Introduction
ChoCo’a is a small-scale chocolate company located in Dubai, which aims to improve its brand recognition, market positioning, and enhance its competitive advantage. Mongkol (2014) holds that the process involved in the growth of market share entails effective brand marketing and the application of diverse promotional approaches. The limited budget of the company significantly affects its marketing strategies.
Thus, to enhance the growth and expansion of ChoCo’a in the local market, the management must take appropriate low-cost marketing and promotional steps. Therefore, this report highlights the effective communication strategies required to grow the company’s local retail and corporate market share by enhancing brand image, product position, and the appropriate recommendations to guide in the expansion of the local market.
Integrated Communications Strategy
Growing Local Retail Market Share
Creation of online presence using the website and local business listing creates a local awareness of ChoCo’a and provides internet users with information on product range, quality, and business location. The website incorporates forums and comments page to promote customer interaction and the development of tailored product designs. Business listing creates wide local awareness of the company to internet users who are potential customers.
Engaging customers in information sharing significantly influences message dissemination, builds brand identity, and promotes customer retention, which influences customer preference of local products over global competing products. Online customer inclusion builds customer loyalty, trust, and product position in the market and enhances recommendation between peers and family members that promote competitive advantage over global market players.
ChoCo’a should employ marketing labels on the product packaging for they are efficient promotion channels, which provide information on the products available. The information available on packaging labels promotes the healthy-sensitive customer trust in the product and builds brand image. The presence of the labels also enhances the dissemination of information among the entire local population due to the widespread availability of the packaging materials. As the labels enable customers to share their experiences and refer their peers and relatives, they should contain feedback channels that include email addresses, phone numbers, and online sites that enable customers to share their experience. This promotional process commits customers to feel part of the company and build brand loyalty.
The provision of selling point product advice is also an effective communication strategy for the local market. Selling point information is essential in making customers feel valued. Staff-customer interaction builds an interpersonal relationship and adds value to company services. The buying experience provides customers with an opportunity to open up about the product, its competitors, and the desired ingredients.
This approach helps customers find the right product, embrace the company services, and become loyal to the company. Customer shopping assistance and advice build customer relationships and significantly influence customer preference and priority over competitors in the market. Engaging customers at the selling point acts as a channel for real-time customer feedback and result in customer appreciation of company services that build product market position.
Growing Corporate Chocolate Market
Development of online services and effective door delivery is an effective strategy of growing corporate chocolate market. Online services include email marketing and website for corporate order placement, customer feedback, and relationship management. Growing corporate market involves building strong relationships with corporate businesses. The website provides an opportunity for online selling through order placement for tailored products by corporate customers.
As door product delivery of online orders builds the relationship, company brand, and trust with corporate customers, ChoCo’a should include staff advisory services and brochures to make customers feel valued. Essentially, email-marketing strategies increase brand awareness and allow customization of messages to clients. Online services should contain blogs and publication of product features to promote customer selection of preferred flavor and provide information on customer preferences and events that require company’s products for effective planning. Thus, online services enable tracking of customers’ satisfaction, build relationships through customized communication, and enhance corporate market share.
The use of personal selling and brochures is a strategy that entails site visit of corporate clients by company’s relationship managers. Personal selling enhances understanding of corporate clients’ needs and complaints through interpersonal communication. The approach effectively promotes product image and positioning and builds strong client relationship. Additionally, personal selling and use of brochures provide explanation of company’s products, offer sales, collect customer complaints, and clarify misunderstanding.
This approach providesa chance for apology to corporate client for any wrong or poor service, and thus improves customer perception of feeling valued. Brochures provide basic information about the product, the exciting experience when used, and the occasion of use. The presence of brochures acts as reference to corporate customers to check through company products in later and future periods. Thus, this approach helps build strong relationship, recommendations, and increase corporate market share.
Development of alliances and loyalty marketing is a viable corporate strategy. As restaurants and companies offering conference facilities, functions, events, and suppliers of production materials, they provide the best opportunity for alliances. Building database for the alliance firms and corporate clients helps in pooling relationships and enhances effective communication. Collaborations with other companies builds brand loyalty and increases sales of associated firms’ products over their competitors.
Firms that offer milk products, beverages, and health-related nutrition enhances bulk product sales to corporate clients and act as corporate clients. These alliances provide a chance to offer sales promotions that include discounted services to encourage large purchases by corporate clients. The approach builds strong relationships and acts as a reliable market of corporate clients, and thus, enhancing company’s competitive advantage and promoting growth of its corporate market share.
Analysis of Dine-In Chocolate Market
Dubai is both world’s leading tourism destination and business market. Tourism and prosperous business activities have increased the economic status of the country and individual citizen disposable income. The UAE culture support affluent lifestyles. Evidently, Dubai has malls that sell various affluent products to its population. According to Vel and Rodrigues (2013), public presentation of luxurious lifestyle significantly promotes social image and respectability in the society among the Emirati people.
Since the society requires people to have a prestigious social outlook and recognition, Emirati people must demonstrate the ability to live a luxurious lifestyle. Additionally, the culture shift due to high influence of foreign lifestyles of the affluent influences Emirati citizens’ acceptance of high-quality products brands in the market. Thus, the affluence and luxurious lifestyle of public image and social recognition in Dubai present a great opportunity for the dine-in market for company’s growth and expansion. Therefore, the management should consider expansion of its market segment to include quality and luxurious dine-in chocolate outlets for the Emirati citizens.
Mode of Entry to Grow Company Turnover
ChoCo’a should adopt franchising as the growth of company revenue depends on distribution channels of the company products in the market. Mongkol (2014) holds that the network of distribution channels significantly influences sales in the local market. Thus, ChoCo’a should lease out the right to distribute the company products through dine-in and local retail sales to Emirati citizens.
Franchising is a low-cost and low-risk mode of entry into new markets that allows the use of cultural knowledge of local managers (Mongkol 2014). The Franchisee should be an individual of high social standing as Emirati have a culture of social identification that influences their purchase potential. This approach enhances market penetration as Emirati culture support association of wealth and power of expensive spending to social influence. Thus, ChoCo’a should take advantage of Emirati culture to enhance its market penetration through franchising to attract the affluent Emirati population with the need of social recognition and power.
Owning subsidiary dine-in outlets is a mode of entry that situates dine-in outlets in public locations to attract large populations of Emirati people due to their affinity for publicity of wealth and social prestige. The Emirati citizens are responsive to influence from peers and family members regarding their consumption behaviors. Public displays promote social image and influence brand image among the population (Mongkol 2014). Public consumption of symbolic goods promotes individuals and relatives to enhance their social reputation. The motivation to improve family standing needs a public show of might in consuming expensive products.
Mode of Consolidating Brand Image
Licensing is a strategy of consolidating a brand image as the Emirati citizens highly attach prestige to a social image. Emirati citizens embrace materialistic lifestyle and consumption of goods that portray class and image. Licensing of prestigious Emirati citizens or local Emirati companies provides the right to run dine-in outlets and efficiently promote company’s brand image as a local chocolate artisan. The family unit and peers have a high influence on the development of public image among Emirati population.
This element of local culture that supports local identification is essential in promoting company’s brand, and position in the market as the demand for the social status contribution of a product influences spending experience of the Emirati. Thus, licensing local citizens and established local companies promote company’s brand image as a local chocolate company. Therefore, to build a strong product image, ChoCo’a should take advantage of the culture, which creates good market positioning to grow its revenue and expand the market share.
Development of alliances is another mode of consolidating brand image for recognition requires established market penetration strategies. Alliances with established high brand companies with complementary products in offering dine-in services, which are essential in building a strong brand image. Collaboration with companies offering seasonal and celebration events of Emirati citizens, beverages, and health products provides a means for local product positioning. The collaboration of firms helps small businesses to develop the market by enhancing brand image and reputation. Therefore, ChoCo’a needs to develop strong market relationships with other local market players that include restaurants and suppliers to improve its brand image and create a strategic market position.
Conclusion
ChoCo’a is a Dubai established company providing unique chocolate products in the rapidly growing market of the UAE. Low-cost communications strategies are effective in improving the company’s brand image and market positioning. Use of online services, selling point advice, and marketing labels are appropriate communication strategies. Growing of corporate market requires online services, personnel selling, and alliances with other firms. Market analysis suggests that ChoCo’a should venture into dine-in services to expand its product distribution channels and market share. The entry mode includes franchising, full ownership, licensing, and alliances. These entry modes are essential in building brand image and product positioning in the market.
Reference List
Mongkol, K 2014, ‘Integrated marketing communication to increase brand equity: The case of Thai Beverage Company’, International Journal of Trade, Economics, and Finance, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 445-448.
Vel, P & Rodrigues, J 2013, ‘Online purchase of luxury products in the UAE’, World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, vol. 2013, no. 76, pp. 1292-1298.