Case study of Vodafone marketing strategy by Ritu

Telecom industry :

Telecommunications industry deals with the activities and services of electronic systems for transmitting messages through cables, telephone, radio or television.
A number of multinational companies have shown their interest to invest in this industry and consequently the prices are reduced and because of technological improvement and competition the quality has also improved. 

Telecom industry in India has a major role in Indian economy. The Indian government is also enforcing some effective telecom policies and regulations for

the infrastructural growth of this industry.

Telecom industry in India constitutes some essential telecom services like telephone, radio, television and Internet. Some noticeable remarks about Indian telecom : 

• India has fastest growing telecom network in the world .
• Some major operators in India are Airtel,Idea,Reliance,Tata,BSNL,Aircel,Vodafone,MTNL
• Rural India still lacks strong infrastructure in telecom .

Vodafone :

It came in India by acquiring Hutchison essar limited .

After Vodafone was officially launched on 21^st September 2007 ,Hutch was rebranded as  Vodafone.

It is World’s second largest mobile telecommunication company .

It owns and operates networks in over 30 countries .

Marketing Strategy :

  Vodafone has given birth to special character Zoozoo ,created specifically to convey a value added service offering in each of the newly released commercials . It has been successful in drawing the attention of the people .Almost people of all age group are attracted by this character and it helps them to connect easily to the customer . It also helped in creating brand value for Vodafone.

  

    Advertising on TV , in magazines and in other media outlets reaches large audiences . In IPL they flooded  the TV  channels with advertisement and were able to draw attention of large number of audiences across world . As one of several unique Customer Engagement Program mes surrounding the IPL tournament, Vodafone announced the ‘Vodafone Fan Army’, a unique Group Contest open to all Vodafone pre-paid and post paid customers in India. Also it gave its customer an  opportunity  to watch an IPL match LIVE in stadium across matches in India.

  

Customer Attraction, Retention, Growth, Survival: Customer will be attracted if they find that the product has something of value for them. According to annual results published by Anacom , Vodafone obtained the highest customer satisfaction index in the telecommunications sector in 2007 . Also Customer  Perceived Value indicator, Vodafone obtained a score of 8.3 points for overall quality , way ahead of the scores of the other operators .It is a reliable company in terms of what it says and what it does (8.1 points).

  a)Wide variety of product are offered to the customer so that they can have the one that suits them the best and that’s too at very competitive price and of premiere quality .

b)Also various exclusive offers are made to the existing customer which helps them to retain them .

c)They have opened customer care centre at various location which helps them to connect easily with the customer and also in resolving customer queries and issues effectively .

d)Timely innovation in technology also keeps its customer confidence level high in its services. Online services like – top up recharge online , adds value to the brands and makes the utility easily accessible to the customer.

Call rates survey  :

Needs, Wants, Demand : Vodafone has done research and have tried their best to meet all expectation in the domain . Various services provided by Vodafone along with basic expectations  are :

a)Tunes and downloads
b)Entertainment
c)Sports
d)Devotional
e)News & updates
f)Astrology
g)Data Pack

h)Finance
i)Travel
j)Mail , Messaging and more
k)Dial in services
l)Bill info

USP and Differentiation :

Vodafone has  always tried to differentiate themselves from other contender . It also emphasises on quality of services rather than competing much on price . Its network  coverage is best as compared to other service providers . 

STP Analysis :

1)Segmentation : It  is done based on customer having similar interest . 

Some of the area used by  which Vodafone do this are :

a)Geographical Condition

b)Income

c)Age
d)Service Usage
e)Nature of customer( Institutional / Sole )
f)Life of Service

2)Targeting – Vodafone is adopting a multi-segment approach. Customer segments are targeted through many different tariffs and propositions. They are offering a series of products to their respective market

     a)Home calling cards for family of those professionals who use to work abroad
    b)Cheap SMS facility for youths
    c)Rs. 10 recharge for small users

3)Positioning -   It is something the kind of image a brand tries to create in the mind of the user and accordingly they project themselves.

a)Hutch as brand always tried to connect with the customer in a simple and honest manner ,while Vodafone is more young and fun brand .

b)They always talk about  the exclusivity of the  network  and services they offer to the customers