The Marketing Mix

Discuss about the Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility Disclosures.

The given report will be discussing the marketing mix of the Volkswagen Company along with special reference to the long term and short term marketing strategies of the given organization. Proper theoretical framework will be followed.

The marketing mix can be defined as the process of placing the right product at the right place in the right quantity at the perfect price. The marketing mix was earlier associated with just 4 principles but now the 7ps of marketing have been developed (Baker and Saren 2016). The basic principles that are used in applying the right marketing mix have been given as follows with reference to proper theoretical framework and special reference to Volkswagen. The given concept was developed by Jerome McCarthy in the 1960s.

A product can be defined as an item that has been in the market to satisfy the different needs of the customers. The product might be a tangible object or an intangible object in the form of a service. It is the duty of the marketer to ensure that the right kind of product has been developed in order to satisfy the needs of the target market. The product has a lifecycle which comprises of various stages like maturity, sales decline, growth and introduction. Hence, when the product reaches the decline stage, it is the duty of the marketer to re-invent the design of the product in order to ensure that its demand remains stable. The right product mix also needs to be identified accordingly.

The huge size of the Volkswagen Group is the primary contributor of the growth of the company. The company has various cars to offer in order to keep the consumer satisfied. The company makes various product offerings like the Polo, Golf, and Beetle, Passat, Tiguan, Touran, Phaeton and others. The different models are good performing ones and their features are as follows:

• High quality
• Good post sales services

The price of the product can be determined as the amount of money which a customer pays for it in order to derive value out of it or to purchase it. The price forms an important component of the marketing mix. The price of a product is useful in determining the marketing plan of the product. It has a large impact on the company`s profit and survival and hence, for that purpose it is necessary to have an attractive pricing strategy in hand in order to ensure that the firm can be able to match the market share that which it aims to obtain (Spiller and Tuten 2015). The price plays a crucial role in the sense that it helps in shaping the perception of the product in the eyes of the consumers. If the price is too high then it leads to a decreased demand and if it is made to low, then the consumers assume that it is of poor quality.

Product

The pricing strategy which is generally followed by the given company is the competitive pricing strategy. There are various cars under the given brand name and for each of these cars, the prices are set according to the price set by its consumers. Some may believe that these products are priced high.

The place or the distribution forms another important part of the marketing mix as it goes a long way in the determination of the place of distribution where the product will be distributed.

The place of distribution can be clearly understood if the marketer has a clear understanding of the concerned target market. If a company is able to that successfully then it will be able to come out with an efficient strategy.

The place of distribution of the various cars follows a worldwide strategy whereby the cars of the given brand are distributed in key locations in order to ensure that the customers may have access to on time delivery of the selected products. The brand has its own sales counters through other car distributors as well.

Volkswagen primarily targets the urban area customers and has a strong CRM system in order to ensure that it reaches out the customers it actually

The promotion aspect of the marketing mix can be described as the processes which are generally adopted in order to boost the sales and increase the brand recognition. The promotion comprises of its own mix which are:

Advertising is the basic communication method which is paid in nature and comes in the form of print media, internet advertising and others (Khan, Muttakin and Siddiqui 2013).  Public relations comes in the form sponsorships, seminars and conferences.

The company makes use of extensive media strategies like TVCs, print Medias and newsletters to existing customers. Volkswagen also makes use of a strong social media strategy in order to strengthen the brand image. The company allows the different customers to purchase the given products on a leasing method. This ensures that the company is successfully able to achieve success.

The people aspect of the given marketing mix may be defined as the employees of the organization who may choose to work for the welfare of the organization and ensure that the sales of the company tends to increase considerably (Järvinen and Karjaluoto 2015). Volkswagen Australia has around 4000 employees in total.

The processes can be defined as the procedures that are generally adopted to produce the products or to bring about the relevant products into the market. It is extremely important for a marketer to ensure that the processes are made in such a manner that the costs savings of the fir shall increase considerably (Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim 2014). This leads to maximization of the profits of the company. The brand Volkswagen is known for its premium designs at affordable prices.

Price

The physical evidence of a business’s presence can be described as the branding aspect of the firm in such a manner that when any company thinks about a particular product, it may directly think about the particular brand in the market. For instance, when someone thinks about sports shoes, thy think about Nike (Charlesworth 2018). The company Volkswagen has above 100 stores in Australia. This deals with manipulation of consumer perceptions.

The short term marketing strategies can be described as the strategies which can be adopted by a firm in order to temporarily boost the business and the traffic (Chaffey 2016).  The short term strategies hold relative importance for any business enterprise because they help the company in competing with the relevant competitors present in the industry and successfully enable the firm to launch a new product (Deng, Kang and Low 2013). It is also believed that a firm`s short term success is important for the long term growth of the given organization.

Some of the short term marketing strategies of Volkswagen are given as follows:

1. Reduction in pricing- Volkswagen products are generally priced quite moderately, however there are times and occasions when the company generally offers a low price for its products (Flammer 2013). The low prices are offered during New Year, Christmas and other festivals in order to boost the sales as well as the spirits of the different members in the country.
2. Pay per click advertisement- Volkswagen has realized that in order to be successful, it would be required to advertise its products carefully and hence for the given strategy the company uses the strategy of per click advertisement whereby the cars of the firm are advertised extensively on various websites available in order to be able to ensure it gets the maximum clicks and the maximum views.
3. Group offers- The group offers are generally an effective strategy which is used in order to gain exposure with new customers (Charlesworth 2018). Using this given strategy, the company offers a range of permanent discounts to the important groups. The different members are generally attracted in order to ensure that they are successfully able to cater to the needs of the given target market. Volkswagen usually targets groups like business executives, army men and other related enterprises for this purpose. The revenue may not be able to offset the ongoing price discount (Clapp and Rowlands 2014).
4. Trade shows-Trade show are an excellent method of promoting the product when they are present in the introduction state of the specific market. The different companies like Volkswagen are able to use the given strategy by being able to cater to the opportunities using various forms of sponsorships, speaking opportunities and various celebrity parties (Carroll 2015). They are generally used to take advantage of the event and the audience along with it.

The long term marketing strategies can be defined as strategies which may be used to establish brand awareness not just in the present environment but for the future of the organization as well. Without a long term marketing strategy in place, the business may be short lived.The search engine optimization is a long term strategy which is generally used for the long term success of the organization. It is generally used to optimize the search engine in order ensure that the company Volkswagen receives the best B2B Leads (Kannan 2017). The Search Engine Optimization is useful in ensuring that the potential customers who use their online search can easily find the Volkswagen advertisement in order to ensure that the advisements are being able to reach out to the right market at the right time (Bhattacharya et al. 2017). Volkswagen engages in giving this work to various experts in order to ensure that the website of the company is also optimized.

The Public relations efforts are one of those efforts which are generally adopted by the organization in order to ensure that the image of the brand is always present online and offline over long term.  The Public Relations team ae generally appointed in order to ensure that the long term goals of the organization are achieved strategically and the information is shared with all the given relevant consumer groups in the given market. The PR Strategy of the firm is generally shared and built over a long time. Volkswagen has a relatively strong public relations strategy in place.

Place

For its long term strategic goal achievement the firm develops a stream of relevant content such as newsletters, tips, blog posts and other relayed activities in order to provide quality traffic to the website of the firm and pace up the firm`s sales. The given content has to be updated regularly and posted on the regular basis in order to ensure that the customers get fresh details to read and the company Volkswagen achieves great ammunition for the long term campaigns and visitors are thereby encouraged.

Lastly, Volkswagen has a well-structured social media plan in action which comprises of various communication channels, social networks, which are utilized for short term and long term strategies (Holliman and Rowley 2014). In the short term, Volkswagen uses this strategy to manage online reputation and in the long run the given strategy is said to promote content, support lead generation activities and ensure sufficient engagement in the online communities (Emeana 2013).

The social media is considered to be a crucial social networking sight and it is usually beneficial for any organization to engage in the plan. Volkswagen realizes the importance of the social media and hence, it is being able to achieve success in the given domain.

Conclusion

Therefore from the given analysis it could be witnessed that the company Volkswagen has been operating in Australia since a long period of time and because of this it is being able to ensure that it functions better than its competitors. The report discussed its marketing mix along with the long term and short term marketing strategies.

References

Baker, M.J. and Saren, M. eds., 2016. Marketing theory: a student text. Sage.

Bhattacharya, C. B., Korschun, D., Sen, S., and  Routledge, H. 2017. Corporate social responsibility. Journal of International Law, 26(2).

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Charlesworth, A., 2018. Digital marketing: A practical approach. Routledge.

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Clapp, J., and  Rowlands, I. H. 2014. Corporate social responsibility. The Essential Guide to Global Environmental Governance. Routledge: London, 42-44.

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Khan, A., Muttakin, M. B., and  Siddiqui, J. 2013. Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility disclosures: Evidence from an emerging economy. Journal of business ethics, 114(2), 207-223.

Spiller, L. and Tuten, T., 2015. Integrating metrics across the marketing curriculum: The digital and  social media opportunity. Journal of Marketing Education, 37(2), pp.114-126.

Volkswagen.com.au. ,2018. Volkswagen Passenger and Commercial Vehicles. [online] Available at: https://www.volkswagen.com.au/ [Accessed 20 May 2018].