Principles of Marketing Report: FORD Motors Strategy and Analysis

This report examines the marketing principles employed by FORD Motors, a Michigan-based automotive company. It delves into the strategies used to attract target customer segments, including philanthropic activities, safety features, and environmental initiatives. The report identifies FORD's target market, considering factors like demographics and vehicle types, while also analyzing key competitors like Audi and BMW. It explores the competitive advantages of these rivals, such as research and development investments and brand image. The report emphasizes the importance of customer segmentation in marketing, which enables businesses to offer tailored solutions to their target groups. The study discusses the different approaches used for manufacturing and delivery of products from the sellers to the end users, to maximize their customer satisfaction rate as well as enhance productivity of an organization.

Running head: PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING
Principles of Marketing
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Strategy used by the company to attract the target customer segment......................................2
Description of the target market.................................................................................................3
Description of the key competitors............................................................................................3
Advantage to the key competitors..............................................................................................4
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................4
References..................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
The current study focuses upon the principles of marketing which takes into
consideration the different approaches used for manufacturing and delivery of products from
the sellers to the end users. In the current study, the Michigan based automotive company
FORD MOTORS have been taken into consideration. The company is divided into Lincoln
brand which sells luxury cars as well as the FORD MOTORS which sells commercial
vehicles. The assignment helps in the identification of the key market competitors and the
strategies undertaken for gaining a competitive advantage.
Strategy used by the company to attract the target customer segment
A number of strategies had been used by the company to attract the target customer
segment. The effectiveness of some of these strategies has been evaluated with respect to the
FORD MOTORS. The FORD MOTORS have been supporting the subject of women
empowerment by providing continuous support for women and minority owned business
through material sourcing. Program such as safe driving practices have been promoted by the
organization to reduce the health hazards of the vast customer niche. Some of these initiatives
have been seen as philanthropic activities promoted by the company. As mentioned by
Foxman & Dobscha (2015), the philanthropic activities are seen as a part of meeting with the
corporate social responsibilities.
One of the huge steps taken forward by the company in this regards is designing and
manufacturing vehicles with driver assist and innovative safety technologies. Some of these
changes have been incorporated with the view of reducing the number of road accidents
along with providing additional security layers to the target customer group. Therefore, the

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additional safety features could be huge step forward in attracting the maximum number of
customers.
As mentioned by Armstrong, Adam, Denize & Kotler (2014), activities promoted by the
company such as reduction in the amount of carbon monoxide footprint has also been seen to
contribute significantly towards the preservation of environment, which has been seen to
attract the social as well as the environmental activists.
Description of the target market
FORD has been producing a number of multipurpose vehicles such as luxury cars ,
station wagons , vans, trucks etc. The company has recently ventured into the production of
FORD FIESTA which is highly in demand amongst the ladies and the youth. Some of the
customer segmentation approaches used over here are –geographic, demographic,
psychographics and behavioral. Recently the FORD MOTORS have taken into consideration
demographic factors such as the age, gender and income status of the population. The car has
been designed with features such as safety and fuel efficiency. Hence, the FORD MOTORS
are combining design with technique and making them available at affordable prices
(ford.com.au, 2018).
Description of the key competitors
FORD MOTORS is into manufacturing both luxury cars and commercial cars. The
rate of competition differs based upon the types of products pitched by the company. The
competition is more severe in the segment of luxury cars, whereas it is less stringent with
respect to commercial cars section. FORDS has received the maximum of its competition
from Audi, BMW.

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The segmentation patterns of AUDI and BMW are based upon the income status of
the population. As mentioned by Rozdolskaya & Ledovskaya (2015), Audi and BMW have a
loyal customer base that is ready to pay the high prices for the cars. The themes used by the
competitors for attracting the target customer groups are-comfort design, safety features and
brand image.
Advantage to the key competitors
AUDI, BMW spends 65 million US dollars every year in its research and
development activities. These activities help the company in being update with the latest
technology which provides them with a competitive advantage. As mentioned by Güçdemir
& Selim (2015), psychographic segmentation pattern is used to attract the target customer
group. The brand image associated with Audi and BMW further provides them with a
competitive advantage over some of their similar market players (bmw.com.au, 2018). The
additional amount of emphasis upon the safety features has made the brand a favorite among
the target customer groups.
Conclusion
On the crucial features of marketing is effective customer segmentation, which helps
in offering tailor-made solutions to the target customer group. Based upon the effective
customer segmentation policies used by a company the marketing highs are met. The
marketing principles cover the ethics and norms which are used by a business organization to
maximize their customer satisfaction rate as well as enhance productivity of an organization.
The assignment discusses the several strategies which are undertaken over here to increase
the production value of the organization.

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References
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., & Kotler, P. (2014). Principles of marketing. Pearson
Australia, 56-88.
bmw.com.au (2018), bmw.com.au , Retrieved 3 May 2018, from https://www.bmw.com.au/
ford.com.au (2018), ford.com.au , Retrieved 2 May 2018, from https://www.ford.com.au/
Foxman, E. R., & Dobscha, S. (2015). Teaching Principles of Marketing from a Multicultural
Perspective: A Proposed Exchange Framework. In Proceedings of the 1996
Multicultural Marketing Conference (pp. 214-215). Springer, Cham.
Güçdemir, H., & Selim, H. (2015). Integrating multi-criteria decision making and clustering
for business customer segmentation. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 115(6),
1022-1040.
Rozdolskaya, I. V., & Ledovskaya, M. E. (2015). Customer-oriented marketing imperatives
of innovation in the field of organization management working on the internal
consulting principles. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 6(2), 74.