Essentials of Marketing Communications Approach - Assignment Example

? Marketing communication INTRODUCTION Currently Samsung is the world’s market leader of mobile devices. Samsung’s active promotion of it Samsung Galaxy S3 has increased its popularity in the mobile phone market targeting high sale volumes. The Samsung Galaxy S3 ad targeted all market segments except for the high segment, which did not reflect well on Samsung Galaxy S3, as the segment got more elevated. Due to the mature world’s mobile market, growth in the Samsung Galaxy S3 market could only be possible if competitors lowered their prices or Samsung changed, its product development as it is operated in the higher segment (Stuart, www.cim.co.uk). The second option seemed more favorable to Samsung because it is most profitable and because of the trend that is presently associated with mobile phones as more people differentiate themselves by the type of mobile phones they use ("Adweek." Adweek. N.p., n.d.) The success of Samsung Galaxy S3 required a well-balanced market mix. Any electronic device requires calculated marketing mix ingredients; otherwise the product might be too good for its value or not good at all (Fill, 2011, pg 23-26). Samsung Galaxy S3 required a good marketing mix for it to attain the anticipated success during the final sale of the product ("Adweek." Adweek. N.P., n.d.) This paper will discuss Samsung Galaxy S3 marketing mix as depicted from the ad and further discuss the implication of the four P’s of Samsung Galaxy S3 marketing mix and show the relations of Samsung’s products marketing mix. The launch of Samsung Galaxy S3 came at the right time when people were waiting for a smart phone that could provide more than what other mobile phones were providing, with its functionality surpassing customer expectations. The current Samsung’s image is that it provides reliable phones, however, Samsung Galaxy S3 was initially perceived as a phone like any other. The difficulty faced by customers is that they did not know that Samsung had introduced a phone with Samsung Galaxy S3 capabilities. The main strategy of overcoming the marketing communication barrier was for Samsung to create a stronger image for Samsung Galaxy S3, by creating public awareness, and putting Samsung Galaxy S3 at the top of consumers’ minds in the target group, with the objective being achievable through marketing communication (Laudon & Traver, 2010, pg 45-50). For Samsung to implement this marketing plan in their Samsung Galaxy S3 product, and achieve the objective, Samsung had to place the Samsung Galaxy S3’s price at a mid range of the market, with the gadget’s price being slightly lower than that of its competitors. This clearly showed that Samsung aimed at selling Galaxy S3 to young people within the market segment. MARKET MIX According to the ad, the new Samsung Galaxy S3 had the following specifications; concerning networks the gadget had the capability of running 3G (HSPDA/CDMA), 4G (LTE/HSPA+) and Edge/2G (GSM/GPRS) using Android operating system version 4.1. The product used TouchWiz user interface and retailed at a price of $99 with contract and $549 without contract (Stuart, www.cim.co.uk). The Samsung’s software featured in Galaxy S3 aimed at impressing users with several great displays, though most of them suffered from poor executions; however, a customer can still skip the complicated part of the software and enjoy the hardware. With the Galaxy S3, Samsung managed to offer top-line performance with the product being more capable than any other phone (Gay & Charlesworth, 2007). With a great phone, a question at hand would have been the right marketing formula for the Galaxy S3 (Strauss & Frost, 2011, pg 67-70). The marketing formula is like a recipe, that much for A and that much for B and in the end is a combination that tells a success story or a complete failure of a product, the combination constitutes a marketing mix. Prior to developing Galaxy S3, the company needed to consider the quality of the product required, in order to determine if it fitted the target market. With the Galaxy S3, marketing mix took certain strategies (Charlesworth, 2009, pg 78-80). In connection to that, Samsung Company needed to make a decision on the physical appearance of the product and in this context it was noticeable that the phone was slim and sleekly, an appearance that mostly appealed to the targeted market segment. After the arrival on the general idea of the product appearance, the company needed to address such area as product benefits, accessories, quality levels, warranties, product line packaging and branding (Charlesworth, 2009, pg 122-124). All these were general areas that needed considerations for the product to meet customer expectations. When marketing Galaxy S3, Samsung first created a successful mix of the gadget, its price, product’s place and most of all created suitable promotion (‘advertising Agency’ www. adage.com). To create an excellent marketing mix, Samsung had to ensure that Galaxy S3 had the right features like attractive appearance and working well (Durlacher’ (n.d). In addition to that, the products price had to be right since it was essential that consumers bought the product in large numbers for the company to generate healthy profits. Samsung Company too had to ensure that Galaxy S3 was availed at the right time and place, therefore, ensuring availability of the phone to the customers’ remained to be an important operation for the product’s success (Stuart, www.cim.co.uk). Finally, the target market segment needed to be aware of the availability of Galaxy S3 through promotion that aided in spreading costs over larger outputs (Charlesworth, 2009, pg 67-70). UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITIONS Galaxy S3 turned out to be an excellent phone with high performance, clear screen and exceptionally good call quality (Sciencedirect’ www. sciencedirect.com). Upgrade to jelly beans cleared all initial irritating problems associated with the first release making the good phone superb. The screen size of Galaxy S3 was bigger than most phones and brighter with vivid real colors (Pewinternet (n.d). The phone proved to be user friendly with easy navigation options. It is essential to mention that the campaign was a success in informing prospective customers on the availability and capabilities of Galaxy S3. It is a fact that the campaigns lead to an increase in Galaxy S3 sales and increased it prominence (Fill, 2011, pg 33). Despite the success of Galaxy S3, few things needed addressing. Though the screen of the phone was clear, the AMOLED screen remained to be relatively dim forcing users to deactivate the auto-dim option and therefore, driving the brightness up resulting in the quick draining of battery life. Even though the Camera was an added feature in Galaxy S3, it was still uncompetitive (Emarketer’. (n.d.). References Charlesworth, A. (2009). Internet marketing: a practical approach. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann. Fill, C. (2011). Essentials of marketing communications. Harlow, England: Pearson Education Limited. Gay, R., & Charlesworth, A. (2007). Online marketing: a customer-led approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Laudon, K. C., & Traver, C. G. (2010). E-Commerce: business, technology, society (6th ed., International Ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J.; Harlow: Pearson Education. Strauss, J., & Frost, R. (2011). E marketing, 2nd Ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Stuart, Mark Blayney. “Marketing qualifications, training and membership from The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM)." N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Mar. 2013. Retrieved from: . ‘Academy of marketing’ (n.d) academy of marketing. Retrieved February 28, 2013, from http://www.academyofmarketing.info/ "Advertising Agency & Marketing Industry News - Advertising Age." Advertising Agency & Marketing Industry News - Advertising Age. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Mar. 2013. . "Adweek." Adweek. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Mar. 2013. Read More