Sonic Marketing Plan

MBA PROGRAM
SONIC PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT
MARKETING MANAGEMENT
SONIC PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT
Marketing Plan
INSTRUCTOR: Ph.D. FRANCIS PIRON
GROUP MEMBERS: NGUYEN THI HONG DIEP TRUONG MINH HOANG VU QUYNH NGA
JUNE 26, 2011
SONIC MARKETING PLAN

TABLE OF CONTENT
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Page EXECUTIVE COVER MEMO ............................................................................................... 4 I. II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................... 5 SITUATION ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................ 5 1. Market summary ................................................................................................................. 6 1.1. 1.2. 1.3. 1.4. 1.5. Consumer market ................................................................................................... 6 Business market ..................................................................................................... 7 Market needs .......................................................................................................... 7 Market trends ......................................................................................................... 8 Target market growth ............................................................................................. 8
2. Company analysis ............................................................................................................... 9 2.1. 2.2. 2.3. 2.4. 2.5. Strengths................................................................................................................. 9 Weaknesses ............................................................................................................ 9 Opportunities ........................................................................................................ 10 Threats.................................................................................................................. 10 Market share ......................................................................................................... 11
3. Competitor analysis .......................................................................................................... 11 3.1. 3.2. 3.3. 3.4. Market position .................................................................................................... 11 Strengths............................................................................................................... 11 Weaknesses .......................................................................................................... 12 Market shares ....................................................................................................... 12
4. Climate .............................................................................................................................. 12 4.1. 4.2. 4.3. 4.4. Political and legal environment ............................................................................ 12 Economic environment ........................................................................................ 13 Social and cultural environment ........................................................................... 14 Technological environment .................................................................................. 15
5. Product offerings ............................................................................................................... 16 6. Distribution ....................................................................................................................... 16 III. MARKET SEGMENTATION............................................................................................... 18 1. Consumer market segmentation ........................................................................................ 18 1.1. 1.2. 1.3. Geographic segmentation ..................................................................................... 18 Demographic segmentation .................................................................................. 18 Behavioral segmentation ...................................................................................... 18
2. Business market segmentation .......................................................................................... 18 2.1. June 26, 2011 Demographic segmentation .................................................................................. 18 Page 2

2.2. 2.3. IV.
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Customer type ...................................................................................................... 19 Buyer behavior ..................................................................................................... 19
MARKETING STRATEGIES ............................................................................................... 20 1. Mission.............................................................................................................................. 20 2. Objectives ......................................................................................................................... 20 3. Target market .................................................................................................................... 20 4. The product positioning .................................................................................................... 21 5. Marketing mix ................................................................................................................... 21 5.1. Product ................................................................................................................. 21 a. Brand name and logo .................................................................................... 22 b. Brand promise .............................................................................................. 23 c. Quality .......................................................................................................... 23 d. Scope of product line .................................................................................... 24 e. Warranty ....................................................................................................... 25 f. 5.2. Packaging and labeling ................................................................................. 25
Pricing .................................................................................................................. 26 a. Pricing objective ........................................................................................... 26 b. List price ....................................................................................................... 27 c. Price adaptations........................................................................................... 27 d. Price sensitivity ............................................................................................ 27
5.3.
Distribution .......................................................................................................... 28 a. Channel levels .............................................................................................. 28 b. Channel members ......................................................................................... 29 c. Market coverage ........................................................................................... 30 d. Criteria for evaluating distributors ............................................................... 30 e. Market-logistics ............................................................................................ 31
5.4.
Promotion ............................................................................................................. 32
6. Marketing research............................................................................................................ 34 V. VI. FINANCIALS ........................................................................................................................ 35 CONTROLS........................................................................................................................... 36 1. Implementation ................................................................................................................. 36 2. Marketing organization ..................................................................................................... 40 VII. VIII. SHORT AND LONG-TERM PROJECTIONS ..................................................................... 40 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 44
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EXECUTIVE COVER MEMO
To: Ph.D. Francis Piron
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From: Nguyen Thi Hong Diep, Truong Minh Hoang, Vu Quynh Nga Subject: Sonic Marketing Plan Date: June 26, 2011 BACKGROUND Currently, Sonic is a start-up company in PDA industry. In this area, there are many kinds of PDA products such as multifunctional cell phones, e-mail devices, and wireless communication devices provided for personal and professional use. Every year, more than 5 million PDAs and 22 million smart phones are sold worldwide. Consequently, the number of competitor is increasing. Sonics primary marketing objective is to gain 3 percent market share with 240,000 unit sales and to obtain $60 million sales revenues in the United State in the first year after introducing the first product, Sonic 1000. RECOMMENDATION To obtain market share from the pioneer, PalmOne, in PDA market, Sonic accepts to lose and tries to keep the first-year losses to less than $10 million and build a marketing plan to reach the break-even point early in the second year. Sonic takes advantage of existing targeted consumers who have awareness of PDA products to look for opportunities to build its strong brand and brand equity. NEXT STEPS In the second year, Sonic is planning to introduce the second product, Sonic 2000, after Sonic 1000 provides consumers with brand awareness. During this period, Sonic tries to run its business to reach break-even point early and tries to expand its market into Canada and beyond.
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Sonic, a start-up company, is about to introduce its first product, Sonic 1000, a multimedia, cellular/Wi-Fi-enabled personal digital assistant (PDA), also known as a handheld computer. Sonic will be competing with Apple, Palms, Hewlett-Packards (HP), Motorola and other well-established rivals in a crowded, fast-changing marketplace where smart phones and many other electronics devices have PDA functionality as well as entertainment capabilities. I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sonic is planning to introduce a new multimedia, dual-mode PDA product, Sonic 1000, in a very competitive and mature PDA market. Despite the intense competition from Palm, HP, or other rivals, we can compete effectively because our product offers a unique combination of advanced features and functionality at a value-added price. The major targeted segments are the consumer and business markets, imposing upon the growing interest in single equipment with benefits of communication, organization and entertainment. The primary marketing purpose is to gain 3 percent of the US market share with unit sales of 240,000 in the first year. The primary financial objectives are to obtain sales revenues of $60 million, and keep losses to less than $10 million in the first year, and get break-even point in the early second year. II. SITUATION ANALYSIS Sonic was established 18 months ago by two entrepreneurs with communications experience. It is about to enter the todays mature PDA market with increasingly intense competition due to technology evolves, industry consolidation continues, and pricing pressures squeeze profitability. To gain market share in this dynamic environment, Sonic must carefully determine targeted segment with valued features and plan for next-generation product to keep brand momentum going.
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1. Market summary
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Sonics market covers consumers and business users who prefer to use a single device to communicate, store and exchange information, organize and entertain when they are away from home or office. Users in targeted segments during the first year include professionals, college and graduate students, corporations, entrepreneurs, and medical practitioners. 1.1. Consumer market: The economy of the United States (U.S) is the world's largest national economy. Its nominal GDP was estimated to be nearly $14.7 trillion in 2010, approximately a quarter of nominal global GDP. Its GDP at purchasing power parity was also the largest in the world, approximately a 5th of global GDP. Moreover, the U.S economy has maintained a very high level of output per capita. In 2009, it was estimated to have a per capita GDP (PPP) of $46,381, the 6th highest in the world. In addition, the U.S, the 3rd most populous country globally, has accounted for about 4.5% of the worlds population. The U.S population - currently estimated to have 308.7 million people - has more than doubled since its 1950 level of 152.3 million. More than just being double in size, the population has become qualitatively different from what it was in 1950. As noted by the Population Reference Bureau, The U.S is getting bigger, older, and more diverse. In the consumer market, the primary targeted customers is middle to upper income professionals who need one device to co-ordinate their busy schedules, stay in touch with family and colleagues and entertain on the go. The secondary targeted consumers are high school, college, and graduate students who want a multimedia, dual-mode device to organize their school, work and personal schedules, to store needed documents and information for access anywhere, and to communicate with family and friends. This segment can be
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described demographically by age (16 30) and education status (entering or in college or graduate school). 1.2. Business market In the business market, the primary target is mid-to-large sized corporations that want to help their managers and staff to stay in touch and input access critical data on the go. These buyers want durable, powerful, easy-to-use PDAs that can operate customized business applications. This segment covers companies gaining more than $25 million in annual sales and employing more than 100 staff. A secondary target is entrepreneurs and small business owners who need to stay in touch and organize their busy schedules at all times. We also target medical users, doctors and nurses who want to reduce paperwork and update or access patients medical record quickly. 1.3. Market needs Consumer and business users of PDAs primarily need to communicate and access information when they use PDAs. Exhibit 1 shows how the Sonic 100 addresses the specific needs of targeted segments within the consumer and business markets. Exhibit 1: Needs and Corresponding Features/Benefits of Sonic PDA
Targeted Segment Feature/Benefit Professionals (Consumer market) Customer Need Corresponding Feature/Benefit Wireless e-mail to conveniently send and receive messages Stay in touch while on the go from anywhere; cell phone capability for voice
communication from anywhere Record information while on the go Voice recognition for no-hands recording Compatible with numerous applications and peripherals for convenient, cost-effective functionality Case wardrobe of different colors and patterns allows users to make a fashion statement Compatible with widely available software Customizable to fit diverse corporate tasks and networks
Students (Consumer market)
Perform many functions without carrying multiple gadgets Express style and individuality Input and access critical data on the
Corporate users (Business market)
go Use for proprietary tasks
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Entrepreneurs (Business market) Medical users (Business market) Organize and access contacts, schedule details Update, access, and exchange
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No-hands, wireless access to calendar and address book to easily check appointments and connect with contacts No-hands, wireless recording and exchange of information to reduce paperwork and increase productivity
medical records
Our licensing arrangement with Linux-based system allows us to provide the unique feature of voice recognition for hand-off operation. This is strong point of differentiation for competitive advantage in satisfying market needs that makes the use of Sonic PDAs convenient and easy. 1.4. Market trends PDA purchasers can choose between models based on several different operating systems, including systems from Palm, Microsoft, and Symbian, plus Linux variations. In addition, other market trends relate to demand for technological advances such as the integration of cell phone functionally and other capabilities; sharper and larger screen displays, speedier processing of information, memory expansion; applications for specific customer and business purposes, and more fashion-oriented accessories for PDAs. Moreover, PDA manufacturers are using technology with lower costs but capabilities are increasing. This will lead to lower selling prices. For Sonic first product, we decide to use a Linux-based system because this system is less vulnerable to be attacked by hackers and viruses. Furthermore, Sonic PDA is the first product containing extra storage capacity of ultra-fast-20-gigabyte with lower price than that of other competitors. 1.5. Target Market Growth In general, market growth continues increasing in consumer and business PDA markets. Sonic products will stimulate the market demand by concentrating on voice recognition
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system which may be imitated by other competitors within 6 to 12 months. Therefore, we are targeting to create strong brand recognition, build sales and maintain brand loyalty among targeted market segments in a short time. 2. Company analysis SWOT analysis is an important part of the strategic planning process. It provides information that is useful in matching our resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in PDA field. Through SWOT analysis, we can identify our strengths to develop, and discover our weaknesses to overcome. Besides, we are reveal new opportunities for profit and growth to pursue as well as find out threats to our firm early to prevent. 2.1. Strengths Sonic can build on three important strengths: Innovative product - The Sonic 1000 offers a combination of features that would otherwise require customers to carry multiple devices, such as speedy, hands-free dual-mode cell/Wi-Fi telecommunications capabilities, and digital video/music/TC program storage/playback. Security - Our PDA uses a Linux-based operating system that is less vulnerable to hackers and other security threats that can result in stolen or corrupted data. Pricing - Our product is priced lower than competing multifunction PDAs none of which offer the same bundle of features which gives us an edge with priceconscious customers. 2.2. Weaknesses By waiting to enter the PDA market until considerable consolidation of competitors has occurred, Sonic has learned from the successes and mistakes of others. Nonetheless, we have two main weaknesses:
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Lack of brand awareness - Sonic has not yet established a brand or image in the marketplace, whereas Palm, Apple and other rivals have strong brand recognition. This is an area the company will address with promotion. Heavier and thicker unit - To accommodate the multifunction features, the Sonic 1000 is slightly heavier and thicker than most competing models and offers far more storage capacity than the average PDA. To counteract this weakness, Sonic will emphasize our products benefits and value-added pricing, two important competitive strengths. 2.3. Opportunities Sonic can take advantage of two major market opportunities: Increasing demand for multiple communication functions - The market for multimedia, multifunction devices is growing much faster than the market for single use devices. Growth is accelerating as dual- mode capabilities become main stream, giving customers the flexibility to make phone calls over cell or Internet connections. PDAs and smart phones are already commonplace in public, work, in work and educational settings; in fact, users who bought entrylevel models are now trading up. Lower technology costs Better technology is now available at a lower cost than ever before. Thus, Sonics can incorporate advanced features at a value added price that allows for reasonable profits. 2.4. Threats When launching Sonic 1000, we realize that we are facing three major threats as following: Increased competition - More companies are offering devices with some but not all of the features and benefits provided by the Sonic PDA. Therefore, Sonics marketing communications must stress our clear differentiation and value-added pricing.
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Downward pressure on pricing - Increased competition and market-share strategies are pushing PDA prices down. Still, our objective of seeking a 10% profit on secondyear sales of the original model is realistic, given the lower margins in the PDA market. Compressed product life cycle - PDAs have reached the maturity stage of their life cycle more quickly than earlier technology products. Because of this compressed life cycle, we plan to introduce a media-oriented second product during the year following the Sonic 1000s launch. 2.5. Market share Because Sonic is a start-up company in PDA market, we have not yet occupied a large number of market shares that helps PalmOne become the PDA market leader. So increasing Sonic market share is our top task to reinforce our brand. In the first year, Sonic market share is expected to be 3 percent of PDA markets in U.S 3. Competitor analysis 3.1. Market position The emergence of new multifunction smart phones, including the Apple iPhone, has raised competitive pressure. In the PDA market, Palm is the market leader with a 34 percent share. The second is HP with 22 percent of the PDA market and targets business segments with its numerous iPAQ Pocket PC devices. Subsequent to HP, Motorola, Apple, RIM, and Samsung are dividing the US PDA market. 3.2. Strengths These competitors take advantages of the leading company with excellent distribution, high ability in brand awareness and given market share. These strengths have been built for a long time and the present companies will continue to take advantages effectively.
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In addition, the products of these companies also have many competitive features. Firstly, the quality of these products is quite stable because they are produced by experienced companies with high technology, skillful staff, and a given period to correct and perfect the products. Many competing products are well-known and widely used such as Apple iPhone, Palms smart phone, Motorola RAZR2 and BlackBerry. 3.3. Weaknesses In comparison with Sonic PDA, the competitors have two weaknesses as following: Do not have voice recognition system - that is modern and convenient technology and potential market. Non company of above has this function. The safety of mobile operating system (OS) - These companies are applying mobile OS that is less safe than that of Sonic. 3.4. Market shares Palm is the market leader with a 34 percent share. HP ranks second in PDA manufacturers when it holds 22 percent of market share and targets business segments with its numerous iPAQ Pocket PC devices. Beside that, Motorola, Apple, RIM, and Samsung are dividing the US PDA market together. If accounting for smart phone market, RIM and Apple are the leading with 27 percent of market share for each. 4. Climate 4.1. Political and legal environment The political/legal environment affects every industry and consists of the laws and regulations in effect in all markets that a company has a presence in. In order to make sure they are operating legally, businesses have to obey these laws and regulations. Political environments are affected by politicians who in return are influenced by changes and challenges in the social-cultural environment (language, immigration) or economic
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environment (currency exchange rate). The rules and regulations created by politicians have significant influences on the cost of running businesses and the way products and services are marketed. Mobile market in general and PDA market in particular are also highly affected by the political and legal environment. We consider carefully all the rules and regulations related to the industry. Here are some major Federal laws affecting Sonics marketing: 1936. RobinsonPatman Act: Prohibits prices discrimination in sales to wholesalers, retailers, or other producer; prohibits selling at unreasonably low prices to eliminate competition. Sonic will avoid troubles from its competition. 1972. Consumer Products Safety Act: Created the Consumer Products Safety Commission, which has authority to specify safety standards for most products. 4.2. Economic environment The U.S economy experienced from a 2008 crisis that was led by a derivatives market and subprime mortgage crisis, and a declining dollar value. On December 1, 2008, the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) declared that the U.S entered a recession in December 2007, citing employment and production figures as well as the third quarter decline in GDP. The recession did, however, lead to a reduction in record trade deficits, which fell from $840 billion annually during the 2006-2008, to $500 billion in 2009, as well as to higher personal savings rates, which jumped from a historic low of 1% in early 2008, to nearly 5% in late 2009. The unemployment rate rose to 10.6% in 2010. The status of the economy has highly influenced on Sonic market. Due to the recession, consumers tend to spend more cautiously. They will prefer using their existing mobile phone to buying a new PDA model. The company must face the strict spending from their targeted customers.
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However, in the recession, many U.S companies try to find effective ways to reduce paper work and increase productivity. This is a good opportunity for Sonic. A PDA product like Sonic 1000 or Sonic 2000 with striking functions is significantly useful for the studying and working purposes so it will attract more customers. 4.3. Social and cultural environment Social and cultural environment play an important role in consumers buying behavior toward PDA. The U.S has been well-known as the country having the most modern technology particularly in mobile technology with famous names such as Palm, HP, Apple and so on. Therefore, the U.S citizens specially youths (14 30 years old) are familiar with high technology and sensitive with a competitive PDA like Sonic 1000/2000. This makes Sonic advantageous in entering the market. The cultural factor can be narrowed by subcultures. The targeted customers in each segments of Sonic market have many factors in common, for example, in the segment of students, this group includes young, active people and has acquaintance with new technology. They also want a smart phone that has multi functions for communication and relaxing purposes. On the other hand, the segment of professionals consist of matures who are on the go with their works and want many modern features in a PDA such as wi-fi, email, voice recognition, organize time table and so on. The second factor in social and cultural environment is social classes. The members who come from same social classes tend to behave alike other members in the class. There is 7 social classes in the US including: (1) lower lowers, (2) upper lowers, (3) working class, (4) middle class, (5) upper middle, (6) lower uppers, and (7) upper uppers (source: Kotler and Keller). The targeted customers of Sonic are from middle to upper class, who would be in favor of buying the PDA. The class members will copy what the others are doing. If an
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influenced person in the upper uppers is having a PDA, the others will also tend to own a PDA 4.4. Technological environment The U.S has the most successful innovators in the technology area generally and the mobile technology area particularly. Platform of PDA bases on the developing of mobile technology and takes many advantages from this industry: Mobile operating system There are widespread OS for mobile such as Symbian OS, Blackberry OS, Windows mobile, Apple iOS, Google Android, Maemo and other embedded Linux distributions. Such systems can be installed on many different phone models, they allow some level of application to perform multifunction and provide a true file system with folder hierarchy and a file manager utility. Our products apply Linux OS that can prevent attack from hackers and viruses. Data transmitting The third generation of technology known as 3G was launched in 2001 and quickly become popular technology in the mobile industry. The revolution in data transmission has enhanced the ability to access data networks of mobile phones and PDAs. Due to the 3G technology, consumers can experience more functions such as phone, media streaming and more applications for instance email, surfing web, organizing contacts and timetable interestingly through only a PDA. Voice recognition Voice recognition is a modern technology booming and the overall market for voicerecognition technology is accounted for $1 billion for the first time in 2006, a 100 percent increase in two years only according to Opus Research.
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By applying this technology, Sonic 1000 creates a significantly distinctive feature compared to other competing products and makes our customers more comfortable when using the product. Other technologies Wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) - a type of wireless local area network technology that is available widely in developed countries, enables mobiles to connect to the Internet elsewhere to keep in touch with their family and work on the go. Bluetooth - connects mobile devices wirelessly
5. Product offerings The Sonic PDA 1000 offers the following standard features: Voice recognition for hands-free commands and communication Built-in cell phone functionality Wireless Web access and e-mail capabilities MP3 music downloading and player capabilities Full organization and communication functions, including calendar, address book, memo pad, Internet browser, e-mail program, and text and instant messaging programs Connectors to accommodate all palm One-compatible peripherals 6. Distribution A companys business will not be successful if it only develops and innovates its products and services or looks for target markets without paying attention on how its business is going to distribute and sell its products to potential consumers. So we are looking for potential distributors to enhance sales for our first product, Sonic 1000. Sonic products will be distributed via a network of retail stores and online stores in the top 50 U.S markets. We choose some of the most important channel partners as following:
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Office supply superstores: Our partner will be Office Depot and Staples. We are going to put our advertisement of Sonic 1000 on their website. When consumers assess their website, they can see the image of this product with its full feature details to consider whether they want to buy. When they order, we will deliver immediately with free of delivery charge. Office Depot and Staples also distributes Sonic products in stores and in catalogs. Computer stores: CompUSA and independent computer retailers are one of our choices in distribution strategy. If customers decide to choose this distribution channel, stores staff can introduce and instruct our products functions so that customers can make best choice for purchasing the product. Electronic specialty stores: Best Buy is our choice for product distribution channel. This is an useful channel because when a person wants to buy an electronic product, he or she often comes directly to electronic stores in which he or she will have many choices. Sonic 1000 is an electronic device, so in order to encourage customer to buy this product, we will choose distribution channel through Best Buy. This channel also helps Sonic reduce distribution costs. In the case consumers are busy, they cannot go to the store, and then they can make purchasing choices via Best Buys website or its media advertising. Online retailers: Amazon.com is a well-known website. It allows us to place the product advertisement on its home page with promotional fee when Sonic starts to penetrate into PDA market. Although our distribution channels are initially restricted in the United State, we plan to expand our market into Canada and other countries depending on consumer demand. To support our channel partners, we will provide Sonic products along with demonstration
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templates, detailed handouts, full-color photos and illustration to display product features and design. III. MARKET SEGMENTATION 1. Consumer market segmentation 1.1. Geographic segmentation Initially, the Sonic PDAs are only distributed in the U.S, with appropriate sales promotion support. Later, we plan to expand in to Canada and beyond 1.2. Demographic segmentation Age and life cycle: PDA is modern electronic equipment so it is suitable for young people. They tend to pay attention on such modern equipment and use PDA without difficulties. Income: The retail price of Sonic PDA 1000 is $350 and more than $350 for Sonic PDA 2000. We will consider the average income of the targeted consumers. Social class: There are 7 social classes in the US society, we classify and select suitable social classes based on the income, hobby, desire, and other common features related to buying and using Sonic PDA. 1.3. Behavioral segmentation Sonic PDAs bring many benefits to the consumers. The company is considering what the most attractive benefit to each segment is. For example, the benefits to students include information record while on the go, many functions performance without carrying multiple gadgets and style and individuality expression. By considering these benefits, we can reply with many useful functions of the PDA. 2. Business market segmentation 2.1. Demographic segmentation
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Industry: we are seeking which industries could improve their efficiency by applying PDA in the work. Company size: Sonic PDAs can help businessmen and businesswomen enhance their effectiveness. However, the price of the product is not very low and the function of that is compatible with completing works. As a result, a small company cant afford to apply Sonic PDAs to its work. Therefore we plan to focus on the middle-to-large sized corporations. 2.2. Customer type The major business target is mid-to-large sized corporations that want to help their managers and employees stay in touch and input or access critical data on the go. This segment consists of companies with more than $25million in annual sales and more than 100 employees. The secondary business target is entrepreneurs and small-business owners. We are also targeting medical users who want to reduce paperwork and update or access patients medical records. 2.3. Buyer behavior Consumers often do a lot of brand switching. They can get experience from using the previous product and choose to buy a newer product of the same brand without much evaluation, and then evaluate that product during consumption. Brand switching occurs for the sake of variety, rather than dissatisfaction. Because of brand unawareness, we will encourage variety seeking by offering lower prices, deals, coupons and advertising that tries to break the customers purchase and consumption cycle and presents reasons for trying something new.
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IV. MARKETING STRATEGIES
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Our marketing strategy is designed to support the company to create a successful entrance to launch new PDA in a competitive market. We plan to build brand awareness and image and to emphasize our unique product with high quality and low price. Using marketing mix as well as service and internal marketing, we will educate our target segment about features and benefits of our new PDA and give an impulse to first-time users to buy PDA as well as to encourage PDA owners to buy the newer and more innovated products. We will use television advertising to reach our target segments. However, because of the start-up budget constraints, television advertising is limited so we also have to use radio, online and other media to reach our target segment in a creative and effective way. 1. Mission Sonics mission is to help our customers to organize their works and live better as well as to enjoy the life throughout the technology advancements. 2. Objectives We have set aggressive but achievable objectives for the first and second years of market entry. First-year objectives: We are targeting for a 3 percent share of the U.S PDA market through unit sales volume of 240,000. Second-year objectives: Our second-year objective is to achieve break-even on the Sonic 1000 and launch our second model. 3. Target market For individual market, the primary target market is middle- to-upper income professionals who need one portable device to support their busy schedules and communicate with family, friends and colleagues. These consumers prefer lower-priced PDAs with expandable memory and functionality. The second targeted consumer is college and graduate students who want
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to organize their school work, and personal schedules, input and access information at any time from anywhere, and stay in touch with family and friends. For business market, the target market is mid-to-large sized corporations that want to help their staff stay in touch and input or access critical data on the go. These purchasers want durable, powerful, easy-to-use PDAs that can operate customized business applications. The secondary business target consists of entrepreneurs and small business owners who need to stay in touch and organize their busy schedules all the times. A possible tertiary business target is medical users, doctors, and nurses who want to reduce paperwork and fast update or access patients medical records. 4. The product positioning We are positioning our first product, Sonic 1000, with the combination of the most superior features such as more attractive design, faster speed, better quality and longer life to make this product become the most versatile, convenient and enjoyable model for personal and professional use. Other products of Sonics competitors do not have voice recognition feature, hence we will concentrate on this unique feature of Sonic 1000, which is one of major elements to differentiate Sonic from its rivals. Besides, we are going to develop portability function that is very important to the target market, so that everyone can access information and communication anywhere, anytime. 5. Marketing Mix 5.1. Product a. Brand name and logo: Since brands are realized to be very important for business survival, companies have to create their own brands that are special and different from their competitors, protect unique features or aspects of goods to help consumers find out which firm provides best products or
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services, which brands satisfy their needs and which ones do not. Sonic is no exception. We established an own brand to make a difference between itself and its rivals. We have created really special brand name and logo to differentiate our brand from others because Sonic brand name and logo are usually displayed on its products and packaging. Sonic logo (Figure 1) is designed as the yellow thunderbolt.
Figure 1: Sonic Logo The brand name and logos specialty and prominence will consolidate Sonic brand in marketing campaign. On the other hand, they help to establish brand equity and help customers understand what the brand is and what makes the brand special compared to other brands with the same type of products. Through that, marketers can sum up and explain the intention of a marketing program. Brand name is the first factor that is noticed and helps to affirm the brand existence. Understanding this issue, we aim to build a strong brand by designing an impressive logo that covers full meanings of our PDA products. Sonic brand name is a memorable, meaningful, adaptable and protectable name. In English dictionary, the term Sonic means sound. Sonic brand name is the strategi c use of sound to develop real auditory features of the brand. Conventional applications relating to the sound such as features of voice recognition, music downloading and player, mobile phone functions and so on appear in Sonics first product, Sonic 1000. Sonic brand name itself is able to help
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consumers to associate products referring to sound. This is the success of Sonic founder when choosing the brand name. b. Brand promise When Sonic is established, it promises to provide consumers with best-quality products as well as fastest customer support service. People do not care what Sonic brand promise is, the new PDA can be manufactured with lowest price or creative design, good quality or perfect customer support service. People care about how Sonic implements that promise. Every aspect of marketing of Sonics new PDA has to deliver Sonic brand promise to consumers. c. Quality We use ingredient brands to tout Linux-based operating system to make our products more secure than others based on some other operating systems because ingredient brands try to create enough awareness and preference for products, so customers will not purchase a host product which does not involve the ingredient. In order to succeed, we will build a separate identity to differentiate from other competitors. There are several different operating systems for PDA buyers to choose such as Palm, Microsoft, Symbian, and Linux. After considering carefully, we decide to tout the Linuxbased operating system for its products due to some reasons. As a start-up company, Sonics profit is still not high yet. So the Linux-based system is a suitable choice because its installation cost is low. Besides, another important factor to make Sonic license this system is security factor. Compared to other systems, Linux is less vulnerable to attack by hacker and viruses. Linux-based system can help users avoid other security threats that lead to stolen and corrupted data. This system is also easy to use and install in the device. d. Scope of product line
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After building our Sonic brand by launching Sonic 1000, we plan to introduce Sonic All Media 2000, emphasizing multimedia communication, networking and entertainment functions, especially voice recognition feature that makes Sonic 1000 succeed. We hope to reduce Sonic 1000 price when Sonic 2000 is completed and sold to consumers. When Sonic provides the second product, we will plan to retain the Sonic name due to advantage of brand extension. Currently Sonic brand reinforcement is necessary and urgent in order for people not only in United State but also in the world to be able to know about this brand. The first product names Sonic 1000. The second product that Sonic plan to launch following the appearance of Sonic 1000 is Sonic 2000 with more superior features to attract consumers in competitive markets. The objective of keeping Sonic name for its second product is to expand the brand inside and outside of the country. Based on brand extension, we can facilitate new product acceptance. Customers can be convinced easily to use Sonic new product relied on information that they have already known about the brand when the first one is introduced and the evaluation of relevant information to the second one. It is also easier to encourage retailers to promote and develop Sonic brand extension because of increasing consumer demand. Besides, retaining the Sonic name for its second product can help to deduct costs of introductory launch campaign in the U.S marketplace. Moreover, since the brand reinforcement by maintaining Sonic name, Sonic can clear the meaning of its brand and major brand values, and enhance customer loyalty e. Warranty Because Sonic 1000 is the first model of the company, we expect to attract consumers by selling this product along with one-year warranty. As our brand promise, we always supply best customer support service to solve their dissatisfactions. Within one year since customers buy Sonic 1000, if this product has any problem, we will come and fix it immediately. When
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the warranty is expired, customers have to pay fee charge for repairing but this fee will not be high. We usually want to build consumer loyalty. f. Packaging and labeling Sonic brand and logo will be displayed on the product and its packaging. The packaging will prevent the product from damage in transit and incorporate security functions, hence the boxes can be displayed in store shelves and store showcases. Well-designed packages may improve brand equity and drive sales. Therefore we will design the packaging to implement lots of sales tasks such as attracting attention, describing our products features, creating customers confidence and creating a favorable overall impression (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Sonic packaging The use of labeling is to reinforce Sonic brand image by listing important and special product specifications to indicate how advanced technology of PDA products can deliver to consumers on the brand promise. This helps channel partners compare between Sonic products and competing models so that they can persuade customers to buy the products. This also helps consumers make the best choice of purchasing in the case Sonic sells directly to industrial customers. The labeling promote the product by using attractive graphics and provide enough information to describe the product. Using packaging and labeling to support Sonic brand image includes an enlarged photo or illustration of PDA highlighting main competitively-superior functions and its benefits.
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5.2. Pricing a. Pricing objective:
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The first step in conducting the marketing plan for our first product is the selection of pricing objective. Our primary pricing objective we would like to obtain is to maximize market share. PalmOnes products are holding the greatest part of PDA market share in a maturing market. Therefore we want to manufacture a product with specific features that none of companies has at lowest price to gain market share from PalmOne. We believe that if we launch a higher sales volume, it will lead to lower unit costs and higher long-term profit. PDA market is price sensitive, so we will set our products price as low as possible with good quality to build our brand and maintain consumer trust in a competitive market. To adapt the market-penetration pricing strategy, we set a low price to stimulate market growth and reduce production cost. We also cut intermediate to decrease distribution cost. If we fail to reach a high market share, we will not be able to effectively compete with other rivals who penetrated into the PDA market long time ago and lower unit costs via higher volume. Many people suppose that an appropriate pricing objective is survival. However Sonic has not been in trouble with survival yet. Sonic also does not need to maximize current profit at this time. We accept to get losses to maximum market share to build Sonics strong brand but we try to keep losses to less than $10 million. b. List price: We will launch Sonic 1000 at $250 wholesale and $350 estimated retail price per unit. We hope to lower Sonic 1000 price when we manufacture new product, Sonic 2000, with more superior and distinctive features and plan to sell it at $350 wholesale. Simultaneously, we are going to write exciting software that can be installed into our products to attract more customers and desirable channel partners and take market share from PalmOne. c. Price adaptations:
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To convince consumer to try our products, will include price adaptations in the marketing plan to reinforce our brand and attract more consumers. Price adaptations can be cash discounts for resellers who have purchased PDAs in order to encourage early or on-time payment of invoices. Besides we can consider providing our distributors with allowances to encourage them to stock new PDA products. On the other hand, we can use promotional pricing on a limited basis to stimulate early purchases. Promotional pricing strategy is often a zero-sum game. To complete sale promotion strategy, we plan to sell our products and add a free or lowcost warranty or service contract. In first step to implement this strategy, we will provide free one-year warranty for ones who buy our PDA products. We also offer cash rebates to encourage purchase of manufacturers products during a specific period. This offering can help to clear inventories without cutting the stated list price. d. Price sensitivity PDA consumers are likely to be fairly price sensitive because there are many well-known brands providing a lot of PDA products that have already existed before Sonic penetrated into PDA market. Along with price sensitivity, consumers demand is relatively elastic. There are more buyers who are willing to purchase a product if its price is substantially lower. Therefore, Sonic has to set a price at low end of its acceptable range to perform its market penetration plan. Setting our introductory price will be supported by other parts of marketing mix such as mentioning the price or touting the value in advertisement and choosing distributors to be suitable with its pricing. Demand will be elastic to a change in price; it forces sellers to lower the price to have more competitive advantages. PDA purchasers can choose between models from different brands relied on different operating systems such as systems of Palm, Microsoft, Symbian and Linux at different prices that are suitable with their income.
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5.3. Distribution a. Channel levels:
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Because Sonic brand is new, it will not be successful in selling directly to final consumers at zero-level channel. In consumer marketing channels, Sonic will use a few intermediaries to promote its product. This marketing plan uses a one-level channel and a two-level channel to generate awareness and demand for its products. The one-level channel consists of one selling intermediary only such as retailer to distribute Sonic product to consumers. In two-level channel, a wholesaler and a retailer are two intermediaries used as distribution channels. Here we will sell our products to the wholesaler and then the wholesaler will distribute it to the retailer; finally the retailer will sell it to targeted consumers. Apart from consumer marketing channels, Sonic also penetrates into industrial marketing channels using business-to-business (B2B) marketing to expand its brand. In such channels, we use a zero-level channel and one-level channel to promote our products. We can sell to industrial consumers directly based on its sale force or can distribute its product to industrial consumers through industrial distributors. b. Channel members: To be successful, we to decide on the number of distributions to use at each channel level. According to current market situation, we plan for selective distribution, because as a new firm entering an established product category - we can not sign up all distributors as expected. We are looking for suitable distributors who are willing to carry a particular product. It is not necessary to worry about too many outlets to promote the products. Selective distribution involves Sonic a limited number of outlets in PDA market to sell its products. We may choose the most appropriate or best-performing distributors and focus its effort on them.
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Selective distribution is commonly used with products in which customers are willing to shop around and manufacturers would like to have a large geographical spread. Sonic PDAs are such kind of products. When we decides to adopt selective strategy, we will choose a distributor who has experience of handling similar products credible and is well-known by targeted consumers. At the beginning period of market-penetration strategy, we target to motivate retail support such as retailer promotional support. Besides, customer service also plays an important role for brand awareness expansion. Our distribution channel is to use selective distribution, marketing Sonic PDAs through well-known stores and online retailers. During the first year, we will increase the number of channel partners until we cover almost major U.S markets and the product is introduced in the major electronics catalogs and large Web sites. In addition, we will investigate distribution through cell-phone outlets maintained by major carriers such as Verizon Wireless, T-mobile or AT&T. We will provide demonstration products, detailed specification handouts and full-color photos and displays featuring the products to support channel partners. We plan to arrange special payment terms for retailers that place volume orders. Besides, we need a direct sales force to sell our products. Sonic 1000 PDA is our first product so we need to have a direct sales force which is well-trained about the technology and the way of using the product. In addition, we can also sell our products through agents and other outside representatives. Our direct sales force can guide the retailers to familiarize with Sonic PDAs unique features and benefits so that they can understand and guides the PDAs use to customers fast and easily. Through the agents and other outside representatives, we can quickly reinforce our brand awareness and create our positions in the target markets so that there are more consumers knowing about our PDA and trying to use it and buying it. c. Market coverage
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Sonic is a newly-formed company. So its brand is still unaware. Sonic has not created brand loyalty yet. Applying push strategy makes use of Sonic sales force and trade promotion activities to create customer demand for its new product. Because of broadly unawareness of its brand, consumers often make their brand choices in response to displays in the stores in which they come to buy a PDA product. We concentrate on pushing its product via distribution channels. We promote our product to wholesalers, the wholesalers promote it to retailers and the retailers promote it to customers. In this strategy, the retailers or resellers can be required to display, demonstrate and offer discounts to sell the product. For new product, we try to sell directly to consumers and decrease unnecessary distribution channels to reduce cost. d. Criteria for evaluating distributors Because Sonic brand is still new in PDA market, our essential distributors are wholesalers. They play an important role in our distribution strategy. They pay less attention to promotion, atmosphere, and location because they are dealing with business customers rather than final consumers. Wholesale transactions are usually larger than retail transactions, and wholesalers usually cover a larger trade area than retailers. In addition, wholesalers are more efficient in performing some functions. Firstly, wholesalers sales forces help manufacturers reach small business customers at a relatively low cost. They have more contacts, and buyers often trust them more than they trust a distant manufacturer. Secondly, wholesalers are able to select items and build the assortments of their customers need, save them considerable work. Thirdly, wholesalers hold inventories, thereby reduce inventory costs and risks for suppliers and customers. Fourthly, wholesalers can provide buyers with quicker delivery because they are closer to the buyers. Fifthly, wholesalers supply information to the suppliers and customers regarding competitors activities, new products, pricing developments and so on. Finally, wholesalers often help retailers improve their operations by training sales clerks,
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helping with store layouts and displays, and setting up accounting and inventory-control systems. They may help industrial customers by offering technical services. Therefore, their actions will directly affect customer awareness of Sonic PDAs. e. Market-logistics: Order processing: We try to shorten the order-to-payment cycle-that is, the elapsed time between an orders receipt, delivery, and payment. This cycle has many steps, including order transmission by the salesperson, order entry and customer credit check, inventory and production scheduling, order and invoice shipment, and receipt of payment. The longer this cycle takes, the lower customers satisfaction is and the lower the companys profits are. Therefore, Sonic must consider to operate information system that checks the customers credit standing upon receipt of an order and determines whether and where the items are in stock. The computers issues of an order to ship, bills to customer, updates the inventory records, sends a production order for new stock, and relays the message back to the representative that the customers order is on its ways-all in less than 15 seconds. Warehousing: We consider the number of inventory stocking location so that we can store totally finished goods until they are sold. In addition, we centralize our inventory in one place and use fast transportation to fill orders because goods can be delivered to customers more quickly but it also means higher warehousing and inventory costs. Inventory: Sonics managers will consider the inventory cost so that the sales and profits can offset with inventory costs. If the company carries larger inventories and promising faster order fulfillment times, the managers will need to know how much sales and profits are going to increase as the result of it, and then make a decision.
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Transportation: Sonics managers choose shippers depending on some criteria as speed, frequency, dependability, capability, availability, traceability, and cost in order to ensure the products state and on-time delivery performance. 5.4. Promotion Free gifts, discounted prices, coupons offering: In Sonic 1000 introductory campaign,
we provide customers with sales promotion to obtain market attention and encourage purchasing powers by offering free gifts such as leather carry-cases for people who are the first ones to buy this product in a limited period. We will also offer discount for our software which customers want to buy along with Sonic 1000. We need to step up sales promotion to reinforce our brand. Apart from the form of offering free gifts, we will give coupons so that customers can purchase other products of Sonic. Besides, we will provide free delivery service if customers buy our products online. Advertising: We attain its goal to create brand awareness and knowledge of its new
products. Moreover, we also aim to create liking, preference, conviction, and purchase of its products. Then we can stimulate customers to repeat purchase of products as well as to convince current purchasers that they made the right choice of using its products. Consumer and trade sales promotion: We are continuing consumer and trade sales
promotion after the new product has appeared in the market for six months. The reason is that after the new product has been in the market for six months, it will be in the growth period of the product cycle life. In this period, sale promotion is especially important to increase the sales of the products because sale promotion offers an incentive for customers to buy products. In fact, consumer promotion includes samples, coupons, cash refund offers, prices off, premiums, prizes, patronage rewards, free trials, warranties, tie-in promotions, crosspromotions, point-of-purchase displays, and demonstrations and trade promotions consists of
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prices off, advertising and display allowances, and free goods. They will stimulate to try to use the products and buy the products. We organize a sponsor event that would be appropriate for the new product campaign. For this event, sponsorship offers sustained exposure to Sonics brand, a necessary condition to build brand recognition and enhance brand recall. For example, sponsorship can invest in the stores which sell Sonic 1000 to attract customers to see and try Sonic products and form the awareness of Sonic brand. Sponsorship also can exposure Sonic products in Technology product exhibitions. Websites: We design our own website that embodies or expresses Sonic purpose,
history, product, and vision. The website will be designed in an attractive way so it can attract customers from the first viewing and encourage customers to repeat visits afterwards. Internet-specific ads and videos: With user-generated content sites such as YouTube,
MySpace Video, and Google Video, Sonic marketers can upload ads and videos to be shared virally by millions of people. These ads and videos may be introduction of new product, guidelines to use the products, information about sales promotions and so on. Display ads: Sonic can pay to place display ads or banner ads which are small,
rectangular boxes containing text and perhaps pictures in relevant Web sites so that when customers travel the Web to find information related to PDAs, they can have opportunities to reach and see Sonic products. The larger the audience, the more the placement costs. Word-of-mouth: takes may forms online or offline. Word-of-mouth marketing has 3
characteristics as below: Credible: people trust others they know and respect, word-of-mouth can be highly influential. Personal: word-of-mouth can be a very intimate dialogue that reflects personal facts, opinions, and experiences.
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-
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Timely: it occurs when people want it and when they are most interested, and it often follows noteworthy or meaningful events or experiences.
Therefore, we will use word-of-mouth to generate brand awareness and encourage potential buyers to visit retailers to see the new PDA in person. In fact, Sonic can use opinion leaders as the way to stimulate positive word-of-mouth communication in the targeted consumers and business market segments. 6. Marketing research PDA market is entering maturity stage of its evolution. Multifunctional cell phones, email devices and wireless communication devices are increasingly popular. So there are more and more competitors who are increasingly intense even as technology evolves, industry consolidation continues and pricing pressures squeeze profitability. Heavy competition leads to market fragmentation and, with the emergence of new attributes, market consolidation. We try to reveal and focus on the most highly valued features and benefits of our product to improve our brand image and create customer loyalty. We continue to measure and analysis customers attitudes and performance toward the Sonic brand in comparison with other competing brands. Simultaneously, we use customer satisfaction studies to gauge market reaction. V. FINANCIALS The first years total sales revenue for the Sonic 1000 is projected at $60 million, with an average wholesale price of $250 per unit and the variable cost per unit of $150 on unit sales volume of 240,000. On a quarterly basis, we project sales of $8 million, $12 million, $11 million, and $29 million, based on cumulatively higher business sales and a spike in year-end consumer PDA sales. Heavy investments in product development, promotion, and channel support are expected to contribute to a first-year loss of up to $10 million on the initial PDA model. However,
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longer term projections call for achieving 10% profit on the second-year sales of the original PDA model, a realistic profit level given the lower margins in the PDA market. Break-even calculation indicates that Sonic will begin to profit from the sale of the initial PDA product once sales volume exceeds 267,500 early in the products second year. At that time, we plan to lower the wholesale price of the first model in line with standard industry practice to lower the retail price and increase sales volume. Our break-even analysis of Sonics first PDA product assumes: Wholesale revenue of $250 per unit Variable cost of $150 per unit Estimated first-year fixed cost of $26,750,000 (including investments in product development and design, manufacturing setup and overhead, marketing, and other fixed costs) Based on these assumptions, the break-even point is:
26,750,000 267,500 units 250 150

Projections call for selling 240,000 units in the introductory year; therefore, we will reach the break-even point early in the second year of sales, just when we will be lowering the wholesale price as we launch the higher-end second product in our line. VI. CONTROLS
We are establishing controls to cover the implementation and the organization of our marketing activities. 1. Implementation We are planning tight control measurement to monitor quality of the product and customer service satisfaction with our products and services carefully and closely. This will enable us to respond and react very quickly in correcting any issues that may happen. We also have
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measurement to monitor other early warning signals that derive from the plan including monthly sales (by segment and channel) and monthly expenses. In order to monitor and control marketing activities, Sonic can use four types of needed marketing controls. They are annual-plan control, profitability control, efficiency control, and strategic control. Exhibit 2 below describes clearly types of its control, its responsibilities, its purposes and its approaches. Exhibit 2: Types of Marketing control STT Type of Control Prime Responsibility To 1 Annual-plan Top management control Middle management whether Purpose of Control examine the Approaches Sales analysis Market share analysis Sales-to-expense ratios Financial analysis Market-based scorecard analysis Profitability by: Product To examine where 2 Profitability control Marketing controller the company is Territory Customer Segment Trade channel 3Order size To Line and staff evaluate and Efficiency of: the Sales force Advertising Sales promotion Distribution examine the is Marketing effectiveness instrument Marketing audit rating
planned results are being achieved
making and losing money
improve
Efficiency control
management Marketing control
spending efficiency and impact of
marketing expenditures
Strategic control
Top manager Marketing auditor
To whether company
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pursuing its best opportunities with respect to markets, products, channels and Company
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Marketing excellence review ethical and social
responsibility review
In fact, we use three marketing metrics to determine marketing effectiveness and efficiency, including financial results, external factors and internal factors: Financial results (Exhibit 3): Results (in $million) Total sale Total cost Manufacturing Sales & Marketing R&D Administration Net profit Profit per total sale (%) Total properties Properties (% total sale) Profit per properties Standard year First year Second year Third year
Sonic will determine marketing effectiveness and efficiency through the figures in the financial report. The profit is the key index to measure the marketing results. The marketing results are better, the profit is higher. External factors The following elements (Exhibit 4) are the outside factors coming from its customers and partners.
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Awareness Market share (Volume or value) Relative price The level of popularity of Sonic brand in the customers mind The percentage of market share of Sonic in the PDA market
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The price of Sonics product in comparison with that of competitors products such as Palm, HP, Apple The level of dissatisfaction of targeted customers on Sonic PDAs. Lower is better The level of satisfaction of targeted customers on Sonic PDAs. Higher is better
Number of complaints
Consumer satisfaction
Distribution/ availability The coverage of Sonics product on the market. Larger is better Total number of customers Perceived quality/ esteem Loyalty/ retention Higher is better Higher is better Better marketing results, higher number of customers
Internal factors (Exhibit 5): Awareness of goals (Goals of market share, From the employers of the company. Clearer is better revenue, profit) Commitment to goals Active support Resource adequacy Staffing/ skill level (Negotiation, communication, analyzing skills) Desire to learn Willingness to change Freedom to fail Higher is better Ability to react with the changes of the market. Higher is better Encourage staffs to carry out new methods, new thoughts. But the level must be reasonable. Not too strict and free.
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Try to achieve the goals of all staffs. Stronger is better Higher is better Personnel, finance, technology, manufacturing
innovation
sales,
More skilful is better

Autonomy
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Ability to make decision in each class in the company. The level of the autonomy should be considered to raise the sense of initiative of each employer.
Relative satisfaction
employee
An important basic factor to all above factor. Higher is better.
These are the inside factors coming from its managers and staffs who are internal customers. If these factors are good, the marketing effectiveness and efficiency will be better because these factors are the deciding elements. 2. Marketing organization As chief marketing officer, Jane Melody takes overall responsibility for all marketing activities of the company. She is in charge of marketing strategy and direction. She also directs channel sales and all marketing communication and promotion activities. Reporting to Jan Melody in the marketing organization are: Tony Calella, sale manager, responsible for channel sales, sales training for retail partner, and sales collateral. Reporting to Tony Calella are two regional sales, Tiffany Thite and Viktor Chenkov. Amelia Howard, advertising manager, responsible for supervising both message development and media selection by the advertising agency. Reporting to Amelia Howard is Carlos Dunn, advertising analyst. Ron Hall, promotion manager, responsible for trade and consumer sales promotion campaigns. Reporting to Ron Hall is Kate Mc Connell, promotion analyst. The structure of the eight-person marketing organization is described clearly through Exhibit 6 below.
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Exhibit 6: Sonics Marketing Organization We have employed Worldwide Marketing to handle national sale campaigns, and public efforts. In addition, the agency will prepare trade and consumer sales promotions to support its product introduction campaign. VII. SHORT AND LONG-TERM PROJECTIONS Sonic has prepared a contingency plan to implement in case the PDA market begins to experience severe downward pricing pressure which may be caused when a major competitor initiates a price war or develops a lower cost technology. It also may be the result of appearance of cell phone combinations which become more popular than PDA products. Our contingency plan requires introducing a significant but short-term price promotion such as a rebate or a discount to remain competitiveness while exploring the price sensitivity of different targeted segments. Based on the results of this short-term promotion, we will be able
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to take long-term steps to reinforce our brand, defend our market share in PDA markets, and retain the acceptable level of profitability. In general, many companies prefer to sell to neighboring countries because they understand these countries better and have ability to control their cost more effectively. In fact, Canada and Mexico are the two largest U.S export markets. In the next year, we plan to export our products to Canada. As a start-up company, Sonic can use indirect or direct exporting to enter the Canadian market next year and other markets in future. Indirect exporting is the case when Sonic works through independent intermediaries to introduce its products to Canadian and other markets. We can sell our products to domesticbased export merchants and then these merchants sell the products abroad. It also can pay commissions for domestic-based export agents who seek and negotiate foreign purchases Sonics products. Indirect exporting has two advantages: First advantage is less investment: The firm does not have to develop an export department, an overseas sales force, or a set of international contacts. Second advantage is less risk: Because international marketing intermediaries bring know-how and services to the relationship, the seller will make fewer mistakes. Direct exporting: Another way for us to launch our products in foreign market is to carry on direct exporting with greater investment and risk but potential return in several ways: Domestic-based export department or division: This might evolve from a purely service function into a self-contained export department operating as its own profit center. Overseas sales branch or subsidiary: The sales branch handles sales and distribution and perhaps warehousing and promotion as well. It often serves as a display and customer-service center. Traveling export sales representatives: Home-based sale representatives travel abroad to find business.
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Foreign-based distributors or argents: These distributors and agents can hold limited or exclusive rights to represent the company in that country. The choices mentioned above are appropriate ways that Sonic can use to approach the Canada and other foreign markets. We can not issue a license to a foreign company to use a manufacturing process, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other item of value for a fee or royalty because licensing has potential disadvantages. Sonic has less control over the licensee than it does over its own production and sales facilities. And if the licensee is very successful, the firm has given up profits, and if and when the contract ends, the company might find it has created a competitor. Sonic also can not choose to join with local investor to create a joint venture company in which they share ownership and control because in the long run, there will may have conflict between the company and partner about the strategy to operate the joint venture company. Moreover, Sonic cannot directly invest to own a foreign-based assembly or manufacturing facilities because the firm will have to exposure a large investment to risks such as blocked or devalued currencies, worsening markets or expropriation that in fact, with a start-up company like Sonic, is not feasible. We will start marketing our PDAs in other countries with straight extension strategy. With this product strategy, we will introduce our products in the foreign market without any change. This is an appropriate strategy for Sonic because Sonic is aware of a brand with unique PDA with voice recognition for hands-free operation which has not been owned in any PDA of other brands. Consumers in foreign countries will be more attracted by Sonic products which have the same origin and same features and functions as products sold in the U.S Therefore, the sales revenues will reach the potential point as expected. In several years later, when Sonic PDAs are assembled in Mexico through a contractual arrangement with a local factory but some of components are made in Asia, the country-oforigin perceptions will be likely to affect Sonic marketing strategy. The main reason is that
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buyers hold distinct attitudes and beliefs about brands or products from different countries. These country-of-origin perceptions can effect consumer decision making. In this case, when the consumers knows that some components are made in Asia, for example, in China, although the remaining components are made in Mexico, they still think that the Sonic products are cheap, and they will satisfy with lower selling price. In this case, we has to conduct a marketing strategy to confirm that all components of our PDAs have the same quality although they can be made in different parts of the world, and the company will have the same warranty for products sold all over the world. Sonic company can be organized in a customer-management organization in which employees, marketers and managers have to understand and deal with individual customers rather than with the mass market or event market segments. All departments need to think customers and work together to satisfy customer needs and expectations. Sonic can drive customer-focused marketing and strategic innovation throughout the organizations by coordinating the companys internal marketing activities and by coordinating marketing with finance, operations, and other company functions to serve the customers best. In the short run, Sonic will drive a marketing strategy with high level social responsibility. It will try to satisfy customer expectations about its PDAs, take care of customers, satisfy and benefit its employees and stakeholders, comply with the government legislations and compete fairly with other companies in the market. In the long run, Sonic will drive a marketing strategy with higher level of corporate social responsibility which is shown in rising customer expectations, evolving employee goals and ambitions, tighter government legislation and pressure, developing investor interest in social criteria, relentless media scrutiny, and changing business procurement practices.
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VIII. CONCLUSION
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This Sonic marketing plan is conducted to introduce our first product naming Sonic 1000. Through analysis of targeted market segmentations as well as evaluation of competitors in competitive environment, we can prepare a comprehensive marketing plan to perform when the PDA market begins to experience severe downward pricing pressure. Our plan calls for introducing a significant but short-term price promotion such as a rebate to remain competitive while gauging the price sensitivity of different targeted segments. Based on the results of this short-term promotion, we can take longerterm steps to defend market share while retaining a minimally acceptable level of profitability. We aim to build our brand through performance, more than through promotion. Sonic marketing plan offers a broad overview of the entire firms mission, objective, strategy and resource allocation as the starting point. It helps our managers learn more about our consumers requirements, expectations, perceptions, satisfaction and loyalty. We build specific strategies to have on-time solution for the purpose of sales and market share increase. The key success of an organization bases on the marketing plan of the business. Therefore, we take into concentration of the analysis, suggestions and recommendations above in order to prepare and design a perfect and accurate marketing plan for our first creation. Additionally, we also make some calculations to create strategies for short and long-term projects in the future. Our objective is to achieve marketing excellence in the future that will require new challenges and opportunities. -The End-
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Sonic Marketing Plan - Nguyen Thi Hong Diep, Truong Minh Hoang, Vu Quynh Nga

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MBA PROGRAM

SONIC PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT

SONIC PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT

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