The Strategy of an App for Pet Owners - Term Paper Example

Venture Proposal- Dog App Executive Summary The Company decided to bring an app to the world of pet owners. Dog owners can rest now; since they can leash their dogs and their dogs can wander off and still be monitored. The app, the Company is looking forward to, has multiple dimensions and uses. So far it is called ‘the app’; sooner it will be in every dog owner’s mobile phone. While it is not difficult to pet a dog, it is even easier if u can see all the data related to them and choose from various cool outlets, parks and socializing areas on a single map on your cell phone. The app provides much more than just a social app; it provides the much needed peace of mind of having a dog pet. Contents Executive Summary 2 Vision, Mission, Goals, Objectives 4 Business Model 5 Strategy 11 Competitive Analysis 11 SWOT Analysis 12 Marketing 14 Organization Structure 14 Technical Structure 15 Plan of Activities 16 References 19 Vision, Mission, Goals, Objectives Mission To become the most sought after, user-friendly and popular app in the app industry. Vision The vision of the Company is to create an application (app) that benefits the dog owners by engaging them in pet-friendly communities using state of the art technology. Goals and Objectives The goals of the Company are to create; An app that works for the dog owners. An app that connects the dog owners to each other. An app that keeps the dog owner aware of the changes coming about in the dog and the environment. An app that can signal the futuristic changes. An app that has games and goal settings. An app that will use other regular apps for sharing data about dogs. An app that is comprehensive and yet light and easy to play with. An app that will incorporate many services like pet attractions and pet shops into it, so that users can get easy access to a wide range of personalized data and shopping. An app that can generate revenue in the form of advertisements. The objective of the Company is to make a small application that will have minimalistic features and distribute it freely so the users can get a feel of the software. Business Model The business model can be explained using the Business Model Canvas. Key Partners: The key partners in the development of this project are Brad Willis, Helen Daniels, Scott Robinson, Shane Ramsay of Ramsay Capital and Mike Young (I). Brad Willis provides the technical help on the project. Helen Daniels is the graphical designer on the project, while Scott Robinson is the sales and marketing guru. Shane Ramsay of the Ramsay Capital is the venture capitalist for the first 3 months of the project. The main developers of the projects will be Brad, Helen and myself; while Scott will market the project and getting us the necessary feedback. Our main suppliers will be Computer Tech & Co. who will provide the Company with the necessary hardware and softwares. In case of emergencies, Computer IT & Co. will be our standby suppliers. Value Proposition: The value proposition of this project is more value time with your pet. Most pet owners don’t have access to places where they can have a cup of coffee along with their pet or hangout with their pet in tow. This app will not only provide access to such places, it will help create such places. Since many households have pets these days, the pressure is on the entrepreneurs to create businesses catering to this niche market where the income is slightly on the upper side. As more and more businesses open up, we can incorporate this data on a virtual end and provide information to the users on the social platform. Getting the customer socially linked and interactive on the app will create word-of-mouth marketing which in turn generates more market value of the app. This has a positive impact on the value of the app. Our targeted customers will be dog owners only who can create profiles and use apps proficiently. While it is a convenient and very segregated market, we do assume and accept that many dog owners will not be willing to use the app and prefer to use the conventional methods of meeting other friendly dog owners due to a number of reasons; foremost being a lifestyle devoid of smartphones. To capture this market segment, we propose the free version which can be distributed with smartphones. This will at least garner a positive response from the people not willing to incorporate smartphones in their life. Key Activities: Our Key Activities involve focusing on the development plan as per planning, focusing on the marketing strategy and building individual customer relations. Development plan is divided into phases where there is research, collection of relevant data, coding, graphical aspect, alpha testing, recoding for errors and release in market. The development takes from 1 month to 3 months during which our Key Partners will be informed about the progress. During the same time interval, our marketing channels will be marketing the app through social media. The marketing will moderate but towards the end of the development cycle the marketing strategy will turn aggressive and targeted. As soon as the app is released in the market, Scott will make sure that the app has users ready to use it. The usage of the app will be monitored for 3 months and all queries will be directed to specific mailboxes and storages. Major and minor queries will be separated and handles separately. Major queries will be shifted to the next development cycle while minor queries will be addressed and fixed. This cycle will be repeated after 3 months and after a total of 6 months from the start of usage monitoring, a new version will be launched which will be monitored for the next 6 months. This version will have all the fixes that have been gathered in the first 6 months. The marketing department will make sure that 2 months later the Company starts receiving advertisements and a paid app will be launched after a year from the start of the project date. Since the project is vast and will have many modules, we will launch separate downloadable modules of the complete app. Key Resources: Our key resources will be intellectuals who can work on the project in the long run. Once the app hits the market, the continuous development of the app requires intellectual support. The Company will hire staff, in case; it requires more than one person to handle any one aspect of the app. In case the marketing and sales team is short of people and requires extensive networks, the Company will hire local professionals, since the Company has plans to hit the global market as well. Pet owners are a worldwide phenomenon, with owning a dog being a favourite and rather prestigious for the owners. Our financial resources are Ramsay Capital and the Company funds which will fund the project in its initial period. As the revenue from advertising and the paid app pour in, the project will become self-sustaining. Customer Relationships: The relationship with our customers will be one-on-one in the first 3 months where they can contact us via email. Most of the minor queries will be resolved via email and support staff contact. We will also establish social media communities where the Company will disseminate information about the developments of the project. All the customers will be sent emails about any major updates as soon as they happen. Our customer’s feedback is integral in developing the next and final product for the 1st year. Interaction with the customers will require dedicated persons for the job, which will impact the cost structure of the project. However, the Company will cut costs on the communities that are set up for interactive co-ordination of the users. These communities will also offer self-help as community members tend to help each other and create smaller communities within. Channels: The channels which our customers can use to reach us our online. Offline the Company can be reached via mail. This option is not exercised, as it is the least feasible. Our customers prefer all online modes, social media, email, phone and fax. Since it is an app that we are creating, most of the customers prefer leaving feedback than being online to receive a reply instantaneously. Our representatives will do the follow up of the feedback that comes in from time to time. The marketing channels used by the Company will be social media and conventional marketing like billboards and TV advertisements. The traditional marketing will be put to use after 6 months when the final version will be released. Most pet organizations will be on board and advertising revenue will generated. However, traditional marketing is an expensive medium. Unless the Company falls short of funds, conventional marketing can be a fall back plan also whereas social media can be used aggressively to push the app onto the first preference on the app lists. The customers can evaluate the app and send their feedback on the website dedicated to the app or send us emails. The app can be purchased from the Google store. It will be easily available and the free version can be downloaded from both the website and the Google store. After sales customer support is integral and we will have a dedicated member for support. However, the support member/members will not be online 24 hours in the first year of operations. As the Company keeps developing the app, the support will come online. Customer Segment: The app is for a niche market of dog owners. Only dog lovers who have a passion to meet more of their kind will love this app and use it. The app proposes to create a link between people who live in different cities but have one passion. Our customers will range from middle class people to high elite owners who can spend yearly thousands on their pets. Cost Structure: The cost structure of the project is resource based. The people developing the app require salaries to keep going while the IT infrastructure required to build the app will be a one-time investment. Most of the support staff will pull recurring salaries. The value added to the app will however be a one-time investment. Marketing activities will require investment which will increase the cost structure of the app. However, the whole cost of the app will not be affected in a negative manner as the number of people who will use the app will be more exponentially more and the price of the app can be contained. Revenue Streams: The revenue streams generated from the app will be of two types. One will be from the simple sale of the app. Dog owners will buy the complete version of the app for a fixed price and gain the complete access to all the features of the app. A second stream will be generated from the advertising revenue on the free app, where simple advertisement pet related info or other apps in slots within the app will generate revenue. Both streams will be different figuratively as advertisers can pay more than customers. Customers will pay online, via cards, while advertisers can strike proper deals. Key Partners Mike Young Helen Daniels Scott Robinson Brad Willis Shane Ramsay Computer Tech & Co. Computer IT & Co. Key Activities Development plan Marketing activities Coding and graphics Alpha Testing Release in market-Beta testing Upgrade Value Proposition More time with your pet. Access to pet information. Socializing with your pet in tow. Customer Relationships One-on-one relationships Support staff for handling complaints and feedback Communities and personalized relationships Customer Segments Niche market- dog owners Key Resources Market intellectuals Inhouse staff Ramsay Capital Channels Digital marketing Traditional marketing Cost Structure Resource based project. Intellectuals are required for the project which increases cost. Revenue Streams Free app- advertising revenue Paid app- sales revenue Strategy The Company believes in developing an app that delivers quality to its customers. The research that is based on the tastes of the dog owners and their whereabouts, their knowhow and their pastimes with their pets is crucial to the app. Our research is based on the market data as well as individual data collected from surveys which will be conducted on individual basis. The idea is to develop a deeper understanding of the pet industry, specially the dog pets. The Company aims to build software compliant with the international standards, which can render the acceptability of the software almost global. While the Company knows that the Australian market is diverse and the global market is a totally different ball game, the basics behind both are the same. Dog owners require the same types of services and require the same type of freedom to move and interact with their pets. On the global level, the acceptability of pets inside households differs. Therefore, for the global market the software will be released in modular form where the users can download relevant modules and leave out modules that don’t interest them. The marketing strategy of the Company is simple and will be relevant to each segment. For the Australian market, an aggressive and low key digital marketing and conventional marketing campaign is set out. For the global audience the far-reaching digital media campaign is set out which will enhance our reach. Our support staff which is part of the marketing and after sales strategy. Competitive Analysis The app can be compared to some apps already in the market which have market penetration and are being used on IPhones currently. Since we are developing for Google Nexus, the app is Android based and has a wider applicability (Oster, 1999). MapMyDogWalk is an app that allows the user to map the entire walk via GPS and allows geo-tagging for photos and data. The app the Company is developing incorporates geo-tagging friends and sharing photos on existing social media platforms. The app will also be able to track friends nearby who happen to be in the neighborhood so social meet-ups can be arranged with dogs in tow. Pet First Aid is another app that is in the market which has similar features to what the app by the Company is offering. It lists all the first aid that a dog might require and all the symptoms that might occur. The app the Company offers will be able to list all the emergency centers in the neighborhood. In case of emergency, a call can be placed before arrival. The app will also list the latest info about the dog pet, so that the information can be provided online to the emergency centers. This will speed up work, although the data will be double checked once the pet arrives for check-up. The vets will be able to upload any medical data to the app, so that the pet can be treated with care. Tagg is essentially a GPS attachment to the dog’s collar and sends a signal if the dog crosses a certain set boundary. The app developed by the Company will have a similar module with the added feature of a link. The link will provide data on any platform, be it mobile or social media and paste feeds on social media if the setting is made. SWOT Analysis Strength: The app’s strength lies in its uniqueness. To date there is no app in the market that can combine the usefulness of many apps into one and present it in a singular form to the consumer. The dog app requires less memory to operate and fewer mobile resources to download and run. While it looks like it has many options and becomes confusing, the modular approach bring the app into perspective and multiple modules of the app can be used for multiple usage. The pricing of the app as a whole is lower than the modules, while the free version is a mass revenue generating unit (Testing, 2013). Weaknesses: The weakness of the project is the acceptance time. Some pet owners prefer living life without smartphones, which can be deterring and push back sales of the app. The feedback from the customer can be garbled and be incorrect at times which can deter progress. The progression of the software requires continuous development which requires the team to stay together. Any member leaving the team, weakens the team. However, since the time for the app to stay afloat in the market is optimum, most of the weaknesses can be countered. Opportunities: Most consumers love to use apps on their mobile device which is a positive sign. Dog owners prefer to move in packs and socialize with dog owners where they can discuss problems pertaining to their breeds with others openly. Similarly, dog owners love frequenting places where they can go with their pets instead of places where they have to leave their pets at home, even if it is dining out. The local market pertaining to pet products and services is vast and has a lot of opportunities which can be useful for the app. Incorporating them in the app will not only generate revenue, it will create goodwill and general bonding between the society. Threats: Major threats are apps that will offer similar or same features under a different banner. Most such competitors will also have more to offer in terms of features and charge more. We assume that the Company will have advanced by then and any such threats will subside due to continuous evolution in the programming of the app. (Pahl et al, 2007) Marketing The marketing plan includes digital marketing and conventional marketing. During the first 3 months of development, the marketing head will market the product to potential customers via social media. This will increase the reach of the product and when the product is ready for release will have some potential customers ready to download and use the product. The first 3 months of testing will see an aggressive digital and conventional marketing campaign to further the product into the targeted market. The conventional marketing will use billboards and TV. Digital marketing will continue throughout the lifecycle of the product, with advertisements placed on different social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. A webpage dedicated to the app will be designed where the latest app will be downloadable. Both the paid and free app will be available on the webpage. The content of the webpage will be updated as frequently as possible. The social media platforms will be maintained by dedicated professionals and will be outsourced for maintenance. Organization Structure The structure of the Company developing the app is simple. I, Mike Young, will be leading the organization. The marketing head, Scott, technical architect, Brad and graphic designer Helen will be leading different departments. The technical department and graphics department will be working in cohesion with each other. During the initial period, only 4 people will work on the app. While the app is in beta testing, the Company will hire staff in each department as per need. Most people will be hired in the technical department for refurbishing the software and adding more features and elements to it. The graphics department will require only 2 hirings in the 1st year which will suffice the development of the complete app. The support staff will be hired once the free app is launched after 6 months of testing. The Company already has IT technical staffs who handle day-to-day IT queries. Technical Structure Technically the software is an application that keeps track of your dog and his whereabouts. It also keeps an eye on the socially acceptable places for dogs and their owners, while keeping in view others who might be socializing in similar locations. Such software requires GPS tracking system linked directly to the mobile sets. The GPS not only links the dogs to the owners it also links the app to the mobile set creating a virtual map. The map shows the location of the user and of all the dog-specific sites. Additionally the map also shows the location of friends who have enabled the ‘show location’ option. This makes it easier to find friends who are walking dogs or hanging around with theirs in pet salons or visiting a vet. The software will be made using java and scripting languages to make the final product as light as possible. While it is impossible to create software that is devoid of bugs in the first go, the alpha testing phase of the software will remove as many bugs as possible. Graphically the app will be fine and suited to the Android phones in the beginning. The touch screen technology that requires extensive programming skills requires extra fine graphics that are exactly pixelated. High resolution images will be used, so that all information that is entered and received is as precise as possible. As the development progresses, the app will be modified to work on iPhones as well. Surveys reveal that a wide range of dog owners use iPhones, which gives us an edge while Android has a wide user base in terms of cell phones that it is found in. Most of the pet-shop listings and pet-related info will be integrated into the app as a module. The info will be available separately as well and can be downloaded and used as a book. Social media integration into the app is integral, since most of the activities can either be directly uploaded to social media or manually uploaded. Plan of Activities The team will start developing as soon as the funds are arranged. Our first phase is the programming of the basic app. Most of the programming will be done in modular form, so that when the Company does launch the modular app, the transition is easy. The programming will be on java and scripting languages. Marketing of the software will be done by word of mouth in the initial stages and advertisers will be approached with proposals directly. While there will be social media campaigning, most advertising that will be received for the free app, will be through in unconventional channels. Personal relations and appropriateness of the advertisements will be considered before the advertisements are placed on different marketing channels. Once in the market, the software will be allowed to run for 3 months. The response from the users will be used as a building block, since most of it will be improvement requests or bug fixes. After a fix the new software will be released and will again be run for 3 months. The feedback after 6 months will be used as a half yearly review and any major improvements to the software will be made after 6 months. A fairly new and improved version will be launched after 6 months, which will have all the features and will be free to use for 6 months with no fee or advertisements. As of now we will start our aggressive marketing campaigns on different marketing channels. 8 months into the project we will be able to recover 30% of the invested value. We aim to recover another 20% by the end of the 1st year which will total to 50%. The app which will have a penetration of almost 36% of the total households owning a pet will need fewer resources of the mobile phones which is a plus point. The app will also take up less memory space to run and less storage. Ideally a light software, the app will also be available as parts and users will be able to download custom modules. This will enhance the revenue generation stream and will also be able to encompass a more diverse range of users. Jan Feb March Apr May June July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar 3 months 3 months 3 months 3months Development Testing- Beta Fix errors and test further Upgrade to new version and test market with free version Develop the paid version Release full paid version and free version References Greenwald, T. (2012, january 1). Business Model Canvas: A Simple Tool For Designing Innovative Business Models. Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/tedgreenwald/2012/01/31/business-model-canvas-a-simple-tool-for-designing-innovative-business-models/ Oster, S. M. (1999). Modern competitive analysis. New York: Oxford University Press Pahl, N., Richter, A., & University of Applied Science Berlin. (2007). SWOT analysis: Idea, methodology and a practical approach. Munchen: GRIN Verlag. Petronzio, M. (2013, march 14). 10 Must-Have apps for Dog Owners. Retrieved from Mashable: http://mashable.com/2013/03/14/apps-for-dogs/ Testing, N. (2013, August 20). SWOT analysis on websites and mobile apps with usability testing. Retrieved from e27: http://e27.co/swot-analysis-on-websites-and-mobile-apps-with-usability-testing/ Read More