MARKETING STRATEGY 1

Marketing Strategy

Utpal Lamichhane

bn181537

Westcliff University/ Kings College

BUS 387 Introduction of Business Research

Professor: Dr. Edwin Boyd / Upasna Acharya

July 18, 2020

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Abstract

A marketing strategy is a complete roadmap or action to achieve the marketing goals and

objectives of a business. In other words, it is a step by step process in the marketing of

products and services to potential and existing customer base. The major function of

marketing is to communicate about upcoming and existing products or services. For an

organization, it helps formulate marketing budgets as a marketing strategy includes all the

possible mediums, channels, time frame, etc. for marketing. I believe curated marketing

strategy is influenced by an organization's competitive advantage, value proposition,

target market, etc. This paper explores the importance of research in marketing strategy

and the changing landscape of marketing influenced by technological advancement.

Keywords: marketing, strategy, social media, research

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According to Dr. Philip Kotler, Marketing is the science and art of exploring,

creating, and delivering value to satisfy customers at profit. A marketing strategy is a

complete roadmap or action to achieve the marketing goals and objectives of a business.

In other words, it is a step by step process in the marketing of products and services to

potential and existing customer base. The major function of marketing is to communicate

about upcoming and existing products or services. For an organization, it helps formulate

marketing budgets as a marketing strategy includes all the possible mediums, channels,

time frame, etc. for marketing. I believe curated marketing strategy is influenced by an

organization's competitive advantage, value proposition, target market, etc. A good

marketing strategy lays a foundation for an organization's marketing plan for a certain

time frame. However, the marketing strategy must be updated according to the ever-

changing needs and buying behavior. Marketing strategy facilitates businesses to find a

target market, find effective marketing mediums, an appropriate combination of 4p's of

marketing (price, place, promotion, product) coordinate with the team, and achieve the

desired outcome timely.

Research in Marketing

For the formulation of an effective marketing strategy, we must have insights

about customer needs, wants, and buying behavior. It aids businesses in choosing the

right marketing mix which results in increased sales ultimately increasing profitability

[ CITATION Mor19 \l 2057 ], which is one of the outcomes of marketing. Every

effective marketing strategy is facilitated by market research which helps businesses in

making well-informed decisions. Research for formulating marketing strategy is as

important as a better product of a business. Frequent market research helps business

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understand their customers, competitors, technological advancement in marketing, test

products before launching, most importantly helps in business growth.

In the present context, market research is quite easier with the rise in technology.

Now, businesses can conduct a survey using social media, email, and other web-based

platforms. It ensures a larger sample, size, real-time analysis, time, and cost-

effectiveness. For example, JetBlue uses social media to get insights about customers and

their concerns to further improve customer service. "Customer service is the new

marketing"- Derek Sivers. Similarly, Dove launched #Speakbeautiful campaign partnered

with twitter as the data collected from twitter showed that 95% of women face body-

shaming comments on social media[ CITATION Cat15 \l 2057 ]. The campaign was

successful and was possible by the data collected through twitter. Businesses can leverage

modern marketing facilitated by technology to gather information through research or

secondary sources and form curated marketing strategy and promote their products,

interact with consumers, understand their needs, and fulfill them. Through research,

businesses can get insights on competitors and customers which helps in formulating

marketing strategies. Therefore, Market research bridges the gap between an effective

marketing campaign and a marketing strategy[ CITATION Jai17 \l 2057 ].

Formulating a Marketing Strategy

After conducting market research analyzing them is very important as it provides

us insights about our consumers and competitors and make decisions accordingly.

Various web-based platforms facilitate in presentation and analysis of the information

collected. Let us suppose, research conducted on potential customers on social media

reveals that a product, for example, juice lacks taste and is sour. Based on the preference
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of consumers, businesses now can improvise their products. To formulate marketing

started firstly a brand must identify its value proposition. IT communicates the value

customers will get. Then, SMART objective must be identified i.e. specific, measurable,

attainable, relevant, and time frame. As stated, earlier research helps us identify our target

customer and it is the third first step in forming a marketing strategy. It helps brands

market products and services who are interest in them. Otherwise, the marketing would

be just as a random person yelling at the street to buy his products. Then comes the

demographics, customers' age, location, gender, interests, income, buying behavior, etc.

and this information is generated through customer research through survey or data

collection from different sites through automated systems. Below is an example of a

buyer's persona.
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Source: Shopify

Then, understanding your competitors is key. It helps us know-how of their

marketing and identifies any untapped opportunities to leverage than and build our

marketing strategy. For example, we can use Mention, a social media monitoring tool,

which helps us scan the web about the online presence of our competitors and see the

response of their consumers if they are positive and negative. For example, Subisu and

Wordlink are competitors, if Subisu finds out many reviews about the poor customer

service of Worldlink then Subisu can leverage that and provide better customer service to

their new and existing customers which acts as an effective marketing tool. Similarly,

identifying the right channels to market products is very essential as there are a variety of

options. Both traditional (TV ads, hoarding boards, print ads, radio, etc.) and modern

marketing (Social media, email, internet ads, SEO, etc.). Choosing the right one and

tracking performance is the key to effective marketing. For example, multinational and

big businesses have higher budgets so they can do paid advertisements, endorsement via

celebrities, paid promotions in digital platforms, etc. Startups and small business can

concentrate on social media platforms which have higher returns and help them reach a

larger audience and deliver personalized ads and experiences.

Marketing Strategy of Coca-Cola

I believe the mantra to successful marketing is Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

Either it's Multination or Local businesses, they must adapt to the local consumer their

culture, needs, and behavior. Coca-Cola does global marketing very well across

countries. It was so popular and had a very big distribution channel, coke was available in

rural parts of India where running water was not available. From then, to now, it has
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established itself as one of the valuable companies in the world. Therefore, its marketing

strategy must reflect that. Its major marketing motto revolves around the simple yet

effective idea i.e. sharing happiness. Similarly, the message is carefully curated according

to the specific market. For example, such campaigns can be seen during Christmas

whereas during Dashain in the context of Nepal.

Coca-Cola is one of the most recognized brands in Nepal. However, its market

share is decreasing at an alarming rate. It has decreased to around 65% from 85% as a

result of the increased competition of Pepsi, Real, Frooti, etc. Therefore, an effective

marketing strategy is the need of the hour. Having realized that it has increased its digital

marketing campaigns, influencer marketing, and social media posts. To increase its

market share it seeks to become relevant to the increasing youth population of Nepal. As

a result, they are focusing on influencer marketing through social media to promote their

products to a younger audience, posting regularly on social media. However, after

analyzing a few of their posts and influencer campaigns, there's no doubt that they have

reached a larger audience but don't seem to have a positive response. For example, they

recently did the Influencer campaign for "Jigri" which created a buzz but had backlash as

the smaller PET bottles is not environment friendly and the so-called influencers who

promoted it faced criticisms as well. Coca-Cola was named the top plastic polluter

globally.

However, to roar out of it, they must update their marketing strategy and come up

with better campaigns that engage the audience, attracts young people, and do CSR which

promotes sustainability and invest in such businesses as well. Today, youths are familiar
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with sustainability and want to something about it. To grow its market share Coca-Cola

must focus on increasing the youth population of Nepal.

Technology has given birth to digital marketing and facilitates brands to be visible

on the internet and promote through different mediums. Social media is one of them

[CITATION Bas12 \l 2057 ]. I believe social media is where all the magic happens.

Hence, Coca-Cola realizing that has a presence on Facebook and Instagram. However,

their posts don’t resonate with me and some of my friends I have asked. In the present,

we youths don't like pushed advertisements. I believe engagement in social media

platforms helps connect brands and customers at the same time helps brands get insights

about the needs and preferences of their customers. So, they must be interactive in social

media platforms which they are not as of now. Also, the posts or the influencers they are

using attract only a few of the people whereas others don't find them appealing. However,

their collaboration with Hugerhunt (YouTube) and Mr. Foodie Nepal (Instagram), both

related to exploring new cuisines seemed to be very effective. I believe the best

marketing doesn’t feel like one. Below are some examples of influencer marketing on the

Instagram handle of Coca-Cola Nepal.

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Similarly, memes can be a very effective option to engage the audience at the

same time increase interaction, shares, reviews, and promote the product. Various brands

from Nickelodeon to Gucci are using it to promote their product. Also, it resonates with

the youths of today. For instance, Ayushma Rimal a computer science student has around

12,000 pictures on her phone, and among them, 7000 are of memes[ CITATION Urz18 \l

2057 ]. It is an opportunity for brands to become relevant, increase engagement, make the

audience laugh at the same time producing products and services. It sends a subconscious

message and influences customers buying behavior. Also, it doesn't just increase

exposure but increase traffic in posts as well. It is also, used as a viral marketing

tool[ CITATION Mur131 \l 2057 ]. Also, they can use influencer marketing but I believe

it would be effective only when done right. In context of Nepal, the blend of both

tradition and modern marketing would be effective for Coca-Coal Nepal to increase

growth as we are still friendly to technological advancement and fewer social media

users. As youths are among the active social media users, social media marketing would

be key for Coca-Cola to promote their products among youths and be relevant than ever

before.

Small businesses using Social Media

Various startups have been leveraging the power of Social Media marketing and

rely on it to market their products and service. Mostly, they use Facebook and Instagram.

Among them, Foodmario, an online food delivery platform uses it very effectively with

its engaging and sleek looking Instagram and Facebook profile. What I like about them is

that the effortless promotion of their products which is not a harsh-sell approach. As they

promote vias social media their target market is young people aged around 18-35, and
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they don't like over marketing and just like the information about the product and

services. They just do that right there. Also, they use memes and humorous posts.

Recently, during their online food carnival campaign they used and was very effective.

Below are some of the posts they had shared in their Instagram handle are:

As the marketing magic happens on social media brands must utilize it to interact

with customers, get feedback, and improve on them and customer services as well. When

brands use social media in the right way, the ROI is quite higher than other mediums of

marketing[ CITATION Gil12 \l 2057 ]. Another multinational company that does

everything right on social media is Durex India. It uses social media to entertain its

audience and at the same time promote its products effortlessly. It certainly engages its

audiences which I believe is one of the effective marketing tools. For example, it has

around 50k followers on Instagram but got 3 million views on one of its posts. It shows

the effectiveness of social media marketing when done right.

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Another startup that just did the right things on social media was increased social

media interaction. PicknDrop Nepal is a delivery service provider recently established.

It has helped them increase customer base. It has mainly focused on Facebook and did

some paid promotions as well. For now, it provides Gas delivery service around

Kathmandu. As a small startup and having business growth potential, they are using and

can use social media for the promotion of their services to a larger audience. Its posts on

Facebook have got positive reviews and good interaction as well. Below are some of the

examples:

Some of the comments in second the second posts were: “Hanuman le delivery

garidiye ramro hune” and “Malai Ayodhya ma delivery gardinu”. These hilarious posts

seem to be interactive and promotional at the same time. Also, it provides a larger reach

and attracts new customers. Therefore, from multinationals to small startups all can

leverage social media as a marketing tool in a world where technological innovation

doesn't seem to stop and is both time and cost-effective. In addition, social media

provides opportunities for businesses to get real-time customer feedback, build better

relationships, conduct a survey. Consequently, make better marketing decisions.

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Conclusion

In a nutshell, Technology has facilitated modern marketing. Modern marketers

realizing that has been increasing their digital presence. However, a business must select

their marketing channel that better suits them. For instance, for Coca-Cola the blend of

traditional and modern marketing would be fruitful. Similarly, for startups like PicknDrop

Social Media is useful to promote their service to a larger audience. However, to make

sound marketing decisions pre-market research is very vital as it provides brands an

opportunity to understand their consumers, target market, competitors, and what people

think of our product or service. In the present, context social media has changed the

landscape of marketing and provided brands an opportunity to make better customer

relationships, get feedback, and increase engagement which subconsciously influences

people's buying behavior/decisions. Furthermore, Coca-Cola Nepal a multinational

company to PicknDrop an emerging startup from Nepal, both have equal opportunity to

reach a larger customer base and make effective marketing strategies and leverage the

power of social media today to facilitate business growth.

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References
Acharya, U. (2018, November 16). News . Retrieved from

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https://myrepublica.nagariknetwork.com/news/the-magic-of-memes/

Bashar, A., Ahmad, I., & Wasiq, M. (2012). Effectiveness of Social Media as a

Marketing Tool: An Empirical Study. International Journal of Marketing,

Financial Services & Management Research, 88-99.

Dewey, C. (2015, February 26). Internet Culture . Retrieved from washingtonpost.com:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/02/25/doves-

speakbeautiful-campaign-is-the-ugliest-thing-on-the-internet-today/

Gilfoil, D., & Jobs , C. (2012). Return on Investment For Social Media: A Proposed

Framework For Understanding, Implementing, And Measuring The Return.

Journal of Business & Economics Research, 637-649.

Jain, D. E., & Yadav, A. (2017). Marketing and Technology: Role of Technology in

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Strategy. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 4-29.

Murray, N., Manrai, A., & Manrai , L. (2013). Memes, Memetics and Marketing: A State

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Routledge Companion on the Future of Marketing, 331-347.

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