Analyzing brand marketing strategy concerning Kerzner International
Question
Task: Choose one of the competitive strategies. Define it, elaborate with recent examples and debate is value. What are some advantages and disadvantages? What is the theoretical consensus for this strategy?Select a company of your choice. Your company may be online/ offline/ both. Using relevant marketing strategy theories and recent journal articles, critically appraise your company’s marketing strategy including its response to COVID-19.By combining the two sections, explore how your selected strategy applies to your selected company. Have they used in the past and if yes how so? If no, could/should they use it? How could they ‘defend’ from this if a competitor decides to adopt it in their strategy?
Answer
1. Introduction
A marketing strategy refers to "long-term planning" that aims to attain an organization's objectives by evaluating the targeted customers' requirements with an emphasis on the significant approaches responsible for gaining sustainable competitive advantage. Marketing strategies are designed to expedite the business growth of an organization. On the other hand, it can be claimed that marketing strategies are developed in order to maximize the potential customer reach of an organization concerning to the industry competitiveness and adopted operational tactics of the company. This report will discuss about brand marketing strategy as one of the extensively adopted marketing strategies, especially in post-pandemic days. This discussion will be followed by the applicability of brand marketing strategy into the organizational eco-system of Kerzner International with relevant details in order to meet the learning outcomes specified in the assessment brief.
2. Section A
2.1. Selection of marketing strategy
When it comes to developing "defensive strategies" for an organization, customer relationships, customer support, legal protection, etc. are thoroughly evaluated (Avery and Gupta, 2015). On the other hand, an effectiveoffensive strategy for an organization is developed by evaluating first-mover advantage, comparative advertising, price leadership, and differentiation (Avery and Gupta, 2015). Concerning to this context, this paper will shed light upon various aspects of brand marketing strategy and its scopes of implementation in the recent post-pandemic phase. In this relevance, it must be included that a wide range of organizations has adopted a "brand marketing strategy" in order to maximize further possibilities of gaining competitive advantages over its contemporaries concerning to the high competitiveness of the marketplace (Koentjoro and Gunawan, 2020).
2.2. Brand Marketing Strategy
A brand marketing strategy refers to the tactics and plans applied by an organization in order to optimize promotional activities by influencing perception, build awareness and loyalty towards the brand (Varadarajan, 2020). Precisely, the brand marketing strategy involves a combination of initiatives and activitiesthat are focused on shaping the brand's image, and interaction with the target customers referring to their purchasing decisions. In general, an actionable brand marketing strategy is developed by evaluating the following aspects as enlisted below.
- Identification of target audience
Based on the information available at reliable sources, a brand marketing strategy is generally developed by understanding the psychographics, demographics, and various behavioral aspects including the purchasing behavior of the target audience (Saeidiet al. 2019). This strategic approach enables to select suitable communication channels in order to maximize customer reach. Thus, overall sustainable business growth can be achieved by influencing customer preferences.
- Brand Messaging
The term, “brand messaging” refers to the framework that communicates the benefits offered by the brand, its core values, etc (Avery and Gupta, 2015). In addition to this context, it is relevant to state that brand messaging must resonate with the target customers with an emphasis on proper differentiation from its contemporaries.
- Brand identity
As indicated in secondary sources, brand identity refers to the visual identity that includes a typography logo, and design elements that are focused to reflect the brand's values and personality(Koentjoro and Gunawan, 2020). This is to be included in this context that proper consistency among various branding elements across all significant marketing channels enables in creating of effective brand recognition to a great extent.
- Integrated marketing communications
Referring to real-world business scenarios, marketing channels are needed to be selected by evaluating the preference of targeted customers with an emphasis on their media consumption habits (Clausset al. 2021).
- Brand monitoring and analysis
Brand analysis and proper monitoring are indeed essential in the context of developing a brand marketing strategy (Varadarajan, 2020). It has been identified that proper brand analysis enhances the overall efficiency of “data-driven decisions” significantly.
- Adaptability and innovation
In this context, it is highly essential to state that innovation leads to embracing sustainable business growth. In respect to this concern, introducing innovation in the context of strategizing brand marketing tactics ensures agility and enables to gain a competitive advantage over the contemporaries (Azeemet al. 2021).
2.3. Advantages of brand marketing strategy in gaining competitive advantages
In accordance with the information stated in this report, a brand marketing strategy is usually developed to enable the companies to gain competitive advantages over the industry leaders. The same can be referred to as the key objective of effective, actionable brand marketing strategy development. Apart from that, some of the significant aspects of brand marketing strategy that eventually enable in gaining competitive advantages for the organizations are as follows;
• Brand marketing enables to create brand awareness and brand recognition of a product or service launched by an organization among the targeted consumers (Tu and Wu, 2021).
• In relevance, it is significant to state that a strong brand has an inherent value and the same can positively influence the sustainable business growth of an organization.
• The elementary concept of brand marketing is focused on creating emotional connections withcustomers (Papadaset al. 2019). In addition to this information, it must be included that such strategic initiative in developing emotional connection among the customers by creating hyper-awareness about the brand leads to maximizing customer loyalty, word-of-mouth approaches, repeat purchase opportunities, etc.
• It has been identified that effective brand marketing enables optimizing brand positioning. As a result, brand value gets increased over the period. Even, the strong brands tend to command a price premium in comparison to the lesser-known or generic alternatives.
• According to the information available at secondary sources, effective brand marketing can successfully engage customers and is empowered to positively influence customer loyalty to a great extent (Falahatet al. 2020).
• Apart from the enlisted, a strong brand can optimize further business expansion opportunities into new competitive business domains or product lines.
• Brand marketing can also be considered as long-term strategic planning that aims to create a sustainable competitive advantage for the organizations.
• Even, a strong "brand" ensures successful brand extensions over the period by introducing innovative products or service launches (Clausset al. 2021).
2.4. Disadvantages of brand marketing strategy
The disadvantages of brand marketing approaches are also needed to be evaluated in the course of drafting an actionable brand marketing strategy inspite of its significant advantages. Some of the crucial disadvantages of brand marketing are as follows;
• The development of an effective “brand marketing strategy” is a multi-step initiative. It is an expensive and undoubtedly time-consuming affair.
• It has already been stated that "brand marketing" is a strategic initiative and it comprises multiple steps. Due to this, adequate effort is also required to strategize brand marketing initiatives.
• Even, a brand marketing strategy is hardly able to resonate with all consumers. It can encourage only the targeted consumers towards product purchasing.
• Based on the information available at reliable sources, the changing preferences of consumers can significantly cause "impediments" in the context of adopting "brand marketing" for the companies to a certain extent (Farida and Setiawan, 2022).
• The strong market presence of a brand can get tarnished by negative publicity or a single mistake. The same can be referred to as a ‘brand reputation risk” and it can challenge further scopes of gaining competitive advantages for those organizations to some certain extent (Reinikainenet al. 2021).
• Apart from that, over-reliance on external factors can cause significant hindrances in adopting brand marketing tactics for companies. As indicated in the secondary sources, industry trends, economic conditions, and cultural shifts, etc. often influences significant brand marketing aspects (Robertson et al. 2020).
• Not only that, ineffective maintenance of “brand messaging activities” along with its execution across different marketing channels leads to cause challenges to a certain extent.
2.5. The theoretical consensus for thebrand marketing strategy
In accordance with the discussion reflected throughout this paper, Brand Marketing Strategy is usually developed in order to expedite further scopes of gaining competitive advantages over the contemporaries. In addition to this context, it is relevant to state that a well-designed brand marketing strategy enables an organization in optimizing its sustainable business growth over the period (Falahatet al. 2020). Precisely, it can be derived that an effective "brand marketingstrategy” of an organization plays such a significant role in maximizing its “organizational longevity” to a great extent.
Figure 1: Significant aspects to be evaluated when strategizing brand marketing
(Source:Koet al. 2019).
In a nutshell, it is highly essential to analyze the "market competitiveness" of the business environment in the first place. It is immensely required in strategizing actionable brand marketing tactics in order to maximize targeted customer reach. Precisely, a properly defined brand goal enables to ensure sustainable business growth of an organization by carrying out the relevant practices (Koet al. 2019). Therefore, market segmentation is needed in order to obtain the best possible results in return. In accordance with the diagram represented above, the adoption of an effective brand marketing strategy has become an indeed essentiality for a significant range of organizations nowadaysin terms of strategic “damage control” initiatives, especially in the post-pandemic days (Crick and Crick, 2020).
3. Section B
3.1. Selected company
The applicability of brand marketing strategy and its significance will be discussed in support of an organizational instance, Kerzner International.
3.2. Overview of Kerzner International referring to its competitive positioning
Kerzner International offers hotel and hospitality services to a significant range of customers across the globe (kerzner, 2023). Precisely, it is an eminent name that provides global hospitality services including hotels, luxury resorts, and casinos.Kerzner International has strengthened its brand positioning as a" luxury brand" with iconic properties such as Atlantis, The Palm, Paradise, etc. The brand identity of ‘Kerzner International" ensures the exclusive offering of hotel and hospitality services to its targeted audiences. Precisely, Kerzner International ensures innovative and unique offerings such as world-class amenities, distinct architectural designs, exceptional entertainment options, marine habitats, water parks, etc.
The extensive global reach of Kerzner International is duly supported by its brand recognition, high demand, competitive positioning, and strategicability to grab customers’ attention. This customer-centric business model has enabled Kerzner International to gain customer loyalty and a significant range of word-of-mouth recommendations. As per the information available at secondary sources, Kerzner International has established partnerships with eminent organizations and various renowned brands (kerzner, 2023). It is expected that the same has eventually helped Kerzner International to optimize its sustainable business growth. Therefore, it can be claimed that effective brand marketing has played such a strategic role for Kerzner International to enable this company in gaining competitive advantages and to strengthen its competitive positioning at the global scale.
The information obtained from the secondary sources has confirmed that Kerzner International integrates “sustainable practices” by recognizing the significance of sustainability and environmental responsibility (kerzner, 2023). Such environmental-friendly sustainable business initiatives have enabled Kerzner International to strengthen its competitive advantage. Apart from that, Kerzner International has expanded its business operations at the international level by introducing innovation and development to its organizational structure (kerzner, 2023). The official website of Kerzner International has confirmed that adequate investment is regularly initiated to ensure property development and to grab customers’ attention. This strategic practice has enabled Kerzner International to remain highly competitive in the luxury hospitality industry domain and enabled this company in maximizing its competitive edge as a global market player.
4. Section C
4.1. Application of brand marketing strategy as key business tactics of Kerzner International
The information unveiled in this paper has claimed that Kerzner International has adopted a brand marketing strategy in optimizing its business operational activities. Even, the multi-step, actionable approach of brand marketing strategy has enabled Kerzner International to gain competitive advantages at the global scale even in the post-pandemic phase inspite of high ambiguity in the marketplace. In addition to this context, it is significant to state that the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has caused significant operational challenges, especially in the context of the luxury hotel and hospitality domain (Knudsen et al. 2021). Even, this environmental crisis has enabled Kerzner International to reflect loopholes where improvement can be introduced to gain competitive advantages at the later phase.
The same can be referred to as the key reasons why Kerzner International has adopted a brand marketing strategy in enhancing overall sustainable business growth in the post-COVID-19 pandemic days. Some significant aspects referring to the adoption of brand marketing strategy as one of the strategic business tactics for Kerzner International are needed to be discussed with relevant details.The elementary purpose of Kerzner International to adopt brand marketing practice is to maximize its scope of gaining competitive advantages. Based on the information available at reliable sources, Kerzner International tends to gain a significant competitive advantage over its contemporaries by initiating proper monetary investment in carrying out the processes involved in brand marketing practices(kerzner, 2023).
The concerned authorities of Kerzner International are well-aware that a strong brand presence at the global competitive scale can attract consumers even in a highly volatile marketplace(kerzner, 2023). Concerning to this context, wide applications of brand marketing tactics are often identified as another key business process for Kerzner International.In this context, it is relevant to state that an effective, actionable brand marketing strategy enables Kerzner International to address and specify the targeted audience in terms of its luxury offerings. This paper has already confirmed that Kerzner International is a globally recognized luxury brand that belongs to the hotel and hospitality industry sector(kerzner, 2023).
The adoption of a brand marketing strategy has enabled Kerzner International to differentiate itself from the existing competitors due to having a strong brand image. It can be assumed that a well-defined brand marketing strategy will help in facilitating the international market entry of Kerzner International by introducing and strengthening its brand positioning properly in the new regions in the coming days.
Last but not least; the competitors may try to imitate the strategic aspects of brand marketing in optimizing their business expansion and strengthening "brand positioning" in the competitive landscape. In this case, Kerzner International may need to revise its "customer-centric business model" to some extent and may also require adding some dynamic brand marketing tactics to enhance overall operational efficiency.
5. Conclusion
The exhaustive discussion initiated throughout this paper has confirmed that an effective understanding of marketing strategy theory enables to develop an actionable marketing strategy for an organization as also relevant in the context of Kerzner International. The literary content of this report has been obtained from a wide range of scholarly articles. This paper has evaluated why a significant range of organizations are now interested to practice “brand marketing strategy” in order to ensure sustainable organizational longevity over the period. Even, a crucial environmental uncertainty caused due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak has also influenced the companies to adopt effective marketing strategies so that sustainable business growth can be ensured. In a nutshell, brand marketing strategy is one of the effective marketing strategies that can be extensively adopted by organizations in order to ensure a competitive edge, especially in post-pandemic days.
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