Background of Protecta

The report introduces an effective marketing plan that shall be developed by Protecta in Australia to gain a sustainable position within the competitive business environment. To develop an effective marketing plan, proper understanding of the marketing policies and principles is essential for ensuring that the smartphone accessories are sold properly in different market segments to create a huge customer base and ensure generating higher sales revenue too with ease and effectiveness. The topic will also present about the idea of market and its product orientation along with the wide range of products and services offered by Protecta, especially, the QUAD products, which have been mainly focused on. The value proposition of the clients and the ways by which the products and services will be differentiated are also to be included in the report while the strategies to position the products and segmenting the market can also be beneficial for sustaining in the competitive business marketplace (Paley, 2017. The numerous factors influencing the buying behaviours of the consumers will also be illustrated in this report along with how the company may be able to stay ahead of the competitor within the marketplace with convenience.

The business organisation named Protecta is a major company in Australia that sells smartphone accessories, especially the focus has been on selling the QUAD products and services to the targeted audiences. The company’s functioning is dependent upon the importing of goods and services from China and enabling the packaging and distributing those in Australia too. The company was founded in the year of 2002 by the Managing Director named as Allen Chen. The indirect consumer marketing channels have allowed the company to deliver its products and services to the retailers and wholesalers from whom the customers can gain accessibility to (Westwood, 2013). With the emergence of multiple competitors within the smartphone industry, Protecta has faced immense competition and thus the revenue structure has declined, which has created other issues and complexities such as inability to target the right audiences and inadequate innovation procedures to bring in something new and unique. The assignment focuses on how the company can regain its stature and ensure production of products consisting of unique features such as wireless in ear headphones, wired in ear headphones, wireless over ear headphones and wired over ear headphones (Kolb, 2013). Allen has taken help of my marketing agency to develop the marketing plan for QUAD products and ensure managing popularity among the people, thereby drive their behaviours towards the products and services delivered by the organisation with ease and effectiveness. s

Market Orientation for QUAD Products

The introduction of new products, i.e., the QUAD products is based on the product and market orientation and it allows the marketing agency to design the products and services according to the needs and requirements of the customers. The market or product orientation could also assist the decision makers of Protecta to use the existing knowledge and information of the consumers’ trends, furthermore should make the business make the clients informed about the new product related features required to meet the needs and expectations of the clients effectively as well (Fine, 2017).

With the customers more knowledgeable and informed nowadays, the markets have shifted to the market and product orientation marketing concepts to focus on determining what the clients actually want and how a stable customer base can be formed to sustain a good position within the competitive marketplace in Australia (Baker, 2014). The business organisations needs to deliver what the customers actually want, though there may be various constraints and limitations associated with the market orientation approaches. Just determining what the customers need is not the actual way of doing business, rather it is necessary to understand how the needs of clients have changed over time and this is an important consideration that should be made by Protecta for operating in the high turbulent markets and ensure that the marketing strategies are inclined with the business goals and objectives effectively (Baker, 2014). Thus, it is clear that operating within the highly turbulent market can assist the business organisation to remain market oriented in terms of marketing strategy that has been implemented by other firms within the stable markets. One of the most influential factor of market or product orientation could be the turbulence and it should be managed with the enabling of changes in technology along with checking the efficiency of market conditions (Boone & Kurtz, 2013).

The main range of products offered by the organization include the QUAD products that include wireless in ear headphones, wired in ear headphones, wireless over ear headphones as well as wired over ear headphones and the colours in which the products are available are white, black and red. The headphones are introduced consisting of four ear pieces, which is effective for two people to listen the music at the same time. The headphones are designed in such a manner it is easy to fit in ears and people can select the headphones according to their choices and preferences (Holliman & Rowley, 2014). There are few other smart phone accessories that are also offered by the organisation to maintain a string customer base and ensure that the right clients are targeted to generate higher sales and gain increased revenue generation with convenience.

Cost Leadership Strategy for Effective Products

Protecta has always lagged in terms of good market orientation application and the success of the organisation is mainly dependent upon the tremendous growth that should be achieved by creating trust among the customers. The company must cut itself a niche as a distributor of products and services gain future stability and progress all throughout. This would also help in repositioning the brand and at the same time, gain a bigger with the implementation of cost leadership strategy to make the QUAD products available at reasonable prices (Boso, Cadogan & Story, 2013). The new product consists of four specialised features such as four ear pieces that can allow two people to listen to music at the same time using the same headphone. The products include four categories and are available in white, black and red, which has been targeted to different market segments consisting of varied clients with differ needs and requirements (Morgan et al., 2015).

To manage proper product orientation, the company could use the cost leadership strategy to ensure that the right prices are set for the products and services without compromising on the quality of products and services to be delivered to the clients. The brand re-positioning could also be helpful for innovating the products and services, furthermore make sure to improve the firm’s market share considering entry into new market segments to gain consumer confidence on the products and create greater satisfaction among the clients with the building of trust and loyalty among the clients too (Kim, Im & Slater, 2013). The cost leadership strategy is aimed at reducing the costs of products and services and allowing the production of least expensive goods and services within a particular market or industry aiming to achieve a higher market share. With the market conditions changing from time to time and emergence of a complex business environment, the consumers need to be aware of the choices made available for them by the organisation (Lamore, Berkowitz & Farrington¸2013). The competitive pricing strategy could help the company to differentiate themselves from other company products and at the same time, increase the power of purchasing by offering products at a much lesser cost when compared with the competitors offering similar kinds of products at a specific cost (Yu, Nguyen & Chen, 2016).

The business’ value proposition statement is to enable changes that can represent in the uniqueness of the marketing strategy implemented by the organisation to attain a sustainable position within the competitive business environment. It is considered as an effective aspect of the marketing plan that can allow Protecta to change according to the way business is managed and how transformation could be possible with the introduction of new products and services in the market (Pfisterer & Roth, 2015). The foundation of Protecta’s success could be based on three major components including the quality, design and prices set for the products and services. Considering the fact that the business has experienced rapid decline and inability to cope up with the immense competition within the marketplace,

Value Proposition for Protecta

The value proposition means the company using a marketing statement to gain an in-depth understanding about why the customers should choose to purchase a particular product or service from Protecta in Australia. The statement is prepared to influence the potential clients to make purchases from the company considering the fact that the products and services enable creation of value and can overcome the issues and problems that the other similar kinds of products will be able to (Makadok & Ross, 2013). A value proposition is managed by making a statement to make a promise to the different market segment consisting of the customers. The business organisation should make the clients understand about why the products and services should be purchased and how it can cater to their needs and preferences. The added benefits and reasons about why the head phones are better than similar kinds of other products available in the market should also be made understood to influence the consumer buying behaviours (Payne & Frow, 2014). The effective value proposition must be appealing and clear to influence the customers make decisions, furthermore ensure working according to the needs and preferences of clients with much ease and effectiveness.

A number of design centres must be established for hiring the most skilled and knowledgeable staffs to handle the responsibilities of managing product design along with putting their efforts fully to establish a unique design of product along with the establishment of a favourable price comparison when compared with the other smartphone manufacturing and production companies in Australia (Töytäri & Rajala, 2015). This will not only develop the brand image and name, but can even facilitate brand awareness among people to influence their buying behaviours and allow them to make purchases consistently, which can further result in gaining good rate of return on investments, higher amounts of sales, increased revenue generation and obtaining a greater market share as well.

The main components that should be considered by Protecta to maintain proper value proposition include identification of target market audiences, value to be delivered to the customers, offerings, prioritised benefits and product differentiation. Protecta must at first, conduct a survey to understand the needs of target market and identify the people who will likely purchase the goods and services. The potential clients must be divided into various dimensions such as the buying behaviours, attitudes of clients and demographic conditions (Davcik & Sharma, 2015). The identification of market segments will be followed by the targeting of audiences, which is an important aspect of the value proposition and this process would assist in developing a product or service that can appeal most of the people within the chosen target market with much ease and efficiency. The targeted audiences here are people aged between 15 to 40 years, who are interested in music and other entertainment activities. The understanding of perceived value would enable Protecta to design the products and services in such a manner that could deliver perceived value and benefits to the clients and at the same time, evaluate the most suitable marketing strategy to manage differentiation of products along with gaining a huge customer base too (Wilder, Collier & Barnes, 2014). The company must also compare the prices set for the products and services made available by the competitors and even compare it with the value proposition of competitors for identifying the most alternative solutions that can provide the customers with a great experience after making purchases of the headphones made available by Protecta in Australia (Carnevale & Smith, 2013).

Design Centers for Unique Product Design

To regain its good position within the competitive marketplace, Protecta needs to differentiate its products and services from the competitors. To become one of the most reputed, innovative and quality focused brands and for gaining a sustainable position, Protecta must differentiate its products properly to make sure that the clients can understand how the products and services of Protecta can fare well in terms of product features and usability. The company should also manage the human resources properly and use effective technologies for creating something unique, which has been possible with the delivery of new and innovative headphones that consist of four ear pieces, furthermore contribute to the betterment of the community and wellbeing of people. The differentiation of products has been possible from the competitors based on various categories including the features and attributes of products firm linkages and firm customer relationships (Mirabi, Akbariyeh & Tahmasebifard, 2015). The four earphones available in the headphones is considered as an additional and effective feature that can influence the clients’ behaviours and allow them to try out something new, which should increase the company’s revenue generation and facilitate gaining competitive advantage and higher profit in business.

The needs, wants and demands of the clients change from time to time and this is one of the main reasons for which the businesses need to differentiate its products and services and make sure to influence their buying behaviours. Often there has been issues while watching movies and due to poor sound, people need headphones to enjoy the movie and experience great sound effects too by using the head phones. In case there are more than one person, then ne headphone can be a problem for both the persons. Thus, their demands and expectations from the company are based on suitability and adjustments with the movie and sound experience that could be achieved by purchasing the headphones of Protecta.  It is important that the business needs to identify the current trends to understand the buying behaviours of clients and understand that can basically influence them to make purchases consistently. The new headphones are introduced with four earphones to ensure that more than one people can enjoy the music by using a single product. The customers expect great quality and design and availability of products at lesser prices too, which could be possible if Protecta focus on the implementation of cost leadership strategy to set the right prices for the products and draw in more clients to increase the revenue generation capability furthermore.

Tanner and Raymond (2015) are of the viewpoint that the financial prospects of an organization depends significantly on the kind of segmentation and targeting strategies used by the concerned organization. As opined by Sawhney et al. (2017), this is important from the perspective that the products or the services offered by an organization depends greatly on the kind of customer base that the concerned organization is focusing on. More importantly, recent researches have revealed the fact that the organizations which take into effective consideration the needs or the demands of the customers on whom they are focusing on are likely to attain a higher level of financial success in comparison to the ones which do not take into effective consideration the needs of their customer base (Nijssen, 2017). It is precisely here that the notions of segmentation and targeting become important within the spectrum of the contemporary business world.

The organization Protecta, which is reputed for the manufacture as well as the sale of smart phone accessories in the Australia, had lost its competitive advantage in the recent times because of fierce competition that it is currently facing in the business market of Australia. Thus, in order to regain the monopoly in the business market of Australia the organization had four different kinds of smart phone accessories which are available in different colors as per the need as well as the convenience of the customers. The four accessories that the organization had launched are wireless in-ear headphones, wired in-ear headphones, wireless over-ear headphones and wired over-ear headphones which had been designed after a thorough analysis of the present demands of the customers of Australia. The organization for the purpose of targeting is following the targeting strategy of concentrated marketing through which it would be able to focus effectively on the customer base which it had selected. The effective use of this strategy is likely to help the organization to take into consideration the needs or the demands of the customer base in an adequate manner (Schlegelmilch, 2016).  

The customer base that the organization under discussion here had selected for the wired in-ear headphones are the ones who belong to the age bracket of 18-30 years of age. The organization had selected the concerned customer base for the product under discussion here because of the fact that the individuals related to this particular age bracket not only are very technologically savvy but at the same time like to try out new things. More importantly, the individuals related to this particular age bracket like to listen to music and also watch movies with their friends (Andaleeb, 2016). Thus, the multi-user facility that the concerned product offers to the users is likely to act as a boon for the customers. Furthermore, recent researches have revealed the fact that the individuals related to this age like to opt for the wired in-ear headphones. Moreover, the different colors in which the headphones are available is likely to act as an added advantage for the organization since the individuals related to this age bracket are very concerned regarding the color of products that they are using. The organization will initially focus on the customers related to the city of Melbourne however after the demand for the product increases it will enhance the base of its operations.   

The primary target customer base for the wireless in-ear headphones is the individuals who belong to the age bracket of 30-40 years. It is pertinent to note that the organization had selected this particular customer base for the product under discussion here because of the fact that the people of this particular age bracket like to opt for the kind of products which are likely to reduce their effort and also save their time (Dibb, 2017). Thus, the wireless nature of the ear-phones means that every time a call comes the customers will not have to take their smart phones from their pockets and answer them manually rather they can receive the calls through the press of a button on the wireless device. More importantly, this accessory is likely to be an ideal for the working class people who have very limited amount of time and also need to do multi-tasking. Thus, it is likely that the customers through the usage of this accessory would be able to speak over the smart phone while working. The organization in the initial phase will focus on the working class professionals who are based in the city of Melbourne however once the product had a substantial customer base in the city the organization hopes to offer the product under discussion to the people of the other cities as well.

The customer base for the wired over-ear headphones offered by the organization under discussion here will be the individuals of Melbourne who belong to the age category of 24-34 years. The organization had selected this particular customer base for the product because of the fact that the people of this particular age like to try out new things and are also very technologically savvy (Wirtz & Lovelock, 2016). It is precisely this behavior of the customers that the manufacturers of this headphone intent to exploit for the sale of this headphone. More importantly, the multi-user facility will help the customers to watch movies and also listen to music with their friends and also family members. Furthermore, the price of the headphones had been kept low by the organization so as to ensure the people related to this age bracket will be able to afford them.  

The primary customer base for the wired over-ear headphones manufactured by the organization under discussion here will be the individuals related to the age bracket of 30-40 years. The organization will mainly focus on the working class individuals of Melbourne related to the above mentioned age bracket for the sale of this particular product. Furthermore, this particular customer base had been selected by the organization because of the fact that the people related to this age bracket have limited amount of time and thus are not always able to speak over the phone. Thus, it is likely that the customers through the usage of this device will be able to speak over the phone while working and the trendy nature of the device would be in synchronicity with the decorum of the professional environment in which they are required to work. More importantly, the customers related to this particular age bracket would be able to watch movies or listen to music through the use of these headphones with their family members and also friends.

Venter, Wright and Dibb (2015) are of the viewpoint that the prospects of an organization and also the products or services offered by them depend greatly on the kind of positioning strategy which is being used by the concerned organization. As opined by Gupta (2017), in the contemporary times there are various kinds of pricing strategies available to the organizations, namely, on the basis of price, product characteristics, on the basis of application or use, product process, class, symbolical connation and others. In this regards, it needs to be said that the organization under discussion here is utilizing the concept of price as a positioning strategy to gain an effective marketing position for the headphones that it is currently offering to the customers. For example, the organization is currently taking the help of the generic strategy of cost leadership to offer the best quality trendy headphones to the customers and that too at a comparatively lower price than the ones offered by the other organizations of Melbourne, Australia (Wang, 2015). More importantly, this had enabled the organization to place its product or the headphones offered by it as the one which is not only cost effective but at the same better in quality and also style statement in comparison to the ones offered by the other organizations of Australia.  

Gengler and Mulvey (2017) have articulated the viewpoint that the behavior of the customers in the recent times had undergone a substantial amount of change because of the changing nature of the business world. More importantly, the prominence held by the concept of customer behavior can be explained on the basis of the various customer behavior theories which had emerged in the present times (Brotspies & Weinstein, 2017). For example, the organization under discussion is taking the help of “Theory of Reasoned Action” and considers the customers as rational creatures which are likely to opt for the kind of products or services that appeals to their rational self in the best possible manner (Keegan & Green, 2015). It is because of this fact that the organization had designed the headphones in a such manner that it would appeal to the rational self of the technologically savvy individuals and also the ones who because of the hectic kind of life that they lead had very little time to indulge in private calls (Dibb & Simkin, 2016). Thus, it can be said that the headphone by offering the individuals the opportunity to take calls while working without having the hold the smart phones will be especially appealing for the customers. Moreover, recent researches have revealed the fact that the people related to the age bracket of 18-40 years of age like to watch movies or listen to music with their friends and family members and thus the headphones will especially appealing for them (Lilien, Rangaswamy & De Bruyn, 2017). Furthermore, the different color options that the customers get regarding the headphone, is another factor which is likely to influence the customers for the purchase of this headphone since the people of this age bracket are very specific regarding the style statement of the products that they use. Lastly, the low price of the headphones is another factor which will propel the customers to opt for them. Thus, the headphones by fulfilling this basic requirement of the customers of this particular age bracket, is likely to appeal to the rational self of these individuals.    

Wirtz and Lovelock (2016) have articulated the viewpoint that the business market of Australia is dominated by the oligopolistic marketing strategy in which only a handful of organizations are holding the monopoly. The net result of this is that the new organizations had to face stringent competition within the business market for the sale of the products or services offered by them to the customers (Nijssen, 2017). More importantly, since the market is being dominated by only a handful of organizations the number of choices or options that are available to the customers is very less (Keegan & Green, 2015). In this regard, it needs to be said that although the organization Protecta is likely to face fierce competition in the business market of Australia from organizations like Samsung, JBL, Nura and others yet at the same time the market offers sufficient opportunities to the organization and its products (Lilien, Rangaswamy & De Bruyn, 2017). For example, the headphones offered by the organization are different from the ones offered by the above mentioned organizations because of the attributes of the headphones. This is likely to offer choices to the customers and the customers who have become tired of using the same headphones over the years are likely to welcome these new kinds of headphones (Brotspies & Weinstein, 2017). Furthermore, the unique features of the headphones like multi-user facility, trendy nature, style statement and others are likely to help it to gain a significant amount of success in the business market of Australia.   

Conclusion

To conclude, the dynamicity of the contemporary business world becomes evident in the particular context of the different product strategies which are being used by the contemporary organizations. The net result of this is that the organizations are actively resorting to the use of different kinds of segmenting, positioning and targeting strategies so as to enhance the prospects of the products or the services that they are launching in the business market. More importantly, the organizations in order to attain competitive advantage and also to earn a higher amount of profitability need to take into effective consideration the needs or the demands of the customers and also integrate them within the products or services that they are offering to the customers. These aspects of the segmentation, positioning and marketing strategies used by the contemporary organizations become apparent from the above analysis of the organization Protecta and the products that they offer to the customers.

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