Assessment Task 3 Individual Portfolio of Marketing Strategy: Targeting, Positioning and Marketing Mix (4Ps) PDF

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Assignment 3 of fundamentals of marketting...

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MKT10007 Fundamentals of Marketing Assessment Task 3 Individual Portfolio of Marketing Strategy: Targeting, Positioning and Marketing Mix (4Ps) ASUS Republic Of Gamers(ROG)

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Executive summary The objective of this report is to present the marketing Strategy for the ASUS ROG which includes Targeting, Positioning and Marketing Mix (4Ps). The overall analysis includes a brief investigation and finding the solution for the brand based on different marketing theories and concepts. The analytical process of the report has been done by using some key marketing theories such as using the market coverage strategies to differentiate and choosing the right strategy to implement the target segment. As middle-aged consumers have targeted, I have illustrated and discussed the recommended brand position in a way to succeed in the global market. In addition to that, the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) has used to briefly implementing the brand position. Besides that, the perceptual and repositioning maps have added and describe to give an idea of the brand's position. To implement the marketing mix, which is very important for this report, I have illustrated the product life cycle along with the diffusion of innovation to identify the stage of the brand. Also, the ROG laptop is categorized under the specialty good to describe the type of consumer product to boost the marketing mix. Moreover, the report has recommended the product design using the “three levels” conceptualization which is respectively the core product, actual product, and the augmented product. Besides that, a place is recommended for the product to describe and how should be the level of distribution intensity. Besides, to recommend the promotion areas, I have suggested three important tools which may bring success to promote this product. At last, to give the best pricing for the product which can be effective, the skimming pricing strategy has been used to describe the pricing. The key findings of this report are as follows:    

Using the Unique Selling Proposition to implement the brand position. Also, categorizing the Rog laptop under the specialty good segmentation to propose a better solution for the products success. Moreover, using the three levels of conceptualization to implement the product design which is very important to Illustrate a successful marketing mix. Furthermore, choosing the skim pricing strategy to propose the best pricing for the product to succeed.

The report evaluates this range and concludes some of the key recommendations such as:  

To choose an appropriate segment for the product to get success in the market. Do further research to implement more strategy to maintain a strong product life cycle.

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Table of Contents Executive summary...............................................................................................................................2 Introduction..........................................................................................................................................4 Section 1 - Target Segment...................................................................................................................4 The attractiveness of each consumer segment................................................................................5 Section 2 – Brand Positioning...............................................................................................................6 Unique selling proposition (USP)......................................................................................................7 perceptual mapping..........................................................................................................................7 Section 3 – the Marketing Mix..............................................................................................................9 3.1 PLC and the Diffusion of Innovation...........................................................................................9 Product life cycle (PLC)..................................................................................................................9 Diffusion of Innovation.................................................................................................................9 3.2 Type of Consumer product........................................................................................................11 3.3 Recommend a Marketing Mix...................................................................................................11 Product........................................................................................................................................11 Place............................................................................................................................................12 Promotion...................................................................................................................................13 Price.............................................................................................................................................14 Summary of Marketing Mix................................................................................................................14 Section 4- Conclusion, ethics, and social responsibility.....................................................................15 References...........................................................................................................................................17 Appendix A..........................................................................................................................................20

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Introduction The purpose of this report is to investigate and present the marketing strategy to the Marketing Managers of ASUS as an independent consultant which includes the target segmenting, brand positioning and recommending the marketing mix using the 4ps. The scope of the report is to provide an overall marketing strategy to bring the success of the ASUS’s ROG series laptops. This includes the appropriate target segmentation, implementing the brand positioning using PLC and USP and recommending the marketing mix using different concepts and theories of marketing which will bring the success of the product in the global market. To process this report, I have gathered most of the strategies from different journals. I have used the academic sources such as journals to investigate and explain the marketing concepts such as the market coverage strategies, PLC, USP, Diffusion of Innovation, perceptual mapping along with the marketing mix concepts such as the concepts of the product level, promotional tools, Skim pricing and many more. The business sources such as the official websites of the brand and its competitors have used to curate the brand and its competitor’s information, whereas few third-party sources are used to help the further research on the concepts. There were some limitations while analyzing this report such as getting enough information about the ROG laptops such as the product life cycle and some other statistics were difficult.

Section 1 - Target Segment Once completing the market segmentation, it is important to find a key segment which the ASUS company will target to create and improve their market strategy. It is also an effective business to identify any untapped needs which are not adequately served by its competitors in the marketplace. (Mark Camilleri 2017). To target an appropriate segment, it is important to understand the market coverage strategies, so that company can adopt one of the strategies to target their segment. So, there are three market coverage strategies which are as follow:

Undifferentiated marketing strategy

Differentiated marketing strategy

Concentrated marketing strategy

This marketing strategy involves approaching the customers with only one market offer and ignores any differences in the market.

This marketing strategy involves targeting multiple segments which entail of developing an individual

The concentrated marketing strategy involves focusing a welldefined and strong market segment to target. Normally, it is 4

Therefore, it is difficult for a business to develop a product which will satisfy the customers’ demands. (Mark Camilleri 2017).

offering and creating a market plan for every segment. Therefore, the company need to have market research to learn how its selected segment is satisfied. Although, this strategy is more expensive than the undifferentiated marketing strategy. (Mark Camilleri 2017).

more effective for small business and companies with limited resources. (Umar Farooq 2018). With the right chosen segment, a company may have a high rate of return of its investment. (Mark Camilleri 2017). However, if the targeted segment fails, it may cause a hefty loss. (Mark Camilleri 2017).

Figure 1 Market coverage strategies

The target segmentation has to be determined by some important factors such as the company’s resources, the type of service, which is to be offered, diversities within the market and the competitor’s market coverage strategies. To decide the target segment, the attractiveness of each consumer segment is necessary to understand the most probable valuable consumers.

The attractiveness of each consumer segment Segments Teenager (16-24) years old

Size and growth

Structural attractiveness There are 20.1 million ASUS has divided gamers in Malaysia their ROG series into and among them, 73% different prices to all ages of the people of these meet (ASUS ages are played online consumers. games. (Statista 2020) 2021) Such as offering ROG Strix G15/17 in Spent about RM2.7 RM 3,999 which is by a billion on games in affordable 2019 and the majority teenager. of them were under these ages. (rojakdaily 2020) 42% of the teenager are plays games daily (Statista 2020)

Working adult (25-34) years old

45% of the working adult are plays games daily (Statista 2020) Spending an average

Company Objectives and Resources Since ASUS has been manufacturing different types of electronics and distributing diversely, it’s segmentation ranges started from the distributors ---Wholesalers— resellers---Retailers. Which can directly conduct with the consumers and create the strategy on the consumers at different ages. Such as implementing the supply chain management strategy. Which is also applicable for all age’s consumers?

ASUS focuses on different consumer types and implements those choices into different types of 5

of two hours on gaming. (Digital News Asia 2019)

Middle-age (35-44) years old

49% of the middle-age are plays games daily (Statista 2020)

laptop. (ASUS 2021) Such as offering ROG Zephyrus S15 GX502in RM 10,499 which is affordable by a teenager. Moreover, as the ROG series has been divided into some category, they are offering their most recent and updated laptop ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 by RM 19,999 for the professional in these ages.

Figure 2 The attractiveness of each consumer segment

In this target segmentation, I will apply the concentrated marketing strategy which will include one most important segment to target. To build and continue the marketing strategy, I have chosen the middle-age generation’s people. Middle aged consumers As of the statistics included in the above table, this generation’s people are the highest percentage of daily playing gamers which is 49%. (Statista 2020). Also, the average salary or income of these aged people are 3.64 to 4.1 thousand Ringgit. (Statista 2020). Which is higher than the other twosegmented group of people. Which indicates that a solid strategy on this segment has a bigger potential to grow the sales.

Section 2 – Brand Positioning To respond to the business competition of digital product more competitive, so the positioning of digital products is an issue that needs to be more serious attention. (Kotler&Keller (2009) The key concept of the marketing concept is to determine the brand positioning and effective implementation of that. (Karolina Janiszewska 2012). Because brand positioning plays a big role to determine the framework of the market of a product. Same goes to ASUS ROG laptops were determining the correct brand positioning is mandatory to succeed. ASUS should change their brand positioning from the representing smaller, cheaper, geekier laptops and netbooks to being a full-on, mainstream portable computer maker, with a design-driven, consumer electronics edge. (Steve Blum 2010) ASUS brand from representing smaller, cheaper, geekier laptops and netbooks to being a full-on, mainstream portable computer maker, with a design-driven, consumer electronics edge. 6

Inspired by the diverse needs of consumers in all areas and phases of life, ASUS' foremost mission is to deliver truly innovative solutions that in turn inspire consumers to reach for greater heights of productivity and fun. (Asus 2021). Which will directly connect to the targeted segment consumers. Currently, ASUS and the ASUS Republic of Gamers Top Global Gaming Laptop Market Share. Market share rises to 23.6% worldwide in September 2020, keeping ROG gaming laptops in the world’s No. 1 position. (Claudio Antonio Díaz Muñoz 2020). By applying a new brand positioning, it might grow bigger in the global market.

Unique selling proposition (USP) The new line-up laptops of ROG series are uniquely proposed by the new Nvidia GeForce RTX series graphics processors to fulfil the demand of the gamers. (ASUSTek 2021). The three new line-ups of ROG series are respectively ROG Zephyrus S GX531 (RM13,999 ), ROG Zephyrus S GX701( RM13,999) and the ROG Strix SCAR II ( RM6,999) which have a comparatively higher price than its other gaming laptops which can be targeted to the middle-aged segmented consumers. (ASUSTek 2021). Another Unique selling proposition by ASUS is the ZenBook Flip S (UX371), which is the world’s thinnest OLED convertible laptop and its first Intel Evo platform verified laptop. ZenBook Flip S (UX371), the world's thinnest OLED convertible laptop2 and the first ASUS laptop to be verified on the Intel Evo platform. Besides that ASUS has more uniqueness in their brand new laptops respectively ZenBook S (UX393) world's thinnest and lightest laptop, ZenBook 14 (UX435) is the world's smallest 14-inch laptop with ScreenPad5, ZenBook Pro 15 (UX535) is the world's smallest 15-inch 4K OLED laptop6, and ExpertBook B9 (B9450CEA) is one of the world's lightest 14-inch business laptops. (ASUSTek 2020).

perceptual mapping According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), “Perceptual brand mapping is the visual plotting of specific brands against axes, where each axis represents an attribute that is known to drive brand selection.”

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Brand (ASUS)

Figure 3 perceptual mapping of ASUS

The map above illustrates that ASUS has the overall best feature compared to its competitors. ASUS won this category because of its brand-new Asus VivoBook which is the 2 nd expensive laptop among them with the price of RM 3,199. (ASUS 2021) (Robert Jones 2021) Lenovo comes at the 2nd position in term the feature by its brand new IdeaPad 3 and the cheapest laptop among the other brands which is RM 1700. (Lenovo 2021) (Robert Jones 2021) At last, HP comes at the 3rd position among the other brands and at the top in term of the price which is RM 4,199. (HP 2021) (Robert Jones 2021)

ASUS’s Sub-brand (Zenphyrus Duo 15)

Figure 4 Perceptual map of ASUS’s Zenphyrus Duo 15

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In above the perceptual mapping, Asus’s Zephyrus Duo, which is RM 19999, the most expensive compare to its competitors’ sub-brands which are respectively Lenovo Legion 7i RM 7,505 and HP Omen is RM 3,899. (ASUS HP Lenovo 2021) But in term of the feature-oriented product, ASUS holds on high position compared to its competitors.

Section 3 – the Marketing Mix 3.1 PLC and the Diffusion of Innovation Product life cycle (PLC) The product life cycle is to illustrate the changes from the time of its introduction to its declination. Also, the process includes rapid growth, reaching peak sales, and the decrease in sales volume (Rink and Swan, 1979; Potts, 2010).

Figure 5 Product life cycle (PLC)

Diffusion of Innovation The diffusion of innovation is to refer to the tendency of ASUS ROG among different level of users includes the overall share in the market. (Lars Perner 2020).

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Figure 6 Diffusion of Innovation

Innovators (2.5%) Innovators are the individuals who first adopt an innovation or product who are willing to take the risk and have the highest social class. (ondigitalmarketing 2021) Early Adopters (13.5%) This is the 2nd category after the innovators who adopt the innovation and have the highest degree of opinion leadership among the other adopter categories. (ondigitalmarketing 2021) Early Majority (34%) This category’s individuals adopt an innovation after a varying amount of time which takes longer than the innovators and early adopters. (ondigitalmarketing 2021) Late Majority (34%) Individuals of this category have a will to adopt an innovation after some average number of society. They can approach an innovation with a high degree of scepticism and after the majority of society has adopted the innovation. (ondigitalmarketing 2021) Laggards (16%) Unlike the other category, individuals of this category are the las adopters and show little to no opinion leadership. (ondigitalmarketing 2021)

3.2 Type of Consumer product 10

The Asus ROG series laptop categorized under the specialty goods and the reason behind that is the unique characteristics or brand identification. The main attribute of specialty goods is high-risk, expensive, and very infrequently bought consumer products. (Sonja Grabner-Kräute 2018). Moreover, specialty goods have unique characteristics which made important to the buyers and require an extra decision-making process to choose the product. (Sonja Grabner-Kräute 2018). Same goes with the gaming laptop which requires to have special characteristics such as types of graphics, RAM, performance to make the decision.

3.3 Recommend a Marketing Mix Product As the importance of marketing mix, every brand should make sure to see their products offering in the three levels in the market which are core customer benefit, actual product, and augmented product. (Kotler and Armstrong, 2010)

Figure 7 Levels of Product

Core product “At the most basic level, products and services are purchased to provide some perceived benefit(s) to the user. Marketers, designers, and product planners must determine ‘‘What is the customer buying?’’ (Jeffrey B. Schmidt 2010). SO, to maintain this core level of products, Asus needs to ensure 11

the core benefit after buying the expensive ROG series laptops. An example of a core benefit which a consumer of a gaming laptop will seek is the high design and overall performance of gaming and a middle-aged segmented consumer will always expect a faultless laptop with overall high performance as well as high-quality design. Therefore, it is recommended to ask these questions while developing the product: What benefit does the customer seek? What is the problem that needs to be solved? (Maximilian Claessens 2015)

Actual product The actual product is the final product as a laptop which must be manifested based on the core benefit and made available for the consumers. (Maximilian Claessens 2015). A strong feature or design, level of quality, the way of packaging, along with its attribute and overall performance to satisfy the consumers should be comprised of the actual product. (Crawford and Anthony di Benedetto, 2008).

Augmented product The last level of the product, the augmented product consis...