Sonic Company is prepared to commence the Sonic 1000 PDA invention by way of special characteristics at a value-added cost for customer and company market place with the intention to participate by way of the existing PDA marketplace. In this systematic and technical economy, PDA’s is turning into one of the significant necessitating apparatus for the educated citizens. Target market for the Sonic is mainly the educated people consisting of professionals, students, business clients, entrepreneurs and medical clients. The Sonic PDA addresses various specific needs for each target market. It will help to synchronize the person’s busy jobs and also it will help to perform the multifunction job with no support of numerous gadgets for the students. The specific needs of the individual may change according to the individual’s job, income and so on. This will also help to attain specific needs such as, easily store and interchange various data’s.
Environmental scanning is the acquirement and makes use of various information on the subject of events, styles, and associations in a firms’ external surroundings, the awareness of which would help the organization in planning the business’s future guiding principle. Various demographic trends that influenced PDA markets are changes in the death and growth rate of the people. Various economic trends might influence the future of the PDA market that include rate of interest, tax variations, financial growths, inflation and exchange value alterations etc. Technological changes can potentially affect PDA development, buyer acceptance of PDAs and the development of substitute products. The technological factor comprises of the innovation, new product enlargement and discarding of the obsolete ones in the market. The tools consist of the use of a variety of information technology devices in the various processes in the industry.
Customer market of the Sonic PDA consists of social, personal and psychological factors. “Cultural plays important part in consumer’s buying behavior toward PDA. Cultural can be referred as values perception, wants and behaviors learned by a member who belongs to that group of people. This group is more diversified and large such as institution where they work or study. Culture can also be adopted from family. The highlight here is the cultures vary in high amount from countries to countries” (Costumer behavior influences: Cultural factors, n.d, p.3). Social features influenced by the consumers buying PDAs are reference groups, family unit and the positions and statuses of the consumers. Personal features influenced by the persons comprise the age and phase in life cycle, profession and monetary atmosphere, behavior, personality, concept and way of life and values. Psychological features influenced by the persons comprise. “Motivation, perception, learning, and ‘believe and attitude’ are psychological factors that will stimulate and influence buying behavior of a consumer” (Costumer behavior influences, n.d, p.7).
Cultural, social, personal and psychological factors of the consumers may change according to the changes in market conditions so that it is very much necessary to consider all cultural, social, personal and psychological factors that most influence the consumers buying PDAs. Sonic’s marketing plan highlights Personal characteristic of consumer behavior. It is mainly because the main target market of the Sonic’s is educated people. Marketing activities of the Sonic consists of various steps. The stages are Problem identification, Information hunt, and assessment of choice, Purchase resolution and Post procure performance. Marketing study is significant at the same time as survey and focus group would be superior study instrument to assist the marketers to appreciate the result on purchaser approaches and behavior. Customers occupy numerous purchasing roles for example initiators, consumers, influencer, deciders, and purchasers. Sonic had designed dissimilar actions for every stage of the customer buying procedure which will assist to accomplishment the marketing arrangement and positioning of the merchandise properly.
Enlarged entry of recognized computer and cell phone organizations have forced business contestants to frequently add characteristics and cut cost of the products. Key contestant of the Sonic PDA are palm One, Dell’s, Samsung, Hewlett-Packard and Garmin’s. “Every marketing plan must include the company mission, analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and state the marketing and financial objectives for the plan period” (The marketing plan: An introduction: Sonic PDA marketing plan chapter assignments: Chapter 2 developing marketing strategies and plan, n.d, p.8).
There are various competitors in the market like Dell, Samsung, palmOne, HP, Garmin’s; among this the leader is PalmOne. They are targeting to stabilize the top spot. They are well fitted with the price and product quality, but the internal elements contribute to interfere with the targets. The branding strategy will be most effective for Sonic in the way to reach the top level.
Identifying the Market segment is very crucial in every marketing plan. There will be the customer market and the business market segments. Customers are the most important segments of the market. If there is something attractive for the customer related to the product quality and its price, then the customer market segment will increase. Price determination is an important variable. These segments include professionals, students, corporate clients, entrepreneurs and medical clients. The professionals are an important segment in the consumer market and they will be the most convenient clients. Students are always the representation of the latest trends and they will be well-matched with various functions in the consumer market. The corporate clients are the important segments in the business market. Their handling will change with their needs and the Sonic PDA is accomplished by the promotion of their complete requirements even when they are differentiated into separate divisions. They can evaluate the attractiveness of the identified segments with the numerous promotion study tools like assessment and focus groups which facilitates to recognize the consequence on consumer approaches. “All factors of cultural, social, personal, and psychological have influence on consumers buying PDAs. Some of the factors should be emphasized by Sonic to make use of it such as sub culture, social class, reference group, family, role and status, ‘age and lifecycle stage’, ‘occupation and economic’, ‘personality and self concept’, and motivation” (Costumer behavior influences, n.d, p.16).
By targeting more than one segment in the market, they can expand the growth of the company and the new products. If it is targeted to one segment, it will be difficult to compete with others. Product specialization will provide an opportunity to reach the targeted customers and can compete with others by revealing the benefits of the product.
When the target market segment is identified, then the next stage is positioning the product. It involves making the product reach its customers. “Using product differentiation, we are positioning the Sonic PDA as the most versatile, convenient, value-added model for personal and professional use. The marketing strategy will focus on the voice-recognition system as the main feature differentiating the Sonic 1000” (The marketing plan: An introduction, n.d, p.6).
An effective positioning of the model will differentiate the products. This will help in creating a competitive advantage over the other companies and their products. There will be a proper study about the competitors and the products. The various marketing strategies and the consumer buyer behavior will lead to the success of placing the model properly and thus the marketing.
Sonic has to come up with strong brand recognition. The branding will announce the quality of the product. Various elements of the brand are there for useful to distinguish Sonic from rival brands such as brand name, term, logo, signature, design. “For decades, brands have been paying close attention to how they look; creating visual identities which speak to their target market and help them stand out in a crowd” (Jones, 2010, para.1).
Sonic can sum up its brand promise for the new PDA by reaching the minds of the clients by the Sonic brand image and brand equity. This branding will boost the sales and marketing of various brands of Sonic. The ultramodern application of the packaging and labeling will attract the customers and they will always remember the good packing and labeling, thus increasing the brand image of Sonic PDA.
Reference List
Costumer behavior influences: Cultural factors. (n.d.). pp.3-16. Web.
Jones, R. H. (2010). Sonic Branding: The importance of sonic identity. Ezine Articles.
The marketing plan: An introduction: Sonic PDA marketing plan chapter assignments: Chapter 2 developing marketing strategies and plan. (n.d.). Sonic marketing plan exercises, p.8.