Being the Senior Vice President for Marketing, Enhanced Analytics, Inc. Austin, Texas, it is my honor to present the findings and recommendations of the company to the board of directors of the Watch Company (an imaginary name) to position its new product. It is proposed that the company should initially market its smart health watch in the capital city, Washington DC. The preferred segment might be people of forty years and above. A comprehensive positioning strategy is recommended in the report.
1. Ideal Market Segment
Enhanced Analytics, Inc does not recommend the company to offer its new health smartwatch in the whole of the country because it might not be financially viable. According to the American Marketing Association (AMA) through marketing, organizations enable themselves to offer valuable products and services to customers (American Marketing Association, 2017). In this regard, it is vital that Watch Company should first select the target market so that it can focus its efforts in the right direction to offer valuable services in the clearly defined segment. In this context, geographic and age segmentation might be of critical importance.
1. Geographic Segmentation
It is proposed that the entity should initially market its new watch in Washington DC. Its justification would be discussed in the next section of the report. According to the recent data, the total population of the city is 705,749 (Neighborhood Profiles in Public-Private Partnership, 2020). Moreover, many thousands of people come daily for work in the city from the nearest cities and towns. These figures might be very attractive for the management of the Watch Company.
2. Age Segmentation
The company should target an appropriate age group. The new watch might not be marketed in all age segments. A large number of people in Washington DC are above forty years of age (DC Health Matters, 2020). This segment is the most suitable to target given the features of the smart health watch and the peculiar needs of health monitoring of this age group.
2. Justifications for Ideal Market Segment
There are valid and logical justifications for the selection of Washington DC. The modern health industry is indeed dynamic; therefore, to remain on the top, Watch Company needs to carefully assess its target market and unique selling proposition (USP). The company has limited resources; moreover, the product is new which needs time and effort to establish its place in the market. Being the capital of the country, Washington, DC offers ample opportunities for Watch Company to start its positioning campaign. Although, the population size is not as great as other megacities of the USA still the headcount is enough as discussed in the previous section of this report. Moreover, daily commuters and workers from adjoining areas offer additional opportunities. The economic conditions of people offer another advantage to marketers of the entity. Another reason for the selection of the city is the higher educational level which might induce people to allocate more resources towards their health monitoring. The important localities of Washington DC include Capitol Hill, Logan Circle, DuPont Circle, Foggy Bottom, Adams Morgan, and U Street (Neighborhood Profiles, 2020). Capitol Hill is the most popular and most densely populated area of the targeted city. Another solid justification for one city is the predefined budget of the company to launch the product because it has meager resources. Additionally, the product is new so it might not be appropriate to launch it in many cities simultaneously. The company might learn valuable lessons from the initial marketing campaign. Therefore, it is also proposed that the entity start in efforts from Capitol Hill and spread the marketing campaign to other neighborhoods of the city.
Similarly, there are solid justifications for the selection of age group of forty and above. People of forty years and above might face a plethora of health risks. Usually, the higher the age the higher the risk. According to 2013 data from the American Heart Association, close to seventy percent of individuals between the ages of sixty and seventy-nine have some form of cardiovascular disease (CVD) (40 Health Risks That Skyrocket After 40, 2020). Since the smartwatch of the company has the capability of monitoring some data related to health so the management might target people of middle and senior age groups. There are tendencies that with age people begin to monitor their health data including, heartbeat, blood pressure, and blood sugar. The entity might use its advertising campaign to target people who are health conscious. According to the experts, such segmentations on basis of psychological traits are indeed important (Psychographic Market Segmentation, n.d.). It might use social media marketing which has gained immense popularity in recent years. Moreover, the smartwatch of the company is linked to the mobile phones of the customer, which enables the company to use social media in a more profound manner. More senior people might not use social media; however, a considerable portion of the recommended segment might use social media. According to the recent figures about forty percent of people in the city are of forty years or more (DC Health Matters, 2020).Therefore, the positioning might be successful in this segment.
It is clear that Washington, DC offers considerable opportunities to Watch Company to launch its new smart health watch. The age group of forty and above seems appropriate for targeted efforts given the increase in health risks with rising age. The proposed segments also offer the executives an opportunity to upgrade their marketing knowledge and strategies constantly, which might be indeed helpful in broadening the positioning campaign of the smartwatch in other parts of the country.
References
40 Health Risks That Skyrocket After 40. (2020, July 30). Best Life. https://bestlifeonline.com/health-risks-over-40/
American Marketing Association. (2017). What is marketing? -The definition of marketing. American Marketing Association. https://www.ama.org/the-definition-of-marketing-what-is-marketing/
DC Health Matters – Demographics – District of Columbia -Age. (2020). https://www.dchealthmatters.org/demographicdata?id=130951§ionId=942.
Neighborhood Profiles in Public-Private Partnership with. (2020). https://14x1z243z988315lc25fjqzl-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/2020-WDCEP-NP-final.pdf
Psychographic Market Segmentation. (n.d.). Directive Group. Retrieved April 24, 2021, from https://www.directivegroup.com/digital-marketing/market-segmentation/psychographic/
