FREE ESSAY ON SONY MARKETING

SONY MARKETING

Sony and Marketing WHAT MARKETING IS: The primary concern or objective of marketing is to
identify and satisfy, or exceed the changing needs of customers. In view of this broad
concern of marketing, it can be seen that the concept of marketing encapsulates many
activities in a business. Marketing, in fact, refers to any activity undertaken by a firm
that has been designed to plan, price, promote and distribute ideas, goods and services
to target markets. These marketing activities were executed in order to create exchange,
that is sales, that will result in the achievement of the proprietors' individual goals
and the firm's goals, both in the short-term and the long-term. It is then obvious that
marketing forms an integral component of any business's operations. In particular
marketing activities attempt to increase a firms' revenue base, by placing an emphasis on
enticing potential customers in target markets to purchase the firms' products in order
to satisfy their wants, rather than those of firm's competitors. Consequently, the
marketing directly contributes to the attainment of the financial goals of the firm.
Hence, the success of a firm is reliant upon the extent to which it is able to identify,
and satisfy or exceed the customer's needs more effectively and efficiently relative to
its competitors vying for the same markets. Marketing as an activity that entails several
features, all of which are presented during the course of the marketing process. Such
features include, firstly and most importantly, that marketing is a comprehensive process
that begins with the creation of an idea and ends up as product that will be sold to
satisfy a customer's needs. Secondly, marketing is seen as a managerial process as it
involves making managerial decisions about the particular mix of product, price, place
and promotion in a firm. Furthermore, marketing involves managers planning and ensuring
that particular sequenced activities are carried out, in order for the marketing plan to
be successful. Finally, marketing is perceived as a way in which firms are able to
satisfy the needs of customers, and in turn achieve their own business goals. APPROACHES
TO MARKETING: Marketing provides the business with the ability to satisfy the changing
wants of customers. In light of this, and the fact that businesses have become
increasingly aware of the role that marketing plays in achieving success in the business,
several approaches or philosophies to marketing have developed. There are five central
approaches to marketing, with the use of a specific marketing approach/s depends upon
particular business's marketing strategy and the type of product being marketed. These
different approaches are: Marketing Concept: this approach believes that customer's
want-satisfaction is the economic and social reason for an organisation's existence. This
approach stipulates that all of the business's activities should be targeted towards
meeting consumer wants, while at the same time meeting the organisation's goals. In
effect, this approach requires that the firm finds out what the customer wants, and
subsequently develops a product to meet these requirements and then sell it at a profit.
Production Concept: this approach states that the business will sell its product if it is
both well made and affordable. Businesses utilising this approach require management to
focus on improving production techniques and cost structures of the business.
Consequently, this approach does not place emphasis on customer want-satisfaction.
Product Concept: this approach has the attitude that 'product is king' and focuses on the
quality, features, and performance of the product. This approach believes that if the
product has more features or is of a better quality and performance compared to
competitors, it will then gain greater sales. This approach is not customer
want-satisfaction oriented. Selling Concept: this approach focuses on developing sales
techniques and promotional activities in order to entice customers into buying an
organisation's product, whether they want it or not. Therefore this approach places
direct emphasis on customers, but, possibly not on their want-satisfaction. Societal
Marketing Concept: this is the latest marketing approach, it combines the main ideas of
the marketing approach, that is, determining customer needs and satisfying the business's
goals, but also integrates social responsibility into the business. This social
responsibility includes increasing environmental awareness, which may include tackling
the problems of pollution and the exploitation of non-renewable resources. Modern day
businesses are under pressure to adopt this marketing approach, in order to become more
socially responsible. This approach not only focuses on fulfilling the customer's
want-satisfaction, but also satisfying society. MARKETING APPROACHES ADOPTED BY SONY: The
electronics firm, Sony, has expanded its operations from its establishment in 1946 in a
'bombed out department store', to become one of the world's largest and most influential
electronics firms. Sony, has furthermore, developed a worldwide reputation, as one of the
worlds most innovative and technologically advanced firms. Its success can be attributed
to several internal factors, which include, the freedom of workers to experiment, the
passionate decisions of management, the established corporate culture, and also
particularly to the marketing approaches that top management has integrated into the firm
since its establishment. The leaders of Sony, from its founders to the present-day
management, have encouraged their product designers to express and prove their individual
visions about the development of new products to the firm, as with the Sony Walkman. In
fact top management has been 'willing to join the creative fray', which has lead to the
development of a cohesive firm with a corporate culture. This management style prompted
the development of premium quality, unique, and futuristic products, and along with the
establishment of a strong corporate culture, formed the basis of the firm's competitive
advantage. These aspects gave rise to adoption of several marketing approaches during the
course of Sony's life cycle. During Sony's period of establishment the marketing approach
was the key approach, since the initial management of Sony decided that the only way to
succeed was to discover a new form of technology and develop a product from it, which
would satisfy the wants of customers. This was evidenced by the conception of the tape
recorder, and the first pocket-sized radio, developed for changing lifestyles. This
approach has continued and still practiced today as signified by the recent development
of the following products, the Walkman, the Handycam, the Discman, all of which are
regarded by millions of customers as products that represent a way of life. The marketing
approach was influential in the marketing of the Walkman, such a concept originated from
a want of customers for a small, portable, tape/radio player, to replace the large,
inconvenient players of the era. Sony identified this customer-want, and the Walkman was
introduced, and heavily marketed, and in turn, became one of! the firm's most successful
products. In addition Sony has realised that consumer-want for electronics is apparent in
all age groups and as such, it has developed several products for different markets, for
example, 'My First Sony' was introduced for a younger target market. Another essential
marketing approach for Sony has been the product approach, unlike other firms in Japan;
Sony prides itself in producing products which have incorporated unique plastic
appearance and futuristic features with superior quality, and affordability of price.
These concepts have ensured that Sony's sales have outstripped both domestic and foreign,
including Western, competitors. In fact, Sony has upheld these concepts, in regards to
their products, to the extent that they cancelled the production of a new television,
simply because a rival had placed a similar product on the market. Coupled with the
product marketing approach has been the design of products, which is a major feature in
the marketing strategy of Sony, this is evident with the Sony Playstation, which has been
carefully designed and uniquely developed for the younger target market. In the future,
with the dawn of the digital age, Sony must place greater emphasis on the product
marketing approach, to achieve sales, if it wishes to maintain its market edge. This
requires, Sony, embracing advanced technology in the manufacturing of its products. The
managers of Sony have realised the dilemma, that due to the speed of technological
advancements, the products Sony releases today will become obsolete rapidly. Therefore,
Sony is continually, incorporating innovation achieved via extensive research and
development, to improve and expand upon its products to make them superior to
competitors. This approach has lead to the development of several 21st century products
to be used to dominate the future electronics market; these products include a portable
head-mounted video player, a DVD player, and a new-generation computer. The final
approach to marketing by Sony has been the selling approach, Sony, as a multinational
firm, has earned a reputation worldwide as being a superior producer market leader, in
regards to electronics products. The size of the company allows it to promote its product
on a larger scale than that of many of its competitors. Potential customers are enticed
to purchase the firm's product, even if they do not need it, by the array of commercials,
catalogues, and other methods, which portray Sony product's as being superior. Further,
the appearance of Sony's products is heavily marketed as being state of the art, everyone
is aware of the black, sleek, elegant, and futuristic appearance of the Sony the
products. WHY SONY IS A SUCCESSFUL INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Sony is a successful
international business as it has grown to become one of the world's largest and most
influential electronics firms, due to its ability to meet consumer-wants worldwide. This
influence over the market is evident as domestic and international competitors wait for
Sony to initiate a market trend via the introduction of a product, and then duplicate
this, so as to benefit from Sony's success. Furthermore, Sony has come to possess a
worldwide reputation, which rivals those of the other multinationals, like Nike and
others, a reputation which has made Sony and its products synonymous with quality and
superiority in electronics. Sony's is also seen as internationally successful as it has
entered many export markets in the world, including Australia, Sony also has established
several headquarters in different parts of the world, including America and Europe, which
is a testament to its international success. This worldwide status has enabled Sony to
discover chan! ges in consumer wants, new product ideas, and the success of different
marketing approaches worldwide. Sony's international success can be attributed to several
internal factors, these in the passionate decisions of management, in that they allow the
product designers the freedom to experiment and develop the ideas that may lead to a
breakthrough for the firm. Further, Sony's success can be attributed to the establishment
of a strong corporate culture in the firm, which allows the goals of the firm to be
achieved, as managers have ensured the everyone is able to focus on the overall picture
of the firm. Sony's integration of marketing approaches is another keystone to the firm's
international success, as the simultaneous use of the strategies has allowed the firm to
better satisfy customer wants, and in turn better achieve its own goals. This success can
be attributed, largely, to the role of product marketing in the business, the attitude
that 'product is king' has allowed Sony to develop a general direction in which the firm
is headed. The use of product marketing has resulted in Sony being able to, use different
methods, such as market research and R&D, to discover the wants of customers, and in turn
develop products to satisfy these wants, all of which has enabled Sony to gain sales and
become successful, internationally. Product marketing has also allowed Sony to maintain
its edge in the electronics market. As Sony's designers are using the market approach to
continually develop, improve, and expand upon their products to meet the changing
customer needs, this coupled with large-scale promotion of the product, itself, has
allowed Sony to maintain its competitive advantage. This approach has also meant that any
perceived problems with the products can be easily identified and corrected. Finally, the
empha! sis on product marketing has allowed Sony to develop products which are
encompassing the 'technology of tomorrow today' allowing, Sony to maintain its success
well into the future.