Free «Marketing Plan: The Talking Pedometer for the Blind» Essay Sample

Introduction

At “Hikes Fitness Center” our aim is to support people who have lost sight. Our business is able to stay true to this aim through providing and selling price friendly talking pedometers with LCD display. According to Hongu et al. (2014) this is a gadget that will be able to announce the distance and steps that have been taken whether one is walking or running just by touching a button. Colgan et al. (2015) postulate that the gadget has a small LCD display as well as a clip at the back for attaching to the clothing or belt, while announcements are made to the users via a female synthetic voice. This device is used from a vertical position in order to avoid cases where it may end up giving wrong readings as asserted by Holbrook, Kang, and Morgan (2013). This is a product that comes with instructions which are given through the same synthetic woman voice in order to help our customers learn how the product actually works.

Sport Market Segmentation

Market segmentation is a strategy utilized by our business in order to divide the broad market into small subsets of consumers. It looks at the needs of the consumers, which vary from group to group. Our company specializes in the production of the sport facilities and apparel, and sells its products for sports and fitness purposes. The market for people with visual impairments forms one of the segments that the company currently covers. According to Mihai (2013a), this market is further divided into sub segments based on the geographical location. Our headquarters are located in New York City, but we have to ensure that we reach all potential customers in the market. In order to ensure that no customers are left behind, we have created regional stores in almost half of the states across the country. This makes it easy to access blind people from different parts of the country other than New York. This form of segmentation is known to have the potential of increasing the level of revenue that will be obtained by the company as the market area will continue to expand. The homogenous needs of the customers will be met through taking the products close to where the customers are.  

Product

Hikeslife talking pedometer is the product that our company will be selling to the identified market segment for the blind. In most cases, blind people find it difficult to exercise as they are not able to concentrate on counting their steps while at the same time checking out the treadmill machine as confirmed by Colgan et al. (2015). This product will help the user to obtain information on the number of steps that have been taken through clicking a button. This product is added with an embedded female voice that makes the announcements.

The product that is manufactured with the use of high quality technology comes with a lithium battery that is replaceable and also available at our shops at a subsidized price. This is a tangible product that can serve our customers better if used correctly and will eventually help them in terms of achieving their goal of getting fit. What makes our products unique is that we are able to provide the customers with a special order product that will meet their unique needs upon request. We believe that we make high quality products that can serve customers for a longer period of time than any other blind pedometer. And in any case the customers may feel that the product is faulty or does not meet their needs, in which case customers can follow the procedure for return. This is how we intend our products to serve our customers, and we ensure that in each product, we have provided voice embedded instructions to help the users navigate through the product while using it.

Price

Price determination will actually influence our profit margins, demand and supply of our products. We look at the market from the point of how reactive to price they are through the analysis of the price elasticity. We are operating in a market that is not providing basic necessities, which therefore means that the customers are more sensitive to any slight changes in price. The market is also open and perfectly competitive meaning that it will be easy for a customer to shift to another product if they feel that the product in question is charged at higher than going rate in the market as affirmed by Mihai (2013b).

In line with our entry strategy, we anticipate charging the price, which will attract customers to our product, and at the same time we are trying not to position our product as of lower quality due to cheap price. Currently, the going rate for a talking pedometer in the market is around $6.5 to $8, and looking at the above range, we will be better placed charging an average market rate and therefore it will be easy to place the price at around $7.5, which is lower than what established brands like Lifemax are charging. The pricing scheme is based on the standards that exist in the industry.

Place

Marketing is all about ensuring that the right product is placed at the right place and at the right time as pointed out by Ederewhevbe, Iweka, and Ogbonna (2013). This is the key principle that drives our supply of the pedometers to the final consumers. We have used the element of market segmentation to evaluate the ideal location that will help to convert potential users into active customers. All our products and services will be distributed from “Hikes Fitness Center” shops that are located in most of the states across the country. It is from this point that our authentic products will be displayed at the shop, so that customers with special order of a pedometer can place such orders from the shop and the product will be created within a week upon placing the order.

The nature of our product does not call for a huge number of average men as it will either increase the final price to the consumer or reduce our own margin. This is the reason of why we continue to rely upon our internal mechanisms to distribute the goods to our shops from where the final consumers will be able to buy or place orders for a more customized product. In our company, we believe that we have to maintain obsessive customer attention as asserted by Goyat, (2011). “Hikes Fitness Center” believes that we have to do everything within our power to impress the customer. It can reduce the short term profits but in the end we are concerned about building the long term profitability through building customer loyalty.

Promotion

After we have created the product, set its price and established the mode of distribution, the difficult part would be to promote the product. This is a unique market segment that majorly would not rely on conventional forms of advertising due to the fact that the product is used by people that have visual impairments. The best mode of advertising is to send out information that will differentiate our product from the ones that being provided by the competitors. In each advertising touch point that will be utilized, we will try to ensure that our brand is well positioned in order to maximize the return on investment. Hikeslife is an end product that will be directly utilized by people with visual impairments. We may not be in a position to make use of a conventional form of advertising, and this is the reason of why we have to abandon the conventional means and use a unique direct means of advertising. That is why we go out for the personal relation method where our agents will be promoting community facilities to support the blind and talking to the blind people about the uniqueness of our product and how it can help them in their day to day exercising.

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We can as well use radio as a great way to reach our target audience. Even though sound has its limitations when it comes to retaining what has been heard, we believe in the fact that blind people are supersensitive to what they hear compared to any other group of people. The message will be effectively passed to the user through being repeated several times passing the information to the final consumer as observed by Mihai (2013a). Our public relations do not just stop at the point of talking to the potential consumers. The company will also create a kitty to support the visually impaired and blind people. The kitty will help purchase necessities for the blind, which will be delivered to most of the community groups for the blind. It is through such gesture that we will place our products in the market as not only a source of profit but also support for the welfare of the same segment of customers.

Promotion Objectives

Hikeslife is considered an end product that is useful for the blind as well as visually impaired individuals. It is not easy to market this product the same way that we market products to people who have the ability to see. It is not easy to carry out direct e-commerce or advertise through traditional forms of media. We have to step out and talk to blind people that we meet on the streets to let them know about our product, its qualities and the price.

The intention is not only to make sales; we are looking for a means through which we can make sure that we are well positioned for sales in the future. That is why we get into contact with the consumers whom we see as potential consumers of our products. The idea is to meet with the largest group of consumers and make them aware of the product and then let them decide whether or not they find our product viable for purchase.

The other objective that we have in our product promotion is to pass information to the customers on how important it is for them to stay fit even though they have a problem with their eyesight. The fact that some blind people are not able to exercise due to the lack of facilities is something that must be handled through informing the blind and visually impaired that they still have a means through which they could engage in physical activity. That is why apart from providing this innovative product, we also let the blind and visually impaired know about the importance of ensuring that they are physically fit.

Press Release

Press releases may help our marketing depending on how best it is applied. This is a public relations strategy that actually worked well in the past and at the current set up it is very important that we come up with better means through which press releases can be made more effective. As a marketer at our company, the most important thing to know is in what cases press releases will be beneficial to our public relations strategy. The purpose of using press releases in our company is to ensure that the news is spread to as many people as possible as postulated by Constantinides (2014). In our case, we will rely on sound bites in order to ensure that our message is actually taken up by a huge number of media outlets. The sound bites will have some statistics that will be informational to the consumers informing them of the importance of working out and how our product can be effective in terms of ensuring that this actually happens.

Endorsements and Sponsorships

It is important that we mention the difference between sponsorship and endorsement in order to create a proper strategy that will be suitable for use in order to ensure that the two elements are effectively implemented in the company. In a bid to ensure that our product is seen as the leading brand in the industry, we seek to make sure that we get endorsement from respected bodies that deal with the issues related to the plight of the blind and visually impaired. We look to find endorsement from the society of the blind and people with visual impairments, as well as the state and federal authorities supporting people with disabilities. This will be made possible through our corporate activities with such bodies which will convince them that we are offering the best product to the market that provides support to the segment of people with visual impairments, a technique that has been suggested by Goyat (2011).

In our quest for sponsorship, we are looking for people who may be willing to finance the charity part of our business. As stated earlier, “Hikes Fitness Center” is not all about the sales and the profits. The company is also concerned about making it easy for the people with disability to gain access to important facilities that would simplify their life.

Sponsorships can be gained from nongovernmental organizations such as the United Nations, society groups and individuals who wish to help to make the life of a blind individual better. Sponsorships will be sought through making our projects public for the blind people in the society and asking the public to get engaged and help to make sure that blind people’s life is made better through such donations and contributions. As a company we can also ensure that we continue to place our brand at a better position through sponsoring events for the blind and visually impaired. Example of how this can be done is through hosting different sporting events for the blind and providing price money and trophies for the blind. During such sponsored events, the company can be able to take time and inform the public about the importance of their products, as well as where they can find them and the price that they will pay for the product.

Social Media Promotion

For the visually impaired people, social media at times can be a great challenge. As a company we have to make use of the audio boom which is a social media platform for people with disabilities. It is also a means through which bloggers can communicate to the people living with visual impairments. Audio boom is a good source of social media promotion as information about the product will be passed to the consumers through their smart phones and tablets as pointed out by Constantinides (2014). With the help of this platform, creating and sharing of audio content will become a direct means of gaining access to blind people which will make it easy for the company to communicate what it believes to be the best product in the market. Through such sites, the company can promote its product by promising free gift to anyone who is able to post a voice revealing true information about the company’s product. Several visually impaired people will take part in such competition, which will make the product much more popular.