Promotional and Advertising Strategies: Toyota and Ford Toyota and Ford companies are the two leading automobile companies in their industry. Toyota, the Japanese-based automobile company, is currently the top most company in the world. Although the U.S.-based Ford Company is not second, it is also fairly positioned in the ranks of the most performing car assembling companies. Ford Company has of late joined the ranks of the few companies to release hybrid vehicles. In the hybrid race, Toyota leads the pack while Ford closely trails it. Ford Company is currently rebranding with the aim of reaping maximally from the market, which Toyota currently controls. The promotional activities of these two companies on the selling the hybrid products entail intensive advertisements as well as supportive Public Relations gimmicks meant to make the companies' products sell. The nature of the trade that the two companies engage in is one where information means a lot in the target of making sales. Clients normally go for the best commodity in terms of specifications and use. Hardly does the issue of price come in. These two companies often adopt different but comprehensive number of promotional activities that guarantee maximum sales. This paper aims to expose the promotional strategies and activities that Toyota and Ford have been using.

Comparison and contrast of the promotional and ad strategies

Promotional strategies for the two automobile companies differ. Toyota, being the leader in the market has been trying to stabilize its status as the market leader. Pursuant to this, the company has rolled a series of adverts with appropriate messages. For instance, the adverts that this company uses are all made with messages that give credit o the product rather than the company. The reason Toyota Company management has been able to maintain its position is purely anchored on the element of publicity and advertisement (Baker, 2010). More specifically, Toyota Company has been making all the potential buyers view adverts of the different nature. From the wordings of the adverts, one gets the conviction that whatever they are looking for has been found. Quality and appropriateness dominate these adverts. Toyota evidently uses social media to promote is vehicles with the different videos its makes about its vehicles. Toyota is seen to have beaten Ford with its ?#"OneBoldChoice" hashtag on social media. The company also secured a 90-minute video that aired on the recent Super Bowl Sunday. Toyota's prowess in the web in terms of product promotion and advertising cannot be underestimated

In the case of Ford, the company uses the real names of consumers as it was seen in the "Drive One" ad where someone named Chris featured. In the previous economic recession, Ford suffered and the government had to bail it out. This may not have gone well with majority of its consumers. In its strategies from promoting the sales of its vehicles, the company had a tagline "we-didn't-take-the-money." This was seen as strategy to emphasize on the quality of the vehicles irrespective of the financial challenges. The "Quality is Job 1" slogan also emphasizes on the company's legacy of good vehicle productivity dating back to 1980s yet promising a better quality in the days to come. The recent past has witnessed heightened promotional campaigns by these two manufacturers as they each go around the other's neck on this. The result of their campaigns has led to the market being divided among them. From a close analysis, the kind of promotional activities that these two companies engage in are geared towards outdoing each other. Therefore, by extension, the adverts are in a way a de-campaigning exercise on each other (Young, 2011).

Attaining a competitive advantage

In the automobile industry, a company can employ two marketing techniques for it to make itself more competitive than the rest. One method is by use of continuous marketing promotion. Most businesses only conduct promotional activities when they are facing a threat of being outsmarted in the market. This approach to marketing does not successfully galvanize the market for the advantage of the concerned company (Young, 2011). Marketing ought to be done continuously and consistently with the same intensity all through. Once this is done, it will make steady sales. Continuous marketing also helps in stabilizing prices. Since the information about the products will be fully known to the customers all over the period, it means that they will get used to them over the lifespan of the company. One other competitive advantage...

Ideally, new entrants will find it hard to come in and outdo the dominant company.
Customers normally rely on information to developing interest and reward loyalty to a company. This suggests that if a company is interested in making it big in a market, it has to ensure that there are arrangements to make its activities known to the people. Constant supply of information will be through the adverts where such details as quality, prices, as well as benefits of their products shall be communicated. In continuously managed campaign, there is a tendency for customers to develop a personalized information dependency on a company and be used to its products. Marketing of the products also requires that promotional campaigns be carried out in a steady manner so that people do not read any mischief from it. If a firm only occasionally bring the adverts and go silent at times, the clients will construe this to be a desperate attempt (Baker, 2010).

Continuous marketing has a way of boosting a company's moral integrity to command the market. They tend to look more genuine with continued marketing and promotion. A good example is that Coca Cola Company in the beverage industry. The company has been the leading player in the sector for a long time now but has since been continuously adopting diverse promotional tactics to market its brand. This demonstrates the importance of conducting continuous campaigns.

The second promotional strategy that can benefit a firm is the use of endorsements as a way of marketing. Endorsement requires that big personalities in the society be used to market the company's products. For instance, a celebrity will be approached to carry out a public show sensitizing consumers on the uses of a product. Such a promotion earns respect from consumers as it depends on the status of the celebrity used. Celebrities such as musicians and sports personalities who have public admiration are the best for this job. A company will attain competitive advantage if it manages to book these personalities earlier before the rest takes them. Once a celebrity has been fully used to be the face of a product; the entrants will not use them while marketing their products (Young, 2011). Therefore, the trick is to go for the best personality in the market now. There is a first mover advantage for doing this. The one who does the early booking ends up securing a safe lead in the marketing race. Others will be left to choose those who have been left: they might not be as effective as the former.

Consumer-oriented promotions

Consumers are the main target of any promotional activity. In a promotional activity, a business will be interested in triggering interest in the consumers' mind to go ahead and make purchases. Promotions are carried out mainly to appeal to the consumers. Being the revenue sources for the company, they are better appealed to for the business to thrive. A consumer -- oriented promotion will happen in two ways. One is a promotion that will be informative of the product. Before any promotion is done, market research has to be conducted. The aim of market research is to obtain information about the consumers: their wishes, needs, as well as expectations about the products. When the information is gathered, the adverts are tailor-made to fit them. The aim of such adverts is to inform the consumers about what they need to know about a product basing on what they wish to know. An informative advert is effective in the sense that it will easily win acceptance of the consumers when the right information is passed (Holweg & Pil, 2009).

Secondly, a consumer-oriented promotion is one that seeks to appeal to the consumers' desires. From a market research, the company in question will be able to know the consumer's desires about a product. Once this information has been known, an advert is perfected to appeal to their minds about the best product they expect. It is not all the details about a product that consumers want to know, but just specific details that address their interest. It will be needless to mention few details of a product, however, true or appealing they may seem without incorporating the consumers' desires. After a careful analysis of the consumers' wishes and desires, management then makes adverts meet them. This kind of advertising is effective from the angle that it will not only please the senses of the potential consumers but also move them to make purchases. Advertising houses…