Communication
Communication and advertising strategy is coordination and integration of all marketing tools, avenues and sources to maximize the impact of product information on the consumer. However, advertising differs from other promotional tools since an entity must pay for services to another business to accomplish the goal. The process affects the firm’s business-to-business channels, customer relations, and internal business communication strategies. The process enables the company to position its products in the market from other similar or substitute products. As a result, efforts should be from the perspective of customer relationships over time, and effective knowledge of communication materials.
Asos.com is a leading online fashion store for women and men in the UK. Established in 2000, it targets fashion conscious youths, with over 9,000 products available in the market. The retailer adds 450 new fashion items every week, which include womenswear, menswear, jewels, accessories and beauty products. The retailer reports that it attracts more than 3.4 million first time shoppers every month and has 1.9 million subscribed users. As an online retailing service of such magnitude, the company needs a significant background of operations in marketing techniques to fulfil orders and customer satisfaction (Asos.com marketing strategies and marketing campaigns, 2013).
Communications Material
Good design attracts attention and presents information relevant to the products and the target audience keeping them interested. When developing communication materials, a typical approach is to determine, which elements are appealing. Secondly, it is advisable to determine the size that will promote the products for each of the above elements. As a result, they should attract attention, be appealing and simple to understand (Lea-Greenwood, 2013).
Asos.com uses a variety of materials to communicate and promote its products. The company is keen on the use of its logo in its communication materials. For example, the logo uses letters with a dimension of 181 by 57, and a minimum printing size of 20 mm. The logo is in black, not tinted, and placed in an angle or to be placed in the running text. The logo communicates the company’s brand in both printed and digital materials. Printed materials include the company’s reports, newsletters, catalogues and brochures, as well as posters. Digital material includes emails, electronic newsletters, electronic invoices and letterheads, e-cards, web banners, and social media (Strategic growth in the fashion retail industry, 2013).
Marketing communications objectives
The aim of the above communication strategy is to strengthen brand awareness, aid immediate brand recognition, increase trust and authenticity of the company’s documents or materials, and improve efficiency in messages. For example, when shopping for new wear, most customers choose recognizable brands with logos on the apparels rather than unknown, unbranded items (Olensk, 2013). The reason is not that the brand is of the higher quality, but it is recognizable and well established within the industry. Additionally, recipients of marketing or company’s official communications will have trust on the documents, either in prints or digital, when they see the company’s logo (Lea-Greenwood, 2013).
Since market communication is how well the company keeps in touch with clients, its purpose is to educate, inspire action and build brand awareness. Asos.com aims at keeping customers apprised of new developments, and fulfil the objective of promoting products and services. The communications include products’ launches, sales, expansions or new offerings available to customers. As a result, the online retailer encourages customers to act and be involved in its marketing activities (Lea-Greenwood, 2013). For example, the retailer communicates developments of its stores through emails informing customers on the upcoming limited-time sale, or provides links to the online products’ catalog, where they can take advantage of the opportunities (Strategic growth in the fashion retail industry, 2013).
Secondly, the company, through the use of communication materials, aims at providing potential customers with information on the products, services, business, or industry. For example, the retailer may publish and distribute newsletters on trending fashion, or health benefits of using a beauty product by way of educating the public about new products. The objective is to develop the existing public knowledge of the business and its products while encouraging people to use their services. Additionally, the strategy aims at retaining existing customers and increasing investments in the business and establishes reward programs presented through marketing mediums such as direct mails. As a result, customers will feel appreciated by the company hence enhance their loyalty. On the other hand, the company will have high returns on investments since the strategy will increase incomes from sales (Stareva, 2013).
Lastly, the company aims at increasing brand awareness and referrals. Every communication message shared increases the company’s brand awareness in the consumers’ minds. The company attains it through consistent use of the company’s logo and graphics designs on all marketing materials. Consumers associate the message and image with the products creating a strong brand identity. Additionally, communicating with existing customers through social media, emails and blogs encourages referrals. Lastly, by rewarding customers for their referrals solidifies customer relationship hence wining loyalty (Schneider, 2013).
Target audience
Asos.com targets a market segment of young people aged between 16 and 34, who are fashion consumers. The market accounts for 20% of the internet shopping population in the country. Women aged 20-24 are more likely to spend their time on buying clothing and footwear than any other segment of population. The average spending on clothing per head increased by 75 per cent in 2000 up to 1,208 pounds. The retailer covers its own clothing, footwear, jewelry, swimwear, accessories and exclusive brands. The range of clothes also caters for narrow market segment, for example, for petite women under 5'3". The retailer also collaborates with designers of labels, which enables it to provide recognizable brands that appeal to young people, which are its target (Strategic growth in the fashion retail industry, 2013).
Promotional tools
Promotional tools are strategies that aim at increasing awareness of a product or service. It differs from advertising because it is not educational. It targets the audience as the company aims to fulfill the customers’ market needs and wants. The company uses a range of promotional tools to reach out the target audience. Asos.com uses such tools as direct marketing, print, referrals and advertising. It also uses sales promotion as an incentive tool to drive short term objectives, which can be launched directly to the customers or trade. As a result, it creates the urgency to buyers. For example, the company uses demonstrations in its websites, television ads, off-price sales, and allowances to attract customers. The aim is to attract attention of new customers, reward the existing ones, and increase consumption (Schneider, 2013).
The company also uses prints as a promotional tool to customers. The article Strategic growth in the fashion retail industry (2013) indicates that asos.com increased its monthly magazine to 116 pages in 2013. Additionally, it launched a menswear version of the magazine in 2008 featuring entertainment news, practical style advices, band interviews and aspirational fashion stories to appeal to the young male consumers (Strategic growth in the fashion retail industry, 2013).
The retailer also uses direct marketing at the individual level. An example of it is electronic newsletters. They aim at providing customers and prospects with information about the company. For example, the retailer emails newsletter twice a week to 1.8 million subscribers. The strategy enabled the company to increase its sales by 137% in 2007. Additionally, the retailer uses blogs as a promotional tool. They allow communication amongst a variety of people around the world, which focus on trending such topics as fashion. The company then uses the information to develop new products (Asos.com marketing strategies and marketing campaigns, 2013).
Referral promotional tool is a strategy that aims at maximizing the word of mouth. It encourages, informs, promotes, rewards, and contacts customers to think and talk about the company as much as possible. For example, the asos.com has a Facebook fan page, where it promotes its products and services. The times 100 indicates that the retailer uses a "best friend" approach to build customer relationship, and as a result, they refer others. A research on traffic to the retailer website shows that around 16% of customers visit the page following a personal recommendation. In the latest customer survey, the article Strategic growth in the fashion retail industry (2013) indicates that 74% of customers stated that they would recommend asos.com to their friends. Lastly, it is found out that 60% of the readers of its magazine share it with at least two other people.
Lastly, the company emphasizes on the use of public relations as a promotional tool. It is a promotional approach that supports marketing goals. It involves the organization’s relationship with consumers, which responds to the market developments. It primarily uses the internet to expand the capability, such as posting comments from customers, new products, and feedbacks. Apart from its PR campaign, there are more than 2,000 fashion editorial pieces about asos.com and its products in the customer press of 2007. It was an increase by 60% against 2006 (Strategic growth in the fashion retail industry, 2013).
Critique of promotional material
Asos.com takes advantage of a variety of promotional materials. For example, the company uses printed materials, such as flyers, brochures, posters and banners to promote its products. In addition, it explores electronic materials, such as its website; direct marketing, such as email, and social networks to reach wide audience. Both printed and electronic promotional materials have advantages as well as disadvantages. That is why the retailer must consider all kinds of options before developing a strategic market plan that includes printed and electronic promotional material (Strategic growth in the fashion retail industry, 2013).
Even though asos.com is an online retailer, it attains a branding advantage when it uses printed material. For example, through the printed material, the company explores the opportunity to saturate the market with brand messages. Additionally, when the company uses the design department of commercial print firms or advertising agencies to develop a logo and illustration, it captures a wider range of customers. As a result, when potential customers see this consistency branding message on the posters, flyers and packaging, it reinforces promotional objectives of the company. Additionally, printed materials have a staying power. For instance, brochures or catalogues can be on hand for reference, when there are no online options (Sommers, 2009).
On the contrary, electronic promotional material enables the company’s information to be up-to-date. For example, it is expensive to print longer documents. Additionally, it is expensive to have printed material reaching a wider range of customers unlike electronic materials (Sommers, 2009). For instance, the article Strategic growth in the fashion retail industry (2013) reports that the company keeps its webpage currently by adding articles of interest to the target audience.
Promotional Media
The company invests heavily on social media and blogs to promote its products. For example, the retailer uses social sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Nearly all the posts promote a new range of products or sale items. Additionally, the firm’s social team responds to the user comments (Asos.com marketing strategies and marketing campaigns, 2013). Surprisingly, the posts that comprise of questions generate most responses. The company uses this media since a greater percentage of users are within the target age (Smith, 2010).
Recommendations
Asos.com does not invest much on television advertising. TV is a powerful medium for advertising since it uses two primary senses, which are sight and hearing, to create an emotional response. As a result, it will deliver a clear message that is effective and engages consumers. Additionally, TV advertising will allow the product’s message to reach a wider audience and maximize the firm’s leads and branding (Sommers, 2009). With all the above benefits, asos.com may consider investing more on TV advertising.
In conclusion, communication marketing and advertising strategies are the coordination of communication tools and avenues to maximize the impact of product information on consumers. The strategy enables the company to position its products in the minds of the consumers from competitors. As a leading online fashion store, asos.com develops a number of communication strategies to promote products to both men and women within the ages of 16-34. Asos.com uses a variety of materials to communicate and promote its products in the market, which includes both printed materials and electronics. However, it emphasizes on the electronic tools to targets its market segment between ages 16-34. As a result, the company’s efforts to manage promotional tools and materials come from the perspective of customer relationships over time, which enables it to be a market leader.
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