Marketing Strategy for a Successful Campaign of a New Product - Coursework Example

Introduction Understanding and adapting to the changing consumer buying patterns is the key to success in markets. Such understanding is not easy to accomplish, nonetheless, because the organizational trade process is repeatedly vibrant and intricate. Buyers face a multifaceted set of problems and as a result their behaviors are perplexed by numerous situational factors (Alexandru, 2000). To deal with the intricacies of these situations and also the pure number of decisions to be made, it usually happens that the buyers frame issues in their own manner and consequently develop certain set rules that then govern their buying behaviors in most of the situations. Usually the decision processes are not pre-set, or even explicit, there still is proof amongst many researching bodies that there exists an underlying pattern in buying behavior. The buyer recurrently evaluates the buying condition and performs certain business activities that appear to fit the state of affairs (Silk, 1999). This configuration can be considered as outlines or strategies of decision making, shortcuts, or as the theme of the paper, buying decision strategies. This paper is an attempt to present a marketing strategy for a successful campaign of a new product which is about to hit the market. Discussion Brands are dynamic and can be understood as living entities that evolve over time, display human characteristics and personalities and follow a lifecycle where they can eventually die (Adekanmbi, 2008). Brands are sensitive to prevailing market equilibrium, trends and consumer emotion (Adekanmbi, 2008). A brand is of prime importance to a company, it is the most valuable asset it forms the basis of long-term customer relationship. According to Donthu (1995), Brand equity provides “differential advantage” that allows firm to earn greater margin on products and protects a brand against competitive attacks. For retailers a good brand name enhances store image and ensure good sales .However, the most important is the customer because it is the brand image in minds of the customers that shapes buying behavior and translates into a purchase (Donthu, 1995). The brand touches customer minds and hearts and differentiates a product from the competitors’ product and result in repeated purchase and brand loyalty. It is an abstract and subjective concept. Adekanmbi (2008) states that “it is the soul of a healthy brand that gives the right meaning to all the outward qualities expressed through tangible assets like the company name, the product, tag lines, symbolism, iconography and even jingles.” Thus a brand affects the minds and attitudes of consumers in more ways than one, and defining which parameters to choose for in brand health or brand equity subjective and open to debate. Infact, the literature review revealed that one of the main problems arise in tracking and equity measurement studies was a lack of a standard or consistent definition, which further complicates the task of comparing to tracking studies or using any one of them as a basis for formulating our own. Marketing Objectives In today's difficult business situation, modified focus and attention to every customer is vital to gain loyalty and trust from customers. Personally service and attention is a must in order to successfully drive up sales. To improve relationships between customers and company uses all possible channels of feedback and interaction. Today, every media is oppressed to achieve higher quantity of interaction. Understanding buying patterns is an attempt in the same direction (Alxandru, 2000). Mitchell (1999) stated “Marketing is concerned with customer satisfaction and with the identification of marketing opportunities; it is also concerned with harnessing of the firm’s resources and the focusing of those resources upon the most appropriate opportunities”. In view of this statement the marketing it is not only a process of advertising or selling, if we look at the above definition in more detail Marketing is a management responsibility and should not be only left to junior members of staff. Marketing requires planning implementation of campaigns, co-ordination and competent managers with the appropriate skills to ensure success (Alxandru, 2000). Marketing objectives, goals and targets have to be controlled and met, participant strategies analyzed, anticipated and exceeded. Through successful use of market and marketing research an organization should be able to identify the needs and wants of the customer and try to delivers benefits that will improve or add to the customers routine, while at the same time ensuring that the satisfaction of these needs results in a healthy income for the organization (Mitchell, 1999). Every marketing campaign is based on a marketing strategy which is executed to achieve the marketing objectives set by the company for itself. In case of an existing product, it can be in terms of the increase in product awareness and inform target audience of the new features in order to achieve a particular increase in sales figure or it can be to decrease customer’s resistance to buy the product by winning his trust and increasing brand equity and thus sales increase. In our scenario, Technology giant Apple is launching a unique watch “I-watch”, so our primary objective is to generate maximum hype and product awareness among at least 90% of the current apple product users and 50% of the non-Apple product users. Sales Objectives I-watch is a unique watch, which has the features that no other competitor’s products have, but we have to keep in mind that Apple is the new entrant in the watch market and is known for making consumer electronics (ipod, iphone) and personal computers. So our primary sales objective is to generate maximum trials from both apple users and non-Apple users. Since this a product with longer lifecycle and probably no repeat sales (like in most FMCG products), we have to attract them for first purchase. Sales objective would be to generate trial purchases from : 80% of the apple users who also use watches, 60% of the non-apple users who use watches, and 20% of the people who do not use watches but will start using because of watch’s uniqueness and features. Communications Objectives Apple’s key selling feature has always been innovation and technology advanced and they are known for it all over the world. The key message would not include product specification, as it will be kept a secret in order to increase hype and curiosity, but the feeling that something new in watches, which has never been introduced by anyone. A slogan like “Apple’s BIG BET” will keep customer curious as to in what Apple has recently invested and will motivate the consumer for trial. Budget Approach There can be many approaches by which we can allocate budget for various types of promotions. Some of the approaches are listed as follows: Fixed portion of forecasted revenue: We can allocate a fixed percentage of sales expected in one year say 10% and spend accordingly. There is a downside to it as it suggests decreasing promotion costs when the sales are decreasing instead of increasing. Competitor based: One more approach can be based on the industry percentage. Observe how much competitors are spending, and then spend accordingly. Residual Approach: After incurring all the expenditures and securing profit margins, whatever you are left with, you spend on marketing and promotion but that’s not recommended. Objective Oriented: This is based on the objectives that you have set in your marketing objectives. Marketing professionals take each segment objective (like increasing product awareness or increasing brand equity) and allocate accordingly and this is the approach we will be using. Last year, when i-pad was launched, it generated sales of $150 million on the first day in USA only, so we can estimate the sales for i-watch as well during the first month in Australia and keeping our marketing objective in mind which is: Awareness and trial purchases among 80% of the apple users who also use watches, 60% of the non-apple users who use watches, and 20% of the people who do not use watches but will start using because of watch’s uniqueness and features. Keeping these factors in mind, approximately $20 million will be required as budget for the promotion. Promotional Budget Plan As discussed in the previous section, we are allocating a budget of $20million for all the marketing and promotional activities. The main categories of promotional channels are Broadcast, Print media, Public relations and Others (which includes BTL activities and Outdoor advertising on Billboards etc). In Broadcast category, which is 45% of total budget, the greatest portion is of Television because of high production costs of advertisement and recurring costs of broadcasting it on the top channels with greater viewer ship. Moreover, Television is the mode of communication with greatest coverage and impact. In the category of print media, major portion is allocated to newspapers, as we plan to give 3-4 full page advertisements per week in all the three leading newspapers (including The Age, CITY, and Financial Review). Public Relations is the next category, to which we have allocated 20% of the total budget, which will include promotions on Apple stores, and on Fashion Boutiques because we want to position our product as a status symbol. We have set aside some budget for PR Events as well in which we will showcase the product in Technology exhibitions, Gala events and Festivals. Finally, 10% of the remaining budget has been distributed between promotion through cinema, outdoor advertising, BTL activities and Promotional Products like mugs and key chains. Total Budget   20,000,000 Broadcast 45% $9,000,000 Television 60% $5,400,000 Radio 20% $1,800,000 Internet 15% $1,350,000 Mobile Marketing 5% $450,000     Print Media 25% $5,000,000 Newspaper 70% $3,500,000 Magazine 30% $1,500,000     Public Relations 20% $4,000,000 Apple Stores 30% $1,200,000 Fashion Boutiques 30% $1,200,000 PR Events 40% $1,600,000     Others 10% $2,000,000 Cinema 20% $400,000 Outdoor Advertising 15% $300,000 Direct Response (BTL Activities) 25% $500,000 Promotional Products 25% $500,000 Indirect Marketing (product used in Movies / TV) 15% $300,000       Agency Selection After allocating the budgets for each channel of promotion, the next natural question comes as to who will do all this? Apple has been using the services of some professional marketing agencies before the launch of their products in order to promote them. For I-watch, Apple will be selecting an agency named “Starship”, which is one of the oldest and largest marketing firms currently operating in Australia. They have prior experience in promoting the technology products and that experience will be vital for the campaign success. The agency will be responsible for all the promotional activities for i-watch within Australia. Their performance will be constantly monitored by Apple’s marketing department, who will keep a close check on the awareness level among the target audience during the campaign via surveys and online blogs and interviews. Market Segmentation & Targeting The market can be segmented in many ways based on age, gender, hobbies, socio-economic class, nature of person (like technology loving) or his location. Broadly speaking, we can divide our target market in to two segments; One: who have been using Apple products in the past; and second: who are not familiar with Apple products. After looking in to previous market studies and sales patterns, we identified the following sets of people with the below mentioned characteristics, who would be willing to buy an I-watch. Apple Loyal customers aged between 18 and 25. Apple fans aged between 25 and 35. Music loving persons (i-pod users) who use watch as well aged between 18 & 35. Die-hard fans of watches who are technology savvy as well. Fashion conscious people who consider every unique product as status symbol and as a “must buy”. All these segments contain potential customers of I- watches, and marketing campaign and promotion program would be designed in those ways through which we can reach maximum penetration among each segment. Targeting and attracting the loyal users of Apple products would be much easier towards the product as compared to the non-apple users since they are familiar with the brand and trust it. Positioning Apple has a reputation in the market to be innovative and technologically advanced. So people know that every new offering of Apple will be unique and containing something new for the consumer. Thus, Apple products are “informative”. So i-watch would be no different but this time the feeling during the promotion for the product will not only be “Informative” but also “Effective”. Normal watches can only tell the time but this will have more to it. It can also provide you with entertainment as an I-pod is integrated with it with mass storage facility (typically 8GB) along with Bluetooth and GPS. So the product will be primarily positioned as an “Innovative Watch” with more utility and style. Communication Strategy Message The message would be quite clear in our campaign. It would be associated with innovation, style and uniqueness. The slogan that we will be using should deliver this message without disclosing the features as we are not planning to announce the product specifications till the launch. A message like “Apple’s BIG Bet” would lead to positive feeling and hype amongst the technology savvy people especially Apple’s loyal fans. Channel We will be using all the possible effective channels to communicate our promotion message to our target audience. Those channels include Broadcasting (Television and Radio), Print media, Internet websites, Apple stores and PR events. Receiver The receiver of our message will be our target audience who are interested in new technology and are aged primarily between 18 and 35. They consider Apple as a reliable brand because of the popularity of i-pods and now i-pads. Our target audience will perceive our product as useful, easy to use, stylish and unique because that’s what our message and promotion theme also says. Feedback Once the product is launched, lots of end users will have a trial of the new product, and will become aware of the new product and some will also buy it. A feedback process will be implemented by the agency (Starship) which will collect the opinions of the people about the new product via interviews and surveys. Creative Strategy Brand values come from different sources consumers form perceptions about physical and psychological features of a product based on information available by these sources. Perceptions about physical features may come from objective sources such consumer reports or subjective sources such as advertising or personal experience. But psychological perceptions are mainly formed by advertising. Advertising affects consumer in a variety of ways. It makes the target market aware about a certain product or brand and contribute towards formation of brand association so that the brand stays in consumer’s memory and this translates into "non-conscious but reliable behavioral predispositions" (Simth, 2002).According to research advertising serves different purposes. It serves an informative role, informing people about attributes such as price and physical traits (Simth, 2002).Nicholls (2006) demonstrated that heavy advertising can improve perceived quality for experience goods, which by definition are difficult to evaluate prior to purchase. Advertising can make positive brand evaluations and attitudes readily accessible in memory. These favorable impressions add value to the brand i.e. brand equity and this is then translated into consumer preference and purchase intention. The main objective of creative strategy is to create awareness among the target audience for the new product. The major advantage to leverage is the brand name of Apple. Our major part of target audience are those people who are quite familiar with Apple products so the brand loyalty will help the new product. The challenging parties to attract those people as well who use traditional watches and highlight the benefits of i-watch in a creative way in the advertisements and promotions. Major Selling Ideas The value proposition and key success factors for this product are its Uniqueness, Style, and technologically advanced. A watch integrated with an i-pod along with Bluetooth and GPS serves many purposes. So it’s a multipurpose stylish watch, which is its major selling idea. Creative Strategy Statement The statement should be such which urges the end-user to think that I-watch is a must- have accessory and it will be a necessity in near future since it’s a multipurpose product. So a statement like “ TIME FOR AN I-WATCH” will catch the eyes of technology loving people and will create the need for the product in the market. Supportive Selling Ideas Other than the stylish and unique look of I-watch, it is integrated with an I-pod with large memory storage of around 8GB, which means you can even store a movie in it or lots of songs along with other multimedia items. Secondly GPS (Global Positioning System) is being introduced for the first in the watch which can guide you in anyplace in the world (if you know the co-ordinates). Moreover, the product will be reasonably priced (between $500 and $1000) which is comparable to a mid-range fashion watch, thus in reach of upper and middle socio-economic class. Advertising Execution In our advertisements, our focus would be more on emotional appeal, especially on social-based feelings. The brand name of Apple would also be highlighted in the advertisements in order to leverage its brand equity and thus make this product a status symbol. Not too much stress would be put on technology aspect as everyone knows what apple is, so too much “tech-talk” will detract from product’s appeal. Draft Advertisement Imagery will be our main focus during advertisements and specifically focused on styling of the I-watch. In our TV ads, we will be showing a comparison test in a humorous way with ordinary watches which will highlight the uniqueness and differentiating factors of I-watch. On print media, ads will emphasize on imagery and also description of the product. Regulation Apple is a reputed organization and we do not want any mishap which will reflect badly on the company’s image. All the advertisements will depict the true picture of the product and there will be no “advertisement puffery” which can mislead the end user. All our advertisements will be above certain level of decency. All the ads being prepared by the external agency will be closely checked by Apple’s marketing department and all the medium of promotions will screen our ads before broadcasting or printing them. Apple have a culture of making ‘socially neutral’ advertising which does not draw on any racial, religious or sexual stereotypes in order to make its point. Although everyone may not find the humor amusing, but it will also not be offensive to any as well. Campaign Research And Evaluation In case of an existing mature product, you have a data about current level of awareness and willingness to buy the product for every target segment. In case of a new product, level of awareness is zero before launch, which has to be increased to certain levels (as mentioned in marketing objectives) in each of the target segment. In our case, our target is to create product awareness among 90% of the current apple product users and 50% of the non-Apple product users. The external agency will be using all the promotional channels mentioned previously to achieve this level. But how it will be measured whether this was a successful campaign? Initially awareness level will closely monitored every month via interviews, online surveys, blogs and visits on website. Once the product is launched commercially, the sales figures would also be added to the success criteria of the campaign. Conclusion Customers are becoming increasingly changeable. For example the Internet has made it easier for them to find alternative suppliers who may be cheaper, more reactive or just better able to meet their ever changing aspirations. In such an environment managing better customer relations has become a necessity as it enables the business to detect and react to the customers constantly changing requirements - helping business to retain and expand your clientele and provide it with a solid platform to achieve business growth. Its goal is to provide the skill to communicate with customers through any media they choose & deliver information to customers in immediate. Marketing is concerned with customer satisfaction and with the identification of marketing opportunities; it is also concerned with harnessing of the firm’s resources and the focusing of those resources upon the most appropriate opportunities. In view of this statement the marketing it is not only a process of advertising or selling, if we look at the above definition in more detail Marketing is a management responsibility and should not be only left to junior members of staff. Marketing requires planning implementation of campaigns, co-ordination and competent managers with the appropriate skills to ensure success (Alxandru, 2000). Marketing objectives, goals and targets have to be controlled and met, participant strategies analyzed, anticipated and exceeded. Through successful use of market and marketing research an organization should be able to identify the needs and wants of the customer and try to delivers benefits that will improve or add to the customers routine, while at the same time ensuring that the satisfaction of these needs results in a healthy income for the organization. References Please see the DRAFTS/ REFERENCES section of the website for the list of references Read More