1. Introduction
Marketing has various different definitions, but they all aim at persuading and satisfying the customers’ needs and wants. Some need marketing, some do not. In this report, I will analyze and evaluate the importance of marketing in a business life cycle. Creating a sustainable marketing plan requires employers to take an insight into key elements such as Situation Analysis, Marketing Objectives, Segmentation, the 5Ps, and Ethical and Legal Consideration.
2. Situation Analysis
SWOT enables a company to self-evaluate its brand, which results in efficiency in production with achievable aims. Many companies also use SWOT on their competitors so as to attack their opponents’ weaknesses with their strengths, which would definitely contribute to the company’s survival in such a competitive market. It is important to analyse STEEPLE because a business cannot control that, so this helps to avoid legal problems and to predict and prepare for the future. Business trend awareness is important for businesses to enhance their forecast ability and helps determine required changes in the system, therefore they can continue to operate in the market.
Vingroup has shown to have excellent situation research with its rapid development in the last 10 years. Vietnam’s GDP and population have increased by 9% and 2% in the last year respectively, with the middle class holding one-fifth of the population. Therefore, cheaper labor is provided and life expectancy is raised. In order to satisfy the customers’ needs, Vingroup has created a connective service system with shops, malls, vehicles, and houses, making it the leading business in Vietnam. Using its SWOT, which are strategic landbank development, strong brand name and reputation, the excellent capability of raising capital, and lastly visionary leaders, Vingroup has continued spreading its market by buying more land and establishing Vinpearl Air in 2019 (Saigoneer 2019)
Vietnam’s GDP worth
3. Marketing Objectives
Marketing helps creating a better spread of the product displayed to the customers, which guarantees increasing the number of customers and market share. It also establishes priorities, which provides a better focus for the employees and an incentive for the marketing team to measure the success or failure of the business. If a business misused its marketing strategies, its sales and reputation would decrease. The marketing objectives have to match the organization’s main focus as a number of businesses don’t need marketing. If they don’t set a clear aim, the marketing would be a waste of money and time.
Malaysia Airline ( MAS) launched a competition in Australia and New Zealand with giving away free economy-class tickets and iPads, hoping to increase its profit after the MH17 and MH370 crash (Time 2014). However, the name of the competition, ‘My ultimate bucket list’, which is a list that people want to do before dying, has caused outrage and therefore decreased the profit of the company. Ever since that incident, MAS hasn’t made any profit (The Edge Malaysia 2019).
4. Segmentation and Target Market
Every business has to do segmentation so as to change its marketing plans accordingly and specifically for each group, as advertisements are a direct connection to the customers. Creating a target market would set out a clear focus for the business, expand the market, increase customers’ retention, therefore creates more profits.
Durex, in my opinion, has done well with diving the market into identifiable groups. Its target market is people from 18-30, middle class and above, with an aim to avoid STD and pregnancy, so its main platform of advertising is social media (Marketing91 2019). This has been proven to be effective with trendy and original advertisements, with its sales increasing by 4% (The Irish Time 2019)
5. Marketing Mix (5Ps)
The 5Ps refer to Product, Price, Promotion, Place, and People. 5Ps can somehow be seen as everything mentioned.
5.1. Product
A product has to be displayed so that the customers understand its features, advantages, and benefits that can be enjoyed when purchased. Usually, advertisements features its advantages, maybe comparing with other brands, which not only attracting customers to its brand, but also negatively affecting other businesses. If the customers cannot understand the product, they would chose from other competitors, called opportunity cost. Therefore, the expected sales is not reached and position of that company in the market is unstable. After every stage, a report on assessment of success should be made, so as to fix their faults and use its full potential.
5.2. Price
The price would affect both sales and the target market and it usually represents the position of the brand and its quality. Usually, the more expensive it is, the better the quality, despite the production cost. Expensive products definitely attract customers from middle and elite classes, which would bring more profit for the company. Pricing is based on the calculating the cost of production, so any mistakes in the revenue report, for example the cost is higher than the price, would decrease the profit.
5.3. Promotion
Promotion includes items such as sponsorships, advertising, and public relations activities. The marketing team has to change the promotional plan through stages of the business cycle to fit the state of the company best. Therefore, the business would be able set out a clear aim without wasting effort, time and money and use its full resources effectively. This would help bringing the product to a broader audience.
5.4. Place
Place refers to where the products are manufactured displayed, made, sold, and distributed, and can be accessed. It is recommended to limit the distribution of its products in order to control is quality, quantity and decrease the production cost.
5.5. People
Last but not least, People refer to the staffs and customer service. Many companies offer special treatments for their staffs, which has been proven to increase the companies’ productivity and create a positive reputation. Therefore, customers can trust the brand’s quality and ethics. Apple, for instance, takes good care of its employees to increase productivity with benefits such as health and dental care, discount on products and various special programs and treatment. People also indicates the consumers, who holds the future of the company.
6. Ethical and Legal Consideration
As marketing is the image of a brand to the consumers, so every illegal or unethical act shown through marketing would result in tremendous disadvantages. On one hand, businesses have to follow the law when doing marketing because marketing serves as a framework to keep the balance of the market, so any illegal act would result in damaged reputation or forced of closure. On the other hand, ethical works would create a positive impact on the company’s employees and reputation, which results in an increase in sales and productivity. In the UK, numbers are displayed on products, called EAN, so that customers can identify its origins on the Internet. As a result, more than 7,000 new companies joined every year, with a 13% net growth. (GS1 UK, 2017-18 Annual Review)
In 2018, Dolce and Gabbana released an advertisement featuring an Asian model trying to eat cannoli, pizza, and spaghetti with chopsticks. They immediately received backlash, mostly from Chinese people, for being racist. The majority said that they bashed the Chinese culture, but some also believed that this is the Western crossing with the Chinese culture. As a result, the brand’s social media engagement was down 98% on Weibo, a social app for Chinese people ( Quartzy 2019) and fell 140 places on the Asia’s Top 1000 Brands ranking ( JingDaily 2019)
7. Reference List
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Hitesh B, May 29th 2019, Marketing91, accessed July 30th 2019, <https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-strategy-durex/>
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GS1 UK, 2017-18 Annual Report, accessed August 20th 2019, <https://www.gs1ukannualreview.org/>