Marketing Planning
Part 1: Using a product
of your choice, undertake both the internal and external Audit of a product
using the categories for both Audits discusses in Class.
In this report, I will be
carrying out a marketing plan for a Telecommunication Organization called MTN
Nigeria. MTN Nigeria is a part of the MTN Group, Africa ’s
leading cellular telecommunications company. On May 16, 2001 , MTN became the first GSM network
to make a call following the globally lauded Nigerian GSM auction conducted by
the Nigerian Communications Commission earlier in the year. (http://www.mtnonline.com).
MTN Nigeria is a South
African company that invested in Nigerian after the Nigerian government raised
the ban on international investors investing in Nigeria Nigeria
being the giant of Africa had a good target audience and was a good market with
an estimation of over 140 million populations (http://www.bbc.co.uk) and
as at then, Nigeria Uganda , Rwanda ,
Cameroun and Swaziland
E-Care
Blackberry from MTN
Prepaid Roaming
Music online
Connect 4life etc.
In order to clearly
analyze the business using the SWOT analysis, I will be focusing on MTN
business as a whole as this will give a clear overview of its strengths,
weakness and will help identify its threats in relation to its competitors.
In order for business to
make successful strategic decisions, it needs to first understand both the
internal and external factors governing the environment in which they operate.
These factors include identifying its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats (SWOT) also the political, economical, sociological, technological,
legal and environmental factors (PESTLE). By taking into account these
environmental factors, the business can take advantage of maximising the
relevant opportunities available and also minimise the threats within its
market.
These factors based on
the SWOT and PESTLE analysis will be grouped into two parts (internal and
external) as shown below Internal factors been the factors in which the
business has some form of control on and the external been factors beyond the
control of the business.
S
|
w
|
O
|
T
|
(Internal Factors)
(External Factors)
The strength and the
weaknesses as the Internal factor and the Opportunities and strength as the
External factor
Internal Factors
Strength: Being the first company in Mobile communication in Nigeria they have a strong hold of dominance in the
Nigeria Nigeria
MTN Nigeria
has been able to form some kind of partnership with T-Mobile, so that their
services can be used in the UK
Weaknesses: MTN Nigeria
is still lagging behind, in terms of technology compared to international
mobile companies because they only started operating in Nigeria
Very poor
mobile reception in some parts of Nigeria
Telephone
calls clashing with other telephone calls.
External
Factors
Opportunities: After the
military regime was taken over by democracy, the Nigerian economy has since
grown and is still growing; the demand for mobile telecommunication is really
high. This means that MTN has the opportunity to still remain in the market for
a long time so as to meet the needs of the people.
Due to the fact that
there are still some developing villages in Nigeria
There are 53 African
countries in the world; MTN Nigeria has the opportunity of investing in the
remaining 48 countries since they have only been able to invest in only 5 of
the 53 African countries.
Threats: There are now
four other mobile telecommunication industries in Nigeria (Globacom, Zane, MTN,
Multilink), who pose has a threat to MTN, because they are also growing and
installing their masses in the same area as MTN, and offering their call rates
at a cheaper price compared to MTN.
Although the Credit
crunch poses as a threat to the world economy it s affecting most companies one
of this is MTN because people in general, not only the MTN customers are
mindful of their spending.
MTN faces competition
with the other industries because have invested in the countries where MTN has
invested and they are also targeting the countries MTN is yet to invest in.
Demographic changes: Due
to the decline in the Nigerian Economy, people who do not have a mobile phone
will be discouraged to purchase one and those who have will be conscious on
their spending on top ups.
Political
Threat
is that the Nigerian Government owns 30% shares of any international
organization that invests in Nigeria
Because technology
improves and changes by the day, this can pose a threat if the company (MTN)
cannot meet up to standard.
Part 2:
Following the audit, you
will be required to develop a marketing plan aimed at improving the ways in
which your chosen product will be marketed
To develop, my marketing
plan for MTN, I have to Set an objective
Objective:
The objectives are the
goals the company will like to accomplish
·
Installation
of more masses in suburb areas where they (MTN) currently have not been able to
reach.
·
Produce
more Mobile functions.
·
investing
in other countries where their competitors have invested
·
To
improve more on their Network stability. E.g. Network telephone calls clashing
with each other.
·
Achieving
more profit on sales.
To achieve these
objectives, the MTN will need to focus more on these strategic marketing tools.
·
Time
frame
·
Segmentation
·
Four
marketing P’s
·
Budget
or Cost
TIME: To meet my set objectives, I need to consider the time
I have got to do my marketing plan. Because I have little or no time, I will be
focusing on the main objectives rather than focusing on a broad objective,
because MTN as a mobile telecommunication organization have so many plans and
objectives
Segmentation:
Because MTN Nigeria is
telecommunication organization, they do not exactly have a segment they are focusing
on because phone has become a necessity for most house hold so basically the
segmentation will be for the entire coverage i.e. no segment in particular.
Four
Marketing P’s
are Product, Price, Place and Promotion
Product: In the Nigerian
Telecommunication industries, there is no such thing as video calling even
though due to past research (Nigerian Telecommunications Union Journal 2008 2nd
edn), majority of people will like to have such functions (Video Calling) on
there phone so that they can not only get to talk to their friends and family
over the phone but they can also see them over the phone even if they are miles
away from each other, if MTN introduces a video calling into the market, it
gives them more market share, and because that product has no competitors
whatsoever, it gives them the opportunity to introduce a skimming price strategy because products like this tend to be
profitable and there will be stability in the market before competition arises.
Price: In Theory, there are
many ways to price a product, some of which are Premium pricing, penetration
pricing, Economy pricing and the price skimming. (Cutler and Wong 2008 p. 347)
Premium price strategy is
a strategy that is introduced if there is distinctiveness about a particular
product.
Penetration pricing is
setting a low charging rate so as to gain market share.
Economy pricing is when a
cost is set at a minimum price.
Skimming Price is a
strategy used when organizations charge at a higher price because they have a
competitive advantage e.g. introducing a touch screen mobile phone, though the
price will drop when other organisations start to produce the same thing.
In the case of MTN, the
best pricing strategy to follow is the SKIMMING PRICE strategy. The competitions
in the telecommunication industries are really high, so MTN cannot embark on
producing such product with the aim at using a premium price. Though the
product is unique but it will take competitors little or no time at all to
produce such brand, but if they use the Skimming price, they will not only gain
the market share for having a popular demanded product, they will also make
profit before the competition is high.
Place:
There are many locations in Nigeria and outside Nigeria
Promotion:
To
achieve more profit on sales, installation of masses in suburb areas,
production of a new mobile function, the communication mix will have to be
considered for the promotion to take place. I have grouped my communication mix
as shown below.
Seminars
|
Newspapers
|
Radio
|
Internet
|
Advertising
|
Internet
Major
Target Audience: International Customers and Potential Customers:
The
reason for this choice is due to its flexibility, convenience and reliability.
Information available on an Internet website will include easy getting to
details like choice of products available, contacting us details, about us and
sometimes tariffing price list. It sometimes shows a virtual view of what the
organisation looks like which could be a method of attracting potential
audiences. This medium of promotion targets a very big audience as a third of
our target audience are international users also there is the ease of potential
targets to access the internet anywhere in the world at any given time. The
information being accessed is always consistent regardless of where it is been
accessed, because of its consistency, same information is passed on to all
target audience. Though the cost of advertising on the internet is not as cheap
as a referral or word of mouth technique, it is relatively cheap when compared
to an advert on television as a television advert is not always cheap, also
advertising International Business on a local television is not advisable as
this advert will target only a little fraction of our audience which is not
worth it due to the Cost of advertising via this medium.
Newspapers
Major
Target Audience: Local Customer:
Local
newspapers like the Punch, Thisday; Sun etc. are very good promotional tools
for advertising GSM. These newspapers are cheap to buy, affordable by targets
audience and accessible (sometimes free). Using this medium does not only
attract known targets (i.e. Local customers). Compared to other marketing
mediums like television, newspaper is relatively cheap and a one-off advert in
a local press could have a lasting effect and there may not be the need to
advertise for a very long time.
People
often cut out adverts seen in newspaper so that way they have got the hard copy
and can chase on the advert at their own time. If the response to the advert is
not very high, then they could be a need for use of other mediums like seminars
etc
Radio
Major
Target Audience: Suburb Areas:
A
skilful radio advert will be remembered and offers several advantages like
flexibility and a short lead time. This advertising method targets a narrower
target market, which could include people leaving in villages, suburb and urban
areas. Because of the poor power supply in Nigeria
Seminars:
As part of our Integrated Marketing Plan, We shall
organize seminars both nationally and internationally. In these seminars, we
will talk about the organizations Core Values, purpose and benefit of
subscribing with MTN. Through the aid of multimedia i.e. sound, graphics, text,
animation, video and visual aids via Microsoft PowerPoint slide, we will show
videos showing a a message about the organisation so potential customers can
have a feel of what it is like to be a customer. In these seminars, we shall
also talk about our competitive prices, the good attributes of the
organisation, at this stage; we shall show and compare MTN to other Network
Providers etc
Budget and
Cost: The
budget for my plan is shown below (Naira)
The total cost available to spend is N110,000
We expect to spend approximately N110000 on all of our
advertising communication media on a yearly basis. This advertisement will be
done through some advertising agents like Saatchi and Saatchi press, the Punch
Newspaper, Ray Power FM
Radio
My research indicates that the costs of Radio
advertisements are very much cheaper than other forms of advertisements.
According to Ray Power Fm the average price for Radio commercial per half a
minute including production cost is approximately N7,500 per week multiply by
four weeks.
Newspaper
My projection is that i spend on average £15,000.00 on
newspaper advertisements, this is a cost effective way of reaching our target
audience using 24cm 4column page type.
Seminar
With This approach, i use abroad to interact with the
target audience. The huge cost is because i have to send our representatives
from Nigeris to those countries in other parts of Africa ,
pay for flight tickets and Hotel bills, total amount required N60,000.00
Internet Advertisement
This will only cost me N5,000.00 because the internet
advertisement can be done internally by MTN using their house system with the
help of IT professionals.
TIME: To meet my set
objectives, I need to consider the time I have got to do my marketing plan.
Because I have little or no time, I will be focusing on the main objectives
rather than focusing on a broad objective, because MTN as a mobile
telecommunication organization have so many plans and objectives
In conclusion, I will recommend that
MTN should focus on the objectives mentioned above and follow the communication
mix discussed above for the promotion on their product. If they can resolve the
issues with their network services e.g. poor reception, telephone calls
clashing into each other and installing more masses in the areas they have not
been able to cover, they will a tremendous improve in their sales turn over and
revenue.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Trevor McDonald, Marketing
Plan
Fill,
C. Marketing Communication Concept
Strategies and application (2002) 3rd edition London
Yeshin,
C. T Integrated Communication Plan (2001-2004)
Butter-Heinemann
Giles, G. B. (1990). Marketing, London
Hughes .G, Fill, C. (2004) Marketing Communication Plan. London
Kotler, P. Wong, V. Saunders, J. Armstrong, G. (2005) Principles of
Marketing. London
Philip Kotler Principles of Marketing, Fourth European Edition (2005)
References:
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