The iPad Jr. will be launched in New York and for it to successfully penetrate the market, a good promotional strategy must be established. A successful promotional strategy that the company will use will take the following order. First, the company has to segment the market into distinct sections as this will assist the company to focus on its target group (Anderson, Hair & Bush 1992, p. 67). A representation of this is shown below.
The second step is targeting where the company will select the group it wants to focus on and communicate with it through adverts thereby increasing the awareness of its products to the group. Since the iPad Jr. targets children between 3 and 12 years, some of the forms of marketing that may be applied here include, direct selling, advertising, personal selling, and public relations. Thirdly, the company has to undertake positioning where it creates a good image of the iPad Jr. and the company.
Lastly, the company needs to develop an advertising message such as, “Get an iPad Jr. another one from Apple.” The company can use personal and non personal selling in its promotional mix to reach the target. For the company to have an effective sales promotion schedule and advertising plan that will sell the iPad Jr., various steps such as the ones outlined here could be followed. First, a market research has to be undertaken. Commonly used methods include, questionnaires, Sales analysis and buying patterns, face-to-face interviews and specialist market research companies. The second step is creating a campaign theme for the iPad Jr. Third; the company needs to develop collateral materials and various advertisements both in print and broadcast media (Mehta, 2000, p. 20).
In the fourth step, a promotion schedule should be developed through selection of media outlets that will be used. The television is a good source to capture both the attentions on the parents and children for the entire targeted market. The final step will be implementation of the advertising plan. At this stage, the company will launch a television commercial and a tracking system that will give the company a response on the effectiveness of the campaign.
Advertising Plan
The company’s advertising plan of $ 100,000 will be as follows,
Out of the $100,000, a further $10,000 should be set aside for development of the adverts. With this amount, the company will be able to erect three huge colorful bill boards with an image of the iPad Jr. in the same colors as the already existing 5th generation iPod touch within the central business district that will be attractive to both the parents and children. Additional adverts should be created by the company to support the promotions and public relations efforts on the ground.
In order for the iPad Jr. to counter the strong competition and threats from other children friendly versions of the iPad like the new LeapPad2, Nabi2 and Kurio, Apple has developed a strong public relations plan that would see it rise to the top. A good PR plan is achieved through an in depth research for the best media channels to use. Details of their programs, publications, and articles are collected, and from this, one source is selected. In this case nickelodeon is the best option as it offers entertainment to both children and adults. The advantage that the iPad Jr. has is the already existing positive image of Apple products and as a result, a lot of exposure is not required (Rosenbloom & Anderson, 1985, p. 98).
Distribution Channels
Companies that distribute goods and services to consumers through agents often lack control of the product and as such, the agents may manipulate prices. In order to counter this, Apple will include a link and a phone number in the advertisements, were customers will be advised on the RRP (required retail price). Another alternative will be to come into mutual agreement with the resellers on profit margins so as to prevent cases of over pricing which will discourage the buyers (Mehta, Rosenbloom & Anderson, 2000, p. 41).
Continuous campaigns will be rolled on the TVs and as part of advertisement, Apple has signed contracts with a number of shows that will have the actors use the iPad Jr. the company has also set aside $60,000 to cater for distribution of the iPad Jr. into other countries selling the apple products and also for middle agents’ commissions. The overall budget plan is as follows:
For this plan to be a success, a goal must be set. Apple has come up with the goal of penetrating the junior market with the iPad Jr. To achieve this, more campaigns will be launched to support the already existing ones. While the product is in the market, continuous comparisons with previous sales of other products such as the iPhone 5 will be made so as to establish the effectiveness of the current campaigns. Continuous monitoring will also be done to access the effectiveness of the channels in use. Each mode of advertisement will also be analyzed, where customers will fill a form indicating where they first saw the product. Based on the number of responses, Apple will evaluate the channels that need to be improved and those that are doing well continuously until the required targets are achieved.
References
Anderson, E. (1996). Personal selling and sales management in the new millennium. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 16(4), 17– 32.
Anderson, E., Hair, F. & Bush , J. (1992). Professional sales management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Rosenbloom, B. & Anderson, E. (1985). Channel management and sales management. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Mehta, R., Rosenbloom, B. & Anderson, R. (2000). The role of the sales manager in channel management: impact of organizational variables. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 20(2), 1-51.