Question

• What you had most hoped to learn about marketing when you had registered
• Two of the most important marketing strategies that you learned this term, and why
• Examples from commerce (not from the textbook) that illustrate these two important topics (you can include screen shots to help explain these concepts if you would like).
• Thoughts on the term project
• What one topic introduced to you in this course that you wish you could have spent more time on, and why

For each of the above, you should give specific evidence/examples. Don’t make general and vague statements for which you offer no support.

Your MAX word count = 1,200. (Be concise: I will stop reading at the 1,200 marks).

Answer 1

Under Marketing, the broader topics that can cover different aspects like marketing concepts, marketing principles, marketing plan, marketing mix etc.

Two important marketing Strategies used by the companies in the current market are as below:

1. Hunger Marketing

This is a marketing strategy that is deployed by brands by which companies deliberately limit the product supply in order to generate excess demand in the market. One key aspect is to bring products into the market at an amazing price points but at the same time the availability of the product is restricted. This will help the brands to gain good market traction as the customers perceive that product is available in limited quantities.

An example for this case is the sales of smartphones by Xiaomi in India who used this strategy to sell its cost effective smartphones. Xiamoi sells most of its products through ecommerce platform as it pursues an all ecommerce driven business strategy. By making only limited quantities of smartphones available for sale, the brand sold off its products within a small time period. The two aspects of this marketing strategy is it creates a scarcity situation but at the same time a very competitive pricing.

2. Influencer Marketing

Brands work with influencers who help in achieving results/traction for their brands by driving awareness of products, engagement with customers and thereby increasing sales. In this type of strategy, brands collaborate with ‘Influencers’ who has a large fan following in various social media platforms like Instagram, tiktok etc. by putting in ads into their media content, thereby influencing them. This is a very fast growing digital marketing strategy used to increase brand visibility. Three top brand platforms chosen by brands for influencer marketing includes Instagram. Youtube and TikTok.

For example, Paytm is an online payment gateway and digital wallet company which offers payment solutions to customer. They introduced a new offering to book and pay for railway tickets in their website called Paytm travel. The brand collaborated with a number of travel and lifestyle influencers by using content for engagement with customers through a number of social media platforms.

One of the marketing topic to focus more is on Niche Marketing.

Niche Marketing is specifically focussed on a unique market. Unlike very other marketing which is focused on everyone, that is exclusively on specific potential customers (a niche market). To penetrate a new niche area, it is important to understand the specific needs of the customers and conveying message to the target in a format/language that they understand and by test-marketing to understand market’s interest in the company’s products/services.

For example, Lush cosmetics is a popular brand which sells cosmetic products that endorses ethical buying and handmade cosmetics. The brand has differentiated itself from the completion on three points:

· Eco-friendly packing

· Organic ingredients

· Refusal of animal testing

So, niche marketing requires generating a meaningful relationship with the customers, which makes it challenging.