Marketing Environment Analysis: Telstra

Answer :

Introduction

The importance of marketing knowledge in the efficient functioning of an organisation can never be underestimated or ignored under any circumstances. It is essential to understand the intricacies and complexities of the environment surrounding any organisation, since they manage to impact the working performance and eventual position of the said organisation in the overall marketing context in a detailed manner. The analysis of the overall marketing environment of a selected organisation, Telstra, has been conducted in the following sections. The analytical tools included in the study include SWOT, which provides a relevant insight into the current position of the reviewed organisation. Furthermore, the analysis regarding its marketing mix and the strategies (whether long-term or short-term) have been discussed and detailed in an intricate manner. Herein, this study is about the marketing analysis of the current marketing position and condition of Telstra, with a specific focus on the elements which can have a deep impact on the same.

Marketing Environment Analysis of Telstra

The marketing environment analysis of any organisation in particular requires a thorough research of the main external and internal factors. These factors have a significant impact on the marketing condition of a company such as Telstra, since the organisational condition and performances are dependent on the same. The condition of the internal factors such as the employees and the internal stakeholders is a matter of immense care and consideration on the part of the companies in question, with Telstra being no exception to the rule. Being a telecommunications and media company (one of the largest of its kind in Australia) it has to take the condition of its employees and the performances generated by them very seriously. The strict discipline that the company in question has enforced on its employees (without initiating excessive stress and panic among the workers in question) has resulted in the employees doing their best in their allocated jobs (Earl, Friesen & Shadforth, 2017). 

This is definitely one of the prime reasons why the company in question has managed to maintain such an eminent position in the marketing scenario of the telecommunications industry (especially in the Australian context). Similarly, a good relationship has been maintained between the company and its other internal stakeholders, which is necessary for achieving a relevant amount of success. The other factors for consideration in this regard are the external factors, with the acronym PESTLE denoting the main factors necessary for evaluation. The main political factors include the government, whose laws and legislations form the basis upon which the reviewed company can work. Fortunately, the Australian Government has been supportive in its views regarding companies such as Telstra, which is further supported by the fact that the organisation always strives to work in accordance with the rules and regulations laid down by the national governing entity. In addition, the economic obligations and taxes which the company have to pay is also an aspect which has determined the state of organisations in the market, with Telstra being one of the companies which always follows the laws and regulations pertaining to the same (Gregory, 2017).

The technological aspect of the company has also seen remarkable improvements over the course of the last few years, with its rise in technology also being a reason for its success. In addition, the company has always encouraged the removal of social, cultural and linguistic barriers in the workplace, which has allowed it to maintain a satisfactory degree of flexibility. Finally, it has also taken care and caution in the environmental aspect, though some of its activities have to be regulated in an even more efficient manner in order to be generate better results in this aspect. The fact that the marketing environment of the company in question is a competitive one with all of the aforementioned factors being vital constituents (and having tremendous impacts) is acknowledged and understood by the leaders. They have followed and tried to adhere to them to the best of their ability, which has reflected in the good position that Telstra has in the modern-day market (Armstrong et al. 2014).

SWOT Analysis of Telstra

Table 1: SWOT Analysis of Telstra

(Source: Hahn, 2015)

The main strengths of the reviewed organisation include the fact that it has a strong network of infrastructure, which has put it in a position of sever competitive advantage in the telecommunications market. In addition, its great relationships with its stakeholders as well as the fact that it has managed to develop and implement a great system of documentation and recording has ensured that it has mitigated the issues of data loss in a most effective manner. Its effective method of communication has ensured that it has managed to conduct most of its actions in an efficient and effective manner, without the problems of work delay or monetary losses. All of these strong points have led to the development of a large and loyal customer base, with the members generally impressed by the services provided by the company in question (Hahn, 2015). 

However, despite all of its strengths, its main weaknesses include the fact that its relationships with some of its regulatory bodies leave room for further improvement. This is also highlighted by the fact that the strategies developed by the organisation for eventual use in a global expansion context have been observed to be fairly weak. The saturation of the Australian market has led to further threats, with the room for eventual growth being hampered as well. In addition, the strained relation between the company and the regulatory bodies can also be a threat, since the influence of the latter is estimated to grow in the future. Finally, the opportunities include the potential markets of developing countries, with even advanced countries like China proving to be a great place for future investments (Bai & Chang, 2015). Thus, an analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats can lead to the organisation in question managing to emerge as an even bigger market contender in the future.

Marketing Mix of Telstra

In order to derive the proper blend of marketing strategies that might enable the respective telecom unit of Telstra towards a relative competitive edge, this suite urges for 4-P analytical framework to be employed.  The classification of the respective telecom industry in accordance with the seven major factors of a marketing mix suite is as follows;

Product: 

• Telstra holds a reputation for providing a vast section of products and services endowed with unique offerings.  It has been able to retain a dominant status in the volatile and competitive market of Australian telecom industries since they are supposed to be the sole provider all over the industry (Aboelmaged, 2014). 
• It has been able to exhibit a homogeneous blend of technological expertise in order to diversify the range of products and services they are dedicated to provide. These services typically include Landline and Mobile telephone while ensuring seamless communication through fibre optics and several other virtual devices. 
• In current days, Telstra facilitates their concern to consolidate the alternate targets of being a unit of consultancy in order to address the challenges and expectations of the alternate markets. 
• Due to the consolidated brand image all across Australia, the management of Telstra always own an embedded intent to be the prime mover of any impulse that has been discerned in the respective industries  since they possess the insight the underlying opportunities. On that note, it can be stated with conviction that they have exhibited their intelligence thoroughly by adapting internet and broadband connection through employing dial up connections. 

Price:

• The unique pricing strategy that Telstra has been able to maintain consolidates their status in the underlying market while ensuring a relative competitive edge since the products and services is price-delicate in the Australian market.
• Telstra mainly exhibits the impulse of bundle pricing in its strategic implications of marketing mix. 
• They are dedicated to offer several discount and other facilities in accordance with the validity and utility rates dispensed by the customers that further enable them to retain and enjoy a strong customer base.
• In some cases, they have followed the same strategy of financial cut-down that its potential rivals are prone to employ in order to sustain with competitive advantage. 
• They tend to follow viable strategy of pricing policy that is an eclectic pricing with an evident dimension of competition. 

Place:

• Telstra has been able to retain a uniform distributional channel, which is almost free from impediment and internal conflicts since they have been able to communicate with each of the potential customers seamlessly while looking for the remedies of the identified problems.
• Their sincerity and diligence endow them with the capability to evade impediments and domestic conflicts within the channel.
• Telstra have employed condition-intensive communication system as their mode of communication is different in different cases.
• Telstra recently initiated a reach subsidiary in order to enhance the competence of prudent communication with households and other business all across Sydney.

Promotion:

• Telstra frequently promotes actively through Internets, billboards, Radio and televisions though never possessed a shop or outlet to advertise directly. 
• They have extensively employed their own websites as a tool of effective promotion.
• They run their stores and offer merchandises and several discount schemes in order to attract new frontiers. 
• Telstra own several shares and sponsorship all across Australia that can be cited as a potential medium to promote their brand. 
• Recently they have started employing social media visits in order to enhance the promotional capabilities.

Process:

• Telstra enjoys its headquarters in the city of Melbourne and the majority of the governing operations have been advocated from the respective city. On that note, the accessibility of the position tends to supplement in the credentials of the respective unit.
• This accessibility will enable them to attend their potential customers and work for the remedy of the underlying issues.

People:

• Telstra has been able to ensure seamless interactions that are prone to occur among several workplace officials. Moreover, they have been able to employ their resources efficiently in order to answer the expectations of the customers. 
• They have been able to train their employees in a regular basis in order to motivate and enhance their dedication (Thomas et al. 2016).

Physical Evidence:

• Apart from Sydney, Telstra used to dispense their services in more 80 countries all across the globe. Moreover, they have been able to expand in several other countries and various other locations.

Short-term strategies of Telstra

• Conducting Promotional Activities

As per the suggestions of the marketing mix, the promotional activities that Telstra typically deployed have enabled them to earn the consolidation of the brand image. Furthermore, they might enhance their promotional and broadcasting activities by posing their further strategies in the billboards. Moreover, the can update their prevalent website simply by incorporating recent leaps of their venture systematically. 

• Punctuality in work

The workplace moderator appears committed to instill the notion of punctuality within the existing employees that may encourage punctuality among them and simultaneously devise a soothing workplace ambience.  Moreover, it will enable the employees to be efficient and dedicated to work consistently while ensuring the enhancement of productivity.

Long-term strategies of Telstra 

• Financial estimate

Telstra appear dedicated to run their entire unit with meager initial cost. This also encourages the respective business unit to scrutinize their prevalent cost structure that facilitates the auxiliary financial pursuits. Moreover, a prudent budget is essential to devise and implement proper allocation of resources and other expertise to ensure the prosperity of the business venture.

• Training the employees

Training programs in a regular interval needs to be organized for the employees in order to procure the requisite level of competency that might pave them towards the projects of higher merit.  

Conclusion

This study suite is supposed to address the current market status of Telstra. In the light of the respective study, it has been successfully addressed the underlying notion while framing the entire pursuit over the some reliable analytical framework.