MARKET AND
MARKETING
MBA - 1
UNIVERSITÉ CATHOLIQUE
DE L’OUEST
TEACHER: PROFESSOR MOUGHAYT BACHAR
Reliazed By: EL-AYOUBI Mohamed NASCIMBENI Alice
ASSI Rayanne DIVIN OLANGUE
CHUGANI Mona Yao LAetitia
Academic Year 2022-2023
Table of Contents:
I. Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1
1) Our Company
2) Issue identified and Plan for our project
II. Analysis of the environment of our Company .................................................. 5
1) Micro-envirenment : PESTEL Analysis
2) Micro-envirenment : Porter’s five forces
3) Micro-envirenment : SWOT Analysis
III. Marketing Diagnostics ...................................................................................... 12
❖ What makes this environment receptive to this innovation ?
IV. Marketing Strategy ........................................................................................... 13
1) Segmentation
2) Targeting
3) Positioning
V. The Marketing Mix ........................................................................................... 15
1) Product (concept, formula, design, packaging, benefits)
2) Price Strategy
3) Place Strategy
4) Promotion : Advertising & Public Relations
VI. Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 18
VII. Bibliography ...................................................................................................... 19
I. INTRODUCTION
OUR COMPANY
Innoson Group is an indigenous privately owned Nigerian
group of companies, committed to advance the Nigerian economy
through industrialization.
Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing (commonly shortened to IVM) is a
Nigerian automobile manufacturer founded in 2007 with
headquarters in Nnewi, Anambra, Nigeria, founded by Chief
Innocent Chukwuma Nwala. Researchers claim most of the cars are
produced locally (70%), with the remaining 30% coming from China,
Germany, and Japan.
The goal of our first Made-in-Africa automobile brand is to eradicate
“tokunbo”, (foreign-used) automobiles from the continent. Our
mission is to produce durable and affordable brand-new automobiles
for Africans, and we want them to be the pride of the continent’s
roadways. Our major guiding principles are cost, honesty,
innovation, and people.
We wish to continually cut costs to boost sales, being guided by
honesty, the best policy. All of this is made possible by people. Any
work that a person does well should be delegated to a person rather
than a machine with the intention of always being one step ahead of
the competition and new records.
Heavy-duty vehicles, intermediate and high-level buses, and unique
environmentally friendly vehicles are all part of our product portfolio.
To produce suitable products at reasonable prices, our organization
optimizes design and assembly in accordance with African road
conditions. In instance, our motto “Buy Innoson Made Easy”
motivates our customer to own a brand-new car and pay later. This
is made possible by the collaboration of Innoson Vehicles
Manufacturing and Access Bank: with the Auto Finance Plan, our
clients can purchase a new automobile car and pay for it easily, with
a 3-year repayment period.
Additionally, our company’s affiliate, Innoson Technical and
Industrial Company, has been making the greatest plastic goods in
the nation since 2002! It manufactures premium household and
industrial plastics, health and safety accessories, storage
containers, electrical components, and accessories, among which
we find chairs, jerry cans, drums, motorcycle parts etc. All of these
initiatives performed by our team are designed to fulfill the unique
requests of the clients, achieve the greatest levels of performance
and safety, and prepare the vehicles for the African market.
ISSUE IDENTIFIED & PLAN OF OUR PROJECT
Innovation is one of our guiding values, so it’s crucial to always
be up to date, have fresh ideas and a critical mindset. Therefore, we
want to expand our sales target in order to reach the entire African
population. We are talking about African farmers because we have
a new product to suggest. It is a tractor, so a machine that is used
every day by African farmers; however, it is a hybrid tractor, so it runs
on electricity and petrol.
Since there aren’t any tractors of this kind in Nigeria, it is a novel
product that also makes use of technology because it is a tractor that
can drive by itself, can avoid obstacles and plant seeds with little
human intervention.
In terms of price, it is a commodity that farmers can afford because
it is not extremely expensive. On the pages that follow, we'll go into
further detail about the strategy our company has chosen.
II. ANALYSIS
OF THE
ENVIRONM
ENT OF
OUR
COMPANY
PESTEL ANALYSIS
A Pestel analysis is a strategic framework,
and it studies the key external factors influencing
an organization. Its business environment is
valued based on Political, Sociological,
Technological, Legal and Environmental factors.
Innoson is intended to be one of the leading tractors and farm equipment manufacturers in
Nigeria and in the rest of the world. For this reason, the political factor plays an important
role for our company: indeed, most the decisions regarding agriculture are made by
governments. For instance, if the crop production is not procured timely by the government
and private operators, this could a negative impact on farm equipment companies such as
Innoson, which would be in trouble.
On the other hand, the government and its initiatives can assist farmers and help our company
grow. For example, our company can directly get into partnerships with Nigeria governments
and provide tractor subsidies to farmers to increase sales.
The level of political stability achieved by the country in recent years is certainly of great
interest when analyzing the political factor. Operating in countries with a high level of corruption
and weak law enforcement makes the business environment increasingly unpredictable for
Innoson car. Firstly, corruption certainly influences various business operations, from licenses
to procurement, from fraudulent deals to frequent lawsuits. Secondly, it leads to an unequal
distribution of wealth, as small businesses face unfair competition from large companies that
have established illegal links with government officials.
The Nigerian federal government is responding to this problem by deciding to close Nigeria's
borders and this move is perceived positively. The border closure has forced many Nigerians
to consume local products, especially locally produced rice, thus creating more job
opportunities in Nigeria and increasing farmers' incomes.
Innoson tractors are also influenced by social factors. For instance, the population distribution
of a country is also impacting the sales of cars. A state with a dense population like Nigeria,
being one of the most densely populated in Africa, with approximately 218.5 million inhabitants,
and large families, tends to have a good sale of big cars like SUVs.
Another aspect affecting the automobile industry is the culture and tendency of communities.
For example, the countries which have well-connected bus services may see a smaller number
of people owning cars. There is also a tendency of developed and emerging countries like
Nigeria to possess one or more cars. In our analysis, the social behavior of farmers has to be
taken into account as well, being an important variable for a company like Innoson. Half of the
Nigerian population is involved in agricultural activities, and thanks to the development of
technology and innovations in agricultural equipment, although not yet fully utilized, Nigerian
agricultural production is increasing substantially. Despite this, there is still a lot of farm
equipment that is manufactured at home, and in this way, farmers are able to obtain low-cost
tools that help them grow crops. What Innoson wants to propose is a hybrid tractor used for
multiple purposes, including irrigation, cultivation, and transportation. In the villages, owning a
state-of-the-art tractor is seen as a status symbol, since, as mentioned above, most of the
population still uses hand tools.
For what concerns the technological factors, Innoson has to constantly innovate its
technology to appeal to the customers. Technological advancements like use of GPS,
automation, Artificial intelligence, Internet of Things are expected to be introduced in the
agricultural market in the next 5 years, giving an important opportunity to technologically
advanced players. If Innoson implements strategies by proposing technologies such as the
driverless tractor and electric tractor, the use of artificial intelligence to operate farm equipment
according to crops and weather conditions, the company can outperform its competitors and
become a leader in this industry first in Nigeria and later in the world.
Since the agricultural equipment industry depends on farmers and farmers' harvests are highly
dependent on the weather, environmental factors play a crucial role in the demand for
agricultural equipment. Indeed, in unfavorable weather conditions, farmers are looking for
equipment and scientific techniques that can help them save their crops. If Innoson cars can
meet these needs, demand for its tractors will grow faster, thus increasing profits.
Moreover, emissions from vehicles are a concern for the environmentalists and government.
The governments of the countries are more willing to take up environmental policies to
decrease the pollution level, and the automobile manufacturer needs to abide by the rules. It
may lower the profit margin for automobile manufacturing companies. We think that Innoson
can manufacture battery-driven or electric cars, which can help in decreasing the rate of
emissions. In addition, the automobile companies need to be strict with the testing. They
should debut a unit in the market if only it can pass the strict pollution tests.
For the legal aspects, we should mention that many countries have strict laws to decrease
the number of vehicles on the street, which can help them to lower the air pollution level.
During the forensic test of an accident, if it is proved that there was any problem with the faulty
parts or airbags, the company may have to face legal proceedings. If a vehicle company
operates in an international market, the company must take care of the tax laws and
environmental laws. If they fail to do so, the company may get banned in the country.
In conclusion, the analysis of the Innoson tractor also discusses factors that affect its
performance and economic background. The income of people from stable and emerging
economic zones are increasing day by day. Therefore, their spending capacity is also on the
rise. It is the reason the demand for cars is going up. The GDP of Nigeria increased by 3.6%
in 2021.
According to information from Nigerian and international recruitment agencies, the average
salary in Nigeria in 2022 is equal to $170 per month.
Nigeria is ranked 23rd among 47 countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region, and its overall
score is above the regional average but below the world average.
PORTER’S FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS
Porter’s five forces is a powerful tool that is used by businesses to identify the main sources
of competition in an industry or sector. The five forces identified influencing corporate
strategy and competition in the industry are Competitive Rivalry, Threat of Substitutes,
Threat of new Entrants, Bargaining Power of customers and Bargaining power of
suppliers.
For what concerns the competitive rivalry for Innoson’s Tractors, our company will have a
few but large competitors in the construction and farming machinery industry, that we will
analyze more in depth in the next pages. The fact the industry is in a niche market and
consequently, the target market is small, affects competitors. The market we find ourselves
in is growing at a steady pace, and hence offers a market potential for your company to
grow further. However, the consumers are rarely brand loyal in this industry because most
of them are small-scale farmers with a limited budget; this means they can easily switch to
the offerings of a competitor if the prices rise.
Therefore, Innoson can easily position itself by offering quality at affordable prices and gain
a competitive advantage.
As for the threat of substitutes, companies are concerned that substitute products may
displace their own. Since Innoson wants to produce highly specialized machinery for
farming and construction activities, there are little to no substitutes for the products offered
by the industry. There are hand tools available for farming but there is a huge difference in
performance with respect to the specialized ones. For large farms and construction sites,
using manual tools is highly impractical and hence, they cannot be considered a true
substitute. Even though the substitutes are much cheaper, customers would prefer sticking
with the offerings of the industry. Hence, we can say the threat of substitutes is a very
weak force in the industry that Innoson intended to operate.
To analyze the third factor, the threat of new entrants in the Innoson Porter Five Forces
Analysis, it is imperative to understand the entry barriers posed in the market. The
machinery that Innoson tractor and competitors use are large, heavy, and the capital
requirements for setting up the infrastructure is high. There are large land requirements,
sophisticated equipment needed, and skilled labor required to operate the machinery.
Furthermore, the transportation costs are high. These factors pose high entry barriers to a
new entrant, making it difficult for a new company to enter the market. On the other side,
the customers face no switching costs in trying the products of a competitor. Overall, we
can say it is hard for new entrants to enter the market and position themselves without
problems.
As regards the bargaining power of customers, the heavy machinery and equipment that
will be produced by Innoson tractor and the ones competitors in the industry are offering is
highly differentiated and specialized according to the requirements of the target customers.
Since the customers cannot produce these products by themselves, they have no other
choice than purchase them from other competitors. However, those tractors are expensive
and form a large chunk of the budget of the customers. The target customers can range
from large construction firms to small non-commercial farmers and so, the price sensitivity
is highly relative. For the lower end of the target segment, price sensitivity can be high.
They could easily switch to the offerings of a competitor since they face no switching costs,
and this will result in a very low brand loyalty.
Finally, we find the bargaining power of suppliers.
Innoson takes its raw materials locally but also counts on a wide network of suppliers in the
world (American, Japanese, Chinese) for part of the machinery component. The company
maintains its own portal where current and prospect suppliers can sign up to associate with
the company. The suppliers are readily available and not concentrated geographically and
the products offered by them are largely undifferentiated. As a result, the company does
not face any major costs in terminating the contracts and switching to a different supplier.
As a result, the bargaining power of the suppliers is a very weak force and is not a cause of
concern for John Deere and its competitors.
SWOT ANALYSIS
SWOT is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and
Threats. A SWOT analysis is a framework for assessing and comprehending the internal
and external forces that may create opportunities or risks for a business. Internal factors, or
characteristics of a business that give it a relative advantage (or disadvantage) over its
competition, are referred to as strengths and weaknesses. External factors, on the other
hand, are opportunities and threats. Opportunities are external environment elements that
management can use to improve business performance (like revenue growth or improved
margins). Threats are elements of the external environment that can adversely impact a
firm's competitive advantage(s) or even its ability to continue operations.
First, Innoson IVM is known in Nigeria as the only car manufacturer in the country. This is a
very strong advantage that allows them to have a monopoly on "Made in Nigeria" cars. To
go further at the level of spare parts, 70% are manufactured locally against 30% imported
generally from Japan, Germany or China. This mainly domestic manufacturing allows to
reduce considerably the production costs of the car and thus to offer them at a lower price than
what the foreign cars offer. Secondly, it is important to point out that Innoson IVM is aware of
its market and its environment. Indeed, in a world increasingly concerned about climate,
pollution and carbon footprint, the brand designs cars with low fuel consumption without
diminishing the performance of their products.
In addition, given that most customers are based in Africa, the brand has adapted by building
cars suitable for poor roads which increases safety for customers and durability for the car. As
we mentioned earlier, the prices of the products are very competitive compared to other brands.
This is especially notable in that many of their products can be paid in several monthly
installments which can help people who would not have been able to buy a car in one go.
As far as weaknesses are concerned, the most obvious one is the weak brand identity. Even
if there is a small popularity in Nigeria, the brand is not at all known abroad and this can be
explained by many factors. Indeed, the advertising and communication done by the brand is
very light, there are no influencers or ambassadors of the brand and there has never been a
campaign done abroad so that Europe, Asia or the Middle East is aware of the existence of
this brand. One of the important points to note is that the designs of the products are
reminiscent of many of the cars already popular in Nigeria, such as the Mercedes G-Class,
which looks very similar to the Innoson G80. This gives the consumer the impression of buying
a lower quality copy and Innoson gets the image of a sub-brand.
Finally, while the uniqueness of the brand should be supported by the country's leaders, they
are not. The Nigerian government has never popularized Innoson and prefers to import
Mercedes which again hurts the brand.
As regards the opportunities, first, you must know that Nigeria is a very ethnocentric country,
that is, they have a preference to consume a domestic product rather than one from a foreign
country only because it comes from their country.
This is where the fact that Innoson is the only car manufacturer in the country should greatly
benefit the brand which should insist on "Made in Nigeria". Secondly, Nigeria is one of the
most populated countries in the world and where the agricultural sector is still very popular.
Indeed, there are 38 million smallholder farmers in 2021, which is considerable if you want to
sell agricultural products. On top of that, most of these farmers are not the most technologically
advanced and still work by hand with picks and wheelbarrows. This could be the brand that
would increase the yield and efficiency of Nigerian farmers.
Lastly, we have to analyze the threats for our company. First, even though Innoson is the only
car manufacturer in the country, it is by no means the only car brand present in the country.
Here, as elsewhere, the car market is very competitive with many brands sharing market share.
However, for agricultural products, this competition is less, but it is still present, especially
since the exchange cost of a machine is different from that of a car. As far as production costs
are concerned, these could fluctuate significantly as the Nigerian currency, the Nairi, is very
volatile and fluctuates greatly. A significant drop in the currency could make it very difficult to
build products and their selling price would be unattainable for consumers.
Finally, we could think that investing in Nigeria is a very good initiative because of the very
large population, however when we want to sell an expensive product like a machine, we can
see that it is complicated because of the extreme poverty of the country. Indeed, the number
of people able to buy this type of product represents a small percentage which could affect
sales.
III. MARKETING DIAGNOSTIC
How does this innovation address the issues we have identified at the company?
By studying the company both from the inside and from the outside, we were able to
see several reasons why we believe that this innovation can be beneficial for the brand as
well as for its consumers.
Indeed, first, we could see that Innoson, despite being one of the very few Nigerian car
brands, does not have the status to match. That is why it needs another way to be better
recognized in the country and to be part of the daily life of its inhabitants. Moreover, we know
that the agricultural products that will be sold will have a very long life and will accompany
the customer for many years. This can greatly increase brand loyalty.
Secondly, we have noticed that Nigeria is one of the most agriculturally oriented countries
with a GDP that is 25% represented by this sector. However, there is clear room for
improvement for the country in terms of its production. Nigeria still imports a lot of agricultural
products, which lowers the yield and the margin rate with more naturally high costs and
taxes. Moreover, the processing of agricultural products is in strong demand in Nigeria which
has for 1 year a slowdown of the output and aims at decreasing imports. It is therefore
necessary to meet the clear objective announced by the country, that of food self-sufficiency.
This is a difficult challenge to meet in a country with a very high population growth.
IV. MARKETING STRATEGY
In general terms:
A marketing strategy is a long-term, forward-thinking approach and overall game plan
for any organization or business with the fundamental goal of achieving a sustainable
competitive advantage by understanding customers' needs and desires.
A marketing strategy is a broad strategy that includes everything from how a company
positions itself to the creative, strategic partners, media relations, marketing mix, and
channels and tactics. In the following pages we will focus our analysis on the market
segmentation, targeting and positioning of our company.
1) Segmentation
Regarding the segmentation criteria, we can already recall that agricultural products are
relatively expensive, so people who work alone and produce for themselves will not be
concerned by these offers. These products are mainly intended for high turnover farming
businesses that can afford to buy or borrow to recoup these costs. These same businesses
would eventually be dissatisfied with the level of production and would want to increase their
production volume.
As well as the farmers being sponsored by other structures. This can be the case of the
start-up Farmcrowdy which sponsors farmers and which itself has raised funds from the
American accelerator Techstars which is convinced by their project. We can therefore
assume that the farmers receiving this sponsorship are able to buy farm tractors.
As for the geographical criteria, we found that in Nigeria agricultural production is
everywhere but that there is a difference in the nature of these productions.
Indeed, we can observe that the South is an area conducive to the production of palm oil and
cocoa more precisely in the southwest while the North is more inclined to produce
groundnuts. The agricultural products used to produce palm oil and to produce peanuts and
cocoa are different, which is why the right products must be sold in the right places.
2) Targeting
When we talk about targeting, it is important to remember what is meant by targeting.
Our company must identify a group of potential buyers and consumers that our company
wants to win over and retain.
To analyze a target audience, it is essential to do so through criteria: these are the
geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioral criteria.
As far as geography and demographics are concerned, our target audience is farmers or at
any rate people who are interested in buying agricultural machinery. We are talking about
Nigerian farmers, so it is a niche market; however, our offers are extended to all farmers in
the world. In addition, it must also be said that our company targets an age range of about
25/30 to 70 years old.
The income has to be average to be able to afford our innovative products, and the buyer
certainly has to be a technology-inclined person who is open to change and innovation. The
benefits of using our innovative tractor are definitely a reduction in costs, manual labor and
labor hours, which allows humans to focus on other jobs where manual labor is instead
required.
3) Positioning
The type of positioning in the market that our company is choosing is related to a
pricing strategy, which is the most effective way to achieve our objective. Indeed, Innoson
Vehicle Manufacturing (IVM) has tailored their pricing policy to conform with the average
annual income of the citizen to enhance the ownership of vehicles. On our side, we are
offering hybrid tractors to Nigerians at a price they have never seen before, which are
convenient and encounter a specific quality.
There are 5 main tractor brands we find in Nigeria: Case IH, a relatively new company,
bringing new tractor technology and producing over 5 tractor series, aimed at different types
of construction and agricultural work. It is characterized by the highest power efficiency and
consumes less fuel and energy than other tractors. The objective of this company is to
manage advanced technology to increase productivity with efficient performances.
Afterwards, we find John Deere, building tractors since the 1830s, offering a wide range of
tractors with specialized applications. It produces heavy duty agricultural tractors, but also
engines to modernize agriculture and farming activities in the globe. Thanks to the electric
drive, John Deere has no operation emissions and low noise levels. Furthermore, there are
low wear and maintenance costs for the company.
Thirdly, Massey Ferguson is modernizing high quality and durable tractors. It is a tractor
brand famous for integrating innovation into the agricultural machinery and making it
available for farmers around the globe. Some of the benefits that are provided are the
easiness of maintenance and reliability, the high performance and reliability and the offer of
heavy duty and long lasting engines and robust bodies efficient for multitasking. Moreover
the running costs are kept down by this company.
Another tractor brand to be found in Nigeria is Fendt, a brand working efficiently and
economically. It is reliable and is characterized by an extensive range of attachments (Fendt
Cargo Frontloader). Its tractors are famous for their smooth drive and operation during the
performing of the toughest tasks. For what concerns technology, Fendt is characterized by
the latest engine technology, high injection pressure and an optimized combustion process.
Finally, New Holland, around since the 1800s, offers tractors built to last with dedicated
designers and reliable reputation. It never fails to produce quality results and distinguish itself
for the following features: its high performing capacity, elegantly designed bodies and
machinery lasting long and producing quality results in terms of enhancing agricultural
activities and farming.
What IVM is offering is a new tractor exploiting innovation and technology: a self-driving
tractor that can plow fields, avoid obstacles, and plant crops with minimal human
intervention.
Plotting the Nigerian brands into a graph, where the x- and y-axis are respectively the level
of technology and the price level, we can see that IVM is considered offering a high level of
technology at low prices.
V. THE MARKETING MIX
The marketing mix is the set of actions, or tactics, that a company employs to market its brand
or product. A typical marketing mix consists of the four Ps: Price, Product, Promotion, and
Place.
1) Product Strategy:
In relation to "Tractor", strategy of product will be based on the launch of the tractor with
exterior look enhancing with the potential for drawing new and younger customer come from
rival brand and another segment. Quality and design are two most significant dimensions
which seeking by customer.
Several design elements will be included within exterior appearance for example:
GPS/Navigation, rearing under- run, Three-Point Linkage System, Rubber Tires, Entry of
Diesel, AI and Smart Farming and side sills which sophisticating the Tractor look and providing
beautiful image for farmers. The new color of communication consists of the dark brown
introduction. Tractor’s is expressed by this earth color with better way giving this the natural
authenticity and approved extensively through positive.
2) Price Strategy
Tractor conveys more value to consumers by including more specifications in its offer;
indeed, tractors interact with price and quality perception.
Higher-priced tractors are perceived to be of higher quality. One of the most important
factors motivating farmers to purchase is the price. The feature model with a good new
engine and brand new in the middle class will have a retail price of 10000$, implying that
with the introduction, the would be reached towards a new target market.
To be more specific, our company's pricing strategy is based on competition. This strategy is
commonly used by startups and small businesses when launching a new product or service,
with the goal of appealing to target customers by offering a price that people are already
familiar with. Competitive pricing can be classified into three types: low price, high price, and
matched price. In the case of low/high prices, our company sets prices that are lower or
higher than those of its competitors, whereas if we assume we have matched prices, our
company aligns prices to those of its competitors.
As stated in the positioning, our company offers innovative products with high levels of
technology and low prices, which are distributed and sold to Nigerian farmers; thus, we could
say we set lower prices than our competitors.
Furthermore, for some companies that are just getting started and want to buy our products
in order to make long-term profits, we can make different offers to facilitate the acquisition of
these machines.
Indeed, we can first propose offers for machines that are repaid in installments so that
customers do not see this purchase as a burden but rather as an investment that will attract
them more.
3) Place Strategy
Before reaching the final consumer, our Tractor travels through the channel's complex
structure. The product is imported to Nigeria, where it is manufactured and assembled at the
main plant by the INNOSON company, suppliers, and labor. The product is stored at the
warehouse or can be shipped directly to Nigerian territory. Regarding our product in Africa, it
is delivered directly to the distribution center located on its territory, where it will be stored
before being distributed to dealers across the country in accordance with customer orders.
The framework to codify and generalize how end users want to purchase specific products,
better known as service output, is an important part of channel design. Three of the outputs
may be critical for ensuring demand-side satisfaction. This could imply that Tractor cannot do
concentrated distribution like major competitors, but rather uses a selective strategy. As a
result, three demand gaps at these service outputs have been identified, owing to greater
coverage achieved by competitors and high degree requirements by customers. To fill these
gaps, they will introduce new channel members for serving consumers, such as the
government, to provide versatile and effective ways to cover spatial convenience, customer
service, and information provision. Finally, the customer will obtain information about the
Tractor, such as a brochure, specifications, financing, and the option to order the vehicle,
which will be delivered later at the agreed-upon dealership.
Furthermore, it is also important to remember that agriculture is different in each region and
that the machines must be adapted to the nature of the production. For instance, in the south
of Africa it is palm oil that predominates while the north is mostly peanut producers. Therefore,
we think of selling our products in different warehouses located in these two areas. As for the
South, the warehouse would be in Benin City which is one of the most commercially active
cities in this region and where many large groups specialized in agricultural production are
already installed. Moreover, it is in the middle of the area specialized in the production of palm
oil which allows us to be the closest to all the other cities at the same time.
As for the northern part where the peanuts are produced, the big cities are few and far
between, that is why we can possibly opt for Maidugeri which has the particularity of being a
city almost bordering Cameroon which can foreshadow opportunities in the medium term.
Thus, the company would be more inclined to sell its products elsewhere than in Nigeria.
However, despite the presence in the largest cities of each region, Nigeria remains a large
country and the challenge would be to manage to serve a very large area with few sales
points. This could be possible with container delivery by partnering with a local delivery
platform. However, we would have to be vigilant about corruption, which is strong in the
country, and therefore have confidence.
4) Promotion - Advertising & Public Relations
When we refer to advertising, first we must fix an advertising objective, which is the
task that as a company we want to accomplish, taking in mind our target audience and a
specific period.
The purpose of advertising for Innoson is primarily an informative one: introducing a new
product that has never been seen in Nigeria before, a hybrid tractor, a highly specialized
machinery for farming and construction activities, self-driven and able to plow fields and plant
crops with little human intervention.
To promote our tractor, we must adapt to the lifestyle and habits of our target, the farmers.
Since Nigerian farmers are a group of people who do not use the internet or surf the web so
often, we cannot only think about advertising online like it is mostly done nowadays. On one
side there are Nigerian blogs and websites displaying news such as InfoGuideNigeria.com,
Naij.com or Vanguard Newspaper’s official website. Furthermore, our Brand Ambassador
since 2019 Mercy Eke, the first female winner of Big Brother Naija, has contributed to promote
the company. On the occasion of her winning, she was gifted the brand new customized
Innoson SUV car worth 25 million naira. Moreover, the Managing Director of Innoson Motors,
Mr. Donatus Okeke, confessed that sponsoring the show made a tremendous impact on the
brand and translated to more sales for the Nigerian company, with over 100 Innoson cars sold
during the show.
On the other side we must remember we are dealing with groups of farmers. For this reason,
we need to think of other ways to promote our product, such as creating partnerships with
magazines, creating fliers that are displayed in agriculture and hardware stores, where the
innovations offered by Innoson are explained and customers discover the efficiencies related
to the new product. Moreover, another simple way to diffuse our new idea is through
newspapers: written articles represent the easiest and fastest way to reach the Nigerian
population.
Public relations, commonly known as PR, can raise the profile and credibility of our
business. Whether you decide to do it yourself, or use the services of an agency, this guide
can help you recognize and take advantage of the opportunities.
Public relations are a valuable tool in the promotional mix. Unlike paid marketing programs
such as advertising your business, public relations are focused on earned media and can take
advantage of unpaid communication channels. Moreover, PR is about managing perceptions,
meaning how people think about your business. It has several goals, such as to increase
awareness, improve business relations, attract customers, and strengthen relationships. It can
be proactive - for example sharing positive news stories to raise your company’s business
profile, or reactive - for example, responding to an event that can have a negative impact on
your business’s reputation.
VI. CONCLUSION
Introducing a new product is always a challenge for any company because there are
many factors (external and internal) that can influence all the strategies elaborated by the
company to launch its product. Despite the challenges, we believe that our tractor will become
the most favorable tractor in Nigeria and internationally: we are creating something that will in
turn help our target customers and make their life easier and improve their working condition.
With the right marketing strategy, the company will definitely have a competitive advantage in
the Nigeria market and in the future in the global market.
https://www.innosongroup.com/
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https://indypressui.org/2021/10/25/manufacturing-made-in-nigeria-vehicles-the-innoson-
case-study/
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