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin. Graduate of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. He earned his doctoral degree from the Faculty of Philosophy and Sociology of the Maria Curie Skłodowska University in Lublin. His major scientific interests include organisational and management sociology, with a particular focus on the problem of organisational culture, business communication, inventics and social psychology.
www. minib.pl 18 CULTURAL CONTEXT IN MARKETING COMMUNICATION ON INTERNATIONAL MARKET
Open Access MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2
CULTURAL CONTEXT IN MARKETING COMMUNICATION ON INTERNATIONAL MARKET
Dominika Hirsch, MSc. DominikaHirsch International, Spain e-mail: [email protected] DOI: 10.14611/minib.12.02.2014.08
Summary
The goal of this article is to show in what way cultural factors can determine decisions in international marketing. Particular attention is devoted to the decisions associated with marketing communication, that is, the way in which cultural factors influence our preferences concerning the style of communication and what two basic styles are distinguished within intercultural communication. On the basis of particular examples it will be shown on the one hand in what ways these styles are visible in various forms of marketing messages coming from various countries. On the other hand it will also be shown in what way these messages reflect (very often unwittingly) the culture and the system of values of an organization of the place were the messages originated. Before we start discussing the above-mentioned issues, the basic assumptions of the cultural marketing, as well as the term of culture, its models and dimensions will be presented.
Keywords: Keywords: cultural context, international market, internationalization, marketing communication, marketing strategy
3 www. minib.pl Cultural context in marketing communication on international market
Introduction
Every year thousands of products and services are introduced to foreign markets. Countless marketing actions with an international reach are taken. Up to 85% of these actions fail, in most cases due to misun-derstandings with an intercultural background.1 The illusion of a world without boundaries made many companies and organizations disregard the role of intercultural differences in course of their internatio- nal actions. As a result, the achieved results are in many cases far from expectations. These experiences have shown that taking all sorts of commercial actions (and not only) with an international reach, it is necessary to pay particular attention to the existing cultural differences in order to achieve success in the implementation of the planned strategy.2 The goal of this article is to show in what way cultural factors can determine decisions in international marketing. Particular attention is devoted to the decisions associated with marketing communication, that is, the way in which cultural factors influence our preferences concerning the style of communication and what two basic styles are distinguished within intercultural communication. On the basis of parti-cular examples it will be shown on the one hand in what ways these styles are visible in various forms of marketing messages coming from various countries. On the other hand it will also be shown in what way these messages reflect (very often unwittingly) the culture and the system of values of an organiza-tion of the place were the messages originated. Before we start discussing the above-mentioned issues, the basic assumptions of the cultural marketing, as well as the term of culture, its models and dimensions will be presented. The combination of the subject of intercultural competence and marketing is exceptionally important. Intercultural competence is regarded as one of the essential skills of persons, teams and organizations functioning in an international environment3, Developing this competence makes it possible to exert influence also beyond the borders of one's own country, which is also recognized as one of the most important international competences.4
Cultural marketing
Since the 1960's there has been a discussion concerning the role of local and global marketing5, as well as the benefits derived from the standardization and individualization of international marketing strategies.6 Without going into details of
www. minib.pl 4 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 these discussions, it is worth pointing out that in case of the-oretical deliberations, as well as particular commercial actions of an international character, including marketing activities, the focus was on international standardization and expansion, without appreciating the significance of cultural differences.7 This happened to some extent because globalization has often been mistaken for homogenization. The effect of this kind of approach is a very long list of examples of activities associated with the introduction of products and services to international markets, which ended up with failure determined by the cultural background.8 Such failures have been experienced both by small companies and organizations, as well as companies and institutions with a global reach. At the same time the role of culture in marketing is coming back again in the vision of marketing of the future presented by Philip Kotler and called marketing 3.0.9 Along with cooperative and spiritual marketing, cultural marketing is one of the components of marketing 3.0 which deals with worries and desires of global citizens. According to authors, cultural marketing will play a major role also in the future, because globalization brings about the phenomenon of counterweight, which is the source of many paradoxes.10 On the one hand globalization gives chances to countries around the world, but at the same times poses a threat, because countries try to protect their local markets. This way globalization provokes nationalism. Moreover, globalization is economic and not political in character. The political landscape is still highly nationalistic. This is a political paradox of globalization. From the economic perspective globalization helps some countries and harms others, which leads to the economic paradox of globalization. Finally, globalization doesn't create a homogenous culture, but a diversified culture, leading to the social- cultural paradox, where polarization leads to two mutually contradictory tendencies, namely, globalism and tribalism.11 For this reason, cultural brands should aim to solve paradoxes in the society and cope with social, economic and environmental issues troubling the society.12 It is possible to agree with the claim that marketing 3.0 is a kind of marketing in which cultural issues should be in the very centre of a company's business model. For this reason, during work on international marketing campaigns, marketing specialists should understand basic issues from the area of sociology and anthropology and be able to recognize emerging cultural paradoxes.13 In the further part of the article the notion of culture, its models and dimensions will be presented.
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Culture, its models and dimensions
The simplest definition of culture are various lifestyles. Lifestyles can be understood as a countless quantity of details of daily behaviour, which are shared by most people forming a particular society. This means that most people from a particular social group will react to a particular situation in a similar way.14 Such conformity of behaviour and its social acceptance creates a cultural model, in psychology also called the script of behaviour.15 Culture is a collection of such models and for the members of every society it constitutes an indispensable guide to all issues of life. Without it we wouldn't be able to function efficiently. Culture gives the feeling of security and continuity. It also makes life foreseeable, as long as we don't breach the determined cultural models.16 However, it is necessary to remember that culture is not only the cause of human's actions, but also the effect of these actions, as it constitutes a certain collection of human's products.17 Also, marketing messages, including all messages directed to our recipients, are a product of the culture we represent. Culture is often compared to an iceberg. This model shows that the behaviours of members of a particular culture result from hidden and sometimes unrealized assumptions, values, norms and beliefs. Similarly as an iceberg, also culture consists of visible and invisible elements. The visible part of an iceberg or a culture is small, compared to the supporting, much bigger, invisible part. The visible elements of a culture are the reflection of its invisible aspects and it is impossible to understand the former without the latter. The visible elements of culture are, for example, architecture, art, cuisine, music or language. The invisible elements may be, for example, history, norms, values, basic assumptions concerning space, nature, time, leadership, conflictsolving or communication. If our knowledge about culture is limited only to the knowledge about its visible elements, we will be able to have an insight into just a small part of it. Globalization, to a large extent, takes place above the surface, that is, it affects the visible elements of culture, such as clothes, music, technologies, but less frequently it affects the level of the system of values. Preparing our marketing activities targeted at international recipients, we should take a look at our messages from the perspective of the iceberg of these recipients, in order to understand what part of our message and in what form the message actually reaches them. Comparing cultures and analyzing intercultural differences, we very often apply the method of socalled psychological dimensions of culture. These are certain general trends, which influence human behaviour and reflect significant aspects of cultural
www. minib.pl 6 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 variability.18 Dimensions make it possible to reduce cultural diversity to a limited number of variables. At the same time they are the effect of concept works and the construction of measuring scales, thanks to which cultures are organized and described in a sys- tematic way.19 Taking advantage of cultural dimensions allows us to interpret cultural differences without resorting to stereotypes, assessments or opinions. This process is also called the unpacking of culture.20 Definitely the most popular and most frequent dimension in most intercultural research works is individualism and collectivism.21 In individualist cultures the smallest survival unit is an individual. People identify themselves above all with themselves and the needs of individuals are more important than the needs of groups. Independence and personal freedom are precious values. At the same time, in collectivist cultures, the primal group, usually the closest family is the smallest survival unit. The identity of an individual is to a large extent formed by its membership and role in a group. Thanks to recognizing the needs and feelings of others an individual protects himself. Harmony and interdependence are significant values.22 Others often applied dimensions of culture are, for example, the distance of power, sequentiality and synchronicity as various forms of organization in time, long- or short- term orientation, or avoiding uncertainty. In the further part of the article dimensions of culture associated with styles of communication will be discussed.
Direct and indirect communication
Anthropologist E.T. Hall in the workBeyond Culture23 refers to his experiences in Texas in the cultural borderland between the United States and Mexico, where cultural difference didn't boil down to just structural differences between English and Spanish, but were expressed in various ways of using language for interpersonal communication. These experiences led Hall to work out a communicative dimension called high and low context, or direct and indirect communication24. This dimension determines the role of context in the reception of message. In low-context cultures the message is often expressed directly and free of context, that is, the message can be understood without the need to interpret it. What is important is what was said and not by who, or under what circumstances.25 The expressiveness of the message to only a small extent takes into consideration the current situation. This way, most information is conveyed by means of direct verbal messages. People from low-context cultural areas prefer clear and direct messages. The goal of
7 www. minib.pl Cultural context in marketing communication on international market direct style of communication is transferring information and facts. The goal of the sender is to make it easy for the recipient to correctly understand the message. This is possible thanks to precise formulation of the message. Interpersonal relation is simplified and to a small extent influences communication. Written communication is preferred. The one who speaks is more important than the listener.
Picture 1. Direct and indirect communication
Source: Own materials.
The direct style of communication is usually associated with a linear, logical and inferential way of thinking focused on solving problems.26 This is a style of communication typical of taskoriented cultures, in which honesty is an important value and direct communication is supposed to lead along the shortest path to a pragmatic goal, which is achieving something particular or completing a certain task.27 This is associated with the preference for focusing on one task at a time, that is, with sequential organi-zation of tasks in time, which are carried out in a sequence, one after another. Moreover, research has shown that low-context style of communication is suitable for people with independent identity, from individualist cultures discussed earlier.28 Direct style of communication dominates in the Scandinavian countries, Western Europe and North America.29 In high-context cultures the verbal message plays a comparably small role in communication, as a major part of information is contained in the person and the
www. minib.pl 8 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 context. The meaning of gestures, posture, voice and context in which the interaction takes place, are appreciated. Not only information included directly in the message, but also the reference to the assumed, even if unspoken community of events, have an impact on achieving understanding.30 TIts above all this general context that provides many pieces of information necessary to understand the message. People communicating this way often refer not only to the spoken words, but also the way in which and where they were uttered. For people communicating in an indirect way most messages are easily understood, even if they are not fully verbalized.31 It is enough to place a message in the right context and its intended meaning will be properly understood. In high-context countries non-verbal signals can determine communication in up to 90%. People communicating in a direct way may not notice these signals at all.32 In indirect communication very often proverbs, allusions, hidden meanings, statements going beyond the scope of a particular issue, digressions and decorative elements are used. The goal of high-context communication is building relations and maintaining harmony in interpersonal relations, which is often more important than honesty. For this reason it is typical of this style of communication to avoid speaking directly. Verbal communication is preferred. The sender and the recipient have similar contribution to the quality of communication. People communicating indirectly often prefer multi-tasking, that is, synchronous organization of many tasks at the same time. Moreover, the indirect style of communication is most often associated with lateral, holistic, systematic and deductive style of thinking and acceptance of difficulty.33 This is a style of communication typical of people with dependent identity occurring in collectivist cultures, where We dominates over I. Thus, in communication people avoid emphasizing their own self — I. This is a style of communication present in Arabic countries, in Latin America and in most Asian countries. Countries of the Mediterranean, as well as Central-European and Eastern-European countries are descri- bed as transitory countries with an inclination towards indirect communication.34 Moreover, it is worth noticing that what determines the preferred style of communication is not only the country of origin, but also, for example, belonging to a particular professional group. Engineers, lawy-ers and accountants often communicate in a more direct way than other people from a particular cultural circle. At the same time, artists, teachers or marketing specialists have an inclination to communicate more indirectly than other people from their cultural environment.The high- and low-context dimension influences the choice of appropriate means of communication. The choice may be associated with the fact that some means of communication are more suitable for certain types of communication, as can be seen on the picture below.
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Picture 2. Means of communication in the high- and low-context dimension
Source: P. Rosinski, Coaching międzykulturowy, Wydawnictwo New Dawn, p. 189.
Representatives of high-context values often perceive directness and rapid action of people communicating in a low-context manner as impatience and aggression. At the same time the acting of represen-tatives of the transitory style is often associated by the representatives of the direct style with dishonesty and disrespect. Thus, understanding these differences in styles of communication and the values hidden behind them makes it possible to avoid misunderstanding. Thanks to the development of intercultural competence and flexibility in the change of communication style depending on the circumstances and the preferences of our interlocutor we will be able to take into consideration the communicative preferences of international recipients of our messages (marketing), going beyond the scope of our own preferences. Concluding the discussion concerning cultural dimensions, it is necessary to mention that apart from the dimension of direct and indirect communication, the way in which we communicate also differs in terms of the degree of emotionality and formality of expression. The dimension of emotionality and restraint (also called neutral and affective communication) indicates the level of acceptance for showing emotions during communication. In affective cultures expressing emotions and cordiality during
www. minib.pl 10 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 communication is expected and desired. At the same time in neutral cul-tures, people avoid excessive expression of emotions during communication, as composure, facts, logic and objectivity are precious values. Excessive emotionality can be perceived as a trait of weak character and lack of composure.35 The dimension of formality and informality refers to the significance of protocol and rituals in communication. In very formal cultures, like Japan, protocols and rituals are strictly followed. Forms of address, ceremoniousness, titles, honors or formal rules of behaviour are very important. At the same time in informal cultures, such as for example the American culture, spontaneity and familiarity are preferred. People don't feel free, when they have to remember about strict rules all the time.36 In the further part of the article the way in which the above-mentioned styles of communication are reflected by various forms of marketing messages, will be discussed.
The influence of preferences in communication on marketing messages
The above-mentioned differences in styles of communication are also visible in various marketing messages, such as company presentations, advertisements, mailing, newsletters, information presented on websites and in the social media. Our (often unrealized) preferences concerning the style of communication are visible in all messages that we direct to the recipients. The way we communicate also says a lot about our system of values and the system of values of the organization we represent, which is often hidden below the surface of our cultural iceberg. The reflection on our preferred style of communication and its adequacy in messages directed to an international audience is the basis for all marketing activities conducted on an international scale. The presentations of companies, organizations, products or services take various shapes, depending on whether they come from a person or a high- or low-context organization (and a deeper intercultural analysis concerning the styles of communication hasn't been carried out). In case of low-context messages, texts are usually longer, with a direct description of a company, service or product, they contain a large number of details making it easier for the recipient to make a decision, they also contain references to facts, statistics or research. Such messages have a smaller number of photographs and the photographs rarely show people, more often they show just single people (often people viewed from the back, or a long distance), which is a reference to
11 www. minib.pl Cultural context in marketing communication on international market individualist values. In case of presentations of companies and organizations, there are often photographs of buildings, equipment or the way in which products are manufactured or services are provided.37 Demonstrations of products and services are presented more often.38 From the point of view of people preferring indirect manner of communication such messages can be perceived as dry, boring, lacking emotions, and disregarding what from their point of view is most important, that is, the quality of interpersonal relations. At the same time in case of messages originating from high-context people or organizations, texts are often shorter and less detailed, they contain smaller amount of data, facts and statistics (if they appear at all), but they more often refer to interpersonal relations, metaphors, allusions or metonymy. These messages contain more photographs, which more often show groups of people (a reference to collectivist values). Visual metaphors are also used more often. For example — presenting products or services using only photographs. At the same time, comparisons are used less often, for fear of facing a retaliation of the competition.39 As a rule, also in such messages communication is supposed to establish a relation and not transfer information. For example, mailings or newsletters in high-context cultures serve not that much the purpose of providing detailed information concerning some event, but constitute an excuse to establish a more direct contact, such as a phone call or a meeting. From the point of view of people preferring direct style of communication, such messages can be perceived as not factual enough, too emotional or not associated with the subject. In order to illustrate the differences discussed above, below two examples of presentation of scientific institutions — one from Argentina and the other from Switzerland — are provided. These messages are a visible expression of cultural scripts typical of places of origin of these institutions.
Paul Scherrer Institute from Switzerland presents its activity on its website in the following way:40 Paul Scherrer Institute is the biggest research centre in the area of engineering and natural sciences in Switzerland. Research works are focused on three main subjects: matter and materials, energy and protection of environment, as well as human and health. The Institute designs, builds and manages complex installa-tions on a big scale. Every year 2000 scientists from Switzerland and the whole world come to the Institute to conduct in this exceptional place their experiments, which couldn't be carried out
www. minib.pl 12 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 anywhere else. The Institute employs 1500 people and has an annual budget worth about CHF 365 million. It is financed mainly by the Swiss Confederation. The Institute belongs to the association of scientific-technical universities and research institutions of the Swiss Confederation (ETH-Bereich), which includes also ETH Zürich and ETH Lausanne, as well as research institutes Eawag, Empa and WSL. The Institute is located in the Aargau canton on the terri-tory of the Communities of Villigen and Würenlingen on both banks of the Aare river. The Institute contributes to raising the qualifications of future generations by educating professionals, as well as students and doctoral students. The Institute offers the iLab laboratory to students.41 Switzerland is classified as a country with an inclination towards direct style of communication. The script of direct communication focuses on clear and factual message, which can be easily understo-od by the recipient and which provides all the necessary data to make a decision. Analyzing the above presentation it is possible to conclude that it satisfies the expectations present in low-context locations. The presentation contains a lot of factual data supported with figures and is focused on the substantial presentation of the Institute.
The presentation of the Science and Technology Park FAUBA from Argentina looks somewhat different42 : Science-Technology Park FAUBA in cooperation with Area Science Park and the University of Parma-PcyT Fauba was established in order to implement research results in companies from the agricultural and food sector. The activities of the Park cover the creation of a network between companies from this production sector or ancillary sectors, as well as research and innovation companies and units, which facilitates the creation of an engine in which specialization of production can be maintained and developed over time. Relations between PcyT Fauba and public institutions, credit institutions, as well as national and international research centres make Park a point of reference for innovations, development and internationalization of small and medium companies from the food and agriculture sector in Argentina. Additionally, PcyT Fauba takes advantage of the support of the Council of Advisors, which consists of personages from the public and private sectors, who cooperate in order to help Park satisfy the real needs of the country.43 Argentina is classified as one of the countries with an inclination towards indirect style of communication. The script of indirect communication focuses on establishing and maintaining social relations and going directly into the essence of the matter could be regarded as a breach of the rules of interde-pendence and
13 www. minib.pl Cultural context in marketing communication on international market reducing the contact to the impersonal layer. In this presentation we can see that the focus is on mutual relations. There are also such expressions as ”networks”, ”engine”, ”relations with institutions”, ”Park as a point of reference”, the ”support of the Council of Advisers”. However, unlike in case of Switzerland, we cannot find here any figures, which could give the recipient an insight into the actual functioning of the Science Park. The discussed differences are apparent not only in the written texts, but also in videos, which have become a very popular form of presentation of organizations, companies or services. Also here, the choice of form, style of communication determines whether our message will be received and understood by international recipients. The following two movies can serve as a good example: one of them promoted Poland and the other promoted Germany. A few years ago a series of short films promoting Poland as a modern country and at the same time presenting Polish values was made. In one of the videos titled ”Polska–Creativity–Poznań”44 the plot takes place in Poznań and the presented value is creativity. The film is only just over one minute long and apart from the title and the presentation of Michael from Germany, there are no words in the whole video. In the video we can see that it is possible to come to Poznań by train or plane. Next, the viewers can see a modern building which could be a research or a design centre. In the hall of the building Michael from Germany is greeted by Polish hosts. After the greeting, during which the Polish hosts talk about something with passion, a creative-looking meeting takes place. The meeting ends up with the signing of a contract and joint celebration of the started cooperation. What we have here is a high-context message, which outside Poland, based on the author's own experiences, is hardly ever fully understood. In order to understand the message it is necessary to have a big amount of contextual data, such as the location of Poland, the fact that Poland and Germany are neighbours, that Poznań is a Polish city located in the West of the country, close to the Polish–German border, where it is possible to get quickly from Germany by train, which in turn makes it possible to boost business contacts. International recipients very often lack this knowledge, which makes the material incomprehensible for them. Thus, such message can on the one hand give the general impression that we are dealing with a modern place, encouraging the recipient to learn more. However, it may also be irritating for the recipient who doesn't fully understand what the whole thing was about, especially if these are people used to high-context communication.
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At the same time a video message from a low-context country, like Germany, may be completely diffe-rent. In the video promoting Germany titled ”Destination Germany - Diversity in the Heart of Europe”45 we are dealing with a direct style of communication. The video is over 10 minutes long, apart from images, we can hear a voice, which in detail describes what we are looking at. Already in the fist minute of the video there is a reference to statistical data, in particular, to the fact that in 2009 the number of Chinese tourists tripled. Next come historical data, statements by specialists and foreign guests visiting the country, as well as detailed presentation of the best-known tourist locations in Germany. This kind of message provides all details which the recipients may need, however, for people preferring high-context style f communication this attention to details may cause irritation, for example when the reader mentions some obvious things, like the fact that there are mountains in the background. Also the preferences of creative advertising strategy can be predicted on the basis of cultural orientations. The differences with regard to high and low context are visible also in advertisements. As research shows, unclear — from the informative point of view — and indirect communication in an advertisement may suggest a high context. The content of information generally tends to be higher in individualist cultures communicating directly.46 For example, American advertisements usually present particular traits of products appealing to the rational mind at the same time Japanese advertisements often refer to imagination.47 Moreover, Zheng and Gelb have proved that collectivist countries tend to receive advertising slogans with collectivist rather than individualist messages more effectively. For example in such countries, a slogan advertising digital equipment, which goes like this: ”Share the moments of joy and happiness with the close ones” is more effective than an individualist slogan: ”Come and try to discover yourself”.48 In the end it is worth recalling the fact that the differences between direct ad indirect communication are also visible on Facebook. On the profiles of people and organizations with an inclination towards direct communication there are more texts and links to texts. At the same time, on profiles of people or institutions preferring indirect communication there are more photographs, video and audio recordings. Research has shown that these preferences are apparent also in the used profile pictures. Whereas profile photographs of people from individualist cultures are very often close-ups of a person's face (or its part), in case of people from collectivist cultures, there is often some sort of background on the picture (context).49
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Summing up, it is possible to conclude that when recipients read messages which don't correspond to their cultural scripts, they may be irritated, as such messages don't provide them with elements, which from their point of view, determine the efficiency of communication.
Conclusion
This article is an attempt to show that the ongoing process of globalization hasn't led to the homogenization of cultures. For this reason, taking into consideration cultural differences will be essential, also in case of marketing activities. Communication is the basic element of these activities. The development of flexibility in the applied styles of communication, that is, the ability to adapt the style of communication to the preferences of our recipients is regarded as one of the basic international competences. This also allows exerting influence on the international arena, which also constitutes one of the most impor-tant skills in international activity.50 Managers and specialists preparing international messages should be able to make an analysis of the preferred style of communication of their foreign recipients (also from the perspective of preferences and cultural values) and appropriately adapt their messages, if it is neces-sary. A broad spectrum of applied styles of communication enables effective and appropriate interaction with people of various cultural backgrounds.
References
1 C. Mitchel, A Short Course in International Business Culture, World Trade Press, California 2000, p. 169. 2 P. Ghemawat, Redefining Global Strategy. Crossing Borders in the World Where Differences Still Matter, Harvard Business School Press, Boston 2007, p. 2. 3 Raport FutureWorld Skills 202: http://www.iftf.org/our-work/global-landscape/work/future-work-skills-2020/ 4 J. Comfort, P. Franklin, The Mindful International Manager. How to work effectively across cultures, KoganPage, London 2011, p. 54. 5 S. Müller, K. Gelbirch, Interkulturelles Marketing, Verlag Franz Vahlen, München 2004, p. 172. 6 Ibidem, p. 458; P. Pietrasieński, Międzynarodowe strategie marketingowe, Polskie Wydawnictwo Ekonomiczne, Warszawa 2005, p. 64. 7 P. Ghemawat, Redefining Global Strategy. Crossing Borders in the World Where Differences Still Matter…, op. cit., p. 9. 8 M. Haig, Brand Failures. The Truth About the 100 Biggest Branding Mistakes of All Time,Kogan Page Limited, London 2011, p. 153–178. 9 P. Kotler i in, Marketing 3.0, MT Biznes, Warszawa 2010. 10 Ibidem, p. 28. 11 Ibidem, p. 29–30.
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12 Ibidem, p. 31. 13 Ibidem, p. 32. 14 M. Lipińska (red.), Warsztaty kompetencji międzykulturowych — podręcznik dla trenerów, Międzykulturowe Centrum Adaptacji Zawodowej, Warszawa 2008, p. 29. 15 More on this subject: Benedict R., Wzory kultury, Muza, Warszawa 2005. 16 R. Linton, Kulturowe podstawy osobowości, PWN, Warszawa 2000, p. 33. 17 O. Skupna, M. Waszczy, Różnice Kulturowe w Marketingu Międzynarodowym, (in:) J. Kubka (ed.), Zarządzanie–Etyka–Człowiek. Odpowiedzialnośći humanizacja w procesach gospodarwowania i zarządzania, Politechnika Gdańska, Gdańsk 2006, p. 125. 18 M. Lipińska (ed.), Warsztaty kompetencji międzykulturowych-podręcznik dla trenerów... op.cit., p. 30. 19 P. Boski, Kulturowe ramy zachowań społecznych. Podręcznik psychologii międzykulturowej, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2009. 20 D. Matsumoto, Culture and emotion, (in:) D. Matsumoto (ed.), The Handbook of Culture and Psychology, Oxford Universi- ty Press, Oxford 2001, p. 184. 21 R.S. Bhagat, R.M. Steers, (ed.), Cambridge Handbook of Culture, Organizations, and Work, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 200, p. 11. 22 P. Rosinski, Coaching międzykulturowy, Wydawnictwo New Dawn, Warszawa 2011, p. 139. 23 E.T. Hall, Poza kulturą, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2001. 24 P. Boski, Kulturowe ramy zachowań społecznych..., op.cit., p. 231. 25 S. Onkvisit, J.J. Shaw, International marketing: Analysis and strategy, Macmillan, Nowy York 1993. 26 S. Hollensen, Global Marketing. A Market-Responsive Approach, Pearson Education Limited, London 2001, p. 162; H. Christensen, Compedium. International Business Marketing, Denmark 2002, p. 10. 27 P. Boski, Kulturowe ramy zachowań społecznych…, op.cit., p. 231. 28 T.M. Singelis, Bridging the gap between culture and psychology (in:) A.-M. Bouvy, F.J.R. Van de Vijver, P. Boski, P.G. Schmitz (ed.), Journey into cross-cultural psychology, Swets & Zeitlinger, Amsterdam/Lisse, 1994, p. 278–293. 29 J.M. Brett, Negotiating globally, Ca: John Wiley & Sons, San Francisco 2001. 30 P. Boski, Kulturowe ramy zachowań społecznych…, op. cit., p. 232. 31 D. Kim i in., High-versus low-context culture: A comparison of Chinese, Korean, and American cultures, "Psychology & Marketing", 15 (6), 507–521. 32 S. Hollensen, Global Marketing. A Market-Responsive Approach…, op.cit., p. 165. 33 Ibidem, p.162; H. Christensen, Compedium. International Business Marketing…, op.cit., p. 10. 34 J.M. Brett, Negotiating globally…, op.cit. 35 P. Rosinski, Coaching międzykulturowy…, op. cit., p. 199. 36 Ibidem, p. 203. 37 I. Grande, Marketing crosscultural, ESIC, Madryt 2004, p. 264–266. 38 Ibidem, p. 275. 39 Ibidem, p. 265–277. 40 http://www.psi.ch/ueber-uns 41 Translated from German by the author. 42 http://www.agro.uba.ar/PCyT-Fauba. 43 Translated from Spanish by the author. 44 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5EFm9l6Esc. 45 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzAtLLHr0o8 46 S. Dahl, Cross-Cultural Advertising Research. What Do We Know About the Influence of Culture on Advertising?, Middlesex University Business School, London 2004, s.12–13; S. Dahl, Transfer Repor. Cultural Values in Advertising, University of Luton, 2000, p. 4. 47 P. Kotler, K. Keller, Marketing Management. International edition 14th, Pearson Education international, New Jersey 2011, p. 594.
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48 S. Dahl, Cross-Cultural Advertising Research. What Do We Know About the Influence of Culture on Advertising,… op.cit, p. 12. 49 C.-M. Huang., D. Park, Cultural influences on Facebook photographs, (in:) International Journal of Psychology, 2012, p. 1–10. 50 J. Comfort, P. Franklin, The Mindful International Manager. How to work effectively across cultures, KoganPage, London 2011, p. 54.
Bibliography 1. Benedict R., Wzory kultury, Muza, Warszawa 2005. 2. Bhagat R.S., Steers R.M. (ed.), Cambridge Handbook of Culture, Organizations, and Work, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2009. 3. Bjerke B., Kultura a style przywództwa, Oficyna Ekonomiczna, Oddział Polskich Wydawnictw Profe-sjonalnych, Kraków 2004. 4. Boski P., Kulturowe ramy zachowań społecznych. Podręcznik psychologii międzykulturowej, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2009. 5. Brett J.M., Negotiating globally, Ca: John Wiley & Sons, San Francisco 2001. 6. Christensen H., Compedium. International Business Marketing, Denmark 2002. 7. Comfort J., Franklin P., The Mindful International Manager. How to work effectively across cultures, KoganPage, London 2011. 8. Dahl S., Transfer Repor. Cultural Values in Advertising, University of Luton, 2000. 9. Dahl S., Cross-Cultural Advertising Research. What Do We Know About the Influence of Culture on Advertising?, Middlesex University Business School, London 2004. 10. Felser G., Interkulturelles Marketing, [in:] Handbuch Interkulturelle Kommunikation und Kooperation, Tom 2, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2003. 11. Gesteland Richard, Różnice kulturowe a zachowania w biznesie, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2000. 12. Ghemawat P., Redefining Global Strategy. Crossing Borders in the World Where Differences Still Matter, Harvard Business School Press, Boston 2007. 13. Grande I., Marketing Crosscultural, ESIC, Madryt 2004. 14. Haig M., Brand Failures. The Truth About the 100 Biggest Branding Mistakes of All Time, Kogan Page Limited, London 2011. 15. Hall E.T., Ukryty wymiar, Muza, Warszawa 2005. 16. Hall E.T., Poza kulturą, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2001. 17. Hall E.T., Taniec życia, Muza, Warszawa 1999. 18. Hall E.T., Bezgłośny język, PIW, Warszawa 1987. 19. Hofstede G., Kultury organizacji. Zaprogramowanie umysłu, PWE, Warszawa 2000. 20. Hollensen S., Global Marketing. A Market-Responsive Approach, Pearson Education Limited, London 2001. 21. Huang C.M., Park D., Cultural influences on Facebook photographs, [in:] International Journal of Psy-chology, 2012. 22. Kim D., Yigang P., Heung S.P., High-versus low-context culture: A comparison of Chinese, Korean and American cultures, "Psychology & Marketing". 23. Kotler P., Keller K., Marketing Management. International edition 14th, Pearson Education international, New Jersey 2011. 24. Kotler P., Kartajaya H., Setiawan I., Marketing 3.0, MT Biznes, Warszawa 2010. 25. Lewis R.D., Cross-Cultural Communication: A Visual Approach, Transcreen Publications, Hampshire 2008. 26. Lewis R.D., When cultures collide: Leading across cultures, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, Boston London 2006. 27. Linton R., Kulturowe podstawy osobowości, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, Warszawa 2000. 28. Lipińska M. (ed.), Warsztaty kompetencji międzykulturowych — podręcznik dla trenerów, Międzykulturowe Centrum Adaptacji Zawodowej, Warszawa 2008. 29. Matsumoto D., Culture and emotion, [in:] D. Matsumoto (ed.), The handbook of culture and psychology, Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001.
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30. Mitchell C., A Short Course in International Business Culture, World Trade Press, California 2000. 31. Onkvisit S., Shaw J.J, International marketing: Analysis and strategy, Macmillan, Nowy York 1993. 32. Pietrasieński P., Międzynarodowe strategie marketingowe, Polskie Wydawnictwo Ekonomiczne, Warszawa 2005. 33. Rosinski P., Coaching międzykulturowy, Wydawnictwo New Dawn, Warszawa 2011. 34. Singelis T. M., Bridging the gap between culture and psychology [in:] A.-M. Bouvy, F.J.R. Van de Vijver, P. Boski, P.G. Schmitz (ed.), Journey into cross-cultural psychology, Swets & Zeitlinger, Amsterdam/Lisse, 1994. 35. Skupna O., Waszczy M., Różnice Kulturowe w Marketingu Międzynarodowym, [in:] J. Kubka (ed.), Zarządzanie–Etyka–Człowiek. Odpowiedzialność i humanizacja w procesach gospodarowania i zarządzania, Politechnika Gdańska, Gdańsk 2006.
Websites z http://www.iftf.org/our-work/global-landscape/work/future-work-skills-2020/ z http://www.psi.ch/ueber-uns z http://www.agro.uba.ar/PCyT-Fauba z http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5EFm9l6Esc z http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzAtLLHr0o8
Dominika Hirsch, MSc. — is a lawyer and a business training specialist dealing with the development of competences necessary for effective functioning in a dynamically changing international environment. Since 2007 she has been running the company DominikaHirsch International with headquarters in Barcelona, which deals with internationalization of companies and organizations. She is a certified coach of Richard Lewis Communications and a member of the District Bar Council in Barcelona. She has written numerous publications on law and intercultural subjects associated with international activity.
19 www. minib.pl INBOUND MARKETING AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE MARKETING STRATEGY OF A MODERN ENTERPRISES
Open Access MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2
INBOUND MARKETING AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE MARKETING STRATEGY OF A MODERN ENTERPRISES
Witold Świeczak, M. Sc. Eng. Institute of Aviation, Poland e-mail: [email protected] DOI: 10.14611/minib.12.02.2014.09
Summary
The essential premise of this publication is to define the benefits brought to modern enterprises by introduction of multi-channel marketing strategy, or inbound marketing, to their business. This article defines the factors and processes that influence the effective course of actions undertaken in the framework of inbound marketing. In addition, it is demonstrated how the importance of an organization changes, how its value and importance realistically increases as a result of applying the instruments provided by inbound marketing. The purpose of the article is to present how the concept of inbound marketing is changing the perspective of looking at the modern marketing instruments and how their field of impact changes as a result of their application. It also illustrates how the choice of appropriate mechanisms influences consumer decisions and demonstrates that the key to understanding the processes embedded in the strategy is to reflect on the relationship between the enterprise and potential customers and communication with the customers.
Keywords: inbound marketing, marketing strategy, social media, blog, search engine
3 www. minib.pl Inbound Marketing as an integral part of the marketing strategy of a modern enterprises
Introduction
The essential premise of this publication is to define the benefits brought to modern enterprises by introduction of multi-channel marketing strategy, or inbound marketing, to their business. This article defines the factors and processes that influence the effective course of actions undertaken in the framework of inbound marketing. In addition, it is demonstrated how the importance of an organization changes, how its value and importance realistically increases as a result of applying the instruments provided by inbound marketing. The purpose of the article is to present how the concept of inbound marketing is changing the perspective of looking at the modern marketing instruments and how their field of impact changes as a result of their application. It also illustrates how the choice of appropriate mechanisms influences consumer decisions and demonstrates that the key to understanding the processes embedded in the strategy is to reflect on the relationship between the enterprise and potential customers and communication with the customers.
The essence, the definition, the concept of inbound marketing
We live in an era that affirms the legitimacy of the existence of the universal concept which conveys that the man is the foundation of any economic activities and that any technologies devoid of aesthetic values without the human factor are of minor importance. We live in times that show that the real language of the trade is an ordinary human conversation and companies attain high ratios when people working in them have unlimited contact with people on the outside. We live in times when the evolving development of global communication systems re-introduces these universal and obvious truths into the awareness of people of the business world. In this era of low economic growth, the increasing competition in the market and the fast pace of information flow, the content of communications targeted at the customer is becoming more and more important. Today, to excite customer's interest in the offer or service, a mere sterile schematic message is not enough; we need a message that will provide the customer with such benefits that will satisfy the customer's needs, expectations and consequently will encourage the customer to interact. The term of Inbound Marketing hasn't been translated into Polish yet. It can be interpreted as active, incoming marketing.
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Inbound Marketing is opposed to outbound marketing — traditional way of communicating, which is all about ”pushing out” information, advertising message to the potential customer. Inbound marketing is focused on activities on the Internet, which allow the customers to find the message they are looping for. The potential customer is following issues he is looking for on the Internet, which leads him to the source of the message. The idea of inbound marketing is about taking such actions in the sphere of media that allow potential customers to find what they are looking for. Inbound marketing combines elements of Internet marketing which can efficiently draw customers into the sphere of activities of marketing specialists. The main areas of interest are: z Marketing in search engines, z Activities associated with creation of content in the blogosphere, z Taking advantage of social networks and microblogs2.
As any revolution Inbound brings liberation.
What we are talking here about is liberation from the tyranny of the assumption that the efficiency of marketing activities depends on the money involved. Everybody who has something to say and offer can reach out to people — also to clients — over the Internet. This revolution liberates us from the tyranny which is about disturbing everyday lives of pe ople in order to sell them something. Instead of drawing the attention of consumers with expensive advertising campaigns we can publish attractive and useful information on the Internet and later present it to the people who are directly interested in it. We have also been liberated from the necessity of using mainstream media in order to present information on the market. Now it is possible to communicate with people directly. The best thing in this is that if we tell them our story in a proper way, those willing to do business with us will find us themselves. Inbound marketing is the art of making oneself visible in the web — being found through such networks as Facebook, YouTube or Twitter. These are websites visited every day by hundreds of millions of people looking for answers to their most pressing questions1. People get knowledge from many different sources. Rapid development of the Internet means that we are being literally inundated with hundreds of bits of information. This causes certain problems, as in such abundance of information it is
5 www. minib.pl Inbound Marketing as an integral part of the marketing strategy of a modern enterprises hard to find what we are looking for. For this reason the Power of traditional advertising is waning. Every day the customer is attacked with a huge amount of information about products and services. When he sees another advertising of a product, he immediately gets annoyed and an inner voice tells him: they want to sell me something again. The consumer doesn't like when somebody is trying to sell something to him, but loves buying. The customer likes taking decisions with regard to his purchases himself. Our marketing activities should follow the spirit of the Times and now is the time of social networks, which enjoy a huge popularity3.
Social media in numbers…
Social media constitute a revolution in the manner of communication, which affects us all. Research shows that even sending traditional e-mails is getting ever less popular. The e-mail service is being replaced by in-built features of social websites. Thanks to these features users can send messages, which in turn has reduced interest in sending traditional e-mails. Social networks are now one of the most complex tools for creation of identity in the web. They can be used not only for the creation of a personal image, but also for the creation of a company image. The role of social networks in the lives of contemporary people is constantly growing. Every day new social websites, or applications using such networks are established. Everything suggests that in the nearest future this trend will continue. This means that social media will become a part of life of an ave-rage citizen for good. Many Internet users are actually addicted to social media. For many people social media are the main source of knowledge about current events in the world. Moreover, this is where they find out what they should buy, what they should read or what film they should watch in the cinema. For companies that want to efficiently advertise their products or services this situation means much room for manoevre. ”The CMO Survey” research by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and Ame-rican Marketing Association (AMA) shows that budgets for marketing by means of social networks are constantly growing. In the nearest years almost 20% of budgets of marketing companies will be allocated to social media. Other research conducted by the research company Mzinga & Babson Executive Education shows that already 86% of American companies take advantage of social marketing. For example, HP decided to advertise its products on Facebook. This move has been a big success. Every month HP's website is visited by 200,000 Facebook users. Rapidly growing companies are able to take advantage of the potential of social
www. minib.pl 6 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 websites. Companies actively participating in Internet-based social life achieve certain benefits that cannot be achieved through other means of communication3. Research conducted by Harris Interactive in April 2009 showed that at that time 48pct of all adult Americans had an account on Facebook or MySpace. The user base of Facebook increased from 100 million to 200 million in eight months. In comparison, it took 52 years for the population of the United States to increase from 100 million to 200 million! If Facebook were a country, it would be the fourth biggest country in the world in terms of the number of inhabitants, ahead of Brazil, Japan, as well as Germany, France and Spain together. Moreover, we are not talking here about people using the service from time to time. According to Nielsen Online in April 2009 people spent a total of 13.9 billion minutes on Facebook. Compared to 1.7 billion minutes in April 2008, this means a growth of 699%. This means that participation in social networks is currently the third most popular activity on the computer, ahead of, among others, using e-mail. 29.9% of all Internet users in the world get in contact with Facebook. Obviously, what we are looking at here is a widespread phenomenon and we can be sure that these figures will grow even further. The rapid development of social media coincides with the drop in popularity of the traditional media. Statistics concerning the usage of social media are growing, whereas circulations of newspapers are dropping. In many cities in 2008 there were more users of social websites than there were readers of the most respected newspapers. eMarketer reports that in 2008 Internet users were far less likely to reach for tradi-tional media, than just two years earlier. Without any doubt it could be said that people currently receive latest news, information and opinions from friends to a greater extent than from the traditional media4. In January 2010 research company Nielsen announced that the global consumption of time spent in social media increased compared to the previous year by 82% and the average user of social media devoted over 5.5 hours to them in December 2009. Even though the research didn't cover the Polish market, also here more and more is being said about the social media and more and more people use not only Nasza-Klasa, but also Facebook. In the media much attention is paid also to such microblog services as Twitter or the Polish Blip. Some of the most popular meeting places among Poles are also such websites as GoldenLine, Grono or Flaker5. At the time when this report was created, the number of users of Facebook, the biggest social network, amounted to 350 million. By May 2011 the figure doubled to 700 million and in June of the same year SocialBakers, a service supported by Facebook, calculated that the number of Facebook users will exceed the magical one billion threshold at the end of June 20126. These
7 www. minib.pl Inbound Marketing as an integral part of the marketing strategy of a modern enterprises figures leave no room for doubt that social media, regarded by some as the next stage of evolution of the Internet, are much more than just a temporary fashion. These huge figures speak for themselves, but it is also necessary to remember that they are subject to constant changes. For this reason it is necessary to be present in the social media, it is necessary to get to know them and above all to get to know their users, who are consumers, employees, opinion leaders. Waiting for a revolution doesn't make any sense as nowadays even one single day brings bigger changes5.
Strategies of presence in social media
Taking up activities in the world of social media without an adequate strategy is the shortest road to failure. In fact, marketing in this type of media doesn't differ much from other forms of marketing such as e-mail marketing, online marketing, using billboards, direct mail or tv advertising. In all of these areas it is necessary to create meticulously planned strategies and monitor the achievements. Companies which take up the task of preparing such strategy for the first time, may find marketing in social media to be a real challenge. This is a very broad category which consists of many different services. Merely finding the recipients or clients and identifying the place where they are present, may prove to be a very difficult task. In order to be successful, it is necessary to understand in what way representatives of a given target group use various services. It is also necessary to take into consideration that Internet users don't limit themselves to using one service or website or just one type of service. Their activities can be compared to pollinating flowers — they create their own content, which they later present on many different websites. When all of this is taken into consideration, it becomes clear that the mission is neither fast, nor easy, nor cheap. There is no single recipe for success. If there were one, universal approach to presence in the social media, there would be nothing exceptional about the process — it would be as common as creating Internet websites. Effective marketing in social media requires research, strategy, planning and measurement. The effects of research carried out by various companies differ. As a result there are differences in the identification of the most efficient social media services and formulating the best marketing plans. Indeed, in the media a lot is being said about efficient and inefficient strategies of presence in the social media sphere, but still companies should rather focus on formulating own plans of this kind. It makes no sence to get involved in certain activities, just because this is what the competition does. Anyway, there is no doubt that it is impossible to avoid changes. Internet and Internet
www. minib.pl 8 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 marketing are constantly changing. Things that used to be popular a year ago, may be forgotten by now. A marketing strategy, which used to be effective just six months ago, may not be that strong right now7.
Defining targets in social media
Regarding certain achievement as a real success, the representatives of the top managements of companies base their opinions on clear and measurable indicators. Marketing conducted in social media cannot be measured in such a way as other forms of Internet-based marketing, such as search engine optimization (SEO) or pay-per-click advertising (PPC). SEO and PPC allow us to identify the course of events in every detail: the Internet user utilizes a search engine, for example Google, Yahoo! or MSN; the search engine provides results, the user clicks a link and is referred to a particular website, he takes some particular action, returns to search results or abandons further search. These three options can be regarded as fully measurable results. On their basis it is possible to measure the efficiency of marketing efforts targeted at making a particular person take a desired action or achieve a particular target. In the social media nobody encourages users to take particular actions such as purchasing a product or signing up for an e-mailing list. They are encouraged to share their experiences. It is very hard to assess this process in a rational way, as it usually doesn't take place on the website of the company. In association with utilization of Internet marketing companies have got used to directing visitors to their websites and assessing the efficiency of their efforts on this basis. Exactly for this reason they find it hard to accept the idea that potential successes can be measures outside their own website. However, this is exactly the sort of success offered by the world of social media. With regard to the issue of measuring achieved results, marketing conducted in social media is in many respects similar to traditional forms of marketing. In the PR area the number of times the compa-ny is mentioned and the recognizability of the company's brand are monitored. In case of tv and radio commercials most important is the number of people who have seen or heard the advertising material. Gauging achieved effects and comparing them to actions taken in the area of marketing turns out to be rather hard. Since the emergence of online marketing and programs analyzing website traffic and actions taken by visitors, assessing the effects of actions taken by specialists has become much easier. The concept of monitoring Internet activity seems to be perfectly justified and it is of utmost importance for the assessment of successes achieved thanks to implementation of marketing strategies.
9 www. minib.pl Inbound Marketing as an integral part of the marketing strategy of a modern enterprises
The emergence of websites allowing users to create their own contents — covering their interests, passions, fears and complaints — has forced companies to learn to measure the successes and failures of their marketing strategies also outside their websites. It is necessary to remark here that we are talking here about areas, where companies are not in full control of their messages, which they prepare in every detail. As a result even the smartest marketing specialists can feel slightly intimidated. Social websites provide their users with quite a high level of control over who directs their marketing contents at them and over what they are offered. Most contents generated by users are created on social websites owned by completely independent entities. For this reason monitoring successes and failures associated with implementation of marketing strategies is becoming an ever more manual process. These websites are someone else's property, which means that companies don't have access to information concerning actions taken by particular users (unlike in case of their own websites). Thus, in order to gauge the efficiency of their marketing efforts in the social media, companies have to focus solely on public activities — this means that they know just as much as the members of a particular community7.
Dialogue in social media
From the traditional point of view a website is the creation of the owner or of the team of editors, which fill the website with content. In case of social websites it is the user who generates content and thus creates value for others. Users and their mutual relations are the main stimulus for using social networks. The main feature of a social network is communication. For this reason websites of this kind offer various chats, message boards, and all other tools enabling communication between users3. In the world of social media investments are focused on dialogue and not on advertising materials sent out to members of a given community. Maintaining a dialogue in the social media — gathering active users interested in a given branch, products, services and brands — is a necessary condition for building good relations based on trust. Members of communities are looking for personal ties and these can be established with people, but not with marketing messages, discount vouchers or other objects. People love iPods, but create a community of iPod fans, because they want the feeling of unity with the group of apple brand fans. iPod itself is not an element of ties with members of the community. Users want to know that there are real people behind products and services. They want to have the feeling that representatives of the
www. minib.pl 10 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 company will listen to them, answer their questions and share their experiences. Social websites are a great tool for establishing this type of dialogue and providing information for mem-bers of a community ”We are here and we are real”. The dialogue is constantly in progress. It takes place among other on Twitter, YouTube, message boards, on Digg and StumbleUpon. People love interacting and discuss matters they are interested in. They love talking about the things they have in common and discuss matters they disagree on7. However, it hardly ever happens that one conversation brings an immediate return on investment. It would be very hard to find a person who would go to a shop to buy a new washing machine following a single conversation with someone else. Nowadays, we have access to so many sources of information that an average customer listens to the opinion of his neighbour, later visits a website with opinions written by Internet users and looks for more detailed data that could confirm or disprove his neighbour's opinion. For this reason it is very important to monitor more than one Internet website. Only this way is it possible to identify the paths taken by the dialogues we are interested in. This way we can follow them around the world of social media7. In the middle of 2008 EURO RSCG group asked Poles about their expectations with regard to the way companies communicate. Already back then 89% of surveyed people said that they expect greater openness and dialogue. Social media encourage such communication. Many global brands have taken advantage of the new reality and redefined the way they communicate with the consumers. In the ranking of the most socially involved brands in 2009 the most successful companies were not only those from the high technology sector (iPhone, iTunes, Wii, Apple, Xbox, PlayStation, BlackBerry) but also those which accompany the consumers in their everyday life (Disney, CNN, MTV, NBA, Nike, Starbucks, Adidas). Social media are not an easy environment for brands. Even though the presence of advertisements allows free access to services (46% prefer such solutions rather than paying for their accounts), 49% think that social media lose their atmosphere as soon as companies appear in them. However, it seems that everything depends on the idea for the presence of brands, as at the same time 23% of surveyed people declare that they add brand or company profiles to their friend lists or become their fans. A similar proportion of people encourage their friends to become fans of a brand or adding it to their friend lists. For people taking part in the survey the most important reason for adding a brand to their friend list is their liking for the brand. It is the main motive for 72% of the surveyed. The second reason is the fact that they are customers of a given brand (57%
11 www. minib.pl Inbound Marketing as an integral part of the marketing strategy of a modern enterprises of surveyed people gave this answer). Other reasons are, among others: contests or special offers (42%), receiving direct invitation from a brand/company (37%) and curiosity (36%). Majority of people decide to interact with the profiles of brands or companies on social websites — 43% add comments on the profiles, 16% comment on the materials posted by the company. People participating in the survey expect from the brands present in social media above all access to special offers and information about discounts. This was the answer given by 63% of people. 51% expect access to unique information, which is not published anywhere else, about a half expect updates on the company's or brand's activities. Almost one fifth of the surveyed Internet users have removed a company or a brand from their friend lists at least once or stopped being its fans. Among the mentioned reasons for this move there were: too frequent posts, lack of benefits associated with that, impudence of messages, too much advertising content, disappointment with the company's products, getting bored with the company's activities in the area of social media. The surveyed people are able to enumerate brands which in their opinion meet expectations. What's interesting is that among the mentioned brands there are both the biggest concerns and the activities of small Internet shops or local brands. This confirms — despite limited usage of mobile services — a global trend called hyperlocalism. Social media allow people to find and communicate with local people and companies5. We are witnessing a transformation of our society. Nowadays it is hard to imagine functioning on the Internet without creating any smaller or bigger communities with other people. For this reason communities are such an efficient tool when handled by smart marketing specialists. It is because communities give us the opportunity to get the message across to a large number of recipients in a very short time. Moreover, we can reach recipients who are potentially interested in our products. It is thanks to communities that we can reach many potential customers in a credible and non- invasive manner3. The emergence of content and media generated by users and the opportunity to share it through social websites should make companies realise the existence of the dialogue and lack of control over it. Attempts to take control over the ongoing dialogue can only result in a rebellion of members of a particular community and a terribly bad PR no company would ever like to have. The best mode of conduct in this situation is active participation in all discussions in the community sphere that the company can keep track of.
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Companies cannot allow themselves any more to further ignore the social media sphere or say ”we didn't know”. The impact of contents generated by consumers on the way a particular company is regarded or whether a particular person decides to make a purchase is getting ever greater. This kind of influence doesn't become apparent immediately, but at a certain stage of the decision-making process discussions taking place on social websites certainly have an impact on the final choice. Every day we deal with potential clients who are unwilling to accept the idea of taking up actions in the social media saying that it is because others may start ”saying negative things about them”. For many general directors and corporate level managers this is the biggest problem — they cannot come to terms with the fact that they will be unable to control what is being said about them in the social media sphere. The conviction that it is possible to avoid unfavourable comments by staying away from social websites, is groundless. In the contemporary world of reviews posted online, blog posts, exchange of photographs, a dialogue concerning a particular company is in progress all the time, whether the company participates in it in an active way or not. Companies cannot control either the dialogue itself or the tone of statements which constitute the dialogue — even if they participate in the dialogue. Every business activity is associated with the necessity of facing negative attitude. Even though, we have got used to solving problems with traditional means, for example by resorting to the assistance of a PR company, the contemporary world of social media requires establishing closer ties with customers and addressing both their praise and criticism. A good indicator of new quality in this respect is the speed at which customers can share their experience on the web. Social websites can spread one person's experiences with one company around the globe in a matter of a few seconds. Lack of action in this kind of media may be detrimental for a company and its marketing activities regardless if consumers share their positive or negative experiences. It is obvious that negative experiences may have serious harmful effects, especially when the company is not participating in the dialogue. That's why there is no reason to be afraid of comments posted by users of social networks. It is necessary to know what is happening, understand a particular situation and react to it in an adequate manner7.
Target group in the social media
Most companies know quite well who belongs to their target group. Farreaching research projects identifying people who buy products of a particular company and the reasons why they do so are being carried out. This knowledge helps companies
13 www. minib.pl Inbound Marketing as an integral part of the marketing strategy of a modern enterprises formulate ever better marketing strategies and messages adapted to the needs of particular recipients. This in turn raises the chances for achieving the desired reaction. Marketing message prepared in every detail is targeted at a selected demographic group, which according to the company shows most interest in its offer7.
Non-invasive approach in social media
One of the most important reasons why users accept the presence of brands in social media is the fact that contents presented by these companies are non-invasive. Obviously, there are exceptions to that, because not every company acts in a non- invasive manner and not every social platform provides adequate tools for advertising. Lack of sufficient tools on a particular social website often makes compa-nies resort to invasive advertising, which is unacceptable for the users. A good example here is Facebook, which allows companies to create their own profiles. Users can become fans of a particular company and follow its activities and published contents. Users themselves want to participate in the life of a given company, which creates strong ties between the company and the users. This has nothing to do with traditional advertising, where the user is bombarded with contents he wants to skip as fast as possible3. As the results of a survey carried out by Euro RSCG show, the surveyed people regard themselves as independent thinkers (85%), who often are the first to try out new things (41%) and are asked for recommendations and advice in many areas (68%). However, at the same time they emphasize that they don't belong to a group of people following the latest trends (45%). at the same time they are eager to share both positive and negative experiences associated with a brand, product or service — three quarters of the surveyed people do so5. In the same survey people clearly show that they don't believe that much in messages received from the traditional media: less than 1/5 of the surveyed trust in messages received from this source. Adver-tisement conveyed by the traditional media is not convincing for them either5. In the decision-making process concerning purchases people depend mostly on recommendations from their friends (3 of the surveyed people, 46% from Internet friends). In case of Internet-based sources people put most trust in price comparison websites (59% of the surveyed trust them), as well as in search engine results and posts on message boards (51%). People also trust (46%) in recommendations of experts posted on their blogs or on social websites. at the same time they pay least attention
www. minib.pl 14 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 to advertisements posted in social media. Only 11 pct of the surveyed people trust them [5]. That's why it is necessary to remember that one of the main goals of actions in social networks is providing users with some value. The users appreciate non- invasive approach, because they them-selves take action3. It is non-invasive approach that is the key to success in building adequate relations with users. It makes no sense to forcefully enter the lives of particular users through social media. It is necessary to provide the recipients with a value that will encourage them to visit and follow our profile, because everything is based on the foundation of providing the user with a value. Value is one of the most important factors associated with the creation of content — this is what determines whether members of Internet-based communities want to establish and maintain relations. When you deal with a member of an involved community, the most reasonable gift may be something non-material. For such a group of people interesting content may often be more valuable than the offered products. Contents may become a valuable commodity in Internet communities actively interested in a particular brand, products or services. It is associated with the fact that members of a community who have already got to know these contents want to share these experiences with others. Content is not only about texts posted on websites, even though such publication is undoubtedly one of the simplest ways to deliver potentially valuable content to the members of a community. Videos, photos and podcasts also constitute great content. above all, it is necessary to understand that what is crucial is that the content has to be regarded as valuable by the recipient and not the sender7.
Credibility in social media
Long history of presence in social networks makes company more credible and trustworthy. Trust grows even more through contact with users. Regular activity in social networks and positive presentation to users boosts trust3. Presence in communities makes people more willing to trust in what a company has to offer and as a result they are more willing to spend money. Thanks to social websites it is possible to establish a relation with consumers on an entirely different level through direct contact. This allows companies to obtain from users valuable information concerning the functioning of companies, products and their services. Thanks to individual approach it is possible to solve the problems of particular entities. Users are grateful for that and express their gratitude in public.
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Customers often have various ideas for improving what a particular company can offer. However, they themselves are not eager to send messages on that matter. Social websites enable rapid exchange of information between a company and its potential clients. A good example for that is Dell, which came in for a lot of criticism in 2005 and 2006. The wave of criticism was initiated by a blogger — Jeff Jarvis — who highlighted shortcomings in the client service office and criticised the way Dell used to process customers' complaints. Dell's reaction to these accusations turned into a real success. Dell transformed its shortcomings into advantages by launching a company blog and a system which monitored opinions appearing in social media. Dell implemented IdeaStorm and Direct2Dell programs, which allowed clients to submit their complaints and notices directly to the company. Thanks to this the company raised the quality of offered services and boosted clients' satisfac-tion. ”It was a factor and a catalyst which made us start listening to what the blogosphere has to say” — John Pope representing Dell company said3.
Reach in social media
Everything we know now has originated from an idea — an idea how to improve communication over long distances, how to light up the darkness, how to get from point A to point B faster. If we hadn't had these ideas, if someone hadn't implemented them, we would probably still be living in caves and we would still be spending our time hunting and gathering food. People develop thanks to ideas and com-munities develop thanks to following and implementing these ideas. Every day hundreds of Internet users come up with various ideas they share with other users of social networks who share their point of view. Before Internet message boards and discussion groups emerged, informing others about a new idea on a global scale was very hard. Nowadays all it takes to share an idea with the rest of the world in a matter of a fraction of a second is to post it on a message board. Thanks to this form of spreading ideas, cultures, communities and individuals find it easier and easier to implement their ideas, because other members of the community are constantly improving them. Members of online communities don't limit themselves to just sharing their experiences and feelings — they also share their knowledge. It is easiest to observe this process on message boards and in discussion groups. This process is usually headed by leaders of particular communities. They are the users who have been participating in a particular group for a long time and have huge knowledge in a particular area. They
www. minib.pl 16 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 are eager to help any user and provide him with advice and support. Traditional marketing didn't give much room for sharing or two-way exchange of information. Television, radio and press are all one-way means of communication, which allow companies to direct a particular message at the recipients. In fact, companies could not find out what their customers were thinking and in what way they used their products and services in everyday life. Before the onset of social media companies couldn't participate in the conversations of their consumers concerning their brands, products and services. The emergence of social websites has changed this situation completely. Now, marketing specialists can listen, gather information and even participate in an active way in the dialogue. Unfortunately, representatives of the traditional advertising agencies still find it hard to come to terms with these facts. Members of Internet-based communities share both good and bad experiences. If one of the users has bad experiences associated with contact with a company or with using a particular product, he will probably inform other Internet users about that. This way he will try to warn others and thus protect them against similarly negative experiences. People active in the social media sphere want to share, because this way they sacrifice a part of themselves for a good cause. Most of them regard this as a source of huge satisfaction and feeling of fulfillment. They want to establish relations with people who desire the same things. In fact, they don't want to interact with some ”institution”, for example with a name of a company. Members of Internet communities want to establish relations with people constituting a particular company. They want to offer a part of themselves to another person. This might be a story about how a certain product sold by some company changed their life or how some service made them happy — the most important thing is that they want to share this story directly with a human and not with the name of a company or a banner on the wall of the company's headquarters. Internet communities expect that a particular company will share information — not only about the way a particular product is manufactured or about improvements it is going to introduce next year. They want to learn something about the people behind a particular company. This means that companies have to present its human side to the recipients, because Internet communities have to share their experiences with people7. Social websites allow reaching a broad group of recipients through creation of various actions and promotional campaigns. For this purpose viral marketing or whisper marketing can be used. It depends on the creativity of a particular company what tools
17 www. minib.pl Inbound Marketing as an integral part of the marketing strategy of a modern enterprises offered by social websites it will use. Presence on social websites paves the way towards potential business partners and as a result creates the opportunity for cooperation with another company or clients.
Public institutions in social media
More and more organizations of various kinds start realizing the opportunities provided by social media. The general importance of social media and strategies applied in social media depend on a large extent on the kind of organization and its approach to marketing, client activation, risk and following the latest trends. The utilization of these media also determines access to various assets, the kind of employees, pace of action and tasks that have to be carried out. Employees and managers of public institutions from all over the world start appreciating the benefits and possibilities provided by the utilization of social media in the sphere, which up till now has been do-minated by traditional communication channels. This is happening for reasons which have already been discussed: immediate communication, low costs, wide reach, possibility of fixing potential mistakes etc. Among some demographic groups social media are as widespread as electronic mail. All of this contri-butes to the attractiveness of social media, especially in societies where people's technical competence is high. The concept of e-administration was created in response to the above-mentioned conditions. Now is the best time for public institutions to deal with social media. This is determined by several factors: z Maturity of social media technologies and Web 2.0. Facebook, Twitter and other social media tech-nologies are competing with each other and are now starting to strengthen their positions. Thus, the risk associated with utilization of these tools is now getting smaller. z growing pressure on modernization of administration. Decision-makers are starting to hear stories that the utilization of social media in the private sector allows companies to cut expenses and raise revenues. This encourages them to transfer these solutions to the public sector. z Prospects for reduction of spending. Appropriate application of new technologies may lead to substantial reduction of costs of promotion and communication. z barack obama's success in presidential elections. It could be said that the 44th president of the United States is the first president elected through social networks, where millions of people were encouraged to vote for him.
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What's interesting is that administrative practice hasn't got used to the reality of social media, assi-gning tasks to open groups of volunteers and creation of content by users themselves yet. For example, many public bodies don't allow their employees to write blogs, as they are afraid that such posts may be regarded as an official statement of a particular institution, which would have to face the resulting legal consequences. Looking at many such situations it is possible to understand that people responsible for regulating these issues are not really trying to stop progress, but want to balance risks and benefits. At the same time they want to reduce potential undesired effects as much as possible. Anyway, a serious disadvantage of social media is the inability to completely separate private life from professional life. Achieving this requires a great deal of effort. Thus, which public projects can be supported with Facebook and other social media? Let's have a look at what NASA has done to its presence on Facebook. It has managed to gain thousands of fans who regularly receive updates concerning current events, articles, photographs and other information concerning aeronautics and space science. NASA also shares various links to other Internet and social media sources of information and uses its Boxes tab for stimulating discussion and providing users with resources from the official NASA. gov website, which are buried deep or for some reason are hard to find. However, the most interesting measure is providing channels on Twitter, which allow users to receive current data concerning activities of real astronauts. In Poland a good example of utilization of elements of Web 2.0 is Instytut Lotnictwa (Institute of Avia-tion). The entity with a status of a research and development institution runs quite advanced activities on such social websites as Facebook, MySpace or YouTube. Moreover, it has an entry in Wikipedia. Many people interested in and identifying themselves with the branch comment on the information posted on these websites. The published information covers current activities of the institute and interesting facts associated with the aerospace branch. The goal of this large-scale campaign conducted by Instytut Lotnictwa is the presentation of the institute's scientific achievements and the most important events in the activities of the institute, not only on a local level but also on an international level. Thus, this campaign is an important element of promotion of the institute. Public bodies can also use social networks as a platform for supporting communication between people. A good example of that is the fan page of US Air Force. The default tab is the Wall, where people from all around the world can write about their liking for the Air Force of the United States or for their friends and relatives who serve there. What's interesting is that currently the Air Force has two fan pages. It
19 www. minib.pl Inbound Marketing as an integral part of the marketing strategy of a modern enterprises seems that one of them is maintained by the Pentagon and the other one was established at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. One of them is more interactive and the other one has more resources. One institution — two official pages on Facebook. Nobody has ever said it is easy to coordinate activities, nor has anyone ever said social media strengthen friendships4.
Conclusion
The supreme principle of inbound marketing is to identify and to take into account the needs of the customer and thus meet his expectations by providing the customer with reliable message. A message as defined by inbound marketing is the strength. The message is distributed in the Internet, which irreversibly changed the way in which we are looking for and absorbing content. Universal access to information shows us that the times of market unawareness are gone for good. Today, we are able compare prices of any group of products or services within a short period of time. Therefore, access to these global capabilities requires more effective marketing strategies such as inbound marketing. By shaping the new order of corporate operations, such strategies outline the directions of effective customer acquisition, appropriate for the times.1 In the pre-Internet era companies didn't have to be afraid of the impact of external forces (such as clients or even employees) on their activities in the area of PR, marketing or advertising. Marketing activities were conducted in isolation — a team of specialists took care of preparing the image of brands and messages associated with products and services of a company, consumers only received these messages. Back then marketing was a separated process. In this respect companies relied on own specialists or agencies from Madison Avenue. They ordered them to research demographic groups, identify their preferences and formulate appropriate messages. Nobody thought that consumers and employees not associated with marketing could have anything to say in the area of brands. The onset of the Internet and the emergence of the social media sphere has brought about a change in all rules governing the world of PR, marketing and advertising. It turned out not only that the consumer can voice his opinion, but also that employees from divisions other than marketing have become spontaneous spokesmen of their employers7. In the last five years social websites transformed from a rather slow means of communication for students, to an area where people will in the future exchange information and where our off-line lives will go online. The scale of transformation of
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Internet entrepreneurship which took place thanks to Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other means of social communication is incredible4. Social media change the rules of communication between companies and their recipients and clients — nowadays companies have to learn to listen and establish direct relations with representatives of their target groups. The world of social media consists of many different elements. It is necessary to learn to deal with each of these elements. The activities of the Internet community are not limited just to Facebook and Twitter — social media are much more than marketing specialists and directors of companies usually imagine. In order to achieve success it is necessary to understand that recipients and clients don't necessarily have to be located where people dealing with contact with media think they are (that is, for example on Facebook or Twitter). Moreover, social media are subject to constant changes. Websites like Facebook may become like Friendster of Myspace tomorrow. The functioning of Internet communities to some extent resembles high and low tides. To a large extent they depend on the involvement of particular members and their willingness to sacrifice their own time. It sometimes happens that users of a particular website conclude it makes no sense to participate in a particular community any more. They leave then and the community goes through a rough patch. Some of them are able to recover from that, some are not. It is exactly for this reason that it is necessary to prepare flexible strategies of action in social media and constantly monitor and analyze the dialogues between recipients, at the same time paying attention to the location of the dialogue4.
Bibliography 1. Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah, Inbound marketing, daj się poznać w Google, serwisach społecnosciowych i na blogu, Onepress, 2010. 2. http://www.inbound-marketing.pl/informacje/ 3. Arkadiusz Podlaski, Marketing społecznościowy, tajniki skutecznej promocji w Social Media, Helion, 2011. 4. Chris Treadaway, Mari Smith, Godzina dziennie z Facebook marketingiem, Helion, 2010. 5. Publikacja KNOW: Konsument w mediach społecznościowych, EURO RSCG WORLDWIDE/Edycja Polska, edition 2. 6. http://www.fejsik.pl/Kiedy-liczba-uzytkownikow-Facebooka-przekroczy-miliard-Wiemy-to-a1741 7. Liana ”Li” Evans, Social Media Marketing, Odkryj potencjał Facebooka, Twittera i innych portali społecznościowych, Helion, 2011. 8. Rand Fishkin, Thomas Hogenhaven, Inbound Marketing and SEO: Insights from the SEOmoz Blog, John Wiley & Sons, 2013. 9. Nick Pateman, Dan Holt, Inbound Marketing, bookboon.com, 2013. 10. Dave Chaffey, PR Smith, Emarketing Excellence: Planning and Optimizing your Digital Marketing, Routledge, 2012. 11. Marcus Sheridan, Inbound and Content Marketing Made Easy, The Sales Lion, 2012.
21 www. minib.pl Inbound Marketing as an integral part of the marketing strategy of a modern enterprises
12. Michael E. Porter, Competitive Advantage, Free Press, 2004. 13. PR Smith, Ze Zook, Marketing Communications: Integrating Offline and Online with Social Media, Kogan Page,2011. 14. Hugh Taylor, B2B Technology Marketing, Taylor Market Intelligence, Inc., 2013. 15. Judy Strauss, Raymond Frost, E-marketing, Pearson, 2013. 16. Christopher Ryan, Nate Warren and Gail Carson, Winning B2B Marketing: Proven Methods that Drive Revenue, Leads and Awareness, Fusion Marketing Press, 2014. 17. Paul Burns, Corporate Entrepreneurship: Innovation and Strategy in Large Organizations, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
Websites z http://www.inbound-marketing.pl/informacje/ z http://www.fejsik.pl/Kiedy-liczba-uzytkownikow-Facebooka-przekroczy-miliard-Wiemy-to-a1741
Witold Świeczak, M. Sc. Eng. — MA, engineer, graduate of Environmental Protection at the Faculty of Energy and Environmental Engineering of the Silesian University of Technology. He works for the Institute of Aviation in the department of marketing as a project manager. He deals with analyzing research market and the aerospace sector. He is specialized in inbound, content and lead marketing. Moreover, he manages guerilla and ambient marketing activities as well as charitable activities of the Institute of Aviation. He is responsible for the activities of Corporate Social Responsibility.
www. minib.pl 22 CROWDFUNDING AND NEW TRENDS IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Open Access MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2
CROWDFUNDING AND NEW TRENDS IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Joanna Pieniążek, MSc. Institute of Aviation, Poland e-mail: [email protected] DOI: 10.14611/minib.12.02.2014.10
Summary
This paper discusses crowdfunding and how it affects consumer behaviour. Crowdfunding contributes to the support and development of interesting products and services. Consumers have become not only the recipients but also co-creators of new products. The changes also apply to the consumption model. So far, the customer has received product already formed by the manufacturers. Now, the customer may pre-order the product via a crowdfunding site, by financially supporting the manufacturing process of the product. Online community which the consumer belongs to has the power to market the products which might never be created or would be created after a long period of time. It may also have influence on their appearance and functionality. The purpose of this article is to present the phenomenon of crowdfunding and an attempt at defining consumer attitudes related to the new model of funding, promotion and sale of products online. The article provides an overview of the literature on the subject and an analysis of selected crowdfunding sites.
Keywords: crowdfunding, venture capital, business angels, fundraising, presumerism, castomization
3 www. minib.pl Crowdfunding and new trends in consumer behaviour
Introduction
Crowdfunding has opened new opportunities to creators who up till now, in order to raise funds for starting production and sales of their products and services, had to seek support from financial institutions, business angels, or count on help of friends and family. Services which provide the possibility to raise funds for innovative projects have enjoyed strong popularity for a few years already. These platforms are a place where the Internet community can contribute in such a simple way to the creation and development of many interesting products and services for the very first time. What draws attention is how crowdfunding has changed attitudes among consumers. Involvement in shaping new products, direct contact with the creators and additional gratifications for financial support have transformed the consumer from a passive observer to co-creator and tester of unique products unavailable to the general public. The goal of this article is presenting the types of crowdfunding and an attempt to define consumer attitudes associated with the new model of financing, promotion and selling products on the Internet.
Definitions of crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is a fund-raiser carried out on an Internet portal, where authors of project concepts can seek financial support from the community. Due to the fact that crowdfunding is quite a recent phenomenon in the Internet community, it hasn't been thoroughly discussed in scientific publications yet — especially in Poland. Thus, there is no exhaustive description of the terminology yet. Referring to already published papers devoted to crowdfunding, the definition worked out by Karol Król is worth mentioning here. According to the definition, crowdfunding is a ”kind of collection and allocation of capital provided for the purpose of developing a particular venture in exchange for particular return arrangements, which involves a broad group of capital-providers and is characterized by the utilization of ICT technologies, lower entry barrier and better transaction terms than the terms generally available on the market”1. This definition specifies the notion of community, which is formed by capital-providers and describes the character of crowdfunding as a kind of allocation
www. minib.pl 4 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 of assets for the purpose of gaining particular return arrangements. The creator of the definition also points to the positive aspect of crowdfunding, which is characterized by better transaction terms than the terms generally available on the market. Thus, it is possible to compare crowdfunding to an investment in which shareholders are all those who support a project — even with just a small amount of money — in return for a benefit offered by the creators. The strength of this kind of financing comes from the community, whose involvement can lead to the implementation of a given project. In his work, Karol Król refers to other definitions, which specify the characteristics of crowdfunding. Schwienbacher and Larralde cited in Król's work point out that ”(…) crowdfunding functions without agents: the entrepreneur »touches the crowd« by raising money directly from particular individuals”2. Another definition, formed by Lambert and Schwienbacher says that ”crowdfunding (…) is supposed to raise financial assets in form of a grant, or in exchange for some kind of reward and/or voting rights, in order to support a particular initiative”3. The authors of these definitions point to further characteristic traits of crowdfunding: first of all, lack of intermediaries. Crowdfunding in its essence assumes direct (this is not regarded as meeting face to face) contact between someone looking for funds and people who can support a particular project. Not without reason the phrase that the ”entrepreneur »touches the crowd«”4 is used here. The revolution that happened thanks to the creation of social media — crowdfunding services established later can be classified as social media — opened new opportunities in business. Potential provider of capital, as Karol Król calls him, has a chance to establish contact — by means of an Internet service — with the creator, or creators of a project without the need to meet in real world outside the Internet. At the same time, the contact is fast and guarantees reaching the creators directly. It is necessary to remark here that the word ”intermediary” can be an insufficiently precise term, as above all the platform where the creator and capital-provider meet — crowdfunding service — serves the function of an intermediary. However, it is possible to rule out that the creators of such a service are intermediaries, as their function is limited to maintenance and administration, as well as promotional activities. The second feature distinguishing crowdfunding is the fact that financial assets are provided in form of grants, or in exchange for some form of reward and/or right to vote in order to support a particular initiative5. Thus, supporting a project is usually associated with the payment of any amount of money, which helps finance
5 www. minib.pl Crowdfunding and new trends in consumer behaviour a particular product. Creators often try to provide their supporters with a kind of return arrangement eg. in form of a good present with a logo of the project, or additional functions in a given product (e.g. a game)6. Voting right also known as „crowd voting” involves allowing members of a community to actively participate in the process of creation of a product and influencing its final shape. This is an important feature of crowdfunding mainly due to the fact that it strengthens involvement in a particular project. Jeff Howe in his book titled ”Crowdsourcing. Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business” points to a simple rule: out of 100 people — 1% will create something valuable, 10% will vote and assess the proposals they are presented with and the remaining 89% will consume the product7. For those 10% Howe mentioned, the very act of voting and assessing the proposed content is a kind of ”act of creation”8, which is associated with a real impact on the final shape of a product. Talking about definitions, it is worth pointing here to a term similar to ”crowdfunding”, which may appear in some works as a broader description of a phenomenon which includes crowdfunding. The term is ”crowdsourcing”. It is a composition of two words — ”crowd” meaning community, group and ”outsourcing”, that is, assigning a given piece of work to other entities9. An example of ”crowdsourcing” is Wikipedia, which exists mainly thanks to the involvement of a community in the process of its creation.10 People associated with the Wikipedia movement can be both co-creators of entries and can support the project financially. To sum it up, ”crowdsourcing” can mean both the process of obtaining work and financing from a community11, at the same time ”crowdfunding” focuses clearly just on actions aimed at raising funds from the Internet community for a particular project.
Types of crowdfunding
In crowdfunding a few models can be distinguished, depending on the type of benefits that the creator wants to offer to his supporters and depending on the character of fund-raisers. The first model is reward-based financing12. This is the most common form of crowdfunding, which resembles advance sales13. Providers of financial support, in case the project is carried out, receive a reward in form of eg. dinner with the creator14. In this model it is possible to distinguish two extreme
www. minib.pl 6 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 approaches: ”all or nothing” and ”take it all”. The first approach is based on the assumption that a project, in order to be carried out, has to collect the amount of money set by the creators — if the defined amount is not collected, the money is returned to the people providing support. In the second approach, the creator gets as much money, as he can raise during the whole fund-raiser. It seems that both for creators and supporters the ”all or nothing” approach is better. This is above all because the creator, thanks to adequate preparation for the fund-raiser can raise the amount of money that will allow him to carry out a project — which is a profit for him. However, in case of failure, the supporters don't lose anything. The creator has to evaluate his project well and properly estimate the time needed to raise a particular amount. This requires thorough preparation, both from the perspective of business (project evaluation) and from the perspective of promotion (so that the fund-raiser goes well and so that it is possible to attract support and financing). The second approach, that is, ”take it all”, may be risky, as the collected amount of money may be insufficient to carry out a project and the supporters may be unable to get the money back even in a situation where the project isn't carried out15. The second model of crowdfunding is equity-based funding16. People supporting a project, receive shares in a company in return for grants17. This resembles searching for the Internet ”business angels”, who in return for supporting a project with a particular amount of money become company's partners. This model is used mainly in case of risky ventures, which can bring greater profits. Another crowdfunding model is so-called social lending and microfinance18. Micro loans have been popularized by the founder of Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunus, whose organization was awarded Nobel Peace Prize for its activity. Grameen Bank and later many imitators, such as kiva.org (prepared to grant loans over the Internet) based their activity on providing micro loans for people who would normally get no financial support from any bank — that is, the poorest people19. The last model of crowdfunding are grants. In this model the supporters get no gratification, but support socially beneficial initiatives20. Short description of crowdfunding models shows how broad the scope of ventures supported by means of the Internet is: from business projects to socially important initiatives. Crowdfunding carried out based on each of these models is supposed to facilitate the flow of capital to projects and people who normally couldn't count on support, or would have to wait too long to get it.
7 www. minib.pl Crowdfunding and new trends in consumer behaviour
Crowdfunding and other models of financing
The phenomenon of crowdfunding has become a breakthrough on the market, which under the traditional model was limited to big business and banks. The domination of these entities has recently been undermined by the power of Internet community. The greater the support of the community, the greater the chance to secure financing — even in case of innovative projects which are usually associated with huge capital risk and projects which due to their specifics, or niche character require substantial funding. Up till now, financing any project was associated with bank loan, attracting investors, or getting support from a big concern, which would take an adequately high commission for helping to gain foothold on the market. One of the best examples of this process are the changes that have taken place on the music market — publishing a record used to be associated with signing a contract with a record company. Thanks to crowdfunding it has become possible to break the monopoly of big concerns, which base their business decisions on cold financial calculations. In this situation niche projects with product characteristics failing to satisfy commercial requirements and which could bring no profits, despite spending on production and promotion, used to be rejected. However, large group of people who in the contemporary world can create a force that can challenge the power of big players, are not afraid of such things. The scale of changes that took place upon the onset of the era of crowdfunding is apparent in juxtaposition with the opportunities that all entrepreneurs, artists and other social groups trying to obtain cash injections for their projects used to have. For the purpose of this work three characteristic models of financing have been distinguished: z venture capital, z business angels, z fundraising.
Venture capital, according to the definition of the Polish Private Equity and Venture Capital Association involves ”investments carried out at early stages of development of companies serving the establishment, or expansion of a particular company”21. This kind of financing usually supports ”the development of new products and technologies”22. It also involves acquiring a package of shares in
www. minib.pl 8 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 a company, which makes the fund, or an investor a partner of the supported company23. Venture capital financing often involves investors called ”business angels”. According to the definition of Lewiatan Business Angels, they support mainly ”start- ups”, that is, ventures in the first stage of development and invest not only their money, but also knowledge, contacts, experience and business experience24. As opposed to venture capital, business angel offers „individual involvement in a venture and cooperation with the creator on current activities and development of a company”25. However, raising funds for a project from these two sources is neither easy, nor always beneficial for the beginner entrepreneurs. What may be hard is the very process of reaching the decision-making people and later convincing them that a given venture can be profitable. In case of crowdfunding, everybody can be an investor. It is also important that people supporting a project in the system of crowdfunding, don't need to have big amounts of money at their disposal. In case of this model, support involves gathering enough people around a project in order to collect the amount of money defined by the creators. However, it is impossible to rule out a situation in which a bigger investor appears in a service devoted to crowdfunding — this is possible due to the diversity of types of financing within crowdfunding itself. A solution related to venture capital and the activity of business angels is the type of equity-based crowdfunding, which was discussed above. The rules remain unchanged — in return for financial support the creator of a project obliges himself to reward the supporter with shares in his company. However, the main difference is on the practical side — it is the investor who finds a project and not the other way round. Dynamic development of crowdfunding makes it possible for creators to be optimistic about the future. However, in this model the creator has to distinguish himself from many other projects on the same portal. Fundraising is a model of raising funds usually associated with charitable organizations and means collecting money for non-profit purposes. According to the definition of the Polish Fundraising Association, this model is based on ”planned, ethical and efficient fund raising, which is supposed to serve common good”26. Most often the funds are collected for charitable purposes, or other socially beneficial purposes. In this model it is important to establish relations with the donor, or sponsor who could support an important social (public) cause. Over the recent years fundraising has been associated mainly with activities outside the Internet. However, just as in case of other social initiatives, already now it is possible
9 www. minib.pl Crowdfunding and new trends in consumer behaviour to find on the Internet portals associated with fundraising, among others: Fundraise.com, causevox.com, or fundy.com27. However, these are portals used mainly by organizations and professional ”fund raisers”. The first fundraising service was JustGiving.com, which was launched in the year 200028. The founder of the service calculated that ”raising USD100 in real world costs USD 25 and on the Internet it costs just a few Dollars”29. Operating on the Internet means not only savings for foundations, but also expanding their reach. What up till now boiled down to phone conversation, letters, or meetings, could have an incredibly strong influence under the current conditions. Thanks to presence on the Internet, organizations are able to raise funds much faster. What is also important is that donating money is easy, which contributes to the success of many fund-raisers. E-charity has yet one more advantage — socialization. This is associated with the fact that Internet donors become ambassadors of a given cause and efficiently support fund- raisers thanks to their own contacts. What has also become easier is sharing information about financial support for a good cause and encouraging friends to support the cause. Thanks to moving to the Internet, fundraising has gained new opportunities and tools supporting the involvement of the community. Raising funds from a community is a trait that fundraising has in common with crowdfunding. However, it is necessary to emphasize that only one type of crowdfunding — donation — has similar goals as fundraising. Support model remains the same in both cases — the supporter decides to donate a particular amount for a given purpose without expecting any return arrangement. Crowdfunding combines the characteristics of the financing models described above. On portals devoted to crowdfunding it is possible to finance a project in return for shares in a company, become a business angel of some kind of Internet project and support social action of some organization, or make a donation for a person in need.
Portals associated with crowdfunding
One of the most recognizable crowdfunding portals in the world is Kickstarter. com. According to statistics, up till now the portal has helped collect almost a billion Dollars for over 57,000 projects30. Financed projects are associated with such areas as: art, dance, design, fashion, movies, videos, food, games, music, photography, publishing, technology and theatre. These are areas in which it is now possible to obtain financing on all other crowdfunding portals. A similar portal, but with a much smaller reach is Indiegogo. com, which was launched in 200731.
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The above-mentioned crowdfunding services are based on a similar model of operation. In order to be able to collect money, the petitioner has to register at a portal and launch a campaign promoting his project. In case of the ”all or nothing” model, as long as money is not collected, portals don't charge any commission. Both portals support their users by providing them with tools useful in promoting projects — they are combined with the social media. Both Kickstarter and Indiegogo recommend their users to connect with Facebook, in order to be able to monitor, whether our friends are supporting some projects and so that our friends can obtain such information about us. What distinguishes the two portals is associated with the target group and the terms of financing. Kickstarter portal is available only for users from the USA, Canada and Great Britain32. At the same time Indiegogo is available for users from the whole world33. Another difference is in the model used by each of the portals. Kickstarter allows only ”all or nothing” type of financing, at the same time, Indiegogo allows both ”all or nothing” and ”take it all” (in case of the second type of financing the portal charges commission)34. Also the types of payment used by the two portals are different — Kickstarter uses Amazon Payments and Indiegogo.com uses Paypal35. Another crowdfunding portal recognized around the world is Kiva. org, which was established in 2005 by Matt Flannery and Jessica Jackley36. This is a service which allows users to provide each other with micro-loans (social lending). They are a huge chance for people without credit rating — in a normal bank. They provide them with economic freedom that they wouldn't experience even if their country took out huge loans, or received international aid. Even though there is no collateral for micro-loans, it is estimated that the ratio of unpaid loans is just a few percent.37 On the Kiva.org portal up to 98%38 of loans are being paid back. Such high ratio can be traced back to the fact that borrowers are checked by local partners of the service (non-profit organizations, or companies39), which verify people applying for loans in terms of their credit history, reputation in the community in which they live and the purpose of loan40. If the verification process is positive, local partner posts a request for loan on the Kiva.org portal — later, users of the service can provide financial support. The next step is providing the borrower with money by means of a local partner. The last stage is paying back the loan. What is noteworthy is the fact that returned money can go back to another person in need41. Currently, the total value of all granted loans is 535,925,150 Dollars42.
11 www. minib.pl Crowdfunding and new trends in consumer behaviour
What makes microfinancing model different from a typical crowdfunding model is that the money goes back to the supporter. The risk that loan won't be paid back obviously exists, but it is minimized by the network of local partners, who personally check each person. In case of financing commercial projects, the supporting person invests money in exchange for other non-material value provided by the creator of a product, service, or the possibility to make advance purchase. The main risk is that the supported project may not be successful, or may not be carried out at all. In the second case the risk is limited in the ”all or nothing” model — if the creator doesn't manage to collect all funds in the assumed time, the money is returned to the donors. In Poland there are also crowdfunding portals. Among them are the following: z wspieram.to — ”all or nothing” financing, z polakpotrafi.pl — ”all or nothing” financing, z beesfund.com — equity-based financing, z siepomaga.pl — financing in form of donations.
Wspieram. to is a portal often called ”Polish Kickstarter”43, which functions based on the ”all or nothing” model. Similarly, as in case of the biggest crowdfunding services, wspieram. to helps its users promote their projects also in social media44. According to the data delivered by the portal, in the first year of operation (the portal was launched in 2012) a total of PLN 282,310 was collected for all projects45. Almost 1/3 of all projects were successful and this way 29 concepts received support46. There were 4702 supporters who provided an average of PLN 75 — the biggest individual donation amounted to PLN 10,00047. On average, projects at wspieram. to achieve 128% of the assumed amount48. However, the biggest Polish crowdfunding portal is Polakpotrafi. pl, which is the first and the biggest platform of this kind in Poland. It is based on non-equity based financing in the ”all or nothing” model. By now over 700 projects have been financed through the portal and users of the service have paid almost PLN 2 million — record-breaking donation for a single project amounted to PLN 97,87749. Beesfund. com is the first crowdfunding platform in Poland which resorts to equity-based model — the creator ”in return for money can offer shares in a company, or other property rights. This makes it possible to carry out projects with much greater budgets”50. Also Beesfund. com was established based on equity-based financing — creators of the portal offered shares in the portal for sale51.
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In Poland the best known charitable portal associated with crowdfunding is Siepomaga.pl. This is a platform where Internet users raise funds to finance treatment or help for ill, poor, or disabled people. The platform is run by Siepomaga foundation, which cooperates with non-governmental organizations running charitable and pro-community activity. By means of the portal the organizations raise funds for their beneficiaries. Apart from an Internet portal, the foundation also runs a Facebook page to take advantage of the power of community. One of characteristic actions carried out by Siepomaga.pl is encouraging users to share information about support for a particular person. This involves clicking the photograph of a person in need, in order to be transferred to payment platform. Next the person shares information about support on its profile in order to encourage as many people as possible to do the same. According to estimates, this way many action attracted up to 400–700 likes a day52. By the middle of February 2014 people in need received support worth more than PLN 9 million. 800 charitable actions were carried out and the community is formed by more than 100,000 so-called „helpers” — these are both donors registered in the portal and anonymous donors53. Polish crowdfunding portals presented above have been present on the Internet for a few years already. Such portals as Siepomaga.pl, or Polakpotrafi.pl, enjoy huge interest, as they are able to gather many supporters around their projects. However, in Poland it is hard to distinguish one portal as a leader, such as Kickstarter. Poles are eager to support projects of the charitable kind and services based on ”all or nothing model” dominate among other kinds of services.
New trends in consumer behaviour
Internet communities to an ever greater extent make themselves independent from not only the messages, but also the goods offered by big companies. Representatives of these communities create products characterized by better customization, or adjustment to the buyer's needs. The traditional path associated with introducing a product to the market required passing through several stages: from concept, through prototype, preliminary tests, market research to launching sales. Each of these stages, especially in big companies, requires particular course of action and time of implementation. Thus, most often it takes many months to launch a new product to the market, in order to comply with all procedures and standards of conduct. However, even most meticulous preparations can end up with a disaster for a company — especially if consumers eventually fail to recognize the value of the product.
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The changes that have come along with the growth of popularity of crowdfunding portals have revolutionized the approach to clients and the process of creating and launching new product. Currently, clients are willing to financially support a product they haven't had a chance to even touch. They buy a product already at the stage production, relying on advertising slogans, good-looking visual presentations, attracted by benefits offered by creators in exchange for support. They become the so-called presumers, or consumers of products, which will be available on pre-order. Presumers are motivated by the need to get a product earlier than others (firstism). This gives them the sense of uniqueness and raises their social status. They belong to a community, which buys innovative, unique products, which — what is most important — are not yet available to the general public. The value of novelty and exclusivity is not everything that attracts the attention of presumers. What has also changed is the relation between the producer and the client. In crowdfunding the client has become an active participant of the production process, by sharing his remarks with the producer (in the online mode), who can improve his product even before it takes its final shape. Investing his money in a product which hasn't been created yet or developed, the client has also become a kind of business partner — even though he doesn't always have a real Chance to influence decisions associated with management (unless he invests in the equity-based model). Undoubtedly, partner relations between the client and the producer influence the quality and adjustment of a product, which leads to satisfaction of both sides.
Presumerism
Presumerism is a new trend which is closely related to crowdfunding. It involves supporting products at the stage of creation and pre-ordering them. An interesting analysis of this phenomenon can be found in the report of the Trendwatching. com portal from 201354. According to a thesis contained in the report, consumers love buying products and services which are still at the stage of a concept. There is a fashion which involves treating crowdfunding as new shopping centres, where the consumer demands most innovative, exciting and unique products, as well as better treatment than anywhere else from an army of entrepreneurs and start-up founders. According to the authors of the report, there are a few factors which support this trend. First of all, the influence of the global brain on consumer behaviour. Thanks to the existence of project financing platforms everyone has a chance to present to the
www. minib.pl 14 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 community his products, which will be tested by the community already in the pre-production phase. This makes it possible to improve a product and adapt it to the expectations of consumers (the so-called customization). Whereas in the traditional model companies looked for inspiration among their clients and only later presented the final product, right now the relations of demand and supply are almost simultaneous: product is being adapted to the expectations and needs of the client at the same time. Second thing, the emergence of the so-called perfect market, or situation in which clients receive products they wouldn't be able to get from traditional production. These are eg. niche products, which would normally be unprofitable. Additionally, clients can submit their remarks to creators and thanks to that the final product is adapter to their requirements. Third thing, creation of trust between the creator and the client. The client trusts the creator that he will deliver a product, or service as promised. Even if for some reason the creator doesn't keep his promise, the client can quickly find another provider of a product and service. From the point of view of the client, risk is small anyway. It is additionally minimized by the fact that community requires transparency from the creators — in case of a breach of trust, the creator can't hide the fact from the community. Fourth thing, the blurred difference between a product financed by a community and a product made by traditional companies. Products created on crowdfunding platforms more and more easily conquer also the traditional market and ara available also in shops outside the Internet. Thus, it could happen that a client won't be aware of the fact that a product he bought in a shop had been financed by a community. It seems that especially the last point requires broader explanation. In the report conclusions from the South-American and Asian markets are mentioned. On both these markets pre-order sales encounter certain difficulties. On the South-American market clients are still used to buying new products in a traditional way, that is, in shops. However, if products or services financed by Internet community appear, they serve the general good and are not commercial in character. AT the same time on the Asian market clients are not eager to carry out purchases on the Internet. For this reason, one of leading Chinese payment systems has adopted the practice of keeping funds in deposit for as long as both sides: buyer and the innovator are not satisfied with the transaction terms and product characteristics. According to the authors of the report, overcoming these fears will be the key to conquer the pre-order market in Asia.
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These are precious remarks, as they draw attention to the fact that social characteristics have an important impact on the development of pre-order market, which is closely related to crowdfunding, after all. Also in Poland surveys aimed at analysing presumer behaviour have been conducted. PBS55 report from 2012 shows that Polish presumer: has university, or high school education (70%, compared to 56% of Poles in general), is 25–39 years old (46%, compared to 28% f Poles in general), use the Internet (74%, compared to 59% of Poles in general), often live in big cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants (39%, compared to 21% of Poles in general) and earn slightly more than an average Pole (PLN 2000 net, compared to PLN 1750). The survey was based on a group of 8% of presumers who expressed faith in the following three elements: z 'faith in that the remarks of consumers can in a real way influence the future shape of a product. According to the Omnibus PBS survey, 59% of Poles older than 15 think that sharing concepts for the improvement of products, or services makes sense, z willingness to use a product before others gain access to it — currently 35% of people express such willingness, z experience from cooperation with other users on improvement of a product — declared by 15% of people'56.
According to the authors of the report, presumers are so-called mainstream consumers who in some respects are ranked higher than other consumers57. This is a characteristic feature of new trends emerging on the Internet — they are usually pursued by young people who easily absorb new rules of action, are open to changes, eagerly test new solutions and are technology-savvy.
Consumption in the future
PBS report also presents an interesting analysis of the term of presumerism. It points to the fact that in contemporary expectation economy ”consumers want the best, want to get it immediately and be ahead of the others, but they also want to establish real relations with the people”58. What is typical of presumerism, is the so-called ”firstism”, or the ambition to be the first to get the latest product, service, ”story” as a basic motivation for consumer activity allowing the buyer of a unique product to achieve a high status, meaning involvement in the development of a product and the will to be
www. minib.pl 16 16 MINIB, 2014, Vol. 12, Issue 2 a member of a broader community, ”online=offline” mode, that is, the possibility to make a purchase earlier than others and at the same time feedback from consumer to the creator, as well as the ”emergence of new platforms” which disrupt the process of financing, production and sales59. Products financed by means of crowdfunding are usually products in pre-production phase, which haven't been created yet or which can be mass produced only thanks to the support of a community. From the point of view of a client, investing in a product which doesn't exist yet, may seem risky, but on the other hand it is also beneficial from the point of view of image. Having an innovative product may be associated with the need to demonstrate one's position in the social hierarchy and setting trends in the environment. Creators of the report use the phrase ”consumption in the future”60 and add that community members are eager to not only provide financial support, but also to get personally involved by expressing their opinion on the developed product — at the same time they expect in return to be among the first users and to get additional gratifications for their help from the creators61. It seems that this is an important competitive advantage, especially in case of innovative products. Creators already at the stage of development of a product gather around them opinion leaders, who don't get a product for free, but are in the group of those who provided financial support. Personal involvement can support giving positive opinions, but at the same time the creator may be getting more critical assessments during the development of a product. However, in the longer perspective this may be a much better solution, as a product financed by means of crowdfunding will be better adapted to the needs of users. It is also important that the creator, already at the stage of collecting funds for the development of a project attracts investors who are also his first clients. Their liking for the product may encourage them to recommend the product to their friends.
Customization
Customization means matching a product with the client's requirements. Changes can concern the colour of products, its characteristics, available functions, etc. Creators looking for financing on platforms like Kickstarter, or others, also try to provide the supporters with the possibility of modifying their products. One of the best known projects financed by means of crowdfunding which used the advantages of customization is Pebble Watch62. The project received record-breaking support: 10,266,845 Dollars from 68,929 users63. The creators
17 www. minib.pl Crowdfunding and new trends in consumer behaviour presented to the community a watch with the function of wireless connection to smartphones running on Android or iOS operating systems. Pebble Watch was advertised as ”the first watch of this kind in the 21st century” — adjusting fully to the user's preferences64. Customization concerns the following features and functions of the watch: applications, display, colour of the watch, notifications and coding. In Pebble Watch it is possible to adjust appropriate applications depending on our life style and our favourite activities — for example, the watch can be used by cyclists and runners to measure time, covered distance and pulse, music fans can use it as portable music players; golfers can read the distance to the next hole. Further features of the watch subject to customization are its colour and display. The creators offer three basic colours: white, black and red and four colours in the extended version. The display of the watch using the technology of e-paper allows not only reading information easily. The user can define the format of time display, so that it fits his mood, activities or currently worn clothes. Pebble Watch also imports notification function from a smartphone — it can inform about a call or a new message. It is also flexible with regard to making other modifications, which require using a code. The story of Pebble Watch shows that sales success closely corresponds to not only how well fine-tuned a particular product is, but above all how much it satisfies the needs of the future user. Referring to consumer attitudes, it is necessary to conclude that the expectations of consumers with regard to products have changed. The products offered by creators are now to a large extent subject to the requirement customization, that is, adaptation to the needs and requirements of the client. Another characteristic feature is also consuming products available on pre-order, or in other words, to a selected, narrow group of recipients. Thanks to this purchase the client gains the feeling of uniqueness and that he is one of opinion leaders. He also becomes the so-called presumer, that is, someone who has access to products unavailable in official distribution. He is also distinguished by the fact that he focuses his attention on novelties and wants to purchase products from a privileged position — as the first one. In relations with the creator, the consumer gains the position of a partner, or advisor — however, above all he is an investor, who can contribute to the creation of an innovative product even with just a small amount of money. The power to create also plays the role of a kind of internal gratification, which affects the sphere of emotions and feelings. Consumer's generosity can thus bring benefits also to the consumer himself.
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In this work changes in consumer behaviour, as well as new trends and directions of development of crowdfunding have been presented. Consumers, who up till now used to make traditional purchases in Internet shops, under the crowdfunding model have become investors for products that haven't been created yet. The model of consumption has also changed: by now the client has had no influence on the process of production, or distribution, he received a product shaped by big manufacturers. Nowadays, the consumer can pre-order a product, before it finds its way to official production. The consumer belongs to a community which has the power to introduce to the market products which would probably never be created, or would be created only a after a longer time.
Conclusions
Crowdfunding is a phenomenon which appeared only a few years ago. It involves holding a fund-raiser for a given project in an Internet community. Currently a few models of crowdfunding can be distinguished: non-equity based financing, which is associated with pre-order of products, equity-based financing — offering shares in a company to supporters, social lending — mainly for the poorest who want to start their own business activity and donations — giving money for charitable causes. Polish crowdfunding portals have been present in Internet space for a few years already. Such portals as Siepomaga.pl, or Polakpotrafi.pl draw much attention and they often gather big groups of supporters around projects. However, in Poland it is hard to distinguish an undisputable leader, such as Kickstarter. Poles are eager to support charitable projects and among other kinds of services, those based on the 'all or nothing' model are most popular. Along with the emergence of crowdfunding, the significance of such alternative models of project financing as venture capital, business angels and fundraising has diminished. However, fund raisers have recognized the possibilities of crowdfunding and are now starting to take advantage also of this form of collecting money. Changes have also taken place on the sociological plane. It seems that new consumer behaviours associated with the phenomenon of crowdfunding have a chance to become popular in the short-term perspective. Presumers are people acquainted with new technologies, looking for non-standard solutions, ready to financially support a project they find interesting. Exerting influence on what may soon find its way to the market, places presumers in one league with leading investors from various branches.
19 www. minib.pl Crowdfunding and new trends in consumer behaviour
Thanks to crowdfunding, consumers can themselves decide which product should get support for development. In the past many products would have to wait for the 'blessing' of a small group of people who base their business decisions not only on rational arguments, but also on subjective assessment — what a consumer could have recognized as attractive, might have earlier been rejected by a millionaire, who in the traditional model has strong influence on the choice whether to introduce a product to the market, or not. Nowadays, the consumer can get access to the exclusive world of innovative products much earlier than before. Above all, now he has a chance to decide himself who should get a chance on the market.
References
1 Karol Król, Crowdfunding. Od pomysłu do biznesu, dzięki społeczności, wyd. Crowdfunding.pl, 2013, p. 23. 2 Ibidem, p. 23. 3 Ibidem, p. 22. 4 Ibidiem, p. 23. 5 Ibidiem, p. 22. 6 Adam Bartosiewicz, Jak wygląda opodatkowanie crowdfundingu, http://www.podatki.abc.com.pl/czytaj/-/artykul/jak-wygl- ada-opodatkowanie-crowdfundingu [12.02.2014]. 7 Steve Keifer, Four types of crowdfunding, http://outsideinmarketing.wordpress.com/2010/05/08/four-types-of-crowds- ourcing [12.02.2014]. 8 Ibidiem. 9 Dailycrowdsource.com, What is crowdsourcing, http://dailycrowdsource.com/training/crowdsourcing/what-is-crowdso- urcing [12.02.2014]. 10 Ibidiem. 11 Ibidiem. 12 Karol Król, Crowdfunding. op.cit., p. 57. 13 Ibidiem. 14 Ibidiem, p. 58. 15 Ibidiem. 16 Ibidiem, p. 59. 17 Ibidiem. 18 Ibidiem, p. 60. 19 Ibidiem, p. 61. 20 Ibidiem. 21 Polskie Stowarzyszenie Inwestorów Kapitałowych, http://www.psik.org.pl/slowniczek.html [13.03.2014]. 22 Ibidiem. 23 Polskie Stowarzyszenie Inwestorów Kapitałowych, http://www.psik.org.pl/qa.html [14.04.2014]. 24 Lewiatan Business Angels, http://www.lba.pl/dla-aniolow-biznesu/podstawowe-informacje [14.02.2014]. 25 Ibidiem. 26 Polskie Stowarzyszenie Fundraisingu, http://www.fundraising.org.pl/0-fundraisingu [22.02.2014].
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27 The Fundraising Authority, http://www.thefundraisingauthority.com/internet-fundraising/crowd-funding-your-non-profit [22.02.2014]. 28 Sylwia Czubkowska, Klara Klinger, Nowa charytatywność, http://www.gazetaprawna.pl/artykuly/723320,nowa-charytaty- wnosc-online.html [22.02.2014]. 29 Ibidiem. 30 Kickstarter.com, https://www.kickstarter.com/help [2.03.02.2014]. 31 Indiegogo.com, http://www.indiegogo.com/about/our-story [2.03.2014]. 32 Kickstarter vs Indiegogo by the numbers, http://startups.fm/2013/09/04/kickstarter-vs-indiegogo-by-the-numbers.html [2.03.2014]. 33 Ibidiem. 34 Ibidiem. 35 Ibidiem. 36 Youtube.com, Kiva, http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=EKeCK7NXznI [2.03.2014]. 37 Milena Antonowicz, Kiva.org, Pomoc na jaką cię stać, http://globalnepoludnie.pl/KIVA-ORG-pomoc-na-jaka-cie-stac [2.03.2014]. 38 Dobrapozyczka-bezbik.org.pl, Filantropia — czyli pożyczki nieoprocentowane w Kiva.org, http://dobrapozyczka- -bezbik.org.pl/filantropia-czyli-pozyczki-nieoprocentowane-w-kiva-org [2.03.2014]. 39 Kiva.org, http://www.kiva.org/partners [2.03.2014]. 40 Kiva.org, http://www.kiva.org/about/risk [2.03.2014]. 41 Kiva.org, http://www.kiva.org/about/how/more [2.03.2014]. 42 Kiva.org, http://www.kiva.org/about/risk/stats [2.03.2014]. 43 Wspieram.to, https://wspieram.to/jak_to_dziala.html [2.03.2014]. 44 Ibidiem. 45 Wspieram.to, https://wspieram.to/pierwszyrok [2.03.2014]. 46 Ibidiem, 47 Ibidiem. 48 Ibidiem. 49 Polakpotrafi.pl, http://polakpotrafi.pl [22.02.2014]. 50 Beesfund.com, http://www.beesfund.com/pomoc [2.03.2014]. 51 Adam Łopusiewicz, Crowdfunding udziałowy już w Polsce, http://mamstartup.pl/pressroom/2678/crowdfunding-udzialowy- juz-w-polsce [2.03.2014]. 52 Grzegorz Marczak, Oto największy sukces crowdfundingu w Polsce, http://antyweb.pl/oto-najwiekszy-sukces-crowdfundin- gu-w-polsce [22.02.2014]. 53 Siepomaga.pl, http://www.siepomaga.pl [22.02.2014]. 54 June 2013 Trend Briefing: Pretail. Why consumers now love to SHOP for products and services at concepts stage, http://tren- dwatching.com/trends/pretail [8.03.2014]. 55 Raport PBS, http://pbs.pl/repository/files/Wyniki/raport_4.12.pdf [9.03.2014]. 56 Ibidiem. 57 Ibidiem. 58 Ibidiem. 59 Ibidiem. 60 Ibidiem. 61 Ibidiem. 62 Kickstarter.com, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android [10.03.2014]. 63 Ibidiem. 64 Ibidiem.
21 www. minib.pl Crowdfunding and new trends in consumer behaviour
Bibliografia 1. Milena Antonowicz, Kiva.org, Pomoc na jaką cię stać, http://globalnepoludnie.pl/KIVA-ORG-pomoc-na-jaka-cie-stac 2. Adam Bartosiewicz, Jak wygląda opodatkowanie crowdfundingu, http://www.podatki.abc.com.pl/czytaj/-/artykul/jak- wyglada-opodatkowanie-crowdfundingu 3. Beesfund.com, http://www.beesfund.com/pomoc 4. Sylwia Czubkowska, Klara Klinger, Nowa charytatywność, http://www.gazetaprawna.pl/artykuly/723320, nowa-char- ytatywnosc-online.html 5. Dailycrowdsource.com, What is crowdsourcing, http://dailycrowdsource.com/training/crowdsourcing/what-is-crowdsourcing 6. Dobrapozyczka-bezbik.org.pl, Filantropia — czyli pożyczki nieoprocentowane w Kiva.org, http://dobrapozyczka-b- ezbik. org.pl/filantropia-czyli-pozyczki-nieoprocentowane-w-kiva-org 7. Indiegogo.com, http://www.indiegogo.com/about/our-story 8. June 2013 Trend Briefing: Pretail. Why consumers now love to SHOP for products and services at concepts stage, http://trendwatching.com/trends/pretail 9. Steve Keifer, Four types of crowdfunding, http://outsideinmarketing.wordpress.com/2010/05/08/four-types-of-crow- dsourcing 10. Karol Król, Crowdfunding. Od pomysłu do biznesu, dzięki społeczności, wyd. Crowdfunding.pl, 2013. 11. Kickstarter.com, https://www.kickstarter.com/help 12. Kickstarter.com, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/597507018/pebble-e-paper-watch-for-iphone-and-android 13. Kickstarter vs Indiegogo by the numbers, http://startups.fm/2013/09/04/kickstarter-vs-indiegogo-by-the-numbers. html 14. Kiva.org, http://www.kiva.org/about/how/more 15. Kiva.org, http://www.kiva.org/about/risk/stats 16. Kiva.org, http://www.kiva.org/partners 17. Kiva.org, http://www.kiva.org/about/risk 18. Lewiatan Business Angels, http://www.lba.pl/dla-aniolow-biznesu/podstawowe-informacje 19. Adam Łopusiewicz, Crowdfunding udziałowy już w Polsce, http://mamstartup.pl/pressroom/2678/crowdfunding-udzi- alowy-juz-w-polsce 20. Grzegorz Marczak, Oto największy sukces crowdfundingu w Polsce, http://antyweb.pl/oto-najwiekszy-sukces-crowd- fundingu-w-polsce 21. Polakpotrafi.pl, http://polakpotrafi.pl 22. Polskie Stowarzyszenie Fundraisingu, http://www.fundraising.org.pl/0-fundraisingu 23. Polskie Stowarzyszenie Inwestorów Kapitałowych, http://www.psik.org.pl/slowniczek.html 25. Polskie Stowarzyszenie Inwestorów Kapitałowych, http://www.psik.org.pl/qa.html 26. Raport PBS, http://pbs.pl/repository/files/Wyniki/raport_4.12.pdf 27. Siepomaga.pl, http://www.siepomaga.pl 28. The Fundraising Authority, http://www.thefundraisingauthority.com/internet-fundraising/crowd-funding-your-non-profit 29. Wspieram.to, https://wspieram.to/jak_to_dziala.html 30. Wspieram.to, https://wspieram.to/pierwszyrok 31. Youtube.com, Kiva, http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=EKeCK7NXznI
Strony internetowe z http://globalnepoludnie.pl z http://www.podatki.abc.com.pl z http://dobrapozyczka-bezbik. org.pl z http://www.indiegogo.com z http://trendwatching.com z https://www.kickstarter.com z http://www.kiva.org
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z http://www.lba.pl z http://antyweb.pl z http://polakpotrafi.pl z http://www.psik.org.pl z http://pbs.pl z http://www.thefundraisingauthority.com z https://wspieram.to z http://www.youtube.com z http://beesfund.com z http://dailycrowdsource.com z http://fundraising.org.pl z http://gazetaprawna.pl z http://mamstartup.pl z http://outsideinmarketing.wordpress.com z http://siepomaga.pl z http://startups.fm z http://trendwatching.com
The article is a part of a postgraduate thesis titled "Nowe trendy i postawy konsumenckie w finansowaniu społecznościowym" (New trends and consumer behaviours in crowdfunding) presented at Warsaw School of Economics in March 2014, written under the academic supervision of dr. Jacek Wójcik.
Joanna Pieniążek, MSc. — M.Sc., graduate in journalism at the University of Warsaw. She completed postgraduate studies in Internet marketing at the Warsaw School of Economics and language editing at the University of Warsaw. Since 2014 she has worked in the marketing department of the Institute of Aviation as a e-marketing specialist. She runs a website and social media profiles. She is also responsible for internal communication.
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