Shaw's New Mission And Marketing Strategy

The new mission of the VOIP marketing plan and strategy for Shaw is designed with the purpose of circumventing the 'first mover' advantage of Skype in the emerging VOIP marketplace. Shaw must prevent Skype from cornering greater spheres of the communication global market space and encroaching upon consumer market demand back at Shaw's Canadian home. Shaw's marketing strategy will have a two-pronged attack. First, it will consolidate Shaw's existing brand advantages. Secondly, Shaw must broaden its current Canadian base in the communications market to include VOIP in its package of offerings to Canadian consumers and reach out to international consumers of communications innovations.

Firstly, Shaw must make use of its existing resources such as 'Shaw TV' to advertise its new offerings of VOIP technology. It must stress the credibility of its workers and the reliability of its services, as well as its longstanding commitment to care for the needs of all of its customers, and address a wide variety of communications needs, even though it is not free like (the newer and thus less reliable, it will be implied) alternative of Skype.

Secondly, Shaw needs to broaden its national base. Shaw is currently a Canadian-based communication company, while Skype serves eleven million users in the international sphere. It is in Shaw's interests to expand its outreach to other, preferably internationally-based communications companies, regarding VOIP technology, to ensure that it can make inroads into the VOIP market.

Thus, Shaw's deployment must be an increase in advertising and services to its existing Canadian consumers. The second leg of the marketing strategy will require legal and economic negotiations with other firms to establish joint agreements with Shaw in other nations and continents. This second aspect must be accomplished not only to limit Skype's expansion and potential to enter into new agreements, but also to circumvent other communication market second-moves from doing the same, such as Verizon.