Gaming System Marketing Plan

The Challenge

Product Description

The product being marketed is a gaming system. The gaming system is an interactive video display and game-play designed as a specialized computer. The gaming system is built with the same components that build a computer like the Central processing unit (CPU), random access memory (RAM), and graphics processing unit (GPU) and therefore, it functions like a personal computer. The purpose of the gaming system is to offer entertainment to the customers.

In the past, the sales of the gaming system have been declining and hence the purpose for developing this market plan. As such, the objective of the marketing plan is to boost the gaming system sales by 25% in the next two years. Also, the marketing plan aims to help the company to better understand the market and the marketing strategies that should be applied to achieve its strategic goals of boosting the company sales and growing its market share. Moreover, the gaming industry is characterized by intense competition and therefore, the marketing plan will seek to provide the company with a competitive edge in the market.

Situation Analysis

Company analysis

Company analysis provides the marketing team with an insight into the internal environment of the company as well as the external environment. Understanding both the internal and external environment of the company is crucial to developing an effective marketing plan (Rao, 2016). As such, the company analysis will provide an insight into the following company aspects;

Goals

The goal of the company is to be the market leader in the gaming industry in the next two years. As such, through the marketing plan, the company aims to put in place relevant strategies that will ensure its goal is achieved. Also, to achieve this goal, the company seeks to penetrate new markets, and therefore, the marketing plan will play a significant role in helping the company to penetrate new markets.

Focus

The company focus will be the younger generation, who are the main customers of the company. However, the company efforts will not ignore the older generation even though they form a small segment of the company sales. Also, the company will seek to improve the quality of its gaming system to ensure they are competitive in the market. Moreover, the company will provide after-sales services assistance as an additional service to the customers.

Culture

The company has a strong organizational culture that supports teamwork, creativity and innovation. The company culture can be described as its personality and comprises of the shared values, beliefs, experiences, and vision. The strong organizational culture will play a significant role in the implementation of the marketing plan as it will ensure the employees are working towards a common goal. Also, the strong company culture ensures employees are motivated to achieve their goals, thereby increasing productivity.

Strengths

The company strengths include a motivated workforce, excellent customer service, leadership in product innovation, personal relationship with the customers, and low-cost manufacturing. The company strengths will act as a source of competitive advantage for the company in the market. As such, the marketing plan will aim to take advantage of these strengths to ensure the marketing objectives are achieved.

Weaknesses

The company weaknesses include limited product availability, lack of quantitative goals, inadequate market definition, and many levels of reporting in the company. To ensure the effective implementation of the marketing plan, the company will put in place appropriate measures that will aim to overcome the company weaknesses. Failure to address the company weakness could negatively affect the marketing plan implementation.

Market share

Market share is described as the percentage of the company products sold in the market. The current market share of the company is estimated at 25%. As such, one of the objectives of the marketing plan will be to help the company achieve its strategic objective of increasing its market share to 50%. The increase in the company market share will result in increased profitability and reduced cost of production due to economies of scale.

Customer analysis

Customer analysis plays a significant role when developing a marketing plan because it enables the marketing team to identify the customers of the company, which helps improve product positioning, and segmentation targeting process. Also, it helps the company develop appropriate customer retention plans for new customers as well as existing customers (Van Raaij, 2012).

Number

The gaming market is characterized by a wide base of customers that the company can exploit. As such, there are a high number of customers that the company can direct its marketing efforts. Currently, the company has a small number of customers, and therefore the marketing plan will be aiming to increase the number of company customers by targeting new markets.

Type

The company has identified five types of customers that it will be targeting through the marketing plan. These include potential customers, new customers, impulsive customers, discount customers, and loyal customers. The marketing plan has identified different approaches that will be used by the company to reach out to these customers.

Value drivers

Value drivers refer to the activities engaged by the company that adds worth to its products. The objective of value drivers is to ensure customer satisfaction and increase company profitability. The company value drivers include high-end technology, quality service and product offering, low-production cost, and friendly market environment.  The marketing plan will aim to exploit these value drivers to enhance the customer experience.

Decision process

The customer decision process is influenced by psychological and economic factors. The customer decision process involves customers gathering information about the product and identifying the product that will best suit their needs. Also, the customer decision process may be influenced by cultural values, social, and environmental factors. The marking plan will consider the customer decision-making process to ensure its effective implementation. Understanding the customer decision-making process helps the marketing team to understand better the customer and how they are likely to decide to either buy the product or not.

The concentration of the customer base for particular products

The company should aim to market its products to the customers by highlighting its gaming system unique features. Also, the company should strive to concentrate its customer base by communicating its after-sales services that it offers to the customers. Moreover, the company should aim to differentiate its products to ensure it can reach a more significant number of customers with different needs. It is also critical that the company invests in development and research to ensure continued product innovation. However, the key to company success will largely depend on its distribution and marketing strategies in the market.

 Competitor analysis

Competitor analysis is a critical component of the marketing plan as it enables the marketing team to better understand the company competitors by assessing their weaknesses and strengths. According to Hollensen (2010).competitor analysis provides the company with an opportunity to develop a defensive and offensive marketing strategy aimed at protecting the current market share as well as gaining new market share.

Market position

Market position refers to the space occupied by an organization in the market. The gaming market is characterized by intense competition. As such, there are a large number of competitors in the market. However, the company has established a definite market position in the gaming market. The company market position is characterized by its brand identity, brand recognition, strong relationship with the customers, affordable prices for its products, and high-quality products. These key factors help the company to maintain and continue to expand its market position despite intense competition in the market.

Strengths

An analysis of the company competitors revealed that the competitors have the following strengths; strong financial base, effective marketing strategies, product differentiation, effective distribution channels, and great customer service. As such, when developing the marketing plan, the marketing team will develop strategies aimed at countering the identified competitors’ strengths.

Weaknesses

An analysis of the competitors revealed that most of the competitors have the following weaknesses; low-quality products, inferior product designs, lack of after-sales services, and high-end priced products. As such, the marketing plan will incorporate different strategies aimed at taking advantage of the competitor weaknesses. The effectiveness of the marketing strategy mainly relies on the ability of the company to take advantage of the weaknesses of the competitors to increase its market share.

Market shares

The market share refers to the section of the market that is controlled by an organization. An analysis of the competitors market share reveals that no single competitor controls more than 50% of the market share on its own. A more detailed analysis of the market showed that the main competitor of the company controls approximately 40% of the market share. The second competitor of the company controls 15% of the market share. The other competitors combined controls 20% of the market share, while the company controls 25% of the market share.

Collaborators

To ensure the efficient distribution of their products, the competitors have engaged different collaborators. The involvement of the collaborators in the distribution channel has significantly helped the competitors, especially the main competitor of the company to retain its market share. Some of the collaborations that the competitors are involved include joint ventures with the distributors, subsidiaries, and entering into strategic partnerships. When developing the marketing plan, the company shall aim to incorporate these strategies to help expand its market share.

Climate

The business climate is defined as the external environment surrounding a business. The business climate influences how a business conducts its business. In most cases, a business has no control of its business climate. However, it is essential that the business understands its climate and how it’s likely to influence its operations.

Macro-environment PEST analysis

PEST analysis aims to analyze the macro-environment of the company by considering the following;

Political and legal environment- this comprises of the various laws and legislation that the company should comply with. The company in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of gaming system should ensure that it has complied with all the relevant laws and legislation. Aligning the company with the relevant rules will minimize the cost of compliance.

Economic environment- the economic environment is related to the economic factors affecting the business such as inflation, recession, and employment. The company should consider how the economic environment is likely to impact on the sale of its products. Appropriate strategies should be developed to overcome the negative effects of the economic environment.

Social and cultural environment- it influences the customers buying behaviour. Understanding the social and cultural environment enables the company to understand the different factors that influence the buying behaviour of the consumers, such as trends, lifestyle, social status, and financial background.

Technological environment- it refers to the advancement of technology. The company should keep track of technology advancement and aim to take advantage of technology to deliver high-quality products to consumers. The company should also aim to rely on technological advancement to improve the distribution of its products to the market.

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is an examination of the company’s strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. SWOT analysis in the argument of Gürel and Tat (2017) helps the marketers to have a better perspective of the business by understanding its strengths and opportunities, and how the marketing plan can take advantage of these to achieve its goals. Also, marketers are able to understand the business weaknesses and threats that are likely to limit the ability of the business to achieve the set objectives in the marketing plan. A SWOT analysis of the business is simplified by the table below;

Market segmentation

The market will be divided into different categories to ensure the company will be able to reach as many customers as possible. The market segmentation will involve categorizing various customers that will respond to the same marketing strategies in one category. Market segmentation will help the company to effectively apply marketing strategies to different categories of customers. The market shall be segmented into the following categories;

Behavioural segmentation

This market segmentation will comprise customers classified based on their behaviour patterns like engagement level and loyalty. As such, this segment consists of of the loyal customers of the company. This segmentation will comprise 25% of the company sales. Customers in this segment want the company to maintain its brand image and quality products. The customers in this segment use the company products more as a hobby and for luxury. This category of customers does not need a lot of support because they are familiar with the products. The company can reach them through direct engagement. This category of customers is not price sensitive.

Psychographic segmentation

This market segment will be based on the focus on the customers’ cognitive and inner traits like interests, habits, opinions, personality, lifestyle, and social status. This segment will provide 75% of the company sales. The customers in this segment want high-quality products and innovative products. Customers classified under this category will only buy and use the product for its intended purpose. They require technical support from the company. Also, they require after-sales services. The company will employ various strategies like product differentiation, packaging, and product description to reach them. This market segment is highly price sensitive.

Alternative Marketing Strategies

The following alternative marketing strategies were considered by the marketing team before arriving at the recommended strategy. First, re-branding, this marketing strategy involves changing the company image. As such, the company may choose to have a new name, design of the existing brand, or change its symbol. The objective of re-branding is to give the company a new identity different from that of the competitors.

Second, product discounting, it’s a marketing strategy that involves offering the product to the customers at a price lower than its current price. Product discounting marketing strategy is not recommended because in most cases, it works against the company. Discounting a product could create the wrong perception to the customers as they may consider the product to be of low quality.

Selected Marketing Strategy

To achieve the set objectives, the marketing plan will pursue product differentiation marketing strategy. Product differentiation is a strategy used by marketers why the company attempt to manufacture products that are unique from those of the competitors. Product differentiation strategy acts as a source of competitive advantage to the company.

Marketing Mix

To ensure effective implementation of the marketing strategy, the marketing team will apply the concepts of marketing mix 4ps.

Product

The company will ensure its gaming systems are of high-quality, have unique features, and can easily be distinguished from those of the competitors. Also, the company will ensure that its gaming system meets the expectations of the customers as well as their needs.

Price

The company will offer its gaming system at an affordable price. One of the strengths of the company is low-cost production, and therefore, the company will pass that benefit to the consumers through fair pricing of its products.

Promotion

To promote and create awareness of its products, the company will employ various promotion strategies like public relations, advertising, special offers, and sales promotions. Also, more of the company promotion efforts will be directed towards social media platforms.

Place

The company will ensure its products are available at the place that is most convenient to the customers. As such, the company will develop an online platform where customers can conveniently order their preferred product and be delivered to them.

Short and long-term projections

The selected marketing strategy is expected to yield short and long-term results. The projected short-term results include increased customer awareness of the products, increased sales, acquisition of new customers, increased customer satisfaction and increased profitability.

Moreover, the strategy is expected to contribute to long-term results. The projected long-term results include the creation of a strong brand image, an increase in the company market share, enhanced competitiveness in the market, and strong financial base.

Conclusion

The gaming industry is characterized by intense competition, and therefore, marketing plays an essential role in the success of the company. As such, the company needs to develop a marketing strategy that will guide its marketing effort. When developing a marketing strategy, the marketing team needs to analyze both the internal and the external environment to understand its strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, and threats. Also, it is important that a customer analysis is conducted to have an insight into the needs and preferences of the customers. Moreover, the marketing team should conduct a competitor’s analysis to understand their weakness and strengths to enable them to develop an appropriate marketing strategy.  The company should also consider various marketing strategies and apply the strategy that they feel is the most suited to help the company achieve the set objectives.

References

Gürel, E., & Tat, M. (2017). SWOT analysis: a theoretical review. Journal of International Social Research, 10(51).

Hollensen, S. (2010). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.

Rao, V. R. (2016). Analysis for strategic marketing. Pearson Education India.

Van Raaij, E. M. (2012). The strategic value of customer  analysis. Marketing Intelligence & Planning.