HOTL2006 Assessment 3 - New Product Development Marketing

Executive Summary (10% of word count)

Table of Contents (using report format)

Your report will detail (word counts are approximate and should only be used as a guide)

the findings of your market research

• Background Information on the organisation or business. What is the organisation? Where is it located? How many employees? How long has it operated? (100 words)

2.0 Environmental analysis

2.1 PESTEL analysis  What are the main issues and trends within political/legal, economic, socio-cultural, technological and ecological macro environment? (100 words)

2.2 SWOT analysis  Identify the business's internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats (SWOT). Developing a SWOT analysis can help you analyse where your business and products fit within the market and your unique selling position. It can also help you discover how your business can improve, what you excel at and what practices other businesses are using.

• Strengths – What your business does well? What you do better than your competition?
• Weaknesses - What your business needs to improve to stay competitive? What your competitors do better than you? What's holding your business back?
• Opportunities - What market trends could lead to increased sales? What can you use to your businesses advantage?
• Threats - What advantages do competitors have over your business? What could harm your business?

TASK: Use the table below to list each of your businesses Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities or Threats (S.W.O.T.) (50 words) 

2.3 The industry  Describe the industry (100 words). Research the industry, including industry associations, statistics and benchmarks to help understand how your business will operate compared to others in the industry.

Consider the following when researching your industry:

• What size is the industry?
• Is the industry growing or shrinking?
• What factors might influence how the industry does?
• Does the industry have a strong or weak presence domestically or overseas?
• Where does the industry make most of its profit?
• Who are the leading businesses in the industry?
• What is the size of the market that these leading businesses operate in?

2.4 Competitor analysis (100 words)

You can collect data on your competitors through:

• observing their advertisements and sales
• observing businesses in your industry and area through trade magazines, general advertising or site visits
• networking
• the internet, including websites, blogs and other social media.

You can identify your competitors from two main groups:

• Direct competitors – businesses that offer the same products or services as you.
• Indirect competitors – businesses that sell products or services that are different but may satisfy the same consumer need.

For example: Bed and breakfasts/Airbnb/motels compete indirectly with 4 and 5 star hotels. 

Once you have identified who your competitors are, determine their profile. For example:

• What products or services do they sell?
• Do they offer a similar product or service?
• What do they offer their customers?
• How do they engage with their customers?
• Where are they located?
• How competitive are they?
• How much market share do they have?
• What type of media channels do they use to market their products or services?
• What are their strengths and weaknesses?

Competitor profile: 

The more you know about your competitors the better you'll be at identifying where you fit in the market and the potential opportunities available for your business.

TASK: What’s the profile of a typical competitor for your business? In a paragraph or two, clearly define a typical competitor - their size, market share, unique value proposition, strengths and weaknesses. (100 words)

2.5 Market and customer analysis (100 words) 

• customers
• competitors
• product or services
• suppliers
• business location and local area
• industry and market trends.

Ways to collect customer data include emails, online surveys, interviews, and even talking directly to your customers. You can discover:

• what their needs are
• what they're willing to pay for different products
• the anticipated demand for your products.

Work out if your market is large enough and accessible. Then segment the market into groups of buyers with similar preferences and buying habits. For example, the restaurant industry is broken up into several segmented groups – 

• motivation or purpose of visit
• time of visit
• frequency of visit
• spending behaviour

Once you’ve identified your market segments, you can define your ideal customer for each segment.

Finding out how your customers think and behave (including their likes and dislikes) can also help you better target your marketing activities.

3.0 Marketing Objectives

THINK: Where are you aiming to be with your new product? Set your goals and objectives.  Once you're clear about your business and its positioning, you can start thinking about what you want to achieve with your new product.

First, think long-term and figure out your main business goals, whether it's the size of your business, expansion plans or profit figures.

Then, figure out what your immediate or short-term objectives are, whether it's to establish your business in the market or to increase sales or customers or something else.

TASK: Summarise 3 key marketing objectives for your new product. Your objectives may be financial, with a goal to increase sales, or marketing focused, to build awareness of your product or service. An effective (and accountable) way to define your marketing objectives is to follow the ‘SMART’ acronym (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely).

Examples of 3 SMART marketing objectives:

1. To achieve a 20% return on capital employed by April 2023 (Profitability Objective)
2. To gain 15% of the market for sports socks by November 2024 (Market Share Objective)
3. To make X brand of juice the preferred brand of 21-29 year-old females in Australia by August 2022 (Branding Objective) 

4.0 The Target Market (100 words)

You might need more information about customer interests and buying habits

• What motivates a customer to make a purchase? (This is the problem they are solving and you are offering them a solution with your product/service).
• What are your customers’ common interests?
• Who makes the buying decisions?
• How often do they purchase?
• Do they search online for information before they buy?
• Do they search for reviews before they buy?
• How long does it take them to make a buying decision?
• What form of media (websites/social media/magazines) does your target rely on for information?
• How far will they travel?
• What other products do they buy?

Then target your marketing efforts to explain how your product and service will fit into their lifestyle and how it best meets their needs.

5.0 Marketing Strategies

TASK: Use this section to summarise the overall strategy and marketing to position yourself within the market to meet your customers’ needs. The strategy and marketing mix should take into account the activities that are relevant for the business and/or product. Remember to consider a digital strategy, which focuses on achieving your online objectives. Whatever your strategy, aim to differentiate yourself from your competitors to encourage customers to choose your product or service first. 

5.1 Product or Service

TASK: What new products and/or services do are you offering? Here you should describe your long-term new product/service strategy in detail.(100 words)

Your PRODUCT or SERVICE

• Nature of the offer – what combination of good, service and experience
• Level – core, actual and augmented product
• Features and benefits being offered
• Unique selling proposition (USP) or sustainable competitive advantage (CSA)
• Existing brand perceptions (if applicable).

5.2 Positioning  

Whether your product or service is high-end, competitive or a low-cost alternative to the products or services offered by your competitors. Where will your product be positioned in the market? 

TASK: Devise a positioning map based on two attributes eg price and quality OR customer service and price OR location and features. (50 words)

5.3 Pricing 

TASK: Describe the method used to determine the price of the product or service. Make sure you use academic referencing for your pricing strategy. Justify your decision (50 words).

Price is a critical component of the marketing mix. Why? Because choosing the right price for  products or services will help to maximise profits and also build strong relationships with your customers. By pricing effectively you will also avoid the serious financial consequences that can occur if you price too low (not enough profit) or too high (not enough sales). 

Setting prices for your products and services might seem like a daunting task, just remember:

you are in business to make a profit (and that’s ok!)

most business owners underprice the value that they deliver

your sales and marketing strategy should defend your prices

. 

5.4 Place or distribution

Place refers to the channels and locations for distributing your product or service, related information, and support services. 

Place includes:

• the place where the product/service can be bought
• the distribution channel used to get the product or service to the customer

This is a crucial decision for services as this provides the place utility to the consumer, which often becomes a deciding factor for the purchase. Eg the customer may want to stay at an InterContinental Hotel but there is not one in the city they are travelling to for a business meeting.

TASK: Describe the sales and distribution channels in the table below (50 words)

5.5 Promotion

TASK: State how the product or service will be promoted. Compare (where applicable) what your competitors do for promotion, noting what does and does not work for them as well as yourself. Regardless of how good the product or service is, if you don’t promote it and tell people it exists, it’s unlikely it will make many sales. 

Promotion is much more than advertising. It’s about attracting the right people to use and reuse. There are a number of techniques to implement and they can be combined in various ways to create the most cost effective promotional strategy.

TASK: Detail your promotion techniques into six categories. Use point form to detail how each promotional tool will be used: (300 – 400 words)

1. online or digital marketing
2. public relations
3. advertising
4. direct marketing and database marketing
5. personal selling
6. sales promotion