Marketing Strategy & Contingency Planning

The assignment delves into effective marketing strategies, highlighting the crucial role of contingency planning in navigating potential future issues. It emphasizes the need for adaptability and proactive measures to ensure successful business outcomes amidst changing market conditions.

MARKETING

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Marketing is most important activity for introducing new product in market place. It
helps in making people aware about various features of commodity through several approaches.
This is very essential to develop proper plan for promotion in order attract minds of target
customers. This report is about PROTECTA which is an Australian company involved in sale of
smartphones. They want to launch their new products that is QUAD. In this assignment,
marketing strategies will be formulated for market place of Malaysia.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MARKETING STRATEGY............................................................................................................1
ACTION PLAN...............................................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is a process of creating, interacting, delivering and exchanging products and
services in order to satisfy needs and wants of customers in an effective manner. This report is
about marketing strategies for QUAD's products of PROTECTA for Malaysian market. In this
study, plans related with segmentation and positioning will be done. It is required to design
proper policies related with pricing, promotion, distribution and communication (Ortinau, 2010).
These are to be made by keeping tastes and preferences of prospective buyers. This plan also
consists action plan for a particular time period. Budget will also be prepared on the basis of
several assumptions related with profit and loss in coming years. Method of benchmarking
would be used in order to identify the effectiveness of this plan.
MARKETING STRATEGY
PROTECTA is launching their brand QUAD in Malaysia. It includes four types of
earphones with different features. Company wants to introduce this brand in the market of
Malaysia so it is required to analyse recent situation of this place. In the current scenario, people
are very much attracted towards such gadgets. There is need to formulate effective marketing
strategies in order to launch the product in successful manner. It is a process of developing
appropriate plans related with various activities of marketing of QUAD's products. These
strategies are as follows-
Positioning- It refers to process of creating brand awareness amongst customers in order
to target their minds (Malhotra, Wu and Whitelock, 2013). QUAD is a range of four different
headphones that will different demands of people related with such gadgets. There are unique
features in these products which will assist in getting more attention from buyers. Its earpieces
are unique from other competitors so it will be easier to do positioning of this brand. There is
huge scope for this type of product as it improves the quality of audio and gives better
experience to customers (Coombes and Nicholson, 2013). Increasing adoption of these
accessories has resulted in significant growth of these products.
Product strategy- It is a process of designing commodities to provide more satisfaction
to customers. QUAD's products are very innovative and it is providing wide range of choices to
people and they can choose headphones as per their requirements. Packaging plays a major role
in gaining attraction of users so, PROTECTA can emphasise more on design of packet. Along
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with that, it is also important to manufacture earphones in limited range. Since, it is growth phase
so there are huge risks related with sales. This company can increase its production as per rise in
demand. The major segment identified for such products is youth as they prefer using these
gadgets. They get more attracted towards advanced range of headphones. With the help of noise
control technology and wireless connectivity, there will be major growth in this section. Wireless
headphones are the part of advanced technology.
Pricing strategy- PROTECTA can adopt penetration pricing strategy for fixing price for
QUAD's products. As per this policy, value of headphones will be less in growth stage. This
brand is new in market place of Malaysia, therefore, consumers can be targeted by providing
good quality accessories at reasonable rates. This company can increase the price after some time
when people will be known to this brand.
Promotion strategy- These policies are related with several activities required to
promote the products to gain attention from prospective buyers. It is required to develop
effective strategies for advertisement that will help in targeting more people in less time. Rather
than going for traditional methods, PROTECTA can use social media platforms such as
Facebook, twitter, etc. It is an effective mode and large number of people are active on these
sites so, it will be easier to communicate with them. As per several reports based on this market,
revenue generated from global headphone market is around US$ 12,230.3. It is also expected
that there will be high growth in the future because consumer usage in terms of listening music is
increasing day by day. Since this brand includes wired and wireless earpieces so, there are
different perspectives of buyers so promotion strategies must be selected as per different buyer
behaviours. In recent scenario, there is demand for wireless headphones due to which it has
dominated the Malaysian market completely.
Distribution strategy- It is concerned with activities involved in delivery process. It is
required to develop effective strategies so that demands of people could be fulfilled in timely
manner (Schlegelmilch and Öberseder, 2010). PROTECTA can adopt direct channel of
distribution which does not includes too many intermediaries. Through this method company can
sell its products directly to customers. It could be done by designing attractive website where
customers can place their orders. As there are not so many parties involved in this process so
there will be less chances of delay in delivery. Channel of delivery must be selected on the basis
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competitor study so that most effective mode must be adopted to attain competitive advantages.
Its major competitors are- Bose- Their main strategy is to focus on delivering quality products to customers. Sony- Key policy is to create Sound link system.
 Sennheiser- Producing top quality products related with every aspect of recording,
transmittance and reproduction of sound.
Marketing communication strategy- This plan is related with content and media
adopted for the communicating with target audience (Fastoso and Whitelock, 2011). Interaction
with people should be done in effective manner in order to create more brand awareness.
PROTECTA should spread information about unique feature of QUAD's products. So, this
company can avail such opportunities in an effective manner (How to Expand Your Business
through New Market Development, 2018). As per the current situation, it can be forecasted that
there will be more demand in coming years. PROTECTA can earn revenues from sale of
QUAD'S products as there is a great scope for these gadgets in the future. Marketing must be
concerned with features of products therefore, following are several characteristics-
 There are high standards for quality.
 Its products are reliable and innovative.
 Meeting advancements in technological scenario.
Risk strategy- It is an important activity that helps in making appropriate plans to deal
with problems that might take place in the future (Wilson and et. al., 2012). Marketing plan of
PROTECTA is very effective. They have focussed on creating brand awareness rather than other
aspects. This will help in making people aware about QUAD products and it will increase the
sales of company. But still, there are several factors that could affect the success of these
strategies. If these plans fail to meet the expectations related with sales of these headphones in
market of Malaysia then company should move towards other policies for promoting its
commodities (Peter and Donnelly, 2011). For avoiding risks, it is required to adopt changes
taking place in the business environment. This will reduce the impact of dangerous elements and
help in achieving competitive advantages in Malaysia.
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ACTION PLAN
An action plan is set of various steps to be followed in order to attain desired goals and
objectives of PROTECTA. Main objective of this plan is to clarify requirement of resources to
achieve a target (Pomirleanu and et. al., 2013).
 To meet demands of people of Malaysia in appropriate way. It could be done by adequate
research of market place in order to identify recent trends in taste and preferences of
customers. This is required to make effective strategies for marketing which could gain
attention of target audience.
 One of the main aim of this organisation is to create awareness about QUAD in order to
target prospective buyers in Malaysia. It is very important to get attention from people of
new market place. This will also assist in creating more sales for company which could
also improve its financial position. They could use social media platforms to reach mass
range consumer segment.
 Another important objective of PROTECTA is to increase their market share in Malaysia
by giving tough fight to other rival firms. It is essential to maintain quality and pricing of
QUAD's products to make healthy relationship with people. This will help in gaining
their loyalty in this brand for long time period.
In order to make appropriate action plan firstly, it is required to conduct proper SWOT
analysis of this product. This analysis is very important to identify strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats of PROTECTA. This will help in making effective strategies related
with pricing, promotion and distribution, etc. in context of Malaysian market. Therefore, SWOT
analysis of this enterprise is as follows:
Strengths
 PROTECTA is gaining competitive
advantages because of its innovative
and unique product line.
 They are actively involved in research
and development activities due to
which this company is able to meet
changes in effective way.
Weaknesses
 Due to adoption of advanced
technologies, PROTECTA has faced
high cost that could reduce its revenue.
This might affect its reputation in
market place.
 Distribution channel of this enterprise is
not very effective which could create
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 QUAD is a brand of totally different
products which will help in attracting
mind of more customers in Malaysia.
problems in delivery process.
 They are not very much capable in
making strong strategies for marketing
of their products.
Opportunities
 Customers in Malaysia are actively
involved in using such type of gadgets,
so there will be more demand for
earphones.
 Usage of smartphone is increasing as
per time due to which demands for
headphones will also increase in future.
 Youths are indulged in using social
media so this company can choose this
platform, for the purpose of promotion.
Threats
 Due to global economic crisis this
country has faced several issues such as
unemployment and decline in
disposable income. This will affect
spending power of buyers and they
might not be able to buy expensive
gadgets.
 There will be intense competition from
companies like, Bose, Sony and
Sennheiser.
Gantt chart is to be prepared for scheduling various activities of this project. Therefore,
following activities are to be followed in to launch QUAD headphones in Malaysia-
Activities Duration Start Finish
Identification of
target market
1 week 03/01/18 09/01/18
Analysis of
demand
2weeks 11/01/18 24/01/18
Assessment of
competitor
1 week 25/01/18 31/01/18
Analysis of
collected data
3 days 01/02/18 03/02/18
Selection of
promotional
4 days 05/02/18 08/02/18
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techniques
Evaluation
process
3 days 09/02/18 11/02/18
Feedback 2 days 12/02/18 14/02/18
Four key activities to be conducted in first six months-
Analysis of demand- First activity in this action plan is to conduct proper market research
in order to analyse current demands of concerted market place. It will help in identifying
situations of market and who are target audience. These prospective buyers are to be keep in in
mind before making any policy or strategies related with marketing. It is also required to assess
which channel of distribution will be most effective for QUAD products. In order to carry out
this activity around 2 weeks will be required.
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Assessing competition- It is another key activity that will be performed in this duration.
There is huge competitive in this sector. So it is required to assess strengths and weaknesses of
these rival firms. This will help in analysing how much market is been captured by these
enterprises. This activity requires one week but if there is need then this duration could be
exceed.
Analysis of data- Another important activity is concerned with analysis of data that has
been gathered through research. This will help in developing plans to meet needs of business
environment in proper way. For this activity 3 days are required.
Promotional activities- It is most important activity in marketing so it is required to focus
more on this. In this process, most effective promotional activities are to be selected in order to
attract more number of buyers. For this task, minimum 4 days are needed.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report, it can be concluded that marketing plays a major role
in expanding business in new market place. PROTECTA is launching QUAD headphones in
Malaysia. There are several strategies related with positioning, pricing, promotion, etc. that are
required to target customers. It has been assessed from the report that proper action plan and
budget are to be designed to set framework for future purpose. For the same, contingency
planning proves to be highly effective in handling issues that might arise in the coming future.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Wilson and et. al., 2012. Services marketing: Integrating customer focus across the firm.
McGraw Hill.
Peter, J.P. and Donnelly, J.H., 2011. Marketing management: knowledge and skills: text,
analysis, cases, plans. Plano: Business pub., INC.
Craig, C.S. and Douglas, S.P., 2011. Assessing cross-cultural marketing theory and research: A
commentary essay. Journal of Business Research. 64(6). pp.625-627.
Pomirleanu, N. and et. al., 2013. A review of internet marketing research over the past 20 years
and future research direction. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing. 7(3). pp.166-
181.
Fastoso, F. and Whitelock, J., 2011. Why is so little marketing research on Latin America
published in high quality journals and what can we do about it? Lessons from a Delphi
study of authors who have succeeded. International Marketing Review. 28(4). pp.435-
449.
Schlegelmilch, B.B. and Öberseder, M., 2010. Half a century of marketing ethics: Shifting
perspectives and emerging trends. Journal of Business Ethics. 93(1). pp.1-19.
Malhotra, N.K., Wu, L. and Whitelock, J., 2013. An updated overview of research published in
the International Marketing Review: 1983 to 2011. International Marketing
Review. 30(1). pp.7-20.
Ortinau, D.J., 2010. Primer for new authors: On the fundamentals of publishing in marketing
journals. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice. 18(1). pp.91-100.
Coombes, P.H. and Nicholson, J.D., 2013. Business models and their relationship with
marketing: A systematic literature review. Industrial Marketing Management. 42(5).
pp.656-664.
Kim, K. and et. al., 2014. Trends in advertising research: A longitudinal analysis of leading
advertising, marketing, and communication journals, 1980 to 2010. Journal of
advertising. 43(3). pp.296-316.
Online
How to Expand Your Business through New Market Development. 2018. [Online]. Available
through: <http://edwardlowe.org/how-to-expand-your-business-through-new-market-
development-3/>.
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