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Imagine you have inherited a company.

Choose a product that the company manufactures and


sells. Assume that traditionally, the company has sold to commercial users such as restaurants,
supermarkets, or food distributors. You have decided to expand your customer base to include
non-commercial users (Consumers). For this discussion you will:

 Identify the product(s) that your company manufactures and sells


 Develop a statement of your target market(s)
 Develop a statement of your competitor’s target market(s)
 Develop a value proposition statement.
Introduction
Brenner (2019) defined marketing as the process of understanding an organization’s customers
and also building and maintaining relationship with them, it is also the key to its success
regardless of its size. As marketing is about understanding customers, it is not only about
pushing sales or promotions. Fullerton (2016) argued that there were 10 tips to build an effective
marketing strategy: determine the target audience, create and document your strategy, make it
personal, content is king, build marketing partnerships, start collaborating with influencers, be
the solution of customers’ problems, initiate a forum for customers to interact, get the employees
to be engaged and involved, and use big data to target customers. Below I’ll discuss about the
marketing strategy when a company decided to venture to new market.
Identify the product(s) that your company manufactures and sells
For this case, I will assume that I have inherited a general computer monitor manufacturing
company called ABC in Indonesia, and ABC has been doing B2B for several years, providing its
products to both small and big companies, internet cafes, computer stores etc all over the
country. Now ABC is thinking to expand the market and sell the monitors directly to the
consumers (B2C). Its main competitors are international brands like ASUS, LG, Samsung etc.
ABC managed to thrive well because it’s produced locally with cheaper labor hence less cost.
Develop a statement of your target market(s)
A target market is a group of potential customers who share similar characteristics including
buying geography, buying power, demographics, incomes etc to whom a company directs its
marketing effort to sell its products and services (Kenton, 2020). Fullerton (2016) even argued
that one of the most important factor of a marketing strategy is determining the target audience.
Porta (n.d) gave some great tips to define an organization’s target market: look at the current
customer base, check out competition, analyze one’s products, choose specific demographics to
target, consider that psychographic of the target, and evaluate the decision.
In ABC case, previously the target markets are companies that have monitors but need some new
ones to replace the old monitors, new startup companies that were looking for monitors, and
government institutions. For the new market, since ABC previously targeted companies, so many
working employees will know the brand already, but we will strengthen the brand awareness
using local influencers’ reviews. The target market will be: male and female aged 13-50 located
in urban cities like Jakarta, who are proud to use good quality local products, they can be white
collar workers, students, businessmen especially in this COVID time when everything is done
remotely from home.
Develop a statement of your competitor’s target market(s)
Knowing the competitors’ target market and their current customers are essential for any
business. An organization can decide as to whether it wants to target the same market, or it can
find a niche market that has been overlooked ( Porta, n.d). The market leader for general monitor
is LG, their target market is broader: male and female aged 12-50, from students to white collar
workers in urban and suburbs to gamers etc, basically anyone who uses computers. LG can
charge more to its customers since their brand is strong and trustworthy.
Develop a value proposition statement
Wellington (2020) defined a value proposition as a simple statement that summarizes the benefit
that customers receive by choosing a company’s product. Using Peter Thomson’s value
proposition canvas, the value proposition statement for ABC company to the end user is “Local
Monitor with International Quality”. This shows that customers can get similar features of higher
price monitor with lower price. Especially now, where the economic is entering recession but
people has no choice but to work and study from home.
Conclusion
To be able to market a product well, an organization needs to create products, services, and
marketing campaigns targeted for a specific group of people, otherwise the products will be bad
products that don’t fully meet the needs and desires of the customers and unlikely to sell (Law,
2019). A clear target market will help to create marketing messages and strategies that truly
resonate with the target audience, which then will lead to higher conversion rates and a more
powerful brand image. Therefore, defining our own and competitors’ target market is one of the
most essential factor in marketing.
References
Brenner, Michael. (2019, April 4). What is marketing?. Marketinginsidergroup.com.
https://marketinginsidergroup.com/strategy/what-is-marketing/
Fullerton, Laurie. (2016, September 24). Ten tips for building an effective marketing strategy.
Thedrum.com. https://www.thedrum.com/news/2016/09/24/ten-tips-building-effective-
marketing-strategy
Kenton, Will. (2020, July 19). Target Market. Investopedia.com.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/target-market.asp
Law, Thomas J. (2019, July 10). Why You Desperately Need a Defined Target Market and
Target Audience. Oberlo.com. https://www.oberlo.com/blog/target-audience
Porta, Mandy. (n.d). How to Define Your Target Market. Inc.com.
https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/defining-your-target-market.html
Wellington, Elizabeth. (2020, April 28). How to Write a Value Proposition (+6 Modern
Examples). Helpscout.com. https://www.helpscout.com/blog/value-proposition-examples/
Pick a product or brand of your choice that is sold in your geographical location. From an
examination of any marketing medium (such as advertising, packaging, or website) and
reflecting on the 4P’s of marketing, construct a value proposition for the product or brand.
Conduct substantial research on the product or brand in order to get a good understanding of how
the brand has evolved and where it is heading.
Analyzing DFSK Car Brand In Indonesia

Master of Business Administration

University of the People

Marketing Management

BUS 5112

AY2021-T1

Dr Frank Billingsley
Introduction

Brenner (2019) defined marketing as the process of understanding an organization’s customers and also

building and maintaining relationship with them, it is also the key to its success regardless of its size. As

marketing is about understanding customers, it is not only about pushing sales or promotions, many

factors have to be considered in make an effective marketing strategy.

The brand that I want to analyze and study in this essay is DFSK Indonesia. DFSK is a Chinese

automotive brand that has just started to enter Indonesian market 3 years ago. Its main products are SUVs

and its competitors are other automotive brands. The automotive market in Indonesia is dominated by

Japanese brands like Honda and Toyota and also European brands. DFSK targeted the untapped market,

people with lower income that wishes to own cars but has limited budget. Since the main products are

SUVs, I assume that their target market is millenials, mostly male, 25-50, white collar worker, mid-high

income, ambitious, and wants to be successful.

The examination of the marketing mediums

Kokemuller (n.d) stated that marketing mediums are the options organizations have during the

promotional phase of marketing, which include: broadcast, print, digital and interactive, and social media.

Broadcast: DFSK uses TV and radio as their broadcast medium. It places TVC at prime time in major

TV stations and put ads in regional radio channels that targets young male audiences and millenials.

Print: DFSK promotes its products and ongoing promotions using newspapers ads and billboards to reach

the people living in surburbs area and create more touch points with customers

Digital & Interactive: DFSK has their own official corporate website and also put banner ads in major

media websites to create more touch points with its potential and existing customers. They also do

Electronic Direct Mail marketing to build customer loyalty and broadcast information.
Social Media: DFSK also has very active social media channels, like youtube, instagram, facebook and

now also entering the Tiktok channel. This is a great way to reach millenials that mostly uses and spends

time on their social media everyday.

Reflections on the 4P’s of marketing

Mindtools (2016) defined marketing mix as a phrase to describe different kinds of choices organizations

have to make in the whole process of introducing and bringing a product to market, and the 4P’s is

probably the best known way of defining it. Tracy (2004) argued that nowadays it’s not only the

traditional 4Ps, but 7Ps will be more relevant to develop marketing strategy and continually evaluate and

reevaluate business activities, which are: product, price, promotion, place, packaging, positioning, and

people. Below will be the brief explanation of the 4Ps of DFSK brand.

Product: DFSK currently has 2 lines of product, commercial and non-commercial vehicles, and they

focus more on the non-commercial vehicles and position themselves as the SUV expert. Within 3 years

they have introduced 3 SUVs, and 3 pickups with features that are similar to more expensive Japanese

cars in the same category. The exterior and interior design of DFSK products are quite similar to

European cars, giving it a luxurious feeling. DFSK answers to customers’ need of having a full featured

car with affordable prices. It also make sure that the repair and maintenance will be easy by selling spare

parts in its dealers and having many repair stations all over the country.

Price: The price of DFSK SUVs ranging from $13000-20000 for a new car, and its commercial pickups

ranging from $7000-13000, around 30% lower than Japanese or European cars in the same class. It also

cooperates with many banks for credit payments to make it easier for people to buy. They also promised

that their services and spare parts prices will be 20% lower than other brands’.

Promotion: DFSK always has quarterly promotion going on which is communicated through many

traditional and online channels like newspaper, radio, social media, television, etc. Since they are

considered a new brand in the automotive industry, they are trying to increase brand awareness by
reaching as many people as possible by using a very famous brand ambassador to build brand image.

DFSK also never fails to join national and regional car exhibitions with special promotions and a great

number of salesforce.

Place: Per September 2020, DFSK has more than 100 showrooms and service centers all over the

country, and it’s aggressively opening new showrooms and service centers every month. For places

unreached by the showrooms, they also do exhibitions and schedules services every month. This is done

to make sure that customers have an easy access to the products and have an ease of mind that even if

something is wrong with their car, the repair and maintenance will be easy. Starting from early 2020,

DFSK started to sell their cars at online marketplaces also.

The value proposition for the brand

Wellington (2020) defined a value proposition as a simple statement that summarizes the benefit that

customers receive by choosing a company’s product. Using Peter Thomson’s value proposition canvas,

the value proposition statement for DFSK to the end user is “Get Full Features and Luxurious Feels For

Less”. DFSK products offer similar features and luxurious driving experience with Japanese and

European cars with much higher price tags. DFSK offers the solution to the need of having affordable

cars with many features and fulfill the customer’s wants of having the same luxurious feeling of driving

European cars. They also eliminate the customers’ fears of the difficulty to find the spare parts or to

service the cars .

Conclusion

As market is rapidly changing, marketers have to adapt quickly and set up new strategies to keep up with

the change. Luenendonk (2020) pointed out the marketing mix is a crucial tool to understand what the

product can offer and plan for a successful product offering. Hence organizations need to continously

revisit the 4Ps to evaluate and reevaluate business activities, to make sure that the products offered is

relevant and to determine the next strategy that should be employed by the company. With the correct use
of marketing mediums and strategy derived from the 4Ps, organization can be successful in attaining its

goals.
References
Brenner, Michael. (2019, April 4). What is marketing?. Marketinginsidergroup.com.

https://marketinginsidergroup.com/strategy/what-is-marketing/

Kokemuller, Neil. (n.d). Types of Marketing Mediums. Smallbusiness.com.

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/types-marketing-mediums-61431.html

Luenendonk, Martin. (2020, September 1). Understanding the Marketing Mix Concept – 4Ps.

Cleverism.com. https://www.cleverism.com/understanding-marketing-mix-concept-4ps/

Marketingcareeredu (n.d). Marketing Mediums. Marketingcareeredu.org.

https://www.marketingcareeredu.org/marketing-mediums/#:~:text=Marketing%20and%20promotion

%20can%20take,engine%20marketing%2C%20and%20mobile%20marketing.

Mindtools. (2016). The Marketing Mix and the 4Ps of Marketing. Mindtools.com.

https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_94.htm

Tracy, Brian. (2004, May 17). The 7Ps of Marketing. Entrepreneur.com.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/70824

Wellington, Elizabeth. (2020, April 28). How to Write a Value Proposition (+6 Modern Examples).

Helpscout.com. https://www.helpscout.com/blog/value-proposition-examples/
According to Kotler and Keller (2012), “Goals indicate what a business unit wants to achieve;
strategy is a game plan for getting there. Every business must design a strategy for achieving its
goals, consisting of a marketing strategy and a compatible technology strategy and sourcing
strategy.” 

An organization’s mission statement should 

 Clearly outline the main purpose of the organization, and what they do.
 Mention plans by organizations on achieving the mission statement
 Mention audience of the mission statement.
 Clearly outline the value organization provides 
For this Portfolio Assignment provide answers to below questions:

1. Amazon.com Mission statement is “To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where


customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer
its customers the lowest possible prices.”

 Is this mission statement market-oriented, product-oriented, production-oriented or


futuristic? Why? 
2. The purpose of strategic planning is to find ways in which an organization can best use its
strengths to take advantage of opportunities within the environment.

In the past, Wal-Mart mission statement was, “We deliver low prices, every day.”  Currently,
Wal-Mart’s corporate mission is “to save people money so they can live better.”

 Using the knowledge from strategic formulation and unit’s reading, provide a possible
reason for review of Wal-Mart’s mission statement.
Mission Statement &

Marketing Strategy Analysis

Master of Business Administration

University of the People

Marketing Management

BUS 5112 AY2021-T1

Cynthia Christiany

Dr Frank Billingsley

4 February 2021
Introduction

Nelson (2020) defined a mission statement as an action based statement that declares the purpose

of an organization and how they serve their customers, it will be the guidelines by which a

company operates. A quality mission statement will leave a lasting impression of the brand in

the minds of customers, and encourage them to choose this brand instead of the other (Nelson,

2020). Sinha (2018) even argued that a mission statement will aid in formulating a strategic

marketing plan and also will enhance the effectiveness of marketing planning and overall

operations of business. That is why it is important for organizations to set their mission statement

correctly.

Amazon.com mission statement is “To be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where

customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to

offer its customers the lowest possible prices.” Is this mission statement market-oriented,

product-oriented, production-oriented or futuristic? Why? 

Amazon.com mission is market oriented, because the mission statement stated that they want to

be the most customer-centric company, to be able to provide customers with anything at lowest

prices. Amazon.com focus is primarily on the meeting customer’s needs by providing everything

at lowest possible prices as a solution. Cuofano (2019) even mentioned that in 2019 Amazon

changed their mission statement to “serve consumers through online and physical stores and

focus on selection, price and convenience”, and one of the core values mentioned by Jeff Bezos

that made up Amazon’s culture is customer obsession, so they set a very high standards to give

to the customers.
Companies with market oriented mindset ensures that their values, norms and behaviours are in

line with customers’ needs (Njogu, n.d). Meanwhile, companies with production oriented

mindset choose to focus on efficiently building a quality product and igone their customer’s

needs (McLaughlin, 2014). Product oriented companies are more concerned with meeting the

wants and needs of the customers rather than making as many products as possible (Quain,

2018). While Griffin (2020) argued that future oriented is more to what the company asipires to

be in the future, it is more like vision statement. Since Amazon focuses on the satisfaction of its

customers heavily, hence it is market oriented.

In the past, Wal-Mart mission statement was, “We deliver low prices, every

day.”  Currently, Wal-Mart’s corporate mission is “to save people money so they can live

better.” Provide a possible reason for review of Wal-Mart’s mission statement.

Things can change rapidly in business world, a company’s mission statement set years ago might

not still be relevant today, hence companies need to review their mission statement from time to

time. Beauregard (2016) pointed out some reasons that could trigger a mission statement review:

the company has been acquired, the products have seen substantial changes, business is growing

and expanding its scope, the industry has been altered by changes, leadership has changed, the

business accomplished its current mission statement.

From both previous and new statement, Walmart’s marketing mix involves low pricing as their

main strategy to gain competitiveness. Looking at Ansoff’s Growth Matrix, Walmart’s market

entry strategy is market penetration, selling its exisiting products to its existing customers since

Walmart has been around for so long and has a loyal customer base. Previous and new statement

of Walmart has the same objective: both is aiming to provide low prices, but the previous

statement failed to include the target market in the statement, and what is the benefit for the
target market. The new mission statement included the benefit that the target market can enjoy,

which is to live better, this provides a clearer comunication with its customers of how Walmart

wants to do things hence creates a good brand image for Walmart. This new mission is supported

by Walmart’s decision in January 2018 to increase the starting wage rate, expand maternity and

parental leave benefit, and provide a one-time cash bonus. This will increase Walmart’s brand

equity in public eyes.

Conclusion

To be able to achieve goals, organizations should set their mission correctly in the beginning as it

is the basic for all strategic marketing planning done later on. Organizations also should clearly

know the position of their companies in the market to set steps to achieve goals from their

current position. After having a clear picture of those 2, then strategic planning can be done

effectively. Strategic planning will count in a lot of factors into consideration, hence information

and knowledge about the market and its own operation is vital.

References

Beauregard, Barbara. (2016, February 24). Reviewing Your Mission Statement.


Intelligentoffice.com. https://www.intelligentoffice.com/blog/reviewing-your-mission-statement

Cuofano, (2019). Amazon Mission Statemtn and Vision Statement in a Nusthell.


Fourweekmba.com. https://fourweekmba.com/amazon-vision-statement-mission-statement/

Griffin, Thomas. (2020, May, 23). Mission Statement vs. Vision Statement: What’s the
Difference?. Thomasgriffin.com. https://thomasgriffin.com/mission-statement-vs-vision-
statement/
McLaughlin, John. (2014, Jan 1). Production Orientation: Definition & Examples. Study.com.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/production-orientation-definition-examples-quiz.html#lesson

Nelson, Erin. (2020, February 13). Best Mission Statements: 12 Examples You Need to See.
Fond.co. https://www.fond.co/blog/best-mission-statements/

Newton, Chris. (n.d). Tagline vs. Mission Statements. Smallbusiness.com.


https://smallbusiness.chron.com/taglines-vs-mission-statements-31760.html#:~:text=Intended
%20Audience,-A%20tagline%20is&text=Taglines%20are%20written%20to%20be,company
%20does%20and%20stands%20for.

Njogu, Tabitha. (n.d). Difference Product Orientation and Market Orientation.


Differencebetween.net. http://www.differencebetween.net/business/difference-product-
orientation-and-market-orientation/

Quain, Sampson. (2018, October 19). Difference Between Product Orientation and Production
Orientation. Smallbusiness.com. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/difference-between-product-
orientation-production-orientation-16004.html#:~:text=The%20major%20difference
%20between%20these,of%20customer%20wants%20and%20needs.

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