Marketing and Communications : Samsung Galaxy S8

Question

Task: Discuss about the Report for Marketing and Communications (Marketing Plan of Samsung Galaxy S8

Answer

Executive Summary:
Samsung Electronics is one of the towering technology giants on the global landscape and has been noted for their outstanding selling of smartphones. In the recent times, the company had successfully introduced the Galaxy S and the J series for the high end and the budget buyers. The launch of these products have found overnight acceptance and have rapidly increased their popularity in the market. It had, in fact, been noted that with the launch of these diversified and innovative products, the company had significantly outnumbered their major market competitors and had become of the leading mobiles sellers on the global scale. It is to be noted that the amplified popularity of the Galaxy S8 smartphone and Samsung J7 had necessitated it for the Samsung marketing decision to design a strategic marketing plan for increasing the sale of Samsung Galaxy S8. Therefore, the purpose of this report is to design an effective marketing plan and strategy for enhancing the popularity of Samsung Galaxy S8. It will be the objective of the company to carry out an effective market research in their target market and accordingly identify the potential scopes for their marketing activities. It will be the objective of the company to design a strategy and marketing plan as opposed to their market rival that is Apple. Therefore, the present study will carry out an internal and external analysis. Based on the findings, the marketing experts of the company will identify the opportunities whereupon they could enhance their marketing activities for enhancing the sale of Samsung Galaxy S8.

Company Overview:
The company of Samsung Electronics was founded in the year 1938 by its founder Lee Byung-Chul. The headquarters of this South Korean company was based in Suwon which is a popular unit for manufacturing mobiles. It is to be noted that the electronic division of the company generates about 70% of their annual revenue and accordingly, it had been reported that Samsung had earned revenue turnover of 200 million in 2016 and had experienced a significant increase in their market share. The company had excelled in several other domains of manufacturing electronic products including LCD, washing machine, and laptop and had been globally ranked the 3rd position for excelling in talent development, popularly known as the Association for Talent Development Award.

In the recent times, the company has excelled in their line of smartphones. It had been reported by the Forbes magazine that Samsung provides the best Android Smartphone platform. Apart from their Android Platform, they are providing a number of innovative features and technological benefits that had helped them reach out to a greater customer base. Some of their innovative features include the fingerprint reader, hand gesture features. It has been reported that the company had successfully survived the Asian financial crisis in 1997. One of the major steps initiated by the Samsung is the launching of their iconic smart watch in 2016 and had been critically acclaimed by the technology experts as one of the outstanding innovations. However, it has been observed by the marketing experts of the company that they are facing competition on their global landscape from the technology giants like Apple and Google. A wide range products sold by the rival company has flooded the market. They are being offered at a competitive price, and it had considerably affected the revenue turnover of the company (Bloomberg.com., 2016)

Current Marketing Analysis: (SWOT and PESTLE)
In order to identify the potential opportunities in the target market, it is imperative for the marketing experts and the research experts to carry out a target market research through the application of the appropriate tools of analysis (Armstrong et al. 2014). This would involve the application of the PESTLE and the SWOT analysis of the prevalent market situation, such that it would help the marketing experts to identify the marketing opportunities. Both of the research tools have been employed and presented herein:

Macro-environmental factors (PESTLE Analysis)

• Political factors: On the political front, it has been noted that Samsung Electronics had considerably impacted the revenue of the domestic market, in several direct and indirect ways (Samsung Electronics America, 2016). Some of the political aspects like military condition, political and governmental stability are some of the significant determinants of this aspect. In the light of this context, it is to be noted that Samsung Electronics had been involved in several political scandals in the domestic market that is in South Korea (Bloomberg.com 2016). However, in terms of market expansion, the company is in a politically favorable position. They have also succeeded in maintaining a stable relation with the government of the host countries. However, it is to be noted that the governmental instability in Latin America as well as in Africa has impacted upon the expansion programmed of the company. However, the business experts of the company always come up with competent plans in strategically countering the operational challenges.
• Economic factor: On the economic front, it is to be noted that strong South Korean currency had strongly impacted upon the domestic market of Samsung Electronics, thereby proving detrimental to their revenue generation. This is the reason why the company had chosen to follow a strategy of market expansion on the global market. Therefore, by expanding in the developing countries, the company had experienced a significant impetus to their revenue turnover. However, after the global economic crisis of 2007, the international market of the company has suffered a setback by 6%. It had significantly impacted the purchasing power of the global clients. This is the reason why the company is seeking market expansion in newer markets.
• Socio-cultural factors: Samsung marketing experts and the R&D division are constantly working to find out the latest market trends, public demands and the innovation that could be employed for the Samsung product development and improvement. Based on their findings which are determined after an extensive market analysis, the Samsung Electronics are continuously innovating products that would fit the customer taste, trend, and needs. Accordingly, the Galaxy smartphones and the smartwatches were designed with the latest innovative features to satisfy the customer trend for the fast and effective life. Therefore, Samsung has been successful in tailoring products according to the cultural demands and trends across the globe.
• Technological factors: On the front of technological innovation and up gradations, it is needless to mention that Samsung has always been on the up front. The technology and innovation divisions are continuously endeavoring to improve and innovate their software’s, application strategy while harnessing the power of technology. In this regard, it is to be noted that the company has gathered all the necessary legislative rights and patents. Therefore, in this regard, it is to be noted that the power of innovation drive has been best utilized by the Samsung Electronics management.
• Legal Factors: In the recent years, the company had faced serious issues in the matter of copyright. They had been tied up in the legal complexities with their competitor Apple, who had sued them in the copyright infringement policy in the recent years for copying their iPhone design for their Galaxy smartphone. It had considerably tarnished the organizational image in the global market. They had also countered issues in regard to the wireless communication regulations. However, apart from these issues, the company adheres by all the norms as per the copyright and corporate obligations.
• Environmental: Samsung Electronics has tried to keep up with the ethical and the policy of sustainability in their corporate and business practices. They have included in their program an array of CSR activities that aims at rendering certain beneficial impacts on the society. They do not compromise with the labor law and have initiated a number of environmentally sustainable practices. In some of remote villages in India, Samsung Electronics have initiated a number of programmers for education of the impoverished children. They have also proposed the starting of a number of healthcare programmes that would aim at providing healthcare checkup for the poverty stricken from time to time and facilitate cheap medicines.
• SWOT analysis:

Strength Corporate branding and global reputation Developed R&D Unit of the company Strong marketing strategies and potential About 40% market share of the smartphone industry is owned by Samsung (Samsung America.com, 2016)	Weaknesses Have too much of product diversity The brand reputation has suffered in the recent years as the company has been mired up in the copyright infringement issues. Too much of legal complicacies.
Opportunities They have a strong financial resource base Capability of market expansion in new ventures Strong market holds in the developing countries like Bangladesh, India and other Asian markets. They have a strong market acquisition power.	Threats Towering technology giants like Google, Nokia, and Apple have a major market share and strong hold in the international market. The marketing trends are subjected to frequent changes The Chinese competitors are gaining potential control in the emerging markets Consequently, the bargaining power of the customer has become high.

• Objectives: It is imperative to understand that the primary objective of the company is to gain a strong market hold through the introduction of the groundbreaking products like Samsung Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S series, laptops et al. The company had earned its name in terms of product diversification, by the virtue of which they are offering, both premium and budget ranges of products to a wide range of customer base. In the light of this context, it is imperative to note that Samsung has offered a wide range of innovation in their range of S7 model. For instance, the new edge feature is an innovative development that enhances the user experience by allowing an enhanced display and notification properties that could be easily read(De Mooji, 2013). In order to market their product innovation, the company has decided to blueprint an aggressive marketing strategy. Accordingly, a marketing strategy has been designed for the marketing of Samsung Galaxy S7 model and with the due success that was achieved in the same; the company has decided to plan something more influential, and active for the promotion of S8 model, the next in line of S8 series (Levinson, 2012).

In the light of this aspect, it is to be understood that it is necessary for the marketing experts of the Samsung to carry out a market research through the application of the target market segmentation. The finding through the application of the STP would help the company determine the potential scope that they can harness in enhancing their marketing activities (Levinson, 2012).

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP):
Strategy and Segmentation: By the virtue of the market segmentation and strategy, the marketing experts of the company have decided to analyze the target market based on the demographic factors. The demographic factors based on age, income, lifestyle will be taken into consideration for deciding the customer strength of the target market. It is understood that the target customer identified will be the middle class people and the young generation who are interested in the latest gadget innovation. It will target mainly the business professionals, young adults and the teenagers. With reference to the given context, it is understood that the Samsung Electronics should employ the Ansoff Matrix for launching the proposed product.

Figure: Ansoff matrix
Source: (Author)

Target:
It will be the objective of the company to address the customers on both, international and the domestic market. It has already been discussed that the S8 range of the Galaxy phone would target the customer from the middle and the high-end class of the society. Therefore, the segmentation would be carried out based on the following determinatives:

Positioning:
It has been reported that the latest proposed model of Samsung S8 Galaxy will successfully meet majority of the customer criteria and has won the support of their loyal customer base across the world. According to the observation of the Samsung CEO, it has been confirmed that the proposed model of the phone will successfully deliver several latest technological developments and features that would surely satisfy the customer demand and efficiency. This design would consist of 30 megapixel camera, 4000mAh power battery, face recognition, geo tagging, retina eye scanner, corning gorilla glass, rapid charging technology and several such added features, which are sure to be rendered useful to the customers. All these introduced features are innovative and technologically ahead to that of the competitive products (Dwyer and Priluck, 2012). It would not only help in generating competitive advantage over the rival companies but would also make sure that the product is available uniformly in the global market.

Figure: Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
Source: (Rosenbloom 2012)

Tactics and Actions:
As per the observation provided by Civi (2013), it has been contended that the strategy of marketing implementation is one of the crucial processes that is responsible for product promotion and popularity. Accordingly, the marketing division of Samsung would focus on the integrated communication and marketing strategy. Therefore, in order to effectuate a proper implementation of the marketing blueprint (Leavell and Cooper, 2016). It would be the responsibility of the marketing executives to put the strategies into action through the implementation of the 7Ps of marketing that has been elaborated in here.

Price:
It would be the target of the company to fix their product price at a reasonable rate such that it becomes affordable to the target class of customer. It has been already set that the product would be targeted out to the middle class and the business class of people so that they can purchase the product within their target price range.

Product:
The brand new Samsung Galaxy S8 is complemented with all the technological features that include fast processor, 4000 mAh battery 30-megapixel camera and so on. The improved features of the phone will be rendered useful and will satisfy the trending demands of the global citizens.

Place:
It has been reported by the marketing division of the company that Samsung Galaxy S8 will be launched all over the world, through the developing countries like China, Bangladesh, India will be the new marketing destinations for Samsung.

Promotion:
The Company will implement several promotional activities with the aim to enhance the product popularity. Therefore, the company will design some innovative strategies and advertise the same through the online and offline media. Thus, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat are some of the important platforms on line to reach out to the target customer base. Offline point media like newspaper, journals and magazines would also assist in their advertisement campaigns. Sponsorship with other brands will enhance their measures.

It has been pointed out that the target customer base for the products are the middle class and the business class of people who take interest in such fast processing devices.

Physical environment:
The business environment of Samsung is essentially technology driven. The R&D unit of the company is constantly endeavoring to follow up the trending market demands and technological innovations available.

Process:
The process of marketing of the proposed product will be carried out through a set of categorical and phrased events. The entire marketing process will be designed and delivered through an action plan. The designed action plan will cover all the aspects of the online, offline marketing and promotional campaigns.

Budget:
In light of the budget aspect, it has been made clear by Son et al. that it is the responsibility of the marketing manager of the Samsung and the other corporate decision makers of the organisation. It rests upon them, upon the advice of the marketing experts to select the suitable marketing strategy for the company. It has been observed that the company had invested in the primary marketing modes. It has been done by them with the aim to stimulate the product innovation and future development. In regard to this context, the marketing experts of Samsung has suggested that the company must carry on their advertising activity through their official websites, retail outlets that would be selling the proposed product (Kotler et al., 2015). Based of the same, an appropriate budget plan has been developed:

Based on the above observations, the following budget plan have been developed:

Control:
It is imperative for the company to develop a controlling plan with the objective of lancing their marketing campaign. Therefore, with this objective on mind, the marketing manager of Samsung would arrange for a meeting with the Board of Directors. The developed action plan and budget for the marketing would be presented before the corporate management for approval, before putting into action. The meeting would primarily focus on the advertising and promotion agenda of Samsung Galaxy S8. Accordingly, several potential strategies would be discussed in the meeting. It is also understood that before arranging the meeting, all the concerned individuals would be familiarized and intimated with the innovative product promotion strategy (Son et al., 2015).

Conclusion and Recommendation:
Therefore, it is understood from the above assignment that it is the primary responsibility of the Samsung marketing team to carry out an appropriate market research in the target market to effectuate a successful promotional activity of the proposed product. It is through the market study, based on the target market segmentation, positioning, and macro environmental analysis, the potential marketing scope and opportunities could be determined. It would be the objective of the Samsung marketing team to enhance the popularity and the productivity of the company and the international and the national level, while increasing their customer base.

Recommendation:
It is understood that the primary objective of the company is to enhance their revenue turnover. It has been forecasted that with the launch of the proposed Samsung product that is Galaxy S8 model. It is therefore recommended that the management should adopt an aggressive campaigning policy. Consequently, it would implement both, the online and the offline mediums, involving the social networking sites, print media, advertisement, journal, leaflets and brochures. The marketing activities would be further enhanced by the application of the theoretical approaches based on which the advertising strategies should be blueprinted.

Application of the promotional mix theory to decision selection:
It is recommended that the application of the proposed promotional mix strategies should be exercised in alignment with the AIDA model. The implementation of the AIDA model will enhance the effectiveness of the promotional campaign.

Attention:
It assists in generating awareness about the proposed product and the brand value. In the light of this context, it is to be noted that it is the responsibility of the marketing division to create a strong product image such that it would stimulate the customer curiosity. In stimulating customer curiosity, the marketing managers would incorporate in the understanding of the consumer behaviour model. Consumer behaviour model is an important determinant in creating consumer awareness among the customers through advertising. The marketing managers would make sure that the target customer base is rightly addressed (Kim et al., 2012). A strong image that is conceptually stimulating and visually appealing would be created to generate the consumer awareness.

Interest:
As it has already been discussed, it is important to stimulate the customer awareness about their proposed new products. The same could be achieved through the marketing techniques. The marketing executives should ensure that while designing their marketing activities a special emphasis is laid on the innovative and the technological features of the new phone. It will stir the interest of the potential customers who might exhibit interest in the product detail. This could be achieved through visual and intellectual stimulation. The customer will desire to know about the operational functions of the model. They will desire to know that how the purchase the same will benefit them as opposed to the purchase of a similar competitive product. In this regard, the online advertising campaigns could play an active role in deciding the product promotion.

Desire:
It is contended that after the promotional activities of the company has provoked the interest of the customers, the same should be intensified. In growing the customer interest, the developed features of the Galaxy S8 will be impressed upon the customers. At this point, personal interactions with the customers and sharing videos on the social media would be helpful in enhancing the same.

Action:
The final stage of the promotional activity involves the materialization of the developed action plan that will be achieved through a series of promotional campaigns and activities (Rosenbloom, 2012).

Figure: AIDA model
Source: Author

Identification of the Target Audience
It is imperative for the marketing division of the Samsung Electronics to identify the target customer and effectively reach out to them.

Reference List
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Bloomberg.com. (2016). Samsung Set to Boost Spending as S7 Revives Phone Fortunes. [online] Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-05/samsung-set-to-boost-spending-as-s7-revives-smartphone-fortunes [Accessed 9 Jul. 2016].

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