Analysis On Marketing Communication Mix Of KORA Organics

Question

Task: Individually, you required to write a 2000-word report based on the scenario provided in the assessment
instructions.
Assessment Description.
This assessment is a culmination piece, in which you will be given an opportunity to combine the information you
have accumulated in Assessments 1 and 2. More importantly, you will need to showcase an understanding of
marketing issues related to consumer behaviours such as attitudes, group influences, culture, social class,
consumer learning processes, and personal buying decision-making processes.
Assessment Instructions
Your task is to imagine that you have just been employed by the company of your chosen product or service that
you analysed in your earlier assessments and that the marketing department of this company has asked you to
prepare a 2000- word report in which you must:
1. Write a concise executive summary that covers all of the significant findings of your report (not included in the word limit of this submission)
2. Provide a concise overview of the product or service and its market performance (300 words).
3. Critically examine the company’s current marketing communication mix by considering how it targets
consumers’ attitudes, group influences, culture, social class, consumer learning processes, and personal buying decision-making processes. Please note that not all of these topics may  apply to
your chosen product or service (600 words).
4. Critically analyse whether or not the communication mix demonstrates a strong alignment to your findings
in assessment 1 and 2 (600 words).
5. Provide at least three strategic recommendations that either address previously identified misalignment
OR proposed ways in which identified alignment can be strengthened. Please incorporate recent peerreviewed literature to justify your proposed recommendations (500 words). Recommendations should not
include manufacturing or operational improvements.
6. Include Appendices (optional and not included in the word count) and Reference List (mandatory not
included in the word count).

Answer

Executive summary
The report is based on the critical analysis of consumer behaviour and psychology of customers towards the products and services of KORA Organics. The marketing communication mix elements are explained for the company’s communication strategy. KORA Organics is an organic and healthy skin products brand, launched in the year 2009, and founded by Miranda Kerr. The report describes the complete picture of products and services served by the company with the market performance. The impact of marketing communication mix on the culture, society, business environment, and consumer decision making power towards the company products is also explained. The report also concludes some positive recommendations for the company to increase the consumer buying and psychology.

Overview of the Company and its market performance
The product is a routine skin care package of Kora Organics. The three-step system for sensitive skin pack includes cleanser, Mist and a moisturizer which is infused with natural ingredients and high performance certified organic like Jojoba oil, Herbal Extracts, Aloe Vera, Vitamins etc. KORA Organics is a brand which provides organic products. The products of the company consist of certified natural body and skin care products. The vital ingredients in the goods involve NONI Extract, Rose seed oil, Rose energised water, Vitamin A, C and E (Išorait?, 2016).

The products are free from cruelty and are not used on animals. KORA Organics is one of the top brands in the booming natural and organic beauty market, whose value is expected to reach $13.2 billion this year and the estimated net worth of company is $45 million. The organic products of the company are sold in more than 400 stores of Australia and covers growing department store David Jones limited. Goods are also sold in international market by online website and via luxury e-retailer. As per the income statement of the company, the sales in 2015 were 59 million USD and it is increased to 1716 million USD in 2019. The total assets of the company are 3957 million in 2020 and it is estimated that it will be increased up to 7421 million in 2023. It shows that the market performance of the company has been very good in the recent years (RusdiHidayat, et. al., 2018).

What is the marketing communication mix approach of company?
The marketing communication mix includes the techniques and methods which can be used to communicate with the customers. The elements of marketing which are included in the marketing communication mix are vital to add value to the goods and services so that consumers will automatically purchase the products and the high competition can be met. Normally, when KORA creates its marketing communication plan, it combines several forms of communication channels which can be used to promote its products (Kellaris and Machleit, 2016).

Advertising: KORA Organics focuses on its advertising efforts in order to promote its products. The company’s founder Miranda Kerr is the biggest support for the company to advertise its products. The product is advertised on the social media channels, magazines, in stores and through other channels. The influence of Miranda Kerr is high on her followers which is also reflected on the sales of Kora Organics. The posts of the products on Instagram and public reviews are making it more attractive for the public. Advertising is the mass media marketing communication method that gives exposure to group of people, and highly geographically circulated audience at the lowest price per head. Advertising is the promotion form which is measured as a non-personal promotional mix because the KORA doesn’t meet people directly and face to face while advertising. While implementing marketing communication mix strategy, the company has to take care of different cultures and languages which are used by the people in different regions.

Sales promotion: Sales promotion is a technique which provides discounts to its customers and some special offers that attracts and motivates them to buy the products (Porcu, et. al., 2017). Kora Organics provides discounts in festive seasons and on buying the products in kits and bulk. Selling in bulks promotes the sales of the company. The company targets the upper middle-class consumers who follows celebrities for a daily updates and their lifestyle patterns. The prices of the products are not very high and can be afforded by upper middle-class population.

Personal Selling: Personal selling is one of the top cost-effective types of promotion; business may feel the requirements of customers and may make up a package for customer to fulfill their demands (Carillo and Redondo, 2018). Sales representatives of the KORA use friendly and affectionate type of approach for the consumers. Public relations are also used by the KORA to make its image better in front of the public. There is a distinct department for this type of promotion, and this department is mainly focused to enhance the goodwill of company in customer’s eyes. Personal selling has a great impact on the customer learning process as well. The information which is gathered by the customers during the process of personal selling can be used by them in making future purchases. (Greenn and Keegan, 2019).

Direct marketing: Direct marketing is another method that enables KORA Organics to communicate with large number of people and influence towards the products and services of company (Falát and Holub?ík, 2017). Kora uses its Customer relationship programs in order to stay in touch with its customers. They ask for feedbacks, reviews and suggestions which would help them to bring improvement in their products. The company uses social media and emails in order to stay in touch and send promotional messages and mails to their customers or the potential ones who have shown interest in their products or websites while implementing marketing communication mix approach. Here, customer attitudes can be taken into consideration and the intentions and behaviour of an individual can be analysed in order to sell the product to the customers.

Private interactions with the customers via events: The most effective technique of marketing communication is the private interaction with customers. It is a very essential technique for changing the attitudes of customers is personal sales promotion. Persuasion is other necessary factor, but it must be used in positive manner. The customer’s social environment also plays a significant role in changing the customer’s attitudes (Smedescu, et. al., 2016).

Group Influence: Marketing communication includes achieving or enhancing awareness, shared meaning and beliefs, better understanding, positive connections, predispositions and attitudes in regards with KORA products and services. With the help of advertising, sales promotion and public relations, the brand can make influence on number of people (Song, Meysam and Shaheen, 2016).

Culture: There are certain cultural issues based on the marketing communication mix that the marketers are required to consider when interacting with target customers in several cultures. Language is a big challenge for the company to communicate with the customers who use different languages. Single language cannot be used for the promotion of KORA organics products. The marketing communication channels must follow the culture and beliefs of country where products of the KORA are advertised and served (Smedescu, et. al., 2016).

Customer learning processes: The learning process of customer includes the interpretation of information about goods and services and using this knowledge in purchase patterns and behaviour of consumption. Customer learning can be intentional, where learning results in better search of information. With the help of marketing communication mix, essentials advertising, public relations, sales promotion, personal selling and direct marketing, the company motivates customers towards the products and services of KORA (Zhang, et. al., 2016).

Critical analysis of marketing communication mix
As mentioned in the first assessment, the selected KORA organics products are natural and herbal. It is analysed from the first assessment that; products and services of KORA are popular around the world and its popularity gaining large number of customers every year. The survey report in the assessment 2 showed that the skin products of KORA are used by 80% people of the country. The communication is necessary tool between the business and customers in order to enhance the transactions or to increase the routine sales of KORA. It is necessary to describe here that correct marketing communication mix is essential to be selected that suites the KORA Business requirements and it is the clear method of company to convey the message (Sharif and Butt, 2017). Integrated communication of marketing is a model of marketing communication planning which analyses roles and responsibilities of communication disciplines and mixes these disciplines to give uniformity, simplicity and good communication effect. With the help of marketing communication mix elements, the sales and image of KORA products are increasing day by day and it makes a strong position of the brand in the market (Van Grinsven and Das, 2016).

It is further analyzed from the assessment two that the demand of the products of KORA is increased at the time of holiday season. Customers followed three step skin care system regimes as they watch Miranda Kerr in the advertisement doing the same. Advertising messages promote the adoption of products, ideas and services of the KORA and it is the cheap method to reach the customers. With the use of images and symbols, advertising helps in differentiating the services and products of the company. Advertising also supports and maintain brand equity, which is intangible asset and results from customer attachments, differentiation or impressions and favourable image.

Sometimes, too much use of marketing communication mix creates wrong impact on the goodwill and sales of KORA organics. Too much of information and promotion can leak the sensitive information out in the public and competitors. It can be dangerous during manufacturing new goods or undergoing changes in organisation. Sales promotion over - saturate the market with advertisements and it may reduce the effectiveness of marketing communication mix (Duralia, 2018). Too much sales promotion can send the incorrect or fake messages to the customers and can destroy the reputation of the company (Finne and Grönroos, 2017).

Recommendations
After the analysis of assessment 1 and 2 on marketing communication mix, it can be recommended to KORA organics that:

Product innovation and promotion: the company should focus on product innovation. It should continuously ask for feedback from the customers through direct selling, personal selling and other social media platforms. Key sources of information involve the social circles, internet and the old media sources. The company may receive negative comments and feedbacks irrespective of providing good quality of products and services to its customers. However, the company should take lessons from it and should work on increasing the quality and availability of the products. The products should be made innovative and unique so that it can be different from its competitors in the market. The company should also focus on promoting the product on the basis for its innovative and quality features which are different from the competitors (Valos, et. al., 2016).

New discounts and offers: In order to implement an effective marketing communication mix, the company should focus more on providing seasonal discounts and packages which attracts new and existing customers to buy the products of KORA. The company has good coverage on social media and should make a great use of it by reaching maximum customers and also alluring them by providing more discounts and price slashes so that the sales can be increased. Also, the company can make use of direct selling with this to make customer feel special. Mails can be sent to the customers which can be personalised, and customers can be influenced in those mails to become a loyal customer of the company.

Redesign price strategy: The price strategy of the KORA is proper for the high and upper middle-class people, but there is a need to analyse and emphasise on pricing for mid upper-class population and lower-class population. This could help company in building better relations with the public and to gain more market in the beauty sector (Finne and Grönroos, 2017). This will have more coverage of the market and the company could design different products which can fulfill the needs of every section of the society. There can be various brands designed for lower as well as high price range so that everyone can afford them.

References
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Duralia, O., 2018. Integrated marketing communication and its impact on consumer behavior. Studies in Business and Economics, 13(2), pp.92-102.

Falát, L. and Holub?ík, M., 2017. The influence of marketing communication on financial situation of the company–a case from automobile industry. Procedia Engineering, 192, pp.148-153.

Finne, Å. and Grönroos, C., 2017. Communication-in-use: customer-integrated marketing communication. European Journal of Marketing, 51(3), pp.445-463.

Green, M.C. and Keegan, W.J., 2019. Global Marketing. Pearson.

Išorait?, M., 2016.Marketing mix theoretical aspects. International journal of research granthaalayah, 4(6), pp.25-37.

Kellaris, J.J. and Machleit, K.A., 2016. Signage as marketing communication: A conceptual model and research propositions. Interdisciplinary Journal of Signage and Wayfinding, 1(1).

Porcu, L., Del Barrio-Garcia, S. and Kitchen, P.J., 2017. Measuring integrated marketing communication by taking a broad organisational approach. European Journal of Marketing.

Rusdihidayat, N., Poernomo, E., Waluyo, M. And Otok, B.W., 2018. The Model of Risk of Travel Ticket Purchasing Decisions on Marketing Communication Mix in Online Site Using Structural Equation Modeling. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology. 9(5). Pp. 847-856 

Sharif, A. and Butt, H., 2017.Online businesses and influence of e-marketing on customer satisfaction. Journal of Humanities Insights, 1(02), pp.89-93.

Smedescu, D.A., Ivanov, A.E., Ioanas, E. and Fruth, A., 2016. Marketing Communications Mix in Higher Education Institutions. International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and Management Sciences, 5, p.5.

Song, B.L., Meysam, S. and Shaheen, M., 2016. The effects of marketing stimuli factors on consumers’ perceived value and purchase of organic food in Malaysia. Jurnal Pengurusan, 47, pp.119-130.

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