MG529 Strategic Marketing (Distinction Criteria)

This report includes competitor analysis and stakeholder analysis while determining target audience of an organisation. It also includes a marketing roll out plan.

Strategic Marketing

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Market analysis........................................................................................................................1
2. Identifying organisation key strategic marketing objectives of campaign..............................4
3. Strategy tactics covering key areas of marketing by adopting race model..............................5
4. Marketing roll out plan............................................................................................................6
5. Budget documentation.............................................................................................................7
6. Recommendations ...................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
APPENDIX ...................................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Strategic marketing is derived of use of marketing principles in order to achieve
organisational goals by maintaining and developing a sustainable competitive advantages
(Campbell, Lowe and Reeher, 2021). This helps management of an organisation to address top
level considerations which includes which service or goods to offer, which market to target and
how much to price as well as process to promote them. For this project, Mercedes-Benz is the
selected company which is a German luxury automotive marque. Mercedes-Benz produces
commercial as well as luxury vehicles. This company was founded by Benz&Cite on 28th June
1926.
The report consists of analysis of internal and external environment. It further also
consists of market analysis along with a campaign strategy. This report includes competitor
analysis and stakeholder analysis while determining target audience of an organisation. It also
includes a marketing roll out plan.
MAIN BODY
1. Market analysis
Mercedes-Benz which is commonly known as Mercedes is a German automotive
company which produces luxury vehicles as well as commercial vehicles. Mercedes-Benz was
founded by Benz and Mercedes on 28th June 1929 and having headquarter in Stuttgart, Germany.
Mercedes-Benz first badged vehicles were manufactured in 1929. Market analysis is usually a
qualitative and quantitative assessment of market used by businesses to understand market place
(Farinloye, Adeola and Mogaji, 2020). Management of Mercedes-Benz studies market analysis
to understand attractiveness as well as dynamics of a specific market. Evaluating market analysis
in aspect of Mercedes-Benz is being determined as below-
Market Size-
Market size is generally referred as number of people in a market segment. This analysis
helps companies to determine market size which helps in decision making regarding its existing
and new launched products (Guercini, 2020). In aspect of market size, Mercedes-Benz is
holding a position of number 9 in international automotive market share with a percentage of
3.1% of share in market last year. It can also be seen that the leader in market share in
international automotive industry is Toyota which is holding a percent of 8.5% and standing in a
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top most position in market as well as is closely followed by Volkswagen by holding a percent of
7.8% in market share. While last on list of global automotive industry which is closely to
Mercedes-Benz is BMW which is holding a market share of 2.7% percentage last year.
Competitors analysis-
Competitors analysis is a frameworks used by management of a company to identify
other businesses of same nature operating in market (Johnson, 2019). Analysing competitor
analysis in aspect of Mercedes-Benz competitors it is evaluated and observed that Tesla Model 3
is the leader in market by crushing 28314 number of sales last year. Tesla manufactures electric
vehicle as compared with Mercedes-Benz E/CLS-Class as well as Mercedes C- Class which are
holding a position of 4th and 5th in market. BMW is also giving a tough competition to Mercedes-
Benz with its BMW 3series which is model that comes up with numerous generations and has
created a loyally consumers in a period of time (Mercedes-Benz. 2022). In addition to this Lexus
ES is hybrid car which gives consumer a slow transition from gas to electricity. By the above
analysis it can be seen that brand loyalty and electric cars are currently dominating the market by
placing Tesla model 3, BMW 3 series as well as Lexus ES upper than Mercedes-Benz vehicles.
Macro economic factors-
Analysing macro economic factors in context of Mercedes-Benz is being determined
while considering PEST analysis and which are as below- Political- Mercedes-Benz is one of the world's most popular and preferable luxury auto-
mobile brand. Taxation policies of governments of different nation affects turnover of
Mercedes-Benz in a year. Company has to follow various taxation policies, export import
laws while trading its products and services across world. Economical- During COVID-19 pandemic Mercedes-Benz has suffered a loss in its
sales turnover as compared to previous years (Mercedes-Benz. 2022). This pandemic has
affected negative throughout globe by raising unemployment rates in various developed
as well as developing countries. This rise in unemployment rates in countries has affected
turnover of Mercedes-Benz by decreasing it by 15% in sales in comparison to previous
years. Social- Mercedes-Benz is consistently attempting to solve nearby issues while
generating and gathering more networks of profits in market. Company is looking
forward to target high class income people while providing its premium products.
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Mercedes-Benz' cars uplifts image and status of people utilizing or using it. It works as a
status builder and status recogniser in society. Technological- With innovating technologies in market, Mercedes-Benz is adopting
latest technologies in its production of automotive vehicles while providing maximum
space in their cars, latest in-build technologies, etc. Mercedes-Benz is sensed as one of
best cars in advancement execution, security, structure as well as providing ecological
needs.
Micro environment factors-
Analysing micro environment factor in context of Mercedes-Benz is being determined by
utilizing SWOT analysis and which are being analysed as below-
Strengths Weaknesses
 Mercedes-Benz is one of the leading
brands in auto-mobile industry.
 Mercedes-Benz is financially strong
company which makes it to invest in
manufacturing and building its brand
(Mercedes-Benz. 2022).
 Intense competition from its
competitors such as BMW, Tesla, etc.
are limiting Mercedes market market
share in growth aspect.
 With increase in price of Mercedes-
Benz vehicles makes company to
attract a limited number of customers
(Mercedes-Benz. 2022).
Opportunities Threats
 Mercedes-Benz has an opportunity to
build hybrid and fuel efficient cars to
attract ethical customers in future.
 Fast growing auto-mobile industry
gives an opportunity to Mercedes-Benz
to expand its business by engaging with
more customers (Mercedes-Benz.
2022).
 Changes in government policies in
automotive industry, economic
recession as well as COVID-19
pandemic affects can affect turnover for
Mercedes-Benz.
 Increasing rate of fuel as well as
awareness of environmental safety can
make people adopt public vehicle
despite personal vehicles.
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Customer analysis-
Mercedes-Benz operates in an automotive industry by producing automotive vehicle
which are more likely to be purchased or brought by consumers that are particularly male of age
around 25-50 years. Company target its customers of terms of income segments specially high
income customers with middle to high level of qualification (Liebl, 2018). Mercedes-Benz
targets its customers on behavioural segments in which they focuses on customers which are
successful in their business and are close to their country traditions as well as still applying and
following their cultural practices as well as traditions. Mercedes-Benz's cars builds and uplifts
status of its customers in society as they are luxury cars which are non affordable by some
middle class customers on basis of their income.
Stakeholder analysis-
Stakeholder analysis are steps to identify key stakeholders with objective to access
potential changes with relevant as well as interested parties on their productive suggestions
(Makarova, 2018). Mercedes-Benz is involved with various number of stakeholders which
includes its employees, creditors, customers, clients as well as shareholders. Employees role in
Mercedes-Benz is to rise productivity in order to guarantee success to company. They are usually
interested in high wages as well as more career opportunities to build their career and achieve
future career growth (Mercedes-Benz. 2022). Customers of Mercedes-Benz are loyal and high
society personnels which are interested in high class luxury cars. Its creditors are interested in
making essential measures for Mercedes-Benz so that company gains enough amount of profit to
repay their amount. Shareholders of Mercedes-Benz are interested to gain high sales and targets
which leads to higher profits.
2. Identifying organisation key strategic marketing objectives of campaign
Key strategic marketing objectives of Mercedes-Benz for organising campaign is mainly
to focus into creating mostly hybrid as well as electric cars by 2030. This will help company to
sustain in market in long run by generating more profits. Company is also looking for measures
to innovate its cars to reduce carbon emission to 115g/km by 2025 (Mercedes-Benz. 2022). This
objective will help Mercedes-Benz to fulfil its CSR activities for environment. In addition to this
Mercedes-Benz also have the objective to increase its sales of CLA Class, C Class and E/CLS-
Class by 2023. Mercedes-Benz has created this campaign to achieve a sustainable position in
market by earning more profits while providing luxury cars in market place to its target audience.
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Campaign strategy-
Marketers of Mercedes-Benz are evaluating and analysing behaviour of customers as
well as analysing market place in order to develop its campaign strategy to achieve its business
objectives. Company has improved its production activities as well as promotional activities in
order to attract more customers in market. In fast growing auto-mobile industry has created an
opportunity for Mercedes-Benz to expand its business processes as well as gain more profits by
providing luxury as well as commercial vehicles in market. This company is looking forward to
target high income individuals with its premium cars which show-offs or build status of its
customers in society (Mercedes-Benz. 2022). Its premium luxury cars build status of its
customers as they denotes their high income through this luxury cars. Company is moving and
upgrading towards innovating its vehicles to energy saving vehicles which objective to release
less carbon emission in environment through its vehicle as well as production processes.
3. Strategy tactics covering key areas of marketing by adopting race model
RACE model-
RACE model is framework used by digital marketers of an organisation to plan and
manage their activities in such a more structured way (Matušínská and Stoklasa, 2019). RACE
model includes four steps of online marketing activities which helps brands to design and
develop their brands in order to engage with their customers. Reach- Reach includes developing awareness of a brand and its products on other
websites as well as in offline media with motive to build traffic while driving customer
visits to various web presences such as main site, microsites or social media platforms
(Rashidi-Sabet and Madhavaram, 2021). Digital marketers of Mercedes-Benz identifies
its target audience in terms of demographics, income as well as behavioural segments. It
also includes planning its communication process. Action- Action planning is a strategic planning which includes a plan to decide what to
communicate to its audience on their digital platforms (Onu and Akinlabi, 2018). Digital
management of Mercedes-Benz provides information of their products in their website
such as specification, features of its luxury cars. Digital marketers provides information
that are easy to capture by its visitors or desired audiences. Mercedes-Benz uses Google
analytics tools in order to view products, add to cart, register as a member, etc. options
for its visitor audience or potential customers.
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 Communication- Communication is the process to convert activities of audience to sales
(Richelieu and Webb, 2021). This includes getting audience to take vital step to convert
their search process to purchase by utilizing payment options. Digital marketers of
Mercedes-Benz provides various payments options to their customers on their website,
microsites, or any other e-commerce site that have collaborated with such as e-commerce
transactions or other offline transaction options. This helps Mercedes-Benz to attract and
engage with more customers while providing them products at their finger tips.
 Evaluation- Establishing relationship with customers is a long term engagement process
for companies which helps them to sustain in market as well as developing a relationship
for the very first time with buyers in order to build loyalty with objective to create
opportunities for repeat purchase of products (Schiavone and Simoni, 2019). Mercedes-
Benz looks towards building essential relationship with its customers while providing
them services on time such as car service, repairs etc.
4. Marketing roll out plan
Marketing roll out plan for Mercedes-Benz is determined as below- Channels to be used- Marketers of Mercedes-Benz adopts various channels of digital
marketing such as search engine optimization, e-commerce, social media sites, etc. as
well as traditional marketing processes (Mercedes-Benz. 2022).
 Timing- Mercedes-Benz is taking essential measures to create hybrid and energy saving
cars by 2030. company is also looking forward to reduce carbon emission in environment
by 2025 through its production processes as well as products.
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GANNT chart for Mercedes-Benz
5. Budget documentation
Budgeted documentation of Mercedes-Benz
Particulars Amount ( In €)
Raw material 200000
Labours 10000
furniture 26000
Consumable goods 100000
Machinery 30000
Advertisement 5000
Salary 10000
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Total 381000
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Particulars 2020 2021 2022
Receipts
Sales 350000 1500000 15200000
Online bookings 250000 9500000 9600000
Advances from clients 200000 500000 520000
Further developments 200000 500000 500000
Total receipts 1000000 3460000 3500000
Payments
Salaries to staff 10000 55000 52000
Advertisement 150000 280000 258300
Rent of building 50000 80000 180000
Machines 20000 60000 500000
Cost of material 30000 80000 720000
Total payments 70000 25100 229630
Cash at the end 3000000 9500000 12037000
Key performance indicators-
Key performance indicator is measurable value which is tied to a particular objectives of
a marketing campaign (Thrassou, Vrontis and Bresciani, 2018). Key performance indicator
helps Mercedes-Benz to analyse its performance in accordance of its desired campaign. This also
helps management of Mercedes-Benz to take essential measures by developing its strategies or
making some required changes.
6. Recommendations
Following are the recommendations suggested to Mercedes-Benz and they are as below- Focus on conversion- Digital marketers of Mercedes-Benz should focus on converting
deals not just on generating leads. Company should take essential measures to convince
as well as convert decisions of its audience visitors to make direct purchase. Company
should provide effective, transparent informations about their products in such a language
that it can easily be captured by visitors or target audience. Improve customer service- Mercedes-Benz's digital marketers should adopts latest tools
of digital marketing as well as artificial intelligence in order to provide efficient customer
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services such as chat bots in their website to solve queries of customers as well as provide
information needed by them.
 Multi sales channel- Due to COVID-19 pandemic, customers way of marketing has been
completely changed (Yaneva, 2020). People prefer online sites rather than going out for
window shopping. This changes in customer insights should be kept under consideration
by marketers of Mercedes-Benz. Digital marketers of Mercedes-Benz should opt to more
channels in digital platforms in order to attract more customers easily.
CONCLUSION
As per the above project it is concluded that strategic marketing is a procedure of
utilizing marketing disciplines in order to accomplish business objectives and goals as well as
maintaining a sustainable position in competitive market. Competitor analysis in strategic
management and marketing is a process to determine strengths and weakness of potential
competitors of an organisation in an industry. Consumer analytics are derived with steps where
data and information are gathered about customers to find them in market place. Consumer
analytics are used by management of a company to identify needs of customers in market as well
as choose its target audience among various segments of market. Stakeholder analysis is steps of
gathering as well as analysing qualitative informations of stakeholders of a company in order to
determine whose interest should be taken into considerations when developing or implementing
a project or policy.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Campbell, M., Lowe, N. and Reeher, O., 2021. Strategic Marketing Proposal for Setters, CPA &
Company.
Farinloye, T., Adeola, O. and Mogaji, E., 2020. Typology of Nigerian universities: A strategic
marketing and branding implication. In Understanding the Higher Education Market in
Africa (pp. 168-198). Routledge.
Guercini, S., 2020. Editoriale: The Actor or the Machine? The Strategic Marketing Decision-
Maker Facing Digitalization. Micro & Macro Marketing. 29(1). pp.3-7.
Johnson, A., 2019. To study the effectiveness of strategic marketing techniques of builders in
long gestation project of with special reference to kent constructions,
Kaloor. International Journal of Management, IT and Engineering. 9(2). pp.201-210.
Liebl, F., 2018. What Is Strategic Marketing in an Innovation Society?. In Innovation Society
Today (pp. 165-181). Springer VS, Wiesbaden.
Makarova, D. A., 2018. ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRATEGIC
MANAGEMENT AND STRATEGIC MARKETING. In Неделя молодежной
науки (pp. 310-313).
Matušínská, K. and Stoklasa, M., 2019. The State of Strategic Marketing Application in Czech
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Scientific Annals of Economics and
Business. 66(2). pp.193-212.
Onu, C. and Akinlabi, B., 2018. The Influence of Strategic Marketing Practices on Deposit
Money Banks Profitability in Nigeria. International Journal of Managerial Studies and
Research. 6(1). pp.21-35.
Rashidi-Sabet, S. and Madhavaram, S., 2021. A Strategic Marketing Framework for Emerging
Out of the Climate Change Social Trap: The Case of the Fashion Industry. Journal of
Macromarketing, p.02761467211058083.
Richelieu, A. and Webb, A., 2021. Strategic sport marketing in the society of the
spectacle. Journal of Strategic Marketing, pp.1-18.
Schiavone, F. and Simoni, M., 2019. Strategic marketing approaches for the diffusion of
innovation in highly regulated industrial markets: the value of market access. Journal of
Business & Industrial Marketing.
Thrassou, A., Vrontis, D. and Bresciani, S., 2018. The agile innovation pendulum: A strategic
marketing multicultural model for family businesses. International Studies of
Management & Organization. 48(1). pp.105-120.
Yaneva, D., 2020. Importance Of The Marketing Environment Analysis In The Process Of
Strategic Marketing Decision Making. Economics & Law. 2(2). pp.24-32.
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Online:
Mercedes-Benz. 2022. [Online]. Available through: <https://www.mercedes-benz.com/>
APPENDIX
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G r o u p L o g
G r o u p m e m b e r s s t u d e n t I D n u m b e r s
Company Name: Mercedes-Benz
D a t e S t u d e n t s A tt e n d in g I s s u e s A c ti o n s R e q u ie d T a r g e t D a t e
Modest Flavius Vitvitsche 0 5 /0 2 /2 2
Marian Marcian 0 8 /0 2 /2 2
Pavel Alexandru Mercedes-Benz history, market size and data trend 2 1 /0 1 /2 2
competitor analysis, consumer analysis as well as macro and micro
environment analysis
porter's five forces is required to analyse competitor analysis, PEST for macro and
SWOT for micro analysis as well as STP model is used to determine consumer analysis.
stakeholder analysis, strategic marketing objectives and reference in harvard
style
should analyse stakeholders of Mercedes-Benz by analysing models, strategic plans to
achieve marketing objective of Mercedes-Benz which is to create hybrid electric vehicles
by 2030.
Mercedes-Benz is a German auto-mobile company which provides luxury vehicles to
customers.