International Marketing Strategy Evaluation for Pongrass Publishing

This report presents a comprehensive evaluation of an international marketing strategy for Pongrass Publishing System, focusing on its expansion into the Vietnamese market. It begins with an overview of the company and the importance of a digital marketing strategy to increase sales and gain a competitive edge. The report then delves into market entry model validation, comparing direct and indirect exporting strategies and recommending direct exporting as the optimal approach for Pongrass. Furthermore, the report assesses competitive advantages and market positioning, analyzing target segments, evaluating competitor strategies, and detailing market positioning options. It emphasizes the significance of developing a strong brand image and recommends positioning by price and quality to meet customer needs and increase satisfaction. The report concludes with references to academic sources and online resources, providing a strong foundation for the analysis.

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING
Table of Contents
5.0 MARKETING STRATEGY EVALUATION.......................................................................................3
5.1 Market Entry Model Validation.........................................................................................................4
5.2 Competitive Advantage and Market Positioning Evaluation.............................................................5
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................7

5.0 MARKETING STRATEGY EVALUATION
The main objective of marketing strategy is to increase the sales and accomplish the
sustainable competitive advantages for an organization. It consists of both short and long-term
activities in the area of marketing. Pongrass publishing systems are famous in Vietnam for
supplying newspapers and magazines to the customers. The respected firm is working in this
industry for 25 years. Along with this, products of the Pongrass are classified into the Classified
Booking V6 and Classified Pagination. The efficient and effective marketing strategy will help
the respected firm to promote its goods and services among the customers of the nation. In
context to this, digital marketing strategy is one of the most suitable strategies which will offer
various benefits to the Pongrass publishing system and lead to enhance its sale and profitability
(Papadopoulos and Heslop, 2014).
5.1 Market Entry Model Validation
Market entry strategies are planned method for delivering products and services to the
new target market of the Vietnam along with distributing among them. Pongrass Publishing
System can use this strategy for entraining into the new market of the nation. With the help of
these plans, the company will achieve enhanced sales, brand awareness, and business stability.
These strategies are explained below:
5.1.1 Alternative Export Entry Strategies
Alternative Export Entry strategies for Pongrass Publishing system are as follows:
Direct Exporting of products or services: In this, the company will get the opportunity to sell
and deliver its goods or services directly to the customers. Pongrass will negotiate, contract and
work directly with the client while using this export strategy. The benefit of this approach is the
unavailability of middleman which results to higher return on the investment and lower prices of
items. Along with this, the organization will become more competitive while using the strategy
for entering into the new target market. Proper use of this approach can develop a healthy and
vigorous relationship with the customers of the nation as well. This approach will result to
transfer the rights to build another firm at Vietnam along with the new partners (Czinkota and
Ronkainen, 2013).
Indirect Exports: Irrespective of direct exporting of product strategy, this approach needs
intermediate for selling and delivering products to the clients. The export is taking place in
indirect form with the help of intermediary like an agent, foreign distributor, trading house,

representative, etc. By offering an excellent and attractive price, these intermediates are always
available for doing certain kind of work.
5.1.2 Final Market Entry Strategy
From the above analysis of the two export entry strategies, it is clear that both have their
advantages and limitations. Concerning the Pongrass publishing System, direct exporting of
products or services is best entry strategy. This approach will offer the organization a chance to
increase its customer base by developing new relations at the new target market of Vietnam. By
using this, the company will able to create brand awareness and trust over the people concerning
to its services or products (Schilke, Reimann and Thomas, 2013).
5.2 Competitive Advantage and Market Positioning Evaluation
5.2.1 Competitive Advantage
Companies work for gaining competitive advantages by producing the goods or services
at a lower price. Pongrass will have to understand the buying criteria of people of Vietnam and
strategies of competitors for enhancing the sales and profit margin. The organization will use
different importance matrix for gaining competitive advantages in the industry. With respect to
this model, following areas are necessary to describe:
Target Segment: In this, Pongrass Publishing will divide the market of Vietnam into the sections
and concentrate on them by offering desired products they needed. The new target segment of
the respected firm is newspaper industries of the cited firm. The organization will provide new
systems integrated with latest technologies for publishing newspapers fast and efficiently.
Individuals working in newspaper sector believe in deploying systems with latest tools and
techniques for reducing the time and optimum utilization of resources (Felzensztein, Stringer,
Benson-Rea and Freeman, 2014).
Target segment evaluation(s) of key competitors: By analyzing the strategies of the competitors,
the company will able to influence the target portion of the nation. From the analysis, benefit
segmentation will be the best approach for the Pongress products.
5.2.2 Market Positioning Options
The perception of clients towards a brand or product with respect to the competing brands
is called as market position. The process of developing the image or identity of a product for
customers is called as market positioning. For developing an active image of the brand at the
new place, companies need to focus on it's distinguishing features. Pongrass Publishing System

also needs to use effective market positioning strategy for developing an effective brand image
of products and services among the customers of Vietnam. The company will utilize the
following process for creating effective positioning strategy:
Development of the positioning statement: In this step, Pongrass will have to develop statement
having basic and formulaic sentence structure for sending an attractive and useful message to the
customers regarding the products.
To determine the uniqueness of product: In this, the organization will have to identify a unique
feature of the product like latest techniques along with a low price or used quality brand, etc.
which can influence clients to purchase items (Katsikeas, 2014).
Development of positioning process: After the above step, the company will create process
regarding the positioning by emphasizing the competitors, market target, and segments. Pongrass
will also use an appropriate approach like positioning within a category, positioning along price
lines, positioning according to product benefits, etc. For the respected firm, positioning by price
and quality will be the right approach. This will fulfill the needs and want of the clients and tend
to increase their satisfaction level.
Perceptual Maps: This will include diagrammatic mental representation of individuals regarding
the relative place different brands occupy within a category. The company can use any algorithm
for developing this map as per its need. This includes cluster analysis, correspondence analysis,
conjoint analysis, multidimensional scaling and many others (Pongrass Publishing Systems.
2017).
The above steps will help Pongress to give shape to the preference of customers which is
one of the primary sources for developing compelling brand image into the market. The
appropriate strategy for market positioning will be positioning by price and quality. High-quality
products in low price will attract people to purchase them which will lead Pongress to gain
competitive advantages.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Czinkota, M.R. and Ronkainen, I.A., 2013. International marketing. Cengage Learning.
Felzensztein, C., Stringer, C., Benson-Rea, M. and Freeman, S., 2014. International marketing
strategies in industrial clusters: Insights from the Southern Hemisphere. Journal of Business
Research, 67(5), pp.837-846.
Katsikeas, C.S., 2014. Journal of International Marketing: Objectives, Challenges, and the Way
Forward. Journal of International Marketing, 22(1), pp.1-4.
Papadopoulos, N. and Heslop, L.A., 2014. Product-country images: Impact and role in
international marketing. Routledge.
Schilke, O., Reimann, M., and Thomas, J.S., 2013, May. When does international marketing
standardization matter to firm performance?. American Marketing Association.
Online
Pongrass Publishing Systems. 2017. [Online]. Available Through: <http://www.pongrass.net/>.
[Accessed on 4th October 2017]