Blackberry Marketing Strategy

MARKETING OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGIES 

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INTRODUCTION

BlackBerry that is mostly known as Research in Motion Limited is Canada based company operating in numerous countries of the world. The company is famous for its telecommunication and wireless products developed under the brand of BlackBerry. Furthermore company is manufacturing various software that are used by the automotive and industrial companies of the world in their products (Conley 2009). The corporation is headquartered at Ontario Canada. John S. Chen is the current CEO of company. According to the calculation of 2014, the annual revenue generated by the company was US$ 11.073 billion with the read mark. In the same sense, the operating expenses of the company were $932 million that was a big figure as compare to the %age revenue earned by the company (McQueen 2010).

Reports show that in initial stage, the company was dominance in American market especially in software and telecommunication products. However with the passage of time, the company lost its reputation in its target market. There were many reasons behind this gradual decline. The penetration of new competitor in the market was the major decline of BlackBerry products. Google’s android and Apple’s iPhone proved the big threat for the reputation of BlackBerry (McQueen 2010). Moreover, the company failed to generate its potential customers and retain the existing customers. Losing the customer loyalty was major drawback of company. According to various financial reports, company lost its 55% customers. The annual increment rate in company’s potential customers is only 10% which is very low to compete in the market.

A Marketing Performance Improvement Analysis is done to identify the goals and the strategies of for the BlackBerry to rise up again. In four phases, this analysis is done to identify the most critical factors for the future development of company.

SMART GOAL FOR BLACKBERRY

A SMART goal covers all the competencies of the company and most effective to achieve the mission and vision of organization. A SMART goal is specific, measurable, achievable and relevant and time bound. These characteristics of this goal make it very affective.

Loyal customers are the major assets of any organization. The demand and supply of company’s products depend upon the size of its market. Furthermore, these are the loyal customers that create the potential customers for the organization. It is also observed that these are loyal customers who generate the potential customers for the company.

 In case of BlackBerry, the company is losing its customers market gradually. The major reason behind this is low customer loyalty with the brand (Gunelius, 2015). Keeping it in view, the goal that is set for the company is to INCREASE CUSTOMER LOYALTY. This goal is perfect SMART goal for the company to achieve.

Through little bit changing, BlackBerry can achieve this goal. The goal is specific and according to the need of company. Currently, the negative value of BlackBerry income report is demonstration of low customer loyalty. The goal is measureable. Through segmenting the market, the company can measure the tendency of its goal. As the area being served by the company is worldwide, so organization will use the geographic and integration of other segmentations to capture its market.

The goal is relevant to company’s current situation. The current situation of the company is losing its target market due to high competition. There is need to again rebuild the customer base. The current customer base of the company is only 10% incremental per year which is very alarming for the survival of the company. Still only 52% people are directly or indirectly attached with the company being its customers. It is very small figure as compare to Google or Apple Inc. The customers of the company are both business person and non-business persons. Business customers include various automobile companies that purchase the products of company to install in their products. On the other hand, non-business customers of the company include the common people with low income or having the taste of innovation.

MARKETING OBJECTIVE OF BLACKBERRY

The marketing objectives are those objectives that a company or business is willing to achieve in result of its various activities. Like the goals, the marketing objectives must be SMART and REALISTIC. Time limit is very compulsory in setting the marketing objectives. As the scenarios changes very rapidly, so the marketing objectives also change within the time.

In case of BlackBerry, the major marketing objectives of the marketing activities being carried out by the company are given discussed below.

• To create the awareness about the BlackBerry brand all over the world especially in youth.
• Extensive positioning of the BlackBerry smart phones brand to compete the competitor in the market.
• Highlighting the other attractive feature of BlackBerry cellular mobile phones beyond only the email applications.
• Rehabilitation of customer base and reducing consumer resistance to purchase the product.

These are the marketing objectives that must be followed by the company to compete in the market and to again rebuild its customer’s base. Moreover it can be observed that that the marketing objectives of the company are supporting its SMART goal as well.

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SEGMENTATION AND TARGET MARKETS OF BLACKBERRY

BlackBerry segments its target market into two types of group for the better selling of its products and services.

In business enterprises, the automotive industries are the major customers of the company. These industries purchase the company’s products to install them in their vehicles. As already mentioned, the company is also manufacturing the software and hardware. That’s why company also segments these enterprises for the sale of its products. The software that are being sold by the company are decisions making software, inventory control software, accelerated action software and glance performing software. It is the major part of company’s marketing plan that the customers of the company must be ready to pay more for the company’s products.