Marketing Plan for a New Software Application.

¶ … marketing plan for a new software application. The software works by gathering purchase information from consumers via their credit and debit card purchases, and then generating a list of anticipated future purchases. This will then be used by our company to sell targeted ads to these consumers. The software works in a manner that is actually quite similar to the way that websites like Amazon, Booking.com, Facebook and Trip Advisor track search queries and deliver an output of purchase "suggestions." The difference in this case is that instead of cookies online, the software tracks credit and debit card purchases, through agreements with banks and credit card companies. However, it shares with adware a similar function, with similar ethical dilemma and low level of desirability for the consumer (Spiegel, 2013).

Senior management is interested in the product, but wants to get a better sense of the market for it, and how it will be marketed, before proceeding. This is because the product has significant issues with respect to consumer privacy. To a point, consumers are willing to cede their privacy in order to acquire debit and credit cards, and would likely allow banks to sell their information. However, there could be considerable public backlash as the software represents a perceived intrusion that is greater than anything currently on the market, except those Amazon cookies. There are also legal issues that may arise, depending on how the data gathering works (Pearson, 2009).

The marketing plan will not have the objective of resolving the ethical issues surrounding the project. Nor will the marketing plan have the objective of making a case for the product. The marketing department is entirely neutral on the idea, so the marketing plan is strictly exploratory and intended to provide information to senior management to support their decision-making.

There are several different components to the marketing plan. One is the definition of the market. There are a number of potential markets for a product that can successfully increase product sales (Read & Arabee, 2011). There will be an analysis of whether this product is better suited for B2C business or B2B business for example. Once that decision has been made, there will be an analysis of the optimal distribution channel. This is a product that could be successful either online or off, so there is some important analysis to be made here.

From there, the target market will need to be identified. This is a critical component of the plan because almost all aspects of the marketing plan will derive from understanding the buyer. This includes distribution, price setting, and a full breakdown of who the target market is, what their buyer behavior is and who the competitors in this market are.

Methodology and Sources

When dealing with a hypothetical product, there are obviously not going to be academic sources that specifically address this product. Therefore, academic sources will be used mainly for discussion of theory. All elements of the marketing plan will be rooted in theory, from the target market identification to a discussion of the critical factors that will inform management's decision. For the most part, academic resources will be found on Google Scholar.

Because this is marketing and real world marketers do not read a lot of journals, there will also be good information in the business press that sheds light about the industry in question, who the buyers are and what their triggers are. There will also be information about the size of the target market in the business press, and in primary sources such as the annual reports of competitors.

After the initial research has been gathered, it will be compiled, the research findings used to inform the analysis that will be at the heart of the paper. The conclusions that are presented in the paper about the commercial viability of the product will be supported by the research that is undertaken. The research will also evaluate the legal environment with respect to the product to investigate if there are any specific privacy statutes that the product violates. This is important because an illegal product has no commercial viability (for a legal company, anyway).