Marketing strategy of laptops, Dell and HP

These companies are the Laptop producing giants, Dell, Hp. They have distinguished marketing strategies and all of them are leading the competition in their own ways. So what are their particular tactics and plans to attack and dominate the concurrence? I am going to discuss various interesting strategies that they use to reach their audiences.

So let’s begin with Dell and understand what is their brand mission and vision at first.

The brand mission of Dell.

The mission is about “Who we are and what we do” Their mission is “To be the most successful computer company in the world and deliver the best customer service in the world”.

The brand vision of Dell.

The vision is about “The image we want to create”. The vision of the company is “It is the way we interpret the world around us, our customer needs, the future of technology and our customer needs”.

So from their vision and mission, we see that Dell cares about their company and they are one of the leaders of the market.

But how does Dell interact with their customers? What are their messages? To know exactly their tactics we should look at one of their Instagram posts. And here is one.

Here is an Instagram post of Dell where the marketing team shows us that these 4 pieces are the key ingredients for cooking the thanksgiving meal ANd the laptop is a part of all of the process that takes place during this big day. SO, Dell wants to tell us that They are a part of our lives, and using it in daily tasks is a must.

What kind of tactics does Dell use to message to their customers? The following tactics are based on the brand archetypes, especially on Everyman Brand archetype. What does it represent?

• The desire of the brand archetype is to connect with others.
• The goal of the archetype is to belong and to fit in.
• The strategy of the archetype is to develop ordinary virtues.

Many famous brands like Budweiser and Dove are using the brand archetype as a base of their branding.

Here are the messaging levels of Everyman brand archetype.

1. The first level is about alienation and the loneliness of a customer.
2. It is about being a joiner, accepting help and friendship.
3. It is about thinking bigger, being a humanitarian, concerning of a bigger world.

So let’s pass to the Swot analysis of Dell and understand why they are leaders. And what is wrong with the company in reality.

The strengths of DEll.

1. It is about the image of the brand. It is obvious that the product has great quality and a huge story behind the product.
2. It is about the supply chain of DELL. Their products are present in all over the world, in all the far countries as the 21st century needs that. They are providing a whole package of services, assembly, software installation, functional testing, and quality control.
3. They have a large product range and can satisfy all kinds of demands. Their newest acquisitions made the company even mightier. The business is divided into four main segments including Infrastructure solutions group, Client Solutions Group, VMWare and Other businesses.

The weaknesses.

1. The first weakness that is a well-known one is the dependence on Michael Dell in decision making. So if something happens to Michael Dell then the company may lose a lot as it is centered on one person.
2. The high operating expenses have grown so high that the company has begun losing not gaining. In 2018 the company lost almost 3.8 billion dollars.
3. Being in a comfort zone when it comes to differentiating its products as they tried many times to enter for example smartphone market or tablet market but has failed. 

The opportunities.

1. The Asia-Pacific market like China and India real opportunities for the brand as most of their products are sold in the USA, almost 48 percent. So the following emerging countries are real opportunities for the brand.
2. New technologies, new acquisitions can improve the company and product and service range. Especially the field of Ai is a remarkable target to be concentrated.

The threats.

1. The reducing market for Pc-s. Due to smartphones and tablets and other gadgets, the need for laptops and pcs is decreasing.
2. The level of competition in the laptop industry is very high. There are brands like HP, Acer, Asus and beating one of these brands is a real challenge for Dell.

Now when we understood the SWOT analysis of DELL, we can look upon their commercials to find out their Target markets.

Here is a commercial of Dell which tells us about the beginnings of great companies. The following pic is about Skype beginnings, a flat and a few apartments. This is the beginning of a great company. Also, the commercial tells us about the little room where Tripadvisor started and a bus where maybe one of the owners of the companies has traveled.

This is an interesting commercial of the great brand as they target a specific kind of people who are called Balancers. Who are Balancers?

Balancers are very ambitious people who try to gain the most from everything. When they work they think about family, when they are with family they think about friends and so on.

They want to have control over various resources as they are established people with good works or even businesses. So they have enough financial and other kinds of resources and this makes them self-confident and mighty. They are vivid laptop users and want the best from brands like Dell.

Balancers like trying new products, and are one of the early adopters of new releases. So they are a complete market for new releases of Dell. They are the kind of people that would pay more for the quality. and become brand loyal as soon as when they find a brand that they love. Another interesting insight is that they like doing household shopping once a week with family.

Here are interesting insights about Balancers.

1. Golf is an activity that they like to pursue a lot. Just an interesting and meaningful activity to fill their lives.
2. Playing football with friends and having a peaceful evening is a way to relax and enjoy the time.
3. Balancers like to be informed about personal life and business. Also always catch for sports events, especially football matches and also they always have a favorite team or club.

Now let’s discuss the marketing strategy of HP.

The brand mission of HP

The mission of HP is “we earn customer respect and loyalty by consistently providing the highest quality and value” This is about the quality of products that HP is is consistent and they are providing the best to customers.

Brand purpose of HP

It is “Create technology that makes life better for everyone and everywhere”. So this is the way they think, a better and a betterer. HP is about a better experience.

Now let’s discuss branding and messaging tactics of HP. In order to do that we look upon their Instagram post.

The post tells us that we can save family photos for life and gives us step by step guide to do that. This is just one photo that encourages creativity and going back to roots. The posts of HP are about personalities and interesting development of us. They do not speak about their products, just interesting tips, and opinions. The following strategy is based on archetypal branding and especially tactics of the Creator brand archetype. What does the Creator brand archetype represent?

• The desire of the brand archetype is to create something with enduring value.
• The goal of the archetype is to give form to a vision.
• The strategy is to develop artistic control and skills.

Many famous brands like MAC and Pinterest are using the following brand archetype for their branding purposes.

Here are the messaging levels of the Creator brand archetype.

1. The first level is about daydreams, fantasies of customers.
2. It is about being innovative and creative like HP wants us to be.
3. This is about giving form to a vision like the Instagram post.

These are branding strategies of HP which is about leading us into the creative world, like their brand which is always innovative and visionary.

Now let’s understand the SWOT analysis of HP.

Here is the strength of HP.

1. Again we come to the image of the brand. The company has been producing high-quality products and so everybody knows that HP has high quality and it refers to credibility from the after-sale service of the product.
2. Largest market share. In the second quarter of 2018 HP had a 23.9 % market share, followed by Lenovo and Dell. The brand rules the market for personal computers.
3. The great financial condition of HP. SO they give extra resources for research, innovation, marketing and they have competitively high salaries.

Here are the Weaknesses

1. Dependence from external suppliers. The company does not produce its own parts of laptops, so they mostly resell products from other suppliers.
2. The fall of the gross margin. It is a fact that the gross margin of Hp has been declining in recent years. In 2015 it was 19.3% and in 2016 it was 28,4.

The opportunities

1. Using online channels for gaining new customers. The company has spent a lot during the last years in digital marketing which helped the brand to gain more loyal customers.
2. Economic uptick and an increase in customer spending, so this is an opportunity for HP to capture new customers and increase its market share.

The threats

1. The isolation trend in the American economy can lead to similar reactions in other countries, thus driving to a negative impact on international sales.
2. Rising raw material can be a threat to Hp profitability. 
3. The intense competition. The high profitability of the segment has involves a lot of great players with great products.

Now let’s understand what kind of people HP likes to target, what is the target market of HP?

In order to understand clearly who are their target customers, we need to look at one of their commercials and here is an engaging one. This commercial shows the love between the dad and the newborn son. This is an eternal feeling and of course, they target a specific segment of people who are pictured in the video. What is the segment of the people in the commercial?

The name of the following segment is “Floater”. Who are Floaters?

FLoaters like taking good care of the family, and like spending the majority time at home. Home is the absolute center for them, where they can take care of their children and have perfect fulfillment. They look at their work primarily as a job and do not look for new challenges. Traditions and rules are things that should be respected. 

They shop for practical reasons and mainly choose local brands. Looking for good bargains and the lowest prices. They are one of the latest in adopting new brands.

Hp has a vast range of low-priced and quality products that can satisfy all the needs of Floaters.

Here are some key insights of Floaters. 

1. Daily walks are one of their favorite pastimes.
2. Meetings with a big family.
3. They like following local news, sports broadcasts, request shows, talk shows, police news, and series.
4. They also prefer watching Tv programs, small adds, job ads, recipes.

So these are just 2 interesting examples of marketing strategies. Dell and Hp are leaders of the industry and rule it for several decades. Check out other marketing strategy examples in the blog thesocialgrabber.com.