Comprehensive Marketing Report: Aston Martin's Strategies and Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Aston Martin's marketing strategies, focusing on how the luxury car manufacturer utilizes marketing to achieve profitability and build a strong brand image. It begins with an executive summary and introduction, followed by a detailed STP (Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning) analysis, examining how Aston Martin segments its market, targets its consumers, and positions its brand as a symbol of luxury and prestige. The report then delves into the marketing mix, covering product, price, place, and promotion, as well as the extended elements of people, process, and physical evidence. The product section discusses specific models and the product life cycle, while the price section highlights the company's premium pricing strategy. Place and promotion strategies are also examined, with a focus on distribution and advertising efforts, including digital marketing and participation in motor-sports. Furthermore, the report assesses Aston Martin's relationship marketing strategy, emphasizing consumer loyalty and engagement. Finally, the report concludes with recommendations for improving the company's marketing efforts and enhancing its overall strategy.

Marketing
Management

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Marketing is a key driver in growth of the company and helps the company gain
competitive advantage in their industry along with long term survival with stable profitability.
Aston Martin which is luxury British car manufacturer utilises effective marketing strategy to
gain high profitability and construct a brand image which contributes to the growth of the
company. Marketing efforts undertaken by Aston Martin are present in this report with
suggestions about ways in which relationship marketing strategy and promotional efforts of the
firm can be improved. STP analysis of Aston Martin along with 4P's of marketing are also given
in this report which help in understanding marketing strategy of the company. Relationship
marketing strategy is used by various organisations which helps create effective bonds with the
consumers. The relationship marketing strategy of Aston Martin is also provided in this report
along with various recommendation for improving the report.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY .................................................................................................................................4
STP analysis of Aston Martin ....................................................................................................4
Marketing Mix of Aston Martin ................................................................................................6
Assessment of relationship marketing strategy utilised by Aston Martin..................................9
Recommendation of improvement of marketing strategy ......................................................10
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................11
REFRENCES ................................................................................................................................12
Books an Journals ....................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing refers to efforts and actions undertaken by a business firm to attract consumers
to the products or services offered by delivering stand alone value for potential consumers
through content. The long term objective of marketing is to demonstrate product value,
strengthen brand loyalty and enhance sales of the company. The present report is based on
British car auto-mobile manufacturing organisation Aston Martin which manufactures luxury
cars and sports cars and was founded in the year 1913. Aston Martin operates in 160 countries
and has constructed a brand image of high quality and premium status symbol which has
contributed to the sales of the firm (Aston Martin Logonada, 2021). The respective organisation
is part of FTSE 250 Index and has 2450 employees worldwide. The present report includes STP
analysis of the respective company along application of marketing mix in context of Aston
Martin. Assessment of relationship marketing utilised by Aston Martin is given in this report
with description about their current tactics and suggestions to enhance their marketing strategy.
MAIN BODY
STP analysis of Aston Martin
STP marketing model is framework which simplifies the process of market segmentation
and helps the company effectively target their potential consumers to gain high profitability. STP
analysis of British luxury car manufacturer Aston Martin is provided below:
Segmentation
The first part of this analysis includes dividing the market into individual segments with
similar characteristics and developing products which are suitable for consumers of each
segment (Baker and Hart 2016). The organisation gains effective knowledge about their potential
consumers which helps the company secure beneficial position in the target market. Market
segmentation is completed on various basis such as demographic, psycho-graphic, geographic
and behavioural basis. Aston Martin segments their consumers through psycho-graphic
segmentation basis which includes characteristics such as belonging to high society, affluent
lifestyle along with demographical segmentation which divides consumers on the basis of their
age and gender.
Targeting

This part of the STP analysis in includes conducting activities which aim at consumers of
different market segments in order to create value for the company. The four targeting strategies
are mass marketing, segmented marketing, concentrated marketing. Mass targeting strategy
utilises treats the entire market as single market while segmented targeting differentiates
between groups and focuses on targeting consumers from different segments with different
promotional techniques. Concentrated marketing focuses on individual marketing niche market
while micro-marketing revolves around targeting a specific group with aim to gain sales by
promotional efforts which are tailor made for the individuals. The target consumer for latest
SUV manufactured by Aston Martin includes female entrepreneurs or professional working
women.
Positioning
This element of the STP analysis includes identification of ways in which products and
services of the company can be positioned in front of the target consumer base in order to
achieve high profits and construct a loyal consumer base. Positioning strategy aims to present an
effective characteristic of the brand in the mind of the consumer. Positioning strategy is
constructed on the basis of product characteristic, price, luxury, application or usage. Aston
Martin utilises positioning strategy which is based on luxury and product quality. The company
utilises their high quality products to establish their cars as status symbols and presents an image
of luxury, premium image, affluence and prestige. The marketing efforts of the company such as
participating in motor-sports, campaigning with celebrities and using their cars for fictional
characters such as James Bond are conducted to position their brand as luxurious status symbol.
Perceptual map is a diagrammatic technique which aims to display perception of the
potential consumer base in a visual representation. Perceptual map of an organisation usually
have two dimensions which include quality and price of the company. Both dimensions range
from low to high (Bagozzi and et, al., 2018). In the perceptual map of Aston Martin it is
analysed that the company is present in the second quadrant of the map which indicates that the
price of products offered by the company is perceived high in the minds of the consumers while
the quality of products which are provided by the company is considered to be extremely good.
It is determined that the company is able to earn high profitability form the sale of their vehicles
because their cars are perceived to be of expectational quality by the consumers.

Marketing Mix of Aston Martin
Marketing mix is defined as the set of activities conducted by the company in order to
effectively promote their services and products to the target consumer base. Traditionally the
marketing mix consists of only four elements which are product, price, place and promotion but
it has evolved to include three more elements which are people process and physical evidence
(Chernev, 2019). The way in which British car manufacturing company Aston Martin applies
marketing mix is defined below:
Product: This part of the marketing mix includes goods which are offered by the
company and usually fulfil certain consumer demand which attracts consumer to buy their
products and increases the sale of the company. Product offered by an organisation plays a
deciding role in pricing strategy and promotional activities of the firm. Aston Martin offers
luxury cars which have sleek design and are high performing (Chung and Low, 2017). Products
such as DB11, Rapide S, Vanquish Volante and Vulcan have become status symbols which have
huge demands all over the globe. The organisation offers innovative and high performing
products to their consumers as part of their product mix. Product life cycle includes the length of
time at which the product is introduced the the consumers and the time at which it is removed
from the market. Product life cycle consists of four stages which require different marketing
tactics to gain profitability.
Introduction- This stage includes initial introduction of the product in the market and
the products getting noticed by the consumers due to unique features of the product which drives
sales for the company. Aston Martin Rapid E which is a four seater Sedan is a high performing
electric vehicle offered by the company in the market which is the introduction stage of the
product life cycle. Marketing efforts of Aston Martin in this stage focus on promotional
campaigns attract consumers and positive word of mouth to maintain high quality image of
Aston Martin
Growth- This stage of the product life cycle includes growing sales of the product with
increasing public visibility. Aston Martin DBX which is the debut luxury SUV of the company
has seen continuous growth in sales since it's introduction 2020 (Aston Martin , 2021). the sales
of this product have helped the company gain revive sales and attain profitability. The main aim
of marketing efforts undertaken by Aston Martin in this stage is enhance promotional policies

which were successful in the introduction stage and eliminate policies which failed with focus on
direct promotions to maximise growing sales of the product.
Maturity- This stage of the product life cycle include peak sales of the product with
product reaching maximum public acceptance. After achieving peak value, the sales of the
product gradually decrease (Deepak and Jeyakumar 2019). The overall sales of Aston Martin
Vantage reached it's peak sales in the year 2018 and aided the company in increasing
profitability. The aim of marketing department of at Aston Martin during this part of their
campaign is to modify marketing mix of the product such as change pricing strategy to maintain
profitability before reaching their decline in sales.
Decline- This is the final stage in the product life-cycle as production is terminated as it
is not profitable for the company. Aston Martin DB5 is a model which is not manufactured by
the company as large production of these cars is not profitable for the organisation but the firm
has introduced variants as it is highly popular. The popularity of this car is attributed to it being
used by famous fictional character James Bond in 1964 production.
Price: The amount of paid by the consumers to purchase certain product is defined as the
price mix of that product. Business firms utilise various pricing strategies as a part of their price
mix such Dynamic pricing strategy, competitive pricing strategy, skimming pricing strategy and
premium pricing strategy which are models to establish the most profitable price for a product
(Marinchak, Forrest and Hoanca, 2018). Aston Martin has adopted premium pricing strategy
which involves selling products at high price in order to present hire image are of high value.
This pricing strategy is profitable for Aston Martin as it deals with affluent clients which are not
affected by high price of products and creates prestigious brand image of the company.
Place: This element of the marketing mix revolves around identification of the most
suitable place where the product will be purchased by the target consumers and ways to
effectively deliver the products in the market. Distribution strategy which is a method of
delivering goods to consumer effectively is part of this element of marketing mix. Mass,
selective and exclusive are three types of distribution strategies (Hüttner, 2018). Aston Martin
has opened their outlets in more than 63 countries all over the globe and has utilised exclusive
distribution strategy in which it sells their products through exclusive showrooms and official
dealerships.

Promotion: Advertisements, public relations and promotional campaigns are part of the
promotional mix of the company. Conventional promotional strategy includes print and radio
advertisements along with conventional tools such as physical stores while digital marketing
strategies include usage of digital marketing tools such as search engine marketing, content
marketing and social media campaigns (Solimun and Fernandes, 2018). Aston Martin promotes
their products through conventional strategy which include magazine and bill-boards while
digital promotions of the company are conducted by constructing strong social media presence.
Apart from this the company participates in various motor-sports events which are helpful in
effective promotions of their products.
Assessment of relationship marketing strategy utilised by Aston Martin
Relationship marketing is an aspect of consumer relationship marketing which revolves
around creating consumer loyalty and long term consumer engagement instead of prioritising
short term goals such as single sales. The primary purpose of consumer marketing is to create
strong emotional bonds with the target consumer base which results in construction of positive
brand image of the company and helps the company spread effective word of mouth promotions.
Effective relationship marketing strategies are helpful in creating strong brand reputation and
maintain loyal consumer base which stays with the company even during adverse economic
conditions (Park, 2020).
Relationship marketing strategy includes open communication between the customer and
the company and aims to construct strong bonds with the consumer base communicating directly
in a way which provides them maximum satisfaction, solves their problems effectively and
connecting with them to complete all their needs associated with the product. The main objective
of an effective relationship marketing strategy is to create loyal consumer base by developing
and sustaining emotional relation with each individual consumer and completing their daily tasks
in a way which reduces dissatisfaction while giving them a personalise consumer experience to
each consumer.
Aston Martin offers luxurious cars to affluent consumers and aims to create strong bonds
with their consumers in order to create loyal consumer base so that their customers do not shift
to other brands in the luxury car market such as BMW, Audi, Mercedes or any other high end
premium vehicle manufacturing company. Aston Martin has adopted an effective relationship
marketing strategy which helps the company connect with their target consumer base effectively

with an emphasis on emotional bond of the consumer. Aston Martin focuses on providing
exceptional consumer service and maintenance service through their official service centre in
order to maximise consumer satisfaction and ensuring that each consumer of the company gains
personalised and effective consumer experience during their interaction with the consumer. The
luxury car manufacturer emphasises on creating story related to every product that is delivers by
the company in order to forge an emotional bond with the consumer which compels the
consumer to consider the company in the future and regularly interact with the company as they
are assured that the firm will provide them the best services. This incorporation of storytelling
with every product creates a sense of community between the consumer and the company which
ensures their loyalty to the firm. This helps the company survive in their industry for a long time
period. Aston Martin also conduct events which focus on interacting with the consumer and
maintaining the desirability of the products. This increases the loyalty of the current consumer
base while ensuring potential consumer of the firm are attracted to the company which is the
reason behind effective sales of the company. The respective firm also provides options to
customise individual product through online systems which helps the company give each
employee a unique experience when they make purchase from the organisation. Every product of
the organisation has unique features which are built for maximising satisfaction of a particular
segment of their consumer group. This helps the company enhance consumer experience as they
gain profound knowledge about tastes of each consumer segmentation (Parsons and
Lepkowska-White, 2018). In addition to this the company is able to maintain effective
consumer relations by communicating with them directly and understanding their expectations
and interests. This helps the company provide products which match the needs of the consumer
base and each consumer is given personalised experience during their interaction with the
company,. In addition to this taking consumer opinions into considerations strengthens their
connection with the company as they believe that the company values their satisfaction in equal
status to achieving profitability (Visconti, Peñaloza and Toulouse, 2020). All these relationship
marketing strategy of utilised by Aston Martin are helpful in creating loyal consumer base and
are significant contributors in the growth and success of the company.
Recommendation of improvement of marketing strategy
 Aston Martin needs to enhance their social media marketing strategy by utilising various
social media marketing tools such as interactive handles on social media platforms.

 The respective firm needs to use effective advanced technology to gain real time
information of the consumers digital activity in order to understand their needs and
interests.
 Aston Martin needs to partner with other luxury brands in order to enhance their
prestigious image and increase their sales.
 Aston Martin needs to increase their brand recognition in Asian countries by
collaborating with Asian celebrities. This will increase the presence of the bran in the
Asian luxury car market.
 Aston Martin needs to develop strong social media image by collaborating with
influencers and connecting with consumers directly. This will help the company reach a
large number of consumers. In addition to this strong social media presence will also help
the company stay relevant in the continuously changing digital world.
 The company needs to produce organic social media content which helps the company
connect with the consumers and gain loyal consumers.
 The company needs to develop wide product portfolio with products which caters to
consumers from various economic background.
 The company needs to ensure that their consumers gain high quality consumer service by
utilising modern technology for staying in touch with the consumers all the time and
helping them with various problems.
 Aston Martin needs to provide personalised consumer service to each consumer in order
to ensure that they gain a loyal consumer base which stays with the company for a long
time period and does not switch to other luxury car firms.
 The electric vehicles produced by Aston Martin need to be marketed towards
environment conscious consumers. The respective organisation needs to market their cars
as an alternative to fuel based cars. This will position electric vehicles of the company in
favourable position when compared to fuel based vehicles of other luxury organisations.
 Aston Martin needs to focus their relationship marketing strategy according to the
cultural differences between their global consumers. Aston Martin needs to build
relationship with their consumers by constructing promotional activities which reflect of
their various global consumers. This will help the company connect with consumers of
various nations and intercase loyal consumer base of the firm.

 Aston Martin needs to increase consumer engagement by interacting with their
consumers on social media. Social media will also help the company provide swift
consumer service and showcase latest products to large number of people.