Forewords
The automotive industry is referred as one of the prominent industries in the 21st century. This is because business and personal movements and activities both in developed and developing countries today depend heavily on the use of automobiles. The automotive industry is termed as the largest industry in the world in terms of capital, volume, annual turnover and employees (Hoque et al., 2013). Toyota and Hyundai are the two leading automobile companies in the world. Le (2014) revealed that Toyota has managed to rebuild its image after its crises of 2008 that was a great fall. Furthermore, the report stated that on April 2014, the auto company posted double-digit gains and delivered more than 13.3 percent additional vehicles in the same month.
Toyota, Hyundai, BMW, Ford, Honda and so forth maintain their leading position among a lot of auto companies in the world mostly because of their marketing, pricing and consumer-oriented promotional strategies. As a matter of fact, these marketing strategies employed by the auto companies characterize them. This paper takes a look at the marketing strategies employed by automotive companies in order to compare and contrast their product.
Promotional Strategies Used
Both Toyota and Hyundai manufactures luxury and hybrid vehicles, and this came from consumers' demand for improved economy of fuel and reduced emission. However, it is imperative to consider that the marketing strategies applied by Toyota and Hyundai differed with each other.
Rodriguez & Page (2004) pointed out that Toyota initial marketing strategy on the Prius was aimed at bringing the new technology to the limelight. As a result, the 2000 campaign on the vehicle was targeted at enlightening the public on how the company implemented their goal of producing a more environmentally friendly vehicle in the Hybrid. In order to publicize it effectively, Toyota employed television and print ads. In addition, they created a special website to inform customers about the developmental processes of the vehicle even before its development. Toyota primary focus in the first generation of Prius was to educate people about the technology.
In the second generation of the vehicle, Toyota focused on ensuring robust and sustainable relationship between the company and the customers. This is to ensure that they maintained customer loyalty. Hoque et al. (2013) repoted that Toyota marketing objective is centered on achieving bigger market share. As a matter of fact, the marketing or promotional style employed by the company can be referred to as relationship marketing. Toyota ensures that it provides the best possible customer experience to its customers and also maintain working relationship with them. The auto company believes in pursuing excellence in each of its operation. This is made obvious in all of its marketing mix as it ensures that the design, pricing, product and people (4Ps) are given appropriate attention.
Hyundai is also a manufacturer of Hybrid vehicle. This Korean based company had a very little beginning but successfully grew to become one of the top auto companies, in the same class as Toyota, Honda, and Ford (Dasher, 2012). Hyundai produces a lot of affordable vehicles that have wonderful designs, reliability, and improved performances. The early cars of Hyundai lacked quality, but the company's chairman, Chung Mong Koo, identified their needs for quality and tacked it headlong. Unlike Toyota, Hyundai’s major strategy was focused on elevating their products before their customers. A major difference between the marketing strategy employed by Toyota and Hyundai was that Toyota had to establish a separate luxury division for its product, recognizing that Toyota-branded luxury vehicles would not be taken seriously by customers. On the other hand, on the bid to make their brands better appreciated by the customers, Hyundai branded their entire brands with luxury. Not only this, Hyundai's promotional strategies include competitive offerings and pricing, unique customer services and so forth. This is another area that the two auto companies share similar features.
Recommendations: How a Company Can Gain Competitive Advantage
Toyota has a unique strategy with which it distinguishes itself in the market and gain competitive advantage. Levit (2012) pointed out that the major key to marketing success lies in exceeding the values offered by competitors. This is because consumers make judgment on products based on the values offered by the suppliers. Thus, number one recommendation to gaining an advantage in the marketplace is customer satisfaction. That can be accomplished through a number of approaches including the design, cost, customer services and so forth (Morgan & Daniels, 2001). However, the bottom line is that customer service determines the success of a company and customers viewpoint about the company.
The "product" one of the 4Ps marketing mix, is a significant aspect that should be targeted to get the market advantage over the competitors. A sleek design, improved technology, better fuel consumption and exceptional features are necessary to opt by competitors that are all important in distinguishing a brand. Taking the lead in “product” requires substantial investment in research and development.
Short and Long Term Consumer Oriented Promotions
Promotion is one of the four important marketing mixes (4Ps) needed to promulgate the company in both short and long term. One of the key promotional approaches that can be leveraged is online promotion. Nowadays, most customers go online in search for products and services. This online promotion is the key to getting their interest. For effective promotion, it is important to track the customers where they are always found. Most of the 21st century customers can be found online with ease. Therefore, online promotion is a consumer-oriented promotion that can assist a company in both short and long term (Levit, 2012; Morgan & Daniels, 2001).
Advertising is another promotional mix that can be employed by a company to distinguish itself from its competitors in both short and long term. Advertising can be done in various approaches including broaden and effective social network, the local media and so forth. Effective advertising will have both short term and long term benefit. Social networking is a significant aspect of marketing that is designed to deliver the products in the best possible manner. It enhances the consumer orientation as well as value of the product (Thackeray, Neiger, & Hanson, 2007). Levit (2012) predicted that advertising has the advantage of reaching wide audiences in a very short time. Advertising over the radio and television is effective, but a much more effective tool for advertising today is the internet because it can reach on the globe in a very short time. It is imperative to consider that each element of the promotional mix has its strength and weaknesses (Ali, Gafar, & Akbar, 2013).
Toyota Strategy of Pricing Decision
One of the major reasons why Toyota keeps upping the ante in the automotive industry is its effective price marketing mix. The automobile company learnt from experience to be marketing led. Since it laid effective plans and followed this strategy, it has made unprecedented advancements (Levit, 2012). Toyota pricing strategy is a unique one. The auto company targets people of different levels of income. Hoque (2013) emphasized the understanding of the company that encompasses the best way to keep customers by finding out how to give them more for less. This it does through its effective pricing.
Toyota has two sets of pricing strategy that include: car for the low-income people and car for high-income people (luxury products). Obviously, Toyota's pricing objective is primarily targeted at meeting the needs of the customers. This is because customer satisfaction is the core of the company’s operation. This target is reflected in everything done in the auto company. Of course, Toyota marketing strategy and pricing objectives provides a good lesson for other automotive companies to learn. A lot can be learnt from the strategies employed by this auto company. The primary target should be the customer, and any auto company that is customer-oriented in its marketing strategy will do all it takes to meet the needs and provide the best products for the customers. In addition to the marketing strategies, pricing is very essential. For instance, Toyota's formulated effective marketing strategy to achieve the customers' perception of the cars, and it has moved from being "cheap and reliable" to "a quality car at competitive prices." (Levit, 2012). Besides pricing, innovation is another key to gaining competitive advantage. For instance, Toyota is very committed innovation that explains why it keeps releasing innovative and technologically enhanced products. Therefore staying ahead of the competition. The Toyota Optimal Drive technology can be presented as an effective and a good example. Gaining customers’ trust may not come easily but with continued and relentless effort in marketing strategies, the best result can be achieved (Ali et al., 2013).
Effective Advertising Medium for Auto Companies
Advertising is one of the key strategies under the promotional mix that must be in place in order to ensure brand awareness and effective marketing. It is an age-long marketing approach whose effectiveness can never be overstated. Although advertising has endured the test of time and is still effective. Many means of advertising have come into the scene in the recent time. As a matter of fact, the medium of advertising a company chooses and how effective the advertising is made will go a long way in determining how effectively the product will be marketed.
The internet is increasingly an important tool for promotion and advertisement, and the reason its importance is far reaching because it has a global reach (Ali et al.,2013). The internet can be worked as an effective advertising medium by both small scale and medium scale companies. This is because when compared to other means of advertising that cost millions of dollars, advertising over the internet is very cheap and also effective. This is why most companies today both in the automotive industry and other industries leverage internet as an effective tool for advertising.
However, to ensure effective marketing, advertisement over the internet must be combined with other means of advertising. In other words, the auto company needs to leverage more than one advertising methods to ensure the best result. Nonetheless, the internet has been proved to be the most effective tool in marketing products and services. There are lots of mediums of marketing over the internet. For instance, one can find social media marketing, search engine optimization and so forth. Social media marketing is a very interesting aspect of marketing today as it allows the supplier to be in contact with the consumers at any point in time (Thackeray et al., 2007). Over the years, suppliers have always longed to connect with the buyers and answer their questions and doubts. Search engine marketing makes this possible and therefore can be effectively leveraged for marketing. Levit (2012) pointed out that if social media marketing is used well, this can provide access into an environment that hitherto would have been difficult to reach. Radio advertising and another medium of advertising such as print advertising, outdoor advertising, television advertising and so forth could also be relevant and effective in reaching the targeted audience as fast as possible. (Thackeray et al., 2007).
Conclusion
The paper evaluated the marketing strategies used by Toyota, Hyundai, and other leading auto companies. It examined their pricing and promotional strategies by taking a look at advertising. Advertising as an important strategy involved in the promotional mix. The 4Ps (promotion, price, place and product) are very vital to every company because this form the core of marketing.
The marketing strategies employed by Toyota, a leading auto company, were carefully examined as well as the features offered by Toyota that makes it an outstanding auto company in the industry. Customer satisfaction is a distinguishing feature of this auto company. Toyota has effective marketing as their hallmark. As a matter of fact; the marketing section is not the only department in the auto company concerned with marketing. Every department in the company is tasked with the duty of marketing. Therefore, every aspect of the production is geared towards effective marketing of their products and services. Finally, with the top notch features of the internet today, the paper identified the internet, specifically social media marketing, as the most effective advertising medium. This can be leveraged by auto companies to reach the grass root in their product marketing and advertising.
References
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