Strategy In Promotion And Communication For Telstra Corporation Limited

SWOT analysis

Discuss about the Strategy in Promotion and Communication.

This report comprises of the detailed marketing plan for Telstra Corporation Limited. It includes a brief introduction of the organization and the telecommunication industry of Australia. The products and services offered by Telstra Corporation also listed in the section. This is followed by the situation analysis of the current market and the major segments that the organization operates in. Through this analysis a review of the customer needs and the factors that influence the decision making of the consumers will be analyzed. Financial analysis of the telecommunication industry is carried out along with the study of the current position of telecommunication in it. The SWOT analysis for Telstra Communication limited is carried out to find out the internal strengths and weaknesses and to figure out the external opportunities and threats that the organization is likely to face. The external environment analysis will identify the key opportunities that the organization can take advantage of and the threats that they need to be prepared for. This is followed by the development of a marketing plan by making use of the theories and concepts of marketing. The goals and objectives for the organization will be recommended on the basis of their current performance and the strategic planning. A broad marketing strategy will be developed by following the segmentation, targeting and positioning planning for the company and a marketing mix will be created by utilizing each of the constituent element which will help the organization in gaining a competitive advantage in the market. This report also includes evaluation and control measures that the organization needs to put into place for monitoring the progress and achievement of the objective set through this marketing plan serials these evaluative measures will also help in reviewing the plan and bringing about any changes to it whenever required (Mozny, 2017).

Telstra Corporation Limited is the largest telecommunication organization of Australia. Founded in the year 1975, Telstra corporation is currently headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. The operations of the organization include the building and operation of the telecommunication networks and marketing of voice, mobile, internet and television services and products. Having a workforce of more than 36000 employees, Telstra corporation is running 150 subsidiaries headed by the current CEO Andy Penn (Chelimo, 2012).

The customer base for the fixed line services offered by Telstra is more than 9.6 million and they have more than 9.3 million subscribers of the mobile services across Australia. Your organization provide basic telecommunication services to the business organizations and The Homes in Australia and it also offers International connectivity to and from Australia for the business organizations. Telstra has a comprehensive range of internet and data services and the organization is also involved with providing advertising and information services acting as a leading directory in Australia. Television services offered by Telstra are in collaboration with Foxtel since the organization has a 50% share in it (Jere, 2013).

Marketing goals and objectives

SWOT analysis for an organization is an interactive framework which helps in assessing the level of coordination among the various departments of the company and analysing internal and external environment by identifying the inherent strengths and weaknesses of the company in terms of their marketing, finance, operation and management function and by identifying the external strengths and weaknesses for the organization which will help them in equipping themselves better and developing the plans that will help them in gaining a competitive advantage in the market. It also helps the organizations to exploit the external opportunities and utilize the information gained from it to counter the threats while building further on their internal strength and minimising their weaknesses.

Being a leading telecommunication organization of Australia, Telstra needs to develop an elaborate marketing, advertising, distribution and pricing strategy which will allow them to gain a competitive advantage in this industry and sustainably grow and develop in the future. The marketing objectives defined for the organization for the next one year are listed in the section.

• To increase the marketing share of the organization for the mobile handset services from the current 45% to 60% within the next 1 year.
• To increase the total profitability of the organization from AUD 2,710 crores to AID 3,000 crores.
• To develop a strategy that enhances the customer centricity of the organization.
• To invest more in the research and development initiatives to come up with innovative products and services in line with the customer demands as per the external analysis of the telecommunication industry (NCY, 2013).

In order to achieve the objective stated in the previous sections of the report, the organization will have to carry out the segmentation, targeting and positioning which will allow the organization to adopt a focused approach and enhance their productivity while meeting the customer needs and ensuring the increasing profitability for the company.

Segmentation of customers of Telstra Corporation will be done on the basis of the various demographic variables including their age, gender, size of the family, annual income, occupation, race, nationality and level of education. The three basic demographic characteristics that Telstra Corporation focuses on are the age, gender and the annual income of their customers. Telstra need to carry out the initiative to analyze the demands and needs of the customers of different age groups and develop the products and services in order to fulfill them. The organization practices segmentation of their services and the market segments on the basis of the features of their products offered in the market. The voice services based plans are targeted towards the people falling in the age group of 40 above while the young professionals are offered the plans and services that are more concentrated on the internet connectivity (Team, 2015).

The market of Telstra corporation is highly segmented with people belonging to all age groups, economic background, genders and professions. The organization is catering to the needs of all these customers by offering a variety of products and that they can choose from. The segmentation of the products and services of the organization is done on the basis of the rate of users by the customers where the customers are classified into high data using and the low usage customers.

Marketing strategy

The target of the customers should also be done on the basis of their usage patterns and specific products and services should be developed by the company by increasing the customization in their plans and products to provide the customers a choice and the ability to make their own plan which suits their requirements. The target segment of Telstra can be broadly classified into the technological advance and cautious customers and the low uses customers (William, 2018).

Telstra Corporation Limited has successfully positioned itself as the top telecommunication service providing organization in Australia. This marketing strategy of the organization is further propagated through aggressive advertising by them and enhancing the public relation strategies that reinforces this image in the minds of the existing and potential customers. The market targeting and positioning Strategies for the company are developed by understanding the customer needs and the external environment of the telecommunication industry. The organization is practicing high end positioning which has the organization in creating a positive perception for them and building the products and services that are simple and easy to use. The organization also focuses on their International presence and the operations that span over more than 20 countries across the world and that position itself as a customer centric brand which is constantly working towards improving their ways and developing strategies to create a connected future for everybody (Barkley, 2017).

The suggested marketing mix for Telstra Corporation Limited includes the marketing strategy that the organization needs to adopt by covering the for essential elements of product, price, place and promotion that the organization well developed for it marketing, advertising and distribution plan and for the achievement of the objectives decided through this report.

Product: Be the leading telecom service provider in Australia, Telstra Corporation has categorized the products and services offered by them on the basis of their customer needs. The three broad categories for the products and services offered by them should be personal, small business and the business and enterprises. The personal products and services offered by Telstra would include the mobile phones, televisions, and the individual mobile and fixed line plans offered to the customers. The small business product and services category would include broadband plans, the digital office Technology plans, tablet and laptop bundle plans and the mobile and fixed line telephone plans. The business Enterprises are provided with the products and services which include the cloud storage services and the collaborated products and services developed on the IoT technologies (ACMA, 2013).

Marketing mix

Price: Telstra Corporation need to adopt a pricing strategy of competitive pricing where the organization need to smartly decide the price to be charged for the product and service on the basis of the prices of the competitors to ensure that this does not lead to A reduction in their market share. In line with the current customer needs, the organization can also offer customize mobile and Internet Services plans which will allow the customers to make their own plan on the basis of their usage. The prices of the Other products and services should also be offered to allow the organization to stay competitive in the market and still attain profitability. The organization can also offer volume discounts and special pricing by making the combo of their product and services like mobile and fixed line, broadband, television, movie subscription and other services offered by them.

Place: The place of the distribution channels that the organization needs to develop in order to ensure that the products reach the right customers and the message to be communicated through the marketing initiatives is also communicated to the desired customer segment are the digital channels. The E-Commerce industry is developing and more and more customers are now making the purchase and gathering the information for making the Purchase Decision through the internet. Therefore, Telstra need to keep a close watch on the customer sentiments about the brand and about the organizational services and ensure that the positive messages about the company are highlighted and the handle all the issues and the negative publicity by addressing it. The mobile application of the organization will also help in increasing its reach and we’ll make it more convenient for the customers to choose from their variety of products and services by getting all the details conveniently (Ganga, 2011).

Promotion: The promotion of the organization should also be done on the digital and online platforms. The desired customer base for Telstra Corporation make use of the internet regularly and therefore advertising through the search engines and the social media platforms will allow the organization to get the desired message communicated to the targeted customer segment. The organization can also offer seasonal discounts at the time of the festivals and run special promotional strategies why bundling the products and making use of the latest promotional platforms for the promotion of their product and service offerings.

The three additional components of the marketing mix of a service organization are people, process and physical evidence. Since Telstra is also operating as a service marketing brand, these three components are also discussed for their marketing mix below.

Evaluation and control measures

People: The human resources a valuable resource for any organization. Having a workforce of more than 36000 employees, Telstra corporation is running 150 subsidiaries headed by the current CEO Andy Penn. The company is extremely customer centric and has excellent service provisioning. In order to enhance the customer experience, they have also developed online forums and customer support cell which takes care of their queries and resolve any issues faced by them.

Process: Telstra has a well-developed website which provides all its customers and easy way to navigate and locate the store along with providing the Online technical support. The organization engages and entertains any queries and provides customer service 24×7 through their helpline (Chelimo, 2012).

Physical evidence: The headquarters of the organization are located in Melbourne, Australia. The website of the organization is highly interactive and they have numerous offline stores that are spread all over Australia. The physical evidence of the marketing strategy of the organization can be found through the newspaper and magazine advertisement.

The objective specified in the marketing plan for Telstra Corporation Limited will be evaluated at an interval of 3 months. The four quarters of the organization will have the target evenly split for them which will allow the organization to easily monitor and keep a track of the progress to be achieved through their marketing strategies. The primary source of revenue for the telecommunication organizations has moved from voice to data with the advancement in technology and the development and popularity of the smartphones Telstra is trying to keep up with this change in the external environment by offering bundled plans providing voice and internet connectivity in a single plan (Mozny, 2017). The technologically conscious customers are the ones that the organization needs to take special care of since they are aware about the plants and services being offered by the competitors and will make the move of switching the telecom operators when offered a better service or product. On the other hand, the low usage customers are the customer segment of the organization that is relatively loyal and not very cautious about the price plans and the competitive offers available in the market. The organization should push their 4G plans and the bundle offers along with the option of customizing their plans to the technologically conscious customer segment.

Conclusion

This report comprises of the detailed marketing plan for Telstra Corporation Limited. Telstra Corporation Limited is the largest telecommunication organization of Australia. Founded in the year 1975, Telstra corporation is currently headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. The operations of the organization include the building and operation of the telecommunication networks and marketing of voice, mobile, internet and television services and products. Telstra Corporation Limited has successfully positioned itself as the top telecommunication service providing organization in Australia. The market targeting and positioning strategies for the company are developed by understanding the customer needs and the external environment of the telecommunication industry. This marketing strategy of the organization presented in this report will be further propagated through aggressive advertising by them and enhancing the public relation strategies that reinforces this image in the minds of the existing and potential customers.

References

Abedin, M. & Ferdous, L., 2015. Promotional Strategies of Telecommunication Industries and Customers Perception. Global Journal of Management and Business Research: Emarketing, 15(3), pp. 1-18.

ACMA, 2013. Telstra’s universal service obligation: standard marketing plan, Available at: https://www.acma.gov.au/-/media/Networks/Information/pdf/Universal-Service-Obligation-Telstras-Standard-Marketing-Plan.PDF

Bakeir, R., Abu-Shanab, E. & Biss, S., 2009. Applying E-marketing Methodologies In The Mobile Industry, Available at: https://www.bcs.org/upload/pdf/ewic_iict09_s6paper3.pdf

Barkley, A., 2017. Marketing Plan for NEXT plc., Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318441089_Assignment_-_Marketing_Plan_for_NEXT_plc

Chelimo, C., 2012. Positioning strategies used by firms in the telecommunications industry, Available at: https://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/bitstream/handle/11295/9063/Chelimo_Positioning%20strategies%20used%20by%20firms%20in%20the%20Telecommunications%20industry.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Fadel, H., Makki, M. & Halaoui, H., 2012. Hitting the target Analytical imperatives for telecom marketers in emerging markets, Available at: https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/media/file/Hitting-the-target.pdf

Ganga, S., 2011. Marketing strategies of telecom service providers, Available at: https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/46469/11/11_chapter3.pdf

Jere, J., 2013. The role of marketing strategies in the performance of telecommunication companies: A comparative study of TNM and Airtel in Malawi, Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280805752_The_role_of_marketing_strategies_in_the_performance_of_telecommunication_companies_A_comparative_study_of_TNM_and_Airtel_in_Malawi

Mozny, L., 2017. Key elements of strategy in the telecommunication industry – overview of discussion, Available at: https://dspace5.zcu.cz/bitstream/11025/29165/1/Mozny.pdf

NCY, 2013. Suggested Marketing Plan for Telstra (A Telecommunication Company in Australia), Available at: https://ncys82.wordpress.com/2013/03/16/suggested-marketing-plan-for-telstra-a-telecommunication-company-in-australia/

Sarah, M., 2009. Marketing strategy in terms of promotion and communication for energy drinks in ghana, Available at: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/5985/Mwaawaaru_Sarah.pdf

Team, U., 2015. Telstra Is A Telecommunication Company Based In Australia Marketing, Available at: https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/telstra-is-a-telecommunication-company-based-in-australia-marketing-essay.php

William, 2018. Telstra: Proud past, brilliant future. [Online]  Available at: https://www.telstra.com.au/aboutus/our-company

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