Table of Contents
Labor unions
Labor unions refer to associations belonging to workers that work towards improving the well-being of the workers in social and economic aspects through group action. They represent their members in various negotiations with the employer about all aspects of the contract of employment. This includes wages and the working conditions of the employees. Website marketing refers to the process by which products and services originate, priced, promoted and then distributed to consumers online. Through website marketing, labor unions can be able to reach many potential clients using the World Wide Web (Li, Wang, & Yu, 2015). Some of the labor unions that have done their marketing through the online media are Teamsters and the United Steel Workers.
Both websites have been created in a way that they are very attractive. On visiting the websites, one will always feel they need to explore the content of the website. With the Teamsters, their home page seems to have everything one would wish to know about the union. Links have been placed in a strategic manner in which potential clients upon visiting the website can be able to access the information quickly that they need about the labor union. In addition, they have created forms in which potential or interested clients can be able to fill in their details, especially email addresses so that they can be getting updates from the union (Bilgihan & Bujisic, 2015). This way, clients and potential clients can be able to get the latest in the markets and in dealing with their employees. They have as well placed pictures, motion pictures and videos of activities that have done or been part of in the past in their day-to-day activities. This way, clients and potential customers can be able to tell how well the union performs. The Teamsters have also placed in a strategic way the benefits that a client will enjoy if they are a member of the union. Social media account links have also been placed on the home page to assist clients, and potential client gets as much information as they can as far as the union is concerned.
The teamsters also have a form where clients and potential clients can use to locate locals that are near them. With this form, clients can be to put in details of their province or state and find a local of the union that is near them. Their main message is that through their divisions, they are able to cater for the various employees from the different job sectors. With the Teamsters, all jobholders, both professional and nonprofessional, both in the public and private sectors are well covered. With this, the Teamster seems to have all employees covered by the union. With this kind of coverage, the Teamster seems to target all persons that are working in both the formal and non-formal sectors. However, they seem not have specialization in what they do, since they like to focus on all kinds of working persons.
The United Steel Workers, on the other hand, have most of their information embedded in links that are available on the home page. Pictures that try to get the audience involved going to the home page like motion pictures. On top of the home page are links placed in order to help the audience to navigate the web pages easily. However, the website does not seem to have a unique way of getting the customers or potential customers attracted to browsing through it more. A few videos have been placed on the home page, although they are not directly related to the activities or performances of the United Steel Workers. They have a search engine that customers and potentials can use to browse through the website and more content, especially that which is not provided under the links available on the home page (Moran & Hunt, 2014). The captivating things that would make a potential customer want to know more about the union and involvement or earn membership to the union are missing. Comparing the two labor unions’ websites, I would prefer the Teamsters website. If a person is interested in being a member of the union, on visiting the site, one will feel like it is the only union to join.
Union Avoidance Companies
Union avoidance companies, on the other hand, are those companies that air the grievances of the employers that have policies of union avoidance. These employers have their employees not joining or forming any labor unions in or out the workplace. These companies, therefore, have ways of assisting the employers to address the needs of the employees that could otherwise be addressed by labor unions. Like the labor unions, when such companies are into marketing online through websites, they are able to reach out to many potential clients. Good examples of such union avoidance companies are the Butler Snow and Sidley Austin LLP.
The Butler Snow Company has a website that will make any company easily consider having it as their service provider as far as the provision of the union avoidance services is concerned. Within its homepage, they explain how well they are able to cover the employers as far as union avoidance is concerned. Additionally, they explain how they will be able to cater for the welfare of the employees who will not be in a labor union (VESELINA, 2016). According to the website, the company seems to understand well all the reasons that make employees want to join or form labor unions and are able to cater for all those reasons with union avoidance. Their homepage also shows and explains the different kinds of services that they offer. They also have a menu button that eases the navigation around the website.
The Sidley Austin LLP on the other hand, they have much more or less the same contents on their website. However, they have included some details on the cases they have taken and won. Additionally, they have included related practices in the field for the sake of clients who would like to be involved in different perspectives. The website is also easy to navigate, and therefore clients can be able to acquire the kind of information they need. Both of these companies seem to mainly target different employers, especially those that have a union avoidance policy in the organizations (Rahimnia & Hassanzadeh, 2013). Additionally, employers who feel like the labor unions formed by their employees or which employees form are demanding too much from them, can be viable customers for such companies. The Sidney Austin Website seems to be more convincing when compared to the Butler Snow website. This is due to the added stories of previous performance. With that, the potential clients visiting the site will be convinced that the company is a performer since they have proven record of accomplishment of performance.
From the perspective of a potential member of a union, I think the advertising using websites is effective. The websites seem to have methods of communicating clearly to their potentials. By visiting the websites, potential clients are able to get access to all the information they need about the union and its operations. Secondly, they are user-friendly, since navigating through the sites seems eased. Content, forms and the contact information for the sites have been available, making it easier for potentials to be able to contact the organizations in case further information is needed (Bilgihan & Bujisic, 2015). From the HR Executive perspective, the union avoidance websites also seem to be quite informative and effective. In terms of the aspects discussed, they seem to be doing well. In addition, search engines have been placed strategically so that clients can search for additional information if need be. The target clients for both seem to be well defined. Finally, with website advertising, companies are able to reach more potential through the World Wide Web.
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- Moran, M., & Hunt, B. (2014). Search engine marketing, Inc.: Driving search traffic to your company’s website. IBM Press.
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- VESELINA, A. (2016). THE WEBSITE-MARKETING TOOL OF MODERN TOURISM BUSINESS. In INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL CONFERENCE WORLD SCIENCE (Vol. 5, pp. 18–19). ROST (Dubai).