Types Of Marketing Strategies: Issues And Recommendations

The identified issues of the 3M

Discuss about the Types of Marketing Strategies.

The company has numerous issues that need to be tackled on time in order to establish a successful market for the scanner and other related products of the company. Prior to the discussion of the suggestions there is a need to revise the issues prevailing in the company.

Various internal and external analyses of the 3M have revealed that along with numerous success stories, the company is surrounded by a number of issues that are to be tackled with candid approaches and strategies. The analysis of these issues is necessary as the exact understanding of the issues will help in the development of real strategies with strong objectives.

The current Business Model of the company: The firm has immensely engaged its participants and its operations entirely in catering the needs of the end users. The company considers the customers as its major asset and above all the other stakeholders of the company and this has made it to concentrate its resources and innovations in developing products that suits the changing demands of the customers. Although, acknowledging the customers is often a good approach, but, at the same time the requirements and urgent need of other partners are also to be considered. Hence, this competitive advantage has turned into an issue for the company (Conner, 2013).

The trading approaches of the firm: The firm does not anymore trade traditionally with the commercial end users; rather they have incorporated a number of reformed and innovative measures to satiate their needs (Burke, 2012). The traditional measures often allowed the companies to evaluate the exact needs of the customers and their candid reasons for satisfaction and dissatisfaction, but the modern approaches have often curbed the real motive behind the establishment of strong trading relationships with the end users (Lingeswara & Tammineedi, 2012).

Key Business Customers: The Company has till now entirely focused on maintaining close relationships with the hotels via e-store channels or government in immigration system. This has compelled the firm to direct its financial as well as the human resources in promoting and maintains these relationships in a long run. This is however a bit problematic as there are other stakeholders who are influenced by the benefits and losses of the company. Just paying attention to the needs of specific target markets will never allow the firms to expand its customer base and deal with different customer behaviors across myriads of markets. This limited target customers are prohibiting the firm to expand its operations to other potential segments of the market(Bradley, 2012).

Key Recommendations

The issues faced by 3M are not quite new and every company faces similar types of challenges throughout their production period. By deeply analyzing the current issues of the company, there are certain recommendations that are to be considered for quick rectification of the pertaining problems. The below mentioned recommendations are prioritized by considering the current issues in the company:

Recommendation 1: The samples of the products could be given to the leading retailers of the country and to the other international ones so that they minimize the manual control of the identity scanning process and concentrate their time and resources on enhancing their shops with other required products (Jordan, 2009).

As one of the marketing objectives of the firm is to target the leading retailers in Australia, hence, this objective will let the retailers to freely access the scanner and evaluate its benefits for a free period. Later, when they become satisfied they could pay for the same.

The target market for this recommendation is the retailers in the Australia who have not yet implemented the identity scanner in the loyalty programs for their stores. Such a recommendation will try to target even those retailers that are not well acquainted with the benefits of the identity scanners.

The Positioning of such a recommendation requires a low pricing strategy at the initial level and then the manufacturer could alter the price in the coming years. The new retailers could be lured with advertising and social media towards the sample trial of the Identity scanner. Moreover, the place for setting up the first trial could be chosen as the most leading retail chain in Australia, so that other retailers are easily influenced through its brand name and recognition in the Australian markets.

To lure the other retailers, the company could launch freebies and other free services, along with the samples, so that other target consumers could experience its services just for once and continue it by paying nominal fees in the starting years(Masanell & Ricart, 2009). Other Strategies include:

The retailers could use the scanner to analyze what all age groups frequently visit the shops and what are their shopping trends. This would help the stores to upgrade the stocks of such items that are always in demand.

The ID scanning could also be used for security purpose as while scanning the cards a lot of personal information are also recorded which could be used in future for analysis of security breaches.

Short-term Recommendations

The ID scanners could also be used to link with the customers in an automated way through online platforms so that they could be made aware of the ongoing offers and schemes in the retail shops. As the customers would be updated without visiting the stores, then this would definitely. (Experts, 2016)

Recommendation 2: The newly recruited personnel could be asked to suggest ideas over the reformation of the current business models as their perceptions are parallel with the ongoing trends I the today’s business world.

As the current business model is designed to entirely focus the needs and requirements of the end users, hence the first objective of the firm is to reform its current business model and incorporate strategies that focuses on the benefits of other stakeholders too. This marketing objective could also redefine the firm’s internal policies and rules so that myriads of other partners are also involved as the prime stakeholders of the firm (Sparks, 2011).

The target markets for this recommendation would be the young and dynamic personnel aspiring for a perfect job in the retail sector. For positioning, 3M could promote the job vacancies through online platforms and could also use print media for advertisements.

• The possible strategies that could be adopted by the company to justify this recommendation are:
• Observe the Business Model of its competitors and ask the young recruited personnel to adopt their crucial elements (The Cult Branding Company, 2015).
• Hire executives and leaders from other sectors and industries to plan out the most effective business model that incorporates benefits and participation of all the human resources in the company.
• The company executives could also arrange meetings and talking sessions to gather feedback from its newly recruited employees and even anticipate their perceptions over the future business model of the firm.

Recommendation 3: The Company could enhance its promotion activities to reach out to the potential customers. For this, the firm could promote the product through Social media platforms or the print and radio advertisements (Jayne & Dipboye, 2004).

• The company’s prime objective is to expand its customer base n the coming future and include those retailers who don’t want to employ the identity scanner just for the loyalty schemes but for another crucial purpose in the stores.
• The target markets for the company are the leading retailers in Australia who want to replace the manual customer information feeding system with an automatic one. For them, this identity scanner would be a perfect replacement of the tedious manual entry process.
• The positioning strategy for the company has always focused on increasing the customer base in a minimum pricing strategy. This recommendation would be a boon for the company as it would target and include all sorts of retailers who were not acquainted well with the prime benefits of the scanner. (Hanlon, 2013)
• The key strategies for this recommendation are:
• The company could build a huge network on the social media targeting all the crucial social sites and engaging with all its active users over the sites.
• The company needs to assign a team for evaluating and reaching daily targets over the online platforms.

Recommendation 1: The Company could hire technical experts and advisors from leading Technological giants to promote their product among the target markets. The technical elements of the product could be highlighted and conveyed in the easiest possible ways for the users.

• The company’s marketing objective is to propagate the technical elements of its products to the customers who are not well acquainted with these specifications and thus gain their trust over its products and services.
• The target markets of the company include retailers whose employees might not be aware of the technical specifications. For them, this recommendation could act as a transformation that will entirely change their perceptions towards the complex technical elements.
• The positioning strategy of the company is to introduce products that could reduce the manual work of its customers and push them towards the era of Automatization. Hiring a handful of experts will help the customers to adapt to the ongoing changes in an easy manner and readily accept the company’s services. (Chaffey, 2015)
• The key strategies that could be adopted by the firm for justification of this recommendation are:
• The hired experts should be entirely related to a technical background and should have an experience in dealing with the needs and prime requirements of the retailers in Australia.
• The company could also hire people who have knowledge about the perceptions of the retailers in the local markets of Australia. These people can help the company executives to anticipate the changes in their behavior and even the needs in the coming future.
• The hired experts could be asked to propagate the crucial elements of the scanner only and in the easiest manner so that the customers do not doubt the functioning and actual benefits of the scanner prior to the implementation.

Recommendation 2: When the retailers gain a good command over the identity scanners then they could use it to automatically scan the personal details of their loyal customers and deal with them through the online platforms. This will help the retailer stores to expand its customer bases through online platforms too (Jayne & Dipboye, 2004).

• The prime objective of the firm is to gain a huge target base by incorporating the latest ongoing promotion and market capturing trends in the business world. As the company has to compete with all the other competitors in the Australian market, hence it aims to use myriads of platforms to attract and retain loyal customers (Tshabalala, 2007)
• The retailers in Australia are moving forward to expand their business through online platforms. As they are becoming more active on the social media sites and the Internet, then the company could target them through this innovative channel of promotion. Moreover, the online platforms also give an opportunity to explore other international retailers that might accelerate the revenue and profit rates of the firm in q quick manner (Linton, 2016).
• The Positioning Strategy for 3M aims to target myriads of customers through online platforms and this recommendation too asks the company to invest its crucial resources in developing strong grounds over the social media platforms.
• The key strategies for this recommendation are:
• Along with the technical training the company could arrange for a brief training for its retailers on implementing and using the online platforms for business dealings.
• The company could ask it hired experts to convey the long-term benefits to the retailers of extracting and storing the personal details of the customers. The stored information could later be used to promote other crucial items and schemes of the retail stores.

Recommendation 3: The Company could target other customers with its different products and services and then lure them towards this product. This will require development of strong business relationship with the customers based on trust and loyalty (Deloitte & Touche, 2008).

• 3M aims to provide a wide variety of experience to its customers through its myriads of products and services and for this it keeps on introducing innovative technical gadgets. These gadgets are beautifully designed to minimize the work pressure on the customers due to manual inputs and management of data.
• This recommendation increases the variety of customers becoming associated with the company and hence minimizes the chances of risks if one of the product-line fails accidentally.
• The positioning strategy of the firm essentially targets almost all the segments of the Australian market. Although this product majorly focuses on the retailers of Australia but the company needs a quick expansion of its customer base for acceleration of its profit rates in a minimum time (Burnett, 2008).
• The key strategies that could be adopted by the firm include:
• 3M could analyze the other technical needs of its customers and offer them a wide variety of customized products so that they never seek for other sellers in the market.
• Targeting other customers would require a lot of evaluating of the marketing trends for which the company has to collaborate with the local experts in the Australian markets (Vaynerchuk, 2016).

Conclusion

3M has succeeded in attaining and retaining myriads of customers in the market and with this new scanner, there is another opportunity to gain a huge customer base. The prime customer for the company are people from the tourism sector and the government of the company. But, with all sorts of capabilities, the scanner could be widely used by other customers like Retailer shops in the country. These customers could use the identity scanner to automatically fill in the details of its customers during distribution of the loyalty schemes and programs. The company needs to develop strategies for its leading issues of reforming the current business model and restoration of the traditional methods of trading. In order to have a competitive advantage over the others of the same genre, the firm needs to target other potential consumers in the market.

References

Bradley, S. (2012). International Business. PWC. Retrieved from https://www.pwc.co.uk/assets/pdf/international-business-winter-2012.pdf

Burke, L. (2012, December 27). Five Key Issues Facing Small Business in 2013. Five Key Issues Facing Small Business in 2013. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/id/100341342

Burnett, J. (2008). Core Concepts of Marketing. Jacobs Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.saylor.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Core-Concepts-of-Marketing.pdf

Chaffey, D. (2015, March 01). How to define SMART marketing objectives. How to define SMART marketing objectives. Retrieved from https://www.smartinsights.com/goal-setting-evaluation/goals-kpis/define-smart-marketing-objectives/

Conner, C. (2013, March 04). The ‘8 Great’ Challenges Every Business Faces (And How To Master Them All). The ‘8 Great’ Challenges Every Business Faces (And How To Master Them All). Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2013/03/04/the-8-great-challenges-every-business-faces-and-how-to-master-them-all/#3277f0901eb9

Deloitte & Touche. (2008). Business strategies for sustainable development. International Institute for Sustainable Development. Retrieved from https://www.iisd.org/business/pdf/business_strategy.pdf

Experts, M. (2016). Difference between Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. Difference between Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. Retrieved from https://www.managementstudyguide.com/marketing-segmentation-targeting-positioning.htm

Hanlon, A. (2013, December 17). The Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning model. The Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning model. Retrieved from https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/customer-segmentation-targeting/segmentation-targeting-and-positioning/

Jayne, M., & Dipboye, R. (2004). Leveraging diversity to improve business performance. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Retrieved from https://web.mit.edu/cortiz/www/Diversity/Jayne%20and%20Dipboye%202004.pdf

Jordan, B. (2009, March 18). Five Recommendations to Grow Business Relationships (Observations from a Former Commercial Banker). Five Recommendations to Grow Business Relationships (Observations from a Former Commercial Banker). Retrieved from https://www.theraddonreport.com/?p=955

Lingeswara, R., & Tammineedi, S. (2012). Key Issues, Challenges and Resolutions in Implementing Business Continuity Projects. ISACA. Retrieved from https://www.isaca.org/Journal/archives/2012/Volume-1/Documents/12v1-Key-Issues-Challenges.pdf

Linton, I. (2016). How to Create a Target Market Profile and Positioning Statement. How to Create a Target Market Profile and Positioning Statement. Retrieved from https://smallbusiness.chron.com/create-target-market-profile-positioning-statement-40517.html

Masanell, R., & Ricart, J. (2009). From Strategy to Business Models and to Tactics. HBS. Retrieved from https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/10-036.pdf?bcsi_scan_f5761508bdf24bd5=CL1bZr1uKTKKORJh+IDa6HcEAJ0iAAAAszBkLQ==&bcsi_scan_filename=10-036.pdf

Sparks, J. (2011). Setting Marketing Objectives. Udayton Edu. Retrieved from https://academic.udayton.edu/johnsparks/tools/notes/objectives.pdf

The Cult Branding Company. (2015). 52 Types of Marketing Strategies. 52 Types of Marketing Strategies. Retrieved from https://cultbranding.com/ceo/52-types-of-marketing-strategies/

Tshabalala, D. (2007). The strategic issues management by small businesses in the Mamelodi metropoliton areas. University of South Africa. Retrieved from https://uir.unisa.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10500/1678/dissertation.pdf;jsessionid=C09619C9DD637B9A9534E4811C274517?sequence=1

Vaynerchuk, G. (2016). 4 Common Company Problems and Solutions That Demand Attention . 4 Common Company Problems and Solutions That Demand Attention . Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/gary-vaynerchuk/4-common-company-problems-and-solutions-that-demand-attention.html.