Chapter 2- Strategic Planning for Competitive Advantage

Digicel marketing strategy allows the company to concentrate its resources on optimal opportunities with the goals of increasing sales, driving revenue, profit, service levels, achieving a sustainable competitive advantage and maintaining its position as market leader.  The marketing strategy seeks to create customer awareness regarding the products and services that they offer, develop the customer base, and work toward building customer loyalty and referrals.

 

Brand Awareness and Loyalty

Digicel attempts to create and maintain Brand Loyalty by encouraging a relationship or a connection between its products and services, with  the emotional perception of the customer.

 

When Digicel opened its doors in St. Lucia in 2003, it positioned itself as the superior mobile company with the tagline “Digicel-  The Bigger, Better GSM Network”, clearly defining the company as the better of the two mobile operators on the island, as well ensuring to keep in the minds of the customers that they were a GSM network as opposed to the competitors CDMA network.

 

A few years later in 2006, Digicel decided that it was necessary to reposition the company as the competitor had now moved to a GSM network and the tagline was now “ Digicel, Expect More, Get More!.  This tagline was based strictly on customer reaction to the brand and letting customers know that Digicel are the innovators and first to market with handsets and technology.  The rebrand was to assure customers that Digicel was committed to meeting and exceeding their expectations in products and services.

Digicel’s tagline today is “Be Extraordinary!” After a decade of successfully delivering the best value, best service and the best network to customers across the Caribbean,  Digicel launched a new brand promise, ‘Be Extraordinary’.

‘Be Extraordinary’ is the next step in the evolution of the Digicel brand. It is a celebration of the ‘extraordinary in the every day’ and serves both as a motivational and inspirational call to action – and showcases Digicel’s commitment to serving its customers

Digicel also keeps the brand alive by producing different paraphernalia showcasing the brand e.g. Digicel Caps, T-Shirts, Aprons, Vendor Umbrellas, Water bottles, etc.  These items are distributed to the general public, and persons wearing it are brand promoters, island wide.  A good example is the Redcap Service at the International airport, all the men are wearing a Digicel branded Red cap on a day to day basis as part of their uniform.

 

 

Maintaining Brand Loyalty

Digicel entered the market offering an extensive portfolio of mobile phone options,  very affordable prices and 24 hours customer care service that was second to none. As a new entrant, this initial “wow” element resulted in the company’s immediate success.  This success has been maintained over the years by ensuring that the brand was kept vibrant and the customer always saw the value in the brand.  Digicel keeps encouraging brand loyalty by:

 

·       Keeping an exceptionally high quality of products at affordable prices- Digicel continues to offer the top brands in mobile and other products at comparable prices.

 

·       Providing world class Customer Care- After Sales support is essential to keeping a customer and Digicel offers 24 hours toll free customer care, which is ranked as #1 in the region.

·       Engaging its customers- via social media, PR, social events- Keeping customers in touch with on the new and exciting developments within the company and what to expect next, building momentum through these communication channels.

·       Soliciting feedback from its customers- Digicel always stays in touch with customers, This is done via third party surveys, end of call surveys through the contact centre, in store, online. Always letting the customers know that the company values their opinions and are always looking for the feedback on how to improve their products and services.

• Give customers a reason to come back.  Digicel has loyalty programs for its customers to encourage them to stay connected with the Bigger Better Network.  Postpaid customers are giving incentives based on spend, e.g. discounted handsets.

 

• Remaining relevant – Digicel always strive to keep ahead of the competition and abreast with current trends in the telecoms industry.

• Providing Value- Digicel prides itself on offering value to its customers through its many promotions and giveaways, as more importantly its affordable pricing plans.

 

• Showing appreciation- Digicel attempts to say thank you to its customers by offering in store goodies and treats e.g. traditional events like Creole day, the company will provide small samples of the local delicacies.

 

Target Market & Positioning

Market demand drives cell phone manufactures and service providers to offer new and improved services and functions in their mobile phones.  Research indicates that most Telcos agree that they must invest in new technologies to stay relevant to consumers. The demand for more visual interaction and entertainment with cell phones and other mobile gadgets is great and as such Digicel believes that as the company looks to the future, there is indeed an opportunity to increase brand loyalty and by extension sales. To recognize this opportunity Digicel keeps ahead of the game and abreast with new technology in an effort to continue provide the best network and ensure world class service to its customers.

Mobile devices have definitely become an important part of people's lives all over the world.  Whereas a couple of years ago the average device in the Caribbean would  last a consumer 3-5 years before being replaced, currently research indicates that it is a fraction of this time.  This may be attributed to the growing improvements in technology and the need for consumers to be on par with the latest trend.

The Mobile communications market has two main segments, personal users and business users. The users also fall into further important classification; prepaid and postpaid.  Prepay customers pay for their services in advance via top ups, credit vouchers.  Currently this is the largest segment of customers accounting for 69% of the St. Lucian mobile market, compared to 31% of customers who pay bills at the end of the month.

 

Online Marketing

 

Digicel seeks to take advantage of online opportunities through its website and facebook page, to market and sell its products and adapt its marketing efforts to embrace a new breed of web-savvy customers.

 

Online marketing, Social media allows the company a cheaper option when compared to television, radio, print etc, to create awareness of its products & services and major promotions.

Digicel recognizes the benefit of online advertising in that it allows the immediate publishing of information and content that is not limited by geography or time. Online advertising allows for the customization of advertisements, including content and posted websites.

 

Online advertisements also offers the company various forms of animation; comprising all sorts of banner, e-mail, in-game, and keyword advertising, with the inclusion of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Web-related advertising allows for a variety of ways to publicize and reach a niche audience and helps the company to focus its attention to a specific group when needed.

 

The other benefits of online advertising the company has cited are reduced costs compared to traditional media and that it offers Measurability; everything can be tracked using traffic analysis tools like Google Analytics, etc.

 

Advertising

 

The company also takes advantage of the traditional media and has publications of promotions, new products, community involvement, other exciting news etc, in the major News papers, radio stations, magazines as well as TV ads.

·       TV Adverts- for major promotions and sponsorships, e.g. Christmas promotion.

·       Radio- Bi weekly PR slots, discussing new products & services or promoting a specific product or service.

·       Print- Bi Weekly Press releases or adverts on exciting news, products, promotions

·        Magazines- One page advert in local magazines as and when needed.

 

Customer

 

Digicel always attempts to cultivate customer advocates by ensuring that customers are satisfied at all point of contacts, through exceptional customer service and uses different loyalty programs to encourage loyalty.  Some customers are used to develop testimonials for TV clips and radio ads.

Digicel offers a 24 hour customer care centre for all customer queries and complaints.  Digicel’s customer care is ranked as number 1 in the region.  Digicel is committed to ensuring that its staff is well trained and knowledgeable to offer world class care to all customers.

Digicel conducts quarts customer satisfaction surveys (CSS) to ensure that it is meeting and exceeding customer expectation.  The CSS result for the last survey was a 4.6 out of a total 5, and #1 when ranked against the competitor and other major retail companies such as Courts.