MP3 Player for Elder Adults: Marketing Plan Term Paper

Product Description

The proposed product is a special MP3 player for aged people with poor eyesight and deafness. The idea is to create a MP3 player device with big screen and special signals which help old people with poor eyesight and deafness to listen to music and use it in emergency situations (Bearden et al 2004).

Rational for Product Development

Elderly adults represent a separate age segment. Older people comprise a substantial proportion of the population, including the most affluent people. With the attrition in their life space because of retirement, death of their spouses, and cohort members, older adults rely on mass media for information to a greater extent than do their younger counterparts (Bearden et al 2004).

Marketing Strategies – In general, marketing strategy deals with pricing, selling, and distributing a product. Using a mar­ket development strategy for a MP3 player for aged people, the company will capture a larger share of an existing market for current products through market saturation and market pene­tration or develop new markets for current products. It is “the combination of choices you make about which tactics you use” (Kotler and Armstrong 2006).

Product differentiation will be the main strategy followed by the company. Differentiation will be achieved by unique product image and features, low price and support services proposed fro all customers. The company will follow penetration pricing strategy. Penetration pricing refers to the establishment of price levels low enough to penetrate markets deeply, and to discourage potential competitors from entry. Although prices are set relatively low, expanding markets arc recognized. Pursuit of this policy slows down the recouping of investments and expenses. Which policy to use depends on the total marketing plan and an assessment of cost-revenue market factors (Boone and Kurtz 2002). The product will be distributed in the US only. The price for each MP3 player will be $130.

Segmentation

Segmentation for a MP3 player for aged people will be used to understand individual customers in the sports market place and to group them together to form distinct segments which are identifiable, accessible and substantial. In markets, segmentation is often used to make selling more cost effective by prioritizing the companies that require regular face-to-face salespeople and that can be served better by telesales and direct distribution.

Market segmentation involves finding out the key drivers that distinguish one group of customers from another (Boone and Kurtz 2002). Geographically, segmentation will over the USA states only. Gender and class differences will not have a great impact on purchases and marketing strategies. The majority of potential buyers are 60+ consumers with eyesight and deafness problems. The product will be distributed through telemarketing and local agents. It will not face competition because it is a unique solution designed for elderly only.

Competition

The main threats are low response level and low purchasing power of the target group. The opportunities are uniqueness and low price available for low income consumers. Technical improvements and innovation create a comparative advantage for a nation or a company.

Developing countries unable to produce enough technologies are at a disadvantage because they do not have the human resources needed for producing nontraditional high-value-added goods and services. In fact, it has been argued that industrialized countries will continue to maintain a significant competitive edge over and above emerging economies as long as they educate and produce more technologists than the competition

Marketing Mix and Budget

The budget for marketing campaign is $ 1 000 000. As a high budget advertiser, the company might narrow the target, reduce the variety of vehicles needed to reach a target, and thus allow dominance of the consumers who are targeted. Reducing the geographical scope of advertising and the times during the year when there is an advertising presence are also useful means of achieving dominance. In selecting among these strategies, the goal is to have a strong presence among as large a portion of the target as possible by restricting the playing field to a size that allows for media dominance (Hollensen, 2007).

‘Marketing mix’ means the strategies adopted and implemented by the firm including product, price, promotion and distribution issues. The company should take into account the fact that even when advertising features older people, the appeal often does not reflect an understanding of the elderly consumer (Hollensen, 2007). They are treated as if there is one elderly segment. This practice is not consistent with the data suggesting that the knowledge and lifestyles of those under 75 years of age are quite different from their older counterparts. The elderly people under 75 typically view themselves as being healthier and younger than younger people view them.

The typical elderly’s self-perception is that they are 10 to 15 years younger than their chronological age. One implication of this observation is that in developing advertising targeted to say a 70-year-old, it is more effective to show a 55-year-old rather than a 70-year-old person. The conventional wisdom that elderly people’s ability to recall information is diminished with age is not supported by evidence.

The findings are that older people retain proficiency in previously learned tasks and suffer deficits primarily when the tasks are ones that require skills that have not been learned earlier in life. For example, today’s elderly have a difficult time when television advertising employs quick cuts—rapid movement from one scene to another. In addition, limitations in learning that do occur (Hollensen, 2007).

Marketing mix will involve telemarketing and direct sales, promotion through medical institutions and MP3 stores outside the country. And MP3 selling and ordering is reserved for the sale of replacement items to already-established customers. In each channel, the cost of serving the customer is matched to the value of the transaction, so that each type of sale is possible to transact profitably (Hollensen, 2007).

Implementation of the first campaign

• Send Direct mail – twice on September and October and one on November;
• Cinema ad – 7 times a day starting from the 20^th of September to end of November;
• Radio ad – 10 times a day from the 5th of September to end of November;
• Advertising in local Press – once a week from the 5th of September to end of November;
• TV ad – 3 times in the evening starting from the 5^th of September to end of November;
• Posters in transport;
• Calendars and wallcharts.

Controls will be the final stage of the marketing campaign. Planning and control are intertwined and interde­pendent. The planning process will be divided into two related phases, strategic planning and controls (Crawford 2001).

References

Bearden, W. O., Ingram, Th. N., LaForge, L.W. (2004). Marketing, Prentice Hall.

Boone, L.E., Kurtz, D.L. (2002) Management, McGraw-Hill, New York.

Crawford C. Merle. (2006). New Products Management. Irwin-McGraw Hill. 7th edition.

Hollensen, S. (2007). Global Marketing: A Decision-Oriented Approach. Financial Times/ Prentice Hall; 4 edition.

Kotler, Ph., Armstrong, G. (2006). Principles of Marketing. Prentice Hall; 11th edition.