Focus Marketing Strategy

Question: Discuss about the Focus Marketing Strategy. Answer: Introduction A marketing strategy is the coming with a plan or process of channeling an organizations goals and objectives towards the success of its products in the market. An effective marketing strategy helps an organization to define its specific goals and objectives towards its market success (Kotler et al, 2014). It has to know about its customers location, type and population, competitors status, product position, market share and segment to name a few. Having this kind of information, the organization has to come up with ways and methods of defeating their customers and reaching their goals (Kotler et al, 2010). By using the market information and research, the organization has the ability to choose the right marketing strategy for it to be able to reach target market, maximum profit and sustain its business operations for a longer period. For the purpose of completing this report, I chose the Coca Cola Company specifically one situated in Australia. Coca Cola Company is currently the largest consumer beverage producing companies in the whole word. Currently, Coca Cola is also the largest producer and seller of the best health related products like the Coke Zero, Diet Coke, vitamin water, Sprite and Fanta drinks which are also its leading brands of products. These are some of the products from the company that bring a lot of profits more than other products. Coca Cola Amatil Pty Limited situated in Australia is the authorized producer and distributor of Coca Cola products in Australia. To help it with the marketing and technical or the quality services, it has authorized its branch in Australia called Coca Cola South Pacific Pty Limited to take charge of these responsibilities. By doing this the company is able to take care of its products, markets and its consumers. For this report, the discussion will entail informat ion about the non-alcoholic drinks only. Marketing Mix concepts Product A product is anything that is as a result of manufacturing or processing for it to be able to satisfy a human want and need. A product can either be a service (intangible) or a good (tangible) as long as it has the ability to satisfy the human wants or needs (McDonald et al, 2011). Every business organization has to make sure that it has the right product that is in demand in its market. This means that it must have thebest product design, best brand, best label, best packaging, reasonable life cycle and development. Additionally, the organization has to ensure that it brings profits and returns when sold and that it offers unique selling points in its current market with current demand. This is certainly the case for Coca Cola Company which ensures that its non-alcoholic products have very high demand and popular among its consumers in most parts of the world. The company makes sure that the product is well branded, packaged and that it has its unique position in the market compared to its competitors. It is simple to say that the non-alcoholic products (especially their lead products like diet coke, vitamin water, coke zero, sprite among others) from the company are of very good quality and that is why they are able to maintain their market position and bring large amounts of profits. Price This is the cost of a product or service that is incurred by a customer. This is the main aspect of marketing mix that determines a businesss revenue and sustainment. Also, price can also determine how a customer will perceive the product or service. When the price is very low, the customers see it like an unsatisfying product and so make thorough comparisons with your competitors. On the other hand, when the price is very high they may start to weigh its benefits to see whether it is worth that much (Cravens et al, 2006). Therefore, it is important for an organization to consider the perceive value of the product or service by the customers. For instance, they have to make the best pricing strategies, favorable market pricing levels, offer discounts to customers, introduce favorable and modern payment terms among other things. For the case of Coca Cola Amatil, their non-alcoholic drinks certainly have some of the best prices in the markets. Apparently, when comparison is done between the Coca Cola non-alcoholic drinks and its competitors products, the Coca Cola products rank the best in pricing. In addition to that, even when the prices for Coca Cola products increase, they only do so with very small changes which means that the effects are not so severe or serious for the consumers. Therefore, this is able to increase their market demand because the consumers will certainly go for the products that are cheap but with good quality. When the demand increases the profit received from the sales will simply increase as well and therefore the company is able to maintain its market position. Place This means the placement or positioning of the product or service where the current customers or potential customers are able to reach or access it.This means that the business organization has to have the right information about its target market, composition of its current consumers among other things. Therefore, the organization must be able to come up with the best distribution strategies like selective, intensive and exclusive distribution, franchising, be able to point out the best customer location, offering efficient and effective transportation and warehousing services to name a few (Rivera-Camino, 2007). By doing all of the above, any business organization will be sure of making the best product positioning and therefore be able to maintain its customers and market position. For the case of Coca Cola Amatil, apart from it being the lead manufacturing and distributing point it has a branch that help it take care of its technical and marketing issues whenever they arise. In addition to that, in it has many other product outlets (depots) in many corners of Australia.It is clear that the company also has located its depots in the places where they are sure of high product demand and sales. This means that they have already conducted its market research and are sure of what strategies they are using in marketing and selling their products. Promotion Is very important because its aim is to boost a products recognition as well as the sales. It refers to marketing communication which may consist of activities like advertising, sales promotion, public relations and sales organization (Walker et al, 2005). Therefore, the organization has to find out the best way to ensure that its current customers and potential customers know the benefits of their products. In this concept, the organization has to decide on the type of message to be conveying, the best way or method to use when conveying it, how it will reach the targets among other things. Therefore, this means that the organization has be very precise and direct to the point. This will certainly increase the knowledge of the consumers about the product and encourage potential consumers to purchase it as well. Coca Cola Company in Australia has done so much concerning promotion of its non-alcoholic drinks. The company has invested so much in advertisement and in sales promotion. Currently, the company advertises the benefits of its products in the televisions, internet, social media and other places in more than five times per day. Also the company has come up with ways of increasing its sales by having a the public relations advertisements like exhibitions, press releases and sponsorship deals which lead to more recognition of their product worldwide. Generally, the company has invested so much in promoting its products to its customers and the general public. People Just like the product itself is important for marketing to succeed, people are also very important to make the process possible. These mostly include the customers and the employees of the organization. Therefore, their level of interaction with each other will determine the success of their service delivering. It is important for an organization to employ well skilled and experienced people to work in their businesses. These kind of employees are likely to offer the best services and have better customer relations as well as make sure that their ideas and expertise is taken into consideration (Venkatesan et al, 2004). For the case of Coca Cola Company, they have some of the best sales people, marketing agents, managers and other types of employees who ensure that their products and customers are well attended to. The company offers trainings to their employees to make sure that they are up to date when it comes to sales, leadership and customer relations techniques. Process These are the mechanisms, techniques and systems entailing the activities that lead to service or product delivery. Every organization should ensure that its entire system is effective, efficient and functional to keep the company operations running (Fraj-Andrs et al, 2009). Therefore, these processes should be well structured to minimize production costs and therefore increase profits. When it comes to Coca Cola Company, there are very simple and easy processes that lead to product delivery. The products have direct and effective manufacturing process as well as the delivery and distribution process. Therefore the company is able to maintain their market share for their products. Physical Evidence This relates to the physical evidence that the company exists, products or services were produce and delivered. If a companys products are well perceived in the market, it means that the company exists and it is functional and well known. It simply involves the tangible things that show a companys existence like, having a place where customers and employees relate, a product or service that is known by people among other things. In relation to this, Coca Cola Company has warehouses. Depots, effective delivery systems even when it comes to online purchases to name a few. There is also the presence of so many different products that are sold in most parts of the world especially their lead non-alcoholic drinks. Performance This refers to the measure or standards of the service delivery quality or product quality. Every organization should ensure that their products are delivered in the best way possible by their employees (Pujari et al, 2003). Also it should ensure that its products are of the best quality and are performing better in the market compared its competitors products or services. However, if the products lag behind in the market, it must develop ways to improve them and make them better. Therefore for a company rank the as the best in the market it must have the best performing products and services in the market compared to other companies. In the case of Coca Cola Company, its products are currently the best non-alcoholic drinks that are preferred by most people. This simply shows that the company has the best performing products and services in general. Issues facing Marketers Corporate Social Responsibilities It entails the provision of sustainable development to the surrounding society, its employees as well as the stakeholders of the company. This is an issue that affects the marketers because they have to consider even these other parties. This therefore enacts a lot of pressure on them and may end up not doing their marketing as well as expected. For the case of Coca Cola they have to ensure that their environment and shareholders are well taken care of. Social media interactions These are issues that are related to advertising of any product or service. They may affect Coca Cola Company by costing more than they should have or not impacting the consumers as expected. Therefore these causes more costs than the profits which is wrong. Technology Advances The Coca Cola Company can be affected by this whereby the technology development may change their systems and processes of manufacturing their products and therefore cause an increase in production costs. Additionally, the technology may be very vital and good for production but it does not have employees with skills, expertise or experience and therefore leading to loss. Ethical Concerns This related to the moral code of conduct that governs an organization. Therefore, the effect of this issue to Coca Cola can be in a way that some of the employees may not be ready to adhere to certain rules that are put in place. This may be caused by the fact that there are many employees from different culture, ethnic groups, religions, race group to name a few differences. Globalization This relates to the environment. Therefore, this can affect the company where by its production process has high chances of causing globalization. In other words, the emissions and wastes from the manufacturing processes may damage the environment and so they have to change them for better environmental treatment. Recommendations I would recommend that the Coca Cola Company to increase the quantity of their non-alcoholic drinks since their demand goes on increasing with time. Also they should come up with better ways of promoting the products which are not famous to their customers. They should reduce the prices of their products in general to encourage more buying. They should come up with more depots and especially the most populated areas of Australia to enhance distribution. They should ensure that every town in Australia has a warehouse, depot and offices to help manage the marketing and selling process. They should ensure there are enough employees to work and especially in the sales department. Also their manufacturing processes must be effective, efficient and always functional to facilitate production. Conclusion I conclude by saying that, every organization need to ensure that its marketing mix strategies and concepts are all in place and operating in the right manner. Also, Coca Cola Company should take heed of the above recommendations to be able maintain their market share in the long run. References Cravens, D. W., Piercy, N. (2006).Strategic marketing(Vol. 7). New York: McGraw-Hill. Rust, R. T., Lemon, K. N., Zeithaml, V. A. (2004). 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