Marketing Mix For Diet Coke Marketing Essay

Marketing Mix For Diet Coke Marketing Essay It allows the preservation and improvement of an organisational competitive position in the market. It is an advantage that allows business to stay alive against its competition. See Coca Cola Companys competitors and positioning in (Appendix1) See Porters competitive advantage and cost advantage in (Appendix 2). When a company brings a new product into a market they must think about who is the product aimed at, what advantage will customers expect, how does the company plan to position the product inside the market and what benefit will the product proffer over their competitors. According to Kotler product have three levels, core product, actual Product and augmented product, see Coca Cola product levels in (Appendix 3) When companies introduce new product, it takes some time to be extensively accepted, at which point its sales and incomes will begin to rise. This will attract other competitors into the market, cause the market to mature. Finally, the market will decline as companies start to introduce the next product, and customers switch to that product. See Coca Cola product life cycle in (Appendix 4) Coca Cola Company provides different type soft drinks like Coke Zero, Diet Coke, Fanta etc. There good image makes the organisation more strong. Coca Cola Company provides good quality products with good taste. They are specialised in soft and fizzy drinks. Coca Cola have created good image in customers mind, their image is reputable and reliable, and it has one of the most well-liked soft drinks available. They have well-known which is why customers feel comfortable in buying Coca Cola products. Coca Cola can market too many different segments. Coca Cola can market their product to teenagers much easier than older people, because teenagers are their target market. See Coca Colas mission statement in (Appendix 5). Distribution in marketing acts importantly to attract customers convenience and organisations use method of distribution to see their ability. Two types of channel of distribution methods are available. Distribution is underneath the group of place, therefore organisations create a precise distribution method so that its readily available to the customers and it can improve possible sales for an organisation. See Coca Cola distribution channels in (Appendix 6). The Coca Cola Company sell its products with bottling and canning operations. The distributors get to the Coca Cola to the wholesalers and the wholesalers get it to retailers and at final the customers buy Coca Cola from retailer shop. If Coca Cola does not work on its distribution services then their bottles are just reachable at their factories then customers may not be keen to get them. Its more appropriate for the customer to buy Coca Cola from a close seller as compared to getting it from factory. Therefore distribution system of an organisation can be both its weakness and strength. Companies should know that their products are available at retailer shops and stores where customers can easily buy it. One of the parts in the marketing mix is pricing. This part of the 4Ps are the one making returns and which is also why it is important that an organisation chooses the right price. Pricing is one of the most significant parts of the Coca Cola Company marketing mix, which makes revenue for them. Coca Cola use different types of pricing strategies. The pricing strategies are standing much on what aims the company has put itself to achieve. See (Appendix 7). Owing to the accessibility of wide variety products the pricing is complete according to the market and geographic segment. Each sub-brand of coca cola has different pricing strategy. Their pricing strategy is base on the competitors pricing, Pepsi is one of their competitor in soft drink industry. The Coca-Cola Company choose their pricing objective they believe will be most effective in dispensing their brand to customer, to do this Coca-Cola use market-skimming pricing. Coca Cola Company use marketing-skimming as there is a enough number of purchasers that have a high demand, also Coca Cola sets an primary high price and then lower the price to make the product available to a extensive market. Coca Cola Company use penetration pricing strategy as they want to hold maximum share of the market by maximum profit. Coca Cola use discount pricing, where their products prices are often become down during sale periods and special occasions, like Christmas, Easter etc. Also Coca Cola use competitor pricing, where to meet the competition pricing, their products pricing are set about the same level as it competitors. Promotional activities are important element because, these activities are performed in order to inform customers about the product and it includes personal selling, adverting, public relations, sales promotion, direct marketing etc. An advertisement, for instance helps a buyer to get to know about the company and it is products, this can be done by bill boards, banners or posters. The benefit of advertisement is that it informs people about different products and services, their utilities, cost and other requirements. The disadvantage is cost because advertising is more expansive. In personal selling companies use their staffs to sell their product after face-to-face communication with the customer and seller efforts to convince a customer to purchase the product. Personal selling is one of the ways to keep good customers relationships, but this method is expensive. Here are some examples of sales promotions activities and it includes buy-one-get-one-free, bonus points, free gift cards, vouchers and coupons, competitions and prize draws, etc. The advantage is that sales promotion can help companies to provide right information to customers, also it encourage repeat purchases and customer loyalty, but the advantages are that it increase price sensitivity and it is generally for a short duration Public relations play an important role in promotion. It can be used to create a good image of the company for example magazines, TV or radio etc. PR is inexpensiveness of the cost, but it is hard to predict about the responses and it increase the risk. Direct marketing is where a company selling their products directly to people such as fliers or street advertising. It allows targeting specific customer and it can be measureable, but it is difficult to get it is direct impact and it can be quite expansive. Coca Cola use different methods of advertisement and the company spends a lot in order to be seen on billboards, radio, magazines, television, and on the internet. The Coca cola Company uses advertising as its key source of increasing buyer consciousness. It mostly uses the television; this source allows the companys products to attract more customers. Coca Cola uses the radio as another method of advertisement and this is a cheaper then TV. They use personal selling, where the company train their sales staffs, which they preform as a representative of the company to the shops. Newspapers and magazines are other forms of advertising that is extensively used by Coca Cola. Moreover, Posters, signs and billboards are also broadly used as an important part of the Coca Cola promotion. Coca Cola billboards are normally placed at the city centres and their posters are usually displayed at the shops, public transport and restaurants like McDonalds, KFC, etc. In addition, Internet is another method where different forms of Coca-Cola advertisements are placed. Specially, the brand online advertisement is assumed through the wide use of banners, on-site sponsorships and several other formats of online advertisements. Marketing mix has three additional elements: People, Process and Physical Evidence People are one of the elements of service marketing mix. People define a service. This mentions to the people who are in straight contact with the customer such as staff. One of the important parts in selling a product is the companys staff because most customers rely on a decent service before purchasing a product. For example, the employees in Coca Cola Company have a standard uniform. The companies always focus on friendly and quick service to its customers from their staffs. The process of the product is essential in marketing. This determines the capability of the product to supply the demand of the consumers. The process at Coca Cola Company is hidden and it is not visible to the customers. Coca Cola has two types of processes which is involves bottling and labelling solutions. The most important stage that Coca Cola consider is control of the company to get products at the agreed time and good quality, and the last step they consider is, the selling of beverage for target customers of distributors. Physical evidence is an important element of marketing mix where customers will base their decisions based on the service which intangible. Companies physical evidence is supported by signs, symbols and artefacts of the business itself. Examples of this would be the signage in Coca Cola which reassures the customer through branding. Coca Cola Company is focusing on target market; when it markets a product it mainly consider on demographic and physiographic segmentations; where demographic segment before it markets it identify the consumer groups in: age, sex, education, race, and occupation, and in physiographic it divides the market into different levels as: lower class, middle class, and upper class to identify their customers. Coca Cola segments different ages. The company focus on whole population in the world, but young generation is the target marketed of the company. Also Coca Cola segments different income levels by packing, where for small income people they has returnable glass bottle, for middle people they has small non returnable bottle and for rich and higher income people, the company has Coca Cola tin. Marketing mix for Diet Coke: Coca Cola developed a new product. This product is a diet drink by the name of Diet Coke. They have designed the marketing mix of product which is detail in below: Product: Diet Coke is a very fresh and tasty diet drink and provide energetic feel with good taste. Diet Coke is available in different sizes of which start from This drink is mainly for the Price: Price of Diet Coke is very suitable as compared to its main competitors. Place: placement has an important role to play in the products success and failure. That is why the company makes sure that the Diet Coke is place in such a way in market that its in reach of every customer. They have very strong distribution channel and their product is available on maximum stores in the city. Promotion: For a product of such high standards like Diet Coke it requires good promotional activities. For this purpose the Coca Cola Company have chosen following promotional tools: for advertisement the company have use different types of media like television, newspaper, magazines, internet and radio. There are some characteristics to a service such as: lack of ownership, intangibility and inseparability. Each of these taken into account when marketing a service, see (Appendix 8). A product is something which is tangible where as a service is intangible. A product is much easier than the service because after marketing and selling a product there is something tangible to be seen by the customers for they are satisfaction but in services they cannot because its intangible. On the whole, the marketing of product is focused on 4Ps in marketing mix i.e. product, price, place, and promotion. The Coca Cola Company consider on their customers demand in order to find out a product that can respond the market demand. First of all, Coca Cola Company focuses on the strength as well as eliminates the weaknesses of marketed products in order to improve products to meet customers demand as much as possible. Secondly, they focus on the pricing factor in product marketing because the price must be set to match with the buying authority of target customers. Thirdly, the Coca Cola focus on place because place of product marketing refers to distribution channels to deliver and sell the product to customers. Finally, they create promote the product in order to convince customers and inspire the sale in a short term. On the other hand, a service is the action that provide for customers. The service marketing is generally use 7Ps which is extended from 4Ps by including people, process and physical evidence. It is important for any business to employ suitable staffs or people. Employing and training of staffs have good impact that is why the Coca Cola Company gives training to their staffs because most of customers will judge the quality of their service from staffs. Therefore, Coca Cola employ staffs that have good and interpersonal skills. Conclusion: The essay shows that marketing mix (4Ps and 7Ps) is a very important part of creating marketing strategy, also it is crucial for a company to implement their marketing concept successfully. The Coca Cola Company develops their product or service to meet the customers needs and wants; then they seem into determining how their consumer going to receive the product and they consider direct or indirect channels of distribution. The Coca Cola Company will decide a price for their products that ensures a profit. Finally, they promote their product by using different advertising methods to attract customers.