Role of the Internet Marketing in the Success of Toyota Company

Internet marketing involves the utilization of the Internet or any other associated digital mechanism to attain a marketing goal and shore up the modern marketing model. These mechanisms or rather technological advancements that can be employed by Toyota Company include the Internet media and a variety of other digital media, for instance, cable, satellite, and mobile media. Usually, organizations attempting to use the Internet to market their products employ the use of firm websites, direct e-mails to personal addresses, and links or services from other websites, to expand their market share. This way, they are also in a position to offer services to their already existing clients that enable them enhance customer relation (Perner, n.d).

The Internet as a tool of marketing is used to identify, anticipate, and satisfy customers. It offers a mechanism through which marketing research can be done to determine the needs of the customer. In addition, through the Internet, customers are able to access information and buy products and the producers can also satisfy their needs through the same. The ease with which Internet facilitates communication between buyers and sellers increase the rate of interactivity, thus offering many marketers a gateway to provide customer support in real time. At first look, it seems that Toyota Company’s focus is purely on the auto business right from its marketing sector to its production standpoint. This observation is correct. Apart from this fact, Toyota is outstanding in terms of niche marketing. Consequently, the objective of

Toyota is to look for supplying their products. Toyota for instance became the pioneer companies in realizing a category of car buyers whose interest was on cars, which were environmentally friendly. This compelled them to come up with the famous Prius. The first hybrid car to be mass-produced was the Prius. In order to evade from the competition, which was imminent from the other car manufacturers, Toyota decided to use the internet in establishing the niche market.

Marketers and marketing agencies currently face a completely transformed industry or rather environment. Unlike in the traditional system of marketing, clients today can communicate back to marketers and manufacturers while at the same time reshaping the industry as well. Before, Toyota like many other companies could only anticipate or predict consumers expected reactions and needs, but now, they can access and even influence consumers. Today, consumers are marketers themselves and hold a huge position in spreading messages about a company. Toyota has embraced instruments of social media and some other more advanced emerging digital equipments for expression that have considerably inflated their power of voice. In other words, the proliferation of internet use has got more people surfing than never before, with companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter collecting customer information to sell to advertisers. They gather “data about the viewing and buying habits of web surfers”, a useful tool for firms that wants to advertise (Conlin, 2011). Buyers engage a lot with other consumers, sometimes discussing the suitability of a brand or a new release, significantly influencing Consumers’ decision to buy. Toyota has taken full advantage of this trend and engages highly skilled internet marketing

experts to push their brand ahead of the rest on the social media (Landry, Ude, & Vollmer, 2008). The value automotive industry gives online as the new frontier in driving sales can be seen in the chart (a) below.

Chart(a)

In this case, Toyota was to identify the niches and provide services and products to meet the need of the particular prospects. In this case, Toyota had a big opportunity since it was possible for the company to focus on the particular site, while at the same time the car manufacturing companies had not dominated the internet. It is therefore, true that the ability of Toyota Motor Corporation to adopt internet-marketing campaigns effectively in the last decade has increased its products and brand recognition, subsequently increasing global presence and sales.

Toyota uses internet-marketing campaigns to rebuild its image, to introduce new brands into the market and to increase its sales. The “devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan early this year and the weakened yen” caused Toyota huge losses in terms of production cost (NY Times, 2011). The only way they have managed to get back to their foot is through viral internet marketing campaigns. Internet marketing campaign contributes to improved performance of the corporation in the increasingly competitive motor industry (NY Times, 2011).

This technology has paved way for more possibilities becoming a vital part of Toyota Company’s marketing strategy in an immense way. Marketing campaigns, business transactions, and customer-client communication are some of the ventures the Toyota Company can administer with the internet technology. Toyota Company can witness to the fact that, the Web has quite an outstanding market scope, which can be exploited to maximize on profit in exchange. By employing the use of internet marketing strategies, Toyota Company can acquire sufficient information concerning its competitor’s strong points and intentions. This way, it is able to plan for any eventualities that would reduce its competitive advantage. The technology has also opened more avenues, which Toyota can use for increased marketing innovativeness and inventions (Perner, n.d).

Chart(b)

Consequently, it

is true that the Toyota

Motor Corporation has

adopted

internet-marketing campaigns in the last decade with the sole purpose of increasing its products and brand recognition, subsequently increasing global presence and sales. It has successfully used the Internet as a medium of marketing to achieve four strategic goals in the global market. One of the goals is that of market penetration. This technology has proved within the Toyota Company as a reliable approach for marketing the existing products into the existing markets. This is attainable by the use of Internet advertising media to increase awareness of their products and services as well as the image of their corporation amongst potential clients in the global market environment (Perner, n.d).

The second strategic goal that Toyota Company seeks to achieve by the use of the internet as a marketing tool is market development. This goal describes the company’s

overall objective and plan of vending their products and services into new markets. This is done by taking advantage of the low cost trans-border advertising that is characterized by the lack of infrastructural development in the customer target country. This way, Toyota Company has been successful in breaking geographical barriers and becoming a dealer in multiple countries.

The other strategic goal that the company has managed to accomplish is that of product development whereby, new and diversified products and services have been created and distributed to a wide range of potential buyers with different purchasing capabilities. This strategy has been described as an innovative and creative use of the internet and other associated digital technologies. The other strategic goal that Toyota Company has endeavored to achieve is the utilization of the social media marketing.

For any company to expand its market share, it must endeavor to work towards gaining a competitive advantage over its competitors. That’s why online spending is steadily increasing every year. For example, there is a 20% increase on online ad spending this year from the previous year (Conlin, 2011). This data indicates a trend that is not likely to slow down anytime soon as more people increasingly embrace internet as a source of information before purchase. Additional more people increasingly find it easy to purchase online and the product shipped to a location of their convenience. Toyota Company in so doing has employed the use of internet marketing service. Currently, the technology industry has recorded a sharp increase in the rate at which people use digital equipments and platforms.

In fact, “consumers not only talk back to marketers and interact with marketing messages but also reshape and distribute those messages through global communities” (Chappuis, Gaffey, & Parvizi, 2011). Close to half of internet consumers in the United States have now become advanced users of social networks and other upcoming technology instruments. Social networks are coming out to be central and domineering communication channels (Chappuis, Gaffey, & Parvizi, 2011). This makes the internet an important media through which corporate organizations can access a wider client base and offer fast and convenient services.

The ever present threat of market erosion has continually motivated Toyota Company to completely embrace the Internet a variety of aspects including advertisement. In fact, the company has hugely cut its funding towards printing and distribution of promotional materials and a variety of other marketing media over the last couple of days. To enhance competitive advantage, Toyota Company has endeavored to work towards increasing its products and services customer demand. The company has also invested many resources in ensuring that they continually improve the range and quality of the goods and services they provide and evade loosing its market share to the possible car manufacturers in case they would also enter into the internet marketing. For instance, the company’s recent “launch of SN Contest on Facebook” is one of their strategies to expanding their brand recognition (Conlin, 2011). The relationship between the customers and corporate organizations is being redefined as a result of this venture. By the mere fact that, the internet is always accessible all day and all night, the company’s business

image is shared with potential customers at their convenience. It is also necessary to mention that, through the internet, customers outside the Toyota Company’s geographical area have been able to acquire the company’s products with much ease thus improving its competitive advantage.

For any kind of business organization to survive and remain sustainable, it has to be able to attain a competitive advantage (Chappuis, Gaffey, & Parvizi, 2011). For this reason, Toyota has to put in place mechanisms that will ensure that, they acquire a competitive advantage over their competition while also slowing the growth of all existing ones. This is because of the fact that the character of competition is one that is open to change. It is essential to note that, competitive advantage is not imprecisely sustainable over time since competition is likely to make it archaic, and knowing the customer preference is one way of making successful social media marketing (Odden, 2011).

The fundamental and important role played by competitive advantage for any corporate organization is the expansion of market share. It is through this that champions or rather frontrunners like Toyota Company can be distinguished from losers. With an expanded market share, investors at Toyota Company are able to reach more customers and thus increasing its sales. When market share and profitability are coalesced, they form a well-defined success pointer.

However, internet marketing campaign must be one of the most challenging marketing approaches. A case in point is that of a woman suing Toyota for its offensive guerrilla

campaign that she claimed stalked her (Watson, 2011). Reports suggest that Toyota suffered losses due to this case, driving away customers who empathized with the woman (Watson, 2011). To avoid such events, companies must ensure they employ tactical approaches to internet marketing.

The imaginations, thoughts, and feelings that go through a persons mind when an organization is mentioned is what can be described as a company’s image. In other terms, it is the perceptions that people hold concerning any corporate organization. It is vital for any business organization to endeavor to ensure that they build the right image since it is essential for prosperity and smooth running of a business (Odden, 2011). It makes it less difficult to discover and tap talents. It is also without any doubt that people or groups are often more willing to conduct business with trustworthy institutions.

More customers and business opportunities are more likely to approach organizations with a good image. To attain a good image, any corporate organization is expected to do what they do best. You can only be recognized as a reputable leader in your industry when you become the best in your area (Odden, 2011). Internet marketing is one of those exploited areas that have played a significant role in building Toyota Company’s good image all across the globe. Through internet marketing, Toyota Company’s motor products and services are easily and expeditiously accessible.

Without internet marketing, Toyota Company is likely to loose its competitive advantage to its competitors whom most have invested in the same service as well. The outcome of this

would definitely mean a reduced market share for the company especially at the global level (Chappuis, Gaffey, & Parvizi, 2011).This is because it is now a common fact to the Toyota and any other company that the Internet has become a vital part of the society today. More and more people in the society are embracing technology, thus it has even become the most sought after marketing channel (Conlin, 2009). Because of this, the market share in the Internet may decline if the Toyota Company does not invest significantly in the Internet.

Statistics reveal that close to half of internet consumers in the United States have now become advanced users of social networks and other upcoming technology instruments. At the same time most of these Internet users in the United States are potential car buyers (Chappuis, Gaffey, & Parvizi, 2011). Embracing the use of the internet for financial transactions is also vital for the Toyota Company when it comes to its expanding market share. Stiff competition and the need to cut operational costs among companies and brands demand that new strategies of marketing such as the Internet are adopted, to reach the maximum target market faster and cost effectively (VVranica, 2010). Toyota Motor Corporation is one of the companies that is embracing internet marketing to market specific brands of cars. The company uses Internet to market its large pool of brands of cars, especially to markets which seem receptive to the Toyota brand in general.

Toyota Company has become one of the pioneer car manufacturers in terms of embracing the internet marketing. By embracing this kind of marketing, Toyota has realized a couple of benefits. The most obvious benefit has been the expansion of the company’s market share. In this case, Toyota has managed to take the advantage by establishing niche

marketing, which implies that, through the Internet, Toyota managed to determine the customer expectations. After determining this, the company went ahead to provide the services and the products, which met these different expectations. Toyota also used the social networks in the internet as the central and domineering communication channels. It considered the internet as an important media through which it could access a wider client base and offer fast and convenient services. Because of this, the Company managed to access a wider global market base.

Through the Internet as a tool of marketing, Toyota Company has been able to identify, anticipate, and satisfy customers. Toyota Company has also used the internet as a mechanism through which marketing research can be done to determine the needs of the customer and through it, customers are able to access information and buy products.

Work Cited

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Conlin, J. (2009, August 25). The New Media and Marketing Landscape. Internet marketing, pp. 1-11. Retrieved from http://www1bpt.bridgeport.edu/~jconlin/InternetMarketing.pdf

Heine, C. (2010, October 20). Toyota Uses Facebook Game to Build New Car Buzz. Retrieved from http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2118906/toyota-facebook-game-build-car-buzz

Landry, E., Ude, C., & Vollmer, C. (2010). HD Marketing 2010: Sharpening the Conversation. New York: Booz & Company Inc. Retrieved from http://www1bpt.bridgeport.edu/~jconlin/HDMarketingIn2010.pdf

New York Times (2011, November 9). Toyota Motor Corporation: 2011 Third Quarter Earnings. Retrieved from http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/toyota_motor_corporation/index.htm l

Odden, L. (2011, October 11). 15 Steps to judging a Social Networking Marketing Campaign. Retrieved from

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2115621/questions-social-media-marketing-measurem ent-success

Perner, L. (n.d.). Consumer behavior: the psychology of marketing. Retrieved Nov 08, 2011. Retrieved from consumerpsychologist.com: http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/

Vranica, S. (2010, November 14). Tweeting to sell cars: auto makers turn to social media ‘influencers’to drive sales Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704658204575610593926104822.html

Watson, L. (2011, September 13). Guerrilla ad campaign hits new low after terrified woman thought she was being hunted by stalker… who turned out to be Toyota. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2036739/Woman-sues-Toyota-ad-campaign-believe -stalker.html