Elaboration of Marketing Strategies to Target and Position the Products - Research Paper Example

? Marketing Table of Contents Introduction 3 Landline Usage in USA 3 2. Declining use of landline in USA 4 3. Three possible actions that should have taken by the marketers of landline 5 4. Ethiopia - Best Foreign country to market the product 6 5. Segmentation and positioning of landline in Ethiopia 6 Works Cited 8 Name of the Student: Name of the Professor: Course Number: Date of the Paper: Marketing Product Assessment Introduction The research paper elaborates the fact behind obsolescence of land line usage in United States of America (USA). In the 20th century USA has been the leader in landline density in the world. Slowly with the advent and the rapid response in usage of the wireless phones and Voice Over internet Protocol (VoIP) the usage of landline has come to the verge of extinction in USA. The research paper describes how the usage of landline is endangered by the invention of new technology. The best foreign country where the telephone manufacturers of USA should market their products is in Ethiopia, Africa. The marketing strategies to target and position the products are also elaborated in the paper. 1. Landline Usage in USA During the 20th century, landline has been the only source of communication in USA. More or less every household had the access to landline for their communicating purpose with the outside world. There have been times when a particular village in USA used to have only one phone and that phone has been their only source of communication with the outside world. Landline not only served as the only mode of communication for the people of USA at that time but it also acted as a savior in time of emergencies. The target market of landline in the 20th century was the upper class people who could afford the costly rental connections. Landline connection was not at all cheap for the lower income group. But with the advent of wireless phones and the Voice Over internet Protocol (VoIP), the use of landline is slowly becoming obsolete. The people of USA are now attracted towards the usage of mobile phones and they also prefer the usage of internet for communicating with their near ones, friends and others (Shimp 322). 2. Declining use of landline in USA The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) has identified that in June 2010 one of every four American homes has access to wireless telephones and they relied on its services. About 24.9% of the adults in households of USA have deserted the use landline and is using cell phones. 29% of the children in households are also using cell phones and thus in USA the need for landlines are becoming obsolete (Blumberg “Wireless Substitution: Early Release of Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey 2010”). In USA the subscription to wireless connections has risen from 33.8 million in 1995 to 322.9 million in June 2011 (“American Community Survey”). The reason behind this rising number of cell phone users are due to its feature that it can be carried to any place. Cell phone has the advantage of communicating with anybody at any point of time. The texting option has also become popular among the youths of USA, which has totally removed the use of landline by the youth. (“US Wireless Industry”) Another reason for landline becoming obsolete is the injection of 3G in the USA market. 3G Internet connections have made it possible for the mass to communicate with their close ones more conveniently through video chat. It has been seen that USA has the most unique subscribers of 3G than any countries (“Submissions Accepted for MobileCON 2013 Best Mobile IT Solutions of the Year”). About 32.9 % of the people living in poverty have also been using wireless telephones of cell phones. This shows the popularity of cell phones among all classes of people in USA. This also implies that cell phone connections are quite affordable (Blumberg “Wireless Substitution: Early Release of Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey 2010”). It has been said for color television it took 21 years to reach every house of the world, more than 95 years for landline services to penetrate into each household and it took less than 17 years for cell phones to penetrate the world market (“Submissions Accepted for MobileCON 2013 Best Mobile IT Solutions of the Year”). 3. Three possible actions that should have taken by the marketers of landline Though the usage of cell phones has captured every market across the world but revival of landline usage is also necessary. Cell phones provide with a number of advantages to the user but it has its disadvantage too. The main disadvantage which the cell phone users face is the problem in voice clarity along with sudden network break down. Cell phones can provide the advantage of mobility but it has the disadvantage that it cannot provide voice clarity. Voice clarity is the advantage in case of landline. The landline users enjoy the benefit of voice clarity. This can be a strong point to tap the market by the marketers of landline. They can spread the awareness for this quality that they serve to the customers and thus penetrate the market. The landline marketers should also cut their rentals and serve their customers with low tariffs so that more customers are attracted and they can acquire their lost position in the market due to cell phone popularity. Another marketing action that can be taken by the marketers is that they can give free Wi-Fi connections to their customers and give good services when their customers need it. Good customer service is the best way to satisfy customers (Habels 234). 4. Ethiopia - Best Foreign country to market the product Ethiopia in Africa has the lowest number of mobile phone users according to the CIA World Factbook. The population of Ethiopia is 90 million and the penetration of cell phone there is only 2%. The usage of mobile phone has not been popular in Ethiopia because there is few cell phone licensed company. These few companies charge high tariff which are not quite affordable for the general public other than the rich class. This is the right place where the landline marketers can market their products because of the less usage of cell phones. The landline marketers thus can penetrate into the Ethiopian market by making the mass aware of the facilities that are offered by landline and also the additional features that are available with the landline such as option of sending text from the landline, free caller id etc (G. Hofstede and J. Hofstede 345). The marketers should provide the mass with lower call charges both national and international and also allow the customers to send a limited number of free messages per day. The marketers should also work on to improve the networks they are providing to the customers and also test the voice clarity whether it is perfect or not. 5. Segmentation and positioning of landline in Ethiopia Ethiopia is the second largest in population in Africa after Nigeria and has its population rising to 90 million. Ethiopians are not so rich that all of them can afford the costly mobile phones and thus the landline concept can bring in revolution in the International Telecommunication Union. The marketers can segment the market according to the class of people and then can strategize the tariff plan. The lower income group will use the landline as the only mode of communication with the outside world and thus will subscribe to those plans that are cost effective. The marketers after segmenting the market should position their products in such a way that the customers are attracted to use landline for ever (Wells 254). Works Cited “American Community Survey.” US Census Bureau. US Census Bureau, 2011. Web. 31 July 2013. Blumberg, Stephen. “Wireless Substitution: Early Release of Estimates from the National Health Interview Survey 2010.” Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 Dec. 2010. Web. 31 July 2013. Habels, Geert. Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions and Organization across Nations. California: Sage Publications, 2001. Print. Hofstede, Geert and Jangret Hofstede. Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004. Print. Shimp, Terrance. Integrated Marketing Communications in Advertising and Promotion. California: Thomson Southwestern. 2007. Print. “Submissions Accepted for MobileCON 2013 Best Mobile IT Solutions of the Year.” CTIA Wireless Association. CTIA Wireless Association, 29 July 2013. Web. 31 July 2013. “US Wireless Industry.” CTIA Wireless Association. CTIA Wireless Association, May 2013. Web. 31 July 2013. Wells, William. Consumer Behavior. New Jersey: John Wiley & sons Inc. 2006. Print. Read More