Nokia's digital marketing strategy and market recovery efforts

Transcript Analysis

Digital Reach: A Case study of the Nokia Corporation

The unprecedented rise of the internet as the novel landscape of global interactions has brought about a new world order. From a business perspective, engaging users across social networks has become inevitable as the world gradually transforms into a small ICT village. Companies are gradually ditching the hitherto traditional marketing strategies as they seek to woo customers online. The transition into online marketing is a very effective resolution for Nokia since it helps the company to mobilize its economic resources to underpin radical changes in the current landscape of global cell phone market. Overall, Nokia's global outreach is especially impressive; they have traversed the digital revolution through subtle online marketing strategies geared towards creating a formidable marketing framework to enable the company reclaim its rightful place in the global market. The focus of this study is the Nokia Corporation. The purpose is to assess the company's global reach in its presence online as part of its strategy to reclaim its hitherto dominant market share in the international mobile phone market.

Brand Overview

Nokia is a leading Finnish multinational provider of communications and information technology services. With its headquarters in Finland, Nokia manufactures mobile phones, provides internet services and makes portable IT devices. There is a joint venture in force between Nokia and Siemens. The company has traversed the global market with their products and services available in over 150 countries with estimated annual revenue of over € 30 billion and an asset base worth € 29,949 billion as at 2012 financial year. The company's equity is € 8.061 billion and the operating income is approximately € 2 billion (Bold).

With the rise of mobile technology, Nokia emerged as the most dominant mobile manufacturers beating opponents such as Motorola and Siemens. This would however change; in the onset of the digital revolution, prominent companies such as Apple took over a significant portion of the global market hitherto dominated by Nokia due to the popularity of smart-phones and Apple's touch screen phones. Nokia began to register a downward trend since 2007 as a result. This prompted the company to re-evaluate their market strategy in order to regain their prominence. They entered into strategic partnership with Microsoft and joint venture with Siemens (Siren).

The Political Economy of Digital Advertising

In the wake of the ongoing digital revolution, mobile phone manufacturers have turned to online marketing in an attempt to gain a core competitive marketing edge over rivals in the industry. The unprecedented rise in internet usage during the past decade has facilitated online advertising by making it easy and efficient for mobile manufacturers to advertize their products. Likewise, the dawn of social networking has been a major boost for e-commerce since social media is gradually becoming the modern landscape of global interactions. Consumers from all over the world are able to access the internet making it the most effective advertising tool since it is not limited by geographical boundaries unlike newspapers, television and radio. The arrival of internet-enabled smart-phones has eased access to the internet, which makes it logical for cell phone manufacturers such as Nokia to target prospective consumers online especially on popular social marketing sites such as Twitter and Facebook (Bold).

Nokia's Digital Reach

Amid the digital migration into social media, tech-savy early adopters such as Nokia are leading providers of internet services. As such, establishing a digital presence is a vital marketing strategy for Nokia since it will enable marketers to respond to customer needs in real time. Likewise, investing in online marketing will enable the company to glean real time customer insights on the brand. With a sound social media marketing strategy, Nokia has since been able to respond to rapid changes in the global market. The company has nonetheless faced a significant challenge in hiring the relevant expertise. Essentially, Nokia has been able to keep up with major competitors such as Apple, Samsung and Sony in both domestic and international markets.

The transition into online marketing is a very effective resolution for Nokia since it helps the company to mobilize its economic resources to underpin radical changes in the current landscape of global cell phone market. According to Melissa Hathaway, a sales consultant at the London School of Economics, the resolution by mobile companies to target online consumers is a very smart business strategy, and given that Nokia is especially motivated to adapt this mode of marketing, online advertising will be a very effective marketing tool for the company. Hathaway believes that social media is a very powerful marketing tool since it appeals to the consumers in a very consistent human voice, which is very persuasive. This has enabled Nokia to retain their loyal customers while appealing to prospective consumers - 'two birds, one stone.'(Niccolai)

Milestones in Nokia's Digital Reach

In the fall of 2012, Nokia released their first digital reach 'strategy paper' dubbed Stories, Numbers, and Conversations: Nokia's Principles for Social Media Marketing. The company made this strategy paper available at Amazon for stakeholders and prospective customers to peruse. After commissioning the publication of this strategy paper, Nokia's global director of digital marketing, Craig Hepburn launched the social media marketing plan geared towards extending the brand's global digital reach by targeting online customers. This came at a time when customers were becoming irresponsive to traditional mass media marketing through television, radio and newspaper. Craig Hepburn urged the brand to adopt digital marketing strategies that are more creative and effective in order to keep up with the unprecedented rise in online marketing. Establishing a permanent presence online is the mantra of the recently launched digital program. In a seminal pamphlet issued to all Nokia outlets and foreign subsidiaries, Hepburn acknowledged that Nokia was gearing up to build an attribution model, which would help in measuring the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of social media marketing.

The most challenging aspect of online marketing is keeping up with the rapidly changing consumer mindset in view of the pervasive advertising buzz circulating online. Nokia has remained steadfast in keeping up with online buzz given how fast they responded to a recent customer buzz: "which is the best smartphone ever?' Customers quickly responded with majority of them saying they prefer the Nokia Lumia 900. The company emerged atop the buzz trouncing Samsung's Galaxy and Apple's iPhone (Siren).

Overall, Nokia's global outreach is especially impressive; they have traversed the digital revolution through subtle online marketing strategies geared towards creating a formidable marketing framework to enable the company reclaim its rightful place in the global market. Commentators and researchers alike have commended Nokia's aggressive marketing strategies noting that other mobile manufacturers should emulate it. There is still some room for improvement for the company. For instance, they should put on ad campaigns for online sweepstakes, quizzes and competitions. They should also liaise with mobile service providers such as Sprint and Verizon to bring up special offers (Niccolai).

Conclusion

As the world transforms into a small digital ICT village, marketers have expressed the need to alter the traditional mode of reaching out to consumers. This has called for a paradigm shift in marketing and advertising strategies for major multinational companies such as the Nokia Corporation. The transition into online marketing is a very effective resolution for Nokia since it helps the company to mobilize its economic resources to underpin radical changes in the current landscape of global cell phone market. Reports from the survey conducted by Tom Ollerton, the director of We Are Social indicated that Nokia is particularly formidable considering they have a high level of influencer relations not to mention the company has put in place an elaborate social media marketing plan. The company has succeeded in establishing a profound digital presence, which is a vital marketing strategy for Nokia since it will enable marketers to respond to customer needs in real time.