JSW Steel: Steeling Its Digital Fronts: Marketing Case Study

About JSW Steel

JSW Steel Limited is one of the largest integrated steel producing companies based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is a subsidiary of the multinational conglomerate, JSW Group. 

The company is one of the major steel producers and exporters in India and is engaged in manufacturing steel and steel-related products. It has its four major plants in India and also has a presence in about 140 countries across the world.

Major contributions of JSW Steel include national projects such as Chennai Metro, Mumbai’s T2 Airport, Yamuna Expressway in Delhi, and the Kolkata Metro. 

Now that we know about JSW Steel in brief, let us now go through the marketing mix of the company to understand its products, price, place, and promotion strategies.

Marketing Mix of JSW Steel

Marketing mix (4Ps) is a model that is widely used in defining a business and its strategies. The model of the marketing mix is composed of 4Ps where each P represents a parameter such as Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

So, let us understand this section by going through the marketing mix of JSW Steel.

Product Strategy of JSW Steel

JSW Steel is India’s foremost integrated steel manufacturing company. It produces about 18 million tonnes per annum. The company primarily produces products related to flat and long steel categories. 

• Flat Steel category includes Cold Rolled and Hot Rolled Steel Products, Colour-Coated Products, Galvalume, and Galvanized steel
• Long Steel related products such as TMT Bars, Special Alloy Steel, and Wire Rods

Brand Portfolio of JSW Steel

JSW Steel has a wide range of products under its portfolio which are offered under various JSW steel brands. It currently has 11 individual brands.

Price Strategy of JSW Steel

Before we understand its pricing strategy, we have to go through the working of the steel industry. 

Firstly, the steel industry is a cyclical industry where the industry booms when the economy of the country booms and goes through downturns when the economy is not booming. 

Secondly, steel companies majorly depend on two key raw materials, Iron Ores and Coking Coal, and prices of these raw materials fluctuate based on evolving demand and supply in the global markets.

Now that being said, this is how JSW Steel’s pricing is set or influenced from the following:

• The pricing is as per the industry standards in most of the cases as it’s a business-to-business (B2B) selling entity. 
• The pricing also depends majorly on the prices of its key raw materials and the status of a country’s economy 
• The pricing is also set based on pre-agreed contractual agreements

This is how the price strategy of the company revolves around.

Place Strategy of JSW Steel

As JSW Steel is a business-to-business (B2B) selling company, the place parameter is not necessarily of much importance, as most of the business dealings and consignments are offered based on the portfolio of their previous work. 

However, talking about its place parameter, check out the following points:

• It has a presence across more than 140 countries
• In India, it also has its primary plants set up in strategic locations such as Vijaynagar, Dolvi, Kalmeshwar, Salem, Tarapur, Vasind 
• It also has two other primary plants outside India, located in the USA and Italy

Promotion Strategy of JSW Steel

JSW Steel actively focuses on the promotional aspect despite being a complete B2B entity. 

• It has been in the industry for so long and has been a part of many flagship projects that its work speaks for itself which also results in healthy word of mouth promotion
• Rishabh Pant, the popular cricketer is signed as the brand ambassador of the JSW Steel
• It is also the official sponsor of the popular Indian Premier League Team, Delhi Capitals
• Just like many other popular B2B entities, JSW Steel also carries out various corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives every year. It also continuously takes part in sponsoring activities

Now that you have understood JSW Steel’s marketing mix, let’s go through the marketing strategies and major campaigns undertaken by them in the next section.

Marketing Strategy of JSW Steel

JSW Steel, a subsidiary of JSW Group, is not a new player in the steel industry and has also gained a reputation for outstanding achievements and performance ever since its inception. With an established customer base, both in domestic and international sectors, it strives to maintain a superior position in the world of the steel industry. 

JSW Steel has designed a wide-ranging marketing strategy that primarily focuses on establishing brand recognition among the Indian audience. 

With that being said, it promotes itself by undertaking various activities such as creating advertising campaigns, sponsoring events, and also showcases its CSR activities.

So let us understand its marketing efforts in the coming sections starting with advertising campaigns.

Marketing & Advertising Campaigns of JSW Steel

Marketing and advertising campaigns are very important for any business to succeed. If you put the wrong effort in, you are sure to fail. No matter how good the product might be, if it is being marketed incorrectly it may lead to a failure. While the concept may sound simple, many businesses try to do things their own way or their client’s way to make sure it creates a positive impact on the minds of customers.

JSW Steel’s advertising theme revolves around the lines of empowerment, motivation and uplifting. However, it recently focused on releasing advertisements with humorous takes.

Here are some of the popular marketing & advertising campaigns of JSW Steel:

Will of Steel – A JSW Steel Marketing Campaign

JSW Steel launched this campaign back in 2015. The motive behind the advertising campaign was to encourage people across the country to always have a will as strong as steel to overcome various barriers in life. 

It signed Geetha Phogat, who is the first Indian woman to win Gold in wrestling at Commonwealth Games for this campaign.

During this campaign, it also rolled out many advertising films showcasing normal people from different walks of life who overcame many hardships in life due to their strong will.

Product Promotion Campaigns of JSW Steel

JSW Steel is one of the principal sponsors of the Indian Premier League team, Delhi Capitals. With Rishab Pant as its brand ambassador, JSW Steel promotes its product offerings in a fun and quirky way by rolling out various advertisements.

JSW and Nate Geo – A Public Relation Campaign of JSW Steel

Public relations (PR) is a form of communication designed to influence the attitude of the public towards a company.  Unlike advertising, which has as its goal to increase demand for a product, PR’s main function is to favourably change or showcase the image and behaviour of an organization.

National Geographic Channel, also known as Nat Geo, is a cable and satellite TV channel that features documentaries and reality shows. 

It partnered with JSW Steel to showcase how JSW Steel managed to replace one of the world’s largest blast furnaces in a series called Extreme Tech. It has garnered a lot of views on the OTT platform and is also now free to watch on Youtube as well.

Now that we have seen JSW Steel’s PR and advertising campaigns, let us now go through its digital presence.

Digital Presence of JSW Steel

More and more organizations are trying to grow their digital presence and the steel industry is no exception. 

JSW Steel Limited has also started working on its digital presence. In that regard, it has developed a very engaging corporate website and is also working on social media platforms to bring more visibility towards the company itself and the JSW brand.

Let us go through two important aspects of digital presence in the coming section.

Social Media Presence of JSW Steel

JSW Steel is present on all the major social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube. It has been working on posting consistently on all the social media platforms except Youtube.

It is doing well on social media by making things relatable for its followers by using common trending topics. For example, have a look at the following campaigns.

It had launched this campaign with the name #NervesOfSteel for giving tribute to the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis in their fight for humanity.

Social Media Posts of JK Tyre

Lately, JSW Steel has also come up with a new campaign named, #KhelKhushiyonKa during IPL 2020. #KhelKhushiyonKa is a campaign curated through which they have given every cricket lover to experience IPL like never before. It leveraged social media effectively, generating about 132+ million impressions on its social media platform.

However, its posts are similar on all three platforms, i.e Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. But there is a lot of room for JSW Steel to improve its social media presence just like how it has maintained a very good website. 

Let us now go through its website overview in the coming section.

Website Overview of JSW Steel

JSW Steel’s website, www.jsw.in/steel is a very well designed website. 

Built with user experience in mind, JSW Steel’s website lays out a well-defined journey for its visitors. At the first glance, the website looked like it does not belong to a steel company. The inner pages of the site are even more impressive than the home page, which itself talks about how the company has worked on this aspect. 

Wisely, when you scroll the home page, JSW Steel communicates its offerings, what it is as a company, shows its projects to help visitors quickly get an overview. The placement of video and image above text along with highlighting the most important points helps visitors quickly know what is on offer. 

It also has a blog section on its website that provides in-depth knowledge on steel and steel industry-related subjects.

It is also working on a “Case Study” section under the blogs category. It also has a blog on how the digital trends in the steel industry are panning out. You can check out the blog here.

Let us now understand the strengths and pain points of JSW Steel in the coming section by going through its SWOT analysis.

SWOT Analysis of JSW Steel

The purpose of this comprehensive SWOT analysis of JSW Steel is to analyze internal and external environments. It looks at the steelmaker’s strengths and weaknesses. This also seeks to discuss the possibilities that JSW could pursue and the threats that it should keep an eye on.

Strengths of JSW Steel

• Third Largest Steelmaker
• Acquires one of the largest blast furnaces
• High growth prospects due to a consistent increase in revenue and strong financial position.
• Operates in upstream as well as downstream sectors

Weakness of JSW Steel

• Limited portfolio compared to industry leaders
• Less number of mines
• Capacity utilization is not cent per cent

Opportunities of JSW Steel

• Mergers and acquisitions for the steady and regular supply of raw materials and investing more on Research & Development
• Needs to work on its engagement rate on all the social media platforms especially Youtube
• Talking about its social media numbers, the followers’ count is low in general but if the company maintains consistency in posting relevant and topical content, the followers’ count might eventually grow with time

Threats of JSW Steel

• Efficient process of production due to the cyclical nature of the industry
• Competition from existing and global companies
• Environment and government regulations
• Irregular change in prices of raw materials and finished goods

These are the few points that are to be worked upon by JSW Steel to remain competitive on both business fronts and social fronts.

With this, the case study on JSW Steel Limited comes to an end. Let us summarize with concluding points in the next section.

Conclusion

JSW Steel has established itself very well in its business lines. It has become a formidable player based on its hard work and innovation that has made it a leading player in the industry. 

However, there is always room for improvement and betterment. Just like how it became competitive on the business fronts over the years, likewise, it can replicate the same success on its digital presence in the years to come. 

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