Executive Summary
The paper discusses the peculiarities of marketing techniques and the aspects of creating a brand identity. Macro environment as an unchangeable factor in a company’s work can create both favorable and unfavorable circumstances for an organization’s development. Marketing managers have the ability to know what components of the environment can influence the growth of a company and predict the possible outcomes of their changes. Segmentation of the market is another important principle to consider in growing a company and its audience. The STP model of segmenting markets is effective in promoting a customer-centric approach toward marketing.
Segmentation, targeting, and positioning – the three main principles of this approach are used in succession to determine the main priorities of a company. Segmentation helps to separate people into groups using relevant parameters to better cater to their needs. Targeting assists in determining which sectors of the audience to focus on and positioning is used to adjust the company’s approach relative to others. Tayto, an Irish crisp company has managed to cultivate a unique brand identity using an approachable mascot and a pleasant attitude to create a friendly atmosphere for their customers.
Introduction
Developing the company’s brand is one of the most crucial aspects of managing and growing a successful business in today’s age. The need to answer to the growing competition and be able to draw an audience to one’s products keep increasing with each subsequent year. With the introduction of new technology and the effects of globalization being apparent, companies have to give much thought to their approaches towards promoting their products cultivating a particular brand image. There are many factors to consider in marketing and management, including the market the business intends to cater to, larger world trends, and society’s attitudes towards certain topics. The macro-environment needs to be accounted for by the management, and effective approaches towards confronting its effects on business are necessary. Segmentation of the market is another issue that concerns successful organizational practices, helping organizations to better focus on improving their goods and services.
By finding a particular segment of the market, isolating it and then concentrating the company’s efforts on it, the funding and spending are optimally used to achieve tangible results. The role of branding in positioning oneself on the market will also be discussed, with more attention being brought to the peculiarities of branding. This essay aims to explore the basic principles of developing a successful brand and effectively marketing it to the audience. The importance of analyzing the macro environment will be noted, as well as the usages and benefits of a particular model of market segmentation. The universal approaches towards creating an audience, determining the company’s goals, and focus points will be discussed using Taito as an example. The case study is aimed at discovering the importance of branding and communication in reaching an audience.
Importance of Understanding the Macro Environment
What is the Macro Environment?
Marketing is an important and inseparable part of building a successful business. Ultimately, marketing is the process of establishing successful interaction between an organization and the environment. This process can be both eased and complicated by a number of outside factors. Many of such catalysts for change are outside of the individual’s or a particular organization’s control. Such factors are usually only influenced by a combination of socioeconomic factors and interactions between different entities (Johnson et al., 2017). The climate created by such catalysts is called a Macro Environment. This type of environment exists in the global economy, not just one of its sectors, and does not directly depend on one party’s actions and efforts. Its state has a profound effect on nosiness decisions, affecting matters of spending, investment and borrowing. Macro environment factors include such components as different demographics, economic factors, the forces of nature (climate change and natural resources), technological advancements, political and social factors (Micro and Macro Environment Factors 2020).
The conditions are all a part of the macroeconomy, and their influence on a particular organization influences its performance. These components subsequently have a major impact on the success of marketing, and a qualified professional is necessary to evaluate how they can be the best-taken advantage of. The macro environment can affect the customers as well, controlling their willingness and capacity to spend money. Industry reliant on luxurious goods and services can be crippled by severe fluctuations in customer spending. The amount of influence macroeconomic factors can exert depends on the degree of a company’s dependence on the health of the global economy. For example, parts of the industry that are heavily reliant on credit and business investment are influenced by changes in interest rates more than others.
Understanding the Macro Environment
The influence of the macro-environment can affect a company’s decision-making process, its approaches and policies as well as the overall success of an organization. The need to account for such factors and predict their influence on business is present in any company’s work. Having the ability to use factors outside of one’s influence can give a company the competitive edge other organizations might lack. A marketing manager is a position that is preoccupied with understanding the macro environment and adapting an organization’s work to benefit from it the most. Managers use a variety of principles to formulate the best approach to working with the macro environment, including the use of forecasting and scenario analysis.
The former is used to predict possible outcomes based on the available data, and the latter can be utilized in estimating the possible future developments of the environment. Forecasting relies on previous experience and the ability to understand the nuances of the available outcome spectrum to make it easier for an organization to decide on the areas of development and investment. Scenario analysis concerns itself with predicting and outlining the possible developments and predicting the results of a worst/best case scenario. The skill is especially useful when attempting to minimize possible losses or effectively adapt to the changes in the environment. Using such techniques can help marketing managers to adjust the company’s marketing strategies to be more prepared for the future.
STP Approach to Market Segmentation
There are a number of different concepts and approaches to marketing that one needs to keep in mind during their professional career. One such concept is the STP model of segmenting the market. Marketers are able to identify a suitable segment of the market and develop appropriate strategies exclusive to that part of the market while developing positioning strategies (Jovancic, 2018). This framework can be used to effectively simplify the process of market segmentation, allowing for faster, more efficient workflow and the ability to implement needed changes quicker. This approach is a direct improvement to the classic marketing model. Traditional marketing was product-oriented, while the STP model prioritizes the needs of the people, tailoring the company’s approaches, services, and products towards customer satisfaction (Jovancic, 2018).
The approach is best suited towards delivering more personalized and relevant products to create engagement with different audiences. The abbreviation itself stands for Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning, establishing them as the core principles of marketing (Chaffey, 2020). The first principle, segmentation, is used to divide the whole market into subcategories (segments) of consumers that share some similar traits. People can be divided by age, income, family status, gender, political and social affiliations, as well as many other factors. Segmentation allows an organization to create products or advertisements that are effective towards a particular demographic, helping to create a sense of personal connection in people and offering a larger variety of products for customers (Claessens, 2020). Targeting as a part of the STR approach refers to the practice of choosing particular segments to focus on, taking their potential as customers into account (Claessens, 2020).
The first factor in making this choice is profitability. A business should be able to evaluate which type of audience is the most likely to give it money and make them its focus. Growth potential and accessibility are also two important criteria in this consideration, determining whether a market is worth segmenting and investing in and the ability of the company’s advertisements to be understood. The last principle of this approach is positioning, defined as the ability to present one’s goods and services in a favorable light compared to the competition (Claessens, 2020). In STR marketing, the professionals need to identify the needs and desires of their core audience and position their offers as a solution to their problems. An ability to find a particular niche in the market can help to garner more traction and cultivate a dedicated customer base.
Positioning a Brand on the Market
To better understand how positioning can play a role in ensuring brand success and longevity, using a specific example can be effective. For the sake of this paper, the Irish company Tayto will be examined. Being one of the first companies to develop the process of flavored crisp production, they have cemented their place in the snack market. The company has successfully created a unique identity and found a way to cater to particular demographics. In terms of positioning, Tayto creates a friendly atmosphere to establish a personal connection with its customers, setting it apart from the competition. Since the company recognizes its core audience, its approach towards presenting the products is adjusted accordingly. The brand uses colorful advertising and informal language to make their products seem more accessible to young children and teenagers, while also providing the necessary nutritional information to parents (Nutrition Information 2016).
The Tayto website has a document on nutritional information, outlining the preferable ways to consume their products without health detriments. The inclusion of this paper positions Tayto as a company that cares about its consumers and seeks to provide them with the best possible product. Another factor that helps Tayto to separate itself from other snack companies on the market is its historical legacy. Being established back in 1956, the company has created a reputation for itself and was able to become familiar in the eyes of its customers (Tayto – About n.d). The company’s website proudly discusses its foundation and the practices that served as the reason for its success.
Taito and the Use of Communication in Developing a Brand
What is Branding?
Nowadays, every company engages in branding. The practice has been in active development since the beginnings of capitalism, has had a major influence on which venues failed and while succeeded. With the widespread influence of capitalism, many companies and firms have started to emerge and develop in the local and global economies. Because product quality has been largely standardized, a need to separate different company’s products from each other now presents itself. The desire of a particular organization to stand out and be recognized gives branding its purpose. In essence, branding is the process of constructing a unique identity that customers can associate with a particular company or product. Branding can include the creation of a particular symbol, specific design choices, and even the name of a company itself. The use and including of specific recurring themes, images, approaches and material can more easily be remembered and simplify the process of advertising.
As the marketing department already has a basic premise for the most important aspect of the product, their creative process can be considerably simplified. The use of branding serves to make the company stand out among the competition, make it more memorable and attract potential customers. Branding creates a strong connection between specific qualities or attributes of an organization or its product. The process helps customers to recognize and remember particular products and services and recognize the brand’s identity from an array of similar products. Branding often also includes convincing the customer base that one’s products are in some way superior or more suitable for purchase than the other available options. The brand image represents the core ideas the company embodies and the perceptions it wishes to create within the audience.
Why is Branding Important?
Within the global market, many companies and venues are forced to compete with each other for sales and influence. In many cases, the products provided by two different producers may not be much different, filling similar roles and fulfilling the same needs. In such a situation, the ability to create a connection with the consumers and appear to be superior can be the deciding factor in the success of a company. Branding can be used to add value to a product, make its benefits stand out more, having an appeal to both rationale and emotion. With more organizations catching up and surpassing their competitors in terms of quality. branding plays a bigger and bigger role in a company’s work as time progresses. As the development of a brand leads to better recognition, the company secures more sales and has the ability to land a spot on the market (Smithson, 2015).
By becoming more recognizable and valuable, a brand increases its value and the incentive of other parties to invest in it. By attracting investors, branding brings a company benefits both directly and indirectly. The branding efforts can also significantly simplify the process of advertising. By establishing a company image and identifying its main values, branding gives advertising an outline of principles that help create a cohesive, united identity to promote. A less conventional way that branding benefits the company is in increasing the satisfaction of employees (Davies et al., 2018).
People often enjoy being a part of a bigger construct that shares the same set of values they hold. In this regard, working at a company with a strong brand identity may feel more fulfilling than in a similar but less defined one. When the constructed image of the company aligns with the beliefs and values of the workers, they are likely to be more satisfied. Research showed that branding has a significant impact on employee fulfillment.
Taito’s Branding and Communication Efforts
Communication is one of the core concerns in the process of branding. The ability to deliver the company’s message while having a consistent tone that displays an organization’s values is especially important in attracting an audience. Clearly communicating the goals of a company and making the customers interested in the offers and products is the main idea of company communication (Starkie, 2017).
Many companies in recent years use social media accounts to interact with their client base and cultivate a sense of familiarity (Harvey, 2018). In the case of Tayto, the company uses its mascot, Mr. Tayto, on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. All three are made primarily for the purposes of informing their fans and potential customers about upcoming offers, as well as interacting with their follower base. The page is managed informally, using the fictional character instead of human company representatives (Tayto Crisps n.d.). The Tayto representative managing the accounts uses modern slang words and emoticons to appear more in touch with the younger audience. It is also interesting to note that all of their posts that include pictures always have the name of the brand being the center of attention, clearly visible. The account shares post by other people and leave positive messages to convey a sense of intimacy.
They advertise their latest products on the page, interact with the followers, and organize giveaways. Bringing attention to their crisps, Tayto talk with other social media users although they are friends. Judging from the high follower counts on each of their pages, the friendly, mascot-based approach is highly effective in cultivating an audience, especially when the target demographic is children and teenagers (Tayto Crisps n.d.). Their twitter advertising campaign deserves a separate mention from all the other instances of Tayto promoting their products. Tayto has used its social media account to promote its goods and services in various ways while limiting spending to a minimum. Notably, they have effectively used Twitter hashtags in their initiative.
A hashtag, #MoreThanJustACrisp promoted by Mr. Crisp was used to advertise the opening of a Pop-Up Tayto shop in Dublin. The overall CPV of the advertisement campaign was as low as 0.18 euros. Videos the company has posted cumulatively have reached more than 15.000 views, making the marketing effort both efficient and cost-effective. Engagement rates from these campaigns and similar ones were very high, managing to spread the word of a new venue’s opening cheaply.
Conclusion
Marketing, as an important aspect of any company’s work, entails many complex activities and was subject to change throughout the years. Through understanding the macro environment and having the ability to grasp the bigger picture, managers have the ability to predict and adapt to the changes outside of their control, increasing organization profits. The use of specific management strategies also helps in this process, especially the use of the STP management model. The model allows a company to separate the market into segments based on similar features and approach advertisement and communication with customers in a more detailed manner.
Targeting and positioning are used to evaluate what segments of the market are worth investing time and money in, allowing a company to focus down on the area that would bring them the biggest profits. Tayto, a crisp company, has been a household name in Ireland for many years now, having managed to find its niche in the market. Their cheerful and bright presentation along with a mascot character gives Tayto the ability to connect with younger audiences and promote their products to children.
Brand development plays a large role in the process of creating a specific identity. By behaving in a certain manner and promoting a set of values to the people, a company can associate these values with its products. The process of branding helps companies to attract both investors and consumers, allowing them to become separate from their competitors. Tayto uses its website and social media to interact with its potential customers, cultivating a sense of familiarity and advertising its products at a cheap price.
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