Marketing Strategy and Development

This stage of the NPD process consists of designing an initial marketing strategy when introducing a product to the market (Armstrong et al, 2012). Kotler and Keller (2009) introduce the development of a marketing strategy as a three-part process. The first part consists of analyzing the target market (size, structure and behavior), planning product positioning and setting short-term sales, market share and profit goals. The second stage incorporates planning the product’s price, distribution strategy and deciding on a marketing budget. The third and final part of the marketing strategy plan involves planned long-term sales, profit goals and marketing mix strategy (Kotler and Keller, 2009).  The goal of a marketing strategy is ultimately to increase product awareness and business growth.

            For the iGolf mobile application, L1 Technologies took the decision to focus on avid and core golfers in the US currently owning GPS-enabled cell phones, leaving them with a target market of 3.58 million and counting. L1 Technologies wanted the application to be positioned as the product quality leader in its marketplace. The company also planned to set quarterly sale and profit goals. Being a premium brand, it planned to charge a higher price for its app than its competition. iGolf Mobile was distributed electronically to mobile phones. The marketing budget was decided based on the percentage-of-sales method. 

In the longer term, L1 Technologies wanted to partner with wireless companies to create all-in-one package deals and create free trial versions to potentially increase sales. It also planned to gradually improve the quality of the app by increasing its database and improving its software to stay ahead of the competition and increase its market share.

            The target market for my adaptation of hurling, are 14-25 year old active people in the UK, with an emphasis on ‘casual’ participators in sport. According to Sport England’s Active People Survey (see Appendix A) my potential target market size is 4,650,100 as of 2013. I’ll position my sport format as a high-speed team sport in competition with sports such as hurling and ice hockey. Being in the introductory stage of the product life cycle (Appendix B), my short-term goals will be fairly modest, with the goal to reach 10,000 participants within 6 years.

My distribution strategy will entail going to schools and universities to introduce my sport and reach my target market. With the institutions approval, I will set up casual sign up sessions for anyone interested in playing and try to set up clubs via student liaisons, using the on site facilities and equipment to run the sessions. I will also look to introduce the sport to Street Games and Youth Sport Trust. I will, in addition, market the sport through a dedicated website.

In the long term, once the sport has began to integrate the marketplace, the possibility of creating specialized rackets and balls for the sport will be analyzed with the goal to make retail profits. I intend to be leading competing newly formed sports for market share through expansive marketing strategies.

500 words.

References:

Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M. and Brennan, R. (2012) Marketing An Introduction. 2^nd edn. Harlow: Pearson.

Kotler, P. and Keller, K.L. (2009) Marketing Management. 13^th edn. New Jersey: Pearson Education.

L1 Technologies Inc., iGolf Division (no date) iGolf Marketing Plan. San Diego, CA.

Sport England (no date) Who plays sport? Available at: https://www.sportengland.org/research/who-plays-sport/ (Accessed: 1 December 2014).

Appendix A:

Adult participation in 30 minutes, moderate intensity sport: National (England), by key demographic subgroups
	APS7 (Oct 2012 - Oct 2013)			APS7 Q3 to APS8 Q2 Rolling 12 months (Apr 2013 - Apr 2014)
1 session a week (at least 4 sessions of at least moderate intensity for at least 30 minutes in the previous 28 days)	%	n*	Base	%	n	Base
National overall	36.7%	16,368,600	165,191	36.7%	16,571,800	169,892
14 to 25	56.4%	4,650,100	13,724	58.0%	4,826,300	13,164
26 and over	32.3%	11,718,500	149,524	32.0%	11,745,500	156,156
Limiting disability - Yes	19.1%	1,770,600	34,949	18.8%	1,758,000	36,296
Limiting disability - No	40.2%	14,598,000	130,242	40.4%	14,813,800	133,596
MALE	42.0%	9,163,900	66,962	42.3%	9,341,600	68,488
FEMALE	31.5%	7,204,700	98,229	31.4%	7,230,200	101,404
WHITE - BRITISH	36.4%	13,357,700	154,464	36.7%	13,647,700	152,416
BME	38.1%	3,010,900	10,727	36.7%	2,924,100	17,476
NS SEC 1-4	38.9%	9,288,100	92,921	39.1%	9,431,400	95,309
NS SEC 5-8	28.7%	4,804,600	52,023	24.7%	4,169,900	52,111
NS SEC 9	41.3%	1,660,400	18,155	44.9%	1,825,800	20,756
Zero sessions of at least moderate intensity for at least 30 minutes in the previous 28 days	%	n	Base	%	n	Base
National overall	56.6%	25,265,800	165,191	56.58%	25,512,200	169,892
Less than one session a week (1 to 3 sessions of at least moderate intensity for at least 30 minutes in the previous 28 days)	%	n	Base	%	n	Base
National overall	6.7%	3,002,800	165,191	6.68%	3,010,400	169,892
* Since December 2013, APS7 participant numbers for ethnicity and NSSEC have been recalculated to reflect Census 2011 data
Source: Sport England's Active People Survey Appendix B: