I have the first part of the discussion and my thoughts
Based on your discussions with Michelle, you have developed a clear picture of the environmental issues that will affect the initial release of the new product. As you compile your notes, the phone rings.
"Hello?"
"Hi. This is Michelle. I want to touch base with you about your presentation to the board next week. Do you have any questions about the upcoming meeting?"
"Thanks for calling," you say. "You have good timing. I was just reviewing my notes and working on my PowerPoint presentation. I think I've covered the areas we discussed at our last meeting. Do you have something else that you want me to include?"
"Oh, good," says Michelle. "Yes, I'd like you to share 3 or 4 goals for the marketing project, too. Make sure these goals are specific as possible. You might want to lead with the goals, but I'll leave that up to you. Naturally you'll need to do some research to determine the types of goals that are relevant for a new product project like this. Be as specific as you can when outlining realistic expectations.
"Okay," you say as you jot down more notes. "Anything else?"
"Just be sure to include your thoughts about whether we should develop a product that can be marketed world-wide. You know that is one of their main concerns. You'll have about 30 minutes for your presentation. "
"Will do. Thanks for the information. I think about 10-15 slides should be about right for a 30-minute presentation."
Recently, I have been hired by Michelle Dietrich, president of Mobile Manufacturing, Inc. (MM), a San José, CA headquartered electronics and Cell Phone Company. MM was also there when the Blackberry phones first came out back in 2002 with internet access. During that time, the company did very well with sales and advanced in growing the business. Eventually, the company couldn't keep up with the industry's giants as far as product and attracting top talent.
MM found a great opportunity when Michelle Dietrich brought in Elena Steokovich who is a giant in the industry as the top European mobile phone designer. Ms. Steokovich will be leading the design for the new product. The design will be for a new mobile device. My role is to develop the marketing plan for the introduction of the new product. Your key people can provide realistic input on what's achievable and how your goals can be reached, and they can share any insights they have on any potential, as-yet-unrealized marketing opportunities, adding another dimension to your plan (Entrepreneur, 2016).
This marketing plan will be a key for the introduction of the new product. A key component for any marketing plan is to evaluate the environmental conditions that a marketer may come up against and how they may be addressed. I will be meeting with both Michelle and Elena to go over this key component. Also, Elena is pushing more for a global launch while Michelle prefers a national launch primarily. As we all prepare for the meeting, Michelle has asked for my thoughts and comments about the global market and opportunities. Michelle expressed her concerns about even though that Elena is as a top designer in the industry she is more skilled and understanding of the technical part of the business and not the marketing and marketing management aspect of the business. A strong marketing plan will ensure you're not only sticking to your schedule, but that you're spending your marketing funds wisely and appropriately (sba.gov, 2016). Without a well crafted marketing plan, the company is doomed to witness the failure of the launch of the new product. With this project, the marketing plan will include these following questions that need to be addressed:
1. What need does my service or product meet in the marketplace?
2. What type of target audience would be most interested in what I offer?
3. What image do I want to have in the marketplace?
4. How can I create a message that achieves my marketing goals?
5. Which approaches are best for delivering my message to the marketplace?
6. How do I determine a price for my product or service?
7. What is the best delivery mechanism for what I am offering?
Each question will be addressed an in integrated manner so that the answers are providing a clear, consistent, and comprehensive message. Knowing that Michelle and Elena want to focus on the environmental factors, let's begin with addressing some environmental factors of the marketing plan. We will need four goals which are:
• Creating customer leads
• Building the product and brand awareness
• Doing things for customers to consider our product and our brand
• Generating sales
As part of the plan, we will need to evaluate and research our customers' needs. This research will be divided between the classic four P's. 1. Product - includes services, applications, and like. 2. Place - includes distribution which can be complex for domestic consideration but may increase in complexity for global consideration. 3. Price - includes looking at demand, cost, profit and competition based pricing.
4. Promotion - includes advertising, customer targeting and consistency of our message.
Considering the environmental variables (i.e. technological, demographic, economic, political, and cultural variables) that must be included in the marketing plan, the environmental factor I feel is most critical is technology. It is not so easy to create new customers than retaining the existing customers. Technology plays a big part in creating and allowing in acquiring the consumers by getting their attention so they can become one of our customers. As an example, going against the Apple integrated platform that allows their iOS system to transfer easily from one Apple device to another Apple device. Elena has taught us that there is some disruptive technology, like Bluetooth interface, that will allow us a competitive advantage compared to going from 2G technology to 3G.
Someone with an opposing viewpoint may believe that for global marketing the political and cultural environmental variables may be most important. Careful evaluation of issues of tariffs and quotas, on a country by country, and on a market by market basis should be conducted to know the overall effect that will be on our product models and our cost.
We are going to have to embed within the marketing plan the basic value of the integrated marketing approach so that we will have the right mix of effort and awareness throughout the marketing plan so that we can achieve an overall consistency with customer focus. Also, make sure that we move from the four P's to the four C's, such that we can attain on looking at the consumer, the cost, the convenience of experience as well as our communication to the consumer.
References:
1. Entrepreneur (n.d.). How To Create A Marketing Plan. Retrieved from: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/43018
2. U.S. Small Business Administration (n.d.). Developing a Marketing Plan. Retrieved from: https://www.sba.gov/managing-business/growing-your-business/developing-marketing-plan