Marketing Strategies And SWOT Analysis Of My Valuer Essay.

You are required to research information about your focus brand and the company to answer the assignment questions.  You may want to use a combination of the following secondary data sources:

• company website
• company promotional material
• magazine or newspaper articles
• industry reports
• scholarly articles / business databases in the library
• internet
• personal observation  

Marketing plays an important role in enhancing the business opportunities for the business organizations. Marketing is becoming more mandatory and important in the current business scenario due to the reason that, competition is more intense with the presence of number of similar players in the particular sector (Dickinson, 2014). This is also leading to the fact that the marketing budget of the business organizations from different sectors increasing at a rapid pace. Every major sector is having their marketing budgets to communicate their products and services to the target audience.

The above figure shows that, consumer product sectors are having more marketing budget compared to the manufacturing sectors. This report will talk about one of the consumer service sectors in New Zealand. My Valuer is one of the leading organizations in the market of New Zealand and they offer consumer services such as market valuations of different commercials and residential properties and insurance covers of the properties. Thus, according to the above data, this organization falls in to the consumer service category, which constitute second highest spender in marketing.

Marketing is more important for My Valuer due to the reason that, they are not having any physical goods and physical evidence and thus, extensive and effective marketing will communicate their value offerings to the customers (Gronroos & Gummerus, 2014). This report will discuss about the marketing strategies of My Valuer considering different marketing elements. Few recommendations will also be discussed in this report in order to enhance the effectiveness of their existing marketing strategies.

As discussed earlier, My Valuer offers services and thus their services will be considered as products in the marketing mix. One of the key strategies of them in terms of service offerings is offering diverse and large number of products. As per the information available in their official website, their valuation services ranges from residential properties, commercial properties to rural sector. Thus, with their diverse service offerings, they are targeting different customer segments across different income level and profession (Lusch & Nambisan, 2015). Their official website also stated that, they offer insurance services for the properties. Thus, the user experience of the customers will be more holistic. Targeting the large number of customers with diversified services is their marketing strategy.

As per the information available in the official website of My Valuer, pricing is being calculated on the basis of fair cost. Though, the exact price is not stated in their website, but from the available information, it can be termed that price of their services are as par to the industry standard. The price of the particular service is calculated through the size and nature of the property (Khan, 2014). Moreover, customers are provided with the quotation of the price prior to the providence of the service. With this strategy, they are competing effectively in the market. In addition, due to offering price according to the industry standard, their competitors are also not able to enjoy the price leadership in the market. However, according to the below graph, the price trend of the properties is increasing and thus, it can be assumed that, the price of My Valuer will also get increased.

SWOT analysis

Currently, My Valuer is only having their market presence in New Zealand. However, in the market of New Zealand, they are having their presence in every corner with the access to different rural, commercial and urban properties. They do have both offline and online presence. For instance, their official website provides the basic information regarding how to access their services with required contact details (Ogonowski et al., 2014). They are also having their offline presence in the forms of their offices in different locations. However, their online presence can only act as a medium of communication due to the reason that, valuation of the property cannot be done through online medium.

The current era is of the online mediums in terms of the promotional activities. My Valuer also practices online promotional activities majorly. They are gaining mainly two key advantages from it. One of the benefits is the less incursion of cost compared to other promotional media and another is wider market reach. New Zealand is a developed country with having favorable market penetration of the internet (Talpau, 2014). Thus, My Valuer initiates advertising through their official website and through other third party websites.

The recent trend is also showing the more preferences of the marketing professionals towards the online mediums. Thus, with the initiation of the online promotional strategies, My Valuer is gaining the effectiveness of them.

One of the key strengths of My Valuer being identified is the diverse service offerings of them. This is considered as strength due to the reason that, with the help of the diverse product offerings, My Valuer will have less market and business risks. Currently, they are offering services in terms of residential, commercial, rural properties and insurance services (Qiu, 2014). Thus, decrease in the market opportunity in any of these sectors can be adjusted with the profit from another one. Thus, the dependency on single service offering will be less for My Valuer. Moreover, with the help of the diverse service offerings, My Valuer is being able to target different customer segments and thus, the market area or coverage is more for them. In the further stage, this will help them to enter in the goal market with diverse service offerings.

Another strength identified is the brand value of them in the New Zealand market. This is considered as strength due to the reason that, My Valuer is one of the leading property valuation service providers in New Zealand. Thus, the positive brand value of them is helping in attracting more customers in the market. In addition, positive word of mouth generated from the existing customers of them is also helping to establish their brand in the market. This positive brand value of them will also enable in entering in foreign markets.

The market reach of My Valuer is limited within the boundaries of New Zealand. Though, they are doing great job in the New Zealand market, but in the current era of globalization, market coverage should not be limited within the national boundaries. Thus, My Valuer is having less experience compared to the global firms and the business risk of them is also higher. This is due to the reason that, their business is entirely depending on the economy of New Zealand and thus, negative impact on the economy will have negative impact on their business operation also. It cannot get adjusted from the other global operations.

Another key weakness identified is the absence of any distinctive competitive advantages of them. It is due to the reason that, the service offerings of My Valuer are at par of their competition in the market (Schilke, 2014). However, they do not possess any distinctive advantage over their competitors, which will help them to attract more customers. As discussed in the marketing mix of them, they also do not have any price leadership in the market. Thus, the intensity of competition will be much higher on them and it is more difficult for My Valuer to attract customers.

The cost and demand of property in New Zealand is on rise due to the massive increase in the immigration. According to various reports, New Zealand is witnessing massive inflow of immigrants in the recent time. Thus, with the increase in the number of immigrants in the country, the demand for new households is also increasing at a rapid pace (Akbari & MacDonald, 2014). This is a huge opportunity for My Valuer due to the reason that, the more will be the increase in the demand of the household, the more will be the demand for property valuation. Moreover, in the case of the entering in foreign markets also, increase in the demand of the house will help them to gain more profit from the market.

Another opportunity being identified for them is entering in the global market. This is due to the reason that, similar to the market of New Zealand, some other countries more preferably the developing countries are witnessing huge growth in the demand for properties. Thus, entering in these countries will help My Valuer to extend their brand beyond the national boundary of their home country and also enhancing their revenue generation.

 As discussed in the previous section, one of the key opportunities for My Valuer is the increase in the market opportunity in New Zealand. However, on the other hand, there will always be a threat in the form of new entrants in the market. Entry of the new entrants in the market is considered as a threat due to the reason that, the more competitors in the market will further reduce the profitability of them in a particular market (Christensen, Raynor & McDonald, 2015). Thus, this will be an uncertain situation, which has to face by My Valuer in their business operation.

On the other hand, another threat identified for them is the fluctuations in the market demand of properties in the market of New Zealand. According to the various reports, the demand is increasing and decreasing at the interval some time period. Thus, as the increase in the demand will act as opportunity for them, decrease in the demand in the property will act be a threat for them in the long term.

Age and income of the customers are chosen as target customer demographics. This is due to the reason that, demand for property is different in different age group. Thus, with the diverse service offerings, My Value will be able to cater to the different age groups. On the other hand, size of the property also varies with the income level, which can also be catered with the diverse services of My Value (Foroudi et al., 2016).

From the above discussion of the marketing mix of My Valuer, it is recommended that, Facebook will be most effective and ideal digital marketing platform for them. This is due to the reason that, facebook is the leading social media platform with having the highest number of active subscribers. Thus, this platform will help My Valuer to reach to maximum number of potential customers.

According to the above graph, Facebook is way ahead of its completion with number of live subscriptions. Moreover, another advantage that can be gained by My Valuer from Facebook will be the determination of the customer reviews and feedback. Facebook is one of the prime examples of two ways communication. This will help in active communication between the organization and the customers. Thus, the issues and requirements of the customers can also be identified.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that, with the rapid increase in the competition in the market, it is important for My Valuer to initiate effective marketing strategies. This report discussed about the different elements of marketing mix of them along with recommending two customer demographics in it. Internal environment of them is also being analyzed in order to determine the positive and negative factors faced by them. This report recommended an ideal digital marketing platform for them in the form of Facebook. It is discussed in this report that initiation of the digital marketing with the help of Facebook will help them to attract maximum number of potential customers. Moreover, it can be also being concluded that, these strategies will help them in enhancing their business operation in the long term.

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