Branding, Pricing, and Distribution of Herb Holden Trucking Inc - Research Paper Example

? Branding, Pricing, and Distribution Answer Herb Holden Trucking Inc. is a trucking company which handles wide array of construction building equipment which lay the foundation of future building project. They have been in existence for almost around 50 years. Domestic product branding Strategy Herb Holden Trucking Inc. being a trucking company needs to increase its presence across Southern New England. Expand fleet of trucks The company must increase its existing fleet of trucks that it has presently. This will enable them to have a larger number of customers they will be able to serve and hence their branding will increase automatically. Establish a complete trucking business The company must work its way towards becoming a complete trucking business which includes a range of long-haul trucks and trucks which can carry different types of business. Then the company will be able to tap into consumer segment previously unapproached. Establish independent status They must become independent of their own like having their own fleet of trucks to carry the equipments. They must have their own drivers without having any contracted services. Global product branding Strategy Herb Holden Trucking Inc. needs to increase its presence around the globe. Hence they must look at the consumer segment where they want to tap into. Then they will be able to isolate the types of equipments which they will need to serve the consumer. They must make an agreement with the customs department and various officials of the country so that no restriction comes while carrying out their business. Answer 2 Pricing Strategy Herb Holden Trucking Inc. has to take into account three important variables The income from operating the truck The way the truck is financed The operational and overhead costs that arises from running the fleet of trucks The income that comes from operating a particular truck must be taken into account and compare it with the operational cost and overhead cost associated with running the trucks. They must price their charge in such a way that for each load capacity that the truck carriers they get a profit maximised out of their operational (Rogers, 2001). As they have to finance their truck in some cases, they must calculate the monthly payments they have to make to pay the entire loan amount. They can also go for vertical integration with other firms. This will significantly reduce the overhead and management costs associated with it. With this they might also be able to get lower transaction costs. They must also look for quicker routing time by the trucks so that per day income will increase along with the increase in efficiency. The must also take a look at the maintenance cost associated with the fleet of trucks and try to keep the trucks maintenance twice every year to increase their operational efficiency. They should also take care of the buildings, office etc. to reduce their cost. They must buy trucks that give higher mileage compared to other trucks to increase profitability. They can reduce the total transport cost by reducing the product volumes and doing unnecessary packaging, and rely more on the local products instead. Answer 3 Pricing strategy will help in reducing the cost of operation which the company will face in the due course of their work. By bringing down the cost they will be able to buy more number of fleets to augment their business strategy. With lower cost to operate they will be able to spend more on branding activities like promotion. Hence they will be able to deliver to their clients the equipments they want more quickly as compared to others. Again they can reach out to a larger number of customers through their increased fleet base. This will deliver a sense of customer satisfaction (Konings, 2008). By doing vertical integration with other firms in the same line of business they will be able to increase their market share and hence reach out to large number of customers. With vertical integration both the management will be able to formulate strategies which will serve both in the domestic market as well as in the global market. Having a Global presence means they need to have a core competency through which they will be able to expand their business. Having a pricing strategy that lowers their overhead cost will bring more efficiency in their operation through which they will be able to operate cross nation to compete against their competitors on a global scale because each country will require a different business strategy to operate. Answer 4 The Distribution channel of Herb Holden Trucking Inc. has multiple players to cater to, like the producer, the wholesaler, the carrier, retailer and the consumer. Each actor has its own profit margin in the distribution channel to look into. Hence such a distribution channel has high transaction costs associated with it. The production happens in place from where the fleet of trucks is bought to the distribution center which is owned by the producer of the trucks. The fleet of trucks can be in the hand of the Wholesalers who can then sell it to these companies. Then the companies decide to buy the trucks from the wholesaler or the distribution Centres. The firms then do their operation and carry on their business to serve the consumers. The consumers can then place an order and receive the stuffs which they ordered (Anderson and Vincze, 2006). The firm can also do their operation online through e-Commerce sites. Here the Consumer can pay for the equipments online and they get their product delivered at their site. This e-Commerce implementation is much cost efficient way as it involves less time taking process for the payments by the parties. The distribution channel might also include They can use press mediums like radio stations, magazines, newspapers etc. Use Radio advertising on secondary stations. They can also use magazines, television and billboards to advertise them both nationally and globally. Answer 5 Push strategy refers to the activities which are done by the seller to stimulate demand in the market. The seller makes a promotion which is targeted to the buyers, so that they can understand the product and make their decision. On the other hand, Pull strategy refers to request for the product made by the consumers through the deliver channel. For Herb Holden Trucking Inc. Company dealing in construction equipment manufacturing tools for residential projects they must follow “Push Strategy”. Since they need to increase their global presence hence they must let the consumers know about their products and how effectively they will be able to deliver their products. They must create awareness among the people about their brand name and thus advertise about their products to the consumers. Hence they need to adopt the Push Strategy. Answer 6 The company must use distribution channels like radio, television, sales associates and mailings to reach their targeted market segment. Being a construction equipment carrier, they need to transport them promptly and efficiently. Since they plan to prepare a global strategy, they must build a huge fleet of trucks to carry out their plan. Since the company has to use Push strategy to improve their branding they must also use their distribution channel to make their company popular among the targeted market segment. Herb Holden Trucking Inc. can use their brochure to portray their goals and products which will use as promotional tools. They can develop three brochures: one to announce their product in new market, one to promote their sales and another for recruitment of their sales associates. References Konings, J. W. (2008). The Future of Intermodal Freight Transport: Operations, Design and Policy. Northampton: Edward Elgar Publishing. Rogers, S.C. (2001). Marketing Strategies, Tactics, and Techniques: A Handbook for Practitioners. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group. Anderson C. and Vincze, J. (2006). Strategic Marketing. New Delhi: Dreamtech Press. Read More