Introduction
Competitive advantage refers to the superiority that an organization has, over its competitors on the basis of achieving higher sales, profits, revenues, market share, market growth, and customer satisfaction among others. This paper looks at how the IznBooks Company plans to market its library and information services and products in the Ajman University of Science and Technology. It provides an analysis of the company’s competitive advantage, and the best strategies it can employ to satisfy the needs and wants of customers in the university. The paper shows how the company matches the segment needs with its resources. In addition, it analyzes the company’s business objectives, problem statement, solution statement, and the marketing environment. It also discusses the company’s consumer profile, segmentation strategy, targeting strategy, differentiation strategy, and positioning strategy.
Company analysis
The IznBooks Company is incorporated in the UAE and operates in the entire Arab region. IznBooks is a renowned library and information services company in the Arab World. The fact that the company is near the Ajman University of Science & Technology makes it better placed to serve the university than its competitors. To avoid the challenges associated with the library and information services and products business, the IznBooks Company employs marketing strategies to ensure that it meets the specifications of customers. This enables it to ensure customer satisfaction leading to increased sales, profits, and revenues. Through its marketing research, the company gets to know the commodities and services that should be put on sale, exchange, lend, or transmit. The following information shows how the IznBooks Company is planning to market its library and information services and products, at the Ajman University of Science and Technology.
Business objective: Why
The business objective of the IznBooks Company is to market its information and library products and services successfully and profitably in the Ajman University of Science and Technology, within one month. Just like any other university, the Ajman University of Science and Technology relies on library and information products and services from external organizations. The IznBooks Company intends to employ the best marketing strategies to attract potential consumers and satisfy them. The other reasons why the company wants to market its library and information products the university include the promotion of the use of information resources, creation of demand and a perception of its library and information products and services, and improve its image and status in the market (product and service positioning).
As earlier mentioned, introducing IT systems in its library services to the Ajman University of Science & Technology, and tackling issues of rising costs, surrounding its resources such as databases, journals, and reading materials among others is of crucial importance. To achieve this, the company will create a good image in the minds of the users by making them know that it offers a high-quality library and information products and services. It will also ensure that it gains the ability to anticipate the interests and requirements of the target audience. The company’s business objective in the Ajman University of Science and Technology will help it gain a competitive advantage over its competitors.
Problem statement: Why
The IznBooks Company intends to venture into this market (the Ajman University of Science and Technology) in order to increase its market share, sales, profits, and gains. This will help it gain a competitive advantage over its competitors. There are many reasons behind the company’s move to venture into this market. First, it is very clear that this institution relies extensively on library and information products and services in ensuring that its students acquire the best knowledge and skills in science and technology. Second, there are many challenges associated with the library and information services and products business.
These include the networking demands, stiff competition from the vendors of databases, challenges in reducing costs, stiff competition, and other complexities in the information. The primary reason behind these challenges is the revolution of information that is engineered by the advancing technologies. The stiff competition from the other companies is also a challenge to IznBooks Company, considering that each is striving to remain in the market and gain a large market share in order to be in a competitive edge. The IznBooks Company intends to offer the users of its library and information products and services that meet the specifications of customers. Many companies, which fail to satisfy the needs of the consumers of their products end up collapsing. Unsatisfied customers stop purchasing their products and services look for alternatives in other companies.
Your solution statement: Why
The best solution for the company to the aforementioned problem is to employ the best marketing strategies in the Ajman University of Science and Technology to ensure that it gains a competitive edge. These marketing strategies include the targeting strategy, segmentation strategy, differentiation strategy, and positioning strategy among others. The company should apply these marketing strategies in this market for a number of reasons. First, these strategies will help the company to satisfy the library and information needs of the university. In addition, most library and information products and services companies have realized the need for marketing strategies in improving their productivity, both internally and externally.
If the IznBooks Company fails to employ these strategies, it will automatically fail in the market, creating room for its competitors. In other words, if the company lags behind in employing marketing strategies in its business operations, it will lose a competitive advantage to its competitors. As earlier mentioned, the company needs to grow its sales, market share, profits, and revenues both today and in the future. It understands that it can only achieve this through the incorporation of the best techniques to prove to users of its products and services that it is the best provider, compared to its competitors. To achieve this, it will integrate the 7 Ps of the marketing mix in its business to gain a competitive edge.
Marketing environment: Why
IznBooks will ensure that it understands its marketing environment first before making any move to ensure that it comes up with the best plan that is fit for its marketing strategies, and the overall success. A marketing environment can be defined as the factors or forces that impact on the success of a company in the market. These environmental factors can be grouped into three (the internal, micro, and macro environments). The IznBooks Company understands the benefits of marketing research on the environment, customers’ perceptions, and its strengths and weaknesses. All these combined help the company to come up with a reliable interpretation of the environment, which is critical in developing its products and services in new markets.
Basing on the macro environment, the government of the UAE allows organizations (both public and private) to operate anywhere, so long as they meet the business laws of the country. The company will also integrate the latest information technologies in its operations to ensure that it keeps pace with the current market trends. For instance, it will provide a searchable digital catalog of library and digital information services to help students and educators access referencing materials at all times. The Ajman University of Science and Technology has many students and educators, pursuing different courses. This is an added advantage to the IznBooks Company in increasing its sales, revenues, and profits. Being the closest company that offer library and information products and services (market) is an added advantage for IznBooks Company.
A rapid change has been experienced in the library and information sector over the recent past. Globalization, advancing technologies, innovation, and changes in customer preferences are instrumental to this change. Most library companies have become more competitive and alert than ever before. However, it is crucial to understand that the library business industry is affected by a number of challenges. These include the networking demands, stiff competition from the vendors of databases, challenges in reducing costs, stiff competition, and other complexities in the information. Many companies dealing with the library and information services and products have adopted marketing strategies to adapt marketing to improve their management. The primary markets for these companies include public and private educational institutions such as universities, colleges, and high schools.
Basing on the microenvironment, the IznBooks Company will ensure that it targets the potential customers whose number is quite large in the university. Since IznBooks is renowned for offering high-quality library and information products and services, many customers will be attracted to its products and services. The company will seek to offer the right products and services to customers in the university. Using its memory system, the company will correct and stop reoccurrences of past mistakes to avoid inconveniences with the customers.
Consumer profile
Before venturing into any market, the IznBooks Company ensures that it examines the consumer profile of the target markets. Consumer profile refers to the description of consumers basing on geographic, psychographic, demographic, product usage, and geographic factors. The company targets students and educators at the Ajman University of Science and Technology. Most of the individuals in this target market aged between 15-60 years. The target audiences believe that the library and information products and services play a significant role in ensuring their success in studies. IT-related resources are part of the target audiences’ lifestyles.
For instance, most of them depend on the searchable digital catalog of the library and digital information services in their learning. These consumers live near and in the university hostels. Some individuals in the target market had used the products before and were satisfied. This implies that they will influence others to try the library and information products and services offered by the IznBooks Company. The company targets its library and information services and products all people in the university irrespective of their gender, religion, and ethnicity among others. Most of the individuals in this market come from rich families. Some of them work on part-time jobs. Therefore, money to cater for the library and information services is not a problem for them.
Segmentation strategy: Why
As earlier mentioned, IznBooks Company values segmentation strategy when marketing its products and services. There are several segmentation strategies. The company will base its marketing on demographic, psychographic, and behavioral segmentation strategies. Demographic segmentation involves crafting of marketing strategy using potential customers’ characteristics. This characteristic could include age, gender, education, socioeconomic status, income, and occupation among others. This company will able to determine whether its library and information products and services will be mass-marketed, or targeted to specific consumers. Through psychographic segmentation, the company will divide people based on their lifestyle and values. This will help it determine their interests, attitudes, perceptions, and opinions towards the products and services, and hence provide the best offers that meet their needs. Through behavioral segmentation, the company will know the needs and the buying behavior of the consumers of its library and information products and services. For instance, it will know their loyalty towards its brand, its cost-effectiveness, and factors affecting among other things.
Targeting strategy
The company will target both educators and learners in the Ajman University of Science and Technology. It will choose the potential customers for its products and services through segmenting the market. This will help it identify the best segments, and hence offer the appropriate products and services that meet the needs of consumers. It will also determine whether the company will offer mass marketing, or provide each segment with specific library and information products and services.
Differentiation strategy: Why
The IznBooks Company will make sure that it offers its customers a unique library and information products and services. This will enable IznBooks Company to gain a competitive advantage. The company will have a unique logo and brand, offer high-quality products and services, add features to its products and services, and have creative employees among other things. All these combined will help it gain a competitive edge.
Positioning strategy: Why
The IznBooks Company’s Positioning slogan is “Enhance creation of knowledge through a state-of-art library.” Positioning strategy is the creation of a product or service meaningfulness in the minds of consumers. Product positioning strategies are formulated after all stages of market planning are completed. The IznBooks Company understands that a positioning strategy is critical in reaching out to its potential customers. Having understood the needs of customers in the Ajman University of Science and Technology, the company will craft benefit statements of its product and service. Secondly, the benefit statements would be transformed into message statements.
The message statements will communicate the product and service benefits to the consumers in the university. The message statements will be used to invoke the awareness, interest, and desire of the company’s products and services. Direct marketing and personal selling will be used to communicate the tailored message statements about what the company offers in the market. These promotional campaigns will have an effective sequence and pattern. The positioning strategy will be intended to move the IznBooks’ products and services into the plans of the university library. This will help overcome other competitors in the market, and hence gain a competitive edge.
Conclusion
In the current world, every organization employs marketing strategies in its operations in order to gain a competitive advantage. There are several marketing strategies that marketers employ to gain this advantage. They include the targeting strategy, segmentation strategy, differentiation strategy, and positioning strategy among others. The IznBooks Company shall employ these marketing strategies to reach out to Ajman University of Science and Technology. This will help it gain a competitive edge in the long run.