Innovation Commercialization Marketing Plan for Headphones

Question: Discuss about theInnovation Commercialization Marketing Plan for Headphones. Answer: Introduction Background information The contemporary marketplace for headphones responds to the needs of the consumers by implementing special features into the products. Headphones have been highly praised to enhance the quality of sound and to eliminate any unwanted influences of the external environment from interfering with headphones' sound. The special features attract audiophiles and travelers desiring to block undesired noise from plane engines. For this reason, headphones have been customized to fit the needs of a particular targeted population of the market. Headphones with noise cancellation ability are light and foldable to increase the ease of transportation and storage. The concept of customization has given rise to the creation of the coveted wireless headphones, the Beyerdynamic's Aventho. It delivers a crystal audio playback for up to 20 years and supports Apt XHD Qualcomm and availing a standard for Bluetooth transfers at high quality. The headphones are powered by Tesla driver technology of Beyerdynamics signature. They are slightly bolder and enlarged. In addition to that, the headphones come with the coveted option for personalization which is facilitated by the MIY application, of Mimi Hearing Technologies, giving it a brilliant touch. The application is configured to tweak the headphones. The MIY application will conduct a sound check for the hearing attributes of a listener and provide a sound profile tailored to those attributes. The other type of device introduced into the market is the Blue Satellite Headphones which has been crafted to help audio lovers to enjoy the silence of the external environment. They will provide crisp-clear sound through the wireless platform. It also has a boasting patent in noise cancellation technology. In addition, the Satellite headphones have a premium wireless technology and an audiophile in-built. The active noise cancellation done by the device is done without any compromise to music(Luxatic, 2017). Steps of the marketing plan The company is producing a new product of hi-tech headphones into the market. The headphones are wireless enabled by Bluetooth, noise cancellation and have a personalization ability. The market for headphones is wide, especially with the high-end consumers. The headphones will be targeted to the demographic section reported to have the highest number of users and this is the age group of 16 years to 28 years. The marketing goals for the headphones are to create awareness of earphones, increase sales and maintain the companys market share. The strategies of marketing communication will be through the social media, television, print media, advertisements in music websites and billboards. SWOT analysis Strengths The headphones have strengths in the brand name. The distributing partners and the software producers have established brands and will be featured in the advertisements to boost the appeal in the promotion efforts. The headphones produce a sound of high quality because of active noise cancellation placing them at a higher position among the competing consumers in the market. The Bluetooth and personalization technology enhances the experience and the sense of fashion which creates an upper-hand in the appeal to customers. The headphones have a stylish and unique appearance and come with a wide range of colors. The market potential has a great number of prospective users in the age bracket of 16-28. The variety of brands will cover a wide range of music consumers dividing them according to fashion levels, music experience, applications, and prices. Everyone can be able to buy without any limitation. Manufacturing is automated and enabling mass production and a quicker availability to the consumers(Loren, 2006). Weaknesses Price is the largest limitation to the headphones as a high-end product. The devices are developed with quality in mind and this increases costs and ultimately passed to the prices to higher levels. Promotion using athletes, musicians, and other celebrities will further increase the prices to the final consumer. The products have a challenge of distribution as they are required in every part of the country. Opportunities The behavior profile of the potential market indicates that headphones are used for about 1-3 hours daily hence creating the need for every prospective customer to own a pair of headphones for themselves creating the worth to buy(Morgan, 2016). The people are willing to buy the devices are willing to spend money buying headphones so as to enjoy better sound quality. They, therefore, have a likelihood to use headphones for a longer period every day. Threats Some consumers will probably find an alternative device because of the high prices of the headphones. Some products of the competitors such as Apple earphones are preferable to the consumers because of the ease of portability(Petrucka, 2017). Majority of young adults use competing products like those of Apple because of the big brand. Bad publicity by the promoting celebrities will be transmitted to the products being promoted resulting in an adverse image of the particular headphone being promoted. Competitor analysis Other headphones in the market are offered at lower prices. The market has big companies including the likes of Sony, Beats by Dre and Bose which manufacture premium wireless, Bluetooth enabled and active noise cancellation. Due to the high prices, most consumers will have the perception of being expensive(Root, 2004). Mission The mission of the company is to provide quality sound experience to lovers of music. Marketing and financial objectives Marketing The objective of marketing the headphones is to create their availability to every lover of music through an enhanced music experience. Another marketing objective is to fully satisfy the needs of consumers. The headphones are made with a customizable fashion to enable music lovers to have a unique music experience to satisfy their individual preferences(Koumoutsakou, 2017). The target market for headphones is the young adult population with interest in the exemplary music experience. They have a greater interest in having a pair of headphones that are a good looking appearance with a high quality of sound. The young adults are the main part of the demography which is interested in fashion and hence will want headphones which are fashionable. The age of the target market is specifically ranging between 16 years to 28 years. They are largely the male connected to urban lifestyles with an income level of averaging around $50,000. The influence of sports, hip-hop, and pop music culture and athletics are the drivers that thrust the market toward more luxurious items and fashion(Sharma, 2013). Financial The profit margin of introducing the headphones into the market will be expected to range at around $50 billion in the first year of rolling out. The projected annual income is estimated to increase by 10% of the profit of the previous year. The marketing costs should be limited to a maximum of 17% of the price of a product. Marketing mix strategy Digital marketing communication plan The digital marketing strategy will firstly use the television advertisements that will portray an everyday person to create appeal like the students and mums as identified earlier. The television advertisements should avoid endorsement of celebrities and the athletes. Bus wraps with the representation of a speaker will be used to portray the headphones, high-quality sound and their everyday use(Guimer, 2015). The tools will be made to look like speakers. Print media and their websites should use parody to stress and interact with the minds of the music lovers. Music streaming platforms like Spotify, Deezer, YouTube and Podcasts sites will be contracted to show advertisements to the traffic visiting these sites to steam music. These are high-profile music distributors which are used by music lovers(Haley, 2009). Prices The four Ps strategy for the headphones places them at the high end and will retail at prices ranging from $350-$500. The Beyerdynamic's Aventho will are priced by the company at $499 filling the market gap in the high-income bracket. The Blue Satellite Headphones will be selling in the immediate market at $399.99 to provide high-quality audio-experience to the people with a lower income. Placement The devices have been planned to be placed on the market through wholesalers who will be buying from official dealers. The dealers will be strategically located in urban centers spread in different parts of the country(Hansen, 2017). The relationship between the wholesalers and the dealers will be an exclusive contract between the two parties. The position aims to spread risks from the manufacturer to be absorbed by numerous appointed dealers. The company will be contracting the dealers to act on its behalf. Stores that sell items online which will be influential in placement are the companys website, retail stores websites and the Amazon. Retail stores will which will help in distribution to the consumers(Guerrero, 2017). Promotion The sale of headphones will be facilitated through promotion by recruiting athletes, musicians, and other celebrities to assist in the advertisement of the products(Donna, 2017). The people should portray everyday/regular people to make the advertisement to be more effective like the students and mums. Product The headphones are tailored to provide an audio experience of higher quality than any existing product in the market. They are manufactured to be wireless to give the customers the experience of fashion(Bhattacharjee, 2017). Bluetooth transfer is the application that is used to connect the headphones to the music player whether it is smartphones or specialized music devices such as iPods. They will be configured with music players of all types so long as the players are also Bluetooth enabled. The apart from being Bluetooth enabled, both the Blue Satellite Headphones and the Beyerdynamic's Aventho have an inbuilt application for noise cancellation application that blocks al the external sound from getting to the listeners eardrums without interfering with the music playing (Dhakar, 2017). The active noise cancellation is developed through the partnership with reputable software application companies. Implementation and control An appropriateness of the marketing plan should be measured against the set goals of attaining sales, becoming a market leader, beating the competitors and keeping the established market(Cohen, 2015). The success of endorsement of celebrities and advertising will be successful if the personalities of the celebrities so the selection of a celebrity must be carefully done to avoid the situation where an endorsee will cost the brand image of the products at a place where a person has controversial personalities. Recommendation Further marketing strategies during the development phase should consist of diversifying the targeted market to cover the women and the part of the population aged outside the bracket of 16 years and 28 years who are the current market(Bayne, 2014). Conclusion In summing up, a traditional plan of media advertising will give more appeal to everyday consumers. Most of the tools to create appeal in the first stages of product development will effectively use a celebrity musician and professional athletes. Showing how everyday people will be benefiting from using the headphones. An effective advertisement in the social media should use branded strategies so that the consumers will be able to relate the interaction with the advertisement with the products. References Bayne, K. (2014). The Internet Marketing Plan. Journal of marketing, 1-17. Bhattacharjee, D. (2017). The consumer in Direct selling-A case study of Assam.". Direct Marketing, 179-189. Cohen, W. (2015). The marketing plan. International Markets, 1-97. Dhakar, G. (2017). Redefining Marketing Mix for Digital Marketing. Pacific University Journal of Social Sciences, 26. Donna, D. (2017). 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