Written Assignment / Report 1 on live strategic marketingTask: “The best marketing strategies aren’t top down, they’re outside in, starting with the customers’ needs and wants.” Critically analyse...

THE BEST MARKETING STRATEGIES AREN’T TOP DOWN; THEY’RE OUTSIDE IN, STARTING WITH THE CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS AND WANTS
Table of Contents
Introduction    3
Background of Amazon    3
Top-Down Marketing Strategy    4
Outside-In Marketing Strategy    4
Customers’ Needs and Wants    5
Demerits of Top-Down Marketing Strategy    6
Advantages of Outside-In Marketing Strategy    8
Benefits for Amazon while Implementing the Outside-In Marketing Strategy    9
Strategies Implemented by Amazon to Adhere to Customer Needs and Wants    10
Social Media Marketing Strategy    10
E-Commerce Marketing    11
Paid Marketing Strategy    11
Surveys    12
Customisation Strategy    12
Explanation of Why the Outside-In Marketing Strategy is More Successful in the Context of Employee Retention within Amazon    13
Conclusion    13
Recommendations    14
References    16
Introduction
This assignment talks about the marketing strategies implied in the business. In order to run a successful business, it is very important that a business follow certain strategies. These strategies must help every company to run the business in profits. The customers' needs and demands change very frequently. The preferences of the customers are extremely dynamic in nature. Therefore, the companies need to bring a change constantly, in its operations and strategies in order to adhere to the needs and demands of the customers. A business uses several strategies to keep the profits coming. Some of such strategies are Top-down Strategy and Outside-in Strategies.
Through this assignment, the strategies of Amazon would be discussed in detail. This assignment would show how these strategies would differ from time to time based on the changing preferences of the customers. This assignment would show how Amazon uses or implements these two strategies in bringing about a positive change in the organisation. This assignment would discuss in detail about the advantages and the disadvantages that the company has faced while adopting the strategies. This assignment would also talk about how there are some well-woven strategies that must be implemented for employee retention.
Background of Amazon
Amazon is one of the largest companies in the world. Amazon is an American is a multinational technology company based in Seattle. Amazon largely focuses on the concepts of e-commerce, cloud computing, digital marketing and artificial intelligence. Amazon is considered to be, one of the big companies among the top four leaders of the world along with Apple, Google and Microsoft. The company has been earning huge profits in its services towards the customers. The well-established technological system is the main focal point for Amazon. Through the excellent connectivity of technology, Amazon has maintained a strong position all over the world.
The company was founded by Jeff Bezos in Washington on July 5, 1994. Amazon was declared as the most valuable retailer in the United States in 2015, surpassing Walmart. Amazon has earned a huge amount of revenue through its excellent and non-tiring services to its customers. As by 2019, the estimated turnover of Amazon has been US$280.522 Billion (Shevchenko, 2020). This is a huge landmark in its operations. Amazon has been utilising various kinds of strategies in order to attract the customers. With the change of customer’s preferences, Amazon has also shifted its operational strategies accordingly. The technological advancements in the economy have enabled Amazon to expand its operations to such a vast level worldwide.
Top-Down Marketing Strategy
Every business looks forward to utilising the maximum resources to satisfy the customers. The top-down marketing strategy shows the elaborate marketing approach that the company follows to usher more profits. In the top-down marketing approach, the step starts from top personnel to the lower personnel.
As mentioned earlier, Amazon uses several kinds of strategies to scoop out the maximum output from the employees so that they can provide better services to the customers. As mentioned earlier, top down strategies come from the top level of the company to the lower level of the company. Amazon believes that every section of the organisation must be in link with each other for better operations in the organisation. Although top-down marketing strategy is a conventional form of business, Amazon tries to follow this strategy.
The most important top-down marketing strategy is communication. Communication can bring a change in the organisation. Top-down management system refers to the system where the lead decisions are taken by the top management in the organisation and then, the orders are carried forward by the lower sections of the society. In order to follow the top-down marketing strategy, Amazon follows an extensive communication system. With the help of cloud storage and other communication systems, the top management takes the important marketing strategy and flows it down to the lower levels of the organisation.
Amazon believes that efficient communication with less ambiguity can help the customers reach the company without hesitation. Amazon believes that efficient communication is the key to success. A smooth communication between the top and the lower levels of the organisation can imbibe the perspective and the vision into the employees (Dayal & Palsapure, 2020). The actual plan and the expected outcomes from the top management can be easily transferred to the lower levels of the organisation with an efficient communication strategy.
Outside-In Marketing Strategy
Outside-In marketing strategy makes customers at its ultimate focus. It is completely the preferences and the choices of the customers that help the company in making strategies. Outside-In Marketing Strategy enables the company to understand the preferences of the customers and understand the latest technological trends in the economy. Every company wishes to earn profits. Profits can only be earned by a company when it understands the preferences of the customers. The main aim of the company is to satisfy the customers with the goods and services.
Amazon uses Outside-In Marketing Strategy in order to understand the likes and dislikes of the customers. Amazon takes care of the customers and nurtures their preferences. One of the most useful strategies that Amazon uses is research and development. Amazon carries out extensive marketing research. The research is done with the help of various digital and social media platforms. The research is also carried out with the help of the economic condition of a country. The economic stability of a place determines the purchasing power of the customers and their preferences accordingly.
Therefore, Amazon carries out extensive research with the help of teamwork. With the help of these researches, Amazon creates a development team. The development team tries to analyse the necessary changes in the organisation. The changes are completely based on the demands of the consumers. The organisation goes through a change in the productivity and the efficiency performance of the employees. Outside-In Marketing Strategy refers to a strategy where the organisation put themselves in the shoes of the customers.
They analyse the trends of the consumers. The needs of the consumers are kept as the highest authority of the organisation (Miguel & Casado, 2016). Every action is related to the preference of the customers. Amazon has created research and development. The work of the team is to understand the mind-sets if the customers as per the changing trends. The work of the team is to let them into the shoes of the customers and the things, they expect from the company. As per the data collected from the research and development team, Amazon sets their products and services.
Customers’ Needs and Wants
As mentioned earlier, the references of the customers change every bit. With the advancement of technology, the preferences of the customers also progress. Customers wish to experience pleasure of the latest technology through the products and the services. As the time moves forward, the expectations of the customers also increase. It is quite difficult for any company to match up to the level of the customers. This is because the customer’s preferences can very easily change. In order to change a process or a strategy in an organisation, it requires huge time and process.
This is because, a change in the strategy leads to the change in the training procedures, increase of the costs and many more changes, which are time consuming. Therefore, in order to keep up a balance with the change of customer’s preferences, an organisation needs to have smart resources and legible conditions. Rigid organisational structure can prove to be hindrance for the organisation. In the 21st century, the basic needs and wants of the customers revolve around efficient use of resources. In today’s age, customers do not stress on quantity. Rather, they stress on quality.
Customers expect to experience quality in every product or service that they avail. Customers expect to extract the maximum possible benefits from the products and services that they avail (Chaves et al. 2020). Therefore, Amazon needs to ensure the quality of the product. The quality of the product must be top-class. It is the quality of the product, which would enable a customer to come back to the company repeatedly. Along with the quality, Amazon needs to give maximum benefits to the customers from a single product.
This attracts the customers at a large number. Customers also believe in reliability. Customers want such an organisation that can be reliable and genuine. Reliability and genuineness can be treated as two of the most important virtues of a company. Therefore, Amazon has to be reliable. The customer’s relationship needs to be maintained at a large level. The strong customer relationship makes the customers feel important. They tend to create a long-term tie with such a company who is genuine and easily reliable.
Demerits of Top-Down Marketing Strategy
Top-Down Marketing strategy has several demerits. The demerits are:
· Traditional: Top-down marketing strategy is a traditional way of marketing. As mentioned earlier, in this strategy, the main decisions are taken by the management of the company and then passed on to the lower levels of the organisation. This is a traditional way of marketing. In this 21st century, the operational structure of the organisations has become very liberal/ decisions are not only taken by the management. The management does not interact with the customers directly. It is the lower level of the organisation or the employees that get a chance to interact with the customers more. Therefore, the marketing strategies should not be restricted to the top level of the organisation.
· Employee Dissatisfaction: The...