MaxEmail Marketing Plan - Research Paper Example

? MaxEmail Marketing Plan Company MaxEmail is a communications firm founded in 1992 by Matshushita Graphic Communications Systems, MGCS engineers. Located in the US, the company aims at providing its customers with email to fax and fax to email services. It therefore produces and sells fax machines and provides services such as spam checker, fax on demand, fax broadcasting, IVR, internet services and fax mail boxes. It serves a wide variety of customers ranging from individual customers to corporate organizations and the government (mAXeMAIL, 2012). Bearing in mind that there are other strategic competitors in this market such as Ring Central, MaxEmail has to adopt strategies that would give it a competitive advantage over its rivals. To accomplish this, Brumfitt, Barnes, Norris and Jones (2001) propose finding effective ways of addressing the competitive marketplace and supporting everyday operations. Customer targets According to Armstrong and Kotler (2003), only a fraction of the entire population in an area would buy the products from a firm. The task would therefore be to identify who these people are and then targeting the marketing efforts of the business towards them. This ensures that a business only deals with the target market that would be profitable. In the case of MaxEmail, the target market includes the 3 million users drawn from the government and business enterprises with whom it enters into contracts to provide communication. All marketing efforts would therefore be directed towards this target market. The limited marketing budget should be a reason for such a company to market to the 3 million users as it would be more efficient than generally marketing to the whole market. Customer segments In customer segmentation, an organization would identify different groups in the market based on their traits. There is more benefit in focusing marketing efforts on a group with similar characteristics, wants and needs that would be with a group comprising of undifferentiated people (Brumfitt et al., 2001). Customers could be segmented in various ways such as according to their demography, psychograph, geography and use. Focusing marketing efforts on a segment reduces expenses and increases revenue in an organization. There are a number of services and goods on offer at MaxEmail including fax machines and services such as fax on demand, fax broadcasting and spam checker (MaxEmail, 2012). It also provides internet services like photocopying. It would be necessary for the company to identify the various needs by the government, business enterprises and individuals then categorize its products in a similar fashion. This would see the firm serve each of these segments differently according to their needs and capabilities. Product position MaxEmail rides on the strength of its easy to use interface and voicemail services. The company has diversified its production to not only cover a range of fax machines but also various services that go hand in hand with this. This has been furthered by desirable customer service that gives it an edge over its rivals. Serving the government market gives it a competitive edge over its rival Ring Central which depends on individual buyers and businesses enterprises. Its lean stock makes management easy for the company. Nonetheless, the company’s products are perceived to be expensive as compared to what its rivals offer. Similarly, the products lack electronic signs which its rival Ring Central offers. The company thus faces threat from Ring Central especially now that its products are considered to be less expensive and largely diversified. Closely related to segmentation is product positioning. Product positioning entails the creation of a consistent, unique and recognized perception of customers on the general image of the organization and its products. The products or services provided by a company would be positioned based on the accompanying benefits, users, price, class, application and quality level (Armstrong & Kotler, 2003). This aims to serve the products meant for a specific segment and the needs of a product at various prices. A product could therefore be positioned in different ways. Fax machines are the major products at MaxEmail as the firm seeks to be the leader in this form of communication globally with consumers drawn from the government, business firms and individual users. The firm is keen to maintain high quality and value delivery to its customers by ensuring on-time delivery and quality print outs. Its major competitor, Ring Central, located in Chicago has been rated top most company in customer service and provides the cheapest services in the telecommunication industry (Ring Central, 2012. It offers a variety of products in its range of high quality products giving customers a wide range to choose from. It also provides electronic signs in its products. Ring Central does not serve the governments market but focuses on enterprises and individuals. There are positioning strategies that work better than others. It would therefore be important for firms to position their products so as to make them available to its target buyers. MaxEmail has adopted a customer service approach by ensuring timely delivery and quality products. Despite this, the market’s perception that the firm’s products are expensive would make it lose its competitiveness in the market. More and more customers would opt for cheaper products from other firms such as Ring Central. Since the company has succeeded in customer service, it would be advisable that considerable effort be put into ensuring that the company becomes a cost leader. This would be an effective strategy in toppling rivals like Ring Central from the top. In addition to this, the company should look to diversifying the features provided by its products. Differentiation strategy would also enable its customers get the value sought when purchasing its products as Brumfitt et al. (2001) argue that this should result in superior service and special features in a firm’s products. This would be achieved if the company includes electronic signs on its products and also make computing and internet services available. These features have to be customized depending on the customer needs such that the needs of each customer would be met. Conclusion MaxEmail would only gain competitive advantage over its rival Ring Central if it focuses on giving value to its target market. The firm should therefore segment its market according to their uniqueness and focus on giving value to each segment. This should also include provision of services and product features sought by the market. This will see the firm claim a larger market share of the 3 million users market. References Armstrong, G., & Kotler, P. (2003). Marketing: an introduction. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Brumfitt, K., Barnes, S., Norris, L. & Jones, J. (2001). Business Planning. Gloucestershire, UK: Nelson Thornes Ltd. MaxEmail (2012). Retrieved 3 March 2012 from www.maxemail.com Ring Central (2012). Retrieved 3 March 2012 from www.ringcentral.com Read More