Excellent marketing initiatives by Toyota

Introduction

Businesses must devise strategies to make their brands and products memorable. It is exceedingly challenging for companies to establish a presence in the minds of consumers in this age of product and brand clutter. The brothers are actually having difficulty. As a result, it is now crucial for us to read about and understand the marketing strategies of various brands. These lessons will assist us in comprehending the application of marketing theory as well as any potential issues it may encounter in the real world and how consumers are responding to it.

Toyota as a brand has been in the market for several decades and today is thriving and surviving in the market because of its innovation and customer love.

Image − Logo of Toyota

In this article, we will be understanding the birth, growth trajectory, and excellent marketing initiatives of Toyota. It is time to dive into the pool of marketing and innovation to survive and thrive.

Birth and Growth Trajectory of Toyota

Toyota is an 80-year-old company. Toyota is a company of Japanese origin. Toyota launched its first passenger car in 1936, known as the Model AA. The aim of Toyota is to contribute to the prosperity of society with its automobiles. As of 2021, Toyota has a market share of 12.6% in the automobile industry. Toyota is here in the automobile industry to provide the customer with vehicles of all types, ranging from sports, to utility, and premium cars. Toyota, as a brand, is known for its innovation and quality products.

Excellent Marketing Initiatives by Toyota

The major business initiatives of Toyota have been in the product expansion category, product diversification, and operational excellence. The company had marketed all its variants, but the highlight of the show for Toyota is not the marketing excellence by the company but the continued innovation in the products that are driven by customer needs.

We will now be diving deep into this to get more clarification and pinch out the marketing for your learning:

Scion for Young Adults and Toyota (Demographic Modifications)

Toyota understood that consumers at different stages have different expectations of the brand and the product. The young adults were deep into the personalization of the car. Toyota hence came up with Scion in this Toyota now builds the "mono spec" at the factory. Now the customers can go to the dealership and pre-paper their car themselves from the dozen modifications that the company has to offer.

Along with this, the company followed the lifestyle trends of young adults and started sponsoring events in music shows to raise awareness about the brand and its products among young adults. Toyota also started putting its car models and advertisements in places where young people hang out instead of showrooms because it understood that young customers do not want to visit showrooms just to stare at cars.

Personalizing Global Customer Experience on the basis of Geographical Location

Toyota as a brand understood that though customers from different regions find Toyota to be trustworthy and a brand that delivers quality, there are different things in brands and products that these brands might find attractive. In the United States, customers place importance on size, comfort, and dependability, while in Europe, consumers place importance on attention to detail and brand heritage. Toyota started manufacturing cars as well as advertising cars as per the needs and preferences of the customers in a particular geographic area. Toyota became vocal for the locals.

The 1973 Oil Crisis and Toyota

Toyota, as a brand, faced huge financial blows in 1950. The company did not give up and waited like an animal to jump into the next opportunity. During the 1973 oil crisis, it saw a shift in customer demand. Now the customer wanted to own compact cars that were medium-sized and fuel-efficient. Toyota came up with the Toyota Corona and Toyota Corolla to serve its customers. With time, major modifications were introduced in the company cars in terms of FM radio and air conditioning.

Toyota and Its Philosophy of Operation

Toyota is a brand of Japanese origin. Toyota lives by the philosophy of doing it right the first time and lean production. This concept basically teaches us that the total time it takes the workers to correct a mistake they have made is more than the total time that they will take to do it right the first time, and hence the efficiency of the company will be improved.

Along with this, the lean principles of production teach us that the company should have operational efficiency and run at levels of minimum wasted time and resources for the company's well-being. Toyota can develop eight different models simultaneously, and the assembly lines are so strong that they can include various modifications in manufacturing without hassle.

Product and Product Line Diversification of Toyota

Toyota has its legs in the premium car segments: family sedan cars, sports vehicles, solar energy vehicles, electric vehicles, heavy vehicles, compact vehicles, and utility vehicles. Toyota also does a good job maintaining the quality of its diversified portfolio and advertising the same to its customers.

Toyota is, today, the world's largest automaker, surpassing General Motors. Toyota has sold more than 22 trillion yen and more than 8.87 million cars. It is a household brand after the financial crisis and the natural crisis (Japan earthquakes) because it believes in serving its customers with quality products and services that will solve their problems and fulfil their needs.

Conclusion

Toyota and other brands have clearly understood that the only way to survive in the market is to become customer-centric, not only satisfying the customer but delighting them with the experience that the brand has to deliver. Happy customers will not only bring sales to the company but will also ensure that, during tough times, the brand recovers and is not lost in the chaos of competition and brands.