Virgin Mobile smartphone marketing strategy for real estate professionals

Marketing Plan

Virgin Mobile Marketing Plan

Target Markets

The intended target market for the Virgin Mobile SmartPhone are real estate professionals who work virtually, often responding to e-mails, cell phone calls and proposals while in client meetings or traveling between appointments. SmartPhones need to replace a laptop computers' communication and collaborative needs of this market segment.

Real estate professionals work from virtual offices that often are in their cars, homes, or in their hardcover notebooks they use in coffee shops that have WiFi enabled.

Unmet need for having e-mail, cell phone, contacts and safe force automation applications, in addition to support for Microsoft Office applications.

Managing the many forms of content and communication from e-mails, cell phone messages, received documents all need to be captured in a single customer record. SmartPhones now have this functionality.

Rationale

The high end of the SmartPhone market provides ample margin opportunities for Virgin Mobile to launch a new model into the mid-range of the market.

Palm Centro is defining the low-end of the market with a de-featured SmartPhone that leaves mobile professionals' needs unmet including realtors.

Lack of product and service offering specifically tailored to the unmet needs of the real estate professional is also a significant market opportunity Virgin Mobile can address with the proposed SmartPhone.

Today there is no pay-as-you-go SmartPhone in the market, and given the fact that many realtors are independent contractors, this is appealing it that there are no contract commitments with Virgin Mobile and no expensive contracts. The Virgin Mobile competitive advantage is the ability to simplify the service plans.