Strategic Marketing Plan
Strategic Marketing Plan
Executive Summary
This particular marketing plan will entirely focus on the selected app named as Plastic Pollution Preventers. This app was developed to provide a direct focus on the issue of increasing amounts of singe use plastic wastes mainly in Queensland. It is expected that through its unique services, this app will definitely reduce plastic wastes in Queensland. However, as it would be a new app, in order to become successful, a strong marketing and communication plan is required. The sole purpose of this report is to recommend the same for Plastic Pollution Preventers.
1. Introduction
For this marketing plan, the app that is selected is Plastic Pollution Preventers that is P-Cubed’s free multi-platform app. This app was developed by three primary school students of Good News Lutheran School, Brisbane. The concept behind the development of this application was to reduce the usage of single-use plastic by the people; mainly by the young people of Queensland. P-Cubed which means P (Plastic), P Pollution) and P (Preventers) presented some horrifying statistics that motivated them to develop this application. They stated that near about 80% of total marine debris is floating around the oceans of the world are plastic (Kibria, 2017). They also stated that 95% of the thrown away plastics are killing land animals, sea animals and birds.
Along with these statistics, there are some other horrifying statistics that show how plastic is affecting the planet Earth in a critical manner. For example, according to (Jambeck et al., 2015) by the end of 2050, there would be more plastic in the oceans that fish. As per mentioned by Wilcox et al., (2015) by the end of 2050, every sea bird on the planet will have consumed at least some portion of plastic. On the other hand, Tibbetts, (2015) mentioned that all the oceans around the world now include 51 trillion microplastic particles that are 500 times more than all the stars present in the galaxy (Borrelle, 2017). Around the world, governments of different nations are implementing policies and launching events to increase awareness about the “Plastic Problem” among the consumers (LI et al., 2016). However, these activities are not enough to solve the problem as consumers needed something that can guide them through their habit of using single-use plastics (Monteiro et al., 2018). In this scenario, it is highly believed that this new app will help young Queenslanders to track how much single plastic they are using and to find out ways through which they can use a recyclable plastic.
2. Situational Analysis
2.1 Market Summary
As per mentioned by Queensland Government and Community, nearly one billion single-use lightweight plastic shopping bags are used in Queensland every year (Esiukova, 2017). Most of these plastic bags end up in the landfill; near about 16 million plastic shopping bags end up in the environment of Queensland every year. This amount of plastic is equivalent to the weight of 96 small cars van (Franeker & Law, 2015). This is the main reason that the government of Queensland has introduced a ban on the use of single-use plastics. Further, the government of Queensland is establishing a plan to find out and prioritize actions, partnership and timeframes to minimize pollution of plastic in the state (Vince & Hardesty, 2017). As per this proposed plan of Queensland Government, it would align with the current plans that are in motion along with other programs at the state and national level (qld.gov.au, 2019). Now, not only the government but also some major companies around Australia are taking steps to minimize environmental pollution done by excessive use of single-use plastics. Two major retail companies of Australia, Coles and Woolworths have stopped distribution of single-use plastic bags from July 2018 (qld.gov.au, 2019). As a result, consumption of single-use plastic bags for the retail-shopping purpose has dropped by 80% (qld.gov.au, 2019). In this condition, wherein the Australian market several steps are taken by the governments and major companies, the introduction of Plastic Pollution Preventer App will be highly welcomed by the people of Queensland (Yang, 2018).
2.2 Target Market
Initially, it is decided that this new app will target only the young consumers of Australia. In terms of industry, nothing is selected which means this app will not target consumers from a specific industry, however; this app will target consumers who use sing use plastics on a daily basis. On the other hand, in terms of buying behavior, this app will mostly target the young consumers of Australia who still do not buy or shop from online sites. As per mentioned by Xu et al, (2017) in Australia, the online purchase has increased by 51% in the past few years and it is the millennial consumers who are making the difference. It clearly shows that the young millennial consumers are mostly focusing on an online purchase where there is no chance of using single-use plastic bags. However, still, there are several young consumers around Australia who love to go to the shop for buying something and due to lack of awareness or knowledge these young consumers are using single-use plastic bags (Findlay & Garnaut, 2017). Therefore, this app will mainly target these consumers and will make them aware of the situation. Besides, this app will also guide them through how much single-use plastic they are carrying or using every day and how they can use alternatives to reduce it.
2.3 Market Demographics
In terms of demographics, this app will target mostly consumers aged 16-22 who are either not ware or half-aware about the critical condition of pollution that is taking place due to the use of single-use plastics.
In terms of geographic, the developers of Plastic Pollution Preventers decided that initially, they will focus on Queensland. However, plastic usage is high in urban areas as people in urban areas earn more and shops more. Therefore, it is recommended that the developers of the app must also mainly focus on urban areas for marketing this new app.
In terms of the behavioral factor, this app will target young consumers who are using single-use plastics mainly for the shopping purpose. It means, this app will target young consumers who still prefer to buy from physical stores more than buying from online stores.
2.4 Market Needs
It is already mentioned that the government of Queensland has planned collaboration with other organizations to reduce the use of single-use plastics by the people of Queensland. One major step has also been taken by the government which is to ban the use of such plastics. The next step of this plan is to ensure recycling of plastics so that it never gets dumped in places in a way that it can harm the environment. Besides, some major retail companies such as Coles and Woolworths has also come forward to support the government by not distributing single-use plastics to its consumers. In this condition, assistance was required or needed that could guide the consumers about this issue.
This new application has a total of four options that include tracker, facts and ideas. Tracker option will allow the consumers to track how much single-use plastic they are using currently. Facts option will aware the consumers about the issues related to the use of single-use plastics by providing the statistics on how much plastic the consumers are using and how these plastics are killing the animals and nature. It will motivate the consumers not to use single-use plastics anymore. Ideas option will provide several ideas to the consumers about they can avoid the use of single-use plastics and how they can use recyclable plastics in an effective manner. This app currently includes everything that is required or needed for the purpose of reducing the use of single-use plastics. In order to under the market trend in a proper manner, in this part of this marketing plan, a micro-environmental forces analysis will be conducted.
Political: Politically, the trend of avoiding single-use plastics in Australia is increasing in a rapid manner. Not only are the state governments around Australia but also business organizations communities are raising their voice against the use of single-use plastics. Some state governments have also banned single-use plastic in their states which shows that Australia is determined to get rid of its “Plastic Problem.” In this condition, it can be assumed that Plastic Pollution Preventer app will get a warm welcome by the people of Queensland the Queensland State Government.
Economic: As of 2017, Australia had a QGDP of A$1.69 trillion. Australia, in terms of economy, is considered as the country with the largest median wealth per adult. In terms of nominal GDP, Australia ranks 14th around the world while in terms of PPP-adjusted GDP, Australia ranks 20th around the world (Hellwig & McAllister, 2016). From this analysis, it can be stated that Australia is a country with a strong economy. However, the Plastic Pollution Preventer app will be free to download and use and therefore, the economy of Australia or the household income of the people of Queensland will not matter (Garnaut & Anderson, 2017). Now, in the future, it is possible that the app developers would require a donation from the users of the app to make it more efficient, intelligent and user-friendly. By seeing the strong economic growth of Australia it can be stated that acquiring donation will not be a problem for the app developers.
Societal: In terms of society, Australian communities are now slowly but steadily understanding the adverse impacts of single-use plastics. However, still, there are a lot of people in Australia and Queensland that are using single-use plastics due to lack of awareness of lack of ideas about how to use alternative products. In this condition, once gain Plastic Pollution Preventer will become highly effective as it will provide ideas about how alternatives can be used in the place of Plastic Pollution Preventers.
Technological: There is no doubt that Australia is a technologically advanced nation. It is anticipated that in Australia purchase of technology would increase 4% and will reach A$65billion by the end of 2019 (Wijesekere & Syed, 2017). In this condition, Plastic Pollution Preventers must remember that their app must be technologically advanced and user-friendly. Besides, the developers will also have to ensure that consumers can download this app for all available smartphone platforms such as Android and iOS.
Legal: In terms of the legal factor, the most important thing that the developers of Plastic Pollution Preventer will have to maintain is data privacy. It is obvious that people who would use this app will provide their personal data such as name, contact details, address and amount of single-use plastic they are using every day. Any of this data must not be leaked to any other organization. If data leak takes place then the app will be in serious legal trouble.
2.5 Competitor Analysis
Sustain Me: Sustain Me is considered as a very useful and exciting app that was developed by some university students and waste warriors such as Eleanor Meyer and Stephen Halpin from Melbourne. This app works as a localized search engine for the purpose of recycling anything a person can think about (recycleright.wa.gov.au, 2019). Sustain Me collects information for a series of databases and this database is constantly updated by the team of the application. This application is also useful to track what an individual has recycled and it also reminds the consumers about when they need to put the bins out in the streets (recycleright.wa.gov.au, 2019). Initially, this application used to gather data from local authorities. However, with time this Sustain Me team has added several new layers of intelligence that are not providing additional local recycling services. The service of Sustain Me is still very limited and low as this was launched only a few years ago; in March 2016.
Recycle Smart: This is another effective app that is delivering detailed recycling knowledge and information. Every information sources by this app are collected through over 500 Australian local authorities (recycle-smart.ca, 2019). This tool is actually an app version of RecyclingNearYou.com.au that is Australia’s top recycling directory. This app is delivered and maintained by Planet Ark which is a famous non-profit organization of Australia in terms of recycling and related activities.
Recycle Right: Recycle Right is a campaign that is sponsored by the Western Australian government. The purpose behind this campaign was to promote improved recycling methods in the workplaces and in homes (sustainme.com.au, 2019). This application is offering almost similar functionalities like the Sustain Me application, however; this app is only available in Western Australia and Perth. This application also includes some unique features that other similar applications do not have (sustainme.com.au, 2019). Such as, this application provided recipes for leftover food and ideas for participating in community and nationwide initiatives related to recycling. Another uniqueness of this app is it provides information on battery recycling points which is mandatory in Western Australia.
From the above information, it can be stated that in Australia already three applications are there that are providing consumers with information about recycling and related activities. However, in spite of the presence of these applications, Plastic Pollution Prevention app will have a huge competitive advantage over these applications. First of all, none the above mentioned three apps are available in Queensland which means Queensland is in a serious need of such an app. Secondly; all these applications mostly focus on recycling of anything and everything that consumer use while Plastic Pollution Prevention app will only focus on single-use plastics that are considered as the major threat in Queensland. Besides, unlike the above mentioned three apps, Plastic Pollution Prevention app will guide and motivate consumers to not use single-use plastics. Therefore, in terms of competition, it can be concluded that the Plastic Pollution Prevention app will not experience any competition in Queensland.
2.6 SWOT Analysis
Strengths: The biggest strength of this app is the absence of any similar app in Queensland. As a result, without facing any competition Plastic Pollution Preventers would be able to reach to its potential consumers.
Due to lack of competition, the developers of this app will have to invest heavily in marketing activities and therefore, they will be able to use this money for bringing improvements and updates to this app.
Unlike any other similar app, this app actually provide suggestions to the consumers about how they can use alternatives to avoid single-use plastics which is definitely a unique service,
Weakness: The major weakness of this app would be a lack of experience. It would be a new app with quite a different type of service that it would provide. Lack of experience in app development and monitoring can cause errors or bugs which will create user dissatisfaction and loss of brand reputation.
As it would be a “free to download” app, revenue generation would be tough for the management of the app.
Opportunity: The biggest opportunity for this app would be expanding its availability in other regions such as Perth, Melbourne and Western Australia. It is already mentioned that none of the other existing similar apps are providing services that Plastic Pollution Preventer app is providing. Therefore, if launched in other regions, this app will definitely gain more support and popularity.
Currently, this app provided only three services that are tracked, facts and ideas. In the future several other services can be added in this app such as recycling ideas, tracking how much recycling a user has done and participation in awareness campaigns.
Threats: The unique service of suggesting users about how they can use alternatives to avoid single-use plastics is very much replicable by other apps. If other apps replicate this service and add something more by using their experience and user data, then Plastic Pollution Preventer will face some major issues while acquiring new consumers/users.
Three existing apps that are mentioned earlier in this market plan can expand their availability in Queensland. Being a new app it would be tough for Plastic Pollution Preventer to compete with these experienced applications.
3. Marketing Strategy
3.1 Mission Statement
The primary mission of Plastic Pollution Preventer app is to reduce the 8million tons of plastic wastage that is polluting the oceans.
The secondary aim of this app is to provide facts related to how single-use plastics are polluting the environment in order to encourage users to use only recyclable plastics.
This app also has a mission of helping the users to find out alternative solutions of single-use plastics.
3.2 Marketing Objectives
Objective 1: To acquire continuous and strong growth in Queensland by providing superior information and suggestion to the users.
This objective can be measured by seeing whether the numbers of downloads are increasing or not and by identifying how frequently the people of Queensland is using this app to prevent themselves from using single-use plastics.
Objective 2: To collaborate with as many local types of a council as possible to gather information about plastic wastage.
It was mentioned that Recycle Smart has collaborated with over 500 Australian local authorities to gather useful and required information. In the first year of its operation, Plastic Pollution Preventer will develop collaboration with at least 100 local authorities of Queensland. Numbers of collaborations that Plastic Pollution Preventer will make in the first year will determine its success or failure.
Objective 3: After one year of operation of Queensland, expanding its available in other regions of Australia such as Western Australia, Perth and Melbourne.
3.3 Financial Objectives
Objective 1: To acquire sponsors and donations and to increase profit margins by only 1% at the end of the first quarter of 2019.
Objective 2: To accomplish a double-to-triple digit growth rate in the first three years.
Objective 3: To develop and maintain a strong research and development department to spur future developments of new services and to provide ample amount of financial backup to the research and development department.
People from the experienced background; experience enough to research and identify areas to improve this app must be recruited in the research and development department. This department must be funded from time to time so that their activities can remain continuous and uninterrupted.
3.4 Target Customers
It is already mentioned that the organization will target the young consumers of Queensland who are still buying from physical stores and are using single-use plastics for the shopping purpose.
3.5 Positioning
Plastic Pollution Preventer app will be positioned as a smartphone application for Android and iOS platforms that would ensure reduction of single-use plastic usage in Queensland.
4. Marketing Tactics
4.1 Product Actions
Plastic Pollution Preventer application is an application that the users can download from Play Store or Apple App Store. This app will be free for everyone and any update that this app will receive over time will also be free.
4.2 Pricing Actions
This app will not charge anything from the users at the time of download or update. However, users will be requested to donate anything for the developers to maintain this app and to conduct research activities to find out more information.
4.3 Distribution Actions
This app will be placed in Google Play Store and Apple App Store. From their people of Queensland will be able to download this app. At the time of download this app, the app will identify the location of the user. If the location is outside of Queensland then it will stop downloading as it would be available only for Queensland.
4.4 Communication Actions
Communicating with the consumers will play a major role in term of the success of this new application. Providing alternative ideas and facts through the app will not be enough for the developers to communicate with consumers. Therefore, a communication strategy must be implemented. In today's world, the most famous and effective way of communication is digital communication. From several forms of digital communication, Plastic Pollution Preventer can select the social media communication strategy through Facebook and Twitter. In such pages, the developers will have to create pages where they will put a description of the app and guidance about how the app can be used by the users (Tagg, 2015). On the other hand, the users will be allowed to provide comments on any issue that they are facing while using the app. If any issue is posted then the developers will immediately work on those issues and will ensure that those issues will be mitigated as soon as possible.
On the other hand, social media sites will be used to communicate with the users to find out what new services they need the developers to add in the app. Some feasible improvement related suggestions will be selected by the developers for implementing those suggested features in the future.
4.5 Marketing Research Actions
The developers of this app will implement two types of market researches. The first type of market research would be primary research and the second type of research would be secondary research.
The primary research method is used to collect real-time data that is linked with a purpose or topic. This type of research can be done by using methods such as surveys, direct observations, interviews and focus groups. This research method will allow having control over the types of questions that will be asked to gather required information. However, this process is a time-consuming process and responses of the participants can be biased. Besides, primary research is also a cost-effective method and therefore, new and small companies tend to avoid this research method in their initial stages.
The second research method would be secondary research method where data would be collected from existing information via available sources such as internet sources, published peer-reviewed journals, local authorities and governmental sites.
For Plastic Pollution Preventer, the best thing would be to follow secondary research for now. It is already mentioned that the developed of Plastic Pollution Preventer will develop collaboration with at least 100 local authorities of Queensland by the end of 2019. Therefore, secondary data can be collected from these local authorities.
5. Controls
All these strategies and methods that are recommended for Plastic Pollution Preventer must have a control and monitoring mechanism. Without such a mechanism, it would be difficult for the developers to ensure all these strategies are properly implemented. Besides, without mechanism, it would also not be possible to find out gaps that would exist within these strategies.
For controlling the research and development department that would be the most important department, a manager would be recruited who will directly report to the developers about a new research finding.
The revenue generation will be controlled on a monthly and yearly basis. Annual reports will be published to ensure revenue generation is meeting the organizational goals and objectives.
After six months of operations, the app will also have a customer service department that would handle customer complaints and comments posted in social media pages of the app.
The research and development department will also be responsible for future product or service development activities.
6. Conclusion
In the end, it can be concluded that in spite of implementing several plans by the federal government of Australia, state governments and some major retail companies of Australia, Australia still requires some additional support to reduce pollution from single-use plastics. The marketing plan has also highlighted that there some applications that are working to ensure Australians follow recycling process constantly. However, no application is there in Australia that solely focuses on pollution and issues caused by the use of single-use plastic. In this scenario, it is expected that Plastic Pollution Preventer will become famous and useful in Queensland that is also suffering from the problem of higher amounts of single-use plastic wastes. However, in order to become successful, just launching the app will not do any good for the app as it would require a strong marketing and communication plan. Therefore, this marketing report has recommended several useful marketing and communication plans for the developers of the app and it is expected that those recommended ideas can help the developers to acquire success in the future.
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