Executive Summary
Branding is indeed a very important aspect of marketing. A company that promotes its brand efficiently is bound to survive through the most difficult market conditions. This paper sets out to perform a market research of a brand experiencing a problem, and find solutions to the issue under investigation. To that end, Harley Davidson was chosen as the brand.
Some of the causes of the brand’s decline included branding, mismanagement, brand neglect, failure to move with the target consumers and cost cutting. From the research findings, it was evident that the company is in need of a brand revitalization strategy. Because of this assessment, viable recommendations as to how best the company can achieve this aim have been discussed.
If the recommendations provided herein are applied, Nokia will be on its path to becoming the iconic motorbike giant it used to be during the sixties. A brand’s inability to stay with its target market may lead to its decline. When a brand starts repositioning itself in order to appeal to a new audience, it stands the risk of losing its core clients. As a result, the customers may feel alienated and neglected in the process.
This happened to the Nokia brand when it decided to manufacture Smart phones that were presumably of lower quality. They lost their loyal clients and the brand declined significantly.
Rebranding strategies such as product differentiation and repackaging makes a brand more attractive to existing and potential consumers. Failure to rebrand may lead to a situation whereby consumers lose interest in a brand and look for new and different alternatives.
Introduction
Nokia’s market share worldwide have been on the decline in the past few years as the company struggles to match the competition. The phone giant is losing its popularity at a very high rate while competitors are very quick to fill in the gap the company leaves in the market (Reinhardt 2006).
While struggling to maintain its market share in the expansive phones market, Nokia’s consumer preference is very low compared to other brands especially with the Smart phones as shown below (Dediu 2012).
Therefore, product marketing with regard to the Nokia brand would be a vital step towards helping the company to regain its market influence. Product marketing for this brand would hence involve the seven Ps of marketing (Reinhardt 2006).
The seven Ps denote Product, Pricing, Place, Promotion, Packaging, Positioning, and People (Reinhardt 2006). Product marketing is far much distinct compared to product management and the difference must be appreciated in this case.
Thesis statement
Developing and maintaining a brand is often a complex and costly issue whose outcome concerning the brand’s lifespan or destiny cannot be predetermined. However, with the application of marketing research and strategies, declining brands can be revived amidst the prevailing market challenges (Maatz 2012).
This paper shall discuss the factors that led to the decline of the Nokia brand and come up with viable marketing strategies that can be applied to revive and maintain the brand despite the harsh economic and competitive forces that prevail in today’s business environment. This shall be done by analyzing credible literature that focuses on market research, branding and total quality management.
Problem definition
While product management is more concerned with the details of the product and its development, product marketing is concerned with popularizing and marketing the product. This involves creating awareness of the product to prospective customers, existing customers, and others. The nokia brand despite the great decline in sales and publicity can regain consumer confidence with proper market research (Reinhardt 2006).
This will enable the company to identify the problems facing their products and help provide the solution to these problems. Every business requires information that will help it be in a position to satisfy its consumer’s needs.
The nokia phone company is one such company that would greatly benefit from conducting a market research. This owes to the declining market share in the phone industry and consequently the decline in sales (Kremp 2011).
Research methods and Limitations
Historic accounts
In this research, a number of research methods were employed to determine the extent to which the phone company has lost its market. The methods used therefore include the historic approach to research, survey method, and use of questionnaires.
The Historic approach in marketing research is widely used a research method by a number of companies (Sharma 2011). Studying the past of a market is an important strategy of dealing with the future of the same.
Survey
For the future to be securely anticipated, the past, trends, and patterns of the experiences learned must also be examined. Survey on the other hand has become a favorite research method especially in market research (Maatz 2012).
This has highly been influenced by the introduction of online surveys a factor that has assisted in greatly reducing the cost of research as well as increasing its accuracy and scope. With survey, data collection is very easy and efficient while the cost of data collection is relatively low and affordable.
Questionnaire
This method allows for anonymity hence the candid responses from the respondents and ultimately legitimate results.
The questionnaires also in the field of research are effective and this particular research will engage this data collection method in order to have accurate market information on the product mentioned above (Sharma 2011). Nonetheless, all of the above data collection methods have limitations that may affect the results hence a risk of inaccurate information.
A good example is the survey method used. In a survey, the possible answers and responses must be accounted for or else the research will miss some data hence having inaccurate information. This method is also prone to researcher errors where the researcher may make assumptions hence collecting inaccurate data (Sharma 2011).
Market research
In business, dealing with products and consumers requires organized efforts to collect information concerning markets and customers. The process of doing so therefore is referred to as product marketing. The Nokia brand of phones was doing very well around the year 2006 and 2009 as shown in the graph below (Dediu 2012).
However, the market today has transformed technologically and the phone giant is struggling to keep the pace set by other players in the industry such as Samsung and Apple (Dediu 2012).
The big question is why is it that a company of such magnitude is finding it hard to compete with the rest in the market? Conducting a research to establish the issues involved, this research found out a number of factors blamed for the decline in sales of the company. However, ineffective product marketing is the greatest cause of the decline (Kremp 2011).
Problems facing the company
Nokia’s problems can simply be summed up as Burning Cash. The company’s net cash dropped down by 24% in a year (Maatz 2012). To be precise, the total net worth if their losses amounted to $ 9 billion (Kremp 2011). It is even projected that with the current trend in the market and the company’s reluctance in counter attacking its lack of competitive strategies, the company may go bankrupt in the next two to three years.
Attracting investors and customers
The company’s future projections are not very convincing and consumers as well as investor are losing confidence in its market strength. The nokia company has been accused on many occasions to be dragging behind as far as technology in the phone industry is concerned (Savov 2011).
With the growth demand for smart phones, consumers are accusing the nokia company of not living up to their expectations hence giving the competition an upper hand in the market as shown in the percentage graph below (Dediu 2012).
The company as of this year is still not ready to integrate its technology with the rest of the players in the industry and this has caused them great decline in doing business as shown in the graph below (Dediu 2012).
Currently, consumer preferences are shifting from communication gadgets to IT gadgets. The market for phones has dramatically taken a new shift and nokia is not effectively responding to the market shift.
They are also faced with the fact that they are aiming their products at a saturated market segment not forgetting that their wage costs are on the rise (Savov 2011). Long supply chains that the company operates under in addition to the high import charges for its raw materials cause other problems.
The seven Ps of marketing
Using the seven Ps of marketing, the research on how to regain market relevance for the company can be achieved. First in the list is to identify the relevance of the product (Ryan 2011). The product in this case is a phone and the industry it satisfies is the communication industry. Nokia Company should think in the lines of manufacturing IT relevant phones just as the competition is doing.
ICT influence in the industry
With the increased use of ICT, very few consumers want to purchase a phone for communication only. Seventy five percent of the interviewed respondents said that they want to buy a phone that puts them technologically at the same level with the increasing technology in the mobile phone industry.
The second item to look at in this research is the pricing (Savov 2011). Determining what a company receives as compensation for its product through the sale of its products is vital for the survival of the company. Pricing is determined by many factors including the production cost of the product.
However, the price of a product can determine its volume of sales. High prices on products can have both positive as well as negative effects. By putting high prices on products, the results would turn out positive if the high price were taken as a sign of high quality production (Savov 2011).
The consumers know that quality products are quite expensive and with the need to purchase high quality goods, the consumers may associate high prices with high quality.
The pricing effects of a product
However, this is not always the case as high prices can also influence potential buyers to purchase and pursue alternative products to circumvent the high prices. Giving a product a high price therefore should be well researched and its effects be evaluated to avoid an unanticipated loss.
Another approach in pricing is selling the products at low prices, which means slightly above the production cost (Savov 2011). Through this approach, there are benefits as well as shortcomings.
The consumer might take selling the products at a low price as a sign of low quality in production; hence, they may not be interested in buying the product. Cheap products are associated with low or bad quality and with reference to that fact, selling your products cheaply does not guarantee high sales (Murph, 2011).
Nonetheless, goods sold at a cheaper price are more likely to make significant sales compared to the otherwise situation. While determining pricing for a product, it is vital to consider the manufacturing cost also known as the production cost, the market condition and the quality of the product.
Price determining factors
These are the three main determinants of the price of a product and are significant in determining the price. The needs of a consumer can only be satisfied with a product he or she is willing to purchase and has the ability to sue.
For this reason, it’s surface to say that pricing is an important part of marketing (Savov 2011). Packaging on the other hand is all about the physical appearance of a product and the form of presentation. The outward look of the product must be catchy and attractive to the consumer for him or her to think about buying the product.
Research findings
In relation to the seven Ps of marketing, the nokia company is left behind in terms of pricing, packaging, and promotion. To maintain competitiveness, the company has chosen to do so through pricing.
The recent introduction of affordable gadgets from its company in Indonesia is a clear indication of the company’s determination to pursue the lower segments of the market (Murph, 2011). Nokia believes that the lower mobile market is and remains promising and hence the new entries.
These could be seen as a strategy to avoid competition in the higher segment, especially the smart phones. The new entry of the low price Nokia Asha 205, a low priced smart phone, and the nokia 206-feature phone are some of the new strategies to revive the giant phone maker’s market share (Murph, 2011).
With the increased technological advancement, phone capability to be upgraded to receive new software applications is vital.
The nokia Lumia failed
The nokia Lumia, which is the latest smart phone by the company, is not competing effectively in the market as the manufacturer had anticipated. This is apparently because the gadget cannot be upgraded to the new operating system version, Windows Phone 8 (Dinning 2011).
This means that all consumers with the old model operating systems are forced to purchase a new phone and this has been the main problem of the nokia phones. One model can be significantly different from the other hence creating a distinct difference between its products.
Recommendations
As noted in the above research, the nokia company has been left behind as far as technology is concerned. They have not embraced the global idea of an IT developed consumer base (Buckley 2011).
Nokia would benefit more from conducting market research to identify the needs of the consumers. The company should not rely more on creating labels that symbolize their independence rather they should be more focused on the needs and wants of consumers.
Easy to use gadgets
Today in the market, the consumers are looking for working and easy to use operating systems and the android platform has already gained popularity among consumers (Dinning 2011).
The software integrates easily with other software’s easily. Nokia should revise and adjust its pricing systems to get back fully to its position in the market. The decision for the company to focus on the lower segment of the market might have been well intended but clearly, it is not working to the advantage of the company.
Opportunity
The company has opportunities to improve their market share today and challenges the competition. It is also true that it has the financial capability to cease such opportunities. However, for the company to be able to rescue its declining market share, there are vital technological changes that need to be made.
Nokia need to change and improve the technology they use in manufacturing their phones (Sharma 2011). Changing for instance the camera resolution and improving picture messaging will definitely attract consumers to buy phones under the nokia brand (Dinning 2011).
Market penetration
To penetrate significantly the market, the company should re-invent its products to come up with a new product that the competition does not offer (Murph 2011). The company must concentrate on strategic ways to enter into to the market, market growth, product advancement, and diversification (Buckley 2011).
Nokia is the only giant phone manufacturer that specializes in mobile phone production. All others such as Samsung and Apple have diversified their production into other products like laptops, iPods, television, and other electronic devices.
Market shift
Researching and considering changing their market is vital just in case the current target market is saturated. The current price needs to be lowered in order to appeal to the consumers. This can be done for a while until the consumers get used to the brand then the prices can later be adjusted to reasonable prices (Dinning 2011). For a business to succeed, it has to be in a position to supply the needs of the consumer.
Conclusion
This research has put the nokia brand under great scrutiny in terms of sales and marketing structure. The company that was once the giant phone manufacturer is slowly declining in the market with regard to its market share.
In the research, several factors that have led to the decline in sales of the brand’s products have been identified and clearly outlined. Marketing research methods that are effective in helping salvage Nokia’s lost glory also are identified in the paper (Buckley 2011).
The bottom line as suggested in this research is the fact that Nokia as a company needs to change its technology in the manufacture of phones and come up with strategies that can effectively compete with the rivals (Buckley 2011). Marketing is one of the better ways of competing in such a saturated market and to improve sales, diversification is vital.
References
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Dediu, H. 2012. How Samsung beat Nokia. Web.
Dinning, D. 2011, Nokia N9 Imaging. Web.
Kozhanov, A. 2011, FM Radio for Nokia N9: First FM Radio application is available in OVI Store. Web.
Kremp, M. 2011, Das hätte Nokias Gewinner sein können. Web.
Maatz, B. 2012, Exotisches One-Hit-Wonder. Web
Molen, B. 2011, Nokia N9 gets axed in Germany; global tour looks even more meager. Web.
Murph, D. 2011, Nokia: the N9 is not coming to America. Web.
Savov, V. 2011, Edited: Dear Nokia, you cannot be serious! Web.
Savov, V. 2011, Nokia N9 review. Web.
Sharma, V. 2011, The N9 includes an FM transmitter & receiver although the software is not ready yet. Web.
Reinhardt, A. 2006, Nokia’s Magnificent Mobile-Phone Manufacturing Machine. Web.
Ryan, P. 2011, Nokia’s new mega-based N9 is set up for failure. Ars Technica. Web.