Company introduction

This report presents a brief overview of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. It also discusses the competitive position and SWOT analysis. This report also illustrates the objective of digital marketing and describes the targeting, positioning and branding approaches. Moreover, it explains the digital marketing communication strategy for commonwealth bank of Australia. It also discusses the monitoring and control approaches for the company.

Under Commonwealth bank act, Commonwealth Bank of Australia was established in the year of 1911 and started their processes and functions in 1912. This bank is authorized to conduct both types of banking business named, savings banking and general banking business. In the current era, the business of Commonwealth bank has developed faster as 52000 employees and almost 800,000 stockholders are working in this bank. Commonwealth Bank provides a broad range of financial schemes to support all Australians and declines their financial problems (Commonwealth Bank of Australia, 2016).

Threats of new entrants are high in the banking industry of Australia. Since, new entrants in banks create innovation and uses a new method of performing things hence it puts pressure on commonwealth bank of Australia. New entrants can use lower pricing strategy, offering new value propositions, and declines cost to pull the attention of a large number of consumers. Hence, there is need to commonwealth bank of Australia to overcome these challenges and develops an effective barrier to safeguard its rivalry edge (Karjaluoto, Mustonen, and Ulkuniemi, 2015).  

All corporations in banks industry purchase their raw materials from different suppliers. Suppliers in a dominant position can decline the margins but there is a need to use an effective strategy. In the banking industry of Australia, bargaining power of suppliers is high because of low availability of suppliers. Hence, commonwealth bank of Australia should use negotiating power to extract higher rates from the firms in the banking sector. The overall impact of higher bargaining power of supplier may decline the overall profitability of commonwealth bank of Australia (Andrews, and Shimp, 2017).

Bargaining power of buyers is high because of the high availability of banks. It is assessed that purchasers demanding high in the banking industry. In addition, customers want to purchase the best products by paying the minimum rates. It could create pressure on commonwealth bank of Australia.  High bargaining power of buyer may affect the long-run profitability (Ryan, 2016).  Customers seek to get higher discounts and offers from a company that may affect the revenue of the company.

Competitive analysis

Threats of substitute products or services are higher in Australia. In addition, while new products and services meet a similar customer’s need in a different manner then it positively affects the profitability of the industry. For example, National Australian bank, Westpac and ANZ are substitutes of commonwealth bank of Australia. The threats of substitute product and service are high as competitors of commonwealth bank of Australia offers a value proposition that is distinctively different from the present offering of the industry (Tiago and Veríssimo, 2014).

When the rivalry between existing players in an industry is high then it would drive down rates and declines the overall growth of the industry. Furthermore, commonwealth bank of Australia deals in a very competitive banking industry. This rivalry could create complexity in attaining the long-term profitability of commonwealth bank of Australia (Fill, and Turnbull, 2016).  

Strength · Commonwealth bank has many brands which are ASB bank, Commonwealth securities limited, Commonwealth insurance limited and Bankwest. · Commonwealth bank offers several services named consumer banking, investment banking, private equity, credit cards, mortgages, global wealth management, insurance and corporate banking (Jackson, and Ahuja, 2016).   · Profit and revenue of Commonwealth bank are continuously increasing.

Weakness · Commonwealth bank was evolved in the rumor that was related to unhappy banking and this rumor was created by an action group. · Lack of innovative product development due to low skilled employees. · Lack of execution of innovative technology  (Valos, Haji Habibi, Casidy, Driesener, and Maplestone, 2016).

Opportunities · Attractive banking schemes could encourage the bank to develop their services at large scale. · Cooperative behavior of the bank’s employees is effective to influence the customers (Bowie, Buttle, Brookes, and Mariussen, 2016).

Threats · In the Commonwealth Bank, weak product development could increase the probability of getting less benefit. · There is a big threat of market players on the local level (Hänninen, and Karjaluoto, 2017).

Undifferentiated marketing strategy could be executed by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to attract the purchasing behavior of the customers within allocated money and time. This strategy could be effective for the bank as it focuses on one marketing mix strategy targeted market and achieves maximum profits (Taiminen, and Karjaluoto, 2015).

Positioning

Commonwealth bank could focus on urban customers to get more benefits from these customers. The main objective of choosing these customers is that they utilize banking services more frequently as compared to other. It could be helpful for attaining valid and reliable result (Kannan, 2017).

The organization could use many approaches to decline the issues of the company in minimum cost and time. These approaches are paid media design, earned media and social listening plan and placement (Kitchen, and Burgmann, 2015). These approaches are described as below:

Owned Media Design and Placement

(Sources: Batra and Keller, 2016).

Commonwealth bank could use this technique for developing their business and services in Australia as well as other countries. Moreover, it is also analyzed that organization could achieve more profits and goodwill, by using certain factors like website of bank, mobile site, and blog of the company (Stone, and Woodcock, 2014).

Paid Media Design and Placement

(Sources: Simula, Töllmen, and Karjaluoto, 2015).

Commonwealth bank could increase the awareness related to their banking services and schemes by using paid media design and placement technique. There are several sources for operating the bank that could be used by commonwealth bank of Australia. These sources are pay per click, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, paid social and display. Since, it would be beneficial for endorsing services and schemes of the bank (Batra and Keller, 2016).

SWOT analysis

Earned Media and Social Listening Plan

Commonwealth bank could use earned media and social listening plan for communicating with their potential and specified customers and builds a trustworthy relationship with them in minimum time. The main purpose of this tool is that it assists an organization to develop a two-way conversation between the bank and their customers (Taiminen, and Karjaluoto, 2015).

• To enhance the awareness of banking schemes and services among large number of customers by 35% within next 6 months
• To increase 40% demand of customers within upcoming 12 months
• To enhance 30% revenue of the organization  within 9 months

Commonwealth bank could practice digital marketing communication mix plan as it could be imperative for successful communication with their customers and supports to obtain positive feedback. The company could use this advanced technique as much as possible to operate their business effectively and get success (Hänninen, and Karjaluoto, 2017).

Content Marketing

Content marketing can direct Commonwealth bank for entailing valid data and storytelling to increase brand awareness and also helps to influence the targeted customers in order to get higher benefits. Furthermore, it is also analyzed that content marketing plays an important role to make an effective bond with their specified customers for long duration (Bowie, Buttle, Brookes, and Mariussen, 2016).

Social media management 

Social media management could be an essential factor for the Commonwealth bank in the existing business era because it could develop the brand image of bank. The organization could spread the awareness regarding banking services and schemes among specified customers by utilizing social media. Several sources are evolved in social media such as Facebook, Snapchat, Pinterest and Twitter that help to the organization for achieving their goal. Furthermore, it is also evaluated that social media management is the way that could support to promote the services and business of the bank by using methods and websites of social media (Valos, Haji Habibi, Casidy, Driesener, and Maplestone, 2016).

In addition, social media could enable the company to share their information and it also provides a platform to enhance the direct conversation with partners, followers, customers, and competitors. It could be an essential element for providing knowledge regarding services and schemes of the bank in an appropriate manner. In order to this, it is also analyzed that social media marketing could eliminate the hurdle of performing direct communication with targeted customers. It could be a vital component for increasing the awareness level of the bank’s schemes and services (Stone, and Woodcock, 2014).

Email Marketing

In the current era, Email marketing could be a prominent method for an organization to make a reliable bond with their customers by regularly updating Email. Commonwealth bank could enhance the awareness of banking services and could get the trust of customers by giving value to the customer’s email. Furthermore, the organization could get more benefits in minimum time by practicing email marketing method. It is also examined that this method of marketing could facilitate the organization to directly converse with their customers and could help to gain understanding related to customer’s demands and requirements of goods and services. This method could also be prominent for encouraging the employee’s satisfaction level (Valos, Haji Habibi, Casidy, Driesener, and Maplestone, 2016).

Identification of Target market (s) and relevant Branding and positioning strategies

SEO (search engine optimization)  

SEO (search engine optimization) is the process that optimizes contents on websites so that search engine could illustrate it on the top level when certain keywords are searched by the user. There are many search engines which could be utilized by the customers to gain information that are Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Further, search engine optimization shows keywords that could be typed by customers to gain an understanding of services and schemes of the bank. Consequently, it is examined that SEO could direct the targeted organization to gather customers at a single place and obtain the relevant conclusion (Karjaluoto, Mustonen, and Ulkuniemi, 2015).  

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) 

SEM (search engine marketing) refers as a platform where an organization pays for advertising their products and services online to grow their business.  The main purpose of SEM (search engine marketing) is to impact a large number of customers about targeted services and goods. In the present time, due to the good image of Google in the market, Google Adwords is commonly used by many companies. Along with this, it is also analyzed that marketers of search engine marketing demanded more money to demonstrate the information that the Company wants to share with customers. This type of marketing could assist the organization to achieve success (Andrews, and Shimp, 2017).

The organization could examine their business progression and reach at a valid conclusion by appropriate monitoring and controlling. Monitoring and controlling could be practiced by two types of methods which are a return on investment and feedback (Jackson, and Ahuja, 2016).  

Feedback

Commonwealth bank cold executes feedback tool and gathers the views and beliefs of customers to gain an understanding of the real position of the organization. Feedback method could support the organization to increase their brand image (Tiago and Veríssimo, 2014).

Return on investment

In the digital marketing plan, the return on investment could be a significant factor as it could examine overall outflow and inflow of the cash. This method leads the organization to spend money on a particular field to achieve their goal (Andrews, and Shimp, 2017).

Conclusion

From the above interpretation, it can be concluded that commonwealth bank can implement the competitive analysis technique to assess the industry position and can also use SWOT to assess their internal and external position in the market. It also helps to arrive at the valid conclusion. It can be summarized that commonwealth banks of Australia may develop the digital marketing objectives and aids in creating the digital marketing strategy for the company. It can be concluded that the commonwealth bank of Australia can focus on targeting, positioning and branding approach. This can also apply digital marketing communication mix strategies such as SEO, SEM and social media for influencing the customers. It can be also summarized that the commonwealth bank of Australia can use monitoring and control approach to evaluate their strategy.    

References 

Andrews, J.C., & Shimp, T.A., (2017). Advertising, promotion, and other aspects of integrated marketing communications. UK: Nelson Education.

Batra, R.  & Keller, K.L., (2016). Integrating marketing communications: New findings, new lessons, and new ideas. Journal of Marketing, 80(6),122-145.

Bowie, D., Buttle, F., Brookes, M., & Mariussen, A., (2016). Hospitality marketing. Routledge.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia. 2016. Our history. Retrieved from: https://www.commbank.com.au/about-us/our-company/history.html 

Fill, C. & Turnbull, S.L., (2016). Marketing communications: brands, experiences, and participation. UK: Pearson.

Hänninen, N. & Karjaluoto, H., (2017). The effect of marketing communication on business relationship loyalty. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 35(4), 458-472.

Jackson, G. & Ahuja, V., (2016). Dawn of the digital age and the evolution of the marketing mix. Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 17(3), 170-186.

Kannan, P.K., (2017). Digital marketing: A framework, review, and research agenda. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 34(1), 22-45.

Karjaluoto, H., Mustonen, N. & Ulkuniemi, P., (2015). The role of digital channels in industrial marketing communications. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 30(6), 703-710.

Kitchen, P.J. & Burgmann, I., (2015). Integrated marketing communication: making it work at a strategic level. Journal of Business Strategy, 36(4), 34-39.

Ryan, D., (2016). Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation. USA: Kogan Page Publishers.

Simula, H., Töllmen, A. & Karjaluoto, H., (2015). Facilitating innovations and value co-creation in industrial B2B firms by combining digital marketing, social media, and crowdsourcing. In Marketing Dynamism and Sustainability: Things Change, Things Stay the Same… (pp. 254-263). USA: Springer, Cham.

Stone, M.D., & Woodcock, N.D., (2014). Interactive, direct and digital marketing: A future that depends on the better use of business intelligence. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, 8(1), 4-17.

Taiminen, H.M. & Karjaluoto, H., (2015). The usage of digital marketing channels in SMEs. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 22(4), 633-651.

Tiago, M.T.P.M.B. & Veríssimo, J.M.C., (2014). Digital marketing and social media: Why bother?. Business Horizons, 57(6), 703-708.

Valos, M.J., Haji Habibi, F., Casidy, R., Driesener, C.B. & Maplestone, V.L., (2016). Exploring the integration of social media within integrated marketing communication frameworks: Perspectives of services marketers. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 34(1), 19-40.