Strategic alternatives

The marketing skills of GoPro is an advantage in terms of using social media for advertising the products and services. According to Five Generic Strategies by Porter, this would be the application of cost leadership and differentiation strategies to enhance the efficiency in the operations. Within this, strategic planning can be uploading the discounts on online purchases in the social networking sites (Gamble, Thompson & Peteraf, 2019). Tracking the activeness of the customers on the websites and social media would be effective for gaining an insight into their preference. It is on the basis of this preference, which the personnel can plan for imbibing innovation in the design of the cameras and addition of the modern technologies. The intention is to be influencing the purchasing decision and intentions of the customer for increasing the profit margin.

Investments in market research and development is one of the prospects for manufacturing cameras with the latest designs and technologies. Hiring electrical engineers for this job would be a viable approach towards enhancing the standards and quality of production. As the investments in the technologies is flexible, therefore, Proctor, (2020) states that collecting feedbacks from the customers, would be assistance for the GoPro personnel in terms of producing the products according to the specific needs, demands and requirements. Here, marketing mix is one of the steps, which would be wise for assessing the feasibility of the products, which are to be launched in terms of the affordability of the customers.

Prior to the process of installing the modern technologies, it is to be ensured that they are high in utility and quality. This is also the intentions of the customers, as they need products, which have long durability, justifying the aspect of high utility value. The uniqueness and rarity in the production of ProGo can be maintained through the means of identifying different consumer target markets, which would improve the focus of the business (Velychko et al., 2019). For example, targeting the photographers, Studios, brands dealing in developing the blueprints can be an efficient step for expanding the customer base. In this context, one of the actions can be sales demand forecasting, which would help in mapping the feasibility of the current sales practices.

Instead of training the personnel, they can be sent on the workshops, which would enhance their preconceived virtual skills, abilities and competencies on designing the cameras and the electrical gadgets. Post training tests can be organized for assessing the capability of the staffs in making practical application of the learned skills in carrying out the allocated duties and responsibilities (Paul, 2019). The score of the staffs in the post training tests would be effective for assessing the performance in the upcoming financial years. Sending the staffs for the seminars would be a prospect for achieving higher competitive edge than the brands like Sony, Samsung and others. This is because, imitability power is higher in terms of training the staffs towards improving the standards and quality of the electrical gadgets. On the contrary, Hagen, Zucchella and Ghauri, (2019) is of the view that training is needed for GoPro in terms of embracing differentiation towards the products and services. This is because now the customer wants all of the technologies in one product, for example the smart watch, which helps in looking time, calculating the calories burnt in physical exercise and can perform many other functions. And GoPro only focuses on cameras.

As the company culture is supportive and innovative, therefore, GoPro can go for foreign direct investments into the markets of China, where the spare parts of the technologies are of high value and quality. Strategic alliance can be one of the modes of expanding the business, as the risks and costs are shared. According to Chernev, (2019), effective communication channels of emails and social media can be used for enhancing the stability in the Public relations with China. Using negotiation means would be fruitful for averting the instances of conflicts, discrimination and harassments. Intercultural communication would result in diversification of the workplace culture for GoPro. Trades, deals and transactions would be effective for improving the market share for GoPro. Chinese labour market can be researched in terms of expanding the scope and arena of the business. Therefore, the selection criteria can be focused towards the Chinese labors, as they are receiving training on the utilization of the technology for enhancing the utility value. Therefore, financial flexibility is to be efficient in terms of the receiving adequate support and assistance. This relates to the arguments of Sahaf, (2019) regarding the strategic alternative of diversification of the products to serve the customers’ needs, demands and requirements properly.

One of the effective alternatives for GoPro can be niche marketing for the customers in terms of psychographic segmentation. This approach might be fruitful for gaining the trust, loyalty and dependence from the customers. In this context, mention can be made of enforcing the copyrights and patents for ensuring that the advertisements and promotion does not affect the personal sentiments of the customers. Respecting the emotions of the customers would be one of the approaches towards preserving the non-substitutability of the brand image. For this, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs can be one of the effective alternatives for assessing whether the strategic marketing approaches are according to the customers’ needs, demands and requirements (Na et al., 2019). Within this, rationality and logical reasoning is one of the essential aspects for maintaining the culture and luring the customers.

4. Recommendations 

From the proposed strategic alternatives, the aspect of social media advertisement can be selected for further discussion. Social media would be an effective source for GoPro in terms of increasing the trafficking of the audience into the brand image. Uploading the information about the newly launched products like Karma Drone, HERO+LCD, HERO 9 BLACK cameras on the website and social networking channels like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube reflects the intention towards influencing the purchasing intention and decisions of the customers. Customized options in the form of catalogues involving the prices, images and benefits of the products reflects certain changes in the customers regarding the decision making process. The intentions are to achieve higher competitive advantage than the competitions. Therefore, Schiavone and Simoni, (2019) are of the view that activities like selfie contest with the purchased cameras can be effective for assessing the approach of the customers towards the purchased cameras.

One of the weaknesses of GoPro is the high price of the products, which reduces the affordability in case of the customers. Therefore, instead of premium pricing strategy, variable pricing strategy can be levied for assessing the approach of the customers towards the launched products. In this context, relevance can be drawn with the concept of marketing mix, which would be effective for assessing the feasibility of the products like that of karma Drone for the customers. Keeping high price for such products would deprive the middle class customers, even if the advertising is done effectively in the social media channels. Therefore, these customers would be looking for alternatives, which would reduce the competitive edge for GoPro. In this context, Khan, Freeman and Lee, (2020) states that this aspect affirms the high imitability and low rarity for the products in terms of quality and value for money. The hiring of engineers and manufacturers are to be proper for installing the accurate technologies in the cameras and other electronic gadgets.

One of the innovative aspects is that of updates through the means of apps, which reflects the mobile marketing.

Updating the customers with this type of messages on the websites and social media would be fruitful for GoPro to attract large scale customer satisfaction. Customized options can be provided to the customers in their registered mobile numbers in the form of reminders to update the cameras. Along with this, the customers who have not yet installed the GoPro app can be urge to download the app free, which they can get from Play Store of the Android Phone. In this context, one of the challenge is that of the customers, who are passionate towards such technologies but they do not possess an iPhone, or their phones do not support Android operating systems (Varadarajan, 2019). At this stage, GoPro gets a low competitive edge, as the customers would look for the Android phones. Upon the information search and evaluation, they would come to know of the installed features, where camera is one of them. In this context, the innovation needs to be perfectly aligned with the current marketing trends and specific needs of the customers.

Evaluation is also to be conducted in the form of audits, inspection and reviews of the previous financial year performance. Consideration of these reports would help GoPro to think of products, which would be effective for enhancing the affordability of the customers. Herein lays the effectiveness of continuous improvement strategies, which would alter the standards and quality of the technologies, which are installed in the cameras and the other gadgets (Papadas et al., 2019). Regular inspection of the technologies would be a productive approach for averting the instances of virus attacks, malfunctioning and others. Therefore, hiring experts for this task would be productive for averting the customer complaints. In case, the customers complain of the defective materials, they can be informed of the replacement policies and programs. The customers are to be assisted through the replacement by suggesting them to purchase another product and their money would be refunded in their accounts within 2 business days. The approach of the staffs in this process shapes the customers’ behavior for spreading word of mouth advertising to the peers, relatives and acquaintances. Receiving inequality treatment from the brand personnel would result in complaints from the customers. Affirming with the arguments of Sheth, Jain and Ambika, (2020), it can be said that this approach would affect the psyche of the customers, as they would feel deceived through the leverage of defective products. Herein lays the importance of evaluation, which would enhance the awareness of the brand, GoPro towards the weakness, which are to be modified for upgrading the standards and quality of the operations.

Delving deeper into the arguments of Lee and Falahat, (2019), the proposed strategy is to be revised in terms of improving the market position. In this context, corporate level strategies can be related in terms of planning something, which would be inclined towards enhancing the triple bottom line approach. For this, the corporate governance needs to be revised to ensure that the organizational structure is functional. This revision would enhancing the organizational effectiveness in terms of team work. Resource based view is also to be considered to assessing the optimum yet maximum utilization of the resources and competencies for producing lucrative products and services for the customers.

References 

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Gamble, J., Thompson, A. A., & Peteraf, M. (2019). Essentials of strategic management. McGraw-Hill Publishing.

Hagen, B., Zucchella, A., & Ghauri, P. N. (2019). From fragile to agile: marketing as a key driver of entrepreneurial internationalization. International Marketing Review. [https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IMR-01-2018-0023/full/html]

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