Analyzing The Successful Toyota's Branding Plan and Marketing Strategy

Introduction

Toyota is a leading brand in the car manufacturing Industry. The company has been a leading player in providing vehicles to different classes of individuals. Toyota for decades has been a player in the manufacture of heavy trucks, family cars as well as luxury automobiles. With respect to branding of products in the market, it is essential to note that this is the most crucial part in the success of manufacturing business. Utilizing effective branding plans ensures that customers purchase products according to their specification and preference. Customers in the car industry are specific relating to consistency (Ashton, and Stacey, 2009). Most of these customers are keen on the features of vehicles.

If a firm promises to provide certain features to customers, the most important part is fulfilment of the promise. This therefore means that such firms need to be consistent in their production. Branding is an emotional fulfilment strategy. Customers value their emotional attractiveness to products largely (Bogdan and Biklen, 1982). This means that such an emotional attachment relates to consideration of products image brand as well as image.

Toyota is a leading automobile manufacture with its headquarters in Japan. The company has been popular with users of different generations. It is true to state that the car is probably the most famous in the globe. One cannot miss to spot a Toyota automobile in various highways on the globe. By the year 2014, the company had over 300,000 employees in its various branches around the globe. The company is the eleventh leader by market capitalization in the automobile manufacturing industry (Gabrielsson, Gabrielsson, and Seppäl, 2012). The company is priced to having the potential of manufacturing over 10 million vehicles per year. The car manufacturer history begins in the years 1924 and its production continued ever since. Branding has been of great importance to the company in marketing of its products on the international market arena (Amasaka and Sakai, 2010).

Toyota Branding

Toyota remains one of the greatest brands in the global market. In the United Kingdom, the car markets its products for different categories of customers. With a team of researchers to finalize designs, it is true that the firms serve the need of individuals from baby boomers to generation Y (Taneja, Pryor and Sewell, 2012). The brand on the global scale takes a value of $29.6 billion. This refers to data on the brand as per the year 2014. A research study took place on various brands of automobile for 9 years.

Research data reveals that in this period of study, Toyota brand took the leading spot for seven years of the nine. Most of consumers of the brand reveal that the brand is of best quality as well value. In the United States of America, the brand is seen as local because of its strategy in manufacturing with the borders of the country. However, the company has had its share of failures too. In the years 2009 and 2010, the company suffered huge losses due to recall of its products (Upadhyay and De, 2011).

Toyota specializes its branding on its safety. According to consumer’s perception in UK and the United States, Toyota remains among the safe cars in the market. Toyota has a long history of manufacturing safe vehicles. The safety of its automobiles concentrates on providing high quality breaking systems (Cusumano, 2011). The other systems of importance include concentration on creation of safety kits in case of accidents. Quality is another important aspect for Toyota as a manufacturer. According to the organization, quality takes the highest position (Baumeister, Scherer, and Wangenheim, 2015).

Research finding of the year 2012 shows that Toyota takes the first position in relation to quality. Value is another pillar of the organization. Even though value is relative, consumers in the automobile industry perceive Toyota as a value driven manufacturer. Performance of automobiles brand is another important aspect of Toyota brand. Through its research and design teams the company producer high performing vehicles for the consumer market (Chatterjee et al 2004). The car Manufacturer has been a keen player in providing environmentally friendly vehicles in the market. The company has concentrated in providing vehicles that meet European standards of emission.

Design of the vehicles is another aspect of consideration in the manufacturing of Toyota brand of vehicles. The company has been producing cars through its research and design teams to meet consumer design preferences. In producing high quality vehicles, the company utilizes latest technology. The car manufacturer’s goal has been the creation of high value entertainment systems. It has been keen on developing high quality audio systems. It has been a keen manufacturer by providing Smartphone integration systems. The other aspect is the formulation of navigational systems to meet consumer needs (Luxton, Reid and Mavondo, 2015).

The branding strategies of Toyota on the UK market concentrates on continuous improvement. This approach of the company ensures a continuous improvement on the quality of its products. It relates to provision of competitive products, quality production with the help of workforce. The other strategy of the organization concentrates on the production of high quality products. It relies on the utilization of innovative technologies. This process ensures the fulfilment of future research needs and on creativity of its production teams. This firm is further a global firm in promotion of research and development (Ashton, and Stacey, 2009). Such an activity provides formidable responses to future needs in the automobile industry.

The other strategy of Toyota is to be a global player in the production of less pollutant vehicles. The manufacturer through is team produce environmentally friendly vehicles. The company commits its effort in production of hybrid vehicles for the UK market. Utilization of innovative technologies is among brand strategies of the company. Through utilization of innovative technologies, the company is able to formulate plans for the future. Safety is another strategy for Toyota. The priority areas of safety for the brand include advanced steering systems. The other aspects of safety for the firm are the traction control, braking system and suspension.

The other areas of safety include passive safety innovations. Provision of airbags systems in vehicles is another important aspect of safety for the organization. The company’s production relies on teams of expert who produce and test products for the market. Through its efficient production techniques, the company ensures production of almost zero defects products. Its utilization of research and design system ensures production of quality products. Its other branding strategy is the formulation of procedures to penetrating international markets (Amasaka, and Sakai, 2010).

Brand Perception

Toyota has a better Brand perception in the US and the UK compared to its competitors. The firms have captured the minds of many consumers in the market. In the current market environment, consumer perception is shrinking between current market leaders and competitors. A survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Centre provides details on leaders in the automobile industry that include Honda, Chevrolet and Toyota. The research findings relates to safety, performance, environmental friendliness of automobiles and on quality. Technology utilization and design are another basis for finding data. In respect to this research, it is evident that Toyota brand of automobiles takes the first position (Srivastavaa and Thomas, 2010).

Consumer perception in the industry has a multiplicity of factors that affect its values. Consumers are worried about fuel prices in the global scene as well as safety of vehicles. In the year, 2009 Toyota faced poor perception brought about by recall of its brand. Further, the company faced challenges in recovering from the earthquake that rocked the country in the year 2010.

Toyota Marketing Strategies in UK

Branding strategies has been an important aspect for Toyota in meeting the needs of the automobile international market. The car manufacturer has special branding strategies that provide UK markets with user-friendly vehicles. In order to enter an international market, organizations need to develop branding strategies that meet various factors and actors. The branding strategies need to consider aspects such as the economic condition of the people, culture, social implications and other aspects. Understanding the norms and aspects of international nations assists in providing better products (Heath, Brandt, and Nairn, 2006). Therefore, Toyota needs to consider various aspects in promoting branding strategies for international markets.

Toyota marketing strategies focus on market segmentation. Its marketing strategy follows the philosophy of the firm. According to its philosophy, the firm focus on providing the best car for the right occasion. The firm utilizes psychographic as well as demographic segmentation to capture international markets. The car manufacturer has segmented is operations in countries such as the US, UK as well Canada. However in relation to this aspect we one can attest that the US consists of perhaps its largest consumption (Todor, 2014). The country consists of over 30% of its consumers. The company’s market segmentation concentrates in providing vehicles for the lower class customers as well as the middle classes. Toyota has specific cars for the middle class and luxury vehicles for the highest class of consumers.

The other strategies of the firm relates to market targeting as well as market positioning in the UK. In marketing of its products, Toyota utilizes a centralized marketing system (Lipman, 2010). In the Case of UK, the country utilizes market dealers in meeting the needs of its consumers. The company understands that UK has customers of varied cultural, lifestyle and cultural perspectives (Goranova and Vasileva, 2015). Therefore, a different approach to marketing needs consideration. In light of these aspects, the company makes an effort in utilizing vehicle dealers in marketing its products. The firm would use a lead dealer to market its products across the country. The dealer is responsible for enforcing advertisements from the head office and in meeting new consumers (Saporito et al 2010).

In relation to market segmentation of Toyota, one can state that its focus is on psychographic and demographic aspects. On the demographic sphere of the firm, Toyota concentrates on providing vehicles for the lower, middle and high classes. The company provides different classes of automobiles for these various classes. On the high end of consumers, one can states that the company produces cars such as Toyota Prado and land cruiser (Rahman and Areni, 2014). On the middle class of consumers, the manufacturer produces vehicles such as Toyota Prius and Caldina. On the psychographic segment, the company produces vehicles for individuals who love sporty lifestyle. In the United Kingdom, there has a growing attitude towards owning sporty and high-class vehicles. To satisfy this demand, the company produces vehicles such as Toyota Fortuner and Atlis (Goranova and Vasileva, 2015).

Marketing Mix

Marketing mix is the most known modern marketing tool. The tool relies on its aspect of controlling and use of tactical manoeuvres in response to the needs of the target market. Marketing mix is an important aspect in the improvement of demand of products in the market. In relation to this aspect, the most important aspects include the four P’s, which are product, price, price and promotion (Dawar and Bagga, 2015).

Product

In relation to Toyota, the brand has launched various products for the UK market. The Products for the UK market include Rav , Toyota Corrola and Avensis. Land cruiser and Toyota prius are other important products of the company. European regulations on car manufacture have been strict on emission levels. Cost of fuel has also been a major concern for consumer. In understanding these conditions, Toyota has been a leader in providing environmentally friendly automobiles and effective consumers of fuel.

The company has also been a leader in the manufacture of hybrid vehicles. One of the notable brands of Toyota vehicles on the hybrid category is Toyota prius. The company has made sales of over 20,000 hybrid vehicles it the United Kingdom since the year 2000 (Kotler, and Keller, 2007).

Price

Price is an aspect of consideration in relation to its market mix. UKs market enjoys a strong economic condition. This means that the buying capability of its citizens is very high. In marketing it products, Toyota wishes to give it consumers for less in terms of price. In relation to this aspect, the firm sets diverse price lists to meet the needs various consumers in the market. The price of Toyota automobiles in the UK market; range from £ 6500 to £ 50000 in all segments. Considering this aspect, one can state that the company sets its prices relating to two segments (Goranova and Vasileva, 2015).

The segments in consideration are providing of vehicles for people with low income levels. The other group of consumers are those who wish to distinguish themselves from the rest of the public. Since pricing is a challenging aspect in marketing and branding products, companies need to develop various pricing techniques (Todor, 2014). The various pricing techniques to utilize might be the use of price skimming or market penetration techniques. An example of Toyota pricing strategy relates to pricing of Toyota prius. The pricing of this car ensured that majority of consumers get the product; thus improving its sales.

Place

Place plays an important role in branding and marketing of products in markets. Place relates to various competitive factors in the market and conditions of various segments in markets. In business sense, one can state that a product may perform well in certain markets but fall in other markets because of various factors. These factors in the market may have certain levels of influence on the buying behaviour of consumers. In relation to meeting the needs of the UK market, Toyota has undertaken various strategies (Kotler, and Keller, 2007).

At first, the company saw the nation of having less economic benefit. After analysing the market, the company understood the need of the market. The management teams understood that the UK market liked to go “green”. For this reason Toyota has seen is possible to develop a hybrid vehicle to meet the demands of UK consumers. Then came Toyota Pruis a product that meet the needs of UK consumer due to its profit benefits to the company.

Promotion

Promotion is among the best strategies for organization meeting the needs of consumers. Companies utilize various promotional procedures to meet competition as well as market demands. The company formulated the design of Toyota prius as the new technology in the market. The hybrid can utilize both electrical and fuel power. The promotional activity of the organization based on the need to provide environmentally friendly automobile. The focus of Toyota in relation to the car was its representation of a green technology. In the promotional feature, interested customers of the product had a chance to visit its website to view the developmental stages of the prototype (Kotler, and Keller, 2007).

Every customer had the opportunity to make comments on features of the vehicle. Customers had the opportunity to evaluate the product and make their views. From these evaluations, the management teams found out that consumers valued quality, fair price and technology. Since the company rely on agents in the UK market, substantial amount of funds need to be set aside for advertisement purposes. These funds are important for dealers to communicate with hybrid customers. The company spends over £27million on advertising.

One of the main contributors to the promotion of Toyota’s branding strategy is its people. The people in close contact with the manufacturing process include its workforce. Considering all workforce groups, their contribution has immense influence on the production process of automobiles. It is true that workforce in almost all organizations have an influence on customers. It is therefore the goal of Toyota to express a culture of creativity among its working teams.

One might have an opinion that human resource aspects does not relate to marketing. However, it is also true that motivated workforce produce quality products. This therefore means that quality products will eventually satisfy the needs of consumers. The company values every employee contribution. It is the philosophy of the organization that “every worker should strive to work like its founder”. The organization culture promotes employee-making decisions concerning product development to the management teams (Grebosz and Otto, 2013). Such contribution gives the research and development teams a picture on the expectation of customers. The democratic approach to management by Toyota makes it profitable in the UK market.

Production process is another important feature of Toyota. Its lean production techniques make it a global champion in the automobile manufacturing industry. The company utilize just-in- time production process to meet the need of consumers. In respect to its production process Toyota, utilize Total Quality management procedures. This procedure has seen the organization make achievements on their economic of scale (Todor, 2014). The organization works towards zero wastage. This is done due to the efficiency of its workforce. Its supply chain has been effective in reducing production costs within its production channel.