Marketing Plan for SmartTravel App - Essay Example

Marketing Plan for SmartTravel App 1. Executive Summary SmartTravel is a paid app for crowdsourcing that will provide travelers with real time reviews, tips and recommendation from other travelers. For instance, it will provide suggestions such as the best restaurant to enjoy a meal in New York to best tourist destination in East Africa. Hopefully, SmartTravel will become a must have application for all smart travelers. The success of this app will work to provide reliable, trustworthy end user information. The success will rest on user participation who will post reviews and at the same time provide their knowledge on tours and travel. One of the featured and most interesting feature will be that of allowing users upload videos and pictures of places they have visited, stayed and had fun. Therefore, it is hoped that this feature and the user friendly, interactive and clean interface will boost SmartTravel to be the fastest growing travel app market. SmartTravel is the name of the company as well as the first product that this company will launch. However, all the future products will be listed under the company name but will have different names that will reflect the target market. 2. Vision and Mission SmartTravel aims to harness the power of the crowd like no other designed app has managed to do. It will offer printed travel guides that will and that have been essential for tourists. However, such publications are printed after a two year period so as to offer up to date information to the clientele base. However, the guides are printed by one person who does not cover the different tastes of different people. Furthermore, they only cover one region which implies that tourists have to spend lots of money to purchase the guides if they are embarking on numerous tours in different places. Therefore, as there has been a continuous influx of smart phones with WiFi and also mobile coverage is everywhere, it will make sense to travelers to leave their cumbersome, outdated travel guides at home and carry smart phones loaded in an app that can update them with important information very fast. For instance, if one was in the Himalayas, they can share that information instantly on the SmartTravel. Thus, SmartTravel’s objective is to be the heart of this customer-focused movement by getting to let tourists share information, encounters and insights with each other directly and at the same time, bypass ancient channels. 3. Company Objectives The objectives of this product include: a. To have a target market and build a strong brand awareness. b. To be the most successful and trusted source of travel information. c. To integrate the knowledge gained in the success of SmartTravel app to launch future travel related products. 4. Market-Product Focus 4.1 Target Market SmartTravel aims at venturing into the tourism industry. Traveling is a hobby for most people. Those who do not travel frequently, atleast travel during the holidays. Therefore, SmartTravel target market is tourists from all over the world. More so, other than tourists, SmartTravel will target people who enjoy camping, hiking trips, game trips, for example, in the Maasai Mara in East Africa and sports fans for instance those who travel to witness FIFA world cup, Olympic games among others. The market is full of potential because many people would enjoy travelling if they have a guide that will offer them pin point accuracy and relevant information 24/7. SmartTravel will also target the smartphone market. Currently, android operating system is leading and thus SmartTravel will be selling because it will be bought as an inbuilt feature in the smartphone market. On the other hand, SmartTravel will venture in the app market where users can download it at a fee. 4.2 Competitive Advantage. SmartTravel will offer a video link to customers whereby they can post videos of places they have been. More so, it will offer a digital travel guide which is more efficient than traditional travel books. It will offer SmartTravel the high edge of the market. The unique selling proposition is the culture of trust. Users will be able to trust the information relayed to them because this app will offer group intelligent that will enhance their travel experience. 4.3 Communication SmartTravel will communicate the competitive advantage all over social media platform. The company will have a YouTube account that will demonstrate how the app is used as well as its benefits. Television and Radio stations will also communicate to about SmartTravel app for those who are not into social media. The message will be trust is earned and the company will fulfill its mission and vision to earn that trust. 5. Marketing Program 5.1 Product Strategy A product strategy is a roadmap that is only useful when one is aware of the location and the destination (McGrath 2001). It is important that this first product from SmartTravel will be in a position to set the benchmark for the future products. Crowdsourcing is crucial in giving choices to available information to us. However, it is challenging because the information available should and has to be trustworthy, otherwise, people can shun away the product (Lebraty 2013). A clear definition of the target market will offer SmartTravel the opportunity to launch a product with the exact information needed by that particular target market. This implies that every product will to tailored to suit the demands of the specific target market. 5.2 Pricing Strategy The main source of income to SmartTravel will be from end users after they pay to download the app from Google Play, Apple Store or any other market for Android devices. This strategy should reflect the prices of other apps in this travel category. The recommended price will be $4.5. Since this app is the first to be launched, future products will be worth over $4.5 because of the innovation (improved features) in them. 5.3 Promotion Strategy The launch of SmartTravel app will supported by a Facebook, Twitter, Instagram account a website well designed. The rise of web 2.0 minimized the advertising cost and made adverts to a specific target market faster than traditional channels (Tuten 2010). The use of modern channels will ensure maximum product exposure and its low cost will make it easier for the app to be adopted by people already and planning to travel. 5.4 Distribution Strategy The Product will be available in Play Store, Apple Store and other Android markets. These stores will host the app and will serve as the distribution strategies. 6. Evaluation Control SmartTravel will implement an evaluation control to measure the success or failure of the company. The first evaluation control will be based on the SmartTravel app that will set a roadmap for the fate of this company. On the other hand, a SWOT and PESTEL analysis will be conducted to measure the performance of the company. In addition, SmartTravel will monitor its customer base, compare revenues against costs in order to measure the performance of the app.Furthermore, client feedback and reviews will specify whether the objectives have been met. Works Cited McGrath, Michael E. Product Strategy For High Technology Companies. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001. Print. Lebraty, Jean-Fabrice. Crowdsourcing. London: Wiley-ISTE, 2013. Print. Tuten, Tracy L. Enterprise 2.0. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger, 2010. Print. Read More