Dove Soap's Marketing Strategy And Communication Mix In Australia (70 Characters)

The Task: Based on the scenario below, you are required to write a 2000-word report. In this report, you must demonstrate an understanding and application of various consumer behaviour concepts and theories by analysing the facts gathered from the video and the survey, and present strategic recommendations. You will be required to incorporate recent peer-reviewed literature in order to justify your proposed recommendations.

Scenario: Imagine that you have just been employed by the company of your chosen FMCG product that you analysed in your earlier assessments. You have recently learnt that the company’s customer loyalty has declined over the last year and that repeat purchases are at a historic low.

You have now been asked to prepare a report in which you must critically analyse company’s current marketing strategy and marketing communication mix and its alignment to your findings in assessment 1 and 2. More specifically, you will need to determine if identified consumer behavioural factors in previous assessments align with company’s current marketing focus. Based on your analysis, you are also required to provide at least three strategic recommendations to the board of directors, along with reasons for recommending further improvements, all of which must be based on scholarly sources.

About Dove Soap in Australia

Marketing Strategy refers to a forward looking approach that can help a company in achieving sustainable competitive advantage. Marketing strategy emphasizes role pertaining to marketing that acts as link between organisation and customers. Marketing Communication Mix is indicative of specific methods that can promote the products of a company to the targeted customers. Dove Australia has products related to bath care, skin care, hair care and deodorants that caters to the needs of the people living in Australia. Dove is instrumental in making the women realise about their beauty by providing them with products that delivers superior care (Dove.com 2018).This report discusses about the marketing strategy along with the marketing communication mix of the FMCG product Dove soap. This report also highlights whether the consumer behaviour factors (as identified in Assessment 1 and 2) are aligned to the marketing strategy of Dove. It suggests strategic recommendations that can help the company in its marketing approach.

The personal care brand of Dove originates in the United Kingdom and its parent company is Unilever. The products of Dove are made for both the men along with the women and the products are manufactured in various countries. Dove soap helps in providing confidence to women as they are endowed with beautiful skin after using the popular product. Dove soap helps in transforming the daily skin care routine into a pleasure that accounts for the popularity of this product in Australia. The popular FMCG product helps the consumers to connect with their bodies that can help them in appreciating their beauty. The Dove soap helps in quenching the dry skin of the women and it revitalises their mature skin. The Cell-Moisturisers technology of Dove soap combines dermatological expertise with that of spa like luxury that helps in providing advanced care to the consumers. The product Dove soap invigorates the skin of women by providing it with elasticity along with firmness. Dove soap contains moisturizing skin that is blended with mild cleanser that helps in providing the much needed moisture to the skin of women (Blakeman 2018). The everyday moisture acts as the key in relation to beautiful skin of women. The classic moisturizing formula helps in retaining the glow of the skin of the individuals using the soap. The Dove soap is suitable for daily use on the face, hands and the body. The Dove soap leaves the skin of the women softer, smoother and more radiant. The mild cleansers present in Dove soap retains the natural moisture of skin instead of taking it away. The Dove Soap helps in replenishing nutrients which is lost the time of cleansing process and it leaves the skin in a radiant state. 

Marketing Strategy of Dove Soap

Current Marketing Strategy

Dove aims at targeting women of all ages and shapes and the marketing strategy aims at making women believe that the real beauty is present within them. Dove launches campaigns in which representative move to market segment and carries out free sampling. This can help in making the customers realize that the company cares for the customers and it helps them in the aspect of market penetration. This helps the company in penetrating in the new market segment. Dove makes use of promotional tools like posters campaign, banner, advertisement, flyer and magazines for the purpose of promotion of the brand. The primary customers who are targeted with the help of marketing approach of Dove soap are the women and marketing helps them in capturing their attention. The marketing strategy of Dove makes the women aware regarding the skin care along with beauty products (Menon et al. 2015). The poster campaign of Dove helps in conveying message to the target market and makes them aware regarding the product. The marketing of Dove is carried out with the help of banners that are pasted on various flash areas that can help in expanding number of the customers. The flyers containing information about Dove soap are distributed in various companies in Australia, universities along with stores. They can then consider whether they would need these kind of products and provide feedback at a later stage. The magazines also help in promoting Dove as the people reading the magazine gets to know about unique details in relation to the product. The regular advertisement regarding Dove soap is given on the newspapers that helps in making the customers aware regarding the product. The advertisements given in the magazines can help the common people in Australia in becoming familiar with the brand (Solomon et al. 2014). The people reading the newspaper gets to know about features of Dove soap that helps in the marketing of the product.

Marketing Communication Mix

Advertising: The campaign of advertising was launched by Dove that has helped them in getting a better position within the market. The campaign revealed women of all ages and sizes and the advertisements were given on billboards and hoarding (Baker 2014). This helped the brand in creating difference in minds of the women who had a feeling that they were not beautiful.

Sales Promotion: Dove indulges in sales promotion that helps in marketing of their product Dove soap. They gives out free samples before the products are launched in market. The customers were provided with the opportunity of joining “your love” that helped them in viewing special offers along with innovations (Armstrong et al. 2015). The customers were also able to receive expert advise along with beauty tips that helped in promoting Dove soap in front of consumers.

Marketing Communication Mix of Dove Soap

Events: The events related to Dove soap are highly relevant and hence they can engage the customers. The company was instrumental in launching ‘Real Beauty Campaign’ that helped in gaining the attention of the customers in Australia. The ‘Ad makeover’ campaign that was launched left a positive impact on the mind of the people (Lusch and Vargo 2014). The new advertisements made the women feel good regarding themselves.

Public Relations:  The Public Relations (PR) are greatly used by Dove soap that contributes to the success of the brand. The PR elating to Dove soap affects the cognitive thinking of the customers towards concept pertaining to beauty. News section of Dove contains press releases that familiarizes the Australian population about special features of Dove soap (Wensley 2016). The press releases were published in many newspapers along with magazines that can make people conscious about positive aspects of the brand.

Direct Marketing: Dove provided toll free number that enabled facility of customer services. The campaign ‘Your Dove’ made the customer feel special by providing them with information in regard to the offers, beauty care tips and the product innovations. The expert advice provided to the customers can make them aware regarding the practices that can help them in taking care of skin (Todorova 2015).

Interactive marketing: The campaigns of ‘Real Beauty’ along with ‘Ad makeover’ campaign helped in providing a platform to customers that can help them in responding to their perception.

Word-of-mouth marketing: The Dove soap was launched at a premium price at the initial stage that most consumers in Australia refused to accept. Only customers at the initial stage were those people who had gone through a great amount of travelling that helped them in knowing regarding product benefits of Dove soap. The people acted as a source that helped in the marketing of Dove soap. The people talking about the Dove soap led more people to know about the product. 

Findings

The survey conducted in Assessment 2 revealed that the people can evolve to become loyal customers if they are targeted in the proper manner. It stressed on the fact that there are a large number of people who prefer the brand over other brands and hence the marketing of Dove would be able to increase the consumer base. The marketing communication mix of Dove would help more people in getting knowledge about the unique product. Advertising, sales promotion, public relation, events, direct marketing and interactive marketing would help more people in becoming loyal customers of the product of Dove soap. The Dove soap would be bought by the families who would get to know about the product with the help of advertisements on the newspapers and the television (Fill and Turnbull 2016). Dove soap does not have any side effects and so it can be used by the young girls who want to show off their glowing skin to other people. The survey (Assessment 1) showed that most of respondents were satisfied with the brand and the marketing strategy of Dove can help in popularizing the product. The primary research (Assessment 2) brought out the fact that a large number of customers are confused regarding the brand and the marketing strategy of Dove soap with the help of posters, flyers and the advertisements can draw more people towards the product. It revealed the fact that a large number of customers compared the various brands of the soap before buying it and hence the marketing communication mix in relation to Dove soap can help people in knowing about the special features of the product. The female customers can be said to be brand conscious and the marketing strategy employed by Dove soap can make people aware regarding the distinct market positioning of the brand (Kitchen and Burgmann 2015). It can however be added that in the modern age integrated marketing communications campaign can be employed that can help more people in knowing about the product Dove soap. They would thus be able to effectively carry out comparison of the various brands that can help them in becoming loyal customers of the company. 

• The marketing landscape is changing at rapid pace and the marketing specialists of Dove has to make use of innovative marketing strategy so that it can influence the purchasing decisions of the customers. Dove can make use of integrated marketing communications campaign that can effectively help in marketing of Dove soap. The combination of traditional along with digital advertising can help in creation of a cohesive marketing campaign that can greatly appeal to the customers (Valos et al., 2016). Social media platforms should be used by the company that can help the company in making more profits. Instagram, Twitter along with Face Book should be used by the company that can help them in delivering brand message and expand the consumer base. The integrated marketing campaign of Dove should be co-ordinated that can help in supporting brand message. The communication campaign of Dove can help them in connecting with the consumers that can help the company in getting better results. The integrated communication campaign can help in the creation of cohesive brand identity that can resonate with the consumers.
• Dove can create on-pack campaign that can target the customers by making use of mobile. This can help in sustaining the volume uplift by providing incentives to the existing buyers so that they would repurchase. The consumers can be instructed in following the promotional on-pack instruction by entering a code with the help of SMS. This can help the consumers in getting offers that can encourage them in cross-purchasing or switching from the competitor brands (Bruhn and Schnebelen 2017).
• The marketing team of Dove can be diversified that can help in improving the performance of the company. This can help the company in getting exposed to various perspectives that can help it in reaching a broader audience. They would thus be able to make the products that can satisfy the needs of people belonging to diverse groups. 

Conclusion

Marketing strategy is an approach which can enable company for getting competitive advantage. Dove soap can provide the women with confidence as they can get beautiful skin after using the product. The skin care routine can become pleasurable for the consumers owing to the unique properties of Dove soap. The marketing campaign of Dove targets the women of varying ages and sizes and they are made to believe that beauty is present within them. The free sampling of Dove can help them in reaching a larger customer base that can help the brand in earning more revenue. The promotional tools of poster, banner, public relations and word-of-mouth marketing are utilised by the company for their promotion. Integrated marketing campaign should be used by Dove that can help the company in relation to its marketing. Traditional and digital channels of marketing can be used by Dove in creating marketing campaign which can be appealing for the consumers. The diversification of marketing team of Dove can improve performance of the company. 

References:

Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R., 2015. Marketing: an introduction.

Baker, M.J., 2014. Marketing strategy and management. Macmillan International Higher Education.

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