Understanding the Market

The assignment content presents a marketing plan for GPS Tracking devices designed for seniors, families, and hospitals. The demographic segmentation focuses on affordability and the psychographic segmentation targets customers seeking reliable products at reasonable prices, influenced by online tech bloggers. The marketing mix includes product details (GPS tracking device with smartphone integration), distribution channels (traditional and e-commerce), promotion strategies (online and offline), and pricing (relatively high due to quality materials). The plan also outlines a marketing control strategy based on the 'Annual Plan Control' approach, which involves analyzing sales, market share, expenses-to-sales ratio, financial performance, customer attitudes, and stakeholder expectations.

Marketing Plan
GPS Tracking of seniors

Executive Summary
The marketing plan has been developed for the company to market GPS Tracking device for the
seniors. As per the analysis of the internal and external environmental analysis, it can be stated
that the company has huge opportunity to grow and can improve its presence to a greater extent.
Though there are already some of the product sellers in the market but sighting their product
quality and price war, it can be stated that the company can clearly play on brand value. The
company can build its distinct brand by promoting itself on the online and offline medium and by
providing quality product to the customers. The target market of the customers is individuals and
families who want to track their loved ones (children, individual with cognitive disorder, and
others). The price of the product will be slightly higher than the market due to the inclusion of
quality material. The company will play on the brand value in the near future which is likely to
bring good return to the company. The distribution of the product will consider offline and online
selling. Overall, it is expected that the market is positive and the company will have appreciable
return.

Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Company Description......................................................................................................................3
Mission and Objectives....................................................................................................................3
Situation Analysis (SWOT).............................................................................................................3
Strengths.......................................................................................................................................3
Weaknesses..................................................................................................................................4
Opportunities................................................................................................................................4
Threats..........................................................................................................................................4
Environmental Analysis...................................................................................................................4
Competitive..................................................................................................................................4
Economic.....................................................................................................................................5
Technological...............................................................................................................................5
Political-Legal..............................................................................................................................5
Social-Cultural.............................................................................................................................5
Target Market...............................................................................................................................5
Geographic...............................................................................................................................5
Demographic............................................................................................................................6
Psychographic..........................................................................................................................6
Marketing Mix.................................................................................................................................6
Product.........................................................................................................................................6
Distribution..................................................................................................................................6
Promotion.....................................................................................................................................6
Price.............................................................................................................................................6
Marketing Control...........................................................................................................................6
References........................................................................................................................................6

Company Description
The marketing plan is being developed for the company to market the GPS Tracking device for
the seniors. The device is intended to track the individuals who are facing cognitive disorders,
children, and others. The marketing plan has considered different aspects such as internal and
external environment prior to moving ahead with marketing the product. The situation analysis in
the third chapter will help the company understand the internal and external weaknesses and the
associated opportunities and threats from the external environment (Hollensen, 2015). The
environmental analysis considers the various external factors such as political, economic,
competitive, social, technological, and other areas to understand how appropriate it would be for
the company to venture into this market. Moreover, the chapter on marketing mix defines the
strategies that will be adopted by the company to reach the market and attract the customers
towards this product. The four areas of marketing mix have been considered, namely, product,
place, price, and promotion. In the end, the plan states some of the control measures to ensure
that the implementation of the marketing plan does not deviate from its intended goal.
Mission and Objectives
The mission of the company is to reach every home and help all those in need of the tracking
device. The tracking device will help the parents track their children and keep an eye on them.
Moreover, the families will be able to keep track of any family member fighting with cognitive
disorders. The objectives of this marketing plan are mentioned below:
- To help the company reach individuals seeking this product

- To develop the plan which is in accordance with the external and internal environment
and provides strong sustainability for the company’s future
Situation Analysis (SWOT)
The situation analysis refers to understanding the internal and external aspects of the company
which can be utilized further in developing strong marketing plan (Bull et al, 2016). Mentioned
below are the four areas, namely, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
Strengths
The company is strong on the human resource side as it has hired some of the strong industry
professionals who have appreciable understanding about the products and services within the
GPS industry and the customers who are more likely to purchase this item. Moreover, the
company is strong on the financial side as most of the shareholders have shown faith in this
product. The company has built good relationship with the suppliers which will ensure that the
company receives the material at better rates than the competition which will eventually impact
the price of the product in the market.
Weaknesses
There are some weaknesses underlying the organization that might impact the progress. The
present financial management and marketing management within the company are weak. The
company has received appreciable amount of funds from the shareholders which is
overabundant. The company has to hire some of the best financial managers (being a new
venture in the market, the owner spent less resource in managing the financials). This marketing
plan and the hired managers for the marketing are expected to improve the marketing within the

company. The third and the most important weakness is the brand value. The company is new to
the market and, therefore, no one knows about the brand and the product of the company.
Opportunities
There are numerous opportunities for the company at present. The GPS tracking market is still in
its nascent stage and the product has not been adopted by large number of consumers. This has
allowed the company to effectively play in the blue ocean markets. Moreover, the absence of
strong brands in this market, the company has the opportunity to build its own brand from
beginning. Due to the advancement of technology around the world and the increase in the
adoption of smartphones of millions of individuals around the world has allowed the company to
promote its product (which will be smartphone enabled tracking device).
Threats
Though there are opportunities for the company’s product in the market, there are also some
threats that can be ignored. There are already different GPS tracking products available in the
market from various small and medium sized companies. These companies are not strong on
their brand value but their pricing strategies might challenge the company. These competitors are
able to produce low quality and low priced product which might attract the attention of the
consumers who are more price sensitive.
Environmental Analysis
The environmental analysis refers to understanding the external factors that impacts the decision
making of the company operating in such environment (Kearney et al, 2013). These factors,
directly or indirectly, impacts the functioning of the company and press the company to make

decisions to counter the negative impacts. Mentioned below are eight environmental analyses in
relation to the company:
Competitive
The competition in the market is from the small and medium sized manufacturers. There is also
presence of Chinese products that will eat on the market share. Though there is one strong point
for the company, that none of these competitors have strong brand presence in the GPS tracking
market. Most of them play on price war to attract the customers. Moreover, the lack of
appreciable quality rarely brings the consumers again to the same company. The company has
the opportunity to build a brand GPS Tracking device for seniors which will be more sustainable.
The competition has less presence on online advertising space, though their products are present
on most of the ecommerce portals.
Economic
The economic situation of the country is improving continuously and there is great opportunity
for the company to venture into the market at this time. Moreover, it can be observed that if the
company utilizes the online marketing technique (which will be cheaper and allows more
extended consumer outreach) then it can cover countries whose economy is emerging
significantly such as India and other such countries. The world is getting away from the recent
economic turmoil and it is expected that the more market will open for this product.
Technological
The market has observed extensive technological advancement in the recent decade and as the
company’s product is dependent on the current technology therefore it will be an appreciable
opportunity. At present, numerous individuals around the world have adopted the new

technological advancements and most of them carry smartphones with 3G/4G internet speed.
The presence of smartphone and easy accessibility of the internet is pivotal for the GPS Tracking
device being sold by the company. In the near future, it is expected that the technology will grow
further and more people will be included under its umbrella which is a good new for the
company. The increase in the adoption of the technology will help people easily accept the GPS
Tracking devices for their near and dear ones.
Political-Legal
The political situation of the country is stable and the policies are oriented towards the new
companies to grow and support more employment to the individuals. Moreover, there are almost
negligible regulatory hurdles to operate within the country.
Social-Cultural
The social aspect of the country is positive towards such products. People are accepting new
technologies more than earlier. Moreover, it can be witnessed that people living within the
society are continuously learning from the new technologies and accepting the new
advancements. The culture is observing change. Though more orientation can be felt towards
individualism, yet there are people who prefer to continuously keep an eye on their loved one,
this is where the GPS Tracking device of the company will come in the picture as a support.
Target Market
Currently, the company is targeting two customer segments. The first segment is the families and
individuals who prefer to track the movement of their loved ones from the distance, and the
second is the hospitals that want to track the movement of their patients.

Geographic
The target market of the company is extended to the whole country and there is the possibility of
international market also.
Demographic
The product is affordable to all the individuals and therefore segmenting the market on product
utility has been considered as more appreciable. The users of this product come in the group of
parents, guardians, and care takers.
Psychographic
The individuals, the families and the hospitals who do not want the GPS Tracking device that
withers always in few days or fails to perform the duty reliably are the major focus of the
company. These customer segments prefer good quality products and at appreciable cost. The
online tech bloggers can be the major influencers in impacting the decision making of the target
market (as it is expected that people would prefer to know about the product from the online
source prior to making the purchase).
Marketing Mix
The marketing mix is the main aspect of this marketing plan which will act as the guide to what
the company will be doing to ensure it reaches the consumers with effectiveness. The marketing
mix covers the four of the seven aspects, namely, product, distribution, promotion, and price
(Huang and Sarigaolly, 2014). The product details the feature and why the any one would prefer
to buy the product. The distribution explains the channels that need to be considered to make the
product available to the customers. The promotion considers the aspects that require

communicating to the consumers about the product and build a brand for the company. The price
of the product has been detailed with the reasoning behind the same.
Product
GPS Tracking for seniors is intended to help the individuals, families, and the hospitals track the
patients and loved ones. The device has inbuilt smartphone integration facility that successfully
integrates with the applications stored on the smartphones of the consumers. The company has
built an app for three popular operating systems, namely, Android, iOS, and Windows. The users
just need to open the app and click connect to track the GPS profile stored in the device. The
users will be entering specific code (a unique code for each tracking device which will be
provided along with the device) to activate the machine. Once activated, the product can be
attached to anything that needs to be tracked. The application will continuously run in the
background (designed to consume minimal battery power and negligible interference to the
smartphone applications) and notify the users of any movement in the subject. The product has
been built with high quality components which provides accurate data to the users (and works
great with the integrated Google Map).
Distribution
The distribution of the product will be conducted through two channels. The first will be
traditional distribution channel by connecting with the local dealers to distribute the product to
the consumers (who prefer offline shopping), and the second will be through listing the products
on various ecommerce websites and then distributing the product direct to the consumers’ home
through courier services (for the customers who prefer online shopping).

Apart from that, the company will have sales agents who will be connecting directly with the
hospital management. They will be connecting with them on the professional level with right
product catalogue/brochure and will detail all the product features and the associated services
being provided by the company.
Promotion
The promotion of the product will be done through offline and online medium. The company
will be investing around 70 percent of the marketing budget on online medium and only thirty
percent on the offline medium. The reason behind this price allocation is the increasing
importance and outreach of the online medium and limitation (in outreach) of the offline
medium. The company will influence customers through various social media sites and online
advertisements (such as Google ads, and others). Moreover, various tech-bloggers will be
incentivized for the product promotion on their site. The offline promotion will consider
advertisement in local newspapers (around health columns only) and magazines (only in health
magazines).
Price
The price of the product will be relatively costlier than the competition due to the use of high
quality material in the product. It is expected that the company will make good return when sales
increase depending on the quality and goodwill. There will be bulk discounts for the hospitals
that make bulk purchases. Moreover, the distributors who make exceptional sales will be given
attractive incentives.

Marketing Control
The marketing control will use “Annual Plan Control” as suggested by Philip Kotler (2014). The
Annual Plan Control refers to the analysis of the plans on yearly basis. Mentioned below are the
various components of Annual Plan Control that will be utilized:
- Analyzing the Sales
- Analyzing the Market Share
- Analyzing the Market Expenses-to-Sales
- Financial Analysis
- Analyzing the Customer and Stakeholder Attitudes
References
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., & Kotler, P. (2014). Principles of marketing. Pearson
Australia.
Bull, J. W., Jobstvogt, N., Böhnke-Henrichs, A., Mascarenhas, A., Sitas, N., Baulcomb, C., ... &
Carter-Silk, E. (2016). Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats: A SWOT analysis of the
ecosystem services framework. Ecosystem Services, 17, 99-111.
Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Huang, R., & Sarigöllü, E. (2014). How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand
equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132).
Springer New York.

Kearney, C., Hisrich, R. D., & Antoncic, B. (2013). The mediating role of corporate
entrepreneurship for external environment effects on performance. Journal of Business
Economics and Management, 14(sup1), S328-S357.
Kotler, P., Burton, S., Deans, K., Brown, L., & Armstrong, G. (2015). Marketing. Pearson
Higher Education AU.