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Comparison of marketing strategies between China Mobile and China Unicom

Since the two major mobile oligarchs, China Unicom and China Mobile, have faced off, competition in the wireless communications market has become fierce. The purpose of this article is to make a superficial comparative analysis of its existing marketing strategies and make preliminary predictions about its future trends, so as to provide reference for relevant people in the industry to formulate next-step marketing policies. We also hope that readers who are interested in telecom marketing can actively participate. discuss.

1. Comparison of marketing environment

Marketing environment refers to various factors and motivations that affect an enterprise's marketing activities and the realization of its goals. As an open social system, an enterprise is closely related to changes in the environment. To analyze the marketing environment, we must mainly identify environmental threats and marketing opportunities. Environmental threats refer to the challenges posed by adverse development trends in the environment. If decisive marketing actions are not taken, such adverse trends will eventually harm the company's market position. Marketing opportunities refer to areas that are attractive to corporate marketing management. In this area, companies will have a competitive advantage. Of course, as two major competitors in the same industry, China Unicom and China Mobile also constitute one of each other's most important environmental factors. Changes in the behavior of each party can create new threats or opportunities for the other.

Comparing from the two dimensions of environmental threats and market opportunities, the threats faced by China Unicom mainly lie in the joining of new entrants such as the telecom "Xiaolingtong" and the deterioration of the brand image of existing competitor China Mobile. Deepening and increasing the overall scale advantage; its market opportunities lie in the vast potential of the huge mid-to-low-end market, the gradual recognition of CDMA business and technological advantages by society, and its rich marketing knowledge in fighting for the high-end market. For China Mobile, its external threats mainly include new entrants such as the joining of China Telecom's "Personal Smartphone", existing competitor China Unicom's rising share of the mid-to-low-end market and the increase in its overall strength and scale. The establishment of the differentiated advantages of CDMA business and its impact on the mid-to-high-end market; its market opportunities lie in the well-known brands created by massive advertising investment, the customer experience advantages accumulated in the long-term management of mid-to-high-end customers, and the counterattack There is huge potential in the low-end market. This shows that although China Unicom and China Mobile share the industrial ecological environment, in the short term, the reality of their game is extremely cruel and ruthless, and it is a typical zero-sum competitive pattern of one-off, one-on-one, and failure to advance or retreat.

2. Comparison of marketing objectives

General marketing objectives are only positioned at the competition for market users. But the author believes that corporate marketing goals should actually include three levels of content, namely corporate goals, corporate financial goals and corporate market goals. Corporate goals refer to the specific goals proposed for marketing work under the guidance of the company's overall goals and strategies, such as conveying the company's values, concepts and social image through marketing work. Financial goals refer to the marketing requirements put forward to support the economic operation of the enterprise, which include revenue and profit. Enterprise market goals refer to the specific goals of marketing efforts in competing for user share. The goals in the first two aspects are relatively concealed, while the latter are more obvious. There are both unified and conflicting aspects among these three. For example, the pursuit of short-term market expansion may significantly erode the company's immediate profits, and low-level marketing methods may cause damage to the company's positioning. Therefore, excellent marketing goals must take into account the organic unity of these three aspects.

From the perspective of corporate goals, China Unicom aims to highlight the image of free newcomers "It's great to have choices" and the image of helping and friendly consumers; China Mobile aims to highlight the image of "communication starts from the heart" "The image of an old tree sprouting new shoots embodies its innovative sincerity.

In terms of financial goals, China Mobile, as a pioneer and market leader in mobile communications, not only pursues existing revenue advantages, but also strives to maintain high profit levels. Striving to maintain high profits to harvest the fruits of product maturity is its priority goal. As a catch-up company, China Unicom has the characteristics of economies of scale in the mobile communications industry, the need for overseas listings and increased investment. Therefore, it is under pressure to increase revenue to become bigger, and it also needs to work hard to increase profits. For China Unicom, prioritizing revenue and taking into account efficiency are the most important financial goals.

In terms of market targets, China Mobile has a large share of the existing market, and China Unicom is gradually becoming equal to it in the incremental market. However, due to differences in the user structure characteristics of the two parties, mobile users have Due to the characteristics of liquidity and personalization, on the one hand, China Mobile must ensure its advantages in the existing mid-to-high-end market, and on the other hand, it must also strive for the low-end market to prevent its market share from continuously tilting towards its opponents. While China Unicom is aggressively attacking the mid- to low-end market, it is also actively exploring counterattacks against its opponents' high-end users, because this is the key to breaking China Mobile's dominant position and the key to achieving a corporate strategy that emphasizes both scale and efficiency.

At this stage, China Mobile’s main marketing objectives are: focusing on defense while also absorbing the mid- to low-end market. That is to say, we strive to hold on to Global Telecom users, a relatively large number of consumers with high phone bills due to historical conditions, to avoid a large loss of them. At the same time, we actively compete with China Unicom in the mid- to low-end market to further improve our market position and user penetration. , suppressing the opponent's rapid growth. The main characteristics of China Unicom's marketing objectives are: focusing on offensive, continuously expanding user market share and revenue market share through various marketing strategies, especially maintaining its advantages in the mid-to-low-end user market, while striving to tap the mid-to-high-end users of its opponents. .

3. Comparison of marketing strategies

Marketing strategy refers to the specific patterns and characteristics displayed by the use of various marketing methods. The classic "5P" theory holds that marketing strategy generally refers to several aspects such as price strategy, channel strategy, promotion strategy, advertising strategy and product strategy, or an organic combination thereof. The overall product theory believes that a complete product should contain three levels: core product, tangible product and additional product. Among them, the core product refers to the benefits that consumers pursue when purchasing a certain product, that is, the core needs of customers. Tangible products refer to the form in which the core product is realized, that is, the image of entities and services provided to the market. Additional products refer to all additional services and benefits that customers receive when purchasing tangible products, including the provision of credit, free shipping, warranties, installation and after-sales services. In the communications industry, core products can refer to the realization of calls, tangible products are reflected in various business cards and terminal equipment, and additional products include consulting services, convenience, and phone bill discounts for old users. The following will conduct a detailed analysis based on the above theory.

In terms of brands, China Mobile has made good plans and has now formed three nationally unified leading product brands: "Global Communications", "China Travel" and "M-Zone", covering high-end users, mobile users and mobile phone users respectively. Users with strong sexual orientation and potential mid-to-high-end users with high revenue potential; in addition, there are a large number of temporary brands launched for regional markets. However, China Unicom only has the national unified brand "Ruyitong", and its leading products are called network number 130; each province and city has different brand logos, which has the characteristics of "one place, one policy". Although its newly launched CDMA business has learned lessons from the GSM business in terms of brand strategy, as a new product and new technology, its definition of "new time and space" has not been fully recognized by the market. What is more worthy of attention is that What consumers generally know is the promotion of "CDMA". If other operators adopt CDMA technology in the future, China Unicom will play the role of "free promotion" for latecomers.

In terms of channel strategy, China Mobile extensively relies on three models: self-service sales offices, joint sales through social channels, and one-on-one customer service to develop new users and retain old users. On the one hand, it relies on its own channels left over from the original post and telecommunications, and strives to give full play to its sales and demonstration functions. At the same time, it increases investment in its own channels to reflect its strategic pursuit of leading services; on the other hand, it also actively develops social agency distribution channels. , extending product coverage and market control. In the management of social channels, China Mobile focuses on seizing the characteristics of retailers focusing on circulation, stimulating the final market with differentiated regional products, and thus activating the enthusiasm of channels. China Unicom, in line with its offensive strategy, implements a strategy focusing on social distribution channels and relies extensively on social networks to promote products. In the management of social channels, China Unicom focuses on formulating strong agency fee policies to stimulate the enthusiasm of channels, and strives to control consumer behavior by controlling channels. In other words, China Mobile focuses on using "high advertising fees and low agency fees" to attract consumers and turn channels towards China Mobile, while China Unicom focuses on using "low advertising fees and high agency fees" to motivate channels and induce consumers.

In addition, China Mobile has also gradually improved the quantity and quality of its own channels, in line with the overall "defensive" status quo; although China Unicom has also gradually increased investment in the development of its own channel system, due to investment restrictions, it will not be available for a long time. will still mainly rely on social channels for a period of time. Since the opening of CDMA, direct sales have become an important part of China Unicom's channel system, but the effective management of this method still needs to be explored and improved.

In terms of price strategy, China Mobile adopts a distinct "price discrimination" strategy, that is, formulating differentiated tariff adjustment policies for customers with different phone bill expenditures. For example, for "Global Communications" users, the "package" method is mainly used to provide discounts, and different rates are formulated according to the contribution of "Global Communications" users; for "China Travel" users, the "family number" is mainly used The method is partial price reduction; for "M-Zone" users, the new business bundling strategy is implemented to increase the user value; for regional users, the service function is implemented to limit the transfer of mid-to-high-end users. China Unicom mainly adopts the strategy of "universal reduction" in tariffs. The tariff reduction is more substantial and more intensive, but the cost is higher.

In terms of advertising strategy, China Mobile took advantage of its financial advantages to adopt tactics of "suppression", "interference" and "submergence" against China Unicom, and used huge advertising investment to divert users' attention from the activities of competitors. At the same time, we strive to dominate the market discourse. In terms of promotion strategy, China Mobile focuses on innovation and change, and launches "new activities" without substantive content from time to time to maintain user attention; China Unicom, on the other hand, "does not take action, and often makes big moves when it does." , the activities are generally large-scale and have substantial discounts and promotions. In terms of advertising content, China Mobile covers a wider area, including not only basic voice products, but also value-added services, as well as after-sales service content, while China Unicom's advertising content mainly focuses on basic products. Judging from the frequency of advertisements and promotions, China Mobile is more intensive and proactive, reflecting the idea that "the best defense is offense." Although China Unicom has a stronger counterattack, it cannot get rid of a relatively passive situation.

In terms of product strategy, China Mobile and China Unicom do not have much innovation. China Mobile has an advantage in the launch of mobile value-added services, such as GPRS, mobile IP, wireless Internet, etc., while China Unicom has an advantage in the launch of bundled mobile services with other services, such as "One Number Link" and "Ruyi Mailbox" Waiting for the launch of the business. China Unicom's CDMA technology has theoretical advantages in terms of product types, but it needs to be further promoted before it can be transformed into market competitive advantages. In addition, China Mobile is also focusing on the future digitalization trend and seizing the commanding heights of value-added business growth. For example, it has signed exclusive cooperation agreements with major SPs in an attempt to strangle China Unicom's future information business development from the source.

In terms of marketing model, China Unicom is more innovative. As China Mobile continues to use its financial resources and market advantages to increase its control over social channels, it has forced China Unicom to formulate new cooperation models to induce agents to join, such as the "telephone fee sharing agency system" and "terminal manufacturer +" that have achieved good results. The four joint marketing model of "terminal agent + operator + operator" has explored a new way for the industry chain marketing model.

4. Summary of marketing characteristics and analysis of reasons

In summary, the main characteristics of China Mobile’s marketing strategy can be summarized as follows.

The marketing strategy is highly systematic, which is reflected in the strong initiative, continuity and good balance of marketing policies for different users;

Pays more attention to society In public relations management, we do not hesitate to use a large number of free opportunities to enhance our influence on important party and government institutions, striving to form a "demonstration effect" and a "word-of-mouth effect";

New businesses are gradually becoming popular, such as text messages. , M-Zone, wireless Internet, etc. have high awareness, and their revenue share also occupies a comparative advantage;

Make extensive use of "outside brains" and rely on social consulting agencies and advertisers to improve marketing planning and management level;

Pay more attention to the collection of market intelligence and accurate understanding of opponent situations, increase investment in internal operation support systems, and provide strong technical support for scientific decision-making;

We strive to build a strategic defense system for mid- to high-end customers and strive to increase the loyalty of mid- to high-end customers through service differentiation.

The shortcomings of China Mobile’s marketing strategy are mainly reflected in the fact that the promotion of new services is limited by network technology conditions; the measures to retain mid-to-high-end users deviate more from the communications industry, which is not conducive to the consolidation and development of core competitiveness; maintaining The desire for high profit margins and a good sense of market superiority may lead to insufficient preparation for China Unicom's strategic defensive measures.

China Unicom’s marketing strategy has the following characteristics.

The tariff advantage and CDMA’s unique technical advantages provide strong support for its continued growth;

The deficiencies in brand strategy are increasingly obvious, and the existing CDMA brand is too vague, which is not conducive to the Exploring the mid-to-high-end stock market;

New marketing models have unique advantages, especially the call fee sharing system and the terminal profit system. For example, high commissions have led to the famous Taisheng South Road telecommunications market in Chengdu saying "Only selling CDMA today" banner, but this model also limits the improvement of efficiency;

There is more than enough offense but insufficient defense. The "big in and out" of users has become more serious, and the service system and support system construction lags behind competitors. Possibly;

The application of package packages is not successful enough, the strategy for mid-to-high-end users is not effective, and the development of value-added services lags behind;

The billing and settlement and customer service systems have insufficient support for marketing. Strong, marketing advertisements, especially CDMA advertisements, still focus on "I" and do not take into account the user's needs and value sensitive points. For example, clear voice is not very attractive to ordinary users, and call confidentiality is not very attractive to most users. Required.

In addition, the two major operators have some similar shortcomings in their marketing strategies and their constraints. For example, the integration of marketing organizations needs to be strengthened, especially the standardization and management of image stores in social agency channels; the marketing concept needs to be deepened, and the existing marketing concept still has a strong "sales" color, and transaction marketing rather than The characteristics of relationship marketing are still very prominent; the marketing objects need to be refined, and the two operators still lack clear user positioning or regional positioning. The result of trying to win all the markets will inevitably be lose-lose; marketing management, especially strategic market planning , consumer behavior research, channel integration and the improvement of intelligence information systems are still relatively weak, and there is insufficient attention to the post-analysis and evaluation of promotional activities.

5. Forecast and Outlook of Future Strategies

As the Boston Consulting Group pointed out in a report, there are unprecedented opportunities to create value in today’s telecommunications industry, but Many companies trying to take advantage of these opportunities are encountering significant challenges. Some companies seek to extract maximum value from their existing market positions and business portfolios as they pursue new opportunities. Others have achieved initial success in focusing their strengths to create strong growth, which translates into long-term competitive advantage. Both types of companies are finding that in order to succeed in an intensely turbulent environment, they must be both offensive and defensive. In fact, the marketing strategy of today's mobile communications market is consistent with this judgment. The design and implementation of future marketing strategies will also be fully developed in this direction.

For China Unicom, the main challenge facing China Unicom in the future is not "offensive", but how to effectively hold on to its existing share. This requires transformation and adjustment of corporate marketing management and even the overall management style of the company. What should be emphasized here is that the author does not think that "offensive" is no longer important to China Unicom, but that China Unicom already has sufficient offensive capabilities, but responding to the offense requires other skills, knowledge, experience and changes. To this end, China Unicom should improve network coverage and operation quality, improve internal support systems, improve customer service systems, and skillfully introduce new services to old users. These are very important to consolidate the existing market; it is necessary to integrate existing brands and business, forming a multi-level, differentiated and personalized marketing product system; accelerating the development and promotion of value-added services, controlling the risks of the call-to-mobile phone model, and strengthening the construction of market intelligence and information systems. Whether China Unicom can transform from a growth-oriented enterprise to a management-oriented enterprise and enhance its defensive management capabilities commensurate with its offensive capabilities is the key to its future success.

China Mobile will continue to leverage its advantages in customers, brand and economic scale, increase its level of innovation, adopt new technologies and marketing models, and respond to market impacts.

In terms of retaining existing users, it can be expected that a large amount of advertising, strategic price adjustments, bundled promotions of basic businesses and value-added businesses, further segmentation of brands, expansion of self-owned channels and improvement of customer service systems will be the key factors. The constant theme in its marketing strategy. In terms of innovation, it will start with the marketing model and introduce industry cooperation systems, industrial chain cooperation systems and other models to eliminate China Unicom's leading advantage in this area. At the same time, with the backing of strong financial strength, it will accelerate the introduction of database marketing and database development, Telemarketing and call center management, corporate relationship marketing (including event and sponsor marketing), customer relationship marketing, partner marketing, experiential marketing and other new marketing skills to adapt to the strategic positioning as a business and service leader Require. In other words, as the gap between the two competitors continues to narrow, whoever innovates faster will win the battle in the future, and China Mobile has always been committed to being the leader in innovation in the field of mobile communications.