Unit 16 Marketing Communication Assignment

Unit 16 Marketing Communication Assignment

Introduction

The Marketing Communication will highlight the essence of the marketing management in the context of the global business organisation that is Samsung. The first part of the report will give the detailed analysis of the product portfolio of Samsung with the analysis of the target market. The second part of the report will highlight the effectives of the marketing communication tools for the product Samsung Galaxy S7. The third part of the report will be the marketing communication plan for the same product in the market of UK by considering the SOSTAC framework. At last the report will give the details of the communication along with the evaluation in order to aware and inform the people about the value preposition of the product S7. 

Task A

Brief description of the company and its range of products and an analysis of the specific product and profiling of the target market

The company is Samsung which is a multinational conglomerate company of South Korea manly operating in the consumer electronics segment. During the establishment of the company, Samsung has a diversified business in the areas like textile, food processing, retail and securities. At the end of the year 1960, they have entered in to the electronics segment and currently become one of the largest companies in this segment across the world. The total employee strength is also high in Samsung. Nearly 2, 75,133 employees are working for Samsung. Training and development areas are very strong in Samsung. In order to have the competent employees, the management of Samsung conducts the learning programs and also has the higher education advantage to motivate the employees for giving productive performances. The operating profit has slightly decline due to the strong promotion of Apple iPhone 6 and 6 plus in the market. The operating profit is around 22 billion $ and increase the investment up to 10% that is around 32.63 billion $. The Brand equity of Samsung is also high and it is holding currently 3^rd position in the world after Apple and Google (Deidre, 2016). Diversification in the business is the key potential of Samsung and they have entered in to the several segments of the electronics. One of the popular product lines of Samsung is the smart phone which is named under the brand of Galaxy. Under the Galaxy, Samsung has brought different product items like smart phones, phablets, tablets etc. Apart from the smart phone division, Samsung is also considered to be the largest television manufacturer in the world. The competition between Samsung and Apple is very high in the smart phone division and thus the constant innovation is observed in order to achieve the competitive advantage.

In order to analyse the product of Samsung, it is needed to understand from the point of view of marketing. Product is the value that is being offered to the market in order to satisfy the demand of the consumers or customers. Thus value creation is the main objective for the organisation Samsung and for that they have introduced an enhanced version that is Samsung Galaxy S7. Samsung Galaxy S7 has been introduced in the market by considering the youth market. The modification has been done on the features of the camera in the name of 360 camera which permits the users to capture the VR footage of his/her own. The VP of the brand Samsung Europe claimed that the smart phone S7 will give the true essence of using the smart phone. Around half of the population in UK is having the smart phone and 90% of the people used to access the internet. The enhanced feature of Virtual Reality will excite the youth to capture the picture, videos and share instantly in a high definition mode. The launch of the Galaxy S7 was made in the international event that is in Olympics at Rio 2016 (Purkis, 2016). As a sports man spirit, Samsung S7 will also support the tech savvy youth market with the plus sized screen and bio metric security features. The target market is the specific group of audience whom the company select in order to offer the value of the organisation in the form of the product or service. An organisation initiates the planning process by selecting the group of buyers who shares equal buying behaviour and taste and preference (Kotler, 2010). The first is the segmentation process where the organisations like Samsung consider the groups of buyers with equal taste and preference and then approach the product in order to satisfy their desires. Same in the case of S7 where the target market is the youth and based on that the advanced features of eye ball tracking, big screen, virtual reality etc are implemented. After the targeting, it is the placement or positioning of the product in the mind of the customers effectively in order to achieve the competitive advantage. The pricing is kept high in order to differentiate the value of Samsung S7 with other brands.  It is the youth market whose desire level is very high and in the era of globalisation they are influenced with the constant advanced features. On this circumstance, the organisation Samsung has brought S7 in the market in order to attract the youth and to achieve the competitive advantage.

Task B

Provide a report to critically evaluate the characteristics, features and effectiveness of the marketing communications tools of that chosen organization

Marketing communication plays a vital role for the organisation in order to aware, persuade and inform the customers towards a new product/service or changes in the existing product/service or to communicate the features of the product/service. In this perspective Integrated Marketing Communication can be highlighted in order to reach the target audience effectively. It is the target audience that influence the revenue generation of the organisation. The tools that are generally applied in the area of marketing communication are advertisement, sales promotion, direct marketing, public relation, internet marketing and personal selling (Danny, 2014).

For evaluating critically about the characteristics, features and effectiveness of the marketing communication tools of the organisation Samsung based on the product galaxy S7, it is needed to understand the objective of the organisation towards this product. The management of Samsung should understand the benefits of the product towards the end-user and what extent the product will meet the requirement of the market. In the era of globalisation, all the people in the market will not be a target audience of an organisation like Samsung. Thus the selection of the target market is needed to be defined before approaching the product to the market. The objective of Samsung is to attract the youth market with the product S7 in order to achieve the competitive advantage. Currently Samsung in UK is holding second position with 32% of the market share just after Apple (Statista, 2016).

In this perspective the objective of Samsung is very clear that youth market has the key potential to increase the business turnover of Samsung and accordingly they can reach near to the total share of Apple in UK. From the objective the segmentation, targeting and positioning of the product S7 can be analysed. The management has segmented the market by considering the demographic factors. The age group and income is selected as a parameter to consider the demographic segmentation of S7. With this segmentation, targeting the audience by considering the differentiated strategy can be observed where the high income youth who is having high desire is selected. Lastly, positioning the product in the mind of the customers by focusing on the price and features in order to beat the rival Apple can be observed. The effectiveness of the STP process is required in order to develop the proper communication mix for the product.

The tools they have adopted for attracting the youth market can be relate with the communication mix that is mentioned below:

(a). Advertisement:It is the presentation of the organisation using the mediums like newspaper, magazine, Television etc. The main objective of this tool is to aware, persuade and inform the people about the new product, new usage, modification, communicating features etc. in order to attract the public towards the brand. Pull strategy is mainly applied for the product S7 of Samsung in order to provoke the customers before they visit the retail stores or consider the purchase. It will reduce the distribution cost for Samsung but on the other hand it will also increase the cost of the promotion. The increase in the promotion clutters and changes in the taste and preference of the customers, sometimes the advertisement become risky (Ryals and Rogers, 2011). As the organisation is aware of the target audience initially thus it helps the management to focus on the medium that the youth people prefer. The mediums like television; newspaper are mainly used for the advertisement of S7due to the high traffic in these mediums by the selected target market. For every second the payment of the advertisement is given to service provider which is huge. Thus the advertisement must ensure the communication of the right message to the selected target market at the right time in order to fulfil the objective of the organisation successfully.

• Sales Promotion: The short term boost to the organisation’s sales turnover by reducing the price or declaring some offers to the target market is generally done. Hedonic effect is created due to the sales promotion and attracts the people towards the offer. In this perspective the utilisation of the sales promotion for the product S7 will not be beneficial initially but it will be helpful when the sales will drop in near future. In case of S7 it is observed that the organisation has declared free items like 256 GB memory card or Gear VR with this model. This offer has created an interest among the people which will surely increase the sales in coming months. On the other hand sales promotion will cut the actual sales on the post sales promotion period and as a result the company may lose some business.
• Public Relation: It is the communication of the organisation towards the general public by addressing the media. The PR specialist in the organisation should have strong communication skill which can convince the people. The positive brand image can be highlighted with the help of public relation. For Samsung, the sponsorships are observed in the platform of Rio Olympic 2016. This is an international event and it will draw the attention of the public effectively. On the other hand giving the sponsorship in such event will increase the investment in the areas of promotion and the objective of a business organisation that is cost minimisation will be contradicted (Daymon and Holloway, 2010).
• Personal Selling: Personal selling is the direct face to face communication of the company’s sales force and customers. The organisation can easily reach and can get the idea about the taste and preference of the customers. It is not possible for the organisation like Samsung to conduct personal selling at it is associated with high cost and the target market is limited.
• Internet marketing: Informing the people about the new product or modification with the help of the medium internet is termed as Internet Marketing. Digital marketing tools are applied in order to create interest among the people over internet. It will help the organisation to remind the prospective target audience about the product. For example, in case of Samsung, it is observed that with the help of Google AdWords, the product S7 is being promoted to the target audience. The internet penetration is very high in UK that is around 90% and thus it will create remind the people for considering the purchase decision (Hennig-Thurau et al, 2010)
• Direct marketing: Communicating directly to the end users with the help of promotional letters, e-mails and messages is termed as direct marketing. It will definitely create interest among the people due to the importance shown by the organisation. It will not possible for Samsung to send promotional letters to all the people due to the high cost and complication in addressing the youth members of the entire geographic area.

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Task C

You are required to devise a strategic marketing communication plan to market the product in the UK.

In order to devise a strategic communication plan for the product Samsung S7 in to the market of UK it is needed to develop a goal and the objective at the first phase. The goal will be to maximise the business share of Samsung in the UK market and the objective will be to reach the target market effectively with the product S7 in order to support the goal. With the concerned goal and objectives, it is needed to consider certain aspects that are as follows:

Consumer Buying Behaviour process: It is the process which the management of the organisation Samsung must understand before approaching the product to the market. Consumer buying behaviour is a set of phases that a consumer will like to follow before considering the purchase. There are five phases that are as follows (Hollensen, 2015). :

• Need recognition: This is a first stage where the consumer will define the situation and recognise his/her need. Internal stimuli and external stimuli influence the need of the consumer or customer. In this perspective, the strong desire to change the smart phone or to purchase a new one that will help his/her personality is observed in this stage. The advanced features of S7 will definitely influence the customers towards it.
• Information Search: After the need is addressed, the customer will like to search information to meet the need. Over here strong promotion is needed to aware and inform the customers regarding the product S7
• Evaluation of the alternative: After sorting and listing the information, the customer will definitely search for the alternative by considering the features, price, brand value etc. On this ground the strong competition will Apple will influence the customer. At the end of the day strong promotion and enhanced features will attract the customers towards S7
• Purchase: After considering the merits and demerits, the customers will definitely go for the Samsung due to the high end features that is not there in Apple like eyeball scanner, VR etc.
• Post purchase behaviour: After purchasing the product, the customer will like to consider the positive features of the brand and share his/her reviews in favour of S7. This is the actual feedback which is needed to be analysed and showcased in order to influence another set of buyers.

Diffusion of innovation: This is a phase in the strategic marketing communication plan which is quite relevant with the product Samsung Galaxy S7. The diffusion of innovation states the flow of innovation among the people over a specific period of time. The factor that affects the flow of innovation is the social system, time, channels for the communication and the adopters (Cravens and Piercy, 2011). The decision making process of the individual to purchase the products consider certain phases that are as follows:

• Innovators: These are the group of customers who will buy the product Samsung at the first period after the launch. The people in this group are less and 2.5% is generally observed under this category. The risk taking capacity and high financial resources are there in these groups. On this ground the promotion is needed to be strong for attracting these innovators towards the brand at the first phase.
• Early Adopters: These are the group of people who are very much eager to consider the new ideas and also highlighted them as an opinion leader in the social system. After the purchase they will share their views and experience of the product Samsung. Thus the product must support their needs and wants in order to satisfy them. Around 13.5% people are generally observed in this category.
• Early majorities: The early majorities are around 34% and they will adapt the new product that is S7 after the positive views of the opinion leaders or early majorities. The decision making process of these group usually takes more time as they will consult before considering the purchase.
• Late Majorities: These are the groups who will consider the purchase after observing the necessity and social pressure. The people in these group will consider the purchase if the product S7 support their needs effectively. At this level word of mouth marketing is needed to influence this group for considering the purchase (Kozinets, Valck, Wojnicki and Wilner, 2010).
• Laggards: These are the group of people that will adopt the innovation at last and they will consider the purchase if they need that is important. Around 16% of the population is considered to be the laggards. 

SOSTAC Framework: This is a framework that ensures a proper structure by aligning the activities with the desired objectives and goals. There are six dimension in SOSTAC framework that are as follows:

• Situation:In this phase situation analysis can be conducted for addressing the market trends, level of completion, deficiencies and threats related with the organisation and its product

• Objectives:The objectives can be relate with 5’S approach that are as follows (Hollensen, 2015) :
  • Selling the product effectively in the market of UK by engaging the customers with the brand Samsung
  • Serving the customers with effective service in order to increase the brand equity
  • Sizzling factor will be given focus so the customer delight can be established with the product S7
  • Speaking with the customers by designing strong promotional strategy
  • Saving the profits in order to invest in upcoming project
• Strategy:Under the strategy, STP process will be considered in order to identify the buyers and placing the products in their minds effectively. The management has segmented the market by considering the demographic factors. The age group and income is selected as a parameter to consider the demographic segmentation of S7. With this segmentation, targeting the audience by considering the differentiated targeting strategy will be done by considering the high income youth who is having high desire in the smart phone. Lastly, positioning the product in the mind of the customers by focusing on the price and features in order to beat the rival Apple can be observed.
• Tactics: Marketing mix will be consider which help to promote the superior value of the product S7 in to the target market in order to achieve profit for the long term period. The elements covered in the marketing mix are as follows (Egan, 2011):

Product: Product is the value that is being offered to the market in order to satisfy the demand of the consumers or customers. Thus value creation is the main objective for the organisation Samsung and for that they have introduced an enhanced version that is Samsung Galaxy S7. Samsung Galaxy S7 has been introduced in the market by considering the youth market.

Price:The objective of the pricing will be Market skimming in order to increase the scope of generating revenue as well as to distinguish the product S7 with other brands. The high price will influence the buyers about the superior value and they will consider the purchase due to the personality that will be enhanced with the product S7. The pricing method will be the Value based pricing where all the cost of the operation and manufacturing will be consider in order to determine the price and mark ups.

Place:The objective of the place is to increase the reach and availability of the product S7 towards the end user. The retailers, distributers, online sellers will be consider while selecting the place. The customers will consider the purchase when the products are available easily and for that distribution system is to be designed by considering the reach and availability factor.

Promotion:The objective of the promotion will be to aware and inform the target audience about the new product of Samsung S7. The benefits, key functions will be highlighted in the promotional messages for creating interest among the target market. In order to achieve the objective the below elements under the promotion mix will be considered:

Advertisement:Advertisement in the mediums like newspaper, televisions and social media will be considered. The target audience is the youth market of UK and to reach them effectively these mediums are appropriate.

Sales Promotion: Initially free items like SD card, tempered glass will be given in order to create interest among the end users. After six month of the launch, reduction in the price can be considered in order to maximise the revenue generation at the initial period.

Internet Marketing: Internet can be used to promote the product S7 as the target audience is knowledgeable and access internet for a long time. The reminders in the form of AdWords can be done in order to increase the purchase consideration.

• Action:At this phase, generally the internal resources, skills and the use of the external agencies are considered. For developing the competency level in the organisation the initiatives like leadership programmes, skill development will be focused in order to bring achieve the competitive advantage (Dibb and Simkin, 2014). Motivation among the teams will be ensured in order to enhance the level of productivity. The external agencies will be hired for analysing the market. The data from the market research will be considered in order to implement the activities in the strategy.
• Control:All the activities will be measured and controlled by the marketing department. The progress report of the sales will be considered while comparing with the desired sales report. Sales quota will be fixed in order to ensure a target for the sales team. The sales team will be supervised by the team leader and territory manager. The feedback regarding the performance will be shared instantly to the individuals in order to bring smoothness and flexibility.

Task D

You are required to develop a marketing communication strategy and evaluate how all the elements of Communication Process do apply within the global context

Marketing communication promotes the value of the brand in order to develop the perception of the consumers regarding the attribute of the product and successfully position the product in the mind of the customers. Consumers can easily relate their requirements with the brand and consider the purchase. Thus there lies an importance of the marketing communication strategy for the organisations.

For the product S7 of Samsung in the market of UK, it is needed to consider the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) in the following way (Chaffey, 2015):

• Phase 1 (Conceive): The first phase of the Product Development Plan will be required to determine the requirements of the customer and the market. The product S7 has been manufactured by keeping the youth market in mind. The enhanced features like eye ball scanner, 360 camera will attract the tech savvy youth of UK (Carlon, 2016). The investment by the R and D department is considered at this phase in order to bring the technology up to the level of maturity.  
• Phase 2 (Design): It is the R and D team who will be responsible to design the product by considering the market information regarding the customer’s taste and preference. Apart from that, the offerings of the competitors will also be analysed in order to bring innovation in the product.
• Phase 3 (Realise): After the design, the authorised suppliers of the Samsung will manufacture the product for the end users. Further testing of the product will be considered in order to check the quality and performance.
• Phase 4 (Service): This is a last phase where the manufactured products will be distributed to the selling points and supported service centres will be there to resolve the issues faced by the customers with the product S7.

In the context of global business, marketing communication is very important as the factors like familiarity, localisation influences the sales turnover of the company. The difference in the socio-cultural aspect is significant in the ground of international trade and the effective strategy can only bring success to the organisation that are planning to manage their operations globally or have global existence. The PLM approach does not consider the cultural and social influence of the people in UK as per the global business purpose. This can affect the sales turnover of Samsung. On the other hand the positive side is the detailed examination of the product and its development phases before distributing it in the market will ensure positive feedback from the market regarding the sales of the product S7.

The basic objective of the communication is to deliver information effectively. In the context of the global business of Samsung, clear communication is needed in order to develop the interest level of the people in the market of UK. The product S7 is the enhanced version of smart phone which has the capability to attract the youth market undoubtedly. In order to attract the target audience designing the communication process is necessary. The elements in the communication process are as follows (Blythe, 2015):

• Message: This is the ultimate content that will attract the people towards the product. The message for S7 can be the “Ergonomic design and maximised performance”. The message of the advertisement should be aligned with the product content otherwise people will not consider the purchase.
• Source: The source will be the company Samsung and the product is the Galaxy S7
• Media: The selection of media is needed to be done carefully in order to fulfil the objective of cost minimisation and profit maximisation. The negative side of the advertisement is the promotion clutters, high cost and the changing taste and preference of the people. Thus the advertisement must be informative and help the people to define their need.
• Receiver: The customers are the receiver of the communication process. The changing fashion, different buying behaviour, competitor’s offering will influence the decision making process of the customers. Thus the management of Samsung should understand the taste and preference of the customers and communicate the message to create interest for the product Samsung Galaxy S7.
• Response: This is a feedback from the receivers or customers in the form of the sales turnover. The response will only positive when the customers can relate their desire with the product S7. Thus observing the progress of the sales turnover for the six month is necessary.

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Conclusion

For concluding this report has given the detailed analysis of the elements in the communication process that serves the organisation Samsung to reach its goal. The global brand like Samsung considered the value creation for satisfying the customers in order to achieve the competitive advantage. The strategy to bring the flow of the innovation in to the market required significant analysis and research. It is the marketing communication which will enhance the brand value by controlling the activities of the organisation.

References

Carlon, K., 2016. This is how the Galaxy Note 7 iris scanner will work (updated). [Online] Available: http://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-galaxy-note-7-iris-scanner-700377/, Accessed as on 19.10.16
Chaffey, D., 2015. E marketing excellence. Butterworth-Heinemann
Cravens, D.W. and Piercy, N., (2011). Strategic marketing (Vol. 7). New York: McGraw-Hill.