Unilever's Marketing Strategy: Growth, Mix, and Customer Focus

This report provides an analysis of Unilever's growth and marketing strategies, focusing on how the company aims to increase its market share and effectively reach its target market. It explores the application of the Ansoff Growth Matrix, detailing strategies like market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification, with a recommendation for diversification as the most suitable approach for Unilever. The report also discusses Unilever's marketing mix, examining the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) and how they contribute to the company's competitive positioning. Furthermore, it delves into Unilever's customer-driven strategy, emphasizing the importance of understanding and catering to customer needs and preferences for sustained business growth. The analysis highlights how Unilever leverages these strategies to maintain a competitive edge and achieve its marketing objectives.

Individual written report

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Marketing objectives that should be SMART.............................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................4
Developing the marketing strategy-.............................................................................................4
Discuss the marketing mix...........................................................................................................6
Discuss customer driven strategy................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Marketing plan can be defined as the operational document which helps in outlining the
advertising strategy which helps the organization in implementing this strategy. This strategy
when implemented by the company leads ton generation of reaching the target market. A
effective marketing plan is based on the overall marketing strategy of the company (Shields,
2019). So, the marketing plan as well as the marketing strategy are often replaced and used as
interchangeable. Unilever Company is the British Multinational company which is offering the
consumer goods and it is headquartered in the London, United Kingdom. The products offered
by the Unilever Company are such as food, condiments, ice cream, supplements and many more.
This report will cover the growth strategy which will help the company to increase its market
share as well as 4P's of the marketing mix. Along with this, it will also discuss the Segmentation,
targeting, positioning as well as differentiation.
Marketing objectives that should be SMART
SMART marketing objectives is a type of framework for setting goal in a successful manner.
SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.
 Specific marketing goals includes the definition of goal for both revenue and for the
brand
 Measurable marketing goals involves the key performance indicators and determining the
KPIs for revenue marketing goal is quite straight forward.
 Attainable marketing gaols helps in assessing the ability to accomplish the goals.
 Realistic marketing goals helps in verifying that what the company is proposing is
practical
 Timely marketing goals helps in designating short and long term marketing goals
MAIN BODY

Developing the marketing strategy-
Marketing strategy can be defined as the overall business game plan which helps the
company in reaching to the large number of the consumers as well as turn them in to the
customers for the company's products and services. The main goal of the marketing strategy is to
achieve as well as communicate the sustainable competitive edge over the rivalry companies.
There are several growth marketing strategies like BCG matrix which is used by the organization
internal management for assessing the current state of value of a company’s units or products.
The growth share matrix aids the company in deciding which products the company wants to
keep, sell or invest more in. there are four different categories in BCG growth share matrix
which are “dogs”, “cash cows”, “stars”, and “question mark”.it is basically a portfolio planning
model used in the organizations used for analysing the products and services in the portfolio of
the business as per to their growth and relative market share and it is one of the most important
and renowned corporate portfolio tool used for analysis but apart from this the most common and
the popular strategy which is used by the businesses are is Ansoff growth Matrix
Ansoff Growth Matrix:
Ansoff Growth Matrix can be defined as the framework which is used by the companies and
especially by the management teams as well as the analysts for helping in planning and
evaluating the growth of the company. This tool particularly helps the stakeholders in identifying
the risk associated with each growth strategy. This matrix is used by the company in evaluating
the relative attractiveness of the growth strategies both the existing and the new market products
(Mulders, 2019). The four growth strategy which involves in the Ansoff Matrix are such as-
Market Penetration: The main concept of this growth strategy is to increase the sales of the
existing products into the existing markets. This is the least risky among all the growth strategy.
When the company implements the market penetration strategy, the management tries to sell
more and more of the existing products in the market place that they are already having or where
the company has the existing relationships with the customers. This strategy includes the
execution of increasing the marketing efforts or the distribution processes as well as decreasing
the prices for attracting the new customers within the segment market. This helps in measuring
how the product and the services is used by the customers as compared to the total estimation of
the market for that particular product and service. Unilever Company using this growth strategy

will help them in increasing the sales of the products and this will lead to generate revenue for
the company.
Market Development: The market development growth strategy involves the selling of the
products and services to the new customers in the market. It can be done by performing the
market research where the segmentation analysis of the existing market is carried out. This
growth strategy is next least risky as it does not require the much investment in the R&D
department or the product development (Adrian). It enables the management team for leveraging
the existing products and helps them in going to different market. This strategy includes the
catering to the different segment of the customer as well as entering to the new market and
foreign market. Unilever using the market development strategy will help them in expanding
their business to different region as this will increase the market share of the company.
Product Development: This growth strategy involves introduction of the new or the innovative
products in the existing market of the company. The company adopting this growth strategy
requires the development of the new competencies and the skills as well as development of the
existing products which can be used in the existing markets (Prasetyo and Rahman, 2018). The
main purpose of this growth strategy is to research and develop the product as well as making the
innovation in the products. The company having the particular or the target customers have the
ability of expanding its business. Unilever Company using this growth strategy will help them in
expanding their business by developing new products and services.
Diversification: This growth strategy helps the company by entering into the new market and
the industry in which the business is currently not operating in it. This enables the company to
create the new product for the new market. This is considered as one of the most effective and
important growth strategy as it is very popular among the companies. This growth strategy is
having the highest risk because both product and the market development are required in this
strategy. Diversification growth strategy has the highest risk but with this the company can hige
rewards by adopting this growth strategy.
The two types of the diversification strategies are such as-
Related Diversification- The potential synergies which can be realized between the existing
business as well as the new product or the market.
Unrelated Diversification- Where there is unlikely that the potential or the real synergies will be
realized between the existing as well as the new product or market (Thompson, 2019).

The best and the most appropriate growth strategy for the Unilever Company is the
diversification as the company is operating on large scale, and they can afford the cost of this.
Discuss the marketing mix
The marketing mix can be defined as the set of tools used by the organizations in order to meet
the objectives in the target market.it a type of model which is used by every organization for
running its business and it is basically based on the four P’s which are product, price, place and
Promotion.it is used for marketing plan which includes multiple areas of focus. Unilever
company also use the model of marketing mix for getting more success and for understanding
the needs of the customer as by satisfying the requirements of the customer the organization will
able to grow more effectively (Thabit, and Raewf, 2018). For this the company needs to identify
which service or product the company is analysing, after this analysing how the products
developed by the company will meet the need of the customer, understanding the place where the
product have to be kept according to the convenience of the customer is must, deciding a
reasonable price for the product, it would be beneficial for the organization to formulate the
marketing messages to the customers for promoting the product, looking at the four P’s and
deciding which is best for the product and at last revising the marketing mix over time is very
essential for the organization to make a consistency in this. For understanding the concept of
marketing mix it is very essential for an organization to understand and analyse the four P’s of
marketing mix and unilever marketing mix also have a very clear and reliable four P’s which
helps in the brand succeeding Unilever’s marketing mix strategy helps the company to position
itself in the competitive market for achieving the goals of the company(Donndelinger, and
Ferguson, 2020).
Unilever product strategy
The unilever product strategy helps in identifying the output of the company which I known as
product mix. Unilever provide a wide range of products like foods, refreshments like ice creams
and beverages, home care and personal care. Unilever food products include the best food
mayonnaise and sandwich spread and also stock cubes and sauces. The refreshment category
includes ice creams and brook bond teas. In the home care section unilever sells shampoos,
detergent powder, soaps and many more articles related to the home care. And the personal care

category includes tooth paste, Vaseline, face wash and many more. By this it can be understood
that the marketing mix strategy of unilever is very much diversified.
Unilever place or distribution strategy
The places where unilever sell and interact with their customers for selling their products are
retailers, kiosks and stores (Reza, 2020). Retails are the primary place for the organization to sell
their product for example, Walmart is one of the largest retailer store for selling products to the
customers. Unilever uses the concept of kiosks in which they sell the products directly to the
customers by using the skill of personal selling. Unilever also sell some of its products through
stores.
Unilever promotion strategy
Unilever need to promote its product in this tough competitive market and there are many
approaches used by the company for promoting the products of the unilever such as by
advertising on social media or television, by sales promotion such as giving discounts and
products bundles just like dove provide a pack or bundle of three, by public relations by
enhancing the corporate image and brand name, by personal selling and the last one direct
marketing which is the least significant practice.
Unilever price strategy
Unilever provide a wide range of products with a very reasonable range and have a diverse
amount of pricing strategy according to the need and requirements of the customer. There are
three types of strategies that are used by the organization like the market oriented pricing,
premium pricing strategy and the product bundle pricing strategy.in the market oriented pricing
strategy the price is decide on the basis of the products available in the target market and
according to the competitors(Rahman, and et.al, 2020). In the premium pricing strategy the
pricing is higher than the competitors like in the dove the company applies high price as
compared with the competitive products and in the last one i.e. the product bundle pricing
strategy the company provide a bundle of products as a discount offer and this also influence and
attracts the customer for purchasing the product From all the four P’s used by the company the
growth and productivity of the company will be increased.
Discuss customer driven strategy
A customer driven strategy can be defined as the process of shifting the focus from the product

or service to the user and setting the marketing strategy, planning and implementation on the
customer needs and requirements. There are five components for understanding the process of
customer driven strategy which is analyse the process and create the buyer , base the
development of the product on feedbacks and reviews, invest in the customer Service, know the
existing customers, and make word-of-mouth as the main marketing tool (Ferrarini, 2021).
Further the concept of customer driven strategy can be analysed by understanding segmentation,
targeting, positioning and differentiation.
segmentation
Segmentation in terms of marketing is defined as the process in which the market is divided into
Segments according to the requirement of the business and as well as of the customers.
Segmentation helps in getting the right people in the right way in the target market. It helps in
defining and better understanding of the target market and the ideal customers. This helps a
marketer to identify the right market for the products or services the company is producing. This
concept can further understood by the help of an example such as if a marketer is advertising a
new brand of dog food. Similarly marketing segmentation used by unilever against its
Competitors for making the company more productive and profitable. The company also
segments the products according to the customers like they introduced the dove for enhancing
the beauty of the women’s and introduced the male toothpaste for the male customers. Unilever
produce the products according to the customer needs like age, gender or ethnicity and always
remember to keep a local touch on the products for favouring the local customers (Sarkar, 2019).
Targeting
In this the segmented customer are further targeted for selling the products or services produced
by the organization. Unilever product target the customer from every range i.e. from children to
elder, they develop the products for every group age. Every person is using a unilever product in
almost every house. Unilever have managed all this by providing a wide range of products like
personal care, home care, food products, cleaning products and many more. The aim of the
company is to provide the basic needs to the customer and helping them with good quality
products.by providing good quality products the company also ensures about the healthy lifestyle
of the customers. Unilever have a wide market which target almost every customer by satisfying
their customer according to their needs and requirements.
Positioning

One of the major threat facing by Unilever Company is that the products of the company can be
substituted with the local products that are cheaper in comparison and due to this issue unilever
had to do immense advertising and promotions for promoting the products of the company.by
doing effective positioning of the products it involves the understanding of the nature of
competition in the target market (Avery, 2018). Also unilever spend lot of amount on the
campaigns and advertisements for promoting their brands. Competitive positions is the process
which involves in ensuring that the products are segregated in a way that customers will find the
value of the product. Unilever also try to manage the key components of the products like the
pricing quality, features, service, packaging and distribution of the products.
Differentiation
Unilever Company has the alternative to adopt the product differentiation strategy for ensuring
the expected growth of the market on the basis of the strong loyalty of the brand and then giving
response to the ever changing buying behaviour of the customer. This kind of the strategy will
make sure the higher revenue and the strong position of the market. Morrison became popular for
its market street concept and it also creates great efforts to ensure to source the production
locally wherever it could be possible, offering the freshness and the reality while also providing
the high street experience. Unilever uses the concept of broad differentiation as it very good for
the competitive advantage (Liu, and et.al, 2020.). The main aim of this strategy is to focus on the
features and characteristics of the products for standing out against the competitors. For example
unilever produces dove cream bars for the customers. Despite of their high price customer
choose the products of unilever because it gives customer smooth skin with no side effects.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that it is very important for the company to adopt the
most appropriate strategy for the growth as well as increasing the market share. This report has
covered the marketing strategy for the growth of the company as well as the 4P's of the
marketing mix. Along with this, this report has also discussed the Segmentation, targeting,
positioning as well as the differentiation.

REFERENCES
Books and journals
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STRATEGIES BASED ON THE PRODUCT-MARKET MATRIX IN ENTERPRISES
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Routledge.
Prasetyo, P.E. and Rahman, Y.A., 2018. Effectiveness of new product development on mat
creative industry. KnE Social Sciences, pp.633-653.
Shields, A.C., 2019. Developing a Basic Marketing Plan. Law Prac., 45, p.14.
Thompson, I., 2019. Ansoff Matrix. In The Procurement Models Handbook (pp. 45-47).
Routledge.
Thabit, T. and Raewf, M., 2018. The evaluation of marketing mix elements: A case
study. International Journal of Social Sciences & Educational Studies, 4(4).
Donndelinger, J.A. and Ferguson, S.M., 2020. Design for the marketing mix: The past, present,
and future of market-driven engineering design. Journal of Mechanical Design, 142(6).
Reza, M.H., 2020. Marketing Strategy and Sustainable Plan of Unilever.
Rahman, A., and et.al, 2020. MARKETING COST ANALYSIS OF PROFIT OF PT.
UNILEVER 2014-2018. Journal of Islamic Economic Scholar, 1(1).
Ferrarini, D., 2021. Purpose-Driven Marketing as a successfull Corporate Strategy-A Case Study
Analysis based on Unilever (Doctoral dissertation).
Sarkar, S., 2019. Customer-driven disruption: Five strategies to stay ahead of the curve. Berrett-
Koehler Publishers.
Avery, G.C., 2018. Positioning the business for a sustainable future. Strategy & Leadership.
Liu, Y., and et.al, 2020. Differentiated products pricing with consumer network acceptance in a
dual-channel supply chain. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, 39,
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