Marketing essay on: Modern marketing concepts
Introduction
Modern marketing concepts are entirely different from the old concepts of marketing which mainly focused around the development of a good product or service, pricing the product or the service lucratively and making it available to the target customer efficiently. Modern marketing concepts require to communicate with the customers appropriately and not not leave the communication with the customers to chance. The process of communicating with the customers in order to promote the business of a company is called marketing communication (Larry, 1997).
The companies need to plan the ways of communicating with the customers and what should be the budget for the marketing communication and not whether to communicate or not. There are various ways or tools of marketing communication being used by the companies for the promotion of the products and services provided by them and some of them are mailers, website, brochures, etc. with an objective of enhancing sales effectively. When the companies plan for the marketing communication the key questions they need to keep in mind are (Brassington & Pettit, 2000):
- Who to communicate with (Target customer)
- How to communicate (Strategy)
- Where to communicate (Place)
- When to communicate (Time)
Their effort of marketing communication may go in vain if they don’t pay adequate attention to the tone and style of their message and opt for extensive follow up exercises in order to generate more business.
The company in question here is the Volvo AB which produces trucks, buses, industrial tools, aerospace components, drive systems for marine, etc. Our discussion will focus on trucks being sold by its North American subsidiary. This is a multinational company which was established in Sweden and started its production in late 1920s. The history of the company is as old as the history of trucks and it is very exciting as the transportation by truck is growing continuously. In those days, trucks were considered as only a complementary to the horse –driven wagons, railways and transportation through the sea. But today the trucks are the most important and prominent tool of transportation and there are many companies engaged in production of trucks in the world. Volvo has over 100,000 employees and its production units are spread in 20 countries and its trucks are marketed in over 190 markets. The company needs to focus on its marketing communication keeping in view the growing competition and emerging competitors across the world (Kotler, 2008).
Brief Marketing Strategy
Before 1990 the trucks produced by Volvo were of inferior quality and they were sold at comparatively low price in the market and had earned a bad reputation of “fleet trucks” which was considered of a very low status. But after that the company has improved tremendously in its production line and came up with a new range of premium trucks – the VN Series. This new series of premium Volvo trucks were good in quality, safety, driving comfort and design and compatible to all leading premium brands in the market (Porter & Kramer, 2006). This was the time for the company to plan for the extensive marketing communication and change its brand image (Don and Stanley, 1992).
The director of marketing communications and research, Jim Lesinski, of Volvo Trucks North America, came up with a proposal of putting a TV commercial ad on the Super Bowl in 1994 for the premium heavy duty trucks of Volvo and his bosses at the parent company Volvo AB Sweden were not convinced by spending one-third of the marketing budget of the company on a mere commercial of only 30 second to be displayed once. Jim Lesinki has taken substantial efforts for convincing his bosses about the marketing strategy and the importance of marketing communication. He emphasized on the importance of letting people know the benefits of the product and the unique selling proposition (USP) of the company and it is the aim of the marketing strategy of the company as well. He further added that the marketing strategy also aims to position the product in the market and needs to use any possible marketing methods like an advertisement, direct marketing, public relations, internet marketing and also TV commercials. A marketing strategy is an investment and it is needed for the creation of a pent up demand for the product and draw customers and it must target its customers. He convinced his bosses that the marketing strategy is a team effort and needs the support of bosses also (Kotler, 2008).
Marketing strategy has no meaning without goals which means achieving a specific sales target of a particular product in a particular area in a specific time period. And the success in this regard depends exclusively on the efforts made for communicating with the customers or marketing communication suitable to the local audience of the particular area. This is almost mandatory for the awareness of the brand and creating both a long term and a short term impact on the target customers.
Hence, it is very important to know the customers and no any marketing strategy can be successful if it is made without knowing the customers, their needs and their preferences. This requires to read the mindset of the customer for creating a customized plan and it has been observed that the aspirations and preferences of customers of the same segment vary tremendously depending on the locality. In the context of Volvo, its target can be divided into primly two segments – large transport companies and individual transporters. The marketing communication should target the individual transporters as they are unorganized sector and very scattered and need adequate attention being a big segment (Kotler and Peggy,2000).
Last but not the least, the marketing strategy also includes ensuring the availability of the product or the service.
The Marketing Communications Plan:
The marketing plan of a company must include a proper blend of promotion mix or marketing communication mix which are
Advertising,
Direct marketing,
Interactive marketing,
Sales promotion,
Publicity and PR and
Personal selling.
In the lack of the proper blend between the promotional tools mentioned above the company cannot expect to achieve its marketing and advertising objectives. Every promotion needs different tools as advertising needs printing, broadcasting, etc., personal sales needs, trade shows, presentations,incentives, etc., sales promotion needs displays, discounts, demonstration, coupons, etc., direct marketing needs telemarketing, internet, phone calls, catalogues, etc. The new technologies have enabled marketers to communicate through both the traditional forms like newspapers, radio, TV and modern forms like internet, cell phones, pagers, etc. which has shifted the strategies of companies from mass communication to targeted communication. Out of the five different marketing communications methods mentioned above three have been selected to form the Marketing Communications Plan of Volvo North America- advertising, direct marketing and sales promotion (Kotler, 2008).
Advertising
Advertising is suitable to reach a large dispersed in a large area at a lower cost and it can be repeated consequently. Television and newspapers have a large viewership and reach to masses in far off corners and for the same reason the director of marketing communications and research, Jim Lesinski, of Volvo Trucks North America wanted to go for a TV commercial because over 127 million North Americans watch Super Bowl and considering only one percent of them as the target market the number is quite substantial as far as the product of the company is concerned because the company deals in the product with initial price of $180 000 per truck. According to an estimate over 70% truck drivers watch a part or all of a Super Bowl and reaching them through effective advertising is a big chance or opportunity.
“If you want to get to the mass audience, Broadcast TV is where you have to be. For anybody introducing anything who has to lasso an audience in a hurry—a new product, a new campaign, a new movie—the networks are still the biggest show in town.”
– Jim Lesinski, the director of marketing communications and research of Volvo Trucks North America
Advertising is used not only to reach to the masses dispersed in a large area but also an extensive advertising campaign builds a positive image of the company, its success, size and popularity and people tend to believe that the products are genuine and legitimate. The expressive nature of advertising enables companies to dramatize their products or services by smart use of sound, color, print, models and visuals (Mc Donald, 1992).
There are some shortcomings also associated with advertising. It is true that it reaches to the masses but it cannot to as personal or persuasive as a salesperson of the company can be. It a one-way communication with the customer and the customer may not pay any attention to it or may not feel the obligation to respond to it. Additionally, advertising is very expensive specially advertising on TV channels. One display of 30 seconds cost $1.9 million to Volvo North America plus the cost of producing the commercial was as high as $750 000 (Kotler, 2008).
Direct Marketing
Direct Marketing is done in many ways. It can be done by telemarketing, online marketing, electronic marketing, by sending direct mailers, etc. direct marketing is generally addressed to a particular person and it is non-public. It is also customized and instant as messages can be made instantly to appeal the consumer. It is interactive allowing dialogues between the consumer and the marketer. Volvo North America focuses on direct marketing (Kotler, 2008).
Sales Promotion
Sales promotion is concerned with displays, discounts, demonstration, coupons, contests, premiums, cent-off deals etc. and an important tool for marketing communication. This attracts consumers easily and fast and encourages them to make a decision now. It creates a quicker and stronger response and Volvo North America often comes forward with sales promotion to boost sales. The disadvantage of sales promotion is that it cannot build brand image (James 1998).
Integration plan
Morden trends of marketing have almost shifted to targeted marketing from mass marketing and is equipped with various channels for communication and various tools for promotion. These advantages available for the marketers often becomes problematic for them as customers are exposed to different marketing communication channels and the receive messages from various sources which often becomes confusing. They are often unable to distinguish between messages coming from different sources like magazines, television or internet and for them these messages blur into one. Companies send messages through different promotional campaigns like an advertisement, direct marketing, public relations, sales promotion or personal selling and they are often different from each other and conflicting (Dickson, 1996). This affects the brand image of the company badly. For example, a message meant for the mass communication has one thing to say and for the targeted customers it has another thing, the price campaign of the company speaks one thing and the label of the product tells something different and at the same time the sales literature of the company has to say something entirely different from them whereas the website of the company is not in accordance with any of these messages. This failure of integrating messages coming from different sources of the company cause more damage than doing any good for the company. Since the messages come from different functional departments of the company they are not in coordination with each other and are often conflicting and confusing causing damage to the company (Kotler, 2008).
. The director of marketing communications and research, Jim Lesinski, of Volvo Trucks North America, realized the importance of integration of the marketing commucation and insisted the bosses of the parenet company Volvo AB, Sweden to ensure a global policy for the integration of the marketing communication (Kotler, 2008).
Conclusion:
Modern marketing concepts require to communicate with the customers appropriately and not not leave the communication with the customers to chance. The process of communicating with the customers in order to promote the business of a company is called marketing communication. Marketing communication is an integral part of the marketing strategy and a marketing strategy has no meaning without goals which means achieving a specific sales target of a particular product in a particular area in a specific time period and along with the goals it also ensures the target market and availability of the product in the market. The marketing plan of a company must include a proper blend of promotion mix or marketing communication mix which include advertising, direct marketing, interactive marketing, sales promotion, publicity and PR and personal selling (Doyle, 1998). Different functional departments deliver different messages to the consumer which are often conflicting and confusing and it the the responsibility of the marketing executive of the company to ensure the integration in the messages as only the integrated marketing communication can bring the desired output otherwise all the efforts may go in vain as the director of marketing communications and research, Jim Lesinski, of Volvo Trucks North America has ensured in the case.
If you want Marketing strategy management Assignment Help study samples to help you write professional custom essay’s and essay writing help.
Receive assured help from our talented and expert writers! Did you buy assignment and assignment writing services from our experts in a very affordable price.
To get more information, please contact us or visit www.myassignmenthelp.Com
