Role of Communication When Launching a New Product - Research Paper Example

? Global Media Management Global Media Management When launchings a new product, it is important for a firm to ensure that they manage their marketing communication appropriately. This is because it is through commu7nication that the new product will impact on the targeted market. A firm should identify the communication objectives to ensure that the communication they make about the new product is effective. When a new product is launched, its success greatly depends on the efforts of the marketing team. If marketing of the products is done poorly ten without doubt the new product will not be received well by consumers but if it is marketed in the best way possible it will result in positive reception by the consumers. Global Media Management Introduction The communication industry has been one of the toughest industries in the world. This is as a result of the immense competition and rivalry that is characterized by the industry. In fact, it is one of the most competitive industries in the world. This can be rooted from the fact that the communication industry experiences the most technological innovations across all industries. Every now and then new communication software and hardware are innovated. The only way a firm in the industry can make sure that they are enjoying maximum revenue from the industry’s market, is to make sure that they are the first ones to come up with such innovations since this will not only attract more consumers to their product but also ensure that they have productions rights of the technology they have introduced to the market. Innovation has made the communication industry to resemble a perfect competition market since no one firm enjoys domination over the market due to these new innovations that revolutionize the industry every now and then. Green Technologies has developed a new smart phone which it intends to launch in the next four months. It is important for the firm to undertake a good marketing strategy to ensure that the product is received well by consumers in the communication market. In order for this to happen, the marketing team should identify its communication objectives, the target consumer group, the brand which they will give the phone, and what media tools they will use in their campaign of launching the new product. Communication Objectives To ensure that Green Technologies successfully launches the new phone, it is of note for them to come up with communication objectives for their campaign. This will be beneficial to the firm because, coming up with communication objectives will save the company both time and money since they will undertake communication strategies that will focus on the objectives they have set rather than undertaking a general communication strategy that will convey information that might be ambiguous and unnecessary costing them a lot of money and time. One communication objective in the launching of their product is to communicate to consumers in the market on the system specifications of the new smart phone. The firm should specify to consumers on each and every feature the new phone has explaining to them in a simple way in which ordinary persons who do not understand technological specifics can understand about the new product. For example, the new smart phone will come with a 5.0 inch display screen with high definition. This means that the phone can display videos and pictures in crystal clear quality. In the above example, not all consumers understand what high definition is hence by explaining to the consumers that it means quality pictures and videos it further explains the meaning of the term high definition to a layman. This will go a long way in ensuring the consumers understand the specifications of the phone. Another communication objective that the firm should undertake is informing the consumers the advantage the smart phone has over other phones. This is due to the fact that in the communication industry, for a new product especially a smart phone to be successful in the market, it should have at least the following qualities. It should be fast in its processing power, it should have applications that will make social networking both easy and more entertaining. It should have an attractive home screen and finally it should be able to connect to the internet in fast speeds. This is because these are the common features that consumers usually look for in smart phones. In its campaign, the firm should communicate to consumers the presence of these features and all other features present in the phone. It should also communicate how these features are better than those in other smart phones hence giving consumers a reason why they should choose the smart phone over other phones. Finally, communication objective that the firm will have is to ensure that their communication reaches the entire market. This will ensure that every consumer knows about the phone. By ensuring that their information is conveyed over a wide consumer base the firm will be increasing its chances of ensuring that the phone is well received by more consumers hence its success. In making sure that their campaign reaches the entire consumer market the firm will decides on issues such if the product is intended for local or international market, the target consumer base among others. Target Group In order for the launch campaign of the new product to take place both smoothly and effectively, it is crucial for the company to come up with a target consumer group which it intends the new smart phone to impact. Since the company is launching a smart phone its target customers will be divided into three. The first target group will be young persons that are teenagers between the age of 13 and 19. This is an ideal target group because a significant number of smart phone users usually fall under this age group. For example, according to Hall, 37 percent of teenagers in the United States of America have a Smartphone (Hall, 2013). The other target group will be college and university students aged between 20 to 25 years. This is another age group that is a significant consumer of smart phones. In fact, university students are one of the groups that largely use smart phones. In the United Kingdom, eighty five percent of students in universities own Smart phones (Bury Times, 2013). The final target group will be the working class aged between the years of 25 to 34. This will be the main target group of the campaign launch. This is because, it is the group that mostly uses smart phones. A study done by Infographic revealed that sixty two percent of the people who own smart phones are aged between the ages of 25 to 34 (Alexander, 2013). Hence this is the main target group in the launch of the new products since the firm is more likely to generate revenue from this target group than the other target group. Brand Positioning It is crucial for the firm to develop a brand that will capture the consumer’s attention enabling it to penetrate the communication market which is characterized by immense competition. According to (Koekemoer, 2004), brand positioning is the process of creating a brand ensuring that the brands take up a space that is distinctive in the market. This will ensure that the new Smartphone will occupy a share of the market that is distinctive. In order for the firm to ensure that their brand is well positioned there are a number of factors that the firm should ensure the brand fulfills. The firm should ensure that the brand is unique from other competitors. The brand should also be both businesswise and geographically appropriate. This means the product should be very flexible. The firm should also ensure that the product can be constantly delivered to all consumer access points. All these factors must be achieved by the firm since it is through them that consumers form views and opinions about the product which will determine whether the new product will result in success or failure. The firm should focus on when to introduce the new product into the market rather than focusing on how the new product will be introduced in the market. Media Vehicles to be used In its product launch campaign, it is essential for the firm to consider what media vehicles to use when marketing their new product as wrong media channels result to the failure in marketing a new product. When choosing appropriate media vehicles to use in the launch campaign, there are various factors that the company should consider before it chooses specific vehicles. One factor to consider is the cost that will be incurred in using a media vehicle. It is crucial to consider the factor of cost since one does not want to run the company out of money as a result of marketing. Another factor that should be considered is the number of consumers the media vehicle reaches. This is because there are media vehicles that reach more consumers than others. A good example is comparing television media and print media. Both of these vehicles will reach a lot of people but television media will reach more people since nowadays most consumers rely on it in making decisions rather than print media. Another factor to consider is the target group which is intended for the product (Clifton, 2009). This is because different groups of people usually rely on information from different means of media. For example, young people usually use the internet media while old people usually use print media. Finally, Green Technologies should consider whether they have designed their product for local markets or international markets since the two require different vehicles of media. The firm will use television media in marketing its new product. This is because television media will reach the three target groups that the firm intends to reach. People between the age of 13 and 34 usually spend a lot of time watching television hence it is the best media vehicle to use in their launch campaign. The firm will also use internet media specifically social media to market the launch of their new product. This is because the firm aims at targeting people who use a lot of social media which is accessible to people from all over either suing their phones or computers. It is through these social networks that consumers will learn about the product. For example, the firm will use social sites such as Facebook and Twitter to advertise their new product to consumers by explaining to them the benefits of owning the new phone. This will be a double advantage to the firm since this type of media will reach a huge number of their target group. Finally, the firm will also incorporate print media as media vehicle. This is as a result of print media having a wide reader base which comprises mostly of the business class consumers who are the major target for the company’s product. The company will not focus on a specific media vehicle. All three media vehicles can be used together hence realizing full coverage of their marketing campaign. This is because incorporating the three vehicles of media will ensure that they back up each other where there are disadvantages. The firm will incorporate all the marketing elements to ensure that the product is launched and received by the consumers effectively. The four elements of marketing include Product, price, place, and promotion (Porter, 2008). Product includes informing consumers of the product and services the firm is supplying while prices involve setting a price that is both competitive and attracts more consumers. Place involves ensuring consumers know where the firm’s product can be accessed and finally promotion involves using different methods to make the consumer aware of the benefits and features that accompany the given product. By mixing the four elements of communication the company will ensure that their launch campaign will be successful. It will also assure positive response of the new Smart phone by consumers. The choice of media tools that green company will use will be appropriate since they will ensure that the company will be successful in launching and marketing its new product since it will be received well by the consumers. Conclusion Marketing in any firm determines the success of the firm especially if the firm is introducing a new product in the market. It is of great importance that a firm which is introducing a new product to invest a lot in marketing and communication since the two will have a huge impact on how the new product is received by consumers in the market. Branding is also another aspect in which companies launching new products should focus on, as it creates an good image to a consumer, which they will associate with hence ascertaining loyalty to the product. References Alexander A.2012. Smartphone Usage Statistics 2012 [Infographic]. Accessed may 7, 2012, {http://ansonalex.com/infographics/smartphone-usage-statistics-2012-infographic/} Burytimes, 2013. Four-fifths of New University and College Students own Smart phones. Accessed may 7, 2012, {http://www.burytimes.co.uk/uk_national_news/10287051.Four_fifths_of_new_university_and_college_students_own_smartphones/?ref=nt} Clifton, R. 2009. Brands and Branding. John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey. Hall, B. 2013. Teenagers & Smart phones: How they’re Already Changing 5the World, Accessed May 7, 2012, {http://readwrite.com/2013/04/08/teenagers-smartphones-how-theyre-changing-the-world Brian S Hall} Koekemoer, L.2004. Marketing Communications, Juta and Company Ltd, Claremont, Western Cape. Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F. & McDaniel, C. D. 2011. Essentials of Marketing, Cengage Learning, Mason, OH. Porter, M. E. 2008. Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, Simon and Schuster, New York. Sengupta, S. 2005. Brand Positioning: Strategies for Competitive Advantage, Tata McGraw-Hill Education, New Delhi. Read More