Marketing Assesment 4 - Furbo - promotional mix PDF

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Furbo’s dog nanny system is an interactive dog monitor system primarily targeted towards dog lovers providing them the opportunity to look after their dog while being out the house. The market segment which this promotional mix should most appeal to is the ‘busy family’. This is a large segment of t...

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ASSESSMENT 4: INDIVIDUAL WRITTEN REPORT 2 (MARKETING STRATEGY AND RECOMMENDATIONS) - Matthew Clark Background Furbo’s dog nanny system is an interactive dog monitor system primarily targeted towards dog lovers providing them the opportunity to look after their dog while being out the house. The market segment which this promotional mix should most appeal to is the ‘busy family’. This is a large segment of the pet owner market (82%) with a solid income and deep care for their pets (Pets in Australia, 2021). Furbo dog Camera is a dog monitoring system, which tracks the customers dogs movements in real time using a HD camera, sending information and events to the pets owners. The product allows for two-way communication between the pet and the owner, also including a treat dispensary along with other features. The target segment needs products which support their dogs happiness and wellbeing, even if they are often too busy to provide the interaction themselves. Furbo can clearly target this segment of the market as there is a large number of families in Australia with dogs. With a customer driven marketing strategy the large segment can potentially be very profitable. The features of the product such as the app as well as the enjoyment factor can be marketed to children and teens as a fun, interactive way to connect with their loved dogs. Parents' needs can be filled by the quality of the product, advanced technology and the safety features it provides for not only the dog but the house as well. Integrated Marketing Communications - Promotion mix Companies such as Furbo need to carefully integrate their promotion of those many communication channels to deliver a clear, consistent and compelling message about the organization and its products. Furbo needs to communicate the fact that its market offering will provide benefits and provide significant value to consumers especially their target market. To achieve this an integrated marketing communication is needed. Furbo has to specifically direct their promotional mix strategy to dog lovers, primarily its key market segment; the ‘busy family’. The five 5 major promotion tools are; advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, public relations, direct and digital marketing. Of these 5 advertising, public relations and sales promotion should be used in order to communicate market value to Furbo’s target market

Advertisements Advertising is a vital promotional tool which Furbo should utilize. Advertisements are paid non-personal presentations or promotions in order to influence, inform or remind people of the product, service or idea (The Economic Times, 2020). Advertisements are useful for creating awareness by reaching a broad audience, reinforcing a long term image of a company's market offering. Companies have complete control and freedom in their advertisements, therefore the company can present itself in creative and expressive formats. Companies control the image and ideas they want to broadly push to their customers through advertisements Advertising however has some limitations including the nature of one way communication. There is no feedback or information gained from the target audience. In this way,

advertisements can have a lack of influence on the market. This lack of dialogue between company and consumer can create a disconnect and alienate the customer from the product or service, creating a feeling of distance in the customer. The consumer expectation for advertisements has also significantly increased. Modern advertisements must be informative, attention grabbing while also being entertaining. This leads to increasingly expensive advertisements being made by brands, with companies often hiring well experienced directors and using expensive effects to advertise their products. This leads to a risk being incurred as if an expensive advertisement fails to reach the intended audience or isn’t well received there could be very little or no return on investment. Furbo has to first set objectives as to what their advertising campaign is hoping to achieve. There are key reasons to advertise; Firstly to spread information about the product or service. Secondly to remind consumers of the brand and the market offering. Lastly a persuasive promotion in order to influence the consumer to purchase the product often over another company. The advertisement style Furbo should look to focus on is an informative approach. Furbo shouldn’t attempt to specifically persuade as that is generally in response to market competition, focusing advertisements on ‘switching’ and building a product preference. Furbo is already one of the largest companies for market share (GrandView Research, 2018) and therefore should focus on building this as the overall market continues to expand. Furthermore, reminder advertising focuses on products which have reached maturity stage focusing on maintaining customer relationships not specifically focusing on making customers purchase the product. The pet camera monitoring market size is expected to more than double by 2025 (GrandView Research, 2018). Furbo should therefore focus their advertisements on informing their target customers, conveying the leading innovation and cutting edge technology in their market. Offline sales for the Pet monitoring camera from retailers and supermarkets accounts for more than 85% of total revenue as of 2018 (GrandView Research, 2018). This can be attributed to the innovative nature of the product, where many consumers feel they need to be educated by an expert about the uses and benefits of having the product before making a purchase (Fortune Business Insights, 2021). However, due to the COVID pandemic online sales across all markets have significantly increased. To maintain company growth customers must be confident in their knowledge of the functionality of Furbo’s innovative Dog Nanny product. This is why informative advertisements educating potential customers, specifically its target market must be utilized in order to sustain continued growth. To meet its advertisement objectives Furbo should continue to advertise its product through social media, specifically Facebook. Facebook is shown to have an older age demographic than other social media’s such as Snapchat. In Australia people aged 25 to 34 were the largest users of the platform (NapoleonCat, 2020) with snapchats key demographics being 13-29 year olds (Smart Insights, 2020). Facebook users also generally have a high income with 74% of all high income earners using Facebook (FIBER,2021). The demographic of high-income adults who have started a young family is the perfect user base for Furbo to advertise to. Furbo has already started using Facebook stories as a method of advertising distribution. The campaign has proven to be successful however Furbo’s internet traffic statistics show that 72% of all user traffic to its website comes specifically from searching while only 4% comes from social media (similarweb, 2021). Furbo should be investing more into social media advertisements as they can be very effective. These advertisements are often low cost and can be tailored specifically to reach a person with interests in similar products to Furbo.

This can also be done through other social media such as Youtube. Furbo can choose to put their advertisements on videos which relate to dogs and dog lovers. This can allow them to specifically target their target market freely and in a cost effective manner. Public relations Public relations is an important part of integrated marketing communications which should be utilized by Furbo. Public relations refers to building good relations with the nurmours public's that the company has by achieving favorable publicity leading to a positive brand image. Public relations can also be used for handling or presenting unfavorable rumors, stories or events in the best possible way. It is quite different from advertising as it is a form of two way communication between the public's opinion and the company's actions. This relates to having responsibilities, making sure the company is making ethical actions in its business practices and making sure the product is effective and works. The nature of modern widespread media communication has led to a customer base who are well informed of the business. ‘Companies with a clearly defined sense of purpose and corporate social responsibility are up to 50% more likely to successfully expand into a new market’ (Kayla O'Neill, 2020). 40% of customers also seek out companies who act in the best interest of society (Globe Scan, 2016). Companies are now being forced to be very mindful of consumer ideals and must place importance on social corporate responsibility. Furbo’s goal is for owners to have peace of mind and be able to monitor their dogs' behaviour. The product has many features which if were to fail could fail to identify potential risk to the dog’s or even the house’s safety. Making sure the product works and keeps evolving is of upmost importance to Furbo, to help maintain positive public relations. Positive public relations can be very effective in the growth and popularity of a business. Positive public relations are highly credible as they are verified by a number of sources, whether it be media outlets of the general public. In this way public relations have a broad reach and can have a lasting impact on the company's image. Public relations can also be very effective when used in combination with other promotion mix strategies such as advertising. However the lack of control and lack of measurable success with the public relations strategy means it can be quite risky. Positive public relations has already been utilized by Furbo to create a strong message and positive media coverage. Furbo has been consistently getting positive media attention since releasing the Dog Nanny, being featured on The Ellen Show, in a Buzzfeed review and many more. Furbo utilizes this positive media coverage as promotion. Furbo has been covered by a multitude of news outlets for the product's features. Numerous times dog owners have been away from home and their pets have been doing something dangerous or destructive. This includes ripping up furniture or eating objects. Furbo eliminates this issue and has notified the dog owner on many occasions creating positive public relations. Another key impact of positive public relations include house robberies and home intruders have been caught using Furbos Dog Nanny product. These robbers are caught utilizing Furbo’s products innovative features such as the live HD feed, the facial recognition software, phone notification system and the night vision camera. These news reports create a very positive brand image while simultaneously highlighting the product's features. Furbo has an opportunity to synergistically utilize positive public relations to reach its goals of marketing metrics. Furbo uses this positive press coverage as promotion, portraying these ‘Furbo success stories’ on its website. Showing videos caught by the Furbo dog nanny showing emergencies being sent to the owner to save the dog. This reinforces the positive influence and importance the product has. Furbo also has included a counter of how many

dogs have been saved using the products, currently saving 1001 dogs so far (Furbo, 2021). However Furbo should go one step further, integrating this positive press coverage to meet its objectives and influence its target market. Furbo can integrate this positive press coverage and success stories into its advertisements, presenting the real world functionality and importance of its product. Furbo could also use the news reports of home invaders to portray the home safety features of its product. With the target audience being a ‘busy family’ the Furbo dog nanny can also be advertised as another form of house safety for not only their dogs but the kids as well, being able to instantly notify parents when they are outside of the house. Highlighting the dual functionality, being not only for the dog but the importance of safety for the customer throughout its advertisements will intuitively create further positive public relations. Sales promotions Sales promotion should be utilized by Furbo for short term increases in sales to possibly create a lasting impression on the market. Sales promotion is providing short term incentives to encourage the sale of a good or service . Specifically customer sales promotion is done to urge short term customer buying or to enhance customer brand involvement. Sales promotion is a varied tool which can take many forms including coupons, trial periods, samples, refunds, etc. The varied nature of this strategy can allow specific decisions to be made in order to attract customer attention from a company's target market. Furbo can use sales promotion to create quick sales and furthermore serure loyal customers in the future. Furbo already provides a time limited $30 off for customers who use their email to sign up with Furbo and receive its newsletter. Furbo should implement a trial period for their product to increase customer spending and confidence in the product. 67% of customers will check if a product can have a free refund policy (Khalid Saleh, 2021). Furbo already has a month trial period for the Dog Nanny service but no refund policy for the dog camera itself. Having a money trial period and money back guarantee shows customers they are confident in the product and that they trust its usefulness and functionality. Furbo could even appeal specifically to their target market of families, offering a family plan for the Dog Nanny service. Specifically targeting family households could lead to less purchase from other markets however Furbos target market will be significantly more motivated to purchase the product at least for a short period of time. Furbo should also promote these sales, integrating this strategy with advertising.

Conclusion Furbo’s dog nanny system is an interactive dog monitor system primarily targeted towards dog lovers providing them the opportunity to look after their dog while being out the house. By implementing the promotion mix strategies of advertising, public relations and sales promotion, Furbo can effectively appeal to its target market segment of a ‘busy family’. Each strategy is connected and make up the promotion mix as a whole, by implementing these strategies in unison and building off each one Furbo can effectively appeal to its target market and reach its promotion objectives.

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/advertising

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