Phil Company Marketing Strategies - Personal Statement Example

? Marketing Strategies Phil Company Limited aims to establish itself strongly in the electronic industry, both in the local as well as international market. It wants to increase its present market share in the electronic industry. For this purpose Phil has been employing the best available marketing agencies. Advertising generally consists of an identified sponsor putting across a message. Advertising means proper presentation of the firm to potential customers. This project will discuss what the marketing plans of Phil are and what it is doing to fulfill its organizational goals. It also highlights how Phil addresses the gaps that are present in products provided and customer expectations. Table of Content Executive Summary of the Marketing Plan 5 Company Introduction 5 Mission Statement 6 Branding 6 Pricing 8 Distribution Plan 10 Integrated Marketing Communication 11 Customer Satisfaction Plan 11 Marketing strategies 12 SWOT 13 Strength 14 Opportunity 14 Differentiation strategy 15 Be a leader of follower 15 Macro Environmental Issues 16 Significant Business Trends 16 Marketing Plan 17 Reference 21 Executive Summary of the Marketing Plan Phil has been planning to expand its business. Africa is having the maximum demand for electronic goods in the world so Phil has been planning to set up its base in this area. Phil is planning to launch both low as well as medium end phones in this market. Along with providing goods according to the requirement, Phil has been providing variety of services. Effective after sale services and repairs will help in the expansion of the company. The basic market plan is to produce only those goods that are of high demand. Provide good after sale services so that it can gather some loyal customers who would stick to the brand for a long time. The requirements of different markets are different so Phil has carried out an effective research of each product. The aim of the company is to become a market leader in future. The target customers need to be estimated and accordingly the profit and sales plan needs to be prepared. This would invariably help the marketing plan of the company. The marketing plan that it follows in the west is different from what it has been following in Africa as the taste and preferences differ from place to place. It needs to effectively execute its marketing plan for the success of the company. Company Introduction Phil Company Limited was set up on 12th April 2008. It is a private company which deals in manufacturing of electronic goods. Phil Samuel founded this company. The headquarters of Phil Company Limited is situated in Cambridge, USA. There are two manufacturing sites in Kingston and Jamaica. Phil Company Limited is a manufacturing company in USA. The company is owned by Dick Harry, Phil Samuel along with 8 other partners. The products that the company manufactures consist of television sets, radios, micro waves, cell phones and computer hardware. Phil Company Limited has been in manufacturing business for the last 4 years. Phil Company Limited generally manufactures goods based on the orders from the various retailers existing in the market. The total employee strength of Phil Company Limited stands is about 2000, which include its sites in US and Jamaica. The company has been steadily increasing its market share in both domestic as well as international market because of the company's experience in this sector as well as the company's performance. The company is striving hard to increase its market share. Mission Statement The Mission Statement consists of the purpose of the organization. The main purpose or mission of the organization is to become the leader in manufacturing as well as marketing the electronic goods not only in USA but throughout the world. The organization is trying to bind in the latest technology which would help in production of advanced electronic products which would carter to the requirements of the people and thus will be successful in its mission of becoming the largest manufacturer of electronic goods. Phil Company Limited strives towards providing outstanding products as well as services. The company follows an ethical code of conduct and performs all its social responsibility honestly. Branding Branding is a process by which the product is given an identity and an image, which is very helpful in creating a positive image in the mind of the customers regarding the products. The key advantage of branding is loyalty (Drewniary & Jewler, 2010, p. 27). Branding is actually very important as it helps in building a brand image. Since the ancient times branding is been done in various ways like the potter used to thumb imprint on the wet clay. This would differentiate his bowl from that of others. In this way branding has been going on since the ancient times. Now-a-days branding has not only become important for companies but also essential for their existence. Whenever one goes to the market to buy a product he is sure to come across the logo of the organization on the product. A proper link must be maintained between the overall strategies of business and branding, while overall strategies help in the day to day activities of the business, branding helps in building a positive image of the organization in the mind of the people. This would help the organization to increase the volume of its profit and build a reputation which would help the organization to survive and compete. Therefore the managers must develop proper skills so that the marketing goals can be achieved. In case of Phil Company Limited, considerable efforts need to be put in to create a brand which would suit the marketing strategy of the company. Brand must be created in such a way that it would match the objectives. Based on the profile of Phil Company Limited and the market forces that are prevailing in the market, the company can create a brand by articulating information obtained from market research and then incorporate it into the decision making process. Various information which is been collected with the help of research which helps in creation of a brand. The information highlighting the expectations of the key shareholders are required and it would affect the marketing plan of the company. In the case of Phil Company Limited, the expectation of a selected segment of the market is primarily highlighted through research. After the job of defining a brand is done, next step is to specify the objectives of the organization to the shareholders. A brand should be such that it is successful in communicating the message to the target audience. A brand must successfully provide a perception about the product and its uniqueness to the public. Phil Company Limited has been giving special attention in differentiating their product from their competitors and providing additional features that would attract more customers and will lead to creation of a strong brand image. Thus the brand that will be created by Phil Company Limited will target the audience on an emotional level. The brand should be created in such a way so that the customer can feel connected to the brand. Phil Company Limited has been planning to engage itself in creating a range of brands to gain customer loyalty which will be beneficial for the company. Phil Company Limited needs to position its brand properly if it wants to reach its target audience. Phil Company Limited can reach the target audience through advertisement in television, radio, as well as print media. Phil's brand can be properly positioned in the market with the help these modes of advertisements. The stakeholders need to be kept in mind while preparing plans for branding the product. Pricing Another important element of marketing is product pricing. Marketing mix consists of various elements and pricing being one of it. There are various models that an organization can follow in order to set the prices of goods and services. The various models provide an insight about how the firms have set prices and what points they have kept in mind while preparing the pricing policy. The organization can also set its own pricing policy. The factors that affect the pricing policy are the pricing objective which the firm has set and the pricing strategies which the organization has designed. The pricing strategies can be sometimes affected by the pricing objectives of that organization. Thus organization first needs to set its pricing objectives from there it will prepare the pricing strategy and finally the pricing policy will be prepared. The pricing strategy needs to be prepared on the basis of a list of determinants that has been prepared. The pricing objectives are generally based on various factors like competitive pricing, new product pricing, cost based pricing, geographical pricing, pricing of product line as well as pricing based on consumer. Research regarding the pricing of the product is at the top of the ladder and includes pricing objectives, pricing policy as well as pricing strategy. In a nutshell we can say that all these factors of pricing are all dependent on one another and they follow each other like a chain and are incomplete without one another. (Rao, 2009, p. 13) Pricing of a product is an influential part of the marketing process of a company. The pricing pattern of one country differs from that of another country. When an organization sets up its office in a new country it much first do research work about the pricing policy that needs to be followed in that country. The business environment that has the aspect of free enterprise generally allows free and easy exit as well as entry in any product industry. Thus there are numerous competitors of Phil Company Limited in U.S. as well as in international market a lot of competitors. Phil Company Limited thus gives sufficient amount of highlight on the marketing strategy as it has huge influence on the pricing. Phil Company Limited follows 3 pricing strategies that help in development of the pricing policy as well as principle of the organization. The first policy which Phil Company Limited started following was the pricing policy based on the consumer. In case of both the domestic as well as international segments there are several tough competitors who actively operate. Thus the organization has to keep a watch on the price of its competitors before setting its prices. Phil Company Limited also employs pricing based on cost in determining the correct price of the product. The direct costs as well as the production overheads are collected in order to determine the correct price of the product. On this Phil Company Limited adds a certain profit margin in order to determine the exact price of the product. Phil Company Limited is also adopting pricing based on the cost in new market like Africa. The third type of pricing is penetration pricing, which is done before introducing the product in the market. During the introduction phase Phil Company Limited sets low price for new products so that they can acquire a large number of customers. In the beginning, Phil Company Limited strategically increases the price of its product up the economic level. Phil Company Limited employs these 3 types of marketing strategy in order to effectively penetrate into the market and expand its business. These 3 types of pricing that have to be kept in mind while preparing the pricing strategy. Phil Company Limited has been expanding its bases and setting up offices in Africa so it needs to follow a different pattern of pricing policies from that it follows in U.S. Low prices will attract huge population in third world countries whereas quality of the product will attract customers of the developed nations. These points have to be kept in mind by Phil Company Limited while preparing its plans and policies. Distribution Plan Phil Company Limited has a variety of products and thus it has a huge product line. Phil Company Limited produces 5 different types of products. The products include television sets, computer hardware components, radios, and micro waves. Example Phil Company Limited has been manufacturing 7 varieties of phones and distributing it in the market. It generally follows both direct sales as well as retail distribution chain. Phil Company Limited provides after sale services to the customers to improve its reputation as a company. The customers who buy the products of the organization must not complain about the product otherwise it will damage the reputation of the organization. Phil Company Limited keeps all these points in mind. Distribution plan consist of finding out various marketing channels to reach the customers and the level of availability of the products in the market. Phil Company Limited has been building a strong distribution plan. Integrated Marketing Communication Integrated marketing communication is a way of unleashing creative potential in everyone of the agency. Integrated marketing communication generally means communicating with the people who buy or don't buy on the basis of what they feel, see hear etc. It indicates getting a response from the customers as well as public at large Integrated marketing communication is a set activates which are purposeful in nature and they are also coordinated and linked to some degree there are two ways of doing integrated marketing communication-first is linear and the second is "two way versions" which indicates failure to emphasis on the communication process of human. There are various processes in which one can do the marketing communication process. This process identifies few people who play a major role in communication process. This approach is been considered as more sensible and useful than the transmission model. Even Phil Company Limited follows a definite integrated marketing communication system along the various other processes. Customer Satisfaction Plan The customer satisfaction plan usually consists of a plan where the organization makes an effort to reduce the gap between the customer's expectation and what the company provides. Phil Company Limited has been continuously trying to reduce this gap. The company is collecting the feedback provided to it by its customers. It is then analyzing these reports and preparing plans to reduce the gaps by implementing the requests made by the customers. A change in the customer relations has yielded positive benefit for the company. Positive customer relations have led to development of new businesses and increase in the number of customers. The company which fails to address the needs of the customer will finally run out of business so Phil Company Limited has been working firmly on its plan to reduce the gap between the customers and company. The reputation of the company may also be damaged due to this gap. Phil Company Limited has been working hard to build a positive relation with its customers. Marketing strategies The shareholders of the company and people are the audiences of the marketing plan set by the company. The financial institution and government also keep a watch on the marketing plan of an organization. All these audiences have different intention for which they go through the marketing plan of a company-like the government goes through the marketing plan to keep a watch whether or not the plan will cause any harm to the people. The people go though the marketing plan as the strength of the company can be understood through it. Phil Company Limited has been integrating service activities along with the product to increase the value of the company. Phil Company Limited generates a huge amount of profit from sale of electronic products. In order to further enhance its sales, it has added various services. This would push up its brand value. Good relations with the customer ensure that the customer will stick to the brand for a long time and thus loyalty can earn. SWOT Strength Superior product quality. use of cutting edge technology Manufacturing equipments are versatile strong financial base strong employee base Weakness Entered into the business only 4 years back. weak reputation of product quality brand name Inefficient management structure. Opportunity potential international market huge untapped potential in Africa making new content reaching new users easily Threats competition from developed companies dead-end risk exists products are subject to arbitrary problem depression or inflation affects greatly Differentiation strategy The products of Phil Company Limited occupy an important position in the market. The company has been advertising its brand through various social activities. These activities help in differentiating their product from the products of their customers. Phil Company Limited gives special emphasis on the services provided by them to the customers. This strategy has helped it to differentiate its product from that of its customers. People are attracted to those organizations that provide good services to its customers. Phil Company Limited has tapped on this opportunity. They started providing a variety of services to differentiate their products. Be a leader of follower Phil Company Limited aims to become a market leader. It has been continuously innovating its products and services. It aims to differentiate its product and service so that it can build a positive brand image. Positive brand image will help it to become a market leader in the future. Strong employee base has been the driving force of the organization. They have been working hard on innovating the existing products and services. Phil Company Limited is in an industry where the competition is high thus it has to plan out its activities properly so that the customers are satisfied with their products and services. Adding new features to their existing products will also help it in gaining market share. This will help the company to become a market leader. Macro Environmental Issues Legal factors are the employment laws, tax policy, environmental regulations and trade relations. These factors affect the company policy. Thus a change in the legal factors will result in a change in the policies of the organizational. At present Phil Company Limited has set up bases outside U.S. so it is affected by the global economic factors like inflation, deflation etc. Phil Company Limited has set up its base in Africa where the GDP is low so it needs to have its plans prepared according to the economic condition of the place. The effect of socio economic factors generally varies from country to country. It is essential that Phil Company Limited adapts to any change in the customer’s expectation so that it can successfully carter to the needs of the customers. It needs to show to the people that it highly respects the expectations of the customers. This will help it to survive in the market and operate successfully. Technology has always been considered for the purpose of gaining competitive advantage. Better quality of goods can be obtained with the help of technology. Thus technological factors play a key role in the growth and expansion of the organization. Since Phil Company Limited is an electronic company, technology is a very crucial area for the company. The company needs to adapt according to the technological changes in order to survive in the market. Significant Business Trends The economic environment of U.S. is capitalistic in nature. In other parts of the world it might be social or mixed economy. Phil Company Limited has been following capitalistic economic environment in U.S. but it has to follow other economic policy if wants to set its base in other countries of the world. Economic factors are the main driving force that may bring variations in the industry. Competition leads to alteration in marketing strategies and product differentiation. Constant competition can lead to some companies losing market share while others gaining market share. Due to this competition if any organization brings in any change in its products or services, others follow in. Similarly if a company launches a new product then others follow it. This is the present market scenario of this industry. Any change brought in by a market player is significant enough to change the dynamics of the industry. Being highly competitive sector greater emphasis is been given to the services that are been provided to the customers. The company having a large chunk of customers will surely have good brand image. The trend in this sector in the last few years is to continuously innovate the products and provide better services. Marketing Plan In the early stages Phil Company used to manufacture radios and television sets. Later the company started producing cell phones as well as hardware components. At present it is producing all 4 products in same proportions. Phil Company Limited has stressed on the point that they will focus on those areas where the demand for their products are high. It has been planning to expand its market in those areas where it will be economically feasible for the company. It will highlight only those products in a specific area which would be within the purchasing power of the people in that area. With respect to this plan it has launched low and medium end phones for the market in Africa. The marketing plan of a company is made up many small marketing plans for the individual products or services. Phil Company Limited also has many small marketing plans. It has different marketing plans for different products (Westwood, 2010, p. 1). Phil Company Limited has been planning to provide superior quality phones to the high end customers and includes hardware of high end computers and smart phones. Phil Company Limited provides products according to the requirements of the customers. It brings in changes in its products according to requirements of different markets. In addition, Phil has been providing cell phones of various sizes. It has been using polyester material for making new phone which would help in bringing its prices down. Most of the product manufacturing companies have been providing services to its customers in order to survive in this competition. Phil Company Limited has also been providing services like after sale service and repair. The main motive is to stay in the business and grow in order to become the market leader. It has been planning to set up workshops in various market segments. They have also set up online service to provide assistance to the customers. Phil has been providing all these services in order to capture new markets and hold them. Currently the business base is electronic products. Phil has been highlighting on good relationship with the customers this would help it to expand and become a market leader. Phil at present produces 9 varieties of phone and 7 variety of computer hardware component. It has a wide product line and a substantial market share. This will help the company to expand its base and become a market leader in future. Marketing plan is a plan that helps an organization to plan its scarce resources in order to achieve the corporate objectives. A proper marketing plan is been called the passport of future. The marketing plan will then lead to the creation of corporate plans. Good marketing plan for a product oriented organization is innovation and effective marketing of the product. The service provided by the organisation distinguishes the product from the product of its competitors (Westwood, 2002, p. 1). Phil has been following this marketing plan. They have properly allocated their scarce resources of their organization so that the goals of the company can be met. Phil has high plans to become a market leader so it needs to follow proper marketing plans that would be beneficial for the organization. They are required to prepare different plans for Africa. If they use the same marketing plan which they used in U.S. then they will fail to make an impact in Africa. Due to the cultural, economic, social, political and technological differences between two places no single marketing plan can be effective. Phil Company Limited keeps a track on the effectiveness of the advertising. The company has been spending huge amount of money on it. The target areas must be set and accordingly advertising needs to be done. Phil has witnessed a huge growth in the number of customers after the use of advertising. Phil has applied various methods for advertising in the recent times. This has invariably doubled its customer base. Among various advertising strategies it has been using various promotional strategies to reach out to the potential audience. Phil Company Limited in 2010 even lowered the prices of its electronic products as a part of its sales promotion strategy. This strategy has helped the company to increase its sales volume. The company used public relations as an important promotional strategy. This strategy was costly but the returns were not as expected for the company thus the company must now stick to cheaper advertising strategies. Huge amount of investment in advertising will not be beneficial for the company at the present moment. Phil must now stress on providing products according to the requirements of the customers. This would help them in building a strong brand image. The company has been struggling to keep a track of its advertising expenses. Hence it must strictly stick on providing quality products at low prices. Efficiency, cheapness and quality form the base of the marketing plan. An organization must efficiently provide products at cheap rate and in the best possible quality. The customer will keep these things in mind while buying a product. They look for maximum available features at the cheapest possible price. Various companies provided products at cheaper rates and in this way they have become market leaders. There are certain sections that do not compromise on quality while others on to stick cheap prices so a company needs to carter to demand of both these types of customers.(McDonald & Wilson,2011, p. 6).Phil has been innovating their products. They are adding new and improved features to attract more customers. The customers are getting products at cheaper prices and with enhanced features. This has immensely helped the organization to build a brand image. They are also specifically highlighting on the services provided by them so that more people are satisfied with their products. They have been giving discounts to the customers so that more people are encouraged to buy the products. In Africa cell phones are relatively new product compared to the west. Phil needs to follow different marketing strategy in Africa compared to the west. These plans will help the company to grow and become successful in the long run. They need to stick to this marketing plan in future. The aim of becoming a market leader will finally be fulfilled. Reference Drewniary, B. L., & Jewler, A. J., (2010). Creative Strategy in Advertising.  Connecticut: Cengage Learning. McDonald, M., & Wilson, H., (2011). Marketing Plans: How to Prepare Them, How to Use Them. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Rao, V. R., (2009). Handbook of Pricing in Marketing. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Westwood, J., (2002). The Marketing Plan: A Step-by-step Guide. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Westwood,J., (2010). How to Write a Marketing Plan. London: Kogan Page Publishers. Read More