Positioning Statement On Marketing Halo
Summary
Positioning Statement
Portrays Halo as a unique intelligent personal assistant capable of going beyond simple recommendation and analysis, thus providing unlimited possibilities towards making life easier for working class individuals. This is then followed by a justification of the statement.
Product Strategy
Establishing of 1 product line in order to avoid confusion and allow for further development of the product
Approaches to packaging have been clearly defined in terms of the package contents and branding
Expected product features such as tasks it is capable of carrying out as well as its flexibility are clearly outlined, with an aim of exploiting knowledge of consumer behavior.
After sale services to be offered have been outlined.
Pricing strategy
Pricing should be cost based, customer based and competitor based.
Embrace different steps to assist in analyzing the product and organizational objectives.
Contribution margin based pricing strategy is best since its tries to incorporate cost, customer and competitor analysis.
Promotional Program
Promotional mix involves 5 aspects; advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing
Advertising and personal selling promotion tools are more preferable since they can reach a wider market and can be tailored to contain information the company wants
Promotional programs assist the company in –
-Increasing sales
– Publicity
-Providing customer knowledge
Selling Approach
The company will utilize a personal selling program, as it will make relationship marketing possible and is more beneficial during these initial stages of product usage.
Channels of Distribution
The two channels and approaches to be used in distributing the product have been clearly outlined: they will include direct distribution (company to clients) as well as exclusive distribution. The justifications for using such approaches have also been given.
Marketing Halo
Part 1 PRODUCT POSITIONING STATEMENT
Halo similar to a number of brilliant products already in the market, will need a smart approach to marketing if any success in its adoption is to be realized. The nature of the product and the type of target market means that it is important to plan properly and execute the various steps developed for marketing the product. The first step in this process is product positioning. This usually refers to the process of creating a particular identity in the minds of the target market, with an aim of ensuring sales. The creation of this image is an important step in a market full of similar products, making the creation of a unique product positioning statement of paramount importance.
Positioning Statement
Halo a product of (PLEASE INSERT THE COMPANY NAME HERE) is the one intelligent personal assistant that gives the working class American not just another pretty faceless voice, but an intelligent personal assistant, capable of actually carrying out tasks and lightening the work load that comes with balancing career and family life. Not only does Halo come in whatever form you want, but he/she is capable of literally babysitting, ordering pizza and even calling an ambulance. Halo is actually capable of carrying out life like tasks, with none of the extra cost that may come with a personal assistant. Unlike other products in the market currently, Halo goes that one further step to make your life much easier and goes beyond simply analyzing and recommending.
Brand Image
Halo therefore provides infinite possibilities as compared to other intelligent personal assistant applications currently in the market.
Justification for Positioning Statement
The positioning statement is actually aimed at creating a particular image in the minds of the target consumer, and the current statement crafted serves this purpose in addition to answering certain fundamental questions anyone could have about a new product. The statement provides a clear picture of who we are, what we do and who it is that we are targeting. It also clearly highlights the needs that the product aims to satisfy, as well as what it is that our competitor lacks that we have, essentially outlining our competition. Even though the company is fairly new and might not really have other prominent products in the market already, the statement serves to inspire confidence in the product, as it highlights the very best as competition. Finally, and perhaps most important, is that the statement itself is actually quite simple and only attempts to outline the main advantage Halo has over similar products.
Part 2 MARKETING MIX RECOMMENDATIONS
The approach to be taken in terms of product strategy is usually very important, as it determines the success of a particular product by focusing how to best manipulate consumer behavior. The issues to be determined usually vary from, the number of product lines, packaging, product convergence, features, as well as the services that will be provided alongside the product.
Due to the nature of Halo as a product, it would be ill advised to have more than one product line, as marketing and selling the product itself is already a challenge, therefore tying its fate to another new product would most probably result in confusion. This is more so considering that (PLEASE INSERT THE COMPANY NAME HERE) is still a fairly new company. Also due to the need for relationship marketing in order to ensure that further development and customization of the product is possible, establishing more than one product line would prove difficult.
Packaging Halo will definitely be done in a manner similar to other such products, as the hologram will be run from a simple device similar to a phone that has the sole purpose of allowing the user to customize and operate the personal assistant. The packaging will contain 3 different devices, with one acting as the central processing unit and the other two mere reflectors allowing for operation from different locations. The package will also contain manuals for operation, sale agreements as well as other utilities. The box within which the gadgets are contained will bear different images that Halo will be able to assume.
The features of the product as already mentioned earlier, will include an ability to provide navigation instructions, accomplish scheduling tasks, make phone calls, babysit, remotely or control entertainment systems as well as more advanced abilities, such as performing electrical diagnostics and repairs. The possibility of customization and addition of further features will definitely appeal to the customer’s need for a personal touch, allowing for voice recognition and cloning, facial recognition and cloning as well as room for the user to design their own Halo image. Due to the need for product convergence, the product will come implanted into a phone like device that will also allow for wireless communication. This will also mean that there will be a need to provide certain extra services after sale, such as internet as well as voice calls.
These strategies will not only appeal to customers for the initial purchase, but will ensure that a continuous and beneficial relationship is established. Making the product flexible to consumer needs and wants will also ensure it gains a competitive edge, considering the wider range of functions it is capable of handling.
Pricing strategy
Pricing strategy is an important aspect in developing any product or service since it affects the entire product performance in the market. If pricing is not done well the product will not only have slow market growth but also affect company profits. In that light, while decided the pricing strategies to use for Halo product we shall consider seven steps. To begin with, we shall pay close attention to Halo’s product marketing strategies. This will involve deciding proper market segmentation and target market which will expect will purchase the product. Deciding the target market will also demand setting a clear market position so that we can get a better approximation of the marketing costs and expected demand. Second step in deciding the pricing strategies will be making marketing mix decision especially those relating to the product, distribution and desired promotional tactics. The third step will be analyzing the expected market’s environmental factors. At this stage we are expected to pay chose attention to existing legal constraints relating to our product and also analyze our competitor, in this case Siri application. The fourth step is estimating our expected demand curve; this will revolve around demand and price. We need to understand how our expected market or customers will react to price, a product can either be price elastic or inelastic, we therefore need to carry evaluate our product expected market changes in relation to price. The fifth step in our pricing strategies calculating fixed and variable costs of Halo as a product. Having a proper accounting records of expected costs will help in reducing costs and also avoid over pricing which may interfere with the product market position which compared to its competitors. Sixth step is setting price objectives, for instance, we shall decide revenue and profit maximization. Finally, our seventh step in deciding our pricing strategy will be analyzing all the information collected in the earlier stages then developing a pricing structure.
Pricing structures are based on three main approaches; cost based, competitor based and customer based. However, after carrying out the seven step analysis on our Halo product before deciding our pricing strategies, we can be able to incorporate all the three approaches in our pricing strategies. Thou there are several pricing strategies, the one that most fits our product marketing mix, organizational objectives and target market is the contribution margin based pricing. Contribution margin based pricing strategy tends to consider profit expected from an individual product. The strategy pays attention to expected market changes, production and marketing costs, customers demand, environmental condition such as competitors influence and so on are analyzed. Using contribution margin based pricing the pricing of a Halo application will be deprived from product total costs, margin contribution and expected market demand.
Contribution margin based pricing strategy will be the most appropriate for our product for several reasons; to begin with the strategy does not purely concentrate on offering low prices. Though its assured that some customer are price sensitive and can only purchase products of low prices, its not always true especially for products in the technology industry where by price is also associated with innovation and advancement. Further, this pricing strategy pays attention to environmental situation especially on existing competitors. For our product Halo our main competitor is the Siri application installed in iphone 4, and the strategy pays attention to the competitor’s influence I the market. Since Siri is has a large market and we target this same market, there are several other tools that we have incorporated. Such as additional customer friendly functions compared to those provided by Siri, easy access of our product to customers through proper market analysis and making it possible to personalize individual needs of a customer. Therefore due to this addition functions of our products which are aimed at improving customer satisfaction, together with our friendly prices our Halo product will perform well in our target market. Psychological pricing considerations while using contribution margin based pricing strategy this is because irrespective of how the product is designed several customer still can not assume the effect of the price tag. Psychological pricing dictate that price customers decision to purchase even up to 40%. For this reason our pricing strategy provides prices that are neither too high nor too low to be able to cater for both groups; those that feel that price is a reflection of quality and also those that prefer to purchase only low price products. Further, we have designed our product in such a way that customers can required for additional features to suite their individual needs hence personalizing their product, though this may come with increase in price customers will be more satisfied and have an opportunity to share with us and have what they felt other competitor products could not provide. To further market our product even with a well structured pricing strategy we felt that a proper promotional program will bring competitive advantage.
Promotional program
Promotion is one of the key areas in marketing; it’s actually one of the main elements in the marketing mix. It revolves around sales promotion, advertising, selling the product and publicity. Developing our promotional program will assist us determine how much attention to give each of the promotion categories, and how much to spend on the entire promotion. Halo application promotion plan will put more emphases on selling the product and making it accepted to the market. It will also assist in competitive retaliation which is greatly expected when venturing in the technology industry which is currently quite flooded by different companies. Our promotional program will involve advertising using the media, internet and newspapers. Our choice is based on the fact that these aids will reach our target market faster and easily. Considering our target markets are adults and in different geographical location this methods will also be cost effective. Will using the media specifically the television we shall also include demonstration on how the product works and the additional features compared to the existing similar products. In addition, our promotional program will go an extra mile while a customer purchases the product, we shall have well trained support team to in different marketing outlets to demonstrate and offer short training on how to use the product to the customer. After purchasing the customer will also get a flier informing them of other application that can be include at will.
Importance of various promotional mix tools
Promotional programs assist the company in three main areas which are very important for the growth and existence of a company, these include increase in sales, publicity and providing customer knowledge. Promotion mix has five main aspects; advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing. Advertising involves promoting a company’s product though identified sponsor. Advertising are mostly through media, motion pictures, posters and internet, this makes them a good tool of promotion since they can be used to reach a wide range of customers. Personal selling involves persuading the clients through oral presentation. This is mostly done in the retail shops where customers purchase or in sale meetings and training. For our Halo product for instance, we intend to embrace personal selling thorough offering training services to customers on how the product works and how it can be structured to meet their individual expectations. It’s also worth noting that personal selling can be done via telephone if the customers are not easily reachable. Sales promotion is a promotion tool that is employed a specific period of time to increase customers demand. It can be either media or non media but just like the other promotional tools its assists greatly in increasing product awareness and increasing sales. In most cases sales promotion are in form of coupons, contests and product samples. Public relations are basically paid presentations they assist several organizations in providing planting importance news and improve company publicity. The fifth promotion mix which is also embraced by several organizations is direct marketing. It is a channel agnostic form of marketing that encourages company representatives or sales team to communicate directly to the customer. Most companies prefer direct marketing since it is interactive thus assisting the organization to get feedback from the customer on areas that may require improvement. In that light, promotion mix tools assist organizations in various ways especially on improving their total sales, providing customers knowledge and besides introducing new products to the target market. For instance, for our Halo application which is a new product in the market applying different promotion mix tools specifically advertising and personal selling will assist in its marketing and acceptance to the competitive market. Advertising and personal selling promotion tools are more preferable since they can reach a wider market and can be tailored to contain information the company wants.
Utilization of a Personal Selling Program
A personal selling program will definitely result in the desired results, more so if the company is to succeed in relationship marketing as required in the sale of such products. Even though this may prove a challenge more so towards attaining a huge market share, it is a necessary approach for such a product. Obviously in order to tackle possible skepticism regarding the product, two-way flow of information and communication will be critical. This will therefore mean that the company will have to establish a 24 hour sales centre doubling up as a customer care centre as well, which will enable constant access to help for already existing clients, as well as access for potential customers. In order to aid with the personal selling program, a free delivery service will also be provided, with these sales and customer care centres being distributed to various target markets. In addition a troubleshooting and problem solving team will have to be created in order to help with any teething problems that might be experienced.
Channels of Distribution
In order to achieve market penetration and establish a proper and loyal customer base, Halo will be distributed through exclusive distribution and a very short distribution channel (level zero). Majority of the products will be distributed from us to the customer with no intermediaries, as this will allow for personal selling to be more effective. This is also necessary because the product is expected to be under constant development, thus constant direct communication between the company and the user will be necessary. In areas where such distribution proves difficult, exclusive distribution with a select number of outlets will be established. In addition to the company’s sales centres, selling agents will be employed and stationed at various selected shopping malls, allowing for direct distribution.
