General Motors Brand Positioning and Marketing Mix
Brand Positioning
The leading factor which determines consumer preferences for a vehicle in the market comprises functionality, reliability, safety, quality, price, available choices, fuel economy, and vehicle design. General Motors needs the buyers in the target market of Pontiac to think of it as a sporty brand that reflects spirit and youth (Musonera & Cagle, 2019). Besides, brands such as Mercedes Benz, BMW, and Lexus are aimed at reflecting luxury.
Marketing Mix
Product
General Motors manufactures, designs, distributes, and markets automobiles as well as its parts or components. The multinational corporation has a wide-ranging product range in the international marketplace. Under the consumer automobiles section, the company is manufacturing and selling Captiva and Tavera in SUVs category, Beat, Sail-UVA, and Spark in Hatchbacks and Enjoy, and Sail Sedan and Cruze in Sedans category (Bhasin, 2018).
Pricing
General Motors produces a diversified range of products that have a distinctive range of prices aimed at suiting the needs of diverse or different segments of the consumer market. The luxury vehicles, for example, employs a mid-premium pricing policy and the product range comprises rationally priced motors targeted at making them more pocket-friendly to the clients (Bhasin, 2018). The company essentially provides a value-based policy to each of its clientele so that they can buy the products based on their requirements and personal needs. More importantly, the company adopts a competitive pricing policy. As such, it takes into account price sensitivity, costs, and competition.
Places
General Motors has a strong domestic market in America. The company is a global firm having an international presence which spreads in roughly 37 global nations. It has opened various branches in 140 countries, including Australia in Oceania, New Zealand, Tunisia, Egypt, Columbia, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Canada, India, Korea, China, Russia, and United Kingdom (Bhasin, 2018). It also has a wide-spread distribution network that provides efficient results via numerous manufacturing plants as well as assemblies in nations such as Thailand, South Africa, Poland, Russia, China, and Spain.
However, the increased use of the internet across the globe provides a platform through which GM can exploit to increase its sales. The internet can help the company to offer up-to-date information regarding their products to the customers without undergoing any costs and physical effort (Varnali, 2010). This enhances the customer’s knowledge about GM products and how they can access the products. Search engines allow customers to search for information on the internet easily and compare competing products through various perspectives (Varnali, 2010). This will definitely help GM promote its multiple products without undergoing any costs of advertising or going to the consumer. On the other hand, using social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Instagram help the company promote its new products to a wide range of consumers who are always using these platforms. Social media has become the primary point of advertisement because most of the people today are always browsing through those platforms to interact with people and companies (Varnali, 2010). GM can also use the internet and social media to gain insights into what the consumer really wants so that they can customize the products based on the consumer specification. This is likely to increase revenue to the company, and the company brand position will also be secured.
Mobile marketing helps in the spreading of mobile-related information, which has an inverse effect on the pricing of a product as compared to the conventional PC-based internet. Mobile medium offers exceptional price differentiation opportunities for General Motors (Varnali, 2010). Since a single person usually uses a mobile device, they act as ultimate tools for direct communication with the target customers. Mobile marketing also helps in showing the different prices and information to different people in various locations through the provision of highly personalized information at the most appropriate time and place with high precision (Varnali, 2010).
GM needs to create a strong brand position in the current competitive market. Despite the current steps taken by the company to improve its position within the market, it is important to exploit the use of the internet, social media, and mobile market to enhance its brand position. This will help increase company revenue, and many people will trust the company’s products and services.
Reference
Bhasin, H. (2018). Marketing Mix Of General Motors – General Motors Marketing Mix. Marketing91. Retrieved 16 April 2020, from https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-general-motors/.
Musonera, E., & Cagle, C. (2019). Electric Car Brand Positioning in the Automotive Industry: Recommendations for Sustainable and Innovative Marketing Strategies. Journal of Strategic Innovation and Sustainability, 14(1).
Varnali, K. (2010). The impact of the internet on marketing strategy: Revisiting early predictions. International Journal of E-Business Research (IJEBR), 6(4), 38-51.