Market analysis/ Audit - Essay Example

? Market analysis/Audit Define the market (who is the target audience). In the 21st century, the aspects related to creating a market and business plan have dramatically changed. In order to penetrate the market, the company must attempt to find their market segment. The first market that is exploitable is the student body in universities. As a company, it is crucial that students are aware of this product because majority want the assurance of security. Another market that is feasible for the company to penetrate are the government officials who can derive the benefits of the product. Another market that the company is interested in are the banks. Since security is such a focal point for these institutions, it makes logical sense to compete to attract that market niche. Finally, healthcare companies should be able to be amazed at this product. Companies such as Blue Cross must adhere to strict auditing rules of auditing due to data integrity. Hence, this product will accommodate to all their needs. From research that was gathered, it was clear that the product must have conditional and epistemic values associated with the product. Therefore, the focus should be to diversify the product to the Demographic profile that the company wants to accommodate. Swot analysis on the product p.135 (principles of marketing book) threats: legislative effects problems with patent  market demand  Strengths: The prime strength for this product is the fact that of the technological edge that it possesses. For instance, the fire alarm comes with a voice recognition that has dramatically blown its competition. Moreover, the company’s voice recognition is the fastest growing segment in the fire alarm industry. The product itself is an amazing product in the market because it has a special alarm activated voice notify system. No other product can compete with this product in the market. Moreover, the fire alarm industry is an industry that is expected to grow around 10% even though the market is saturated. Furthermore, the product is ready to use without the condition of being plugged in or the extra dire of batteries. The unique system allows the product to work even during crucial times. Another huge element that this product possesses is the fact that it is very reliable compared to its former competitors. In essence, the product has been tested millions of time before being established in the market place. With it is fantastic design, the product is a very high-quality that continues to deliver amazing value for its price. Clearly, the product delivers from point A to point Z. Weakness: Although the company is poised to make a strong commitment to its product, its fairly new in the market. Hence, the company must have accumulated to several long-term debt. In addition, it must have solid IT group that specializes n this type of technology because of the product uniqueness. The company does have many opportunities to create new channels for its product. Another huge barrier that technology may be difficult to achieve, with every changing innovations that continue to plague the marketplace. For instance, it can potentially create an application that enables users to open it with the touch of a button from their phone. Moreover, the business itself of the alarm is amazing business as it has the potential to hit $3.5 million. The Company can penetrate different channels of marketing its brand through constant technological avenues. With the advent of cloud computing, the company can really solidify its brand through the e-procurement process. Moreover, the company can lobby for tax breaks as a company for energy-saving rebates. Lastly, the company has a potential to go global, which is a unique selling point in its sphere The threats that continue to plague the industry are many that must be mitigated. For instance, the economic recession globally has continued to plague the international and domestic markets. Due to this recession, the fire alarm equipment industry has been impacted in a negative manner. Hence, the company is under great scrutiny to avoid the mishaps that can potentially impact its credit line in flourishing countries such as Asia-Pacific, Latin American and Eastern European countries. The market is very saturated which can be a huge barrier for the company. The growth to expand within the company poses a problem because the market continues to shrink and other low-end fire alarms continue to make progress. Market Segmentation Market segmentation is crucial in order to understand which markets to exploit. The first market segment would be college students who are residing in their dormitories. This is a huge market because burglary is a huge focal point at the university level. The second market segmentation that would be exploited through appealing to hard public infrastructure government buildings. Government buildings have the necessary funds to allocate to these special type of alarms and can deeply derive the benefits of this product. Segmenting a market is essential because it creates value for customers and understands customers needs and wants in a heavy-driven industry. Demographic Profile: The kind of people using our product will be the young working class. This ranges between men and women and their ages. The demographic profile would consist of married couples, elderly, and households who are have families and business. This is a great channel to exploit because all the customers want to ensure security in their respective households. Moreover, they are willing to spend hefty amounts of money in this project. Lifestyle Profile: The people who will use are product have to be open and willing to trying new things. Early adapters are usually people who attempt to try things even without hearing reviews of a product and will try things just for the sake of curiosity. We feel that with early adapters we can spread the word of our product and get others to try it. In addition, the households allocate money to provide safety for their families. Communication and marketing strategy (advertising)- is another book Strategies for achieving the 4 P’s must be done in a feasible manner. All products must look appealing and very urban that wants consumers to buy the product. Distribution consists of keeping a smooth flow of logistics throughout the life cycle. Price must be affordable and must be dictated by market. Since competition will be tough, adding services with products should be conducted. Lastly, promotion should be conducted aggressively through brick and mortar advertising along with the usage of social media. The concepts of e-marketing have dynamically been modified with the advent of social networking. One of the core principles that have emerged from the innovation of developing a digital communication strategy is to enact a viral marketing scheme. Viral marketing can be achieved in this scenario by depicting the uses of the product in a very unique way and allow the users to use social media to spread the message. Another essential element that can be enacted through social networking is utilizing the “like” page on Facebook. In essence, this can dramatically help optimize exposure in many ways. Since huge search engines such as Google use search optimization engines to pick up key phrases, adding key phrases such as “alarm” or “security” will assist the company get more “clicks” on their website. The company can create page about the product and persuade individuals to “like” the page in which pictures and demonstrations can be shown to followers. Communicating to the customers is pivotal in an e-commerce website because it allows individuals to be exposed to the product line. Moreover, it allows customer to give feedback, which is a huge aspect towards thriving in this market. Without a doubt, the recent technology boom has created an aura of this new digital age that has been dictated through explosive growth of tailoring individual needs of customers. It also allows the company to even have a strong option of outsourcing and market internationally with just a click of button. The internet business can potentially open new markets for this type of product. Undoubtedly, the traditional “brick and mortar” companies struggle to get any revenue from customers. Hence, developing a sound plan that can take the venture business online to appeal to new customers can be extremely beneficial. Conducive research indicates that 65% of Americans use the internet to shop online, which the company must use for creating new opportunities. Another way to appeal to customers is using the Facebook and coinciding with a safety group that lobbies for children safety. Research indicates that only 6% of the children will only wake up to an alarm. Hence, it is pivotal that smoke alarms with voice detection systems are featured because they can wake up 85% of kids. This should be the main selling point along with collaborating with a group. Another key tool is to emphasize residential health casualties that occur due to fire. Hearing an identified voice that is recorded by an individual can be critical because research indicates 79% of the children are awake by the noise. This can be used to not only create and boost morale from lobbying groups. Overall entering the Internet era is going to be extremely potent for the company. We intend to create a website that it will enable us to attract every market segment. The website will send newsletters to our customers. In essence, we are letting the website do the marketing for us. It will keep customers updated in new products or any other essential company changes. We also tend teaming up with hospitals and research teams to look for possible advancements and additions in our product, we will add legitimacy to our product through these partnerships with well-respected hospital research staffs. The problem however is the fact that the market is very saturated. Thus, there is a new push to enact a new sales strategy that centers around research and development, innovation, and leadership. Disadvantages: Without a doubt, we are not a company that excels in technology so it will be difficult for us to enter the internet era without being equipped about the industry. We also have to acknowledge that teaming up and creating a website will requires us to have a huge cost of employing people with technical support. We need to hire people that upgrade, maintain, and troubleshoot our website. So in essence, cost again becomes a vital factor. Moreover, the company must sell the product and service as a bundle which many individuals refrain from in any electronic gadget. Lastly, the equipment continues to sky-rocket has products including microprocessor-based detectors and other multi-sensor devices. Hence, the technical expertise is an issue that must be addressed. So is it beneficial or just time consuming for us to do that? Lastly, if we move from brick-mortar buildings to our website, will that hurt or grow our business? The risk is that we should focus more in retail stores rather than the internet because people tend to buy this cheap commodity in the stores. All these factors combine can tremendously help our cause and help us to become a supreme dominant force in our industry. Advertising plan Objective: In this advertising plan, the main aim is to expose the product to the customer. Since the company is new, shedding the lights on the superb technology that is utilized in these products is highly critical. Penetrating the channels of advertising through e-commerce along with “brick and mortar” stores can be highly beneficial. Thus, putting advertisements in radio and TV along with offering incentives to retailers can dramatically boost the company’s motives. Moreover, it is crucial that informing the public about the features of the product can tremendously facilitate the cause. Another idea can be to pursue personal selling at all levels. Personal selling according to many companies can be tedious but can build life-long relationships. Again, the key goal is to question the essence of effectiveness of competitor products. Residential fires are unable to effectively wake up individuals, which can risk lives. By catching the appeal of the emotion, the customer base will be highly broadened by specifically targeting the functionality of the synchronization and voice transmission of the product itself. How will the goals be achieved? Achieving the goals is crucial. Hence, creating a timeline for this can facilitate the situation itself. TIMELINE Goals will be achieved through following steps. First and foremost would be to construct an integrated marketing program that delivers superior value and present it to the executives. Second, the company must recruit the IT network by hiring experienced individual. Decide to outsource or hire within. Third, the company should propose the plan to stakeholders, create a proposal solicitation. Moreover, the fourth step requires the company to propose the plan to retailers, choose suppliers, construct. The next step would be to decide on value proposition, differentiation, and positioning using marketing technology. In addition to value preposition, the company must conduct an order-routine specification, understand the logistics of the business, and assess inventory. Another key element is to dictate the rhythm for customer relationship management, build strong relationships and develop a strong sense of management information systems. Lastly, analyzing the project lifecycle and conduct a performance review through severe feedback The first step in order to ensure that the action plan will be executed in the perfect manner is appointing a project manager. The project manager will ensure that the all the phases of the project will be in check. In addition, the project manager will serve as a mediator between the retailer and the suppliers. The ultimate goal is not have lag time in any case. Since sales will be a huge focal point, is essential that the company starts its business cycle on the right foot. Without a doubt, the company must execute the marketing plan in order to reap revenues. Penetrating the target market should be the first priority for Company G as it strives to accumulate revenue. With top-quality product that the company offers, retailers would not hesitate to display this to their customers. This would establish brand reputation, which could cultivate the growth for the company itself. If the Board of Directors is able to execute this plan, it can potentially find channels for success. Measuring results It is evident that every project life cycle must have evaluation tools that are associated with in in order to assess the success of the project. Creating a systems development life cycle will be a huge product that will have commerce aspects attached to it. In order to implement the marketing strategies, it is crucial to develop a tactic and action plan. The tactical plan would be to aggressively pursue the brick and mortar advertising. This would consist of television and radio advertisements. In addition, offering incentives to retailers to place the products is vital. For instance, rewarding customers with 20% of the product sale can be appealing. Another critical element is aggressive marketing. Since the young generation has the capacity to spend money even on credit, it is highly essential that marketing is executed flawlessly. First and foremost tool that can be used to analyze the project plan is assessing the sales of the products. If the sales have risen up to at least 5%, then the project is successful. However, the more critical component of assessing the project is asking the customer base about their knowledge of the product. This can be achieved through surveys and sending e-mails that offer incentives. Another benchmark that can be used to evaluate the success of the project can be see through the proposals of retailers asking to carry this product. Retailers understand that a product can boost their sales. Hence, they are more likely to carry a product that attracts customers and offers a solid return of investment. Communication mix In a heavy commerce-driven world, communication mix has become a crucial component towards enacting the marketing strategy. Communication mix matrix consists of 6 key elements that dictate the whole process. This process consists of: advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, personal relations, and public relations. In essence, the communication mix is the catalyst that drives promotion as all elements must be assimilated to benefit the company. Advertising would consist of many factors such as social media and radio advertisement to attract customers. Necessary brochures, catalogues, and coupons will be the main incentives for customers to try this product. If direct marketing can be conduct at a high level, it can be extremely effective and can penetrate the selected target market in order to solidify brand equity. Personal and public relations will adjoin force to fulfil the challenges of informing the government and lobbying for getting patents and copyrights for this product. Works Cited Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (1991).Principles of marketing (5th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall "Marketing Communication Mix Overview And Guidance." Sales And Marketing Online Resource And Strategies For Real World Success. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Jan. 2012. . Bennett, R. 2007, "Sources and use of marketing information by marketing managers", Journal of Documentation, vol. 63, no. 5, pp. 702-726. "Greene Concepts Inkway USA Unveils Viral Internet Video-Overlay Marketing", 2011, Manufacturing Close - Up, , pp. n/a. Internet Marketing Company Launches a Free SEO Resource Site 2010, , United States, New York. "Internet Gains Strength As A Marketing Medium", 1999, Retail Delivery News, vol. 4, no. 22, pp. 1-6. Editors, B. 1999, MODCOMP, Inc. Announces Appointment of Gary Fowler as VP, Sales and Marketing, Internet Products; New Position to Expand Internet Products Division, United States, New York. Stead, M., Ross, G., Angus, K. & McDermott, L. 2007, "A systematic review of social marketing effectiveness", Health Education, vol. 107, no. 2, pp. 126-191. Read More