Please help me with the given assignment for Mercedes-Benz (M-B), the car manufacturer. Please provide references. T
Part One: Keeping Segmentation and Targeting in mind answer the following
1-Identify M-B's target market and positioning strategy
2-How is M-B unique?
3-How does their product line fit with their target market and positioning? Does it make sense?
4-Who are M-B's top 2 or 3 competitors? 5-How are they different from M-B?
Part Two: Marketing Mix (product and branding strategies)
1-Create a product positioning map for M-B. List what you believe are TWO PRIMARY ATTRIBUTES on which M-B competes, and then create a positioning map (also known as a "Perceptual Map") showing where you would place M-B relative to its primary competitors on these TWO criteria.
Do not use quality and price. Many textbooks follow this approach but this usually results in a linear arrangement of the products on a diagonal, with two empty cells! Either the products are of high quality with a commensurate high price or of low quality with a commensurate low price. It is hard to imagine finding products with high quality and a low price or low quality and a high price, i.e. Price and Quality are highly correlated and this invalidates a fundamental assumption of positioning maps, namely that the dimensions used are independent.
Therefore, choose something more interesting and useful dimensions. For example, if you are describing the market for colas, you might choose TWO of the following: carbonation, sweetness, and type of sweetener. Or if you are describing the market for ice cream, you might choose TWO of the following: creaminess, sweetness, and type of sweetener. Though meaningful positioning is multi-dimensional (that is it requires more than two dimensions, for this exercise, so that you get a feeling for the process, you are being asked to use only two dimensions. In terms of the above examples, you might even want to think in terms of presenting descriptions of customers in terms of their motivations to choose one product vs. another. For example, who wants a really sweet cola vs. one that is not very sweet (could the difference be based on the age of the buyer?)? And who wants sugar vs. sugar substitute (could the difference be based on the desired weight of the buyer?)?
2- Assess the brand strategy of M-B with relation to its target market. What is the brand personality? Why is it appropriate (or not appropriate) to the target market?
Part three: With the role of Promotion in Marketing (Advertising, direct sales (personal selling), sales promotion, publicity and public relations) in mind discuss how M-B's promotional strategy is influenced by the choice of target market and segment.
Which components of the promotion mix are being used?
Do you believe promotional strategies are appropriate to the target market? Why or why not?
Would online marketing have a role in promoting M-B's product or service?