Marketing Strategy Designated Driver, Research Paper Example

Target Market Behavior Research

In order to reveal the behavior patterns of the target market (single or casually dating,  childless people 21-45), it is important to carry out a related research among this demographic group. Gaining knowledge about the target customer’s preferences, values, and factors that impact their buying decision will help develop the marketing strategy and the branding messages.

As a recent Forbes article (Solomon) summarizes, there are about 80 million Millennials in the United States. These people are expecting technology to simply work and satisfy their immediate needs, Further, Millennials in America are a social generation. They socialize while they consume products or services. This indicates that word-of-mouth advertising would be suitable for marketing for this segment off the market. The strong preference for communication and collaboration is another important characteristic of the generation. Millennials, on the other hand, are looking for new experiences and adventures, and are the first to try a new product or service. Finally, consumers in this generation are passionate about values, and connect with brands with strong vision, mission, and values.

In order to find out more about the target market’s preferences, the author of the current study would also like to design a SurveyMonkey questionnaire. The link will be distributed through social media and email advertising. The questions related to the new service are listed below. Using a Likert Scale questionnaire style, the individual preferences of customers will be recorded and analyzed. The questionnaire will be targeted using Facebook’s  demographic advertising features.

Price And Place (Distribution) Strategy

After analyzing the results of the survey and determining the basic characteristics of the target group (males and females 21-45) using social media distribution of the above questionnaire, based on the findings, the author will determine the distribution strategy for the app. The Young Entrepreneur Council (Kimbrell) identified some proven to succeed distribution methods for apps. First of all, the creators and business owners need to ensure that the app is working, as the target market is expecting technology to work flawlessly. Exclusivity is another important factor. Giving some selected users early access to the released app would not only increase these users’ loyalty, but also provide testimonials and word-of-mouth advertising for the app.

Perez lists other distribution channels that could be relevant to mobile apps, such as recommendation sites for app stores and pre-loads. While recommendation sites and inclusion in collections would be relevant to Designated Driver, the new tool is not likely to gain enough trust in the mobile market to get pre-loaded on devices. Pay-Per-install methods would be useful, however, to increase the number of users. The first customers would be required to submit a review, and could be rewarded with a discount for creating a YouTube video. As the  Social Media Marketing Industry Report (Stelzner) confirms, user generated content is extremely effective when used on social media sites.

Promotion Strategy

Promotion would be carried out on App stores, social media, and blog networks. The creators of the app would reach out to popular tech bloggers to review Designated Driver and share their experiences with their audience. The selected bloggers and vloggers (video bloggers) will be provided with the free copy of the Beta version, and information about the app. Blogs with a mobile version will be preferred.

Social media campaigns will be based on blog content related to the new app during the launch phase, and customer testimonials. Targeted Facebook marketing will feature graphical messages to potential customers. All content that is created about the new app will be used for an extensive social media campaign. The application Hootsuite will be used to feed links and content to the company’s own social media sites: YouTube channels, Twitter business account, app page, Google Plus account, and Instagram. Further, the company will introduce a competition among customers one month after the official launch for a creative video advertising, with three winners who get 50 dollars credit on their Designated Driver account. Email signups will also be used to gather information about customers who are interested in the service. Users can sign up before the official launch, and get updates about the launch date and features in their inbox.

An example of a Facebook ad is found below:

Different size variations of the above banner will be displayed on relevant sites, and the company will partner with similar apps on the App store to offer the application as a complimentary tool for online purchases. The link from the banner will lead to the app’s official webpage or the app store, if it is accessed through a mobile device.

Further methods of advertising will include competitions on Facebook and Instagram, as well as incentives offered for sharing a testimonial. Professional and user-generated videos featuring Designated Driver in action will be shared on social media sites. Newspaper featured interviews will also be used to create awareness of the new launch in the Boston area, and in further locations, after the application moves to different large cities in the United States.

Publicity, Public Relations and Branding

The main source of publicity for the app will be word-of-mouth advertising, however, video marketing and content marketing will also be utilized. As respected bloggers will share the news about the new launch, the app will also be featured on review sites, to gather information about users’ experience. However, in order to brand and position Designated Driver on the marketplace correctly, there is a need for sending out meaningful messages related to the benefits, as well as the features of the app. According to Apptamin, a demo published alongside the press release about the launch would help reaching out to customers who are really interested in the features and the use of the new tool. Images supporting the listed features and benefits will also be necessary to grab the attention of the reader.

The main distribution channels of press releases will be PRLog and PRNewswire, both offering social media sharing and targeting. The links to the press releases will also be added to the company’s Hootsuite account in order to get more attention online. Press releases will be scheduled right before the launch of the app, two weeks after the application, and then every month providing updates about the number of customers signed up, the results, testimonials, and positive reviews from industry experts or professional reviewers. The main branding messages of the press releases to be distributed are listed below.

1. Solving a problem:

• going out and having a drink
• low availability of taxi services on Friday and Saturday night

1. trusted and checked drivers
2. cost savings
3. ease of use
4. safe online payments
5. saving the environment

Each press release will focus on one of the benefits of the app and provide uses with a link to either the download page or the YouTube page.

One of the main benefits of press releases is to educate future and current customers about the values of the brand and building a relationship through meaningful messages. It has already been determined that the target market’s customers care about values excessively, and the best way of connecting with them is to communicate a shared vision. As nobody likes risking drink driving or waiting for a ride, having to pay a lot for door-to-door taxi, or unnecessarily pollute the air, the branding strategy of Designated Driver will be built around these messages.

Promotional Budget

The entire budget of pre-launch and post-launch marketing of the product will be $1500. This will be distributed throughout YouTube channels advertising ($200), Facebook advertising ($700), press release distribution ($300), banner advertising on related sites ($150) and mobile app store advertising ($150). The ongoing marketing budget for after-launch marketing is set to be $250 per month for the first six months, as the word-of-mouth advertising will slowly start delivering results.

Potential Demand

It is estimated that launching the app in Boston first would have a target market of 20.000, based on the demographic data published by the US Census Bureau’s website. Within this population, around half of the individuals will trust mobile technology and payment systems to order services and live outside of the city center. Therefore, it is estimated that around 15 percent of the total target market will be likely to use the service. Still, the estimate would depend on the results of the initial survey distributed in the Boston area among the target market segment.

Works Cited

Apptamin. “How To Write A Press Release For Your App” n.d. Web.

Kimbrell, Gideon. “Five Killer Marketing And Distribution Strategies For Your App” Forbes. 2014. Web.

Perez, Sarah. “10 Distribution Channels for Mobile Applications” Readwrite. 2010. Web.

Solomon, Micah. “2015 Is The Year Of The Millennial Customer: 5 Key Traits These 80 Million Consumers Share” Forbes. 2014. Web.

Stelzner, M. “2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report. How Marketers Are Using Social Media to Grow Their Businesses” 2014. Web.

U.S. Census Bureau. “Quick Facts. Boston (city), Massachusetts” 2014. Web.