Market Research And Selling Products Or Services To Customers.
Marketing is defined as the process of performing market research and selling products or services to customers. The products are promoted through advertising in order to enhance sales. It is evident that marketing generates a strategy that entails techniques for sales, business communications and business developments. Nokia is an example of a company that has introduced new brands of Nokia handsets that need to be marketed. One of the brands is the new Nokia X2. The target market for this brand is India. This paper will examine the product, company’s strategy and evaluate the marketing campaign.
Marketing Mix
Nokia X2 is a new mobile handset that has a unique design aimed at delighting music lovers and young entertainment enthusiasts. This handset comes along with 3.5mm AV connector and dedicated music keys. Moreover, it has FM radio with built-in antenna, not forgetting a digital music player and loud stereo speakers for music sharing. In order to add to the great music experience, the new Nokia X2 has a 5 megapixel camera with a video recorder and a flash (Ratna).This product is the new music phone released by the Nokia Company. The phone is a budget music phone and the cheaper version of another Nokia handset, Nokia X6. It is a highly desirable phone meant for music lovers who do not desire to spend a lot of money on their mobile handsets. The phone may be purchased along with pay monthly contract deals. The other option is purchasing cheap Nokia X2 pay as you go offers. These deals most of the times come along with different gifts and incentives (Ratna).This product is sold in India at an affordable price of Rs 6, 579. The target market is mainly the youth or the young. In order to attract the youth, Nokia X2 has a great music combination, imaging capabilities and an extremely trendy design.
Hence, it is specially designed for youth who need to experience great music and lead an active social life. The can access social sites such as facebook from the home screen and download the latest application and games from Ovi Store, which is one of the features of Nokia X2.It is therefore evident that Nokia X2 is a fantastic mix of excellent camera, great music experience and affordable Nokia services targeted towards the Indian youth. Under packaging, Nokia X2 is made of renewable material that is recyclable and reduced to compact package size. The standard sales package constitutes a Nokia X2 Handset, Nokia compact charger, Nokia battery, Nokia high efficiency charger, Nokia connectivity cable and a user guide. The product has a full warranty of one year. Promotion is through advertising in different media sources such as televisions and newspapers. The other way of promoting the product is through road shows whereby people are educated and enlightened about the product features, price specifications and the benefits and other aspects regarding the product.
Company strategy
Nokia was founded in the year 1865 in Finland by Fredrik Idestam as a paper manufacturing company. Finnish Rubber Works became part of the company in 1920. Later on in 1922, Finnish Cable Works joined them and the three companies formed the Nokia Group in 1967. Nokia began being actively interested in electronic and power business in 1970s and by 1987, the consumer electronics had become part of Nokia’s key businesses. The company focused on its two core businesses, telecommunication networks and mobile phones between 1992 and 1996.Nokia is the most successful phone manufacturing company globally. The marketing objective of this company is to make sure that people are connected and hence able to communicate efficiently. To meet this objective, Nokia provides consumers with human technology that is beautiful, intuitive ad joy to use. In the Indian Market, Nokia marketing objective is to take the first place in mobile communications field and become an international enterprise (Nokia Corporation, September 2010).In order to establish a target market, Nokia collects data and processes it in order to obtain results reflecting sex, age, religion, income, education and lifestyle.
The consumers are then subdivided on the basis of the research results. Consequently a target market is chosen. In this case, results revealed that the target market for Nokia X2 handset in India is the youth or the young generation. These include college students and young professionals. Such individuals needed to keep in touch through social sites and most importantly build their image by possessing a trendy mobile phone. Nokia X2 could meet all their needs (Bose, 2009).The previous Nokia products have been more mature and have continuously attracted the attention of many customers. The same case applies to Nokia X2 that is surely able to attract many customers due to its remarkable features, affordable price and trendy design. Nokia develops different marketing strategies based on the different market demands. The company is able to design products that can meet the need of each target market due to its strong investigative ability, abundant product line and sound commercial network.
Despite being the leading phone manufacturer, Nokia faces tough competition from other global players such as Samsung, Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Siemens. The competitive strategies for Nokia are differentiation strategy, overall cost leadership strategy and focus strategy. Overall cost leadership strategy means that Nokia makes great efforts to lower commodity prices via cost reduction and maintenance of competitive advantage. This is contrary to the strategies undertaken by other competitive companies. The other point that is worth noting is that unlike its competitors that are known to provide a slew of durables, Nokia, is mainly a cell phone company. Differentiation strategy is the case whereby Nokia provides a unique product that is more fashionable and more functional. Finally, the other strategy is by focusing on a particular regional market or customer base.
Marketing Campaign
One of the marketing campaigns utilized by Nokia is a digital and guerilla marketing campaign referred to as Nokia connectors. This campaign strategy attempts to engage with the youth market. This is particularly important in marketing the Nokia X2 in India due to the fact that the target market is the youth. The first stage of the campaign aims at educating young people about the services available on a particular Nokia handset and in our case, the Nokia X2. Nokia incorporates new features in its handsets and hence, young people need to be informed about these features (Press releases, December 17, 1996).Nokia marketing campaigns portray the company as having commitment in building its brand across different regions globally for instance, Asia, Africa and several other regions. The campaigns have enable Nokia to launch different brands successfully in different markets. This is despite the increasing competitive activity and tough market conditions.
The marketing campaign is centered on its human technology concept based on observing people’s lives. This inspires the company to develop technology, solutions and products that cam meet real human needs.The pricing of Nokia X2 is right for the target market. The product is sold at Rs 6, 579 in India which is an affordable price. The target market constitutes the youth such as college students and young professionals. The pricing is therefore right since the target market can comfortably afford the handset. It is also essential to note that the phone is not only affordable but it also incorporates several desirable features such as an in-built camera, internet options, messaging and mailing options as well as music options. All these features are known to attract the youth (India Telecom Monthly Newsletter).
Conclusion
With the strong marketing strategies and campaigns that Nokia has, the new Nokia X2 can effectively penetrate the Indian youth, who are the target market. The pricing and features of this handset make it attractive to the target market. The promotion strategies including advertisement and road shows prove to be effective in educating the target market more about the features of the new product.
References
Bose, R. (2009) India Business Checklists: An Essential Guide to Doing Business.
John Wiley and Sons.
India Telecom Monthly Newsletter. Information Gatekeepers Inc.
Press releases (December 17. 1996). Nokia Named Advertiser of the Year by Media
Magazine.
Nokia Corporation (September 2010) Nokia: Hand in Hand television commercial. India.
Ratna, M. VARIndia. VARindia publishers.
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