Netflix

Marketing Mix (Four Ps)
Product Strategy
Briefly describe your product or service. Where is it in the product life cycle? What recommendations do you have for improving the offering to fit your target market’s needs? Be sure to consider:

What level of quality and consistency does the offering have?
How many features does it have and can they be removed or added?
How well does your product or service deliver what the customer values? How can it improve?
What improvements would help your offering compete more effectively?
Pricing Strategy
How is your product or service priced today? How does this compare to competitors, assuming competitors are at or near break-even point with their pricing? Analyze pricing alternatives and make recommendations about pricing going forward based on the following:

How sensitive are your customers to changes in price?
What revenue will you need to break even and achieve profitability?
What does the price say about your product in terms of value, quality, prestige, etc.?
Place: Distribution Strategy
What is your current distribution strategy? What missed opportunities or disconnects are you seeing in this distribution approach? Make recommendations about your future distribution strategy based on the following:

What are the best distribution channels and methods for you to use, and why?
Will you have a retail outlet and if so, where will it be located?
In what geographic area(s) will your product/service be available?
Promotion: Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy
Use the template below to lay out your design for a marketing campaign aimed at your target segment.

Approach
How will you achieve your goal? What promotional or engagement strategies will you use? Think creatively about campaigns you’ve seen for companies or brands that have caught your attention, and how your campaign will make an impact on your target audience. Will your campaign influence? Engage? Educate? Nurture? Build awareness? Etc.

Example: Use email marketing, social media and a sales promotion (prize drawing at a conference) to encourage veteran attendees to post online about their experiences and plans for attending the user conference using the event hashtag. Use these testimonials to amplify dialogue about the conference (via social media), build awareness (via email marketing, Web site, and targeted digital advertising) and convince peers they should attend.

Goal
In consideration of the of your previous analysis, you need to identify at least one goal for the campaign.

Describe the target segment for your campaign.
What is the goal you want to achieve with the campaign?
What is your call to action?
Make sure your goal is S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timed.)
Example:

Audience: HR professionals who are casual and power-users of Chumber systems
Increase event registration by 20% by the start date of the annual user conference.
Call to action: Register online today.
Messages
Identify the primary message for your campaign, 2-3 message pillars, and proof points for each. Be sure to include a call to action that helps to achieve your goal. Remember that messages should align reinforce your positioning statement. Be sure to include a call to action that helps to achieve your goal.

Example:

Primary Message: The annual user conference provides phenomenal value for training, professional development, peer networking and learning how to get the most out of your investment.
Message Pillar: This conference welcomes you into a dynamic, well-connected and highly competent professional community.
Proof Point: Veteran attendees return year after year because it recharges their skills, knowledge and professional networks.
Call to Action: Register online today.
Promotional Mix and IMC Tools
Identify the key marketing communication methods and specific IMC tools you will use in your marketing campaign. How will you use each of these tools? Look for ways different methods and tools can build on each other: advertising, direct marketing, public relations, digital marketing, guerrilla marketing, personal selling, sales promotion.

Example:

Digital Marketing

Web site: Add testimonials from prior attendees, event hashtag, rolling hashtag Tweets box, social media buttons to make registration easy to share via social media
Direct Marketing

Email marketing: Reach out to prior year’s attendees who are already registered. Ask them to post about plans to attend the upcoming conference. Conduct email campaign with target audience list to generate awareness, interest, desire to attend a conference.
Sales Promotion + Digital Marketing

Contest/giveaway: Offer giveaway where Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn posts trigger entries in a “conference evangelist” contest/giveaway to take place at conference opening session, one entry per social media tool per day
Sales Alignment
At what point(s) in the sales process (or sales funnel) does this campaign operate? Sales process stages are: 1) generate leads; 2) build relationships/discover needs; 3) present solution/resolve concerns; 4) close the sale; 5) monitor and follow up. How does your campaign support sales activity?

Measurement (KPIs—Key Performance Indicators)

How will you measure the success of the campaign? Select 3-6 KPIs (key performance indicators) that you will measure. Briefly explain why each KPI you select will be a good indicator of whether your campaign is successful.

Examples of KPIs:

Total sales/revenue
New/incremental sales
Number of qualified leads generated
Net Promoter Score
Web site unique visitors
Number of registrations/sign-ups
Impressions – views of content
CTR – click-through rate
Engagement – comments, likes, shares, page views, video views
Followers – social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube)
Awareness
Etc.
Budget
Budget: List marketing budget and resources required to execute your marketing campaign, and estimate what it will cost. Include items such as labor, materials and other expenses such as print materials, online media tools or development, public relations services, design services, content development services, space or equipment rental, etc. Also, estimate the increased sales or revenue the campaign will generate for the company.

Item Purpose Cost Estimate
Example: White paper authored by a technical writer Layout business case for why recruiting managers need an easier tool for vetting resumes and reference checking in the technology industry $500.00
Item #1
Item #2
Item #3
Item #4
Add additional rows as needed.

Estimated campaign impact: [insert]

Action Plan
Outline the specific activities you must complete in order to execute your marketing campaign. Each element of your integrated marketing communications plan should be listed as a separate activity. List actions in the order they need to take place for the plan to be successful: first things first, later steps last. Follow-up activities and evaluation of campaign effectiveness also should be captured in this action plan. For the purposes of setting due dates in this action plan, you should assume you must complete the marketing campaign within 3–12 months.

Timing Activity Type Brief Description Audience Owner
Today’s Date Example:

Web site Update

Add new key messages that fit repositioning strategy and audience focus Tech company hiring managers Jim Hill
Date
Date
Date
Date
Date
Launch Date
Add additional rows as needed.

Risk Factors
Contingency plans and risk management: You should consider the possible risks to your business and make contingency plans to address them. You note some possible risks under the “weakness” and “threats” sections of your SWOT analysis. Identify steps you can take to either reduce risks or work around them if they occur.

Executive Summary
Do this section last. This short summary should provide a holistic overview of your marketing plan. All of this information is covered in more detail in the rest of the marketing plan. For the Executive Summary, provide a clear, concise overview of the following points:

Company Description
Briefly describe the organization and offerings (products and/or services) your marketing plan focuses on, and the problem(s) they solve.

Target Segment
Identify and briefly describe your target segment.

Competitive Advantage
Explain your organization’s competitive advantage.

Positioning Statement
Provide the positioning statement your marketing plan will apply.

Marketing Plan Objectives
List the objectives of the marketing plan: What will it accomplish? Be as specific as possible: an anticipated increase in sales, profits, market share, etc.

ANSWER

Netflix Incorporated is a company that deals with streaming content services. It is attributed to shifting the entertainment viewing patterns of most and causing a change in how people watch movies and TV shows globally. From a marketing standpoint, the company has focused a lot on market penetration, which has seen the company’s operations reach multinational market reach and the sale of more streaming options to markets that already use the streaming service. Netflix marketing mix 4P strategy covers four major sections that include the product, price, place, and promotion as described in these papers.

The product strategy for Netflix began as a DVD rental business and has now evolved with the natural growth of technology to become one of the largest streaming media and entertainment providers globally. The product itself is a website that users register to gain access to a wide range of TV shows and movies. Unlike most streaming services like YouTube, Netflix has completely eliminated the presence of advertisements during and before streaming. The website has then been developed into mobile and desktop applications that receive regular updates to ensure adjustment to the continuously changing market. As a method to promote the first signup, the services allow for a trial period of one month were beyond that, a user can choose to continue taking monthly subscriptions or to terminate where they offer it in the “no cancellation fees, no commitment” terms (Parez 2020). Other subscription offers are also available, like annual subscriptions or even longer for more permanent clients. Depending on the number of devices a user wishes to use the services on, they can choose a basic plan, a standard plan, or a premium plan. Recently the company has moved into the production of films and TV shows which has gained a lot of polarities. The company is also in possession of broadcasting rights.

The pricing strategy in Netflix means the amount a customer is expected to pay to buy streaming services. The one month free trial period lures prospective customers and converts them into real customers after the trial period is over. For the three plans, basic, standard, and premium, a charge of $7, $9, and $12 respective. This pricing strategy is what marketers refer to as psychological pricing, where prices are pocket friendly enough for most people with internet and services. Additional services are provided for users with higher preferences. The basic plan allows for two devices connection while the standard price allows four devices while the premium plan could have up to seven connected devices with the same account.

Netflix follows an online streaming business distribution strategy whose standards and reach aim for the global market. Almost all of the business activities by the company are conducted online apart from the movie production addition. This comes at a time when television sets have evolved from the cathode ray tubes to smart devices that allow wireless connection like wireless internet and Bluetooth and installation of applications from play stores. The positioning of the services at the right time in the digital evolution makes the distribution strategy almost seem natural and uncomplicated.

Promotion at Netflix follows the use of the internet to support sales promotion and new market discovery. It uses other streaming services like YouTube to build brand awareness by informing potential clients on the availability of new films and TV shows they could find interesting. The company also does a lot of social media advertising where paid posts are displayed on most timelines with regards to the inclinational preference of the user depending on what they search and the links they click on while on the internet. The one month trial period also allows for more sales. Offline, Netflix uses other forms of multimedia facilities such as billboards, posts, and posters to achieve sales.

Netflix has very vital information on the people it serves. This is potentially the most controversial issue in the digital world, where companies gain so much knowledge about their customers or prospective customers by monitoring their activities online. For instance, a user that clicks on a link on YouTube to watch a Marvel Comics movie trailer will definitely be interested in a new TV show available on Netflix of another comic superhero. This information has played a great role in how companies like Netflix understand their market. However, in recent years, data protection laws have begun to gain popularity, blocking companies like Netflix from gaining access to such information to use it to promote its services and increase its revenue. The European Union has been at the forefront of such endeavors and introduced the world to data protection laws (Alginahi et al., 2019). Researchers indicate that the currency of markets in the digital age is information, and what draws the line between wealth and poverty is how individuals are able to place themselves at the forefront of information flow.

In conclusion, Netflix has grown at a very high rate within a period of five years and is expected to achieve even more in the next five years. In the year 2020, the spread of a health pandemic and the requirement for people to stay indoors to control the spread has worked to the company’s advantage enabling it to offer the people indoors with streaming options. However, the company still has a lot to do to ensure legal adherence to data privacy, as with the other major digital companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Google.

References

Alginahi, H., Alginahi, Y., & Kabir, M. N. (2019, May). Data Protection Laws. In Authentication Technologies for Cloud Computing, IoT, and Big Data: Institution of Engineering and Technology (pp. 309-337).

Pérez, E. P. (2020, May). NEXT EPISODE, NEXT MARKET: SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING FOR SVOD: THE CASE OF NETFLIX. In GLOBAL (Vol. 4, p. 8).