J & J Guitars Marketing Plan

Situation Analysis

J & J guitars have been in the guitar-making sector for the last ten years, making it well versed with the needs of the market. As such, the company has a comprehensive understanding of its competitors, including strengths, weakness, opportunities, and threats. Such information about the market is essential as the company makes plans to introduce the revolutionary product into the market.

Strengths

J & J guitars have the experience in the operations of the guitar sector due to the knowledge and understanding of the involved processes. Skillful engineers and other workers position the company well in delivering the various objectives set in the organization (Aguiar & Waldfogel, 2018). Talented and devoted employees share the vision, mission, and values of the company and hence will be in the frontline to ensure that the new product delivers the expectations of the market. A well-trained sales team, the use of the latest technologies in the design and production of guitars are some of the edges that could propel the company to be a market leader in the sector.

Weaknesses

J & J guitars are relatively new in the market, having operated for just ten years. Hence, the company could still be figuring out the approaches of operations in some of the dimensions in the sector.

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Opportunities

Emerging technologies for design indicates that the company has unlimited production options. Improved communication avenues imply that the company has the opportunity to reach new market segments for sales and distribution of revolutionary products (Bajpai, Pandey & Shriwas, 2012). The emergence of online platforms as sales avenues is particularly crucial as it ensures a broader reach of customers in different parts of the world. Further, the entertainment sector is growing at a high rate indicating that the guitar market is expanding. J& J guitars could popularize the revolutionary product among the 20 million guitarists in the US and 140 million from the rest of the world.

Threats

Competition from experienced guitar marketing companies such as Gibson is a reality that the company will have to endure. Further, the company will need to be prepared for the emerging competition in the sector. Being a technical area there could be a shortage of the professional technicians, thus affecting the production capacity of the company.

Target Market Profile

The sale of the revolutionary product will target more than 20 million guitarists in the US and 140 million from different parts of the world. Target customers will include the music bands, people seeking high-quality guitars and families purchasing a guitar for sentimental reasons. Both the young and older generations will be the target groups. However, the premium price of the product will be limited to certain income categories of the customers.

It is estimated that the demand for the products, particularly among the experienced customers will be high. Having used other guitars previously, the customers will be looking for a product that offers additional value. Demand will be fueled by a high level of customer service in the various service centers across the different markets.

A guitar is an essential item for the professionals in the music industry, but purchasers still buy the item for pleasure. Both the professionals and leisure customers will be attracted by the high quality of the product relative to instruments offered by the major competitors. The product will be unique with special features for ease of use.

Marketing Objectives

The marketing plan has the aim to increase the market share to at least 30% of the market in the US. The measure of the goal is based on the previous market survey. J & J Guitars’ revolutionary product will penetrate new market segments, particularly as leisure product. Although deliberate marketing efforts will be made to reach the music bands and the professional music groups, penetrating new market segments is a significant component of the campaign. Use of the online marketing campaigns will be vital in advancing the objective of increasing the market share.

Based on the current market estimates the campaign will aim to target at least 6 million customers of the US guitar market. An objective of the plan is to retain more than 50% of the first time customers by focusing on advanced customer care services. A target to achieve sales of at least 25,000 units in the local and the foreign market in the first year will be realistic. Retaining and winning new segments of the customers is a goal that will be achieved through deliberate online campaigns. Another objective is ensuring that at least 25% of the customers who gain information about the revolutionary products end up purchasing the products.

The same percentage of the new customers will be the target of the plan based on the survey and the current realities of the guitar market. The marketing has the objective to increase the volume of the purchases as the company advances into serving new markets. The aim of improving the volume and penetrating new markets will be achieved through sustained marketing campaigns. Another objective will be to increase the proportion of the potential demand as the marketing team engages in the vigorous activities of popularizing the company products.

Marketing Strategy

One of the approaches is designing a high-quality, premium and revolutionary product that has no equal in the market. The product derives the quality from the design, quality of the materials and performance. Customers in the guitar sector have always yearned for a product that gives value for money and performance. The new product has been created with the specifications in mind. The superiority of the product has been designed with consideration of other products in the market.

The revolutionary product will be offered to the market at a relatively premium price. From the results of the market survey, the customers will be willing to pay the higher price due to the high performance and the durability of the product. The price has been set relative to the process of related products in the market. Fixing the price has been designed with the notion that the customers get value for their money. The new product will retail at $700 to give value to the clients while ensuring that they acquire a product that guarantees high performance.

Distribution will include adopting the licensing and engaging the partners from established music equipment stores around the world. The rationale is ensuring that the product reaches the clients in the most remote locations as well as the established regions. Various other options of providing customers in the various market segments have access to the products with ease. A further developing of the online market will provide customers in different regions.

Reliable approaches for the promotion of the product such as the classical and the online advertisement will be adopted (Waisbord, 2018). The TV and radio advertisement will be particularly important for older customers while online publications will be crucial for the customers across the age brackets. Although a reasonable amount should be allocated for advertisement, the use of word of mouth through the power of the old customers will be necessary. The use of sales promotions, public relations, networking, and referrals will be used. Digital marketing will also be effectively applied as a measure to lower the total cost of the advertisements.

Implementing the Marketing Plan

Appropriate action plans will involve setting the right expectations and being realistic by understanding that the desired outcome will not be a quick fix (Patteson, 2015). Actual returns would be expected to be achieved within one year. Building the right foundation will be necessary to establish the momentum required to propel the business to the next level. The leadership will guide in managing the expectations of the market.

Marketing implementing team consisting of the sales representatives, managers, customer service and customer care personnel will be assembled to drive activities. Some vendors in the local and the foreign markets will be deployed in the implementation of the sales process. Marketing partners will also be outsourced to drive the sales and distribution in the international markets.

Communicating the plan to all the members involved in the implementation of the marketing strategy will be necessary. The rationale would be to make the team understand the goals of the marketing strategy. The roles of each member would be clarified so that they know in the entire approach. In addition to enlightening the implementing team, the members will be acquainted with the overview of the efforts. The rationale is to create the necessary excitement and make the entire organization feel part of the distribution of the revolutionary guitar model. Although the guitar is an innovative model in the sense that quality and performance will define the market, it will be necessary to make the marketing teams feel as part of the innovations. It would be hard to capture the enthusiasm desired if the field teams are not scored in all the distribution functions.

Timeline and tasks will be gradually developed so that the tangible outcomes are felt with 12 months. Functions such as interaction with online customers will be necessary. Engaging local and foreign distribution partners will be achieved within six months. An initial implementing team will be explored so that roles are assigned after the evaluation of each member. The deadlines for such assessment will be six months.

A dashboard for tracking success will be in place from the beginning. The number of sales will continually evaluate in line with the objectives (Espinoza, Buehlmann, & Laguarda-Mallo, 2015). For example, a deal of 10,000 guitars would be an achievement if the milestone is achieved within six months (Gillett & Smith, 2015). From such a success the aim of making sales of 25,000 within the first 12 months will be a realistic objective. Projections for the revenue growth will be 25% after the first year. The number of new customers and sales will be continuously tracked to evaluate the success of the new guitar.

Monitoring will be a vital component to gather the sentiments of the users of the new product. Monthly checks will be employed to have a thorough understanding of what is working and what is not (Gillett & Smith, 2015). The entire marketing teams will meet regularly to share the ideas about the progress of the performance of the product in comparison with the marketing objectives. Coordination between the local and the foreign marketing teams will be standard practice. Some of the international markets will include China, Europe, and Japan. The marketing teams will be coordinated within the US market to assess the performance of the competitors.

References

1. Aguiar, L., & Waldfogel, J. (2018). Quality predictability and the welfare benefits from new products: Evidence from the digitization of recorded music. Journal of Political Economy, 126(2), 492-524.
2. Bajpai, V., Pandey, S., & Shriwas, S. (2012). Social media marketing: Strategies & its impact. International Journal of Social Science & Interdisciplinary Research, 1(7), 214-223.
3. Espinoza, O., Buehlmann, U., & Laguarda-Mallo, M. F. (2015). Thermally modified wood: marketing strategies of US producers. BioResources, 10(4), 6942-6952.
4. Gillett, A. G., & Smith, G. (2015). Creativities, innovation, and networks in garage punk rock: A case study of the Eruptörs. Artivate: a journal of entrepreneurship in the arts, 9-24.
5. Patteson, T. (2015). Instruments for New Music. University of California Press.
6. Waisbord, S. (2018). Family tree of theories, methodologies, and strategies in development communication. Handbook of Communication for Development and Social Change, 1-40.