Launching the smart parker pen in the market will require funds to market and promote the product to its target consumers, in this case the professional, tech savvy demographics of the market. Westwood (2016) proposes that the marketing plan for new products should involve examining the different product launch phases, as well as determination of each phase’s associated costs. This process is particularly important where an existing organization, in this case the Parker Pen Company, introduces a new product into the market. The organization has to ensure that all categories of the new parker pen’s launch which will impact its successful marketing are included in the marketing budget (Westwood, 2016).
Perhaps the most important category in the new parker pen’s marketing budget is paid advertising, which could include social media advertising, direct mail, print, radio, and TV (Westwood, 2016). While paid advertising may face competition from newer forms of content and PR marketing, and thus may face competition as a priority in the marketing budget, it should be included because the demographic segment that uses parker pens still relies on these media for their information. Paid advertising in the marketing budget will include ad placement costs and the design of the ads (Westwood, 2016).
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Another category that must be included in the smart parker pen marketing budget is the branding and design department, which will help the new product attain maximum potential in the target market (Grewal & Levy, 2016). Some of the items that should be included under this category include hardware, software, freelancers, printing, equipment, IT, and off-site travel for picture shoots. Ensuring a great marketing design could determine whether the target market pays attention to the product. The budget includes monthly costs for these branding and design items and in case some of the resources are not utilized in any month, they are carried over for replacement of malfunctioning parker pen components and also for critical updates of the pen’s software (Grewal & Levy, 2016).
The budget also includes website development as an important category, specifically with regards to maintenance, updates, development and re-design, improvements, and integrations (Grewal & Levy, 2016). In this case, since Parker Pen Company already has a functioning website, most of the budget for the website category is allocates updating, re-designing, maintaining, and integrating an existing website. Other secondary costs under this category include domain renewal, font license renewal, and website hosting; all of which are factored into the budget (Grewal & Levy, 2016).
Since the new smart parker pen product is marketed to tech savvy individuals and companies, the budget also includes a significant allocation to content marketing. Some of the items that the budget allocates resources to under content marketing are monitoring services, marketing automation; file management, analytics, publishing tools, video production, design, and audio/visual equipment (Sissors & Baron, 2012). Although content marketing is widely perceived as free because the organization will not pay ad placement costs, the design and distribution of quality product content costs money. Other secondary costs under this category include video hosting services, which are expected to increase as the video library grows in size (Sissors & Baron, 2012).
Further, the budget also allocates resources to the public relations category which is important for a company like Parker Pen Co. that is highly visible among its target market and the wider marketplace (Sissors & Baron, 2012). Some of the items that are included in the budget under this category are research services, reputation marketing, PR services, and retainer fees for an outside PR agency. This category receives a high allocation because of the importance of brand perception to Parker Pen Co.’s market position as a luxury pen provider. In this case, Parker pen Co. will be ready for any potential PR trouble resulting from their entry into the smart pen industry and should respond more intelligently to such challenges when they occur (Sissors & Baron, 2012).
Finally, the budget also allocates resources to personnel involved in each of the categories identified above. Some of the considerations in determining personnel costs for different categories of the marketing plan budget include benefits, salaries, special events, training, and bonuses (Pearson, 2014).
Conclusion
Now that the smart parker pen is due to be launched in the market, it is apparent that the marketing budget as approved last year needs some adjustments so as to accommodate some of the emergent cost requirements for marketing the new product. This budget plan has presented a formal request for additional resources with the rationale behind each additional item and its associated costs. At this point, I would like to ask for additional release of resources to market the smart parker pen product, as well ask for approval to begin implementing the marketing plan. As stated in the plan, it is essential to engage some external personnel to provide the marketing project with additional assistance. However, the current estimates in the marketing budget for external personnel including design freelancers, an outside PR practitioner, and content marketing monitors may change depending on the service provider’s charges. The current costs identified for such personnel in the budget are, therefore, estimates that may change.
I would like to thank the department manager, accounting team, corporate executives, and board of directors at Parker Pen Co. for giving the initial approval to craft this marketing and budget plan and hope that the current estimates will be acceptable. My gratitude to the department managers for liaising with the accounting team and providing them with important information about the training needs of the current marketing team in relation to content and social media marketing. My gratitude also goes out to the accounting team for delegating some of the budgeting procedures to the marketing team, and determining the budget available to the smart parker pen marketing team in time. Thank you for the support provided to the marketing team and also for your kind attention to the team’s request. In case of any questions, please contact me using the email address smartparker@gmail.com.
- Grewal, D., & Levy, M. (2016). Marketing. New York: McGraw Hill Education
- Pearson, D. (2014). The 20 Ps of marketing: A complete guide to marketing strategy. London: Kogan Page
- Sissors, J. Z., & Baron, R. (2012). Advertising Media Planning. New York: McGraw-Hill
- Westwood, J. (2016). How to write a marketing plan. Philadelphia: Kogan Page
