Marketing Plan For PROTECTA: Strategies And Analysis

SWOT Analysis of PROTECTA

In the present business environment it has become essential for the firms to take use of the strategic plans for conducting their operations (Peter & Donnelly, 2011). It helps in ensuring that there are no discrepancies in the process. Marketing plan is understood to be as the blue print of the things that will be conducted in market. It also comprises of the budget that will be allocated for the marketing plan (Hollensen, 2015). It is to be understood that every company makes its marketing plan that revolves around its product range. It also indicates about the overall strategy of the company so as to attract consumer towards their product. This plan comprises of many strategies that will help company in understanding their present position in the market as well as the environment in which it is doing its business (Wood, 2011). It also has some details regarding competitors and their strategies for the coming years.

Apart from this it helps in making sure that all the operations are competed within a given time frame and hence they can easily grab the opportunities that are present for them in the market. It also describes the strategies that will be utilised by the firm for making marketing plan successful which will ensure that they are able to attract their consumers. This report highlights various ways in which company keeps its products in front of market so that maximum possible potential consumers gets attracted towards the firm’s products. It also showcases the internal and external audit of the company so as to understand the position of the company as well as the challenges that are present with the firm for promoting its product.

PROTECTA is an Australian firm that deals in the business of selling smartphone Accessories. It was established in the year 2000 in the city of Melbourne. It is presently headed by its Managing Director, Allen Chen. This company imports its product parts from China and assembles them in Australia. This company has shown a serious increase in the business from the date of its establishment but after 2013 it has seen a decline in the revenue. Increasing competition in the market is understood to be the most important reason for this. This company is known for its innovative approach where it develops its products and services as per the demand of the market as well as the need of the industry in future. Since in the industry in which this company is working has lot of innovations that are going on and hence PROTECTA also has a well-established research department. It is due to this department of the company most of its products are unique from its other rivals. This company has a very large consumer marketing channel since they utilises retailers and wholesalers so that their product reaches to their customer.

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning

It is essential for any company to understand its marketing plan as it helps in making strategies that will help to overcome all the challenges faced by the company due to several factors. It also helps in understanding the competencies and weakness of the company that it can utilise for grabbing opportunities present to them (Amstrong, Kotler, Harker & Brennan, 2015). It also helps in understanding the threats that is posed in front of the firm in the coming years of operation.

For understanding internal environment of the company one of the best tools that can be used is SWOT.

SWOT analysis of PROTECTA:

Strength:

• This company has made its name in the field of innovation which has helped firm in making itself distinct from most of its rivals.
• Long range of products available for its consumers so that it can target larger part of the market.
• Higher brand name in Australia in this industry helps it to easily enter into the new market.
• Larger consumer base made by the company from its almost two decades of operations.
• Highly capable top leadership that helps firms in reaching to new horizons as they are known for making quick decisions based on the problems arise in front of them.

Weakness

• Lower brand presence outside Australia and New Zealand.
• There are many product failures that have arisen in the past which has reduced the profit margin of the firm.
• Decline in the revenue of the firm from last few years.
• Weak strategic planning has degraded the performance of the company as compared to its other competitors.

Opportunities

• To expand its business outside Australia where this industry has a larger scope especially in the developing nations of South East Asia.
• Lost cost market of Australia and New Zealand as this company imports most of its products.
• This company can come in manufacturing of more parts of mobile phones.

Threat

• Higher amount of competition in the market and most of them are having capacity to influence the market demand as well as changing the trends in the industry.
• Changing political and economic scenarios of many countries of the world where many countries have seen economic instability over a decade.

For understanding external marketing environment of the company which has higher power to influence the business of the company is as follows:

• Political: There are several changes in the political scenarios of countries all around the world (Mullins, Walker & Boyd Jr, 2012). Australian government has also made changes in the economic policies related to business inside the firm. This has affected the working of the firm. Apart from this there are many kinds of political tie ups that have been made by the government with other countries which will make it easier for the company to stretch in other parts of the world. Marketing in the Middle East and south Asian countries has become easier as the norms in these countries have been lowered for doing business (Terpstra, Foley & Sarathy, 2012).
• Economic: There are many kinds of economic hiccups noticed in many parts of the world which has ultimately affected the economy of Australia (Cronin-Gilmore, 2012). Strong performance of the company in past can help them in present situation where it has faced challenge in generating revenue. These economic dips have influenced the business of the firm and have forced it in making several cost cuts in many areas (McDonald & Wilson, 2016). Australia has been one of the most stable economies to invest in some new product development.
• Social: There has been considerable change in the demands of the society as they want more innovative products that too at lower rates (Keller & Thackeray, 2011). As this company imports its manufactured parts from china which is highly R and D based market hence this company will not face larger problems in satisfying the needs of consumers.
• Technological: There has been a considerable change in the technology that is being used in the industry (Amstrong, Adam, Denize & Kotler, 2014). Use of technology in manufacturing of these products has also enhanced at very faster rate. This has made compulsory for the cited company to upgrade their technological infrastructure. It is a challenge for the company since technology in this field gets doubled in every six months hence it requires a lot of capital to compete in the industry.
• Legal: There have change in the legalities related to business in many parts of the world which has resulted in reduction of powers of the firms and has empowered consumers (Strauss, 2016). Consumer grievances are listened more carefully and any lack from the side of manufacturer may result in serious legal issues. Company cannot falsely claim anything in the market.
• Environment: Company needs to think of reusing its silicon wastage as governments all around the world have been very strict over environment concerns. Company need to make plan for disposing its garbage which will also help company in making brand image in the market. It is necessary for successful marketing activity.

It is essential that company works with the predefined set of objectives that helps them to move in a particular path so as to achieve results as estimated (Boone & Kurtz, 2013). There are three major objectives of marketing which are as follows:

• To reach to larger sections of the market with the product value (earphones) that satisfies the demands of people.

Issues: There are many bigger firms which are capable of changing the industry trends and hence pose a bigger threat to the cited firm.

• To increase brand image of the firm in the minds of consumers so that revenue of theirs can be enhanced.

Issues: This Company is operational in only few countries which restrict it from expanding its reach to new set of people present all around the world.

• To increase the sale of the products by using various innovative marketing features.

Issues: Lower presence of the company in the internet and social market.

SMART objective of PRTOTECTA

• Specific: This Company aims to double its production by the end of 2022.
• Measurable: This firm aims to enhance the research budget twice by the end of 2019.
• Achievable: To train the workforce of the company with new technologies that is available in the industry so as to enhance their productivity.
• Realistic: To enhance the revenue of the firm by around twice by the end of the year 2020.
• Time limit: To enhance the market capture of the company in many new firms.

In this industry there are larger numbers of competitors.  Some of them are big and some are smaller. Three big competitors of PROTECTA are:

Panasonic

This company has to make a lot of investments in the new product development which has given it an edge in the market. Apart from this it has utilised its marketing mix in a smarter way so as to attract a larger sections of the society. It is present in meta-market which has given it an edge over other competitors.

JVC

This company has focused more on the digital marketing strategies and are doing aggressive marketing through digital mediums. Its marketing strategy includes low pricing of products that is highly capable of attracting larger numbers of consumers towards its products. Continuous improvements in most of the product have made it a market leader.

Apple

This company is at the digital market and has made its marketing strategy around the innovations that it has done in the field of technology. This company also believes in its premium brand image and utilises its brand name for marketing its products. Larger consumer base of this company is hard to be replaced.

Marketing Mix of PROTECTA

In any marketing process it is very essential for the firm to understand that their product is for which section of the society (Ferrell & Hartline, 2012). This helps them in designing their marketing process accordingly so that they can attract them (Lamb, Hair, & McDaniel, 2011). There are various categories of society that this company makes so as to construct a specific plan which helps in attracting them towards their products (Morgan, Katsikeas & Vorhies, 2012). This is sometimes also known as one of the most essential strategy of the company (Smith & Zook, 2011). Without Segmentation, targeting and positioning it is not possible that marketing plan can achieve desired success. Segmentation, targeting and positioning of the company is illustrated in the table given below:

Types of segmentation	Segmentation criteria	PROTECTA target segment
Geographic	Region	Domestic, International
Density	Urban, Semi-urban
Demographic	Age	8-50
Gender	Male and female
Life cycle stage	Bachelors, children, Adults
Income	Low and medium, High
Occupation	From every kind profession and students
Behavioural	Degree of loyalty	Switchers and regulars
Benefit Sought	Cost benefit seekers
Personality	Careless and easy going
User status	Regular and potential technology lovers.
Psychographic	Social class	Lower, middle, higher and working classes.

Marketing mix is considered as the set of tools that is used by the firm so as to enhance its reach to the people (Lee, 2013). Marketing mix enhances the efficiency of the marketing plan (Singh, 2012). There are seven elements in any marketing mix. Marketing mix has diversified elements that help in making marketing plan more useful and object oriented (Srivastava & Sakunke, 2011). Apart from this it suggests about the way in which company will showcase its products to the masses.  Marketing mix of PROTECTA is as follows:

• Product: This Company has long range of products that is available in their portfolio. Various technological devices are present in the portfolio of this company. These products are capable of satisfying the needs of people.  All these products are highly differentiated from its rivals. Earphones in the product name Quad are one of the most innovative products in the industry. They have 4 different Quad earphones that are available with wired and wireless features.
• Price: There are many products that are available in various price ranges. Most of its products are available with the price range that is moderate. They believe in the power of price war in attracting consumers.  They also believe in psychological pricing strategy so as to lure customers that love lower price range products. Price ranges of consumer based products are according to the demand of the people which they find out by doing market research and are reasonable and affordable according to their target consumers.
• Place: They sale their products through both conventional and technological ways. They have larger number of distributors that are associated with the company which helps them in distributing their products in the outlets. Apart from this company has chosen electronic ways to market and distribute its product. They have a very few customised outlets where they can sell their products. Their personal website and other e-commerce websites are the places where they sell their most of the products.
• Promotion: There are larger numbers of promotional strategies that this company is using. They are using both traditional and technological mediums for promoting their products. They take use of social media promotions as larger part of their segmented customers spends their most of the time on such platforms. These mediums are cheaper and have the capability of influencing the people. This is due to the fact that there are various kinds of interactive advertisements that can be done through this. Along with this traditional mediums such as newspapers and televisions can be highly beneficial for promoting the products of the company to larger section of the population. They also can take use of the interactive advertisements to clear the doubts of the people so that they can clear out the confusion in the minds of potential consumers which is essential objective of marketing.
• Process: This Company takes use of best of processes so as to satisfy the needs of various consumers. To become market leader they have taken use of the best practices within the industry. There have systemised their processes so as to maintain the quality of their products. They have used best of technologies so as to assure that there is efficiency in the working process. They have made SOP for various operations and any deviations are not accepted in the firm. Apart from this there is a team culture that is prevalent within the firm which assists firm in achieving higher productivity.
• People: There are people inside the firm that are highly trained which helps company in achieving standards work. They have employed best researchers within the organisation which helps them in achieving innovative products. Their management level staffs are known for taking quick decisions as per the requirement of the firm. Company also organises timely trainings for their workers so that they remains upgraded with latest technological advancements.
• Physical evidence: Products that this company produces are tangible. It is producing product in the same way as it has promised to its consumers. They have been known for their timely delivery of products and as per the requirement of their customers.

It is essential for the organisation to make strategies for marketing (Gupta, 2017). It helps them in providing support to marketing activities which is essential for the growth of the firm (Holliman & Rowley, 2014). These marketing strategies help in tackling competition that is present in the industry and hence providing edge over the others. These are also made checking the strategies that competitors have adopted. Marketing strategies for PROTECTA is as follows:

• Pricing strategy: This Company believes in competitive pricing and hence has decided their product’s price according to the market. They have adopted psychological pricing strategy which effects on the mind-set of people hence they do not have price tags that is in whole numbers. Prices vary according to the market in which it is selling its products.
• Distribution strategy: They have strong bond with their distributors which help them in getting deep routes into the market. They have adopted the strategy of Intensive distribution so as to reach to largest possible potential consumers. Apart from this for online product sell they aim to use selective strategy so as to maintain the image of the firm in the minds of consumers.
• Marketing communication: This strategy is adopted so as to attract larger numbers of people towards the product of the company (Kennedy, 2011). This is necessary process so as to achieve maximum benefits from the consumers.  Marketing communication strategy describes the business’s plan for product information and increasing development of brand awareness (Rogers & Davidson, 2015). They have taken use of advertisements, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling, sponsorship, customer service, and packaging. All this helps company in reducing the confusion that is present in the minds of the consumers. It helps in enhancing the sale of the products which is the ultimate goal of the whole marketing process. More aggressively a company practices their marketing communication; more is the chances that they can achieve their targeted objectives.

After the formulation of all the strategies, an organisation must focus on preparing an action plan that helps in channelizing whole marketing process (Dey, Modani, Nanavati, Prasad & Nagar, 2012). It also assists in completing whole marketing procedure in a better way. It includes all the activities and procedures that are required for attaining business objectives. Marketing action plan for PROTECTA is as follows:

Actions	Starting date	End Date	Responsible Person	Related Department
Setting new objectives and mission statement	1/2/2018	–	Top level managers and Board members	Top management
Discussion about the marketing objectives and new mission	1/3/2018	–	Management and Board of Directors	Senior level management
Development of new opinions and ideas for decision making	3/5/2018	–	Innovative individuals of the firm.	All associated departments
Choosing best alternative and implementation of best ideas	15/9/2018	–	Executives of marketing	Marketing department
Implementation of new marketing plan and strategies	5/10/2018	–	Advertising managers and executives related to marketing.	Promotion and Marketing department

This marketing plan will assist company in making new ways into the market and hence achieving the overall objectives of the firm (Khan, 2014). There are few things that firm needs to take care of while formulation of marketing action plans. They are as follows:

• Creating appropriate content: It is essential for the user to create a content that is focused, measurable and content driven. It attracts more consumers as they get to see what they have chosen for.
• Selecting channels: The channels for marketing and promotions need to be selected wisely (Whalen & Holloway, 2012). Traditional marketing channels like radio, televisions, poster etc. can also be used as well as digital marketing channels like social media, search engine optimisation, etc. must also be used.
• Broadcasting perfect message: It is essential that right content is created and then sent to the most appropriate consumers. This must be carefully planned and coordinated. It helps in establishing trust of consumers.
• Evaluating marketing plan: It is essential part of the company to measure ROI which helps in understanding effectiveness of the process (Hill, 2016). This also assists in analysing impact of advertisements on the minds of consumers. It also helps in making effective changes that are required for making it more productive. There are many ways in which it can be done but first it is essential that company monitors every process in a detailed manner.

There are many kinds of controls that are used in marketing process (Hanlon, 2016). It is considered to be as the process of monitoring the proposed plan at various stages so as to ensure that all the resources are utilised in a better way. Control includes measurement, monitoring and timely evaluation of the whole process. There are several stages for marketing control process:

• Marketing objectives: It is essential for the organisation to make the objectives for marketing which helps in moving forward in a better way (Hill, 2016).
• Performance standards: It is essential for the marketing team to enforce some of the standards of performance management (Infoentrepreneurs, 2016).  This helps to maintain the quality of the whole process as well as ensuring that there is no deformity in the final products that is delivered to the consumers as it is very necessary for the image of the firm. When this company aims to develop a new series of ear phones then it has to maintain some of the previously defined standards as they understand that people pay for the value they get from particular product.
• Comparing results against standards: It is necessary for the company to maintain the standards and it is the role of the managers to assure that all the processes are going according to the set standards. This comparison of results against the standards helps managers in finding the changes that can be applied to keep it on track. There are several approaches to control:
• Market share analysis
• Sales analysis
• Quality controls
• Budgets for marketing
• Research of market
• Consumer feedbacks
• Customer relationship management
• Location of potential buyers
• Support of distributors
• Performance of promotional activities.
• Management of information
• Sales per thousand consumers, per factory, per segment.

Marketing Strategies for PROTECTA

It is essential for the firms to understand their requirement of budget while conducting their marketing activities (Duermyer, 2016). This also reduces the chances of failure of marketing plan due to financial constraints. In budget money that is spent on various activities of marketing is clearly mentioned and hence they do not have to wait for any last moment complexities in managing finance. It helps in reducing the variation in what company has estimated and what actually they spent. Budget for PROTECTA for marketing for coming years is as follows:

Activities	1st year (In AUD)	2nd year (In AUD)
Direct marketing	15000	17000
Sales marketing	18000	19000
Traditional advertisement	33000	28000
Social media marketing	15000	19000
Internet marketing	19000	27000
Total	100000	110000

It is to be understood that modern way of marketing includes more of technological means hence more investments has to be done on digital marketing rather than on the traditional marketing (ccsfmarketing. 2016).

It is essential for any company to make contingency plan as it helps them in case of any problem arises during the conduction of whole process (Hasan, 2011). However good may be the plan, it is always possible that it may fail due to various reasons hence it is essential for the company to have their contingency plan ready which covers all the aspects related to failure. Planning for contingencies involves an evaluation of possible variations in basic assumptions and their effects on marketing plan. This plan addresses unexpected events in marketing activities. This planning has to address problems that have occurred due to risk taken and improper management of its. This helps company in ensuring that their different aspects of marketing do not face any kind of severe problems. It helps to ensure profitability, maintaining consumer relationship, higher sales revenue and removing the risk of failure which can lead to strategic as well as financial failures. It safeguards company from any kind of serious consequences due to arrival of sudden situations within the business. It helps in ensuring that company will be able to tackle the problems that are present within the business environment.

Conclusion

From the above based report it can be concluded that in the modern times it has become essential for the firm to have a solid marketing plan which ensures its success within the industry. It also helps to ensure that company has strong background and homework has been done for achieving different activities within marketing. It is kind of a blue print where all the activities that will be done in marketing are elaborated and the ways in which they will be conducted is expressed. This plan suggests about the external and internal environment that is present around the company which has to be understood so as to make marketing strategies accordingly. Marketing Objective and issues associated with it is also provided in this marketing plan. Apart from this various marketing strategies is also illustrated utilising which PROTECTA can easily achieve success over rival. For this company their major target market is youngsters for their Quad series headphones. It also has an action plan that would help them in reaching to final goal on time. Controls and budgets are also included within this marketing plan so as to make sure that there is continuous monitoring of the overall process and it has ample amount of financial resources to conduct overall activities. Apart from it is essential that PROTECTA has contingency plan that helps in situation if any sudden barrier produces while working with the plan.

Marketing Action Plan for PROTECTA

References

Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., & Kotler, P. (2014). Principles of marketing. Pearson Australia.

Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.

Boone, L. E., & Kurtz, D. L. (2013). Contemporary marketing. Cengage learning.

ccsfmarketing. 2016. [Online]. Available at: https://www.ccsfmarketing.com/the-external-marketing-environment.html.[Accessed on: 24^th January 2018].

Cronin-Gilmore, J. (2012). Exploring marketing strategies in small businesses. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 6(1), 96.

Dey, K., Modani, N., Nanavati, A. A., Prasad, S. K. N., & Nagar, S. (2012). U.S. Patent No. 8,296,175. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Duermyer, R. 2016. [Online]. Available at: https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-a-marketing-plan-1794426.[Accessed on: 24^th January 2018].

Ferrell, O. C., & Hartline, M. (2012). Marketing strategy, text and cases. Nelson Education.

Gupta, V. K. (2017). Marketing Strategy: A War to Win. Journal of Management Science, Operations & Strategies (e ISSN 2456-9305), 1(1), 21-24.

Hanlon, A. 2016. [Online]. Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/marketing-planning/marketing-models/how-to-use-the-7ps-marketing-mix/.[Accessed on: 24^th January 2018].

Hasan, J. (2011). Analysis of E-marketing Strategies. Studia commercialia Bratislavensia, 4(14), 201-208.

Hill, B. 2016. [Online]. Available at: https://bizfluent.com/info-7826262-marketing-contingency-planning.html.[Accessed on: 24^th January 2018].

Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.

Holliman, G., & Rowley, J. (2014). Business to business digital content marketing: marketers’ perceptions of best practice. Journal of research in interactive marketing, 8(4), 269-293.

Infoentrepreneurs, 2016. [Online]. Available at: https://www.infoentrepreneurs.org/en/guides/create-your-marketing-strategy/.[Accessed on: 24^th January 2018].

Keller, H., & Thackeray, R. (2011). Social marketing and the creative process: staying true to your social marketing objectives. Health Promotion Practice, 12(5), 651-653.

Kennedy, M. R. (2011). Collaborative marketing for electronic resources. Library Hi Tech News, 28(6), 22-24.

Khan, M. T. (2014). The concept of’marketing mix’and its elements (a conceptual review paper). International journal of information, business and management, 6(2), 95.

Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F., & McDaniel, C. (2011). Essentials of marketing. Cengage Learning.

Lee, D. (2013). What is Marketing?. Public Services Quarterly, 9(2), 169-171.

McDonald, M., & Wilson, H. (2016). Marketing Plans: How to prepare them, how to profit from them. John Wiley & Sons.

Morgan, N. A., Katsikeas, C. S., & Vorhies, D. W. (2012). Export marketing strategy implementation, export marketing capabilities, and export venture performance. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(2), 271-289.

Mullins, J., Walker, O. C., & Boyd Jr, H. W. (2012). Marketing management: A strategic decision-making approach. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

Peter, J. P., & Donnelly, J. H. (2011). Marketing management: knowledge and skills: text, analysis, cases, plans. Plano: Business pub., INC.

Rogers, T., & Davidson, R. (2015). Marketing destinations and venues for conferences, conventions and business events(Vol. 14). Routledge.

Singh, M. (2012). Marketing mix of 4P’s for competitive advantage. Journal of Business and Management, 3(6), 40-45.

Smith, P. R., & Zook, Z. (2011). Marketing communications: integrating offline and online with social media. Kogan Page.

Srivastava, R. K., & Sakunke, S. T. (2011). Impact of future trends on marketing strategy. Far East Journal of Marketing and Management, 1(2), 10-15.

Strauss, J. (2016). E-marketing. Routledge.

Terpstra, V., Foley, J., & Sarathy, R. (2012). International marketing. Naper Press.

Whalen, P. S., & Holloway, S. S. (2012). Effectual marketing planning for new ventures. AMS review, 2(1), 34-43.

Wood, M. B. (2011). The marketing plan handbook. Pearson Higher Ed.