Presenting the Marketing Plan

Name

Institutional Affiliation

Presenting the Marketing Plan

The success of a new product in a market is based on its innovativeness, how well it meets customers’ needs, competitive advantage compared to other similar products and logistical matters like the timing of the product launch and marketing strategy. MM Company is particularly concerned about the success of the new product as it will determine its future and continuity. There is generally a small window after the launch during which the company is expected to evaluate whether the launch has been successful or not and take appropriate measures depending on the results of the review. If conducted properly, a launch facilitates a new product to rapidly establish itself among the targeted users, gain market share and enhance the company’s brand position (Schneider & Associates, 2001). MM Company needs to successfully launch the product in order to make a re-entry in the mobile phone industry. Since extensive research has already been done on the target market and the new product, the launch is largely expected to be successful. The company will monitor how the product is doing in the new market regularly within the first year in order to detect whether it is successful and any changes that need to be undertaken in order to ensure the launch is successful.

In order to evaluate the success rate of a product, the company should evaluate the number of orders made for the new product made since the product launch, size of market penetrated, financial trend and customer satisfaction survey. Where the launch has been successful, the company makes substantial sales after the product has been launched and has new orders that reflect that customers are buying the product. Evaluation of the market share is done after a regular period of time such as quarterly or semi annually to determine how well the product is competing with other products in the market. The higher the market share the better the product is doing. Both the increase in sales and market share are reflected in the financial trend analysis of the company with the company showing a steady positive margin. A customer satisfaction survey will determine whether the product is meeting the customers’ needs and what needs to be improved in order to get more customers. Where there is positive feedback, this shows that the product sufficiently meets the customers’ needs and was innovative enough. When these positive outcomes are observed after the launch, it means that the product launch has been successful and the company can produce more products depending on the orders made. In addition, it can continue marketing to expand the market and further establish its market share.

When conducted poorly, a launch can counteract all the time, money and human capital that was invested into creating the new product if it fails to realize commercial success (Schneider & Associates, 2001). Failure can be as a result of poor timing for the launch and inadequate research on the new product market before the launch leading to poor uptake by the customers and lack of a match for the customers’ needs. In addition, poor execution of the marketing plan can contribute to failure of the product launch (Crawford & Benedetto, 2009). The company should therefore make a contingency plan in case the new product is not successful in the market as is expected. The company should immediately review and analyze the reasons for failure of the product launch in order to be able to fix them. Where the problem lies with logistical issues such as timing, the company will counter it by aggressively advertising the product in the areas where it was launched in order to increase customer awareness. Where the problems relates to overpricing issues, the company will reevaluate the existing price and change it to reflect the market conditions and make it more affordable for the target market. Although more difficult, issues relating to the new product not matching with the needs of the target customers, the company can recall the product and redo the prototype to reflect the changes required. The customer satisfaction survey will come in handy in knowing what exactly the customer expects. The contingency plan will lead to more capital and financial resources being used but will enable the company to make a successful comeback and manage to re-launch the product successfully.

The launch of a new product is hectic for the company as a whole and especially for the entrepreneur to feel as if the whole weight of the project is on their shoulder. This is because the future of the company is dependent on it and it needs to get back into the market. However, in my opinion, the company is well prepared to conduct the new product launch due to extensive research that has been done on the market and prior to the development of the new product. The company is also well informed on the industry and what is necessary to succeed in it and has taken measures to ensure the new product meets the demands of the clients. The company ought to look at the opportunities and timing of the market in order to launch the product at the most appropriate time. Aligning the logistical factors and ensuring the product meets the needs of the customers will provide the company with a higher probability of being successful in the launch. The entrepreneur should therefore ensure that all these factors are taken care of before the launch in order to increase the chances of a successful product launch.

References

Crawford, M. & Benedetto, A.D. (2009). New Products Management. 9th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Schneider & Associates. (2001). New Product Launch Report. Boston, M.A: Schneider & Associates.