Assignment Details

Created By: Chitrank Rastogi

Product Category: Whey Protein Supplement
Industry: Dietary Health Supplements
Chosen Company: Dabur India Limited

Here I am launching a Whey Protein supplement for the Dabur India Limited. The younger
generation in India is increasingly gaining interest in sports and fitness activities, which in turn,
is booming the demand for sports nutrition. Further, sports drinks with incorporated whey
protein have been gaining momentum in recent years.

The Indian whey protein market is expected to register a CAGR of 9.5% during the forecasted
period (2022 - 2027).

Dabur Ltd is an Indian multinational consumer goods company; it manufactures Ayurvedic

medicine and natural consumer products, and is one of the largest fast-moving consumer
goods (FMCG) companies in India. By the addition of Whey protein supplement it can bring a
revolutionary change in the Indian market with the trust and legacy of Dabur in the Indian
market.
Top Protein Powder Supplements Companies in India
 MuscleBlaze
 Optimum Nutrition
 MuscleTech
 Dymatize
 MyProtein
 BSN
 MusclePharm

Effect of macro environment factors on Organization’s Marketing Decisions:

Demographic Environment:
 Demographic environment is the scientific study of human population in terms of
elements, such as age, gender, education, occupation, income, and location. It also
includes the increasing role of women and technology. These elements are also called as
demographic variables.
 Before marketing a product, we can collect the information to find the suitable market for
the product.
We can divide the market along the demographic factors such as:
Age: 2-8 years kids, 8-15 years teens, 18-60 years adults.
Gender: Male and Female
Education: School, College Graduate and Post Graduate.
Occupation: Students, Homemakers and Working Professionals.

Socio-cultural Environment:
 Socio-cultural environment comprises forces, such as society’s basic values, attitudes,
perception, and behavior. These forces help in determining that what type of products
customers prefer, what influences the purchase attitude or decision, which brand they
prefer, and at what time they buy the products.
 The socio-cultural environment explains the characteristics of the society in which the
organization exists. The analysis of socio-cultural environment helps an organization in
identifying the threats and opportunities in an organization.
 In India, 88% people have less protein intake than the ideal amount of consumption,
indicating that there is a huge gap in the protein requirements and protein consumption
for each individual.

Some Facts:
-Around 107Cr people being protein deficient.
-75% people are unaware about the ideal protein requirement.
-Survey finds: Indian women eat 13% less protein than men.
-According to the University of Washington study published in The Lancet 2016, India with its
41 million obese people ranks third amongst the countries with the highest number of
overweight people.

We can design our marketing strategy that will target men and women from all class and
categories.
Economic Environment:
 The economic environment constitutes factors that influence customers’ purchasing
power and spending patterns. These factors include the GDP, GNP, interest rates, inflation,
income distribution, government funding and subsidies, and other major economic
variables.
 We can produce products in different price category and in different sizes starting from
(250gm, 500gm, 1kg, 2kg etc.) so that the people with different earning powers can still
afford to consume and gets benefitted from our products.

Political Environment:
 Political environment consists of legal bodies and government agencies that influence and
limit the organizations and individuals. As an organization should take care of the fact that
our marketing activities should not harm the political and legal environment prevailing in a
country. The political and legal environment has a serious impact on the economic
environment of a country.
Natural Environment:
 The types of protein supplements available in Indian market are Whey Protein, Casein
Protein, Whey-Casein Blend, Soy Protein, Plant-based protein etc.
 The raw materials required to manufacture these protein supplements are dairy products
or plant based abstracts. We can ensure to offer good quality of food to the animals and
plant trees from where we are getting our raw materials so that we don’t affect the
environment.
 Whey is derived from the cheesemaking process. Once the milk passes quality tests,
enzymes are added to separate the curd from the liquid whey. The liquid whey is then
pasteurized and the protein is concentrated and isolated. The two main methods to
achieve this are membrane filtration and ion exchange technology.
 Plant proteins are derived from seeds, legumes, grains, beans, soy, and hemp. These
functions as an alternative to animal-based proteins in vegan diets. The product is rich in
phytonutrients and antioxidants.
 We can practice the usage of renewable sources of energy in our manufacturing process
and sell our products in compostable bags which will spread the least amount of pollution
to the environment.

Technology Environment:
 Apart from selling the generic products, we can also attract more target audience by
offering them customized products. We can include a small survey with some pre-defined
set of questionnaires which a buyer can fill out before ordering the products from our
website or any other e-commerce platforms.

These questions may include:

 Age
 Gender
 Weight
 Body type (Lean, Muscular, Muscle to Fat percentage, Ectomorph, Endomorph,
Mesomorph)
 Purpose of use (General nutrition, Fitness enthusiasts, weight watchers etc.)

By offering this option, the customers will get a customized product which will be best suited
for their requirements.

Legal Environment:
 Always follow FDA dietary supplement guidelines. For example, since supplements are
“not intended to treat, diagnose, prevent, or cure diseases,” we should not make claims
that say or suggest they are.
 The FDA will take action against a manufacturer or distributor of any supplement who
markets “products that are adulterated or misbranded.”
 We can also include a statement in every piece of marketing that recommends our
customer to consult a physician before trying any supplements.
For the chosen product category, the group should carry out the following:

Why do consumers purchase the product? Find out 3 obvious reasons and 3 new insights.
 As a brand, this is one of the most fundamental questions you ask. Innovation and quality
are nice, but they don't matter if customers don't care about your items. It is critical to
have a deep understanding of your consumers in order to develop high-quality products
and advertise them successfully.
 Our grasp of what influences people's decisions to purchase or not to purchase our
products needs to be extensive.

People Buy Products Out of Necessity:

 People will buy a product because they want it. Depending on what they buy, they may
even want to show it off. Brand recognition will come in handy in this case.

People Value Convenience:

 Another big reason customers buy stuff is to decrease their hassles and make their lives
more comfortable. Many buyers acquire new goods to help them do a task more quickly,
easily, or affordably. They also do so to make their lives less unpleasant.

Security and Protection:

 Customers purchase products to protect themselves and to provide security. These
motivators correlate with the second category on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, specifically
the safety requirement.

FOMO (Fear of Missing Out):

 This can be tied in with impulse buying but has more of a focus on popular trends. When
there is a wildly popular trend, people tend to buy from that trend because they don’t
want to be left out. They’ll buy to prove that they’re part of the group and show off their
purchase.
Getting A Good Deal or Price:
 Many experts say that price isn't one of the top reasons customers buy. People love buying
things that are limited edition or part of a flash sale. It can make them feel like they got
something special that not a lot of people have.
 Getting a good deal is the foundation of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. We can't resist
getting up at 5 am to buy new AirPods or Legos for the lowest prices of the year.

Health/Aspiration:
 Personal wellbeing is probably the most important thing to people. If a product guarantees
that it will help people live longer and healthier, people will buy it. This can also include
any form of self-improvement and ways for people to better themselves.

Are there defined stages in the purchase processes? What are they?
The different stages in customer purchase processes are:
 Problem Identification.
 Information Search.
 Evaluation of Alternatives.
 Purchase Decision.
 Post-Purchase Evaluation.

What influences consumers in each of these stages of the purchase process? Who played
what kinds of roles in each stage and approximately how much time was taken in each stage?

Problem Identification:

 Need recognition of Problem Recognition is the first stage of the buyer decision process.
During need or problem recognition, the consumer recognizes a problem or need satisfied
by a product or service in the market.
 The buyer feels a difference between his or her actual state and some desired state.
Internal stimuli can trigger the need. This occurs when one person’s normal needs, such as
hunger, thirst, shelter raise to a level high enough to become a driver. External stimuli can
also trigger a need.

At this stage, the marketer should study the buyer to find answers to some important
questions. These are:

 What kinds of needs or problems arise?

 What is the root of these needs or problems?
 How they led the buyer or customer or consumers to a particular product?

Situations Leading to Problem Recognition:

There could be many situations that may lead a consumer to recognize a problem to exist.
Major situations leading to problem recognition are;

 Insufficient Stock of Goods

 Dissatisfaction or Discontentment with the Stock
 Changes in the Environmental Characteristics
 Changes in the Financial Status
 Promotional Activities
 Consumer’s Previous Decisions
 Individual Development
 Efforts of Consumer Groups and Governmental Agencies
 Availability of Products

Marketing Strategy with Regards to Problem Recognition:

 Recognition of problems by consumers bears important marketing implications. They
should first identify the problems that consumers face, and, in the second stage, they
should develop a marketing mix aiming at consumers’ problem solutions.

Measuring Problem Recognition:

 By evaluating his product, a marketer can determine whether he should improve his
product, and if so, how he can do so. Second, he can conduct surveys to identify the
problems recognized by his customers.
 Another technique used in identifying problems consumers recognize to undertake
problem analysis. Here, consumers are requested to identify the problems they face and
give suggestions relating to such problems.

Marketing Mix Decision Aiming at Problem Solution:

 After the consumers’ problem is identified, a marketer may adjust their marketing mix
variables to help consumers overcome problems. This may be done through product
modification, changing the distribution strategy channel, adjusting prices, or changing
advertising or communication strategy.
Activating Problem Recognition:
 Marketers themselves may activate problem recognition by the consumers. Marketers
may activate problem recognition, first, by influencing the desired state. By emphasizing
the benefits of products, marketers may encourage people to buy a particular product
they lack actively.

Suppressing Problem Recognition:

 By this time, you are aware of the situations that trigger problems in consumers. Some of
the problems recognized by consumers may create problems for certain marketers. In
such a situation, marketers try to suppress the problem to be recognized by consumers.

Information Search:

 The second stage of the purchasing process is searching for information. Once the need is
recognized, the consumer is aroused to seek more information and moves into the
information search stage.

Buyers or customers can get information about goods from different sources.

Personal Sources:
 This includes family, friends, neighbors, acquaintance, etc.

Commercial Source:
 This includes advertising, salespeople, dealers, packaging, display, etc.

Public Sources:
 This includes mass media, consumer rating organizations, etc. they also become
confidential to provide information.

Experimental Sources:
 This includes handling, examining, using, etc. Such information becomes decisive and
confidential.

Marketing Strategies Based on Information Search Patterns:

 While developing marketing strategies, a marketer should actively consider the
information search patterns of his target consumers.
 If a marketer finds that his brand falls in the routinely purchased product category, he
should reinforce consumers’ existing behavior patterns. He can maintain product quality,
ensure regular distribution, and reinforce consumers through persuasive advertising. He
should also combat competitive, disruptive activities immediately.
 If a marketer finds that his brand is not included in the buyer’s evoked set of alternatives,
he may try to disrupt the existing decision pattern by product improvement and
 persuasive marketing communication that attracts target consumers’ attention to his
brand.
 He may also disrupt the existing decision pattern by distributing free samples, reducing
price and announcing price cuts, or offering coupons or other inducements to customers.

Evaluation of Alternatives:

 With the information in hand, the consumer proceeds to alternative evaluation, during
which the information is used to evaluate” brands in the choice set.
 Evaluation of alternatives is the third stage of the buying process. Various points of
information collected from different sources are used in evaluating different alternatives
and their attractiveness.

Following criteria are considered while evaluating alternatives:

 Benefits offered by the brands
 Qualities, features or attributes, and performance
 Price changed by various brands
 History of brands
 Popularity, image or reputation of brands
 Product-related services offered by the brands, such as after-sales services, warrantee, and
free installation
 Availability of brands and dealer rating.

Purchase Decision:

 At this stage of the buyer decision process, the consumer buys the product. After the
alternatives have been evaluated, consumers decide to purchase products and services.
They decide to buy the best brand. But their decision is influenced by others’ attitudes and
situational factors.
 Usually, the consumer will buy the most preferred brand.
 But two factors might influence the purchase intention and the purchase decision. The first
factor is the attitudes of other people related to the consumer.
 The second factor is unexpected situational factors. The consumer may form a purchase
intention based on factors such as expected price and expected product benefits.
 However, unexpected events may alter the purchase intention. Thus, preferences and even
purchase intentions do not always lead to actual purchase choice.

Post-Purchase Evaluation:

 In the buyer decision process’s final stage, post-purchase-purchase behavior, the consumer
takes action based on satisfaction or dissatisfaction. In this stage, the consumer determines
if they are satisfied or dissatisfied with the purchasing outcome. Here is where cognitive
dissonance occurs, “Did I make the right decision.”
 At this stage of the buyer decision process, consumers take further action after purchase
based on their satisfaction or dissatisfaction. If the product falls short of expectations, the
consumer is disappointed; if it meets expectations, the consumer is satisfied; if it exceeds
expectations, the consumer is delighted.

Dissatisfaction can be reduced by:

 Congratulating consumers for the right choice to justify their decision.
 Sending booklet to guide for effective use of the product.
 Inviting suggestions from consumers.
 Managing complaints by effective counseling and after-sales services.
 Informing about changes made in the product.
 Exchanging or returning amount, etc.

Post-purchase Use and Disposal:

 Marketer should also monitor how the consumers use and dispose the product. Such
information can be a very good guideline for the marketer. Marketer can learn possible
problems and opportunities relating with the product.

Market Segmentation:

 Market segmentation is one of the most efficient tools for marketers to cater to their target
group. It makes it easier for us to personalize our campaigns, focus on what’s necessary,
and group similar consumers to target them in an effective manner.

Segmenting is dividing a group into subgroups according to some set bases. These bases range
from age, gender, etc. to psychographic factors like attitude, interest, values, etc.

Gender:
 Gender is one of the simplest yet important bases of market segmentation. The interests,
needs and wants of males and females differ at many levels. Thus, we can focus on different
marketing and communication strategies for both.

Age Group:
 Segmenting market according to the age group of the audience is a great strategy for
personalized marketing. Most of our products in the market are not universal to be used by
all the age groups. Hence, by segmenting the market according to the target age group, we
can create better marketing and communication strategies and get better conversion rates.

Income:
 Income decides the purchasing power of the target audience. It is also one of the key
factors to decide whether to market the product as a need, want or a luxury.

We can segment the market into three different groups considering their income. These are:
 High Income Group
 Mid Income Group
 Low Income Group

Place:
 The place where the target audience lives affect the buying decision the most.

Occupation:
 Occupation, just like income, influences the purchase decision of the audience. A need for
an entrepreneur might be a luxury for a government sector employee. There are even many
products which cater to an audience engaged in a specific occupation.

Usage:
 Product usage also acts as a segmenting basis. A user can be labelled as heavy, medium or
light user of a product. The audience can also be segmented on the basis of their awareness
of the product.

Lifestyle:
 Other than physical factors, marketers also segment the market on the basis of lifestyle.
Lifestyle includes subsets like marital status, interests, hobbies, religion, values, and other
psychographic factors which affect the decision making of an individual.

Geographic Segmentation:
 Geographic segmentation divides the market on the basis of geography. This type of market
segmentation is important for marketers as people belonging to different regions may have
different requirements.
 People belonging to different regions may have different reasons to use the same product
as well. Geographic segmentation helps marketer draft personalized marketing campaigns
for everyone.

Demographic Segmentation:
 Demographic segmentation divides the market on the basis of demographic variables like
age, gender, marital status, family size, income, religion, race, occupation, nationality, etc.
This is one of the most common segmentation practices among marketers.

Behavioural Segmentation:
 The market is also segmented based on audience’s behaviour, usage, preference, choices
and decision making. The segments are usually divided based on their knowledge of the
product and usage of the product. It is believed that the knowledge of the product and its
use affect the buying decision of an individual.

The audience can be segmented into –

 Those who know about the product.
 Those who don’t know about the product.
 Ex-users.
 Potential users.
 Current Users.
 First time users, etc.

IMC plan for the New Product Launch:

Strategies to Market the Dietary Supplements

Know your target audience

 Are they athletes or the average Joe/Jane? Are they health enthusiasts, or do they need a
little encouragement? Establishing who you’re selling to will determine both where and
how you do it.

Define your unique selling point

 What is your brand’s mission? What do you provide that your competitors don’t? Keep to
your core message.

Create high-quality content

 Offer your audience something of value, whether through articles, infographics, images,
videos, or other types of content. Examples include recipes, quizzes, interviews, nutrition
stats, stories, FAQs, or anything else that generates interest in your product.

 Strategy #1 - Labeling and packaging

 Strategy #2 - Marketing supplements online
 Strategy #3 - Leveraging social media
 Strategy #4 - Offline marketing

Labeling and Packaging - let the cover be as good as the book is!

A study conducted to understand how labeling affects purchasing decisions revealed the
following:
 70% of the respondents who bought dietary supplements were greatly influenced by the
label information that claimed the supplement to be free of banned substances.
 More than 50% of the respondents associated quality of the supplement with the product
information and container label.
 And, the ingredients present on the label influenced approximately 40% while purchasing
their dietary supplements.
 Apart from being eye-catching, your supplement packaging and label also need to comply
with FDA regulations. If they don’t then your dietary supplement might face unwanted
setbacks!
 If your supplement caters to seniors, it should be easy to spot, with clear fonts, and
recognizable colors while being easy to open and use.
 In the case of a younger target group, the packaging should reflect their tastes and
 preferences.
 If you are targeting fitness enthusiasts, "weekend warriors", etc., your product packaging
must resonate with them. Using strong colors and bold fonts is recommended.

Marketing Supplements Online - that's where your customers are 24/7/365!

Here are a few digital marketing channels that you NEED to consider for your dietary
supplement brand.

 Website:

 A professional website is essential in the modern business era as it is one of the primary
touch-points for your customers and prospects. We can invest in creating a good-looking
website with a mobile-first approach that delivers a great user experience.

 Email Marketing:

 Most health and fitness brands enjoy an email open rate of approximately 33%. When
compared to the average open rate across industries (which falls between 15 and 25%), this
is substantially better and more than acceptable.
 Moreover, according to Mailchimp, vitamin supplements have an email open rate of
15.03%. HubSpot, Mailchimp, GetResponse, Autopilot, Omnisend and ActiveCampaign are
examples of some of the most popular and efficient email marketing tools for supplement
businesses. Email marketing, when done right, is a great way to create a buzz about your
supplements, establish your brand presence, increase traffic and convert recipients into
buyers.

Other suggestions that may improve the performance of your email marketing campaigns
include:
 Powerful subject lines - include words such as "you", "your", "delivery", "free", and "yes" to
supercharge your open rate.
 Mobile-friendly emails - according to a 2019 article published by Hubspot, 46% of all emails
are opened on a mobile device.
 Interactive visuals - keeping an email recipient engaged with your message can only help to
improve your click-through rate. Consider charts, graphs, and other custom images, but
make sure to compress them so they don't bog down your load time. Free tools like
tinypng.com will help you do this seamlessly.

 Paid Marketing:

 Paid ads can give our brands the much-needed visibility amongst all the organic chaos.
Advertisers directly target customers according to their intent or interest. This helps our
brand reach the audience at the right time.
 It is effective for all types of businesses that are planning to target their customers online.
Examples of these are Google search ads and shopping ads, Yahoo ads, and Bing ads for
search engines along with Facebook ads, Pinterest ads, and Instagram ads for social media.

 Affiliate Marketing:

 We can also consider affiliate marketing in which the third-party publisher’s marketing
efforts get us visitors or customers. And, in turn we will reward them in the form of a
commission.
 Online affiliate marketing is a great way to start off, and there are several websites that can
help you out with the process. It also enables consumers to post their feedback or review.
This works as an online word-of-mouth to increase sales. So, if our supplement is capable of
showing promising results, then don’t worry, affiliate marketing can work like a charm for
us!

 Amazon Paid Promotions:

 Amazon boasts a varied product marketplace, featuring 480 million unique products -
revealing that consumers have welcomed the digital space with extreme warmth. And, this
also showcases that it is a great time for our supplement brand owners to launch our
product in the e-commerce space and monetize through these channels.
 Amazon can also support your product by giving it a dedicated space, helping us to get in
front of millions of potential buyers.

Leveraging Social Media Marketing for Selling Supplements:

Social media game has got to be pretty strong for our marketing strategy to succeed. Not
having a powerful and well-rounded social media marketing strategy is almost unthinkable
today.

Some Statistics about Social media:

 Instagram has nearly 1 billion active users with a growth rate of 42.7% since 2017.
 The number of U.S marketers on Instagram jumped from 69.2% in 2018 to 73.2% in 2019
and is predicted to reach 75.3% in 2020.
 89% of marketers use Facebook as an effective promotional medium.
 Approximately 42% marketers include Facebook live videos as a part of their marketing
efforts
 Around 79% users utilize Twitter as a medium to explore what’s new in the market

Offline Marketing - Effective Ways for Promoting our Health Supplement Product:

While the present and the future will be dictated by digital marketing, it is important to
remember that traditional mediums have not become obsolete. In fact, print and broadcast
media are still major players in the marketing world. Here are a few avenues supplement
businesses should consider:

TV and Radio:
 How many times has a jingle stuck with you? That’s the essence of TV and radio
advertisement - they have a high recall value and are consumed by a wide majority of your
customers. Partner with a creative agency to craft compelling advertisements for these
broadcast mediums.

Newspapers and Magazines:

 Older consumers still buys and read newspapers and magazines. The ad space that these
publications offer can be utilized by you to promote your supplements.

Brick and Mortar Stores:

 Physical presence and tangibility are gold in the supplement business since people still like
to check out products before buying them. We can consider partnering with leading stores
in your target geographies and working on a sale-commission basis with them. Apart from
direct selling, such stores can also give us display space to put up ads and banners.

Word of Mouth:
 This has been around for ages and continues to be an effective marketing tool even today.
When our supplement product delivers positive results, it is obvious that consumers would
recommend it to others. This kind of activity creates a buzz in the market and promises to
increase sales.

Direct Selling Model:

 Direct marketing companies sell their products via sales representatives, sales officers,
independent service providers, and retail stores.