Marketing -- often understood simply as the act of selling and advertising a product -- is all about managing customer relationships and satisfying customer needs, according to Dr. Ulf Ausprung, CEO of Han Sung Motor, the largest Mercedes-Benz dealer in South Korea.

“Marketing means customer relationships, particularly in the fast-expanding South Korean luxury automobile industry,” Dr. Ausprung said during a business lecture Wednesday for students at Korea University.

Car preference is much more volatile here in Korea than in the U.S. and Europe, pushing local and foreign carmakers to pay heightened attention to enhanced customer-focused marketing strategies in driving up sales, according to the Han Sung Motor chief.

“(As a car dealer), we want to gain new customers and be good enough to retain a long-term relationship with our existing customers, which is not so easy in Korea, an extremely fast-moving and trendy market,” said the CEO, a seasoned automobile and marketing expert.

Seeking to present students with real-life examples of ongoing marketing projects in the industry, Ausprung shared a number of recent activities pursued by Han Sung to build a positive brand image of its own and strengthen its customer relationships.

In celebration of its 30th anniversary and to strengthen its brand identity and summer sales, the car dealer held its own motor show in Seoul in July, drawing some 3,500 spectators and members of press.

The firm sought to invoke heightened public interest in foreign vehicles and lower the “obstacles that many people feel in approaching car brands like Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi,” according to the CEO.

Spraying the “Han Sung Interior Fragrance” around the lecture room, Dr. Ausprung introduced the brand’s innovative approach to use “smell” in building up stronger brand associations and communication with its customers.

“When you enter a certain hotel or a house, you recognize a familiar smell. You feel like you know that place already. We do the same thing in our showrooms,” Dr. Ausprung said as he explained the importance of scent even in the automobile sales sector.

“It was interesting to learn that even retailers have to work to win the loyalty of the customers and that you have to be good in marketing to sell, even if your product (Mercedes-Benz) is good,” said Mustafa Alhammad, a 23-year-old student majoring in civil environment engineering who attended the lecture.

“I was able to learn about the type of work and marketing activities that Han Sung Motor carries out in Korea. More than anything, it was great to hear directly hear from the CEO who is out in the field,” said Choi Jae-sin, who also attended the lecture.

The Han Sung Motor CEO has been voluntarily delivering lectures to university students in multiple countries since 2008, aiming to communicate with talented young students and hear their creative responses.

“I hope my lecture will help students find their own careers ... (and help) them learn with more sense of purpose by showing them the real business world as an expert in the imported car market in Korea,” Dr. Ausprung said.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)