Marketing Management And Communications

Introduction:

Bollinger Motors is a new American company founded by the entrepreneur, Robert Bollinger. Recently, the organization has unveiled their first sport utility truck namely the Bollinger B1 which can go up to 200 miles range within the price of $60,000. The look of the car is quite attractive which can easily compete with the Land Rover Defender and the Jeep Wrangler (Schlegelmilch, 2016). As stated by the CEO of the company, being a new company in the global automobile market, the B1 Bollinger comes with a dark gray aluminum body which is riddled with the bolts.  Also, it should be noted that the B1 Bollinger is called the utility truck as it breaks the idea of other EV cards. It has Bluetooth connectivity, AM/FM receiver, and Aux inputs, however there is not any touch screens. The car offers a small LCD display and analog battery indicator. The car has been developed with the idea of offering a different kind of driving experience; however, the product requires a well-designed marketing plan for entering the global automobile market (Baker, 2014). This involves a SWOT and competitor analysis of the existing market and fixing the mission, marketing and financial objectives, placing the digital marketing communication and monitoring the plan. This report will also plan the action program for the company for next six months.

SWOT analysis and Competitor analysis:

The automobile industry is a representative of faster growth as it allows people to travel, work and live in an innovative way and brings numerous technological advancements. Considering the political and legal issues in the developed countries such as US, UK, Australia, have helped the industry to grow more (Wu, 2015). This product is offering the first electric and all wheel driving SUV which is specifically designed by both the off and on road fanatics. The car has dual motors, both front and rear which is capable of producing more speed and power and pulling more weights. It can also attain 0-60 km/h in 4.5 seconds. The car has anti-lock disc brakes and hydro pneumatic suspension (Atkinson, 2016). The braking system is regenerative. Therefore, the car is all set to offer a different experience to the rider.

Weakness

The global automobile industry already has dominating competitors such as Ford, Toyota and several others. Therefore, it would be very difficult for a new car company to position their brand and their product (Tansel, 2015). Along with that, the organization does not have much experience in the market, which can be a hindrance for them in predicting the market situation.

Opportunities

The car is offering various facilities which were not offered by any other car before in the market, therefore the customers can be more interested to the car (Atkinson, 2016). The car is also offering an eco-friendly and pollution free experience to the customers.

The established companies in the international market can be a serious threat to the company. The company should always keep a continuous watch on the competitors so that they can deal with the strategies which can be threatening to their business. The organization should keep a constant watch whether they are lowering their prices or initiating innovative strategies for advertising or digital communication (Piercy, 2014). Therefore these activities can act as threats for a new company which can affect the sales to a great extent too. Also, the price of Bollinger B1 is quite high which may act as a threat as well.

Competitor analysis

For analyzing the competitors in the market, this report will utilize the Porter’s five forces model.

Threat of the new competitors in the market: The chances are low to medium. As the manufacturing of the cars take quite huge amount of investments and there are various legal formalities for entering the market, there are comparatively lesser chances of having more competitors in the market (Charter, 2017).

Bargaining power of the suppliers: The chances are low to medium as the suppliers tend to associate with other companies easily.

Bargaining power of the buyers: The chances are high. Most of the customers show high loyalty to their brands and cars. Therefore there are several options are there in the market (Piercy, 2014).

Threats of the substitutes: The chances are high as well, as the company faces tough competitions from the existing brands and the hybrid cars that are made in Europe.

Rivalry: The chances are medium to high. The Bollinger B1 is expected to face tough competition from Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, BMW, Tesla, Mercedes Benz etc. Therefore there is a continuous rivalry in the market (Armstrong et al., 2014).

Mission:

The mission of the company is:

• To produce cars that are pollution less and eco friendly.
• To bring more technological advancements in the car
• To provide a luxury and reliable experience for the customers
• To increase the road safety
• To bring a car with innovative design
• To provide a better off and on road experience.
• To bring a car that has no extra consumption of fuel.

Marketing objectives and financial objectives:

The marketing objectives of the Bollinger B1 is focused on the raising the awareness about the new brand and its products and further services. Therefore the organization will follow these three marketing objectives for positioning their brand in the global market:

• Increase the sales: This is one of the major objectives of any brand. Marketing would always require a secured amount of return on investment which indicates to the sales increasing. Therefore the main focus of the organization would be to increase the sales to a great extent.
• Increase the product awareness: As the company is a new one in the automobile industry, it is very important to invigorate the awareness of product amongst the customers. There are several big players in the automobile industry; therefore this strategy would be a major one for the company which can help them to achieving the brand and product awareness.
• Brand management: In order to achieve a place within the public mind and maintain the place. Therefore some of the marketing objectives of the brand would aim achieving and maintaining the brand image within the market. Furthermore, there are several brands in the automobile market which enhances their brand image by running the innovative advertisements and reminding the customers about their brand. Some organizations even also utilize the tones and images for keep on reminding the customers about their product and services. The organization should focus more on being recognized in the global market and generate publicity.

Financial objectives:

• Revenue growth: the most fundamental financial objective of Bollinger B1 will be to have a sustainable growth in the revenues. It mostly comes from the rigorous marketing and sales activities.
• Sustainability: Being a comparatively new brand in the market, it is very much possible that the brand would initially only think about their economic survival; however having a sustainable economic objective would help the companies to face the economic turmoil as well.
• Return on investment: The ROI can be applied to different situations such as the returns that are related to the productive equipment as the adequate revenue tend to justify the purchasing or manufacturing cost of the product.

Marketing mix strategy and digital marketing communication plan:

The marketing mix strategy is one of the tools to make the communication plan of the product. The marketing mix strategy is discussed below:

The Bollinger B1 is the first electrical and all wheel driving SUV which is light weight and produces more power. This car has a design which is a little different from the other cars and has futuristic features. It is also highly eco friendly and creates less pollution (Armstrong et al., 2014).

This factor affects all the other factors responsible for the marketing mix strategy. When it comes to the automobile industry, it can be observed that the prices are quite high, especially due to the car battery. Similarly, the pricing of Bollinger B1 is quite high, however, the organization should have a value based pricing scheme which can focus more values that are added with the product (Allen, Mueller & Simmons, 2015).

Placement

The product is placed in the market through the suppliers and the distribution channel. As a new company, the budget for marketing would be very small; the organization should focus more on pulling the strategy by putting more emphasis on the specific features of Bollinger B1 (Malhotra & Berger, 2016). The pull strategy would be quite apt in this situation.

Promotion

As the budget for marketing is limited for the Bollinger B1, the organization will focus more on digital communication and a promotional strategy that is internet based. This would be more effective than the conventional media (Scheepers et al., 2014). The public relations can be done through social media, digital communication and further promotional activities. These strategies will help the brand to create a brand and product awareness in the market, especially within the targeted segment of the customers.

Action program:

Implementation and controlling of the plan:

As the organization has taken the initiatives for creating different kinds of strategies fo preparing the plan to fail and controlling the plan for ensuring the previously set objectives are met and specifically in accordance with the standard business situation. The marketing managers of the company require making an appointment with the board of directors with the purpose of discussing the progress of the situation. This will also help the company that whether there is any chance of modifying the action plan. The main discussion of the meeting should be focused on the different kinds of strategies and how they are going to take the car. Considering the present situation, the company has launched a product that is innovative and associated with other technological constraints. Therefore, the company also requires monitoring the continuous exchange of marketing messages. Therefore the car will be easily placed within the targeted market segment. The digital communication blueprint of the car should be immediately framed and therefore the organization requires controlling the plan so that the customers can also act accordingly. The organization should focus more on the technology based and innovative marketing strategies that can influence the buyer behavior to a great extent. Furthermore, the digital strategy should include adapting the aggressive marketing policies and involve the company in different promotional strategies online. As the social media is offering a huge platform for the new business and products, it can be very much crucial for directing all the sales activities.

Reference list

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Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., & Kotler, P. (2014). Principles of marketing. Pearson Australia.

Atkinson, D. (2016). CONCEIVING A MARKETING STRATEGY IN THE ERA OF DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES. Economic and Social Development: Book of Proceedings, 386.

Baker, M. J. (2014). Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Charter, M. (Ed.). (2017). Greener marketing: A responsible approach to business. Routledge.

Gupta, V. K. (2017). Marketing Strategy: A War to Win. Journal of Management Science, Operations & Strategies, 1(1), 21-24.

Malhotra, T., & Berger, P. D. (2016). MARKETING STRATEGY AND INNOVATION AT MICHELIN. British Journal of Marketing Studies, 4(5), 63-73.

Piercy, N. (2014). Export Strategy: Markets and Competition (RLE Marketing). Routledge.

Scheepers, C. E., Wendel-Vos, G. C. W., Den Broeder, J. M., Van Kempen, E. E. M. M., Van Wesemael, P. J. V., & Schuit, A. J. (2014). Shifting from car to active transport: a systematic review of the effectiveness of interventions. Transportation research part A: policy and practice, 70, 264-280.

Schlegelmilch, B. B. (2016). Global marketing strategy: an executive digest. Springer.

Tansel, A. K. (2015). Analysis of Tesla Motors’ Marketing Communications Strategy.