Small Business Management Strategy

Due to the low barrier to entry and the abundance of resources, the technology sector is extremely competitive. The company’s business plans will aid in its ability to compete with other businesses in the market and in its expansion to boost sales. Youths are using mobile devices more frequently, which is growing the market and demand for mobile application software. The users of the mobile app should be able to access many games on the same platform. The goal is for both the Android and Apple phone operating systems to have a large user base. Through the use of several techniques, the marketing plan aids in bringing the product to market and generating sales. The growth and development of global and online trade in the 21st century stimulate increase in the creation of mobile applications. There is an increase in the usage of smartphones in the world due to the reduction of product costs, and the average number of cell phone users is estimated to exceed 2 billion creating a market for apps.

Situational Analysis

There are approximately 2 billion users of smartphones in the world today. The advancement in technology enables the creation of various types and brands of phones that are sold in many parts of the world (Baek, Lee, & Kim, 2013). There is increasing demand for mobile apps mainly for gaming amongst the youths. The largest users of smartphones are the teenagers, and the primary uses are the connection to social media, gaming and for communication purposes. However, the smartphones can conduct tasks such as office work, navigation, and video recording. The smartphone user is the primary customers who purchase mobile apps.

Customer Analysis

The target customers for apps are the youths at the average age of 16 years to 48 years. The affordability and availability of phones in the market facilitate the rise of phone users. The smartphone customers acquire the devices for various needs thus the specifications vary. The phones that contain and are compatible with games usually attract many customers. The young people usually spend many hours on phones mainly connected to social media platforms or playing games either online or offline (Baek, Lee, & Kim, 2013). The client requires applications that are easy to apply and compatible with many smartphones. Further, the needs include ease of integration with other games and affordable prices.

Pricing and Positioning Strategy

The pricing strategy intends to attract more customers to use the app on their smartphones. The price should be competitive to make it affordable to buyers and to give an advantage over the competitors in the industry. The strategy of providing a free app with advertising mode switched on will be most suitable to allow a huge number of users and then make the advertising on the platform. The positioning will be in the gaming sector in the play store and should have several features integrated. Further, the app should be optimized to prioritize it on the Google search engine. Pricing and positioning strategies are made to ensure the application is appealing and attractive to buyers. Low-cost strategy and no cost attract more people to buy products thus the app should be sold through this strategy to enable highest downloads as possible. According to Ansoff’s model, the price of a product highly affect the sales thus it is important to apply strategic pricing techniques, especially in the technological product (Lynn, 2011).

Promotion Strategy

The product is available for sale in a highly competitive mobile apps market. The most suitable promotion will be online through the use of social media that are frequently used and have large users such as Facebook, Instagram, and tweeter. Also, the application of search engine optimization will help rank the product first in the google searches thereby attract people to view and download the app. The promotion will increase the product awareness and raise the downloads. The objective of promotion is ensuring the brand is known in the market and increase the usage (Lynn, 2011). Also, that helps maintain the usage and raise the sales.

Conversion Strategy

The conversion strategy aims at turning prospective buyers into users, and it also assists to attract more consumers (Lynn, 2011) . The application integrates several other apps. Therefore, it allows multiple services. The conversion to raise the users will be through discounting and offers to those who download the app. Further, there will be additional benefits such as unlimited access to the app services. The app should be appealing thus the highlights, reviews and rating should be compelling to make people download the app. Further, there should be beautiful images and brand logo that will be attractive thereby attracting more smartphone users.

Referral Strategy

The product sales depend on the market awareness and brand reputation (Lynn, 2011) . The plan to increase the usage and downloads will be referrals made and will play a crucial role mainly from the existing users. The app will have redirection link and rewards for those who achieve particular number or successful referral. Further, there will be a database that will help in referring other prospective users. Also, the company will use websites that redirect people to use the apps to gain access to games and other services.

Retention Strategies

The product usage is dependent on the values it adds to the users. Due to the competition, the product features change to help retain users. The app description will increase, and the features will be added to accommodate more games. The application will be made available on several platforms. Also, it will be accessible to many people, and some premium features will be only available for the existing users. The retention strategy aims at 95% accuracy retention of existing customers (Lynn, 2011).

Financial Objectives and Projection(Budget)

The marketing budget is necessary to guide in defining the plans, and the client’s reach the target. The budget should enable the product awareness increase and ensure the product features are appealing to users (Lynn, 2011). Also, the funds should be available to ensure smooth usage and addition of features to improve customer satisfaction. The marketing budget is $8,000 and the; expected reach is 1,000,000 users. The funds will be spent in social media marketing, search engine optimization and referral website charges.

Budget

Item

Cost $ (Usd)

Social media marketing

4000

Search engine optimization

1000

Referral websites

1500

Referral bonuses

1000

Miscellaneous

500

Total

8000

References

Baek, Y., Lee, J., & Kim, K. (2013). A Study on Smart Phone Use Condition of Infants and Toddlers. International Journal Of Smart Home, 7(6), 123-132. http://dx.doi.org/10.14257/ijsh.2013.7.6.12

Lynn, M. (2011). Segmenting and Targeting Your Market: Strategies and Limitations (Phd). Cornell University.