STP And Brand Management In Marketing †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the STP And Brand Management In Marketing. Answer: STP in Marketing Digital marketingis one of the most applicable trends in many industries. For example, the car selling industry has flourished worldwide by making use of this trend. Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP) approach has grown to be a common method of conducting digital marketing. The STP approach in marketing focusses on the audience instead of the product. This essay attempts to explain how STP approach could be used to improve digital marketing in the car selling industry. The STP strategy is effective in identifying market niches by targeting specific customers with specific needs and wants. This is achieved by segmentation. Segmentation refers to the aspect of dividing the existing market into segments based on specific criteria like demographics, psychographics, lifestyles, beliefs, and values, geography, behavior, and benefit (Hanlon, 2017). For example, age group preference, gender preference, brand loyalty or the affordability of the car. Such information is gathered through surveys, interviews and customer data. The targeting function encompasses identification of the best segment that guarantees best customers and focusing on the section (Mindtools.com, 2017). This decision is made by considering the profitability of every segment. The preferred section should be the one that would generate the highest revenue. The target segment should also be large enough and have potential for steady growth. Lastly, the company should be able to service the market. For example, consider the potential legal, social and technological barriers. The last function is appropriate product positioning to target valuable customers. The focus should be on why the customers should prefer your products to that of the competitor. Positioning is done by identifying rare selling proposition, drawing a positioning map and creating the desired value proposition (Mindtools.com, 2017). For example, after segmenting the car models into market, sporty, family and economy models, one can identify the gap in the market based on the research of the market. In economy based markets, people would prefer buying Toyotas. Brand Management Brand management encompasses defining the brand and sustaining it to maintain customer commitment. A strong brand is preferred to that of competitors; it also gives the business a good image. Proper management keeps the following issues to account; appropriate market niche to target, proper differentiation from competitors and effective positioning. Success or failure of brand management relies on both the internal and external factors of the business. This part of the essay attempts to analyze two examples, one for successful management and the other for failed management of a brand. It also entails the impact of internal and external factors on the success or failure. An example of successful brand management shows itself in the Apple Inc. The company produces electronics like computers (MacBook), iPhones, iPods, and iPads. It uses the Apple brand to differentiate its products in the market. The reason behind the success of the brand lies on the effective branding strategies of the company. The apple brand focusses on the emotions of the customer (the company personality). The brand personality is interested in lifestyle, imagination, dreams, hopes, aspirations, etc. The removal of complexity in the brand has been helpful to both people and businesses. Additional advantages like Siri and iCloud guarantee success. However, the price of the products makes the brand to be less popular, especially with the existence of cheaper options in the market. The famous Samsung devices crisis in 2016 is a good example of failed brand management. There were many reports that Samsungs Galaxy Note 7 had overheating problems (Dua, 2016). According to Tanya Dua, Samsung became a famous brand in 2016 for the wrong reasons. The rejection of this brand by the public was also influenced by security checks on airlines, where passengers were told to switch off the devices because they were a security threat. References Dua, T. (2016). The biggest brand fails of 2016. [Blog]DIGIDAY. Available at: https://digiday.com/marketing/biggest-brand-fails-2016/ [Accessed 26 Nov. 2017]. Hanlon, A. (2017). The Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning model. [Blog]Smart Insights. Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/customer-segmentation-targeting/segmentation-targeting-and-positioning/ [Accessed 26 Nov. 2017]. Mindtools.com. (2017).Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning Model: What Is the STP Process in Marketing?. [online] Available at: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/stp-model.htm [Accessed 26 Nov. 2017].