Product Description

Discuss About The Management And Communications Marketing.

Marketing is an essential part of any business organisation it is the process by which an organisation establishes the company to the world. It develops an identity for the organisation as well as helps the management in achieving various strategic objectives. The purpose of this assignment is to provide the company, “Fingershinder” with an organized marketing plan which will help the company to establish the brand in the true sense of its innovation. The assignment will identify the segmentation, targeting and positioning approach of the company followed by the marketing objectives and strategies of the company. Promotional mix of the organisation is also discussed in the assignment (Mintz & Currim, 2013).

The product that the company offers is a versatile, mobile training device with an appealing minimalistic look. This is an innovative device designed by the owner Konrad Fadenberger. The company is focused on building revolutionary finger strength training instruments that are designed for climbers, athletes and people who enjoy leading a fit life. The organisation operates with the help of a website and the product is sold through the website itself, the company does not have a physical existence. The products are shipped in several countries and the countries are also mentioned in the website.

The industry in which the company operates is lifestyle and wellness.  The industry has shown growth trend in the past decade. More and more people are becoming conscious of their health and the wellbeing sector is becoming a substitute to the healthcare industry. The wellness market is estimated at $3.7 trillion as of 2015 (Globalwellnessinstitute.org, 2018). Gym, spa, yoga centers, physiotherapy centers are some of the examples of organisations in the industry. The product that is offered by Fingershinder is unique in its approach and its idea, it is unlike anything that is available in the market therefore the company has opportunity to grown and position the product as a ground breaking item in the industry.

Therefore, the company has the potential to grow and also to find investors as the USP of the product is the idea and the simplicity in its design. The product is one of a kind and hence there is no direct competition in the market but there are several substitute in terms of devices that serve similar purpose. There are a number of companies that manufactures devices that strengthens the finger strength in various designs.

Target Market

The company has a product that is unique in its approach as well as design. The company has the opportunity to position the product in an innovative way and reach out to the target market. The issue that is observed is that the company does not have a concrete marketing approach, the presence of the product is also unknown by most of the target market and there is also no strategic positioning of the product. The mission of the organisation is unclear as there is absence of strategic management. The company has the opportunity to create a blue ocean strategy with the design of the product the company can use patent rights for the design and develop plan to market the item accordingly. The website is also very basic and lacks a touch of professional overview. The information that is in the website is brief and does not provide a holistic approach to the products.  

Demographic: The age group of the target market is in between 18-35, the income groups of these people are from the medium to high income group. The company will also target other business organisations like gym and fitness centers as well as centers that train and develop skills for adventure sports (Cross et al., 2015).

Geographic: As the company operates with the help of their website and the company ships their product worldwide providing a wider opportunity for the company to reach out to the potential market.

Physiographic: The people that the company target with their products should have a keen knowledge and understanding of the concept of fitness and wellbeing and should also understand the utility of an innovative product like the one the company is offering (Cross et al., 2015).

 Behavioral: The target market are people who enjoy adventure sports which requires upper body strength like rock climbing, abseiling, ice climbing, kayaking. The product will also be useful for people who are interested in archery or is professionally associated with the sport (Cross et al., 2015).

The product will be positioned to the demographic and geographic target market as a training device as a revolutionary fitness device which is can be used anywhere due to its sleek and unique design.

To the physiographic and behavioral segment the company will position the device to be a product that has a unique design which has versatile utility and added usage, as the product can be used anywhere owning to its minimalistic and unique design. The company wants to position itself as a revolutionary brand with creative approach and innovative outlook (Cross et al., 2015).

• To reach out to the potential customer
• Position the product as a revolutionary item
• To ensure the company can strategically communicate with the end consumer
• To establish utility among the target market
• To build a valuable relation with the customer around the world

Positioning

• To achieve 20 percent increment in profit percent in next 4 years
• To get investors and funding from third parties
• To ensure good return on investment

As the company operates with the help of the digital platform it is only fitting that the usage of digital media for market is the most effective way of communicating as the geographical boundaries’ of the company is not only restricted to the home country.  The company will focus on the need and requirement of the customers and build valuable and insightful relationship with the customer. As the company is in the introduction stage insights from the customers will help the management of the company to understand the requirements and develop products in order to grow the company. The marketing core marketing strategy of the company is to position the product as a revolutionary product in the health and wellness industry (Khan, 2014). In the introductory phase the company will only focus on reaching out to more and more people and making the target market aware of the existence of the brand and the product. Technology has revolutionized the traditional marketing practices. For a small company like Fingerschinder it would be impossible to develop a business model with prospect if it would not have been for information and communication technology advances. With the help of the 4ps in marketing mix the marketing strategy will be clear (Khan, 2014).

Product: As motioned before the company has a small assortment of products which assists the user to improve the finger strength as well as the upper body strength. The design of the products is unlike any other finger strengthening products in the market making this item revolutionary and one of its kinds. There are three variations of the product which is available in the website. The company flows the concept of trple bottom line is aware of the responsibilities therefore their products are all manufactured in an ecologically responsible way.

Fingerschinder Classic: This is the first design that the owner had come up with this tools can be used to developing and improving the grip as well as the functional body strength.  The device facilitates several pull-up variations with the help of the unique design; it is sturdy and is light weight.  The product is available in three edge sizes (24mm / 18 mm / 12mm). The difficulty level of using the product can be changed by altering the angle of the edges this will make it harder for the user to grab the making the workout process challenging. Additionally the device can be used as a slingtrainer base as well. The weight of the product is around 1kg and the dimensions are 54cm x 10 cm x 3,6cm (Fingerschinder.com, 2018).

Marketing Strategy

Fingerschinder pi r²:  This is one of the new designs and one of the more popular designs as the product is versatile in nature yet it has a minimal design approach make it even more special. The product is design for developing whole body and finger strength. The design and the function is of this single item doubles up as a gymring as well as a hangboard. There are three pockets in the size of 24, 18 and 12 mm. There are two mounting straps variables black and white (Fingerschinder.com, 2018).

Fingerschinder Plus:  this is an ungraded version of the classic that has been described before, the company understands the requirements and the needs of the customer and therefore looks forward to improving and developing the products. Some of the upgraded feature of this version is: it has a more comfortable edge as well as the jug radius. There is also a scale for measuring the progress of the training with the balance system. There is also new spacers introduced in this product with the help of these the user can get 6 different edge sizes which ranges from 24mm, 21 mm, 18mm, 15mm, 12mm, 9mm. Furthermore the user can change the edge angle, attach training balls or use it as a sling trainer. The features of the classic design can also be found in this device. Therefore based on the utility of the customer can choose to invest in the right version of the product (Fingerschinder.com, 2018).

Apart from these product which make the company stand out of the rest in the market there are two more items on the list. Fingerschinder Shirt, which is available in three sizes (small, medium and large) and three color variations (white, blue and black) apart from this the other product is Spacers Wood (Fingerschinder.com, 2018). 

Price: The target market analysis that has been mentioned previously state that the customers are people from the medium to high income group. The product are priced high not as high as it will be deemed as a luxury item but as the value added utility of the product remains the customer can invest in one such training device in order to ensure full body work out. The company will also service B2B sector and thus explaining the price of the item but per piece cost will reduce if a client wants to bulk purchase (Huang & Sarigöllü, 2014). The price of the Fingerschinder devices are 99.00 €, irrespective of the features and upgrade. On the other hand the t-shirt is priced at 29, 90 € and the Spacers Wood at 15, 00 € (Fingerschinder.com, 2018).

Marketing Mix

Place: the products are shipped to a number of countries mentioned in the website, the company does not have a physical store and therefore it provides the company a platform to cater to the global market. The delivery process is initiated within 3 days of order and the shipping cost is according to the place the product is being ordered from.  The Logistics and the distribution process are simple and the availability of the product is only exclusive to the website (Fingerschinder.com, 2018).

Promotion:  The promotion of the company will focus on the marketing strategy that has been discussed above; the traditional methods of marketing will not be used as the company does not use any other traditional method of business. Digital marketing in various from will be used to promote the product and communicate with various target market all around the international market.

Some of the marketing tactics used by the company is develop CRM, use Digital media, increase the utility of the product and develop new products (Armstrong et al., 2015).  

As a fitness device it has the company has to explain the physical and biological impact of using the product.

The company will use the service of a third party to manage the customer relations like ZOHO CRM this will help the company to manage the leads, forecast the sales and revenue, monitor the customer relations which in turn will help the company to build a valuable relation with the customers (Van Iwaarden & Van der Valk, 2013). As a small organisation the company does not have provisions to look after this function of the business therefore the service can be outsourced which in turn will also help in monitoring and implementation of the marketing strategies as well as maintain cordial relations with the customers (Azad & Hashemi, 2013).

ith the help of the promotion mix the company has to engage attention of the customers or the target market. Create interest for the product so that they understand the utility and the usage of the item so that they can appreciate the design and the idea of the product and develop a sense of demand. The promotion mix of the product will ensure that the positioning strategy that has been mentioned earlier in the assignment is clear among the target market (Royle & Laing, 2014). This will help the company to create the brand name and positioning and develop other products in the future (Luxton et al., 2015).  The company will focus on advertising as the promotional tool and the medium that will be used in digital platform. Other forms of promotion is not effective for the business model and also other form of advertising medium will not help the company reach out to the target market. With tone of the advertisement will be revolutionary or rebellious owing to the positioning strategy (Mulhern, 2013). Energy and power will be the underline statement in the advertisement tone. The advertisements will be more of a tutorial kind as the unique design of the products may confuse the customer regarding the usage of the item. In the introductory phase there will be two tools used by the company (Blakeman, 2018).

Price

Customized texts, e-mails and calls: these three are the most widely used digital marketing tools. The company with the help of the third party service provider as mentioned above can send across personalized e-mails to the customers of the leads (Ryan, 2016).

Paid social media: The Company has a Facebook page, where they upload photos and videos. But if the company takes the paid services then the ad or the page will pop up with people who are the target market as it function son the basis of the search results (Tiago & Veríssimo, 2014). Similarly with YouTube, the channel has to be more tutorial and with the paid services the company can develop an audiovisual ad that will reach out to the people who search for similar items. The company can gain popularity in the Instagram paid services as well. With the help of hashtags and advertisements the company can establish the brand to be a revolutionary brand with creative design and innovative outlook (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick, 2016).

Conclusion

It can be concluded form the above discussion that the company has potential to grow in the market with solid marketing and promotional strategies. One of the major drawbacks of the company is the website, it has to improve and made more informative and compact. The owner of the company has to have a strong presence in the website as it is the vision of the owner that drives the company. The digital marketing will focus on customized e-mails and paid social media in the beginning.

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