Volkswagen Marketing Report: Analysis of Strategies and Marketing Mix

This report provides a detailed analysis of Volkswagen's marketing strategies, focusing on its marketing mix and both short-term and long-term approaches. It begins with an executive summary and introduction, followed by an in-depth examination of Volkswagen's marketing mix in Australia, covering product, price, place, and promotion, and then expands to include people, process and physical evidence. The report then explores the company's short-term marketing strategies, such as price reductions, pay-per-click advertising, group offers, and trade shows. Finally, it delves into the long-term strategies, including search engine optimization and public relations. The report uses a combination of theoretical frameworks and practical examples to illustrate the effectiveness of these strategies. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and references. This report is a comprehensive study of Volkswagen's marketing practices.

Running head: MARKETING
MARKETING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
The given report will be discussing the marketing strategy of the Volkswagen Company. This is
the second part of the assignment whereby the same company which had been taken earlier will
be used in order to analyze its marketing mix and also to state the long term and short term
strategies that are used by the company. A brief introduction has been followed by the Marketing
Mix of Volkswagen in Australia and the short term as well as long term marketing strategies
used by the firm. Theory along with practical examples have been used.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Marketing mix analysis of Volkswagen..........................................................................................3
Short term marketing strategies.......................................................................................................9
Long-Term Marketing Strategies..................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
The given report will be discussing the marketing mix of the Volkswagen Company
along with special reference to the long term and short term marketing strategies of the given
organization. Proper theoretical framework will be followed.
Marketing mix analysis of Volkswagen
The marketing mix can be defined as the process of placing the right product at the right
place in the right quantity at the perfect price. The marketing mix was earlier associated with just
4 principles but now the 7ps of marketing have been developed (Baker and Saren 2016). The
basic principles that are used in applying the right marketing mix have been given as follows
with reference to proper theoretical framework and special reference to Volkswagen. The given
concept was developed by Jerome McCarthy in the 1960s.
Product
A product can be defined as an item that has been in the market to satisfy the different
needs of the customers. The product might be a tangible object or an intangible object in the
form of a service. It is the duty of the marketer to ensure that the right kind of product has been
developed in order to satisfy the needs of the target market. The product has a lifecycle which
comprises of various stages like maturity, sales decline, growth and introduction. Hence, when
the product reaches the decline stage, it is the duty of the marketer to re-invent the design of the
product in order to ensure that its demand remains stable. The right product mix also needs to be
identified accordingly.
Products in the marketing mix of Volkswagen

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The huge size of the Volkswagen Group is the primary contributor of the growth of the
company. The company has various cars to offer in order to keep the consumer satisfied. The
company makes various product offerings like the Polo, Golf, and Beetle, Passat, Tiguan,
Touran, Phaeton and others. The different models are good performing ones and their features
are as follows:
 High quality
 Good post sales services
Price
The price of the product can be determined as the amount of money which a customer
pays for it in order to derive value out of it or to purchase it. The price forms an important
component of the marketing mix. The price of a product is useful in determining the marketing
plan of the product. It has a large impact on the company`s profit and survival and hence, for that
purpose it is necessary to have an attractive pricing strategy in hand in order to ensure that the
firm can be able to match the market share that which it aims to obtain (Spiller and Tuten 2015).
The price plays a crucial role in the sense that it helps in shaping the perception of the product in
the eyes of the consumers. If the price is too high then it leads to a decreased demand and if it is
made to low, then the consumers assume that it is of poor quality.
Some of the pricing strategies used by the firms have been given as follows:
Market penetration pricing
Market skimming pricing

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Neutral pricing
Price in the marketing mix of Volkswagen
The pricing strategy which is generally followed by the given company is the competitive
pricing strategy. There are various cars under the given brand name and for each of these cars,
the prices are set according to the price set by its consumers. Some may believe that these
products are priced high.
Place
The place or the distribution forms another important part of the marketing mix as it goes
a long way in the determination of the place of distribution where the product will be distributed.
The place of distribution can be clearly understood if the marketer has a clear
understanding of the concerned target market. If a company is able to that successfully then it
will be able to come out with an efficient strategy.
Distribution strategies include:
Intensive distribution
Exclusive distribution
Selective distribution
Franchising (Volkswagen.com.au. 2018).
Place in the marketing mix of Volkswagen
The place of distribution of the various cars follows a worldwide strategy whereby the
cars of the given brand are distributed in key locations in order to ensure that the customers may

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have access to on time delivery of the selected products. The brand has its own sales counters
through other car distributors as well.
Volkswagen primarily targets the urban area customers and has a strong CRM system in
order to ensure that it reaches out the customers it actually
Promotion
The promotion aspect of the marketing mix can be described as the processes which are
generally adopted in order to boost the sales and increase the brand recognition. The promotion
comprises of its own mix which are:
Sales
Public Relations
Advertising
Sales promotion
Advertising is the basic communication method which is paid in nature and comes in the
form of print media, internet advertising and others (Khan, Muttakin and Siddiqui 2013). Public
relations comes in the form sponsorships, seminars and conferences.
Promotions in the marketing mix of Volkswagen
The primary promotion strategy which is adopted by the company is as follows:
The company makes use of extensive media strategies like TVCs, print Medias and
newsletters to existing customers. Volkswagen also makes use of a strong social media strategy
in order to strengthen the brand image. The company allows the different customers to purchase

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the given products on a leasing method. This ensures that the company is successfully able to
achieve success.
The expansion to the 4Ps is given as follows in the form of the 7Ps:
Figure 1: The marketing mix model (Source: Clapp and Rowlands 2014)

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People
The people aspect of the given marketing mix may be defined as the employees of the
organization who may choose to work for the welfare of the organization and ensure that the
sales of the company tends to increase considerably (Järvinen and Karjaluoto 2015). Volkswagen
Australia has around 4000 employees in total.
Process
The processes can be defined as the procedures that are generally adopted to produce the
products or to bring about the relevant products into the market. It is extremely important for a
marketer to ensure that the processes are made in such a manner that the costs savings of the fir
shall increase considerably (Cheng, Ioannou and Serafeim 2014). This leads to maximization of
the profits of the company. The brand Volkswagen is known for its premium designs at
affordable prices.
Physical Evidence
The physical evidence of a business’s presence can be described as the branding aspect of
the firm in such a manner that when any company thinks about a particular product, it may
directly think about the particular brand in the market. For instance, when someone thinks about
sports shoes, thy think about Nike (Charlesworth 2018). The company Volkswagen has above
100 stores in Australia. This deals with manipulation of consumer perceptions.

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Short term marketing strategies
The short term marketing strategies can be described as the strategies which can be
adopted by a firm in order to temporarily boost the business and the traffic (Chaffey 2016). The
short term strategies hold relative importance for any business enterprise because they help the
company in competing with the relevant competitors present in the industry and successfully
enable the firm to launch a new product (Deng, Kang and Low 2013). It is also believed that a
firm`s short term success is important for the long term growth of the given organization.
Some of the short term marketing strategies of Volkswagen are given as follows:
1. Reduction in pricing- Volkswagen products are generally priced quite moderately,
however there are times and occasions when the company generally offers a low price for
its products (Flammer 2013). The low prices are offered during New Year, Christmas and
other festivals in order to boost the sales as well as the spirits of the different members in
the country.
2. Pay per click advertisement- Volkswagen has realized that in order to be successful, it
would be required to advertise its products carefully and hence for the given strategy the
company uses the strategy of per click advertisement whereby the cars of the firm are
advertised extensively on various websites available in order to be able to ensure it gets
the maximum clicks and the maximum views.
3. Group offers- The group offers are generally an effective strategy which is used in order
to gain exposure with new customers (Charlesworth 2018). Using this given strategy, the
company offers a range of permanent discounts to the important groups. The different
members are generally attracted in order to ensure that they are successfully able to cater

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to the needs of the given target market. Volkswagen usually targets groups like business
executives, army men and other related enterprises for this purpose. The revenue may not
be able to offset the ongoing price discount (Clapp and Rowlands 2014).
4. Trade shows-Trade show are an excellent method of promoting the product when they
are present in the introduction state of the specific market. The different companies like
Volkswagen are able to use the given strategy by being able to cater to the opportunities
using various forms of sponsorships, speaking opportunities and various celebrity parties
(Carroll 2015). They are generally used to take advantage of the event and the audience
along with it.
Long-Term Marketing Strategies
The long term marketing strategies can be defined as strategies which may be used to
establish brand awareness not just in the present environment but for the future of the
organization as well. Without a long term marketing strategy in place, the business may be short
lived.
Some of the tactics used for long term marketing success are as follows:
1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
The search engine optimization is a long term strategy which is generally used for the
long term success of the organization. It is generally used to optimize the search engine in order
ensure that the company Volkswagen receives the best B2B Leads (Kannan 2017). The Search
Engine Optimization is useful in ensuring that the potential customers who use their online
search can easily find the Volkswagen advertisement in order to ensure that the advisements are
being able to reach out to the right market at the right time (Bhattacharya et al. 2017).

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Volkswagen engages in giving this work to various experts in order to ensure that the website of
the company is also optimized.
2. Public relations (PR):
The Public relations efforts are one of those efforts which are generally adopted by the
organization in order to ensure that the image of the brand is always present online and offline
over long term. The Public Relations team ae generally appointed in order to ensure that the
long term goals of the organization are achieved strategically and the information is shared with
all the given relevant consumer groups in the given market. The PR Strategy of the firm is
generally shared and built over a long time. Volkswagen has a relatively strong public relations
strategy in place.
3. Promotional content
For its long term strategic goal achievement the firm develops a stream of relevant
content such as newsletters, tips, blog posts and other relayed activities in order to provide
quality traffic to the website of the firm and pace up the firm`s sales. The given content has to be
updated regularly and posted on the regular basis in order to ensure that the customers get fresh
details to read and the company Volkswagen achieves great ammunition for the long term
campaigns and visitors are thereby encouraged.
4. Social media presence
Lastly, Volkswagen has a well-structured social media plan in action which comprises of
various communication channels, social networks, which are utilized for short term and long