The Toyota Marketing Strategy Marketing Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

Marketing is a very unique set of doings which shows a great and valuable impact on the entire organization. The marketers and experts of these fields have developed three prospective of this after a deep sea research. This environment influences the organization directly. Caster guitar is a big name in the field of transporting the guitars worldwide (Johannes et al., 2000).

A company cannot sell its all products to a single customer or at a same market. The customers are many and they all are diverse according to their demand and buying requirements. This is why, each company needs to identify its market segmentation, market segmentation procedure, pattern of segmentation, basis of segmenting consumers and business market. Many companies use to be target oriented and they develop a target-marketing. They first identify their segments, and then set targets for each segment. After this, they manufacture their products according to their targeted market (Armstrong & Kotler, 2003).

Target marketing requires marketers to take three major steps:

Identify and profile distinct groups of buyers who might require separate products or market mixes which is known as "market segmentation."

Select one or more market segments to enter which is known as "market targeting."

Establish and communicate the product's key distinctive benefits in the market which is known as "market positioning."

In my research, I have taken Toyota at my company to apply all the Maktering Principles and to know about the market segmentation, market targeting and market positioning done by this company. In this paper, I will discuss how important is marketing strategy and segmentation for a successful company, like Toyota, to achieve what it wants.

Company's profile:

Toyota Motor Corporation was developed in Japan in 1937 and it has introduced its first US based product in 1965 and the product was, Carona. Soon it was becoming a better product and a highest selling brand in the United States of America. After getting fame in US in 70s, it started manufacturing its vehicles in the US at the start of 80s. After 59 years of its corporation, it was a globally recognized brand till 2006, and was the second most selling vehicle brand of the world. But every one guessed it at that time, that Toyota is soon going to capture the number one position. And in 2008, Toyota came up as the "Number One" car manufacturer and seller not only in the USA, but in the entire world. This was just a start of Toyota's journey to success and there is much more to happen in the future (Anon., n.d.).

Mission statement of company:

Toyota's mission statement is as follows:

As published on the official website of Toyota, (2007) "To sustain sustainable growth by providing the best customer experience and dealer support."

It is clear from the statement from Toyota that its main focus is "Customer's satisfaction" and this inspires Toyota to provide high quality products along with the leisure and peaceful drive. Toyota is working on a single word which is "Kaizen", the word Kaizen means "Continuous Improvement" not only in its products, but also in its technology, value added services and other services (Peter, 1996).

Elements of Marketing Strategy for Toyota:

Toyota's segmentation and target market are based upon the philosophy it believes and that is, "Right Car in the Right Place" and also for the right person. Toyota using, not only Demographic Segmentation also on Psychographic Segmentation, for targeting its markets. For example, Toyota has segmented almost all the countries of the globe to make its market over there. While doing this, Toyota has also identified its mainly focused markets, for example US, Canada, EU, Australia, China, Indonesia, etc. However, US is one of the major markets of Toyota where it has up to 30% of its total consumers. In the US, it has targeted its markets. Toyota has targeted from Economy class to lower class. Toyota has also developed specific car for middle class people and for those who love luxury cars like the Lexus. And the Prius for the environmentally sensitive people. In fact, the marketing strategy, market segmentation, market targeting, and market positioning of Toyota cars is based on the "care" of its users and it can be clearly seen in its variety of offers and product attributes (Dobni, 2002).

Market Segmentation:

The marketing strategy, market segmentation, market targeting, and market positioning of Toyota cars is based on the "care" of its users and it can be clearly seen in its variety of offers and product attributes.

Currently Toyota is focusing on two segmentations:

Demographic Segmentation

Psychographic Segmentation

In the first segment of Demographic, Toyota has targeted the family size and in this segment people of Upper Middle High Income group is kept in view by Toyota. Land Cruiser, Parado, Camry is some major cars of this segment which are designed for those who have the willpower and buying power to purchase these cars (Drummond & Ensor, 2005).

In the second segment of Psychographic, Toyota has targeted the family size and in this segment people of the high class, a high income group who have sporty attitude, is kept in view by Toyota such as Toyota Altis Sport model and Toyota Fortuner. These sports cars that helps in improving and exhilarating their sense and passion for sports. SUV, MUV and Sedan are its examples (Anon., n.d.).

Market planning:

Toyota has adopted three basic rudiments to develop an effective and efficient market planning and those three elements are:

Green,

Safety,

And low operating cost.

Toyota has also invested heavily on safety in their cars. As the globe goes green and clients call for an appropriate response from their car manufacturers, Toyota have responded by investing in hybrid cars, the Prius. Being based on these three important factors, Toyota has become successful to garner the market opportunity. On the whole, there seem more opportunities for Toyota than threats. However, there are some threats that cannot be denied (Armstrong & Kotler, 2003).

Segmentation criteria Toyota uses for different products in different markets:

Toyota is using "Adjacent Segment." It is a segmentation strategy which allows a company to continuously increase its market share and grow its customers. At the start, subcompact cars were the targeted strategy adapted by Toyota, which were small and easy to buy vehicles. Now, with the use of adjacent segmentation strategy, Toyota is able to move from one specific car manufacturing to another, relative to large cars, such as a station wagon. Toyota first expands its market by introducing Sedan cars which are large and luxurious than its previous cars (Armstrong & Kotler, 2002).

Which targeting strategy Toyota use of selected products:

For the selected products, Toyota is using considerations Differnciaition Strategy. Toyota offers different products of different prices and for different market segments. In the sport utility vehicle class alone, Toyota developed the Land Cruiser, 4Runner, Rav4 and Sequoia, each tailored to different price ranges (Drummond & Ensor, 2005).

Which Environmental factors influence Toyota's strategy:

The managing and governing bodies of Toyota cars consists of 26 members as Directors, chairmen, the vice Chairman, President, Executive vice Presidents, Senior managing Directors and Senior Adivor plus an Honorary Chairman, who are responsible for each decision making at the company and their communication with each other affects the internal environment of the company (Dobni, 2002).

Conclusion:

There is a monitoring and evaluation team that will be set to watch over the progress of the company in realizing the strategic goals. The short term goals will be clearly watched and corrections put in place where targets are missed for they are the keys to fulfilling the long term goals. Currently, the Company has made a clear step forward in ensuring that hybrid vehicles are being produced, and so far the market has started improving in terms of overall reception of these brands of vehicles.

Work Cited

Anon., n.d. toyota. [Online] Available at: www.toyota.com.

Armstrong, G. & Kotler, P., 2002. Marketing: an introduction. International edition ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Armstrong, G. & Kotler, P., 2003. Marketing: an introduction. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Dobni, B., 2002. A model for implementing service excellence in the financial services. Journal of financial services marketing, pp.40-42.

Drummond, G. & Ensor, 2005. Introduction to marketing concepts. UK: Oxford.

Johannes, G., Bill, K. & Plenert, 2000. Finite capacity scheduling: managment selection and implementation. New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Peter, M., 1996. What is strategy? In Harvard business review. pp.61-69.