Marketing Essentials: A Comprehensive Analysis of Toyota's Marketing Strategies

Marketing Essentials
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Table of Contents
Introduction:..................................................................................................................... 4
LO1 Explain the role of marketing and how it interrelates with other functional units of an
organisation......................................................................................................................5
LO2 Compare ways in which organisations use elements of the marketing mix (7Ps) to
achieve overall business objectives ..............................................................................11
LO3 Develop and evaluate a basic marketing plan........................................................17
Conclusion..................................................................................................................... 21
Reference List................................................................................................................ 22
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Introduction:
Marketing can be termed as the technique of promoting and advertising any product
based on various advertising and promotional techniques. Marketing has evolved a lot
with the passage of time. The most essential role played by the marketing department is
to keep the image of the company’s face and maintain a sharp co-ordination with all
those elements that help in business.
The report that has been created tends to understand the roles and functioning of the
marketing within the framework of an exact marketing environment. The report has
been formulated by the applicant for the post of marketing manager focusing on the
various responsibilities and functions of marketing. Toyota being one of the giants
amongst the automobile brands does a detail discussion on the same.
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LO1 Explain the role of marketing and how it interrelates with other functional
units of an organisation.
P1.The key roles and responsibilities of the marketing function (P1, M1)
Marketing plays a crucial role in any form of business with the help of varied forms of
promotional and advertising policies. The sole responsibility of the marketing
department is to promote the business as well as mission of the organization (Wirtz et
al., 2014). The marketing division of Toyota tries to reach out investors, varied
prospects investors and suppliers. The basic functions of marketing are research,
price, storage, process, buying of materials development of product, supply and
management, advertisement, standardisation and, finance, market information,
selling, risk factors and post sales service.
Toyota has followed some of the basic roles and duties of the marketing department.
Some of the key functions are as follows:
Market Research: The market research function is all about collecting information that
concerned with the targeted customers (Ekpo et al., 2015). The following things that are
related are few ideas like who are the potential customers and why will they want to get
the products from the organisation. To get an answer to all this valid questions, it is
mandatory to get some observation of the general market and get an idea of the
competitors and the trends of the market.
Price determination: It is quite challenging to understand the correct price of the
products. It is the technique of getting the exact amount to be charged against each
product or services. Prices must be not too high or not too low as per the products. The
price must be as per the market so that Toyota can make a commendable amount of
profit. There should some basic thoughts in the customers mind, how much the
customers are paying, and the amount that has been invested by the organisation for
the production and not to forget what is the price at which the competitors are selling in
the market.
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Buying abilities: Buying can be defined as a function that helps in acquiring quality
items for the production. It is necessary to make sure that high quality production
materials are supplied for the production of a good product. The function is carried out
by the supply and purchase department. There has to be some detailed specification of
the materials that needs to be used.
Promotion: This is the endeavour to follow and give information to the customers
regarding the varied ranges of products and services. Toyota does numerous
promotional activities like personal selling, sales promotion, direct form of selling and
maintaining public relations. Toyota designs various communication strategies to give a
reminder to the customers regarding their products.
Storage: It is important to hold and store the product in a protective manner. With the
help of the marketing function, Toyota is able to identify the demand of its models and
their motor parts.As a result it maintains well-furnished showrooms and outlets where
vehicles that have a high demand in the global market are being kept for future sales.
The parts and equipments of the vehicles are also been stored in technically advanced
ways. It is important to mention that the storage has very short role to play in the
automobile industry.
Process: Process here involves the developing an item or a product out of raw
materials for the benefit of the customers. For organisations like Toyota, raw material
organisations take each part of the materials that can be turned into car parts and does
the delivery to Toyota, which in turn is installed in the bodies of the car to get a
complete car. With the help of the market research function, the organisation is able to
decide which raw materials canbe used to get the desired product.
Distribution:Toyota ensures the flexible movement of the cars and other motor parts
from the production point to the desired market. This enables the manufacturers to
make the products easily available for the customers. The marketing department
ensures that the movement of the cars and their parts are done in a systematic way.
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Risk Bearing: The marketing process can be characterized by factors like risks related
to damage, loss and price alterations. Marketing division bears the risk bearing
responsibilities also (Armstrong et al., 2015).
Development of product and management: The process involves the identification of
the wants and desires of the customers, which becomes a factor during the designing of
the product in order to modify the product quality.
Grading and standardisation:
The function of marketing helps the company in identifying the quality and standards
demanded by the consumers with respect to specific product. In order to maintain the
brand name, it is important to make the product pass through quality test that help the
brand maintain its uniqueness. Toyota has a specialized quality department equipped to
carry out this Process. Market details: It is important to know about the targeted market
as a whole through various mediums.
Finance: This is the process of raising the fund in order to start the business. It also
refers to the different modes of payment by the customers. The marketing function
helps in identifying the various modes of payment currently used in the markets.
Selling process: This is the process of selling the customers through various outlets
and multichannel platforms. Selling determines the needs of the customers and forming
customer relationship. It helps in evaluating the effectiveness of various selling
procedures thereby helps in enhancing customer relationship.
Post sales service: It is very important to keep a track of the post sales service. Toyota
gives an exquisite post sales service to maintain their perfect marketing strategy.
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