Question

Context: Muskogee County Choppers, till recently was a small ‘custom’ motorcycle/chopper production unit, designing and manufacturing custom motorcycles and trikes for a small regional market, mainly Oklahoma and Arkansas. The firm has seen an infusion of capital from a group of rich ‘angel investors’ who had a love for motorcycling. The firm is ‘small’ and even after innovation, capital infusion and growth will in no way match the major players like Harley, Honda, Kawasaki etc. Further, ‘trikes’ unlike motorcycles may be considered a ‘niche’ rather than mass market product.

With this infusion of capital, MCC is now a LLC (Limited Liability Company) and plans to make a foray into major markets, at least catering to Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas , Oklahoma, and New Mexico, starting with a ‘trike’ to compete with the Polaris Spyder or CANAM-Ryker. The MCC Trike is similar, with two front wheels and one rear wheel. It is 500cc, in contrast with other trikes that are normally with higher capacity engines (900 cc +). The Canam Ryker and Polaris Spyder are also like the MCC trike, in that they have two front and one rear wheel, unlike Harley trikes etc that have one front wheel and two rear wheels.

MCC is a new company and even with an infusion of capital from angel investors cannot compete with the financial strength of companies like Harley and Honda.

Assignment (in two Parts 1 and 2):

Write a short note to the CEO of the firm as an internal senior executive outlining:

Part 1: A short note on the actual direction that the firm should take, that is, 'your personal summary thoughts and opinions on strategy', both (a) Marketing and (b) Integrated Marketing Communications (Promotion). When you write your note, use a format that you consider appropriate for being read by a busy CEO.

Answer 1

Executive Summary

Subject: Trike's strategy for new market penetration

We have been successfully established our product among the niche segment of customers in our current addressable markets and Trike has fulfilled the need and requirement of target customers as desired and supported by a high net promoter score. In order to further increase our customer base, we need to find out more customers in new and different geographies. I would like to propose the marketing and promotion strategy of Trikes in the new market to attract the target segment of customers.

Marketing Strategy:

The strategy should be built upon strong segmentation, targeting and positioning exercise for the product, we need to identify a similar customer segment in new markets and are similar to whom we are catering today. In order to target them, we should adopt the approach of Integrated Marketing Communication and position the Trikes as the right product which will fulfill all their need that might not have been completely satisfied by any existing product in their market. Trike needs to position as a robust designed and most reliable motorcycle on which they can trust. we should create a unique quality, reliability and trust attributes for Trike in the new market.

Integrated Marketing Communication Strategy:

As part of Integrated Marketing Communication, we should focus on a better marketing ROI through the right selection of marketing communication platforms and content. we should create customer testimonials and referrals as the base of marketing communication to new customers. We need to devise a promotional strategy which is direct and communicates the quality, reliability and trust attributes of our product. we can plan for referral by our existing customers and reward them for their loyalty with us. However, we should never be seen by desperate in our attempt by the customers, therefore, we must stick to our core values and communicate the quality and reliability rather than adopting the price war to enter the new market. We must not take any activity which might erode the brand value as in a niche market it is the brand value that is going to give us the way to enter.

Way forward:

Therefore, I wanted to inform you that we quickly need to start our selection of market and identification of target segment and in parallel, we need to create the user-generated content for promotion of product along with the evaluation and selection of marketing channels. Please give your views on my thoughts, and guide us to proceed further in the new direction.