International Marketing Mix Essay: Theoretical Management.

Marketing Objectives

Discuss about the International Marketing Mix Theoretical Management.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is an Australian multinational bank which operates in New Zealand, Fiji, USA, UK and several countries in Asia. It has about 1,100 branches operational in these locations and has total revenue of AUD $ 24.578 billion with AUD $ 12.854 billion. The major competitors of the company are Wespac Banking Corporation and National Australia Bank Limited (Dun & Badstreet, 2017). These companies have a higher market share in comparison to Common Wealth Bank, Australia and high customer loyalty. It is the largest life insurer and largest investment manager in the retail activities. It has also made investment in different financial annuities and provides funding to different organizations. It has one of the largest market shares in New Zealand in the life insurance market. It also operates in number of countries in Asia and Pacific (Commonbankwalth Bank of Australia, 2017).

Presently, the company is able to achieve a high market share due to its digital services and constant customer support. The online services of the company are successful due to the excellent 24 hours services provided to the users (Commonbankwalth Bank of Australia, 2017). In its new 12-month term marketing plan, the Company should develop strategies to increase the market share in the Australian market as well as expand its operations in the foreign markets. Currently, the company needs to focus on increasing the customer loyalty in the Australian Market by providing exceptional services. Despite being the largest bank in Australia and backed by the Australian government, it has less market share than its major competitors like Wespac and National Australia Bank Limited. Therefore, the proposed marketing plan for the company is focused on increasing the make share in Australia. If the bank increases its brand value in Australia and New Zealand then it will also increase its market worth in other operational countries.

It is important due to heightened competition between emerging banks and the current competition in the Australian and the Asian markets.

In the present context, the company should develop SMART objectives to achieve its marketing objectives. With the current marketing plan, the company should primarily aim to expand its market share in the Australian market and in the New Zealand market. Along with it, the company should also focus on expanding its operations in the emerging foreign markets where the market share is low. In this regard, for the new 12 months marketing plan, SMART goals have been developed:

• The Commonwealth Bank of Australia will increase its market share in Australia by 20% in one year with the current marketing strategy
• It will also try to increase the customer loyalty and consumer reliability with the current plan. The company will target to provide exceptional services and excellent product offering to the customers to retain its existing customers and preventing them in switching to other brands. The company aims to increase customer loyalty by 50% in one year.
• The Commonwealth Bank of Australia should also try to penetrate new and emerging markets with the new marketing plan. The organization is prominent in insurance market in New Zealand. It should utilize the current marketing strategy to expand the retail banking operations in New Zealand. It is aimed that the company will be able to expand its share by 10% in the New Zealand market (Hurd, Barcelona & Meldrum, 2008).

Segmentation, Target Market and Positioning

Australia is geographically segregated market. The market of Australia can be segregated in terms of geography and demographics (Stroud, 2007). It is important for the organizations to segregate the market accordingly and target a specific market as per the market potential.

Segmentation: The Australian market can be divided into different consumer segments according to the geography, demographics, psychograph and behavior (Moore and Pareek, 2009). The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has different consumer groups. It provides banking facilities to middle-class customers. Along with it, the bank also provides loan facilities for housing and vehicles. The company also provides loan facilities to the farmers at a cheap cost. It also provides loan facilities to number of business ventures.

Targeting: In the present context, the target market of the young entrepreneurs is selected. A large number of people are venturing in the start-up business but they lack the finances to position their business. The company can bank on the current start up culture in Australia and launch a product for the startup businesses in the country. Currently, the startup businesses in Australia are worth 29 billion dollars for the banking organizations (Hutchinson and Han, 2014).

Positioning: The Company can position the product by incorporating additional features in the products. It can provide advisory and forex services to the startups. It can also provide payment solutions and wealth management services as these entities are novice in conducting business transactions. The account holders will also get assistance in tax regulation and the compliance issues (Clow & Baack, 2011).

The company will position its product in the target market by being perceived by the consumer as being different, unique and superior. The bank will provide several additional facilities along with the loan facilities which will attract the new customers. It includes providing advisory services, wealth management and opportunity to be backed by one of the largest bank of Australia. The positioning statement of the ban can be developed as:

“The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is dedicated to provide accessible financial support through services and expert solutions so that I can contribute to the business processes and people’s lives.”

The marketing mix refers to controllable and tactical marketing tools which are used to yield desired response from the target market. The marketing mix refers to four main variables which are manipulated to develop the marketing strategy of a company.

Product: In the product offering, The Commonwealth Bank of Australia will develop a loan product for the entrepreneurial ventures. The customers want to buy the product which adds value or which provide solutions to their problems. Currently, there is startup trend in Australia and several entrepreneurs are venturing into the businesses. These businesses want monetary funds to support their vision and business. The bank will provide support to these ideas by providing financial funding. It will also provide advisory services, forex service and wealth management services to the customers. These services will provide competitive advantage for the bank. Along with it, the company will also provide never-ending, online customer care support to all the clients so that they can access the services with ease (Belohlavek, 2008).

Appropriate Marketing Mix

Price: Since the number of competitors in the loan industry is high, it is important that the company selects the most appropriate marketing strategy to penetrate the market. The company should follow the penetration pricing strategy wherein the initial cost of buying the product is high. This pricing strategy is adopted to attract a large number of customers and gain a high market share. The product prices are raised later once the company obtains market share. This strategy is commonly used by the companies to obtain the market share or increase the existing market share of the company. This strategy is commonly adopted by the business organizations when it is difficult to them to obtain market share due to large rate of competition. Therefore, this strategy is appropriate for The Commonwealth Bank of Australia to increase their market share in Australia (Richter, 2012).

Place Strategy: Currently, the company has operations in different countries all across the globe. However, it is difficult for the company to introduce the new loan product at different locations due to regulatory compliance and laws at different locations. Therefore, it is important for the organization to select some specific destinations to launch the product initially. The bank has considerable awareness in Australia and New Zealand. Therefore, it can launch the product in these countries (Foxall, 2014).

Promotion: In the marketing mix, the promotion refers to all the activities which involve communication with the customers. The marketing and promotional strategy of the company is the most fundamental part in the product sales. In this strategy, a company determines how it is going to communicate with the consumers regarding the benefits and the features of the product. The promotional strategy of a company is crucial as it assists the company to determine how it is going to convey the qualities and the price of the product. In this regard, the company can use different marketing strategies such as broadcast media, social media, word of mouth, engaging in charity events and launching contests for the customers. In the current situation, the company should use the promotional strategy of broadcast promotion and social media promotion. In the Australian cities, the residential segregation is high; therefore, it is important that the company follows a broadcast media strategy wherein its outreach for the customers is maximized. The company can use newspapers and television as their promotional strategy. It can broadcast the message that it is offering low cost loans to the customers who are trying to venture into entrepreneurial business. The bank can also attract new customers by offering several advisory and the wealth management services. Along with it, the Bank should also use the social media marketing to reach the target customer base. The company is targeting the customer base of young entrepreneurs who are highly active on the social media. Therefore, it is important for the organization to incorporate social media in its marketing strategy. It can reach the potential customers and create brand and the product awareness through social media marketing. In addition to it, the bank should also use the email marketing techniques. Currently, the company can use the social media analytics and the market intelligence to identify the potential customers. The bank can send one-to-one email to these customers to increase customer base (Reid & Bojanic, 2009).

Conclusion

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is the largest bank in Australia backed by the Australian government. However, in the recent years, several competitors such as Wespac and National Australia Bank Limited have emerged which have snatched its market share and reduced its market position. Therefore, the current 12 months long marketing plan for the company is focused on increasing the market share of the company in the market of Australia and New Zealand. The objective of the marketing plan is to increase its current market share in Australia and New Zealand. The target customer base of young entrepreneurs is selected for the organization. The marketing mix has been proposed for the current marketing plan.

References

Hutchinson, J. and Han, M. 2014. Australian start-ups eyeing big banks’ ‘insane’ profits. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 23 March 2017 from https://www.smh.com.au/business/australian-startups-eyeing-big-banks-insane-profits-20140617-3ab5l.html

Commonwealth Bank of Australia. (2017). Retrieved 23 March 2017 from https://www.commbank.com.au/about-us.html?ei=mv_about-us

Dun & Badstreet. (2017). COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA Competition. Retrieved 23 March 2017 from https://www.hoovers.com/company-information/cs/competition.commonwealth_bank_of_australia.83a335c8d65f70a7.html

Hurd, A.R., Barcelona, R.J., & Meldrum, J.T. (2008). Leisure Services Management. Human Kinetics.

Moore, K. and Pareek, N. (2009). Marketing: The Basic. Routledge.

Stroud, D. (2007). The 50 Plus Market: Why the Future is Age-neutral when it Comes to Marketing and Branding Strategies. Kogan Page Publishers.

Clow, K.E. and Baack, D. (2011). Cases in Marketing Management. SAGE Publications.

Richter, T. (2012). International Marketing Mix Management: Theoretical Framework, Contingency Factors and Empirical Findings from World-Markets. Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH.

Belohlavek, P. (2008). Unicist Marketing Mix. Blue Eagle Group.

Richter, T. (2012). International Marketing Mix Management: Theoretical Framework, Contingency Factors and Empirical Findings from World-Markets. Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH.

Foxall, G. (2014). Strategic Marketing Management (RLE Marketing). Routledge.

Reid, R.D., & Bojanic, D.C. (2009). Hospitality Marketing Management. John Wiley and Sons.