Marketing Management: TOWS Analysis, Objectives, and Marketing Mix Plan

This document discusses marketing management, focusing on TOWS analysis, setting marketing objectives, and creating a marketing mix plan. It uses the case of Aldi and their 'Express Yourself' campaign to illustrate these concepts.

Marketing management

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
LO1..................................................................................................................................................3
Marketing TOWS of Aldi through marketing audits...................................................................3
LO2..................................................................................................................................................6
3 marketing objective set for “express yourselves” marketing campaign...................................6
LO3..................................................................................................................................................7
Marketing mix plan to achieve the objectives.............................................................................7
LO4..................................................................................................................................................9
Proposals to improve the level of customer service....................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing management is planning, organizing, controlling and directing the marketing
policies, strategies and tactics which are designed to satisfy the firm’s objective or sales
generation. it identifies various opportunities in the market and frames an appropriate strategies
for exploring those opportunities profitably. Aldi is a supermarket chain which was founded in
1946 by Kari and Theo Albrecht and have their headquarters in Germany. They have a product
range of grocery, household essentials etc. it has great global presence and have stores location
of about 11235. In 1960 the company split into two namely Aldi Nord and Aldi Sud. They also
have subsidiaries like Aldi Talk, Aldi Alcohol and Diskont. In the further report marketing
TOWS for Aldi will be constructed, 3 marketing objective will be stated. Also examination of
marketing mix plan and suggestions will be provided to improve the customer services.
MAIN BODY
LO1
Marketing TOWS of Aldi through marketing audits.
Marketing audit is careful and comprehensive analysis of marketing goals, strategies and
objectives. It is basically refocusing on the marketing plan and efforts. A successful marketing
audit has the following components like it is independent, systematic, periodic and
comprehensive. Aldi defines systematic evaluation and interpretation of business marketing
environment which are both internal and external to the organization to find out the opportunities
and threats and making a marketing plan based on that. Marketing audit is generally conducted
by the outside party and not by the members of the organization (L’AUDIT MARKETING. and
DE, 2019).
Marketing TOWS matrix helps the company to analyse their strength, weakness, opportunity and
threats. Aldi TOWS shows the relationship between the internal and external factors and
strategies can be framed according. Such scrutiny gives a clear insights and it also helps the
organization to adopt long term strategies. TOWS matrix helps the organization to remain one
step ahead of all the rivals and make a separate stand in the market (Hadrian, 2020). This TOWS
matrix go beyond the SWOT analysis, as TOWS mainly involves audit of external threats and
opportunities. Marketing TOWS of Aldi are:
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SO strategy – This is the first and foremost strategy and also known as maxi-maxi strategy and
Aldi adopts this strategy to identify the strengths of their organizations and then uses these
identifies strength to grab external opportunities.
WO strategy – This is the second strategy and also known as mini-maxi strategy and Aldi adopts
this strategy to identify their weakness and strength on them to take the benefit of prevailing
opportunities in the market.
ST strategy – This is the third strategy and also known as Maxi-mini strategy and Aldi in this
strategy tries to minimize the threats by their strengths to achieve their marketing goals and
business objective (Dandage, Mantha. and Rane, 2019).
WT strategy – This is the fourth strategy and also known as mini-mini strategy Aldi considers
this strategy as a defensive strategy in which they try to strengthen their weakness and tries to
avoid external threats.
Strength Weakness
TOWS Low prices of products
Reliable and strong
network
Consistency in quality
Successful track record.
Low margins
Poor employee satisfaction
Less investment in new
technology
Weak financial planning
Opportunities SO WO
Opening of new market because
of government regulations.
New technologies
Lower prices helps the
company to easily attract
new customers in new
market.
The network of the
company which is reliable
ad strong by New
technologies will smoothen
the network.
As the company have lower
margins therefore can enter
into new markets and increase
their sales.
The company can train their
employees on new
technologies by this employees
will also feel a sense of
accomplishment and will be
satisfied.
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Period after recession
New environmental policies
As the company is
maintaining quality
therefore be able to retain
their market after recession
also.
There are greater chances
that Aldi can undertake
new environmental policies
successfully as in the past
also they had a very good
track record.
They can take advantage of the
recession and can invest into
latest technologies as when the
recession ends customers will
have more convenience in
buying.
Aldi can make their financial
planning stronger and can take
out some funds to avail the
new opportunity and gain a
market share.
Threats ST WT
New technologies by competitors
Intense competition
Rising pay levels
Different laws in different
countries
As the company can retain
their customers by
charging lower prices.
Through a strong and
reliable network Aldi can
handle the competition in
the market.
Due to consistency in
quality Aldi can charge
little bit higher price to
balance their expense.
As the organization has a
good track record therefore
it will be easier for them to
enter into new country and
In this situation the
organization needs to focus on
increasing the margins and
should try to adopt new
technologies.
The organization can adopt
certain practices to enhance
their employee’s satisfaction
level and not so will lead to
employees going to the rivals.
Aldi can focus on satisfying
their employees so that they do
not demand high pay (Gómez,
Rozo, . and Leytón, 2019).
Aldi should improve their
financial planning as there are
different laws in different
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follow their laws. countries and it is very
important to have strong
financial planning if they have
to achieve their objectives.
It can be said that TOWS analysis will not specify the particular strategy to adopt but it focuses
on the area where the actions are required. It enhances the thinking process and helps to take out
some profitable outcomes for Aldi. By applying TOWS various solutions have been come up and
many ways have been identified to enhance Aldi functioning. Also proper analysis, evaluation
and interpretation of their environment is done and various loopholes are identified and strategies
will be developed to overcome it. This matrix helps the organization improve their productivity
and performance.
LO2
3 marketing objective set for “express yourselves” marketing campaign
Marketing objective are the goals that outline the intention of marketing team. These are
the goals which Aldi wants to achieve by their marketing campaign. It is important to clearly
define and compile the marketing objective to achieve them. Aldi focuses on making goals
which are specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant and time bound. The marketing
campaign “Express yourself” of Aldi is based on coffee connoisseurs. They have made the
campaign showing three diverse range of coffee blends which is Exotic, pungent and steamy hot
coffee. The ad is created by BMF and it runs across TV, cinema, out-of-home and also digitally.
The idea was to talk about premium coffee product and they tried to make it more refreshing by
injecting Aldi’s quirky tone of voice. On the basis of the above findings the following three
marketing objective can be set up for “Express yourself”:
Growing their digital presence – This can be a great marketing objective as most of the
customers are there on social media and other digital media platforms. So to viral the “express
yourself” marketing campaign growing their digital presence must be one objective. The plan
may be to initiate from search engine optimization and then grow their visibility in search engine
ranking and social media platforms (Banner, 2018). Coffee is generally consumed by the
youngsters and people within the age brackets of 15 to 45 and all these people are active on
digital media so they may get attracted to the campaign. For this Aldi needs to monitor KPIs and
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to get metrics of the campaign the organization can use tools such as Alexa Rank- it generally
measures the popularity of the website. The organization can also use total organic traffic- which
tells the number of website visitors that visited Aldi website etc.
Expand into a new market and segment – the second marketing objective can be expanding
into new market. The Aldi has a good brand value and track record in the existing market then
they should focus on entering into new market and also with new segments as they also have a
track record of producing consistent quality products so customer will accept this coffee segment
as they have trust on the brand and also in different countries where Aldi has not captured the
market (Fokkema, 2017). The marketers should keep a track record of number of customers
acquired over time, which countries they already have targeted, cost per new customer etc.
Retaining the existing customers and targeting new ones – Marketing objective of this
campaign should also be to retain customers. The customers who are already using Aldi products
are brand loyal and if not also they like products offered by the organization therefore
introducing coffee flavours would again stimulate the existing customers to take interest in the
brand and try the new product launched by Aldi (Ruzeviciute. and Kamleitner, 2017). Also the
objective should be to capture new customers to those whose lifestyle includes coffee it will give
the organization a chance to increase their brand awareness and enhances their market share.
LO3.
Marketing mix plan to achieve the objectives.
Marketing mix is the mix of various marketing tools that the organization uses to achieve its
marketing objective. Marketing mix helps Aldi to make strategic decisions regarding launching
new products or revising the existing ones. The main of marketing mix is to examine the product,
price, place and promotion strategies of Aldi.
Product – Product refers to the item that has some value and can satisfy the need of
consumers. Aldi considers their product a bundle of benefits which marketers’ offers to
consumer in exchange they charge a price for it. Product mix involves a series of decision
regarding the product’s packaging, design, branding, labelling, warranty, and guarantee,
Features, styles etc. Aldi offers consistent quality products at affordable prices due to this they
can capture the new customers and can also be able to retain the existing ones. Through unique
and attractive packaging, labelling and branding they will attract new customers. If the product
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mix is good then its digital presence will enhance. The organization also experiments in new
segments to achieve their marketing objective.
Price – Price is the value of the product that the customer is willing to pay. Aldi claims that
the price of their products is based on cost of production, segment targeted, demand of the
product, prices charged by the competitors etc (Išoraitė, 2016). It is the second most important
element in marketing mix. The price of the product plays a very important role in achieving the
marketing objective as Aldi adopts affordable price for good quality products therefore they will
be able to expand in new market and also be able to retain their existing customers. The
organization can also touch upon the new customer because of their affordable product price and
will be able to achieve their marketing objective.
Place – Place is the third mix and refers to the point of sale. The place can be both a
physical location or even a virtual location or digital location. It involves a distribution channel
of individuals and institutions like distributors, wholesalers and retailers. If Aldi has a digital
presence then the objective of growing the presence can be fulfilled. And in case it only has
physical stores then the organization should make their own website and create digital platforms
to run the campaign. And through their store location they will be able to capture new market
and customers as per the population of the place or location. The organization while supplying
the products on to the stores ensures minimum waste disposal while transporting the products
and also use of environmental friendly equipment in the stores.
Promotion – Promotion mix is the fourth mix and the aim of this mix is to persuade, inform
and make people aware about the brand. It is done through TV, cinema, posters etc. the nature of
promotion is informative, motivating, persuasive etc. the mix consist of advertising, public
relations, personal selling and sales promotion. Advertising through correct means will add to the
market share. Promotion through digital media grows Aldi’s digital presence and helps the
campaign to reach wider customers as there is no geographical bar in digital platform . Aldi also
advertises through print media therefore by both digital and print media the organization will be
able to expand in new market and also will be able to expand its customer base. It also helps the
company to retain their existing customers as promotions and advertising influences the
customers as they see the brand which they are consuming again and again with new segment
coming up.
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People – This is the fifth mix and people are the main element in every organization. People
are the asset of Aldi and the organization should also consider people as an important component
for the success of their business. People who are inside and outside the business organization and
also who are responsible for your sales, marketing strategies and activities. To achieve the
objective of growing digital presence, expanding in new market and retaining existing and new
customers’ organization should put themselves in the shoes of the customers and run the
campaign. Aldi should also focus to put right people at right position so that these goals are
achieved. Aldi also pays higher compensation to employees than the competitor which motivated
them to achieve the goals. To make the campaign a success the organization need to take care of
their customers.
Process – Process mix is the sixth mix of marketing and this ensures that the process of
marketing is effective. For an effective process Aldi make the product finding easy for the
customers. They keep limited number of product option with greater quality and they have also
included barcode reader for quick identification. All this activities make the process efficient and
as the process is effective it will help in growing digital presence and will able to expand in the
new market (Wu. and Li, 2018). Through this effective process the organization will also be
able to retain existing customers and also attract the new ones by the campaign.
Physical Evidence – Physical evidence is everything that the customer can see or feel in
tangible terms. It includes the physical design, layout and premises. Aldi uses its physical
evidence to accomplish the marketing objective. Through their large stores they will be able to
keep products and because of attractive layout and design new customers will be attracted and
increase the customer base. They can also hire employee on store to grow the digital presence of
the campaign.
LO4
Proposals to improve the level of customer service
Customer service is providing the convenience to the customer before, during and after
purchase. It is the support Aldi offers to the customers which helps the organization to retain the
customers and enhance their brand value. The interaction between the organization and customer
Good customer service helps in building good brand image. Customer service also helps the
organization getting a competitive advantage. Good customer service is critical to business
success and also it encourages brand loyalty from the customer’s side. There are various option
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by which the organization can level up their customer service as a part of their marketing
campaign “Express Yourself” The following are the proposals to I improve the level of customer
for the marketing campaign “express yourself”:
Keeping customer’s expectation in mind – Aldi can level up their customer service by
keeping the interest and expectation of customers in mind before running the marketing
campaign. Before making the marketing campaign of “express yourself” Aldi should consider
the expectation of the customers, what flavours do they prefer more or of which type etc. As Aldi
recognised that youngsters like coffee more than tea and professionals also preferred coffee in
meetings and organizations therefore they steal this opportunity and took decision to run the
campaign. They also observed that the youth is becoming more vocal and expressive therefore
they included the theme of express yourself so that customers can connect. Now-a-days there is a
coffee trends and many cafes and hangout places are occupied with customers in which coffee
are served. Therefore this campaign before launching should take care about the customers’
expectation.
Give option of online enquiry – Aldi can also level up their customer service by giving
the customers an option of online enquiry. During the period when the campaign is running the
organization can provide the option of online enquiry in the form of messenger or chat box from
where they can get the information about the products and flavours offered (Cui. and et.al.,
2017). The place from where they can get those products and other information.
Option of shop now – This is also a type of customer service that Aldi can provide to their
customers. While the campaign is running the marketers can give the option of shop now below
the campaign. And by clicking on this option the customer will land on the website of the
organization and can enquiry about the products and other details. This is a great customer
service which gives customers more convenience and chances are more that people will shop or
at least enquire about the product.
Hire more competent employees – In case of physical campaign Aldi should hire
competent people who have good convincing skills and selling skills. This is add on to the
campaign success as unique way to market a product have a great chances of selling. The
employees who have all the knowledge about the campaign should be made available to address
the customers this will improve the customer service of the organization.
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Taking feedback after the campaign – This is an amazing customer service provided by
the organization to the customer. Providing the facility of feedback through calls or emails are
very beneficial to Aldi as it will act as a win-win situation for both the customers and
organization (Cao, Ajjan, . and Hong, 2018). Through this feedback or email customer service,
customers also get the feeling of belongingness as their suggestions are been taken and for Aldi
they can know how their campaign worked or what influence it had on the customers.
Option of live chat – Aldi can also include an option of live chat in their customer service
as sometimes customers need to resolve the issues related to the campaign quickly. For this the
organization can make a provision and keep an employee who have all the knowledge and ca
provide solutions to their issues. The organization can do so by giving an option on their website
in which the customer will be able to kick off the conversation with one of the experts who can
resolve their issues (Xu. and et.al., 2017). The advantage in this customer service is the speed
and this will satisfy the customer as their enquiries are addressed as soon as possible. This works
best for the customers who don’t like to search answers for their query or issue.
Interactive voice response – the last proposal that can level up the customer service id
interactive voice response. It is also a type of phone customer service. It is a telephony system
that is automated and interaction with the callers’ through the dial pad or keyboard or voice
requests. Aldi can use this customer service when any customer dials on the number provided in
the campaign. The channel can be set by uploading, mapping and tweaking. This is a great
service which is provided by the organization to the customers and organization can achieve
great results through this service.
CONCLUSION
It can be conclude that by conducting marketing TOWS of Aldi, the strengths, weakness,
opportunities and threats are identified and also various solutions are identified by the
organization. On the basis of the above findings 3 marketing objective have been set for the
marketing campaign “express yourself”. Also a marketing mix plan was developed to achieve the
marketing objective identified. And lastly various proposals are been made to improve the level
of customer service as a part of their “express yourself” marketing campaign.
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REFERENCES
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Stratégique. 1(4). p.156.
Hadrian, P., 2020. The Various Models of Marketing Audit. Marketing of Scientific and
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Gómez, Y.C., Rozo, J.P. and Leytón, C.M., 2019. Marketing audit model oriented to the
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Xu, A. and et.al., 2017, May. A new chatbot for customer service on social media.
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In Proceedings of ACL 2017, System Demonstrations (pp. 97-102).
Išoraitė, M., 2016. Marketing mix theoretical aspects. International journal of research
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Wu, Y.L. and Li, E.Y., 2018. Marketing mix, customer value, and customer loyalty in social
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