Mmk101 Marketing Fundamentals Answers Assessment Answers

Answer:

Target market and Positioning Statement

Marketing strategy recommendations

Marketing Mix Strategy 1: Product 

Analysis of the company’s current product strategy

The offering of the Thunderpants includes features and benefits for the customers such as comfort and the organic cotton stuff. The company also offers customised products as it customises the products with motif and the colour they want. The company usually targets the people in the age group of 18-30 who prefer to wear comfortable and organic cotton in order to avoid irritating stuff by offering the best quality of the products. The company focuses on the lifestyle and the personality of the target group to modify the products according to them (Wei, Samiee and Lee, 2014). It helps in attracting customers to produce products according to their interest. The company focuses more on the quality of the products which assists in creating customer loyalty. It also has the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) to proof the quality. The value proposition is set by the quality standards and customer satisfaction about the aspects like price and services. The quality variation helps the company to attract more customers. The lifestyle greatly influences the variation in the products.

Recommendations

Thunderpants can introduce a new range of the products other than the comfort wear such as casual clothing and formal clothing. The variations in the products help to attract customers. The customers prefer to choose products where they get various options. The company can also modify it’s portfolio from time to time to target new segment. It can add products according to the season and can make variations in the quality and colour (Šeri?, Gil-Saura and Ruiz-Molina, 2014). The company can also introduce sub-brand comprising different features. It can use innovative techniques in producing products and can use different stuff other than cotton. In the case of Thunderpants, the actual product is chosen out of the three levels of a product incorporating. It comprises developing product quality, features, plan, brand name and packing. When the product is purchased, packaging and utility are add-on. All of these factors relate to the core customer value. The product’s quality, features, packing and other qualities combined deliver the core customer value. The levels of the product are built on each other.

The product development can also be used by Thunderpants for designing, developing and marketing of new products. The objective behind product development is to increase the share of the company by satisfying the demand of the consumers. The company should keep in mind the target market for the product development (Gutierrez-Gutierrez, Barrales-Molina and Kaynak, 2018). The product development includes the aspects like identification of design and idea analysis. The individual product decision making can also be used by the Thunnderpants for the development and marketing of the products. This decision includes five categories such as product qualities, branding, packing, labelling and product support services. The product features comprises the assistances offered to the customers such as quality, design, features and design. The product attributes includes various aspects of the products like quality, features and design of the product. The second stage of individual product decisions is branding. Nowadays people focus on buying brand than product (Petty, 2018). The company need to focus on the value proposition that is quality to identify itself as a worldwide brand. The third stage of the individual product decisions to be followed is packaging. It is the most important decision which attracts attention, defines the product and generates sales. The packaging has an important role in the highly competitive environment. The company is required to keep in mind environmental considerations for the packing such as ‘green packaging’. The labelling is the fourth stage which promotes the brand. It represents what is true and what customers can rely on (Morimura and Sakagawa, 2018). The labelling defines various things such as who made it, when it was made and how it can be used. It is also affected by the unit pricing. The final stage is product support services which include customer service and product support services. It is a part of the product offering. It contributes to the customer’s overall experience. It can help the company to keep customers happy after the sale and builds lasting relationships.

Marketing Mix Strategy 2: Promotion 

Analysis of the company’s current promotional strategy

Thunderpants make use of the media strategy and integrated marketing communications (IMC) for its ads. The IMC is a tool which helps in creating an impression in the minds of the consumers. Before deciding ads, the company decides its product and the target market. The company avoids conflict messages in order to attract customers (Keller, 2016). Thunderpants make use of options for the advertisement like posters and social media which is a paid form but it never used Facebook for the purpose of the advertising. The remainder is also used by the company for the promotions and improving awareness. It offers discount up to 50% in order to attract customers. All these activities seek profits for the company. The public relations are also an effective way of promotions used by the company. It establishes strategies for maintaining and building relationships with the customers. It presents company as socially responsible and conscious towards product quality. The company have contact number and information about the business on Facebook (Deeter-Schmelz, 2016). The public relations used by the company helps in shaping the image. It helps in building a brand and minimizes negative publicity of the company. Thunderpants also make use of personal selling as it has sponsors on the Facebook which helps to run a business (Cummins, Peltier and Dixon, 2016). The company also makes use of digital marketing to interact directly with the target market.  

Recommendations

The company can make use of new promotional strategies to serve the target market in a better way. Thunderpants is not well known in the market so it needs to attract a larger group of audience.  Thunderpants can make use of a social media platform such as Facebook, Twitter, Google + and more. It is the best way to endorse products of the company (Hudson, Huang, Roth and Madden, 2016). It is the best way of direct marketing at its best. The social network can help the company to retain potential customers. The mail order marketing can be used by the Thunderpants to serve the new target market. The customers can be offered free products in exchange for the information. These customers represent the target audience where the company wants to market new products. The customer referral incentive program is a better option for the company in order to promote products. The discounts and the cash rewards are some of the incentives which can be used by the company. The promotional strategy leverage customer base serves as a sales force. Giving away gifts can be a current promotional move. The business card can be put on the boxes containing gifts. Contacting customers after the sale is a promotional strategy which reflects the importance of the customer satisfaction (Kim, Kim and Marshall, 2016). The information can be collected by the customers regarding their experience. Sharing their experience with the public helps the company in promotions. It can inspire other customers to purchase the products. This strategy serves a dual purpose as existing customers think that the company cares and the other one strives to provide the best products and services. This new promotional strategy can help the company to target customers in a better way (Luxton, Reid and Mavondo, 2015).

Thunderpants can also make a change in its current promotional strategy to attract the new target market. The company can implement the new promotional strategies from time to time. The company can advertise its new range of the products in the magazines and newspapers monthly, quarter or half yearly basis in order to attract customers. These sources have great appeal to the customers. Commercials can also be used by the company which defines the quality and the availability of the products of the company (Ingram, LaForge, Schwepker and Williams, 2015). These strategies can be helpful to target the customers which are young. The young generation is attracted towards these promotional tools. The new promotional strategy discussed can actually appeal to customers to purchase the products. The company provides amazing comfort and now a day people are ready to pay any amount for the comfort. The positioning used by the company helps to define and develop an image of the brand. It gives the opportunity to set apart from competitors. The company should make all the possible efforts to exceed the expectations of the customers. The new promotional strategy used by the company sets it apart (LIU and GU, 2016).

Marketing Mix Strategy 3: Price 

Analysis of the company’s current pricing strategy

Thunderpants charges good prices for the products offered by it. It never charges a cheap price for the offerings. The company has limited production so it tries to cover the cost by its pricing strategy. There are different prices for the different segment of the products. In order to be an effective pricing method, the company can overview three pricing methods such as customer value-based pricing, cost-based pricing and the competition based pricing (Cooper, 2016). In the value-based pricing, prices are set primarily on the basis of the consumer’s perceived value of the products. Here the consumers decide whether the price of the product is appropriate or not. In the cost-based pricing, the cost of the product is calculated and then a percentage is added to determine the selling price (Li, Hou, Chen and Li, 2016). The prices can be maximum as well as minimum as per the demand of the buyers. A seller makes use of competing products as a benchmark in order to determine price in the competition based pricing. The company does not consider its own costs or the customers demand in this pricing strategy.

Recommendations

Thunderpants can apply customer value-based pricing. It will help the company to possess an item and deliver supreme experiences. The pricing decided by the company should focus on the customer value (Lee, Verma and Roth, 2015). So, the company is required to use the perception of the customers as the key to pricing. The price should be determined by the company before designing and marketing the products. The prices are targeted totally on the base of the customer’s perception of the value. The customer value-based pricing can also be divided into good value pricing and value-added pricing.

Conclusions 

The marketing mix is effectively used by Thunderpants to promote its brand in the marketplace. The product, promotion and pricing have an important role in the marketing mix which is focused by the company in order to gain a competitive advantage. It can help the company to maximize profits and gain endless promotions. The promotional strategy is used by the company to attract the new target market. The company is suggested to implement new promotional strategies from time to time by making use of customer value-based pricing. The company is also recommended to develop a new market and make use of IMC to serve customers in a better way.

References List

Cooper, R.G., 2016. Agile–Stage-Gate Hybrids: The Next Stage for Product Development Blending Agile and Stage-Gate methods can provide flexibility, speed, and improved communication in new-product development. Research-Technology Management, 59(1), pp.21-29.

Cummins, S., Peltier, J.W. and Dixon, A., 2016. Omni-channel research framework in the context of personal selling and sales management: A review and research extensions. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 10(1), pp.2-16.

Deeter-Schmelz, D.R., 2016. Personal Selling and Sales Management Abstracts. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, 36(2), pp.206-220.

Gutierrez-Gutierrez, L.J., Barrales-Molina, V. and Kaynak, H., 2018. The role of human resource-related quality management practices in new product development: A dynamic capability perspective. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 38(1), pp.43-66.

Hudson, S., Huang, L., Roth, M.S. and Madden, T.J., 2016. The influence of social media interactions on consumer–brand relationships: A three-country study of brand perceptions and marketing behaviors. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 33(1), pp.27-41.

Ingram, T.N., LaForge, R.W., Schwepker, C.H. and Williams, M.R., 2015. Overview of Personal Selling. In Sales Management (pp. 45-66). Routledge.

Keller, K.L., 2016. Unlocking the power of integrated marketing communications: How integrated is your IMC program?. Journal of Advertising, 45(3), pp.286-301. Keller, K.L., 2016. Unlocking the power of integrated marketing communications: How integrated is your IMC program?. Journal of Advertising, 45(3), pp.286-301.

Kim, J., Kim, J.E. and Marshall, R., 2016. Are two arguments always better than one? Persuasion knowledge moderating the effect of integrated marketing communications. European Journal of Marketing, 50(7/8), pp.1399-1425.

Lee, M.K., Verma, R. and Roth, A., 2015. Understanding customer value in technology-enabled services: A numerical taxonomy based on usage and utility. Service Science, 7(3), pp.227-248.

Li, B., Hou, P.W., Chen, P. and Li, Q.H., 2016. Pricing strategy and coordination in a dual channel supply chain with a risk-averse retailer. International Journal of Production Economics, 178, pp.154-168.

LIU, X. and GU, L., 2016. The Study of Pricing Strategy in Online-offline Channel Based on the Consumer's Switching Behavior. Journal of Management, 2, p.009.

Luxton, S., Reid, M. and Mavondo, F., 2015. Integrated marketing communication capability and brand performance. Journal of Advertising, 44(1), pp.37-46.

Morimura, F. and Sakagawa, Y., 2018. Information technology use in retail chains: Impact on the standardisation of pricing and promotion strategies and performance. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 45, pp.81-91.

Petty, R.D., 2018. Product Strategy and Antitrust: A Consumer Choice Perspective. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 52(2), pp.252-285.

Šeri?, M., Gil-Saura, I. and Ruiz-Molina, M.E., 2014. How can integrated marketing communications and advanced technology influence the creation of customer-based brand equity? Evidence from the hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 39, pp.144-156.

Wei, Y.S., Samiee, S. and Lee, R.P., 2014. The influence of organic organizational cultures, market responsiveness, and product strategy on firm performance in an emerging market. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 42(1), pp.49-70.