Executive Summary
RIOT Games Inc is in the limelight due to its internal and external business environment. Through navigation of both, internal and external business process, it seems easy to derive some issues, which this company faces with the passage of the time. Interestingly, the company has faced several issues regarding the marketing process. The first objective of the study is to obtain several insights from the internal and external business process. Also, another objective of the study is to obtain the information through the segmentation. Based on the segmentation and demographics, it seems interesting to navigate how different people respond to different products and services. The company is looking to enhance the visibility of the competitive positioning in the presence of an immense competition in the market, which can provide long-term benefits.
Furthermore, the second half of the study indicates the process of marketing mix strategy of the company. It is a fact that the company is looking to streamline 7Ps to attain main goals and objectives in an effective and lucrative manner. The main aspects of this marketing mix strategy are the product, price, place, promotion, people, and process.
Introduction
RIOT Games Inc. contains several strengths and weaknesses. Interestingly, it has been revealed that the company has effectively exploited different strengths. However, on the other hand, it has been observed that different weaknesses have emerged as prominent issues for this company. For Instance, prominent issues are lack of brand awareness and limited product portfolio (BBC News, 2017). Interestingly, the management of the company has observed these issues and related it to the external business environment to make several decisions in the best interest of the company. The importance of addressing the first issue is in the limelight due to the business sustainability. Through addressing this issue, insights regarding the business sustainability can be derived.
Addressing the second issue is also important because the company cannot enhance the competitive positioning without brand awareness. Thus, the player-focused game development company has not engaged different players in the decision-making process. Some changes are to be made in the decision-making techniques to streamline different ideas (Solomon, Hughes, Chitty, Marshall, & Stuart, 2014).
Marketing objectives
The paper illustrates several marketing objectives. For Instance, based on the market situation, elaborated in the paper, the company management has come up with the effective marketing objective. The first objective of the company is to differentiate the online gaming process in the presence of the intense competition. The online gaming process is to be differentiated to beat its competitors in the market. The paper describes the marketing situation, which indicates several competitive insights. The company can adapt these insights with the passage of the time. Thus, the differentiation seems the first marketing objective for this company (Blakely & Helm, 2018).
The paper illustrates the second marketing objective through navigating the social factors in the macro business environment. For Instance, the company intends to target customers in some new markets, which contains the age from 21 to 25. New targeting and segmentation have emerged as a prominent marketing objective, which can help the company to sustain the business in different markets for a long run.
Issue 1: Ability to Target Customers
Specific: The objective of the company is to target new customers in some new Asian markets such as Singapore. The management of the company has found new customers and makes several segments to enhance the visibility of targeting.
Measurable: It can be measured through the retention of users on an online gaming site. The company can measure this initiative or objective through the response of users as compared to different competitors.
Achievable: RIOT Games Inc. indicates some remarkable technical expertise, which can help to develop some exceptional features in the different online game. It seems the main aspect regarding the targeting.
Relevant: Based on the market situation and intentions of the company, the company can come up with some features, which are pertinent to the needs of customers in the competitive market.
Time-bound: Within six months, its objective can be attained effectively.
According to (Graham, 2017), the participation of an immense range of people in the new market has helped companies to target new people. Along with the targeting, it has been revealed that companies can generate more revenues through initiatives such as tournaments and people’s participation (Bloomberg, 2018).
Issue 2: Gaining the Competitive Advantage
Specific: According to insights from the paper, the company wants to gain the competitive advantage in the online game market.
Measurable: People will become loyal, and they can depict preferences due to the high-quality features of the gaming process.
Achievable: The paper elaborates that DOTA generated a huge amount of fan base even bigger than Warcraft itself. However, gaining the competitive advantage is possible or achievable. 400,000 active players can help the company to gain the advantage and sustain the business.
Realistic: The competitive advantage seems relevant because it seems tough to survive in this intense competitive rivalry without differentiating something. Thus, it is a reverent approach to make the difference.
Time-bound: The competitive advantage can be gained in one year.
Marketing Mix (7p’s)
Product
The management of ROIT Company is looking to contain the creativity and innovation in the product or service development process. In the marketing process, the main intention of the company is to come up with some high-quality online games. The game development is integrated with different segments of people. The appropriate strategy is to make some changes in the game development process and come up with some outputs, which can facilitate an immense range of online users. The differentiation process has been justified through the session based games, which seems attractive for users (Levy, 2014). This will attract more customers for the products of the company (Trim & Lee, 2008).
Price
The management of the company is using the penetration pricing strategy in the presence of other competitors. For Instance, most of the games are free of cost for online users along with some micro transaction. Penetration pricing strategy emerged with the purpose, which depicts the low-profit margins and immense user traffic. Comparatively, it is the best approach to get different online games in the limelight. Low price technique by this company is used to attract people, and it also streamlines the differentiation as well (Gaudisi, 2013). Penetration pricing strategy is very useful and profiteering by capturing vast markets (Desislava & Michael, 2014).
Place
The placement strategy of RIOT games is effective. For Instance, the company is looking to make games available on different sites, which are suitable to target people according to different segments. The company has concentrated on different online servers and sites, which streamlines these games. Thus, the placement strategy of the company is attractive, which has also been justified on different sites. Different segments of people intend to experience different player focused games, and due to this placement strategy, the user experience is increased (Gan, 2016).
Promotion
For Riot games Inc, social media channels are emerging as the key promotional channels. Relative to the advertisement campaigns, the management is using the digital media channels to attract customers. People are attracted through attractive simulation and visualization, which is helping to position better in the minds of customers. The promotional tool of this company is discount offering through different promo codes. Thus, it seems a great chance for customers to enjoy games online at low prices. When purchasing at checkout, 30% off through promo code is a good promotion tool that works well (Dunn, 2017). Promotional strategies are very helpful to attract more customers for the company (Stahl, Heitmann, Lehmann, Warren, & Neslin, 2012).
Physical Evidence
The physical evidence is quite visible through the game development process. For Instance, when making some change or upgrading games online, the customer can get the notifications. It seems the physical evidence for customers. Based on need and interest of users, some changes in the game design are physical evidence that every user can experience online (Chiang, 2011).
People
People in the company are the main stakeholders in this company. For Instance, the company wants right people to perform right tasks. For Instance, the management makes the policy to hire people, which contain some skills to enhance the visibility of focused player games. People in the company are trained to produce outputs according to customer expectations. The most important thing for this company is to use the marketing intelligence to shape the behavior accordingly. RIOT intends to depict the people force, which is customer oriented, and it is important in this digital era (Solomon, Hughes, Chitty, Marshall, & Stuart, 2014).
Process
The RIOT Company wants to justify the process to the customer satisfaction. The company always wants to differentiate the process through some prominent technology advancements. The high-quality process of the company enables online games, which are accepted by users (Solomon, Hughes, Chitty, Marshall, & Stuart, 2014).
Segmentation, Target Markets, Positioning
The paper illustrates that the segmentation process triggers demographics, psychographics, and behavioral factors.
According to Dunn (2017), targeting teenagers and young adults is the best approach for this company. People like to play their favorite games online, and it seems the best chance of the company to target these customers. For meeting the objective in an effective and lucrative manner in the market, the management of the company must have to make the group popular (Alpert, 2007). The paper demonstrates the success of the league of the legend, which has grabbed the immense range of customers in the competitive market. This initiative is the best example the company, and the management should be quite up to it to make the difference (Monetary Authority of Singapore, 2018).
Psychographics
In this paper, there are several traits, which are to be used by the company to meet the objective. For Instance, the company is looking to target customers through navigating the lifestyles. If the company knows the lifestyles of gamers or customers, it can make several segments, which can also justify the targeting process of the company. It is a fact that the customer base has been increased due to new developments in the video gaming. It seems better to target those people who seek fun and experience. The paper exhibits the intention of the company, which targets the customers through this aspect of the segmentation (Statista.Com, 2018).
Behavioral
The customer targeting becomes easy for this company as the management targets the behavior of people. According to Chiang (2011), if any, organization plays with some attractive ideas, the behavior of people can be shaped in the market if the company becomes successful in creating the perception. For Instance, the idea of having fun with friends when playing online games is a good approach, which can help the company accelerate the targeting process. However, the most important thing is to meet needs of the target market and meet objectives. Also, the behavior of people can be changed if the company designs the game for customers, which are facing the stressful working life (Kerr, 2017). According to different insights, derived from this paper, it has been revealed that attractive online game for frustrated people is a good initiative to change their behavior regarding both, social and work life. If a person has an internet connection and a laptop, it may change his behavior. Thus, the company is intended to target these customers, and it also justifies the market objectively (Statista, 2018).
Conclusion
In the end, it is to conclude that the chances of success of the RIOT Company in Singapore are bright. Based on the competitive situation and trends of online gaming in the market, some appropriate strategies are to be designed and executed along with some improvisations. Especially in the marketing mix strategy, the management of the company has to depict some competitive traits to gain and sustain the success. The competitive market needs the changes from the company with the passage of the time. The company can carry some change interventions regarding marketing. ROIT is looking to make the difference in this new market. However, it can also consider some acquisition, which can be considered as the successful risk strategy. The business sustainability is based on the successful execution of marketing strategies in Singapore.
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