Assignment 1: Part A: Your Marketing Plan
For this assignment, you will document your hypothetical company’s background information and mission statement, your company’s short- and long-term goals, an environmental analysis, and a SWOT analysis.
Note: You should create and / or make all necessary assumptions needed for the completion of this assignment.
Instructions
Create the first part of your marketing plan:
Write an introduction to your company. Describe your hypothetical company, its location, and the product it makes or the service it provides, and introduce the contents of your marketing plan.
Develop your company’s mission statement.
Decide the main goals that you would like to achieve within the next year (short term) and the main goals that you would like to achieve within the next five years (long term). Determine the most appropriate ways to measure both short- and long-term goals.
Note: Consider the following metrics: tracking downloads of website content, website visitors, increases in market share, customer value, new product /service adoption rates, retention, rate of growth compared to competition and the market, margin, and customer engagement.
Develop an environmental analysis that includes competitive, economic, political, legal, technological, and sociocultural forces.
Develop both a SWOT analysis and needs analysis for your product / service. Each analysis should examine three strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for your company.
Use at least three academic resources as quantitative marketing research to determine the feasibility of your product / service. These resources should be industry specific and relate to your chosen product / service. Note: Wikipedia and other websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
· Be typed, double-spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
· Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length of 4 single spaced pages
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
Analyze marketing environments and strategies used to strengthen product or service positioning.
a. Evaluate data and information on customer/consumer behavior.
b. Evaluate marketing research tools involved in the marketing process.
c. Examine the marketing science of customer behavior and products in the marketing exchange process.
Evaluate marketing strategies used to create/communicate customer value.
a. Analyze the marketing framework through a situation analysis.
Create an effective marketing plan.
a. Develop recommendations based on market analysis and strategy.
b. Develop strategies to assess performance and achieve marketing goals.
c. Develop dynamic strategies for competing.
Marketing Plan, Iconix Consulting Group
Introduction
Iconix Consulting Group is a technology-based consulting company found in Alto, Palto, San Francisco, California, United States of America. The company will specialize in the marketing of technology products for the manufacturers of these products. The manufacturers will be relieved of the function of marketing and that work will be done by the Iconix Group. Iconix Consulting Group will be in charge of marketing computers, smartphones, televisions, digital decoders, operating system software, work-based technologies such as over-head projectors, microwaves, refrigerators.
Recently the company has ventured into the marketing of police investigatory equipment such as lie detectors, recording equipment, and binoculars. The company will be headed by Ashley Blight, a former marketing director of Google Africa. She will bring a wealth of experience and knowledge gained from Google about how to properly market a technology company. The other heads of the company include the Brighton Westham, a technology expert who worked in the product division of Yahoo. Silvester Stolen, the other head will bring the marketing experience he gained from IBM China, where he was instrumental in marketing computer infrastructure devices to the Asian Market. The contents of this marketing plan include the introduction part, the company's mission statement, the major goals of the company, and the environmental analysis of the company, SWOT analysis, a Need analysis of the company and finally the concluding statement.
Mission Statement
’’To be the most sought after marketer, distributor and retailer of computer devices, electronic equipment and home-based devices in the state of California, United States of America, while at the same time maintaining excellent customer service, swift product delivery, relevant after-sales services and excellent relationship between our firm and our suppliers and distributors.”
Short term goals Iconix Consulting aims to achieve in the next one year.
Ø To develop new sales techniques for the company. The firm aims at developing at least 5 new sales techniques every six months. These new sales techniques will be developed by putting together an innovation team that will meet in the company's board room to deliberate on the new innovative ideas. The new sales techniques will make the company, the first among equals, as far as marketing, sales, and distribution are concerned.
Ø Purchase media space in bulk before other companies do so. Media space will be purchased in the local television channels such as ABC News and the company will also purchase the media space from the international media houses such as CNN. Early booking and purchase will make the company minimize the operation costs as far as media purchase is concerned. The company will also increase its presence in the media through such a purchase.
Ø Set up a working website where the consulting group will sell some of the devices. The website will be set up in six months and it must be interactive and customer drove as possible. The website will have interactive features that are liked by the consumers.
Ø The company aims to target at least 100,000 people who will be active visitors to the website. This human traffic will be measured by performance metrics set up by the company. The company aims to achieve monthly traffic to the website by at least 20% of the initial 100,000.
Ø The Consulting Group will aim to increase revenues by 25% in the first period.
Ø The company aims to set in place at least three electronic equipment exhibition centers at least twice every three years. These exhibition centers will be a networking place, a communication channel of reaching many consumers in the market. It will also be an opportunity for the firm to engage the consumers on a face to face basis and also network with the other distributors.
Ø Offering value to the customers by engaging a buy one brings the other three marketing techniques. The goal of the firm is to provide such a high-value service to the consumers to enable them to bring their fellows:
Ø Tracking of the customer feedback mechanism. The firm aims to increase the number of positive customer feedbacks through positive service. The company will track the customer reviews of the products sold via online and offline channels.
Long term goals that Iconix Consulting Group Aims to Achieve in the next five to ten years.
Ø Within five years the company will set up its own ten distribution warehouses in the three major cities in the United States, this includes New York, Las Vegas, and D.C
Ø The company aims to be the primary distributor of the leading technology and computer manufacturing firms such as Google, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Sony, LG, etc.
Ø In four years the company aims to venture into the online retail business. It is working hard to be the top retailer, seller, and marketer of the computers so that a highly liquid position will give the company a high bargaining power as it aims to sell a stake of the company to Amazon.
Ø Through extensive marketing, the firm aims to occupy at least 10% of the market and edge out some of the competitors in the market.
Ø In about ten years, the Iconix Consulting Group has the goal of being one of the companies which are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Ways of Tracking the Goals of the firm.
The company will employ different ways of tracking the state of performance and the state of achieving the goals of the organization.
Planning and achieving both short term and long term goals in bits. After coming up with the required plan, the company will follow the next few steps of trying to achieve high-performance results. Planning and adherence to the plan is an important aspect of knowing whether you are at the right step towards achieving the overall goals of the organization.
After the planning stage, the company will do monitoring and an evaluation technique of the steps taken to ensure that the company sticks to its goals and objectives.
Environmental Analysis
Physical environmental Impact
The company faces an environmental impact of a lack of adequate places to dispose of electronic waste in the form of dead stock. Stolen Computers, Expired electronic devices can be an environmental hazard if they are not disposed of properly. The presence of such wastes in the immediate environment can be an eyesore. The company will work with the local community to ensure that there is an adequate waste disposal mechanism in place. The firm will also work with the local manufacturers to ensure adequate waste disposal that ensures the decimation of all the electric equipment to smithereens.
Political Environmental Impact
The political environment affecting the production of the computer equipment, the sale and the distribution of these electronic devices has to be the recent diplomatic spat between China and the United States. The decision of the U.S President Donald Trump to limit trading with major Chinese Corporations such as Huawei will significantly have a ripple effect with all other major companies in China. It will affect the immediate and plans of the company to enter into other foreign markets especially China. Other political effects are the issue of legislation which affects the sale and distribution of electronic equipment, the patent law affecting the upgrading of the equipment manufactured and the regulations concerning branding and licensing. The Consulting Group plans to engage all the stakeholders to ensure adherence (Sultan, 2014).
Competitive Analysis
The firm faces competition from the established distributors of the electronic equipment. There are other established firms in the industry that have extensive coverage of the distributors (Wilson, 2015). Dell Computer Company has a huge network of distributors located across the United States with the sole aim of ensuring the company products reach the consumers.
Other companies that have a strong network of distributors in the United States include Apple Company limited (Wilson, 2015). The company needs to position itself as the best in the game so that it can get a niche in the market. These companies have been in the industry for quite some time and the firm will find it a little difficult to compete with them. The company needs to do an analysis and establish its niche so that it can penetrate the market and put in place strategies that can enhance is competitiveness. One strategy could be creating collaborative relationships with the top manufacturers and trying to find out what they do best so that this is incorporated in the firm.
Technological Factors Affecting the Iconix Consulting Group.
Technologies are evolving and new devices are being invented and innovated. This business requires someone or a team of people who are going to conduct market analysis and be updated on consumer tastes (Sultan, 2014). Because of the changes in technology, consumer tastes and preferences are quite evolving. The company will be on the lookout for any changes which occur in the technology. However, technology will assist the firm in connecting with the customers and also in ensuring efficiency in all the company operations (Sultan, 2014).
Legal factors
The main legal factor here is pegged on the thorny issue of compliance. The company faces the need to market the product in different markets and different jurisdictions. For this need to be met effectively, the firm will have to conduct marketing functions in many more areas that were not covered previously. The company has to meet all the licensing requirements set up by the federal administration. Other legal issues that the company must meet include the issues of patents and the rights to brand certain electronic equipment (Sultan, 2014).
Some companies insist on selling certain electronic equipment under a particular brand and this affects the legal aspects of the business. The company also needs to plan on how it may handle the legal challenges arising from consumer complaints especially if the consumers complain that they are being sold defective products and take legal action. This involves a risk management approach that ensures that the company has in place structures that deal with the occurrence of defective products in the market (Sultan, 2014).
Cultural factors affecting Iconix Consulting Group
The cultural factors affecting the company include the aspect of peer pressure which affects the purchase decision of major electronic equipment, especially among young people. The pop culture affects the marketing of some of this equipment especially in the case where pop artists are the ones in charge of the marketing activities (Oliver, 2000). Some people are influenced by pop stars and musicians who affect the overall marketing activities. Once the celebrities endorse some of these products, there is a likelihood that the consumers will be ready and willing to purchase them (Oliver, 2000).
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Highly innovative staff members who are experienced in product innovation
Increased satisfaction level of the customers especially among the few customers that we have served.
The organization has already identified a reliable group of suppliers who will push the agenda of the business forward.
Weakness
At present, the firm does not have a very strong distribution network.
Lack of adequate opportunities to expand
The cash flow situation of the company is not so strong. Lack of adequate cash flows affects the daily running of the business.
Inability to tackle the challenges which always face the startup organizations
Opportunities
An opportunity to sell new products
Opportunity to establish warehouses
The presence of low shipping costs presents a good opportunity for the company to grow and become an important distributor.
Opportunity to utilize technology and innovation and come up with successful marketing techniques.
Threats
Redundancy threat.
The company faces a threat of selling redundant electronics that require an urgent upgrading process.
The threat of competition from other established brands.
The threat of theft and security
The threat of bad legislation.
Needs Analysis
· Customers need the following items: They need a faster delivery service and they want their electronic devices to be delivered either near their homes or near their offices
· Manufacturing companies need an effective distributor and marketer
· Consumers need a retailer who is going to offer some of the best customer services.
Reference
Oliver, N, Dewberry, E, Dostaler, I. (2000). Developing Consumer Electronics Products: Practice
And Performance In Japan, North America, And The U.K Retrieved from https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/fileadmin/user_upload/research/workingpapers/wp0028.pdf
Accessed on 18/10/2019
Sultan, A, Christian, B. (2014). Technological Factors to Improve Performance of Marketing
Strategy. Retrieved from: http://www.asee.org/documents/zones/zone1/2014/Student/PDFs/15.pdf
Accessed on 18/10/2019
Wilson, O. (2015). Computer-Mediated Marketing Strategies
Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281274579_Computer-Mediated_Marketing_Strategies Accessed on 18/10/2019
.png)