The Firm: Comany G

The firm (Comany G) is an ISO certified manufacturing organization established in the year 2005 specializing in electronic manufacturing, design and electronic development of an array of appliances. The company has established itself as a true market leader in the electronics industry by meeting and surpassing customer’s expectations through the outfit’s customer-centric and value-based approaches. The company seeks to make lives of its customers more efficient through enriched methodologies that simplify the end user’s way of doing things.

Product Types and Categorization

Product Description and Support of the Mission

For the past one and half years, the company has been working to develop advanced electronic security and surveillance cameras with the capability of cutting-edge image capturing, analysis, display and processing. The cameras have ideal features such as HD Technology allowing the device to grab and record high definition video for license plate capturing and facial recognition. High Definition Resolution for the gadgets is useful in identifying people, reading license plates and recording video footages necessary for crime investigation. The firm has also incorporated Wide Dynamic Range capability enabling cameras record in areas with patchy light distribution by balancing light in the whole video to make footages clearer and easy to see. The surveillance cameras are also fitted with Tamper Detection settings which enable establishment owners to get instantaneous notifications through email or SMS alerts anytime there is attempted vandalism. PTZ Technology gives the cameras ability to zoom or tilt to identify and follow suspicious movements and actions. Finally, the Power over Ethernet (PoE) to enable easy installation in a suitable location as their installation is not dependent on power outlets. Since the outfit’s mission is to improve quality of life and promote convenience, it development will give business owners and homes an unparalleled peace of mind since they will have to worry less regarding the security and safety of their buildings. The innovative, state-of-the art surveillance cameras will also go a long way in solving crimes that evade the naked eye by collecting and storing video footages used as evidence in crimes such as bank robberies, home break-ins, hit and run accidents and coldblooded murder cases. The product absorption into the market will be convenient for company’s customers since clients will not necessarily have to employ security guards to man their homes or business installations and will in turn save considerably on the cost of investing on security and safety.

Customer Product Categorization

            The classification of surveillance cameras is as Specialty Product. The creation possess a single distinctive characteristic in the sense that consumers are willing to expend a substantial amount of effort to obtain. Additionally, surveillance cameras are characterized as specialty because; the demand is relatively low since few numbers of people purchase them, are generally expensive and unit cost high, are available for sale at limited places as number of consumers is little and finally because the after sales services are normally more relative to other products.

Target Market

The focus market is a set of individuals that the company targets, and a particular set of customers it wants to direct its marketing efforts towards. Identification of the target market is a critical step in developing a functional marketing plan usually influenced by factors such as demographic, psychographic and geographic variables. Company G target market will include; family consumers, businesses, schools, political and other government consumers.                                                                                                                                            

Market Segmentation

Demographic information gathered from market research includes income levels. The variable is crucial to the firm’s marketing strategy because the product will appeal more to the middle-class in the income hierarchy and high-value business entities. Conversely, individuals with moderately lower incomes are more sensitive to price since they have less disposable income. Therefore, the firm’s target market will be high and medium income earners. Age is another variable to be considered in the outfit’s marketing strategy. The company will target individuals between the ages of 25-45 years as the age group consists of people who are technologically savvy having a higher preference to safety and security.

Psychographic variables in the market include categorization based on user’s way of life, status and the customer’s individual behaviors. Notably, to achieve optimal consumer coverage, the company will target individuals who are progressive and lavish in their lifestyles. The high and medium income earners will be more appealed by the product and firm’s marketing efforts which will also be directed towards consumers who are generally safety conscious. Geographical factors also influence consumer preferences and their purchasing powers. The target market with consideration to physical locations will be mostly consumers in the urban setup. Security risks and concerns are higher in urban areas as compared to the ones in the rural areas. Therefore individuals will seek into invest more on safety of their businesses, learning institutions and homes.

Competitive Situational Analysis

Application of Porter’s Five Forces Model

The model denotes that market environment is influenced by five basic forces that include entry of new players, ability to bargain by suppliers, competition among current participants, existence of alternative products and the buyers ‘ability to bargain. The capacities of the market forces differ from one industry to another and according to Porter, the market structure is affected by some commercial and methodological characteristics which regulate the potency of the market forces (Porter, 2008)). The forces define prices, costs and expenditures as discussed below.

            Threat of new entrants

            These are companies not present in the market but their entry will have implications on costs and the intensity of the industry as they seek to create capacity and increase their market share to compete favorably. The electronic security and surveillance cameras developed are likely to face stiff competition from new entrants such as telephone companies, cable companies and the several upcoming start up technology firms.

            Competitor Rivalry:

            The current market structure consists of competitive struggles for market share in the industry. As per Porter’s model, the rivalry can bring about disruptions in form of price discounts, new product offers and promotion campaigns. The extent by which rivalry hinders profitability in the industry depends on basis which the companies are competing. Company G main rivals in the market sector are cable companies. The firm anticipates to see a considerable decline of prices for the product to curb competition.                                               

Buyers Bargaining Power

            Consumers in the market environment have ability and power to bargain on prices of the end products offered. Some influential buyers may get more value by forcing decline of prices and asserting on higher quality which significantly lowers prices of products and services. Therefore, from the market analysis, Company G forecasts that existence of such consumers may hamper on firm’s profitability if allowed to get their way in terms of bargaining.

Suppliers Bargaining Power

Suppliers in the industry refer to entities that provide inputs into the market sector. Powerful suppliers secure more value by charging higher than normal prices on their products, limiting quality of the products or shifting the costs to the industry members. Now that Company G may plan to outsource some components of the product from different suppliers other than the current ones, it is imperative to anticipate increased costs as there are fewer substitute products. As a consequence, the firm may be forced to slightly adjust upwards the price of the product owing to increased costs of production.

            Substitutes

Such products depict roles played by the industry creations in numerous ways. The existence of substitutes in the market is common. However, at times, such products are mostly disregarded because they are viewed to be different from the industry products. A high prevalence of substitute products and services in most cases lowers profitability and affects product performance and marketing. Substitutes in Comany G operational environment are few and therefore their threat is insignificant.

SWOT Analysis

            SWOT analysis assesses general standing of the company in a competitive environment. The tool evaluates both current and the future operational environments to determine the company’s threats and opportunities. The analysis involves both the internal and the external environment which consists of micro and macro-market forces that affect the profitability of a company in a competitive market. It tracks trends and key advancements as well as related opportunities and threats (Keller, 2012).  The firm’s SWOT analysis is as illustrated.       

STRENGTHS (indicating core competencies)

Manufacturing efficiency

Innovation

Excellent customer service

WEAKNESSES

 Inadequate Research and Development

 Weak management and organizational          framework

 Scanty online presence

OPPORTUNITIES

 Possible new markets

 Emerging technologies

Strong economy

THREATS

 New competitors

 Shortage of resources

 Unreliable suppliers

Strengths

            Such are usually pillars of the company that will enable it achieve its objectives in promoting profitability and customer-oriented customer service. The strengths of a company should always be highlighted and reinforced to improve performance. The main strengths of the firm under study include:

Manufacturing efficiency

            The company has put more emphasis in developing products to fulfill customer demands as quickly and reliably as possible while using the least amount of resources in the production process. The firm has achieved by focusing on the design of products using technologies such as value engineering which has greatly improved yields. Improvement in training has equipped the firm’s engineers with latest technology that is evidence-based on streamlined manufacturing processes.

            Innovation

            The company identifies the need to encourage creative thinking and gives an avenue to test new ideas to come with the most disruptive innovation that challenge the conventional methodologies. To cultivate the culture of innovation, the firm is always proactive and takes calculated risks to achieve set objective. The firm is constantly looking for ways of improving overall productivity.

            Strong customer service

            The company has given priority to provide exemplary customer experiences by offering electronic solutions that seek to better quality of life of our customer service. The outfit listens to customers’ views and needs to meet and surpass their expectations. Solving customer issues in a prompt and proactive manner is what the firm seeks to improve their experiences with services and products.

Weaknesses

            These are aspects within the company that hinder achievement of intended outcomes and objectives. Such are usually internal forces with the ability on their own to inhibit proper functioning of the marketing strategy. Some of the firm’s weaknesses include:

Inadequate Research and Development

            According to Proctor (2010), research and development is a crucial concept in most industries since it has the ability of promoting innovation culture. Lack of adequate market research denies the firm the opportunity to get new insights on how to adapt to shifts in the industry especially when changes such as technological processes occur. It also renders the firm indecisive by not knowing how to react when such changes happen hence the company can fail to take advantage of the new market shifts.

Weak management and organizational structure

            The existing organizational structure has some deficiencies especially with standardization of work processes and responsibilities within the company. Outmoded management philosophies that should inspire high performance are an obstacle towards promoting seamless marketing of the outfit’s products. Redundancy levels within the company’s operational framework are relatively high thereby impacting negatively in service delivery since surplus staff is counterproductive.

Opportunities

Such are prospects outside the company needing exploitation to effectively market a product or service. Therefore, companies should be on the look out to determine new avenues in promoting uptake of products in the market. Some of the opportunities the firm seeks to venture into include:

Possible new markets

            Every day, there arises new streams of consumer avenues fertile to be used especially the ones with a technological angle. The rising cases of terrorism in the contemporary world and increasing nature of security challenges is an opportunity to aggressively market the firm’s product. The alarming rates of school mass-shooting is a safety concern that can greatly be addressed by the uptake of the electronic cameras especially in learning institutions.

            Emerging technologies

Today, people are living in the advent of megatrends especially in technological sphere where various advancements and ground-breaking innovations keep surfacing. Incorporating some of the cutting-edge technologies in the created products will position Comany G strategically in the market since the organization will have products with distinctive features more appealing to the consumer expectations. It is therefore necessary to be regularly updated on various trends hitting the technology scene.

            Strong economy

Steady economic growth through improved living standards translates to increased purchasing power of consumers. The firm can seek to make the most out of the stable economy. It will also boost the confidence of investors who will see the value for their money used as venture capital. A strong economy may also lead to tax cuts, a move that will greatly benefit the company in terms of acquisition of raw materials.

Threats

            Such can either be internal or external forces limiting success of the marketing plan. The threats are assessed to determine potency and aid the firm in preparing fot possible mitigation measures to minimize impact posed towards achievement of marketing objectives.

New competitors

            From our feasibility studies, the increasing number of competition in our market sector is a threat to successfully market our product. The number of new entrants especially the small startup firms and cable companies will provide a formidable rivalry that may invade our target market and disrupt the uptake of our product. Necessary measures should therefore be undertaken to counter the increasing participants in our operational environment.

Shortage of resources

            According to Porter (2008), when resources, both human and financial, are not utilized in a sustainable manner, the firm runs the risk of not being operational at the end. Increased costs of production due to outsourcing need are some of the components for the organization product meaning that more financial resources will be used at the expense of profitability. Consequently, Company G may be forced to compromise on product quality to mitigate against the increasing costs of production.

Unreliable suppliers

            Another threat that the outfit is likely to experience is having suppliers who do not have capability to deliver component parts within the set timeframes. Unreliable suppliers will have a negative impact in our production processes as the company may fail to meet consumer demands and miss on lucrative deals (Porter, 2008). The company’s reputation will also be on the line due to delayed delivery on pre-ordered products which will to a large scale affect firm’s position as a leading manufacturing giant in the market sector.

Market Objectives

            The objectives are a cluster of set goals used by the company in marketing firm’s product to potential clients within a given timeframe. The goals are quantifiable in nature.

Product objective

            The product objective is determined by quantity, quality, design and features. The firm’s product objective entails developing top quality, best in the market surveillance cameras with visual design features that are appealing to our consumers by growing the product recognition in the market by 20% in six months.

Price

Objective

Factors that Company G will consider to set price of the product will be determined by prevailing market conditions and pricing strategy aligned with the company’s mission. The firm’s price objective entail producing low cost product; hence the company will set the unit price of the product creation at $500 dollars.

Place Objective

            The objective will play a fundamental role in outlining when and where the company will place its products strategically to gain a bigger market share. Such are influenced by factors such as channels, coverage, locations, transportation and logistics (Porter, 2008). The firm’s place objective will be to expand physical coverage by opening up four stores across town in the next five months.

Promotion Objective

Promotion goals present products to potential buyers in the most convincing way possible and seek to influence them into purchasing the products. Company G’s goal is to increase its online presence in all social and formal platforms by 50% in six months.

Marketing Strategies and Implementation

Marketing Strategies

            Product Strategies

Using market research

            Adopting market research to achieve product objectives will be an important strategy and will enable Company G to identify untapped audiences and refine its target market. The method will be useful in collecting valuable information that will give the firm an overview of their particular needs and expectations.

Involvement of influencers to publicize the company’s product online.

The undertaking will ensure that the product gets necessary attention and its credibility greatly improved. In the today’s digital age of social media, online advertisement will play a critical role in achieving product objectives. The outfit purposes to provide exemplary customer service through approaches focused towards improving the customer experiences (Porter, 2008).

Offering exclusive preview to customers

            For any business, loyal customers play a critical role in promoting a new product by offering them with an exclusive preview of the new product. It will get a larger target market because of recommendations from the customers. The firm can achieve this through online previews and pre-launch parties.

Price Strategies

Economy pricing

The mode will improve uptake of product that the firm is launching. Relatively low pricing of the product will enable the outfit reduce on the cost associated with marketing and production.

Psychology pricing

Use of psychology pricing seeks to encourage customers to use emotions more than logic while purchasing products. Notably, with increased insecurity especially the mass shootings in learning institutions, the firm can appeal to consumers and emphasize on the solutions the product will bring towards securing homes and learning institutions.

Discounts

Offering early payment discounts will give the firm a competitive advantage by winning the company more customers. The individuals who pay early will help in creating and sustaining cash flow. Recognizing clientele will go a long way in boosting their loyalty to the firm’s products.

Place Strategies

Setting up more distribution

            Setting up more distribution stores will increase the physical presence of company G and the electronic camera surveillance the firm is marketing. Increased physical coverage is strategic to broadening the target market that will translate to improved profitability.

Home delivery

            It is a convenient way to achieve set place objectives. By incorporating the methodology, the firm will endear to the customers because of convenience.

Different payment modes

            Adoption of different payment methods such as using cash, credit cards and online purchasing will help the firm achieve the formulated place objectives. Consumers always want to have options to choose from depending on their individual needs

Promotion Strategies

Promotional events

            Recruitment of promotions and sales teams is crucial in covering large target markets (Porter, 2008). Through promotion events, the firm will be able to capture new and existing market segments Participation in public relations activities such as social responsibility activities will enable the firm portray a positive image of the company. The firm will have the ability to easily win over untapped target markets.         

Personal selling

            Personal selling is another effective way of achieving promotion objectives. It can include door to door selling across estates and office establishments. The agents will have the ability to convince customers by explaining to them features of the new products and why the offerings are better compared to those of our competitors.

Sponsorship

            Sponsorship is a promotional strategy that the firm can deploy to market the firm’s product. The company pay to be related to a particular cause such as a charity event, a television function or a sport tournament. In return, the firm’s product will get the exposure and publicity making it easier for untapped markets to purchase.

            The above combination of strategies all seek to effectively market the firm’s product and enable it easily penetrate the market. The approaches all have defined target markets that will guide the outfit’s efforts to where the company can make the most profits, retain existing customers and attract prospective clients. Proper coordination of these strategies combined with a robust implementation phase will surely guarantee a boost in sales of our product.

Marketing Implementation

Product Action Plan

Tactic

Due Date

Responsible Party

Create a Market Research Plan and allocate budget.

Develop tools for data collection

05/01/2018

05/01/2018

Marketing Team Leader and Finance Manager

Marketing Team

Develop content to be used by the identified online influencer.

Determine the online platform to be used

15/01/2018

15/01/2018

Marketing team members

Marketing Team Leader

Develop an online preview video clip showcasing our product.

Arrange for a pre-launch party.

Prepare a budget for the event.

10/01/2018

15/01/2018

15/01/2018

Marketing Team

Marketing Team

Finance Manager

Price Action Plan

Tactic

Due Date

Responsible Party

Develop a pricing chart to indicate price per product

Formulate a cost design to show expenses involved in marketing.

28/02/2018

30/02/2018

Finance Manager

Finance Manager

Map insecurity prone areas for targeted marketing

20/01/2018

Finance Manager

Create a discounting schedule indicating adjusted prices

Identify repeat clients to provide incentives

30/02/2018

               05/04/2018

Finance Management Team

Marketing Team

Place Action Plan

Tactic

Due Date

Responsible Party

Identify strategic locations suitable for marketing product.

30/03/2018

Marketing and Logistics Team

Identify a suitable mode of transport for making home and office deliveries.

10/02/2018

Technical Support Team

Create an online payment platform for online purchases

15/04/2018

IT Team

Promotion Action Plan

Tactic

Due Date

Responsible Party

Identify sales teams and plan for their remuneration

27/02/2018

Human Resource Manager

Map locations suitable for home to home selling of our product

30/04/2018

Marketing Team

Arrange the sponsorship of a live television event

Develop a budget to cover the event

15/02/2018

17/02/2018

Marketing Team

Finance Manager

N/B: Beginning date = 01/01/2018

Monitoring Procedures

Market control activity

Due Date/Frequency

Executing Party

Customer feedback through polls and surveys

Monthly

Marketing Team

Measuring Target Market Sales in terms of units sold, revenue generated or profit turnover

Quarterly

Finance Manager

Examining and reviewing the marketing budget.

Monthly

Finance Manager

Analyzing the Market Share Index

Quarterly

Finance Manager

Conclusion

            Marketing planning plays an essential role in ensuring that the product that has been developed penetrates the target market and quickly absorbed by the consumers. A good marketing plan is essential in guiding actions and decisions made in the whole marketing in an efficient and seamless manner. It is therefore necessary for the company to invest in strategizing proper implementation of the plan to guarantee profitability from the venture.

References

Porter, M. (2008). The five competitive forces that shape strategy, Harvard Business School Publishing, - Competition, International, https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=e5CSYgEACAAJ&dq=Harvard+Business+Review,+2008.+The+five+competitive+forces+that+shape+strategy&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjO_ZrMrt_ZAhXKylMKHTiOBacQ6AEILTAB

Keller, (2012). A Framework for Marketing Management 5th Edition. England: Pearson Education Limited, Pearson Prentice Hall - Business & Economics

https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=FaGKNwAACAAJ&dq=Keller,+2012.+A+Framework+for+Marketing+Management+5th+Edition.+England:+Pearson+Education+Limited&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwic65Oxr9_ZAhXIoFMKHaX1B6kQ6AEIJzAA

Proctor, (2010). Strategic Marketing. An introduction. London: Routledge, https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=VgbtAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Proctor,+2010.+Strategic+Marketing.+An+introduction.+London:+Routledge.&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjMxJ3Tr9_ZAhVHvlMKHapVC7UQ6AEINzAD#v=onepage&q&f=false