Developing a New Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (Marketing Plan) Essay

Developing a New Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle (Marketing Plan) - Essay Example The situation analysis has been conducted using PESTLE and SWOT analysis. PESTLE analysis disclosed that the macro-economic factors are favourable for Ford’s hybrid car market development. However, after the financial crisis, the purchasing power of the UK consumer has reduced and hence the demand of high cost hybrid cars will remain low for few years. High brand image and large portion of market share are the two major strengths of Ford in UK, and increasing competition and high production cost are the major threat for the company. Major target market consists of high income group people who are tech savvy and environmentally conscious. The marketing strategy has been planned after considering the marketing, financial and societal objectives. As per the features of four P’s, Ford is expected to follow differentiation strategy by bringing product developments. Promotional activities are important for spreading consumers’ awareness for hybrid cars offered by Ford and hence, it will follow integrated marketing communication (IMC) approach for better performance. The financial planning is done based on projected sales revenue, and the anticipated profit for the years will be minimum. However, with increasing demand in the following years, the profitability is expected to increase. For controlling, evaluation and adjustments of strategies, balanced scorecard (BSC) approach is very effective as it includes major business perspectives. Ford will also use financial techniques for evaluating the effectiveness of the marketing strategy. 2. Introduction Globalization has brought several improvements in the society. In the case of economic developments, globalization has helped to encourage the trade and business among the world countries. Besides, with time, there has been a significant development in the field of technology that further expands the scope of trade and business in the global market. This has encouraged free trade policies and oligopol y market structure. As a result, competitiveness among the players in a given industry has been intensified to a higher extent. This competitiveness has urged the companies to gain a competitive advantage for avoiding unnecessary competition and achieving an upper hand position in the market (Reid, 2002). In this process, in the post-modern business organisations, developments and execution of effective strategic marketing plans has become inevitable tasks for them. Marketing activities are used for a number of reasons, for example, for increasing sales revenues, for brand developments, for promoting corporate image, for gaining trust of local market, for cost efficiency and for sustainability (Burrow, 2008, p.260). An extensive marketing plan includes a number of tasks and activities like developments of mission & objectives, environmental analysis, formulation, execution and evaluation of marketing strategies & tactics. In this process, marketers have to consider multiple elements of marketing. The primary element of marketing is known as four P’s i.e. product, price, promotion and place. Business organisati