MKT303 Assignment: Analyzing Toyota's Service Marketing Strategies

This report provides an in-depth evaluation of Toyota's service marketing strategies. It begins with an introduction to service marketing and then explores Toyota's specific techniques, including niche marketing (e.g., the Prius), social media marketing (e.g., Instagram campaigns), search engine optimization (SEO) for hybrid cars, referral marketing programs, and the implementation of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. The report analyzes the effectiveness of each strategy, providing examples and highlighting how Toyota differentiates itself from competitors through these marketing approaches. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and emphasizes the importance of these strategies for Toyota's success in the automotive service sector. References from various sources are included to support the analysis.

SERVICE MARKETING
TOYOTA
4/22/2019
TOYOTA
XXXXXXX

Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Niche Marketing Strategy........................................................................................................................2
Social Media Marketing...........................................................................................................................2
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)...........................................................................................................3
Referrals Marketing.................................................................................................................................3
Customer Relationship Management System..............................................................................................4
References...................................................................................................................................................6

Introduction
The American Marketing Association defines service marketing as “the activities, the benefits or
the services which are provided for sale by a service provider and generally in connection with
the sale of goods” (Chetty, 2010). There are various techniques that are used by service
providing firms for the marketing of their respective services such as word-of-mouth, referrals,
social media, demonstrations among others (Ashe-Edmunds, n.d.). The purpose of this essay is to
explain and evaluate the service marketing techniques of Toyota – a Japanese multinational
automotive manufacturer. Toyota provides various services to its customers includes Rent a
Toyota, Toyota Repair Services, Toyota Tire Replacement Services, etc. The techniques which
the company follows for providing these services are discussed and evaluated below:
Niche Marketing Strategy
It is a targetable focused portion of the market. A company usually decides to launch a
new product or service by targeting only one segment of the market. This leads to
specialization of the company in that particular segment for that particular product or
service. Toyota follows the practice of niche marketing. It was one of the first automotive
companies to understand that there was a segment of consumers interested in
environment friendly cars. To meet these needs, Toyota launched Prius, an environment
friendly car aimed at the sustainable user segment (Angelo, 2012). For marketing this car,
Toyota used environment friendly focus groups. The impact of this was that Toyota not
only created the niche, but was considered the niche itself. Prius is still regarded as the
top choice for environment friendly cars.
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing for both products and services is leading the way for marketing
strategies for all types of companies. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and
YouTube provide for a global audience reach that traditional marketing techniques could
never provide. Toyota successfully made the leap from being a traditionally marketed
firm to being known for using social media to market its products. In 2014, to launch
Tundra, Toyota filmed Instagram, videos of the car and pushed them through ads on
Facebook. The effect of this was that Toyota saved on a major part of its advertising
budget and at the same time successfully engaging their target audience. Toyota

generated thousands of ‘likes’ across social media platforms for its car videos for a few
seconds’ videos – showing a high return on investment for its marketing strategy (Roy,
2017).
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Social media marketing has been discussed above, but for it to be successful the target
audience has to be able to find the name of the brand in the searched results. This is
possible with the help of Search Engine Optimization. It is a tool that uses targeted
keywords that the consumers search for and either found those words on the company’s
social media channels directly or lead to a link which would direct the customers to those
channels (Frederiksen, 2015). Toyota has used this tool for the launch of its cars. The
Toyota Hybrid Prius was launched through SEO on its social media channels. One search
on Google for ‘environment – friendly cars’ will show either Toyota Hybrid Prius or the
Toyota Yaris Hybrid. Instead of using the mass advertisement approach, the company
focused on using this innovative channel for marketing of its products which helped it to
bring in the dollars (Cameron, 2016). Toyota undertook a customer research to identify
and evaluate the impact of their use of SEO which showed that there was an increase by
44% in the number of customers who were interested in buying an environment friendly
car in the coming time.
Referrals Marketing
It is the way of marketing new products and services through referral programs, usually
word of mouth. In this form of marketing of products or services, the existing customers
of a business are used to market a new product to potential customers through referral
links, etc. for which they get added benefits. Toyota is one of the companies which has
proved that this form of marketing is one of the most successful tool for selling vehicles.
Toyota dealers have turned to online programs that reward customers for referring their
family and friends to that particular dealership for buying a Toyota car. The surveys
conducted by the company at its Colorado (USA) dealership has revealed success
especially in case of customers who are well versed in digital spaces (Charniga, 2017).
There are various ways in which a referral marketing program can be implemented - the

most common being online referrals and word – to – word referrals. Care has to be taken
while implementing this program; a referral should seem genuine and not look like its
coming because of a marketing strategy.
Customer Relationship Management System
It is the system of developing and managing long term relationships between the
company and its customers. The purpose of developing this system is to develop a system
of marketing of products and services to the customers of the company such that it leads
to easy identification, tracking and management of information of the customers which
will further lead to easy marketing. Toyota has implemented a Lean Customer
Relationship Marketing program (Hill, 2006). Everything that the company does – it does
with their customers in mind. This strategy was developed in response to the growing
customer base of Toyota. It allows the company to sense and identify change in the
customers’ behavior and subsequently, respond in such a manner that leads to satisfaction
of the needs of the customer. The company guides the customer in the entire process of
selling a car – right from giving and discussing different options to actually making the
sale to providing after – sale services. . This Lean strategy of Toyota has significantly
increased its market share in the past few years and higher sales of its vehicles.
In conclusion, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate various marketing strategies of company.
The service marketing strategies of the company help to provide and increase the quality of
services which are provided by the company at hand. Toyota – a Japanese automotive
manufacturer - provides various services along with its manufacturing operations. This company
has been used as an example and its marketing strategies have been mentioned here. Toyota
provides various kinds of services but the primary ones provided are for the purpose of renting,
repairing and replacement of various auto motives and parts. The various strategies have also
been discussed here including its niche marketing, its referrals marketing, its customer
relationship management, its social media marketing and its marketing through search engine
optimization of results. Appropriate examples including those of Toyota Prius, Toyota Hybrid

Prius, and Toyota Yaris among others have been explained in detail. The paper highlights the
strategies which make it a distinguishing force and differentiates it from the rest of the
automotive companies providing services.

References
Angelo. (2012, May 7). Successful Niche Marketing. Retrieved from
https://www.smartmarketingllc.com/successful-niche-marketing/.
Ashe-Edmunds, S. (n.d.). Types of Service Marketing Strategies. Retrieved from
https://smallbusiness.chron.com/types-service-marketing-strategies-47295.html.
Cameron, N. (2016, June 6). Why Toyota launched the new Prius hybrid car on Facebook and
Instagram. Retrieved from https://www.cmo.com.au/article/601102/why-toyota-launched-new-
prius-hybrid-car-facebook-instagram/.
Charniga, J. (2017, October 23). Tell a friend, but do it online. Retrieved from
https://www.autonews.com/article/20171023/RETAIL07/171029947/tell-a-friend-but-do-it-
online.
Chetty, P. (2010, October 30). Concept of service marketing. Retrieved from
https://www.projectguru.in/publications/service-marketing/.
Frederiksen, L. (2015, March 24). 10 Essential B2B Marketing Strategies to Grow Your
Professional Services Firm. Retrieved from https://www.socialmediatoday.com/marketing/2015-
03-24/10-essential-b2b-marketing-strategies-grow-your-professional-services-firm.
Hill, J. (2006, April 9). The Lean CRM-Toyota Story: You Can Have a Strategy That Works in
Manufacturing and Marketing Environments. Retrieved from http://customerthink.com/193/.
Roy, H. (2017, December 17). Case Study: Social Media Marketing Strategies for Toyota Cars.
Retrieved from https://www.digitalmarketingknowledge.com/social-media-marketing-case-
study-toyota/.