BMP4004: Contemporary Issues in Marketing - Aston Martin Marketing Mix

This report provides an analysis of Aston Martin's marketing strategies, focusing on the application of the 4Ps marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) to their new racing bicycle product. It begins by explaining the nature and importance of marketing and the marketing mix, followed by a theoretical explanation of the 4Ps framework. The report then introduces Aston Martin's new racing bicycle and applies the 4Ps to this product, discussing product features, pricing strategies, distribution channels, and promotional activities. The analysis emphasizes the need for competitive pricing, effective distribution, and targeted promotion to ensure the successful launch and market penetration of the new product. The report concludes with recommendations for Aston Martin to leverage its brand image and customer loyalty to gain a competitive advantage in the bicycle market.

Business Management
BMP4004
Contemporary Issues in Marketing
The nature and importance of the
marketing mix within the marketing
process
Submitted by:
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Contents
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Introduction 2
An explanation of marketing 2
An explanation of marketing mix 2
A brief theoretical explanation of 4Ps marketing mix
3
Introduction of product/service
4
Application of 4Ps marketing mix to the selected
product/service 4-7
Product 4
Price 5
Place 6
Promotion 6
Conclusion 8
References 9
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Introduction
It is essential for every business to analyze their issues and find appropriate solution
of their issues. Marketing department is one of the most essential departments of an
organization which consist of analyzing marketing research to analyze needs and
wants of customers and their preferences regarding the existing product and
services (Lahtinen, Dietrich and Rundle-Thiele, 2020). This will help the company to
modify their offerings according to customer’s preferences. Aston Martin is a British
manufacturer of luxury sports cars and it is having high brand image in automotive
industry. It was founded in 1913 by Lionel Martin and Robert Bamford and it is
headquartered in Gaydon, Warwickshire, England, and UK. The following report
covers explanation of marketing, marketing mix, theoretical explanation of marketing
mix and introduction of product or services within the company. This report also
covers application of marketing mix for the selected product of selected company.
An explanation of marketing
Marketing is considering those activities which undertakes by a company for
promoting their products and services. It include advertising of products,
communicating with customers to analyze their needs and wants, targeting
customers in market segments, transportation of product and many others. The
individuals who work within the marketing and promotion department of a company
always seek to find appropriate opportunities for satisfying their targeted customers
(Ndofirepi, Farinloye and Mogaji, 2020). Companies use catchy slogans, attractive
taglines, celebrity endorsements, memorable packaging, effective messages in
advertisements and many others. In context of Aston Martin, their brand ambassador
is Sebastian Vettel who is one of the world famous German motorsports racing
driver. Vettel is icon for many motor racing drivers and this can help the chosen
company to influence more sportsperson for using their cars. Hence, advertising with
Vettel will help the company to enhance their sales and future growth.
An explanation of marketing mix
The marketing mix is one of the most used marketing frameworks which are used to
set actions and tactics for the company to promote their brand or product within
selected market. The main focus of marketing mix is to satisfy their customers and
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gain high level of loyalty from them. This element is mainly consisting of 4Ps which
are product, price, place and promotion. In case of service industry it consists of 7Ps
which are product, place, price, promotion, people, physical evidence and process. It
helps a company to make sure that they are offering right product to their targeted
customers at right time and at right place for organizational profit. There are various
importance of marketing mix and few of them are mentioned below-
 It helps to understand what kind of product or services are offering to
customers to gain their satisfaction.
 It also helps to plan, develop and execute effective marketing strategies to
gain profit (Hanssens and et. al., 2018).
 It also helps business to use their strengths effectively and avoid unnecessary
costs.
 It helps to determine need for changes in product to satisfy customers and it
also helps to understand the requirements of customers to fulfill them.
 Most important factor for marketing mix is that it helps to learn that when and
how to promote a product and services.
A brief theoretical explanation of 4Ps marketing mix
This framework is consisting of 4 Ps which is essential to consider for the promotion
of a product. First P of marketing mix is Product which describes the basic
characteristics of the product and what benefits customer will gain to use the
product. This element is helpful to mitigate the doubt of customers regarding product
benefits. It is essential for companies to consider life cycle and plan for various
challenges that may arise during the staging of product life cycle. Price is another
element of this framework which identifies monetary value of the product which is
offered in market (Marcial, 2021). It is considered that the price of product should be
set low as compared to company’s competitors because this will influence customers
to buy the product from specific company only. Lower prices of product will satisfy
more customers. It is essential for the company to analyze income level of their
targeted customers and their willingness to pay for the offered product and then
decide the price of the product. Place is that element of marketing mix which
identifies the place where a customer can go to purchase the product. Today most of
the companies use both online modes as well as offline modes to sell their products.
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The last element of 4ps of marketing mix is Promotion which help a company to
identify the tools and mediums to aware their customers (Mahmoud, 2018). For
example, TV advertisements, social media marketing, hoardings and many others
will help to promote the large number of audience together. Focusing on the content
of message is essential in this element because it impacts upon customer’s mind set
and make them decide whether they need to purchase the product or not. Hence,
attractive and influencing message in promotional tools can help the company to
gain more attention of customers and it is also important that company will not use
such slogans or taglines which can harm the feeling of any social community
because this can reduce the sales for the company. One of the main factors for
promotion is ‘reality’ which means that company must advertise actual facts and
benefits of the product. Misleading customers is not good and can decline the sales
and brand value of the product.
Introduction of product/service
In context of Aston Martin, they are going to launch their new product which is racing
bicycle. Recently they are dealing in manufacturing sports racing cars and motor
bikes but with the aim of expanding market they also target to manufacture racing
bicycles. This will help them to develop their customer base stronger and help them
to earn more profit and gain competitive advantage. They mainly focus to launch
mountain featured bicycles for their customers.
Application of 4Ps marketing mix to the selected
product/service
Product
A mountain bicycle is the bicycle which is designed for off-road cycling. Aston Martin
aims to manufacture some specific featured mountain bicycles which can help them
to satisfy their customers by the product’s durability and performance in rough
terrain. The bicycles are more efficient to ride on rough surfaces and it is less
sufficient on normal roads. Its light weight of just 8-9 kilogram helps the customer to
balance it easily on hard surfaces. It includes large knobby tires, more durable
wheels, suspension fork, more powerful brakes, and extra wide handlebars to
maintain balance while riding it. It is also having camera attached at the front of the
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bike which makes it more attractive for adventurous bicycle riders to ride it on hard
surface and record their ride through camera. The long lasting tires of this product
help the bicycle to run for more than 250 kilometers continuously without getting
damaged. It require less maintenance as compared to other racing bicycles which
make it more effective for usage of racing lovers.
Price
It is the monetary value of the product which is offered to customers at which they
will buy it (Wu and Li, 2018). It is essential for the chosen company to set that price
of their new product which helps them to cover their manufacturing and marketing
cost effectively. Another important factor in setting the prices of this new product is
that it must be equal or less than its competitors product price because than only
customers will get attracted to buy the product. The nature of customers is price
sensitive which means the company which offers them similar kind of product at
lower prices; they will switch to that company and buy their product easily. The other
factor for setting the price of bicycle is regarding brand value and creating a good
reputation within the market. Aston Martin is one of the most popular companies for
manufacturing sport racing cars and other products and they become successful in
gaining high satisfaction of their customers with the quality of their existing product.
Another important factor is income level of their targeted customers. Basically the
bike riders are targeted for their high income and the sports cars and bikes are sold
on high prices to them according to their affordability. In the sports goods
manufacturing industry, customers mind set is to buy high price goods because they
think that high price goods means high quality and technology used to manufacture
the product. Therefore, it is suggested to the Aston Martin that they must keep the
prices high as compared to their brand reputation in market and keep satisfying their
customers. It is essential for them to give an appropriate reason to their customers
that why they set high prices of their bicycles by providing them a difference between
the quality and features of their bicycles as compared to their competitor’s bicycles
(Syapsan, 2019).
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Place
It is the place of exchange of goods and services between buyer and seller (Brkanlić
and et. al., 2020). Aston Martin is a big name in the field of sports industry. They can
sell their new mountain bicycle through offline as well as online mode. They can
keep their bicycles arranged appropriately within their stores and the display of this
bicycle should be kept in such a manner which looks attractive for customers and
they will get influence to buy it. 24*7 selling of product will help the company to
improve the sales of the product and hence, their stores should open 24 hours with
different shifts of employees. In context of online mode, then they must make sure
that they will convey each facility to their customers about their new product and
make them influenced well to buy the product. Company must use their own
transportation facilities to deliver the bicycle at the door step of their customers
whether the customers buy it through online mode or offline mode (Khatab, Esmaeel
and Othman, 2019). Using own transport facilities help the company to protect their
product from getting damaged. Focusing on delivery time is also essential and
hence, Aston Martin must deliver their bicycle to their customers on the exact time
which they have told to their customers. This will help them to gain customer’s
satisfaction and make them feel that they are valuable customers for the company.
Promotion
It is consist of those activities which help to aware customers about the features of
the new product in market and it helps the company to improve their sales (Bagheri
Kani and Azar, 2021). In context of Aston Martin, their logo on their bicycle will help
them to promote the product and on the other hand, they are also required to
advertise it on social media for larger coverage of customer’s at global level.
Advertising the new product and its main features which is different and efficient from
its competitor’s product will make it more attractive. Sharing a video on social media
and on TV advertisements for showing that how actually the bicycle is comfortable to
ride on mountains will help to influence customers to buy it. Using a brand
ambassador who is popular in the field of racing cars and bikes will further help to
gain customer’s attention. On the other hand using brand ambassador in
advertisements such as Keith Bontrager who is one of the most popular bicycle
riders of America will help the company to gain attention of customers and make
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them influence that if Bontrager is advertising the product than the product is having
better quality for sure.
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Conclusion
From the above information it is concluded that marketing is one of the most
essential task of a company where they are required to analyses the needs and
wants of their customers and offer them products according to their requirement.
Marketing mix is the frameworks which help to analyze the factors for the growth of a
product in the market. There are four elements in the marketing mix such as product,
price, place and promotion. Product is the main characteristics of the offering of the
company and price is the monetary value of the product. It is essential for a company
to add some specific and innovative features in their product which is different from
their competitor’s product and maintain a good strategy for setting prices of the
product. This will help the company to develop their brand reputation in market and
attract more customers toward their quality products. On the other hand, place
element of marketing mix refers to area where the product is going to exchange
between sellers and buyers. Promotion elements will define the ways and techniques
of increasing awareness in the market about the product.
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References
Bagheri Kani, M.H. and Azar, A., 2021. New approach to internet marketing
mix. Management research in Iran, 9(2), pp.1-27.
Brkanlić, S. and et. al., 2020. Marketing mix instruments as factors of improvement
of students’ satisfaction in higher education institutions in republic of serbia
and Spain. Sustainability, 12(18), p.7802.
Hanssens, D.M. and et. al., 2018. Consumer attitude metrics for guiding marketing
mix decisions. In Long-Term Impact of Marketing: A Compendium (pp. 557-
600).
Khatab, J.J., Esmaeel, E.S. and Othman, B., 2019. Dimensions of service marketing
mix and its effects on customer satisfaction: a case study of international
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pp.4846-4855.
Lahtinen, V., Dietrich, T. and Rundle-Thiele, S., 2020. Long live the marketing mix.
Testing the effectiveness of the commercial marketing mix in a social
marketing context. Journal of Social Marketing.
Mahmoud, T.O., 2018. Impact of green marketing mix on purchase
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Marcial, V.F., 2021. Marketing mix de servicios de información: valor e importancia
de la P de producto. Bibliotecas. Anales de investigación, 11(4), pp.64-78.
Ndofirepi, E., Farinloye, T. and Mogaji, E., 2020. Marketing mix in a heterogenous
higher education market: A case of Africa. In Understanding the higher
education market in Africa (pp. 241-262). Routledge.
Syapsan, S., 2019. The effect of service quality, innovation towards competitive
advantages and sustainable economic growth: Marketing mix strategy as
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Wu, Y.L. and Li, E.Y., 2018. Marketing mix, customer value, and customer loyalty in
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