Marketing Mix of Automobile Industry in India

Marketing Environment

Marketing environment consists of the actors and forces outside marketing that affect marketing management’s ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target customers. The marketing environment offers both opportunities and threats. The environment continues to change rapidly. The marketing environment is made up of Micro-environment and Macro-environment.

The Micro environment consists of the actors close to the company that affect its ability to serve its customers. These actors are: the company, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer markets, competitors and publics.

The Macro environment consists of the larger societal forces that affect the micro environment. These forces are: demographic, economic, natural, technological, political and cultural forces.

Segmentation

A market segment consists of a group of customers who share a similar set of wants.

The marketer does not create the segments; the marketer’s task is to identify the segments and decide which one(s) to target. Segment marketing offers several benefits over mass marketing. The company can create a more fine-tuned product or service offering and price it appropriately for the target segment. The company can more easily select the best distribution and communication channels, and it will also have a clearer picture of its competitors, which are the companies going after the same segment.

In the context of the automotive sector, we would be classifying it in the following way:

1.    Based on the price of the car

On the basis of price of car we can segment the car in following ways-:

·         Economy Segment: The economy segment of car ranges up to Rs. 2.5 lacs. The products in this segment are Maruti 800, Alto and the newly launched product of TATA motors i.e. NANO.

·         Mid- Size Segment: The mid-size segment of car ranges from 2.5 lacs to 4.5 lacs. It includes the products like Hyundai santro, Maruti zen, Tata Indica etc.

·         Luxury car segment: The luxury segment of car ranges from 4.5 lacs to 10 lacs. It includes the products like Honda city, Hyundai Verna, Mahindra Scorpio etc.

·         Super luxury car segment: The super luxury segment of car ranges above 10 lacs. This segment satisfies the elite class of the society. It includes the products like Skoda Laura, Honda Accord, BMW, Mercedes, and Audi etc.

2.    Based on the length of the car

·         A segment - Cars that are less than 3.5 meters long (800, Omni)

·         B segment- Cars between 3.5 meters to 4 meters long (Zen and Santro)

·         C Segment- Cars between 4 meters to 4.5 meters long (Verna, SX4, Honda city, ford fiesta)

·         D segment- Cars that are more than 4.5 meters long (Mercedes, Sonata,    Accord, Skoda

3.    Based on the user segment

Segmentation of automotive sector is also based on the user of the products. Like the example of TATA Motors, when it observed that their product ‘INDICA’ is used extensively by the taxi operators, it came up with a new model of the car having Round Tail Lights to distinguish it from the car having vertical tail lights used by the individual buyers.

·         Individual Buyers

·         Taxi operators

·         Government /non-government institutions

Target Audience

In marketing and advertising, a target audience, is a specific group of people within the target market at which the marketing message is aimed at.

For Example: Target Audience for Volkswagen is the upper section of the society mainly the SEC A and SEC B of the society.

Importance of Public Relation in India

Every day, hundreds of so-called experts are quoted in the newspapers, on the radio, on news-oriented Web sites and on television. We often balk at adding a line for public relations services. How often do you hear fellow business owners say, "There's no direct line between public relations and increased sales"?

It is very important for industries to understand the power of media and the effect of Public relation to build in a layering effect, in which each mention in the press heightens your visibility, adding another layer of credibility to your company. This credibility in turn creates a desire among viewers and listeners to pay attention to you. In effect, you've been sanctioned by a trustworthy, objective third party.

As PR in India is still in its growing stage not many companies are managing their Public Relation effectively. Effective use of Media and PR opens the doors for new business and gives a competitive edge over their competitors.  An effective public relations plan for an organization is developed to communicate a message that coincides with organizations goals and seeks to benefit mutual interest whenever possible. The communication must be carried out through an effective and proper communication channel.

Key points:

• Maintaining image and relations of an organisation with the public
• Managing communication between an organisation and its target audience
• Manage crisis situations faced by the organisation
• Managing government affairs
• Internal marketing of the organisation among its employees, stake holders, communities, customers, industry, investors, media and visitors
• Managing websites
• Generating annual reports
• Employee newsletter
• Conducting and managing CSR activities

Public relations has gained a high importance in India today as companies realize the need and necessity of maintaining public relations apart from devising good advertising and marketing strategies.