Marketing Plan

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Marketing
Plan

Product Name: A PLUS
Team (Company) Name: Triple J Success
Group Member Names: Jeff Lu, Jacky Liu, Jerry Jiang
Teacher Name: Ms. Michailidis
Course Name: Marketing: Goods, Services, Events
Course Code: BM13C1 – 03
Due Date: Friday, May 16, 2014

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY…………………………………………………………..1
SITUATION ANALYSIS
Product Description
Product Description ......................................................................................................................................... 2
Unique Selling Proposition .............................................................................................................................. 2
Goals ................................................................................................................................................................ 3

Customer Analysis
Target Market .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Demographics .................................................................................................................................................. 4
Demographics Data and Analysis .................................................................................................................... 5
Psychographics ................................................................................................................................................ 6
Geographics ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
Product Usage Statistics................................................................................................................................... 8

Competitor Analysis
Direct Competitors ........................................................................................................................................... 9
Sustainable Competitive Advantages: Competitors ......................................................................................... 9
Non-Sustainable Competitive Advantages: Competitors .............................................................................. 10
Sustainable Competitive Advantages: A PLUS ............................................................................................. 11
Non-Sustainable Competitive Advantages: A PLUS..................................................................................... 12
Market Share Plan .......................................................................................................................................... 13

Market Research
Statement of Research Task ........................................................................................................................... 14
Review of Data Collection Methods .............................................................................................................. 15
Analysis of Data............................................................................................................................................. 18
Interpretation of Data ..................................................................................................................................... 22
Summary of Findings..................................................................................................................................... 26

Marketing Trends
Current Trends ............................................................................................................................................... 28
Product Success Explanation ......................................................................................................................... 31

A PLUS: Marketing Plan
MARKETING STRATEGY
Product
Objective ........................................................................................................................................................ 32
Strategy .......................................................................................................................................................... 32
Feature-Benefit Analysis ............................................................................................................................... 33
Positioning Map (Benefit and Price).............................................................................................................. 34
Brand Name ................................................................................................................................................... 36
Logo and Slogan ............................................................................................................................................ 36

Place
Objective ........................................................................................................................................................ 37
Strategy .......................................................................................................................................................... 37
Location ......................................................................................................................................................... 37
Rationale ........................................................................................................................................................ 38
Customer Service ........................................................................................................................................... 39

Promotion
Objective ........................................................................................................................................................ 40
Strategy .......................................................................................................................................................... 40
Media ............................................................................................................................................................. 41
Advertisement ................................................................................................................................................ 43
Advertisement Effectiveness ......................................................................................................................... 44
Public Relations ............................................................................................................................................. 45
Sales Promotion ............................................................................................................................................. 47

Price
Objective ........................................................................................................................................................ 51
Strategy .......................................................................................................................................................... 51
SWOT Analysis ............................................................................................................................................. 52
Selling Price ................................................................................................................................................... 53
Costs............................................................................................................................................................... 54
Pricing Policies .............................................................................................................................................. 55

A PLUS: Marketing Plan
FUTURE PLANS
Future Goals
Market Share Plan .......................................................................................................................................... 56
New Products ................................................................................................................................................. 57
Co-Branding................................................................................................................................................... 57
Advertising..................................................................................................................................................... 57

Product Life Cycle Management
Product Life Cycle ......................................................................................................................................... 58
4 P’s of Marketing ......................................................................................................................................... 61

APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………..62

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Education is what causes society to become knowledgeable. Success in education is what causes
society to become prosperous. Education has existed for hundreds of years, and it is with education that
caused society to grow into the world it is today. Our company, Triple J Success values the importance of
education. It is our goal to help educate students and lead them into a successful future, as they are the
future. They shall bring prosperity and change the world for the better with the knowledge they obtain.
We are to be the best technological educational helper in Canada. The founders of Triple J Success are:

Jeff Lu

-

Chief Executive Officer

Jacky Liu

-

Chief Operations Officer

Jerry Jiang

-

Chief Financial Officer

A PLUS, our all in one educational productivity app is to help students manage, enhance and
improve their educational lives. It saves time and reduces the frustration of needing multiple apps to
perform different tasks. It offers a variety of different educational-related features that students use on a
daily basis, such as an agenda, scientific graphing calculator, word processors, and many more. A PLUS
also offers it’s very own course-specific search engine, where it provides the user with tons of
information regarding the searched course. This marketing plan is what created Triple J Success, and will
also be the key to a success business. The contents of this plan contain a customer analysis, analyzing our
target market: high school students, as well as a competitor analysis of iStudiez Pro and Graphing
Calculator. Furthermore, the marketing plan illustrates how A PLUS will be successful due to the
collection of market research from the target market. Also, a marketing strategy is included highlighting
the sections of Product, Place, Promotion and Place. Lastly, the marketing plan displays the future goals
of Triple J Success and the Product Life Cycle that A PLUS will undergo, and additional research
regarding our product in the appendix.

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

SITUATION ANALYSIS
Product Description
Tired of having dozens of different applications to do different school tasks? A PLUS is an educational
school-based all in one application used by students to manage, enhance and improve their educational
school life designed by Triple J Success. A PLUS offers a variety of features and utilities such as a built
in agenda and checklist that alerts the user of tasks and work that need to be finished, as well as
upcoming tests and assignment due dates. Other features and utilities that A PLUS offers is a scientific
graphing calculator, dictionary, thesaurus, word processor, translator and much more smaller useful
utilities.
When connected to the internet, A PLUS offers even more features, such as the special coursebased search engine that provides the user of materials, lessons, problems, notes, videos, links and much
more in a categorized format related to their desired course. Also, the user will be connected to the A
PLUS website where they can upload work material and notes on to their account for computer access as
well as having access to the site’s forums where other students can help each other to complete
challenging problems and questions, and receives alerts when answers are received. With an all in one
wide variety of features to use, there is no need to have dozens of different apps making the A PLUS app
a must for students.

Unique Selling Proposition
What makes A PLUS unique is the fact that is has a very unique utility that no other educational-based
application has. This special feature was designed by Triple J Success and made only for A PLUS. This
feature is to be used online as it is a patented course-based search engine that categorizes the search into
lessons, problems, notes, videos, and much more.
Patented course-based search engine: This course-based search engine is not a typical search engine.
When the user enters a course, this search engine will display links and sites of lessons, problems, notes,
tutorials, videos, quizzes and much more in an easy to read categorized format related to the course. The
user can then choose to go further by selecting a specific category and will then be able to view more
information regarding that category. The user can also search specific terms, problems, and other
information related to the course on the mini search engine and it will display all the information in the
same categorized format regarding the search. The information is easy to read and well organized and is
a one of a kind search engine.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Goals
Triple J Success strives to be the best education business in Canada. As a company, we value
learning and success more than profits. Education is what builds our society, and helping students
achieve their academic dreams is the greatest goal our company could ever accomplish. Thousands of
students struggle with work when they are without teacher assistance, and A PLUS’s goal is to help these
students overcome these obstacles in order to reach their maximum potential at academic success. Triple
J Success understood the frustration of needing dozens of different apps to do different tasks, and our
goal was to create an application that could meet all those needs. A PLUS provides all the features
students already use and many more in an all in one app, allowing for students to learn, work and study
with just one application. The goal of A PLUS is to be a convenient way to help and enhance a student’s
educational life at an affordable cost.
Our objectives at Triple J Success are not only to gain a profit, but to allow students to understand
and improve on their education. Our company wants to prove to other businesses that helping students is
the main goal and at the same time our company can gain a wealthy profit. Triple J Success values and
promotes education and learning as we believe in the phrase, “Potential not met is waste”. As well, a
great degree of our profit will be donated to charitable organizations such as Pencils of Promise, UNICEF
and Build Africa as these charities value children and education as much as our company does. Triple J
Success strives to complete and maintain these goals, as they are fundamentally what created Triple J
Success.

Customer Analysis
Target Market
The target market for the A PLUS app is targeted towards students. Since A PLUS is an
educational school based app, it is safe to assume that most users who would use this product would be
students attending school. This includes students of all ages, but generally Triple J Success is targeting
university, college and high school students, as well as middle school students. These students generally
have portable technological devices that can use apps such as A PLUS, thus being our main target
market.
Therefore A PLUS’s desired target market is average household income students between the
ages of 15 to 24, who are care about their academics and live primarily in urban areas.
These students have a strong interest in school and will use materials that can improve and enhance their
educational lives.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Demographics
Age
Gender
Family Life Cycle
Income Level
Ethnicity

Students between ages of 15 to 24.
Students of both genders: Male or Female
Students that are single, never married.
Average household income level: $69,860
Below average individual income: Less than $25,400
Students of any ethnicity and cultural background.

Age: A PLUS’s targeted consumer profile age group is between the ages of 15 to 24. This is the
general age group of students who attend high school, college and university. Also, generally students
under the age of 15 do not own compatible mobile or tablet devices, thus not being able to use our A
PLUS app. Therefore the ages of 15 to 24 are the ideal target market for an educational school based app.
Gender: The A PLUS app is targeted towards both genders, as both male and female students attend
school. Our company does not have a specific targeted gender group.
Family Life Cycle: The family life cycle of the users of the A PLUS app is generally single, never
married. Since the consumer profiles for A PLUS are students are between 15 and 24, they would not
worry about marriage during this age.
Income Level: The income level of the users of the A PLUS app is at average household income
level, but however below average individual income. This is the result of going to school daily and lack
of experience in the workforce. Students who have part-time jobs will not be able to work as often as
average individuals, thus being below average individual income, but however their parents and
guardians will work often, thus meeting average household income.
Ethnicity: The A PLUS app is also targeted towards students of any ethnic background and culture,
as Triple J Success does not have any specific targeted ethnical group.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Demographic Data and Analysis
35000
30000

School Age Distribution in Toronto (2011)

Population

25000
20000
Total

15000

Male
10000

Female

5000
0
15 years

16 years

17 years

Age

18 years

The following graph obtained by
Statistics Canada shows the population
of high school students in Toronto as of
2011. From this graph, our company can
take into knowledge that the Toronto
high school student population is a large
one, well over 100, 000.
We understand that A PLUS will be a
successful product due to the large target
market. We will also understand how we
should market our product, as we could
advertise A PLUS with the help of
popular high schools. We will also
research high school student interests and
use that concept to develop engaging
advertisements.

Statistics Canada. 2012. Toronto, Ontario (Code 3520005) and Toronto, Ontario (Code
3520) (table). Census Profile. 2011 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-XWE. Ottawa.
Released October 24, 2012. http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dppd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E (accessed December 9, 2013).

Statistics Canada. 2012. Toronto, Ontario (Code 3520005) and Toronto, Ontario (Code 3520) (table). Census
Profile. 2011 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-XWE. Ottawa. Released
October 24, 2012. http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dp-pd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E
(accessed December 9, 2013).

This chart from Statistics Canada shows the individual income of students at various degrees and
diplomas as of 2005. This chart helps shows the importance of education in our society. Generally, the
more education an individual goes through (higher the degree) the more money the individual makes.
With this knowledge in mind, Triple J Success can advertise showing the importance of school and how
A PLUS helps student with academic lives. Consumers will then choose to purchase our app as it helps
them advance towards success.
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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Psychographics
Religion
Taste In Music
Lifestyle

Attitudes Towards
Health
Personality Traits

Students of any religion.
Students have different tastes in music that varies from student to
student.
Students who attend school on a regular basis and spend their free time
with extra-curricular activities and academics, as well as with friends
and family.
Students with a healthy, active life and maintain and protect their
health.
Students with a helpful, smart, confident, determined and wellmotivated mind and personality.

Religion: A PLUS is targeted to students of all religions. Any religion is acceptable, as
our company does not have a specific targeted religion group.
Taste In Music: A PLUS is targeted to students of any musical taste. The taste in music
for each student will vary. However, generally students of ages 15 to 24 enjoy the newer pieces
of music. These music tastes ranges from pop to rock to rap and much more.
Life Style: A PLUS is targeted towards students that attend high school, college and
university daily. These students have an interest to improve and advance on their schoolwork
habits and knowledge. They are conscious about their grades and believe that education is the
key to success. Students may also join extra-circular activities at school or outside of school.
Also, students will probably spend some free time with family and friends. The lifestyle of a
student is generally related to academics, but however will enjoy activities during spare time.
Attitudes Towards Health: A PLUS is targeted towards healthy active students who
maintain and protect their health. They stay healthy, in order to stay strong and well-motivated
to do school and educational work.
Personality Traits: A PLUS is targeted towards individuals with a helpful and smart
mind and personality. They are also determined and well-motivated to go to school to do
educational work. They try their best and show their maximum potential with academics.
This chart on the left shows a decline in the
dropout rate of Canadian high school students.
This is because an interest in school has been
acknowledged by the students. Students have
developed an educational lifestyle and a
determined and well-motivated personality. As
these factors increase, the dropout rates of
Canadians decrease.
Source: Statistics Canada, Labour Force
Survey.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-004x/2005004/8984-eng.htm#a
(accessed December 8, 2013)

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Geographics
The targeted geographic location of the A PLUS customers includes urban, suburban,
and rural areas. This is because A PLUS is an application used by mobile and tablet devices
which can be used just about anywhere. Our company also took in the fact that schools are in
urban, suburban and rural areas, which is why we don’t target a specific geographical area.
Though our company believes that A PLUS will be successful in any geographical area,
we strongly believe that urban areas such as Downtown Toronto will be the most successful
area to market A PLUS. Urban areas like Downtown Toronto are well-populated by students
and surrounded by technology, thus being easy to market A PLUS. Also, in the map below you
can tell that generally most of the schools are found in the urban areas of Ontario. Knowing that
most students and schools are located and populated in urban areas, marketing in an urban area
will lead to the most success.

Location of Schools in Southern Ontario

Map obtained from: Google Maps. (accessed December 8, 2013)






The map above shows school locations in southern Ontario, generally Toronto.
The red dots represent schools, and the red dots with letters represent popular well-known schools
Schools are populated in all three geographic regions: Urban, Suburban, and Rural
Schools are more populated in Urban areas (Downtown Toronto for example) than Suburban and
Rural areas
A PLUS will work and be available for anyone living in any geographic area
7

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Product Usage Statistics

Heavy Users: Our targeted consumer profile will use technological devices, such as smart phones,
tablets, computers and any form of technology that uses apps and internet connection. Students are also
heavy users of programs such as word processors, graphing calculators and other various programs.

Medium Users: Students are medium users of educational materials, such as books, dictionaries, biblical
devices and agendas. Students are also medium users of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram.

Light Users: Students are light users of television, movies, and newspapers. They are also light users of
online gaming and educational services such as tutors.

With the product usage statistics, Triple J Success will understand the needs of students and our
company can compare how each feature offered by A PLUS can help student needs. Also, with this
information, our company can advertise to our target market better. Our company knows what students
use and what they do, and when we advertise we will make them visible to the student population while
they do their activities. This will increase the opening market, thus being able to start with a large base of
users.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Competitor Analysis
Direct Competitors
iStudiez Pro Features











Provides a calendar
Full overview of the classes
you need to attend
Sort homework by
date/priority/course
Allows user to set due dates
Tracks marks and grades
received
Schedule can be accessed
through native device calendar
for convenience
Cloud Sync
Grade tracker; Calculates
overall GPA
Interactive Calendar
Supports more than 25
languages

Graphing Calculator
Features












Scientific Calculator
Ability to plot multiple
equations on same graph
Custom keyboard to speed up
entering in equations
Multiple graph viewing
abilities; zoom, drag/slide
Screen shot-share ability
Ability to obtain coordinates
for roots, intersections, min and
max
Supports advanced graphing
Supports graphing implicit
equations in the form
f(x,y)=g(x,y), which makes it
possible to graph equations that
cannot explicitly be solved for
y in terms of x.”
Ability to graph inequalities
and limit the domain and
ranges
Multitasking support

IStudiez Team.
"Sophisticated Student's
Planner for Your Mac,
IPhone, IPad."IStudiez Pro
for Your Mac, IPhone, IPad.
IStudiez Team, n.d. Web. 9
Dec. 2013.
<http://istudentpro.com/>.
Law, Herbert.
"Reviews." Graphing
Calculator. Google, n.d.
Web. 9 Dec. 2013.
<https://play.google.com/sto
re/apps/details?id=com.herb
ertlaw>.

Sustainable Competitive Advantages: Competitors
iStudiez Pro
Unique Selling Proposition: The unique selling proposition that iStudiez Pro has to offer is the ability to
transfer information in your account from all devices. “Synchronize your iStudiez Pro data in the blink of
an eye between all your iOS and Mac devices. Creating Cloud Sync account is free and fast, and it also
gives you additional guarantee of safeguarding your data.” This unique feature allows students to quickly
transfer any information back and forth between their mobile devices and computers.

Graphing Calculator
Servicing a Niche Market: Graphing Calculator help service the needs of a high school and postsecondary math student. Graphing Calculator’s main function is to graph different equations and only
those who take graphing-related courses will find use of this app. No other consumer will find the need of
this app. These groups of people (math students) are a niche market. Since Graphing Calculator has met
the needs of this niche market, other competitors generally stay away from this market and Graphing
Calculator has created a sustainable competitive advantage.
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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Non-Sustainable Competitive Advantage: Competitors
iStudiez Pro
Benefits of Use: iStudiez Pro offers many different organizational calendar features. It helps the user sort
through homework through date and priority; it provides a calendar and helps keep track of grades and
marks. Students will benefit from using this app as it is meant to organize a student’s life and remind
them about future tasks.
Price: The price of iStudiez Pro is $2.99 which is a low competitively priced educational organizer app.
Design Features: iStudiez Pro is an easy to use and easy to navigate app. It’s overall colour scheme and
design attracts consumers and will be eager to use the app to organize their school life. Also, this app’s
main function is to organize a student’s life with the use of its calendar features and its homework sorting
features.

Graphing Calculator
Benefits of Use: Graphing Calculator has the ability to plot different equations and data on the same
graph. It has the ability to do advance graphing and supports high level math courses. This app is meant
to be use as a math tool for students who need to graph on a daily basis, thus being a huge benefit
towards math students.
Price: The price of Graphing Calculator is $1.99 which is a low competitively priced educational math
app. Offering the uses of a graphing calculator and scientific calculator for this price is competitively
low.
Design Features: The main function of Graphing Calculator is to graph and calculate equations. But this
app also has a customizable keyboard to enter equations in faster, which is a great design feature. Also it
has HD display allowing for students to view their work better. These designs help make Graphing
Calculator a competitive educational app.

10

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Sustainable Competitive Advantages: A PLUS
Unique Selling Proposition: A PLUS has a unique search engine that allows users to find useful
resources related to the course. The results that the search engine outputs will be purely related to the
course, types of results will include notes, tutorials, videos, quizzes, and much more. The results can also
be filtered to help the user narrow down his/her search. This feature is an unique selling propositions that
A PLUS has to offer.

Customer Loyalty: A PLUS has the best customer service support. Whenever the user is in need of help,
they can contact Triple J Success’ customer service department online or through the phone. While
connected to our customer service department, the user will be able to seek help and ask any questions or
concerns, and our staff will be glad to help you. Our customer service staff are polite, efficient, patient
and caring. Our staff understands that users have problems and they will help users to the best of their
ability. We put our customers first on our list, and our customer service department makes that happen as
the user will develop strong relationships with our product.
Also, A PLUS provides dozens of amazing features and utilities that any student will enjoy. These
features will keep the students engaged and hooked on to our product. Students will have no need to
switch to other apps as A PLUS already provides all those features and many more of its own. With this
customer loyalty relationship A PLUS has to offer, consumers will not consider another educational
school app.

11

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Non-Sustainable Competitive Advantage: A PLUS
Price: The A PLUS app has a very low and cheap price for all the features it provides. Unlike our
competitors, A PLUS tailors to all the needs of the consumer. The A PLUS is set to two prices: a free
version with limited features and a price of $1.99 with all the features. This price may be expensive at
first glance, but by having all the features other apps have to offer and many more of its own features, it
is competitively priced.

Benefits of Use: While using A PLUS, consumers no longer need to switch between different apps to
accomplish different tasks. Our app is also well organized and easy to navigate, thus saving time and
effort for the users. A PLUS is able to perform more tasks than other apps while doing a better job at it as
well. These benefits allow A PLUS to gain a competitive edge against its competitors.
Design Features: With technology’s constant growth, A PLUS will be tailored to Android and Apple
devices. A PLUS meets all the educational functions that students need. Our app provides many utilities
such as an agenda and checklist, graphing calculator, word processor, dictionary, and many more. It has
all the main functions a student uses all in one. Also, the colour design and organization can be changed
by the user depending on their preference, so A PLUS will always appeal to them.

Promotion: Triple J Success will continuously advertise and promote the use of A PLUS. These
advertisements will range from showing all its amazing features and uses to showing its sheer
convenience as an all in one application to the satisfaction of its consumers. Also, we will promote A
PLUS through the use of popular universities and colleges, as well as the media. Our company will also
create social media pages to advertise and promote A PLUS.

12

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Competitor Analysis: Market Share Plan
Market Share of Educational Apps

Market Share of
Educational
Apps, Other
Educational
Apps, 4151710,
41%

Market Share of
Educational
Apps, Graphing
Calculator,
131540, 1%

iStudiez Pro
Graphing Calculator
Other Educational Apps

Market Share of
Educational
Apps, iStudiez
Pro, 5979830,
58%

"IStudiez Pro by IStudiez Team (US) - Sensor Tower - App Marketing and Mobile SEO
Keyword Optimization for IPhone and IPad." IStudiez Pro. SensorTower, n.d. Web. 8
Dec. 2013. <https://sensortower.com/ios/us/istudiez-team/app/istudiez-pro/310636441>.
"Graphing Calculator by Appcylon LLC (CA) - Sensor Tower - App Marketing and
Mobile SEO Keyword Optimization for IPhone and IPad." Graphing Calculator.
SensorTower, n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2013. <https://sensortower.com/ios/ca/appcylonllc/app/graphing-calculator/289940142>.

The following graph shows the market share of A PLUS’s two main direct competitors: iStudiez
Pro and Graphing Calculator. iStudiez Pro’s market share is worth approximately $5,979,830, while
Graphing Calculator’s market share is worth approximately $131,540. The other educational apps total
market share is worth approximately $4,151,710. The total market share of educational apps is $10
million. This information is vital to the success of A PLUS as now Triple J Success understands that its
main competitor is iStudiez Pro as it has over half of the total market shares in this educational app
industry.
This information also allows Triple J Success to determine A PLUS’s possible market share. As
A PLUS already has the features of iStudiez Pro, Graphing Calculator and many more other educational
apps, consumers will tend to purchase our app instead of others. A PLUS will have a successful outcome
and its market share will be well over iStudiez Pro. Triple J Success estimates that its potential market
share will range between $8 million to $10 million dollars. This estimation is reasonable as A PLUS will
be the leading educational app due to its heavy amount.
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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Market Research
Statement of Research Task
Marketing Problem
Triple J Success’ marketing problem is that we are unknown of the popularity, demand and
interest students (our target market) have with an all in one educational productivity app, A PLUS. This
is a new type of product and we are also unsure of the price students are willing to pay for it.
Explanation: Though having one app, A PLUS that offers many features of different multiple apps is
convenient for the users, our research team is unsure if students actually care about this convenience and
would prefer to have multiple apps instead. Also, since A PLUS is an original idea that offers many
educational features in one app, our research team would not be able to find any secondary information
about similar apps demand and interest, thus not being able to figure out if A PLUS would be popular
and interested by students. Similarly, due to the lack of information, a set price cannot be determined, and
sets problems for Triple J Success, as we do not know the perfect price to sell A PLUS for.

Information Required
The information required to solve this marketing problem is student responses and opinions
towards A PLUS. Triple J Success requires information regarding the interest, demand and popularity
students would have with A PLUS, an all in one educational productivity app. The target market would
be given a question in the survey, briefly describing our main features of A PLUS and then ask for their
interest towards it and why, thus obtaining the information. Also, after learning about these features the
target market will be given another question regarding the price they are willing to pay, which is the other
piece of information required to solve our marketing problem.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Review of Data Collection Methods
Types of Research
The type of research conducted was primary and consumer research. Due to the lack of data and
information archived on educational applications, we decided it would be more productive to conduct
primary research for meaningful information. A key factor as to why there is a lack of information on
educational applications is because most educational apps are made for a single purpose. Not many
applications provide as many features as A PLUS, thus not being able to find secondary information. So
our research team needed consumer research to gather information, specifically, our research team
conducted product research surveys to gather information of our target market and their opinions towards
A PLUS. The results of our survey was both qualitative and quantitative, as we gather information about
respondents thoughts and opinions toward A PLUS as well as numerical data of respondent ages, gender,
grades and technological school work usage.

Survey Description
The survey consists of twelve closed ended multiple choice and two open ended questions. The
questions focused on gathering respondent’s information as well as his/her thoughts towards the app.
This allows us to understand the needs of respondents according to his/her personality; and also paint the
picture for a broader consumer size. The closed ended questions were focused on asking the respondents
their age, gender, school status, types of technology used with school work and how often they use it.
The answer to these questions would help us understand how different students use technology with
school work, allowing A PLUS to help any student needs. Also this would also tell us how different types
of students would use and benefit from A PLUS. The open ended questions asked the respondents to tell
us their thoughts and opinions about A PLUS and what he or she would change or add. The answers to
the open ended questions would help us improve A PLUS so excess features can be omitted and desired
features can be added if they are not provided already.

Survey Distribution
The survey was distributed through Facebook on multiple high school social webpages as well as
our staff team’s personal pages. Facebook is used amongst most of our targeted consumers as it is a very
popular social networking site, and these multiple high school pages provided a great platform to conduct
our research directly to our target market. With careful attention to detail, we alerted the potential
surveyors to not do the survey if they were marketing students. By doing this, we can assure that there
will be minimal bias towards our surveys. Our research team also distributed the surveys to multiple
university students from The University of Waterloo, University of Toronto and York University. They
also made sure not to distribute the survey to students in the field of marketing as their opinions would be
biased, thus leading to inaccurate results. The survey was created using the Google Drive Form
processing software. Survey Monkey was not suitable for the amount of questions we wanted to ask,
therefore using the Google Drive Form software instead to create the survey.
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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Review of Data Collection Methods
Survey Sample

16

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

The link to A PLUS’s product research survey:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1hJ9y5OsJO3yRU2LTKc9lTkLzs
RBTg-gwXWi_7KflQS0/viewform
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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Analysis of Data
Summary of Results

18

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

19

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Analysis of Data

Mean, Median, Mode
From a scale from 1 to 10, how often do you use technology?
Mean: 7
Median: 8
Mode: 10
What gender are you?
Mode: Female
How old are you?
Median: 15-17
Mode: 15-17
What is your current education status?
Median: High School
Mode: High School
How are you currently doing in school?
Mean: 80%-89%
Median: 80%-89%
Mode: 80%-89%
How much time do you spend doing homework?
Mean: 1-2 hours
Median: 1-2 hours
Mode: More than 2 hours
What types of technology do you use for school work?
Mode: Calculator
Do you own a technological device?
Mode: YesAre you interested in an app that offers an agenda, word processor, graphing calculator, a
course-specific search engine and many more useful utilities that helps student’s educational needs?
Mode: Extremely Interested
Do you currently use any educational apps?
Mode: No
How important is convenience when choosing an educational productivity app?
Mode: Extremely Important
What would you consider to be a reasonable price for this product?
Median: Under $1.99

Mode: Under $1.99

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Interpretation of Data
Graph 1

Time Spent Doing School Work Daily
9%
6%

Less than 10 minutes

36 %
17%

10-30 minutes
30 minutes to 1 hour
1 hour to 2 hours
Over 2 hours

32%

The graph above explains how often a student spends time doing their school work daily, with the
results presented in percentages. The legend shows the colour corresponding to the amount of time spent
on homework. Firstly, 32% of the students said that they spend 1-2 hours doing school work. Another
36% say that they spend more than 2 hours. From this, we can conclude that homework takes up a lot of
a student’s time, as more than half the respondents spend at least 1 hour of homework daily. Most likely
the students do not know how to efficiently organize their time with school work and daily activities, thus
resulting in the large amount of time doing school work. With A PLUS, we can help organize their time
effectively, allowing the students to do their homework in certain time periods so they can have
relaxation time at the end and use this extra time to do other important activities, such as extra-circulars.
Like many people say, time is money. In reality, if A PLUS can help effectively distribute the student’s
school work time wisely so they will not procrastinate or interfere with daily activities, the students can
accomplish much more because of efficiency. For those who spend less than an hour, those are people
who may have little amounts of homework, or they could be efficient at completing work. Those people
also benefit from A PLUS because we can further enhance their skills in academics and motor skills (i.e.
multitasking, note writing, planning, Etc.). With further enhances the students can improve on their work
and work even more efficiently than before.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Interpretation of Data
Graph 2

Use of technology from scale of 1 to 10
30
28

25
20
18

15
10

14

12
9

5
4

2

4

1

2

3

6

2

0
4

5

6

7

8

9

10

The following graph shows the use of technology for school work on a scale of 1 – 10 with 1 as
not very frequently and 10 as every time. The x-axis represents the scale of 1-10 and the y-axis represents
the number of respondents. The graph shows that more than 70% of our respondents use technology with
their schoolwork (voted 6 or more). This tells us that technology is an ideal asset to students when doing
school work. Not only does it benefit their schoolwork, but it also enhances their ability to use
technology in general. As we know, this is the era of technology, and with the constant growth of
technology, A PLUS is perfect for students. Due to the large portion of respondents using technology
for school work, by using A PLUS it gives the students more convenience. Students will no longer have
to switch between different pieces of technology for a different function, as A PLUS has all the features
ready to be used in a single app. Since technology is in demand by the student population, our research
team can assume that A PLUS will also be in demand by students as it is a piece of technology that can
be used daily for educational school activities.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Interpretation of Data
Graph 3

Types of Technology Used for School Work
Other

2

Translator

10

Course Content Sites

5

Search Engines

18

Online Encyclpedias

8

Word Processors

14

Calculator

14

Dictionary/Thesaurus

13

Agenda/Planner

12
0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

The graph above shows the types of technology used for school work. The x-axis represents the
percentage of respondents and the y-axis represents the different types of technology. This graph shows
how students use different types of technology for schoolwork. The most common ones amongst the
group are word processors, dictionary, agenda, search engines and calculators. These are common
because they are used in many subjects that high school students take. The agenda is used to keep
everything recorded so the student is aware of the things that are planned. Other tools like search engines
and word processors are used every day thus being a popular type of technology used. A PLUS offers
the listed features and many more in one app and since many students use these types of technology for
school work; A PLUS would be in demand by students.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Interpretation of Data
Graph 4

Importance of Convenience
1
19

7
Extremely Important
40

Very Important
Moderately Important
Slightly Important
Not Important

33

In this graph, it shows the importance of convenience for an educational app for students. In
total, 93% of the students find it at least slightly important. As we all know, people tend to move around
throughout the day, so they are not always in front of a computer. With a smartphone or tablet device,
we can let the students use our product to maximize their time in doing schoolwork, as they can carry
their technological device around. Students can pull out their smartphone from anywhere and start
learning, planning, and doing homework which is the key idea behind our app. Also, without the need to
use other apps, having all the features in one single app is convenient for the student as they also do not
need to move around on their smartphone either. Knowing that students find convenience important, we
can take this in our advantage so our competitors will have a harder time competing with us.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Summary of Findings
Main Findings
The main findings from this survey are that most of the respondents are from a high school environment
of both genders between the ages of 15-17. These students generally have an average over 70% and
spend over one hour on homework daily. The students also use different types of technology on a daily
basis for school work to a high degree. Almost all these respondents have a technological device that can
run apps, however do not own or use any educational or productivity apps. Most of the respondents are at
least moderately interested in A PLUS, with an overall positive feedback about the originality and
usefulness of A PLUS. The students also want a low price (lower than $1.99) for the app and admire
convenience for educational apps. Overall, the respondents are heavy users of technology that helps them
with school and would be interested in A PLUS as it will help manage their time and work conveniently
and effectively.

Grouping Information
The information on our survey can be grouped as followed: “On a scale 1 to 10, how often do you use
technology with school work?”, “What types of technology do you use for school work?”, “Are you
interested in an app that offers an agenda, word processor, graphing calculator, a course-specific search
engine and many more useful utilities that helps students educational needs?” and “How important is
convenience when choosing an educational productivity app?” These four questions help gather the
demand and popularity technology has in school work by students. Since most students used technology
often for school work as they rated themselves as a 6 or higher and clicked on more than one type of
technology used for school work, it resulted in a high interest towards A PLUS as it offers all the features
the students currently use in one app. Also convenience is really important to students which relate to the
question, “Are you interested in an app that offers an agenda, word processor, graphing calculator, a
course-specific search engine and many more useful utilities that helps students educational needs?”, as
A PLUS is meant to be a convenient app for students to use so students do not have to open different
apps or tools for different functions.

26

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Summary of Findings
Difficulties and Challenges
One of the main difficulties and challenges that occurred with the survey was the creation of the survey
questions. Our research team wanted to create the best possible survey in order to achieve the best
possible results. The survey questions couldn’t be too long as the respondents may not have time, but the
questions must have a correct amount of information for the respondents to understand. It took time to
create the survey and each question created needed to have a purpose. These questions were to be
responsible to answer the problems and concerns Triple J Success had with A PLUS. The Head of
Product Research, Ms.Michailidis suggested on how to improve and enhance the survey for better and
more accurate results from the target market, and with her advice, our research team created a final
official survey for distribution. After numerous revisions and editions the survey was completed;
however it was a very difficult and challenging task for our research team.
Analyzing and interpreting the results from the survey was the another difficult and challenging
task due to the possibility of false results. After analyzing 98 responses from our target market, our
research team concluded that about ten percent of the responses were false and inaccurate. Some of the
false responses were easier to detect as some of the respondents used inappropriate language in the openended questions. Some were more challenging to detect, as the respondents answered the survey as if
they were honest respondents. However our research team discovered that the respondents gave negative
responses in the open ended questions after declaring they were extremely interested in A PLUS. After
discovering these false answers, our research team had to check over the responses one last time to make
sure the rest of the responses were honest and accurate results. It was hard to interpret and analyze the
results at first, but afterwards Triple J Success manages to gather 90 honest and accurate survey
responses.

Solving Market Problems

The results of the A PLUS survey helped solve many questions, concerns and problems Triple J Success
had regarding A PLUS. The greatest problem that this survey helped solve was the interest students had
for A PLUS. Based off the results of the survey, our research team concluded that 26% of our
respondents were moderately interested, 24% were very interested and 28% were extremely interested in
purchasing A PLUS. Knowing that over 75% were at least moderately interested in A PLUS helps solve
our problem if students would purchase our app. Also knowing that students often use multiple types of
technology to do school work, it increases the demand of A PLUS as it has all the features students need
in one app.
Another problem that the survey results helped solve was the price that students were willing to
pay for this product. At first, we decided to price our product at $6.99 as it seemed reasonable due to the
many features A PLUS has to offer. However our target market thought otherwise, with 60% of the
respondents wanting the price of A PLUS to be less than $1.99. By knowing this information, Triple J
Success can price A PLUS at a more convenient and affordable cost for students.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Current Market Trends
With over 1 million apps in the world and over 60,000,000 billion app downloads just by Apple’s app
store, it is safe to say that apps play a vital role in the global market.

Farago, Peter. "Mobile App Growth Led by Video Sharing: YouTube in the
Crosshairs?" Flurry Insights. Flurry, 9 May 2012. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.flurry.com/bid/84831/Mobile-App-Growth-Led-by-Video-SharingYouTube-in-the-Crosshairs#.U31Ny_ldXN4>.
This chart above shows the growth in the categories of apps. As you can see, there is a 66%
increase in productivity apps. Education apps fall under this category. With apps in demand, it is vital to
keep the demand of apps high in order for A PLUS to dominate its market and increase the value and its
market shares.
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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Current Market Trends
Khalaf, Simon. "The Mobile
Content Explosion." Flurry
Insights. Flurry, 8 Nov.
2013. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.flurry.com/bid/
102208/The-MobileContentExplosion#.U31JWvldXN5>
.

This chart above indicates that the audience level for apps have grown substantially from 2012 to
2013. There is a giant spike from 6 app developer in quarter 1 of 2012 to a large audience of 32
developers a month in quarter 3 of 2013. The population of North America alone is 528.7 million.
Assuming that half of the population owns a smartphone of tablet device, this means 1 in 26 is users of
one of those apps. This shows how in demand apps are in this technological era.

The chart on the left shows even
larger increases in activity of app usage.
Apps that have over one million monthly
users increase from almost 400 apps to 870
apps. This is an increase of 108%. With
this in mind, it shows that there are over
900 million active users for the 870 apps.
We can take this trend and act accordingly,
knowing that apps are in demand.
Khalaf, Simon. "The Mobile Content
Explosion." Flurry Insights. Flurry, 8 Nov. 2013. Web.
8 Dec. 2013. <http://www.flurry.com/bid/102208/TheMobile-Content-Explosion#.U31JWvldXN5>.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Current Market Trends

Khalaf, Simon. "Flurry Five-Year Report: It's an App World. The Web Just
Lives in It." Flurry Insights. Flurry, 3 Apr. 2013. Web. 8 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.flurry.com/bid/95723/Flurry-Five-Year-Report-It-s-an-App-WorldThe-Web-Just-Lives-in-It#.U31J-vldXN5>.
With 7.2 apps launched daily in 2010, there has been a sprout in the amount of app downloads. In
2012, the daily app launch has increased slightly to 7.9. Knowing this, it shows us that there is a larger
consumption of app users every year. We can tell because the increase from 2010 to 2011 is 0.3 apps,
while the increase from 2011 to 2012 is 0.4. From this, we can infer that there will be an increase every
year of releasing of apps for the public market.
These pieces of data show how important apps are in this technological era. Knowing that apps
are important, Triple J Success can easily market and sell A PLUS. The market of apps is a very large
one, with more and more app users each day. We can meet consumer needs and stay competitive in the
app market industry. This information is vital for our company, as it shows the potential success of A
PLUS.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Market Trends: Product Success Explanation
A PLUS will be a successful product when it is released for many reasons. First of all, A PLUS itself is
an all in one application. It has dozens of different, unique and useful features and utilities to choose
from. Also, our society is very technological and A PLUS is an app and apps are part of our technological
society. This makes A PLUS a convenient product to have. Lastly, our product is an educational school
based product. Education will stay in our society for a long time, meaning this product will also last for a
long time.
As stated, A PLUS is an all in one application with a wide variety of different and useful features
and utilities to use. This means that consumers will no longer needs dozens of different apps to do
different tasks. Students find it frustrating to go back and forth between apps in order to do a different
task since the app they were using cannot perform that task. However, A PLUS will have all the features
that current educational school based apps have and many more of its own features. As well, it is well
categorized and easy to use, so students can use a single app to perform dozens of different tasks with
ease. Because of this convenience, consumers will love to purchase A PLUS, making it very successful.
Living in a technological society allows A PLUS to be a wonderful product. A PLUS is an
application that can be used on mobile devices, tablets and other portable electronic devices, making this
app easily usable. In the Market Trends section, it shows the popularity of apps in the past few years.
These pieces of data prove that our society is very technological and that millions of people worldwide
use apps. Because of the high app usage, it makes A PLUS a successful product.
Education is a very big part in an individual’s life. A PLUS is an educational school based app
that can improve and ease a student’s academic life. The student population is a large target market, and
knowing that A PLUS has amazing school and educational based features and utilities that can help them
with their daily school lives it will cause A PLUS to be in demand for a long time. There will be
generations and generations of new students every year, allowing for a bigger and bigger target market
each year. These factors influence the success of A PLUS, as these factors grow, so does the success of
this app.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Marketing Strategy: Product
Objective
Triple J Success strives to be the best technological educational helper in Canada. Thousands of
students struggle with school work when they are without teacher assistance, and A PLUS’s goal and
objective is to help these students overcome these obstacles in order to reach their maximum potential at
academic success. Triple J Success understood the frustration of needing dozens of different apps to do
different tasks, and our goal was to create an application that could meet all those needs. A PLUS
provides all the features students already use and many more in an all in one app.
We want to build top-of-the-mind awareness to our target market. When students think about an
educational productivity app, we want them to think A PLUS. The features A PLUS provides will help
enable this goal and will create a successful environment for A PLUS. The goal of A PLUS is to be a
convenient and time-efficient way to help and enhance a student’s educational life with loads of
information and materials at an affordable cost. Our company wants to prove to other businesses that
helping students is the main goal and at the same time our company can gain a wealthy profit. Triple J
Success strives to complete and maintain these goals, as they are fundamentally what created Triple J
Success.

Strategy
Triple J Success will position A PLUS as benefit positioning. A PLUS is an all in one educational
productivity application that helps students conveniently access various features and tasks in one single
app. This is what makes A PLUS unique, as the main benefit of the app is to save time and reduce the
frustration of students. Students no longer need multiple apps doing different tasks, and Triple J Success
will expand on this idea through advertisements attracting consumers about how A PLUS benefits
student’s time and educational success. Also, A PLUS has an unique selling proposition: a patented
course-base search engine. This search engine benefits students as the search engine will display links
and sites of lessons, problems, notes, tutorials, videos, quizzes and much more in an easy to read
categorized format related to the course that is searched. These benefits are what make A PLUS a truly
unique educational productivity app and will be strategically incorporated in advertisements to the target
market. These benefits are the objective of A PLUS.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Feature-Benefit Analysis

Utility (Features)

Benefit

Form Utility
Colour

Design

Place Utility

Time Utility

Our app consists of user defined preferences which
allows the user to change the background and text
colours to their liking. This benefits the user as
they can have their personal taste of colour on the
app. With their desired preference of colour
chosen, they will enjoy using the app more.
A PLUS is designed perfectly so that any user can
operate the app with ease. On the home menu, the
user is able to select the task they want to do from a
list of tasks. The user can leave the task whenever
they wish with the information they inputted saved,
and go onto another task. This design benefits the
user’s time as it reduces frustration of opening
other apps to operate different tasks.
A PLUS is available for download in various app
stores and online through Triple J Success’
website. A PLUS will be available to download
and purchase in the ios app store, google play store,
and blackberry app market for instance. It is
convenient for the user with this easy access.
Since the internet is available 24/7, access to the
app is easy. Consumers can buy A PLUS day or
night. Once purchased, the user can use the app
whenever they want while they are on their
smartphone/tablet device or computer.

Possession Utility

A PLUS is easy to purchase. This is because it is
relatively cheap, so most levels of disposable
income will be able to purchase it. People can use
credit cards attached to the various app stores to
purchase products.

Information Utility

In the app store, the product description is enlisted.
Not only that, but the information is unloaded
throughout the app, guiding the user on how to
properly use the app. There is also information
provided on the website such as the question and
answer section that is updated regularly.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Feature-Benefit Analysis
A PLUS has many different features, including a agenda and checklist with alerts and reminders,
a scientific graphing calculator, word processor, and much more smaller useful utilities. All these
amazing features benefit the user greatly. The agenda helps organize priorities and tasks so the user can
be time-efficient, the scientific graphing calculator helps the user with mathematical problems, and the
word processor helps students’ complete typed-assignments on the go. Also, A PLUS offers a coursespecific search engine. This benefits the user as they can obtain valuable information regarding the course
they want. The user will no longer have to carefully look for tutorials, problems and solutions and generic
info with a regular search engine, as our search engine provides the user of materials, lessons, problems,
notes, videos, links and much more in a categorized format. This benefits the user with knowledge and
time-efficiency. All these features are found in A PLUS, causing A PLUS to be an absolute benefit for
any user.

Positioning Map (Benefit and Price)
High Quality (Benefit)
A PLUS
iStudiezPro
OpenStudy
BenchPrep
inClass

Quizlet

Low Price

High Price
Margins

Babylon

Low Quality (Benefit)

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Positioning Map (Benefit and Price)
A PLUS: A PLUS is the first all in one educational productivity app. Due to its vast variety of features,
easy to use interface and time-efficient structure it has a high benefit rating on the positioning map. Also,
A PLUS will be priced at about $0.99 to $1.99. Though it is not free it is at a very cheap and affordable
cost and cheaper than Margins and iStudiezPro, thus being placed at its position.
iStudiezPro: This is a powerful scheduling app that will help you ace time management. iStudiezPro
allows you to input your class schedule and homework into a built-in planner, then alerts you of
approaching deadlines, keeps track of your grades, and organizes your extracurricular schedule. This
useful app is a big contender since the interface of this app is unique, yet friendly at the same time. You
can tell that the quality is superb.
Quizlet: This app is fairly simple in the way it works. Quizlet offers students a variety of ways to study
course materials. After choosing a flashcard set or creating a new set, students have the option of four
study styles, along with two varieties of flashcard games that strive to bring an entertainment factor to
studying, which is why the quality for this app is average.
inClass: This app helps students with the tools to keep up with material in the classroom without missing
out on their professors' lectures. Using inClass, students can record audio, take text or video notes, and
create images of slides or handouts. This app is also a big contender since the quality put behind this app
is superb.
OpenStudy: Open Study launched a mobile app that gives students access to study assistance, 24 hours a
day, seven days a week. Volunteers help answer tough questions that are sent by the users. This app is
basically a free tutor and the works behind the app is very user friendly. The quality is no doubt higher
than average.
BenchPrep: BenchPrep is the world’s only interactive course library for all devices. It contains a lot
school material and the quality behind the app is fairly great. This is because they have friendly user
interface.
Babylon: This free translation app is fairly easy to use. This translates from thousands of languages at
the palm of your hands. Because it is free, quality is not the greatest. It is too simple. There is nothing
that stands out from this app from other translation apps.
Margins: This $3.99 app is fairly simple. You are able to write notes on the side of texts from books,
textbooks, and other materials. This allows you study important lines and memorize the most important
notes. Although this app is very to comprehend by itself, there really isn’t much to this. The creator did
not enhance the app to become even greater. The quality is a little bit under average since it is not as user
friendly as other study apps and is fairly simple.

35

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Brand Name
The name of the product is called A PLUS. This is a product-dominant name which influence and
show our target market that with A PLUS they will be able to achieve academic success. When students
here about an app called A PLUS, the first thing to come to mind would be that it is an educational app,
which is exactly what it is. This creates the top-of-the-mind awareness Triple J Success sets t achieve. A+
is the best possible grade to get, but students know they need to be knowledgeable about the subject, be
able to do and understand the work and to manage their time effectively and efficiently in order to
achieve this grade. So students would assume that A PLUS would benefit their grades and these skills,
which is exactly what it does. The brand name A PLUS matches perfectly with our benefit positioning
and our top-of-the-mind awareness goal.

Logo and Slogan

Slogan: Success is one tap away
This is a monogrammatic logo of the application’s name, A PLUS. The way the logo is formed
and shaped seems like it wants to be tapped, and that was the intention. The logo corresponds to the
slogan, creating an effective message. The slogan “Success is one tap away” explains to consumers that
this app is an educational app that helps and improves students educational success. With this slogan,
students will already know that this app will benefit their educational needs, which is perfect to the
benefit positioning strategy. This slogan relates to the logo as students are to tap the logo (A PLUS) to
their gateway to success. To tap the logo, you would need to purchase the app, and with that, the logo
will be displayed on the screen and once tapped, the students begin their educational successful journey,
thus creating an effective combination.

36

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Marketing Strategy: Place
Objective
Our objective in terms of place is to reach as many students (our target market) as possible. A
PLUS is an app. This means that anyone who owns a smartphone or computer will be able to use A
PLUS. It helps students succeed, and we want all students to succeed. Apps are a revolution in the digital
age. It is very difficult to control where A PLUS goes, as it can be purchase on the Apple App Store or
Google Play Store in which everyone has access to worldwide.
A PLUS offers convenience, as well as productivity. By making a positive image for our app, we
can dominate the market and become more successful. We want to let the world know that there is an app
for students that will help them become successful at school. Through online distribution it may be hard
to promote a positive image at an early start. To overcome this, we will advertise mainly in Toronto to
promote a positive image, and as we gain popularity it will lead to popularity in Canada and eventually
worldwide.

Strategy
For channels of distribution, we selected intensive. This is because A PLUS is found online, through the
app stores on various platforms. Because of this, anyone can download A PLUS, anywhere and anytime,
if internet connection is available. This channel of distribution is perfect for our goal of reaching as many
students as possible. The type of channel we intend to use is specialty channel, specifically the internet
(e-commerce). This is because A PLUS is an app, so it can only be found online. Unlike traditional
products found online, ours is not tangible. Therefore, there is no shipping required. A PLUS starts off at
Triple J Success, the producer then to specialty channels such as Apple App Store and Google Play Store,
then to the consumer. Specialty channels using the internet are necessary, as the internet can be accessed
worldwide, and we want A PLUS to be available worldwide.

Location
A PLUS will be sold online in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store and through the Triple J
Success website. By selling A PLUS through these specialty channels, A PLUS can be purchased and
downloaded worldwide. Meaning anyone with internet connection at any time, and any place can access
A PLUS. The app will be found under the educational/productivity section in the app stores. There is no
specific location that we are targeting. However, for advertising, we are specifically targeting the urban
areas of Toronto as a way to gain publicity. Urban areas like Downtown Toronto are well-populated by
students and surrounded by technology, thus being easy to market A PLUS. After students of Toronto
know and use A PLUS, a flow of positive reviews will show and result in publicity throughout Canada
and eventually worldwide. Being able to sell through the app stores, it allows for Triple J Success to
accomplish our goal of selling A PLUS worldwide.
37

A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Rationale
A PLUS is only found online, since it is an app. This means anyone can access it as long as they
have internet connection Also, by selling A PLUS through this specialty channel it offers Triple J
Success a chance to sell A PLUS worldwide which is our desired goal. However, we are specifically
targeting Toronto for advertisement as it is a student dominant location as well as a popular city to
promote new products. Our target market lives in all geographical areas: both urban and suburban areas,
as they are students and can be found all around Toronto. The chart below from Statistics Canada
indicates the population of students, aged 15-19 and aged 20-24 in Toronto and Ontario. The student
population in Toronto and Ontario is about 12-15% of the entire population which is a huge percentage
and is a perfect place to attract students to A PLUS.

Statistics Canada. 2012. Toronto, Ontario (Code 0944) and Ontario (Code 35) (table). Census
Profile. 2011 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-316-XWE. Ottawa. Released
October 24, 2012. http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/dppd/prof/index.cfm?Lang=E (accessed May 1, 2014).

As well the psychographics of students vary. All students have different personalities and they
shop online as well as physically shopping for products. In the lives of students, they want to spend time
with friends and family, do well in school, and find time for other activities, such as sports and other
extracurricular. Also, students all have different ethnicities and are generally in between the ages of 1524. They have individualized personalities and attitudes towards health.
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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Customer Service
Our product is very easy to acquire since it uses self-service. All the user has to do is log into their
account from the online stores where A PLUS is found and press download. It is very simple, with
minimal steps, so there is very little confusion. If there is any confusion, a support line can be found in
the description, where customer support will help amend any problems that people encounter.
Customer support can be reached through email, phone, and online chat messages. Because there will be
many new users that have not tried educational apps, we offer a 24/7 online customer service on the
Triple J Success website. We want to help our consumers and aid them in anyway. Our support team will
make sure that our customers will leave without any questions or confusions, we want to keep our
customers and with that we will provide an excellent customer service Our toll free number and 24 hour
concierge will be able to do so. Customer service is highly important to us and for our users because we
don’t want users to use the app without properly using it to its full potential.
Since today’s society is so technologically driven and students spend a majority of their time on the
internet, we want to incorporate a new form of customer service. Triple J Success will also create videos
regarding all the features of A PLUS, and how to properly access and use them. We will upload these
videos through social media and on the Triple J Success website. These videos will help guide and aid
users who do not know how to properly use that app and will most likely answer the questions that are
going through their head.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Marketing Strategy: Promotion
Objective
Triple J Success wants to create the best app available for students so they can have superior
guidance for learning in the world of technology. We want to strive and advertise at a global scale. We
want to get the message out to the world that there is an all in one app that stops the frustration of having
different educational apps to operate different tasks. However, to accomplish that, we must first start off
small in Toronto, then Canada, then worldwide. The goal of our promotions is that we want our target
market, post-middle school students to be aware of our products existence. To do this, our goal of
advertising will be brand awareness and positioning. With this goal in mind, we can inform students of A
PLUS’ features and benefits with our benefit positioning ideas, availability and general details in our
advertisements. Our positioning message in the advertisements will be is that it is the only all in one
educational productivity app out there. All the other apps have only one or two specific feature, while A
PLUS has dozens. This will attract students to not only be aware of the product, but to buy it as well.

Strategy
Triple J Success will position A PLUS as a rational appeal. This is because students want to
succeed in life. For many, school is difficult and hard to excel in all of their classes. A PLUS is an all in
one educational productivity app that helps students manage their educational needs effectively and in
our advertisements we will display that as the main idea. The advertisements will show all the features it
provides and the benefits behind them. The advertisements will not only show how convenient our app is,
but the savings students will get by only having one app. It shows the value worth of A PLUS and with
that, the consumers will be able to rationalize and realize that A PLUS benefits them greatly and is worth
its price. The advertisements will also display not only the competitive advantages, but our USP, the
course-specific search engine. Many students have trouble understanding certain courses and this search
engine will help provide notes and material related to this course. By displaying all these features and
outlining that it is the only all in one educational productivity app, customers will be aware of this app’s
existence and spread the news to their friends. This is exactly what we want as stated by our brand
awareness goal. Rational advertising will not only cause consumers to understand how great A PLUS is
and that it is worth its money, they will also be aware that such an app exists.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Media
The media that will be used for the A PLUS advertising campaign includes TTC Transit Shelters, internet
advertisements through social media such as Facebook and newspaper publications such as the Metro.
TTC Transit Shelters that are within a 600m radius from High schools and Universities will be
selected for advertising. High amounts of students in high schools and especially university travels to and
from school using the city’s transit system. The 600m radius captures the main transit shelters that are
around the school, reaching not only the students that use the shelter but also those who pass by.
The TTC has approximately 1,582,000 daily passengers. These figures are a broad interpretation
of reach, but do not provide specific values for our desired target market. Though A PLUS is designed
for educational purposes, informing people outside our target market is a benefit as these individuals can
benefit with some of the features A PLUS provides. They can also inform friends who do go to school
about A PLUS, and if these TTC passengers are parents of current teenagers, they can inform their child
about this wonderful app.
There are approximately of 333,515 people between ages 15-24 in Toronto according to Statistics
Canada; and also 105 high schools and roughly 8 universities and colleges in Toronto covered by the
TTC. Assuming that all of the population attends school, even without taking the TTC, they will be able
to view the A PLUS ads displayed on the bus shelters near their school. The cost of advertising per panel
on a Transit Shelter when the quantity is over 20 is $650 (4 weeks) and the production of the
advertisement is $75 each. 1
Estimated CPM for TTC Shelters (supposing there is one for each school):
CPM = Costs / Reach x 1000
CPM = (113 Shelters x (Advertising fees)) / (Toronto population of ages 15 – 24) x 1000
CPM = (113 x ($650 + $75) / 333515) x 1000
CPM = $245.64
The estimated CPM for students to view TTC shelters is about $245.64
Facebook is a popular social media website used by our target market on a daily basis. With that
said, it would be an effective way to advertise to students. Triple J Success can create a company
Facebook page as well as A PLUS’ very own Facebook page to advertise to students. Those who “like”
the page can be informed about all the promotions, events, and features of A PLUS. This is a cheap and
effective way to advertise. Also, Triple J Success will post ads on Facebook. The CPM of Facebook in
Canada is $0.16, as stated in the chart on the next page. Though this CPM is a general overview of all age
groups, a majority of Facebook users are students. In fact, according to Business Insider, as of 2013, 83%
of all 18 to 29 year olds who use the internet are also on Facebook and they contribute to about 67% of
all the users. Thus by advertising through Facebook, Triple J Success will be getting its money worth as
Facebook is a popular database for our target market as well as having cheap CPM rate.

1

Flack, Derek. "Ever Wondered What It Costs to Advertise on the TTC?" BlogTO RSS. BlogTO, 25 Oct.
2010. Web. 21 May 2014.
<http://www.blogto.com/city/2010/10/ever_wondered_what_it_costs_to_advertise_on_the_ttc/>.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Media

Ads, Free Classified. "SiteAdWiki." 2014 Survey Global CPM Rate ~. SiteAdWiki.
Web. < http://www.siteadwiki.com/2014/02/2014-survey-global-cpm
rate.html#sthash.vxarZ3be.7Yx7eZJi.dpbs> (accessed May 1, 2014).

Newspaper publications that are subscribed by high schools and universities will be selected as
advertising medium. Newspaper publications such as the Metro reach the students on a daily basis,
especially in schools running the DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) program. The Metro Toronto has
approximately 622,000 daily print readers and 46,000 daily digital readers, summing up to 653,000 daily
readers. As mentioned earlier, this does not provide exact figures for our target market, but the more
individuals who know about our product, the better. This causes the brand awareness that we want to
achieve. Since we do not know the exact number of students that are exposed to Metro newspaper, CPM
cannot be estimated or calculated. However, Triple J Success discovered the cost to place an
advertisement at Metro newspaper. For a one third page full colour ad that runs five times would cost
$1,399 per ad, while a quarter page ad would cost $1,082. Newspaper publications are to be used as an
alternative source of advertising, if the other two forms of media are unsuccessful.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Advertisement
This advertisement will be displayed in the three forms of media. It will be displayed in the TTC shelters,
Facebook and Metro newspaper.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Advertisement Effectiveness
This advertisement is effective as it displays all the goals that Triple J Success wants to achieve.
The advertisement projects a high level of benefit positioning as it displays the main and most important
features of the A PLUS application. The picture displays three main features, an agenda/checklist,
scientific graphing calculator, and A PLUS’ original USP: a course specific search engine. The heading,
“A PLUS Revolutionizes the Way You Succeed” helps emphasizes that A PLUS is supposed to benefit
the user. Since the application’s function is to aid students with their school life, it offers a rational appeal
to its audiences. Students want to succeed in life, and with our heading it gives out a rational appeal to
students. As this is also the first product of Triple J Success, this advertisement brings brand awareness
about A PLUS. It also brings awareness by stating, “The First Ever Course-Specific Search Engine”,
indicating that our USP has never been invented before and we are trying to promote it to students.
Overall, the ad is highly effective as it successfully fulfills all the advertising objectives we want to
achieve and will be a great way to promote A PLUS.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Public Relations
The Public Relations plan for A PLUS is to prepare a press release. This will include news articles,
pictures, biographies, television commercial clips, and other interesting information. The news articles
will be published online to websites such as Wall Street Journal, The Star, and other news websites. On
the next page is an example of a news article written that can be found on the Star.

Annual Reports

Triple J Success will be issuing annual reports
to corporate investors that find our product to
their liking. This will implement key ideas of
generating profitable margins from the help of
investors that will continue to make A Plus
grow

Crisis Management

Triple J Success will hire public relation firms
to control fault and minimize damage. If any
problems will occur, the firm will hold for
accountability and persuade consumers of only
beneficiary of high quality apps from our
company

Media Release

Triple J Success will have a press kit on hand to
ensure that they are ready for all situations her
to come. This will consist of pictures, online
video clips, biographies, and other interesting
facts.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Sales Promotion
Samples
Samples will be a great sales promotion for A PLUS. In our scenario, our app will have a free
version and an upgradable version. We have a sample form that will be distributed to high schools and
universities across Toronto, where students can fill out and send to our company. The students will give
us their email address connected to the free version of the app and with that we will give them a code to
enter to receive and use a 7 day trial of A PLUS Pro (upgradable version). By doing this, we will be able
to attract more users to the upgradable version and if they enjoy using the upgradable version of the app,
they will most likely upgrade to the pro version, after completing the sample.
Although samples for tangible items are expensive for companies, an app sample is less costly; all
the consumer has to do is download the app. We do not have to manufacture samples for consumer and
this saves us money. Also, we do not need sales promoters, because all facts, answers and questions can
be found on the app download store or on our company’s website. Nonetheless, the reviews can influent
the consumer’s choice in buying the app. If we give them a sample of the pro version, they will leave
comments and rate the app for others to see, and in the end, promote our product. Also, we can give the
app to well-known people through social media, such as famous youtubers who has the same target
audience as us. They can also help influence students to buy our product. They can give reviews of the
app that will allow for more consumption. This is not celebrity endorsement because we are not getting a
celebrity to promote our product, but rather get a positive review in order to influence consumers.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

A PLUS Trial Form

Name:
Email:

Age:
School:

How did you hear about A PLUS?

Would you like to see additional features? (List them if you do)

Do you currently enjoy using the free version of A PLUS?

Would you recommend A PLUS to a friend?

Yes

No

Would you like to sign up for our weekly newsletters?

Yes

No

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Contests and sweepstakes is another great sales promotion for A PLUS. Through the use of social
media such as Facebook, we can achieve an online sweepstakes. For example, in order to get one entry
for the contest, they would have to like our Facebook page. For more entries, the contestants can share
the sweepstake photo on their Facebook wall, make tweets on Twitter, and send pictures of the
sweepstake via Instagram. This is an easy way to spark interest in A PLUS and get information about
who enters the contest.
Most of the entrants will be part of our selected target market: post-middle school students and by
doing this, we can find out the demographics about the consumer. By knowing this information it also
helps build up a customer database for future promotions. Also, contests help boost sales even though
there is “no purchase necessary”; the consumers will still buy our product to try out before the contest
ends. In our case, the prize for the contest is the pro version of A PLUS for the winner and 3 other
friends. Through the use of social media, we can boost the amount of sales and promote our product for
free. The sweepstake itself does not cost money, as it is done freely through social media websites and A
PLUS Pro only has to be manufactured once, and afterwards can be downloaded. Triple J Success does
not need to manufacture more apps for the winners, as they are getting the same one that can be
purchased on the app store.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Marketing Strategy: Price
Objective
Triple J Success wants to price A PLUS at an affordable and purchase-worthy cost to students.
Not only that, but at the same time we want to generate the largest amount of money at a quick amount of
time to break-even and gain large amounts of profit. To achieve these goals, Triple J Success decided to
sell the A PLUS application for $1.99 on the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. This price is a
low, affordable and attractive price to students. The results of our survey determined that about 60% of
respondents wanted the A PLUS app to be priced under $1.99, and that about 20% of respondents wanted
the app to be free. To accommodate these demands by our target market, we made a free version of A
PLUS, however with limited features, and an upgradable version that is a consumer friendly price of
$1.99. Due to this attractive price, our second goal can be achieved, as 60% of respondents would
purchase the app at this price, and over 75% were at least moderately interested in A PLUS. This
attraction will cause a fast break-even point and generate a large amount of profit as well.

Strategy
Triple J Success will use penetration pricing as the pricing strategy for A PLUS. This strategy is perfect
as we are the only all in one educational productivity app. Not only that, we want to attract students will
our affordable and low cost of $1.99. Since this price is attractive, as described above in the objective
section, it will result in a large amount of sales, and A PLUS will dominant the market. Also, this will
result in a low competition, as competitors will have to match our already low price of $1.99. This
strategy will not only delay the entry of competitors, if they are any, but also encourage students to
purchase this already low costing app instead of waiting for another. This results in a large amount of
sales in a small period of time, and we will receive a quick break-even point and large amount of profits,
which are our desired goals.
A PLUS will be positioned as a cheap and value-worth application. Students will not purchase
something that won’t benefit them in return no matter how cheap it is, and A PLUS will prove to be not
only amazing to use, but also a cheap app any student can purchase.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Pricing penetration offers an easy way to attract students to a new product at a low price. Students
would not want to wait for another all in one educational productivity app, and will purchase A PLUS
when it is released. The students will already be attracted to A PLUS due to its mass amount of benefits,
and the price of $1.99 will secure their purchase. It greatly helps Triple J Success to achieve the quick
break-even point that we want to achieve and will also reduce the number of competitors of entering the
market due to the low selling price of $1.99.
Weakness
Triple J Success is a recently started company, thus we lack the market experience. We are new to
the market with little to none public exposure. Competing brands that have both the knowledge and
experience in the making of an app as well as the market is a difficult task. Also, this strategy is risky as
it is dependent on accurate information and a mistake or inaccurate information can result in a loss.
Opportunities
So far, there has not been an application on the market where it offers as many features as A
PLUS does. And as we enter a new age of multi-tasking, the A PLUS app is likely to see a favorable
future for students. Also we do not need to manufacture the app, once the coding is complete; the app
will be available for download. With this said, Triple J Success can use economies of scale to develop
new brands. Since we already have the code for a word processor, agenda, scientific graphing calculator
and many more, we can use the code and make more apps that have individual features instead. This will
result in a large amount of revenue to be received for the same cost to develop. Also, A PLUS is price
sensitive as it will be a popular and inexpensive app. To increase demand and sales, we can continually
add upgrades or special features that enhance A PLUS for a minimum cost.
Threats
As A PLUS will be the only all in one educational productivity app, competitors may develop a similar
app for a lower cost. Because A PLUS is price sensitive, a lower cost app with similar features will be in
demand more than A PLUS. However this is highly unlikely, as A PLUS already has an initial low price
of $1.99 entering the market. Competitors that have only single features may try to price their app at a
lower cost to steal customers. These factors may result in a lower price of A PLUS during the maturity
stage as well as an expensive introduction stage to secure A PLUS’ sales.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Selling Price
The A PLUS application will be sold on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for $1.99. This price
is set to make it affordable for all types of students. This price is also made to persuade students to try
using an educational productivity app in their educational lives. Most students usually don’t own
educational apps as it seems expensive and unnecessary to them. However, due to the mass amount of
features it has, students will believe they are getting their money’s worth, as A PLUS’ value is greater
than all the other educational apps, and is cheaper at the same time. Compared to other educational apps
that only aims for a specific function, such as iStudiez Pro which sells for $2.99 and Graphing Calculator
which sells for $1.99, we provide a wide range of features that is summarized in one app that only costs
$1.99, making it a very cost worthy app.
Students usually hesitate in buying apps and will usually want a free version; in this case we do
offer a free version to lure students into buying the upgradable version that costs $1.99. From our market
research it was discovered that 60% of respondents would purchase the app at this price, and over 75%
were at least moderately interested in A PLUS. These results will result in a fast break-even point and
generate a large amount of profit, making this the perfect price to set. Also, a low price is needed to
accompany the pricing penetration strategy that we want to incorporate. Low prices attract consumers,
and will secure our place in the market and remove any potential competitors.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Costs
Based off the survey conducted to our target market, 75% of the respondents voted that they were at least
moderately interested in A PLUS and that they would purchase this app. Thus, Triple J Success will use
this percentage to help calculate an approximation of the amount of people in our target market that
would purchase the app in Toronto and in Ontario. Our target market consists of students between ages
15-24.
Toronto population between ages 15-19: 150,045
Toronto population between ages 20-24: 183,470
Fixed costs
Development of app: $25,000
(Apple App Store) Apple’s share per sale: 30%/sale plus $99/year fee
(Google Play Store) Google’s share per sale: 30%/sale plus $25/ year fee
Variable Costs
Advertising and computer maintenance
Approximately $0.30 per app
YEAR 1 (Toronto):
Estimated number of customers:
= (Target market population in Toronto) x 75%
= (150,045+183,470) x 0.75= 250136.25
Gross Profit:
= (Selling Price – Variable Costs)
= ($1.99 – 0.30)
= ($1.69)
Total Gross Profit
= (Gross profit) x (Estimated number of customers)
= ($1.69) x 250136.25 = $422730.26
Total profit:
(Total Gross Profit – Development costs - Apple’s fees – Google fees) – (Projected Revenue x
Apple/Google share per sale)
($422730.26 - $25000 - $99 - $25) - ($422730.26 x 0.30)
= $397606.26 - $126819.08
Total profit
= $270787.18

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Pricing Policies
Leader Pricing
By pricing A PLUS at a low price, it not only attracts consumers to purchase it, but also makes them
believe that Triple J Success’ other products will be equally good. As mentioned in the Opportunities
section of the SWOT analysis, and in more detail, in the Future Goals section, Triple J Success will also
produce single feature educational apps. When these apps are released, students will be informed about it
and through this leader pricing policy, it causes the students to remember how cheap and amazing A
PLUS was and results in them believing that these new apps will be just as good and cheap. Students
enjoy cheap products, and will most likely purchase our new apps after enjoying A PLUS. This shall
generic traffic in Triple J Success and result in more customers to purchase our cheap line of apps. By
attracting more customers with our low priced apps, it helps us stay dominant and lower competition
from entering the market which is exactly what we want to achieve with our pricing penetration strategy.
If competition does enter, it will be difficult to compete with an already popular and low-priced app.
Leader pricing is also related to the positioning of a cheap and value-worth product, as A PLUS has an
excellent price while providing such amazing benefits.

Psychological Pricing
By pricing A PLUS at $1.99 instead of $2.00, it indicates a less expensive press. By pricing it at $2.00,
students will hesitate to pay for the app, but at a price of $1.99, perception takes place and dictates that it
is under $2.00. As a result, students will not hesitate to purchase A PLUS. Also, by pricing it at $1.99 it
indicates what type of company Triple J Success is. Relating to our position it will indicate that our
company sells cheap products which is what we want consumers to know. This will promote our
company’s reputation of pricing cheap value-worth products, and most consumers if not all like cheap
and value-worth products. This helps set up our pricing penetration strategy as we want to enter the
market with A PLUS set at a cheap price. This shall attract customers, and as a result generate a large
amount of sales and reduce incoming competitors that cannot compete with our psychological low
pricing of $1.99.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

FUTURE PLANS
Future Goals
Market Share
Market Share of Educational Apps

A PLUS

$4500000
6000000

Graphing Calculator
Other Educational Apps
iStudiez Pro

$4000000
$100000

After about two years A PLUS has been introduced in the market, Triple J Success hopes to obtain 40%
of the market share. As we heavily advertised in Toronto, students of Toronto will be the first to know
and use A PLUS. As popularity increases here, positive reviews and popularity of A PLUS can flow
throughout Canada and the world. As A PLUS will be the first all in one educational productivity app, it
will generate a lot of popularity among the student population and be on news headlines and popular
social media sites. Current competitors will have a hard time competing as they only offer one feature,
with this said, we want to dominate the educational app market and hold about 40% of the market share.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

New Products
As Triple J Success already has the code for all the features in A PLUS, we are able to make more apps
that provide only one feature. We will take the code regarding the specific feature from A PLUS and put
it into a new app. Since we already have the code for a word processor, agenda, scientific graphing
calculator and many more, we can use the same code and make more apps that have individual features
instead. As A PLUS will already have been a successful and popular product, the new apps that the same
company (Triple J Success) releases will already have demand by its customers. This will result in a large
amount of revenue to be received for the same cost to develop.

Co-Branding
As stated earlier, Triple J Success already has the code to all the features of A PLUS. If we were to work
with other brands to make these apps with individual features better, we not only don’t have to compete
with as many competitors, but we can make the app better and more attractive to our target market. The
cost to develop has already been done, so the only costs would be improving the new app, which will be
done by the other brand as Triple J Success provided the code for the feature already.

Advertising
After advertising throughout Toronto, publicity about A PLUS will develop among the students and
cause A PLUS to appear on news headlines and of the sort. At first we will be advertising about brand
awareness about the new app, A PLUS, however once lots of students purchase the app, Triple J Success
shall use another strategy to advertise. We shall position our advertisements as brand preference. We
shall indicate that are a dominating educational app, and show the positive reviews and stories from our
customers. With this advertising, those who did not purchase A PLUS will do so, resulting in more
customers.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Product Life Cycle
Introduction
Product: Research is conducted on the individuals who purchase A PLUS and we will ask for their
reviews of A PLUS. This information will help us understand why we are getting our current sales.
Place: A PLUS will be found on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. These app stores can be
accessed anywhere with internet connection. Also, A PLUS can be found on the Triple J Success website.
No storage or inventory management is necessary, as the app is a code that needs to be manufactured
once.
Promotion: Triple J Success will advertise and promote the new all in one educational productivity app
with rational appeal and brand awareness. Ads will be found online through social media, as well as in
the busy city of Toronto. TTC shelters and newspaper ads will contain the A PLUS advertisement.
Price: Pricing A PLUS at two prices: free and at a low price of $1.99 will attract students to purchase the
app. No other app offers as many features, so students would not wait, and will purchase A PLUS due to
our penetration pricing strategy.

Growth
Product: Triple J Success will ask for customer reviews and rates, and use this information to change
advertising strategies or the app itself.
Place: A PLUS will still be found on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, as well as the Triple J
Success website.
Promotion: Triple J Success will continue to use brand awareness for A PLUS to help maintain its
growth and popularity. We will have social media pages and accounts, which allows for students to
follow and be updated about ongoing information about A PLUS. Advertisements will still be found in
Toronto, and due to our growing popularity we will ask popular universities, such as Waterloo University
and University of Toronto to positively rate A PLUS. This will cause us to make news headlines that can
help advertise A PLUS in the country and worldwide.
Price: The price of A PLUS will remain the same, as it is already a low price, and competitors most
likely did not enter the market yet with a lower costing and similar app.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Product Life Cycle
Maturity
Product: Triple J Success will continue to gain credible reviews from students to strive for new
innovative options and features.
Place: A PLUS will still be found on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, as well as the Triple J
Success website.
Promotion: Triple J Success will continue advertisements to promote the use of A PLUS. However these
advertisements will be different as it will be displaying brand preference. We will show the target market
why A PLUS is the best. We will display the satisfaction and amazing stories A PLUS gave to the
student population. Our company will create videos and posts on social media sites to show the media
and public all the positive reviews and satisfaction of A PLUS, thus creating popularity and good rating
among A PLUS.
Price: The price of A PLUS will remain the same, as it is already a low price, and competitors most
likely did not enter the market as our low priced product is too popular to be replaced.

Decline
Product: Triple J Success will get research department to figure out why A PLUS is declining in sales
and find a way achieve more downloads. Also, we will get customer responses on how to improve A
PLUS, so we can get back old and new consumers,
Place: A PLUS will still be found on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, as well as the Triple J
Success website.
Promotion: Triple J Success will increase in advertisements online as popularity has caused A PLUS to
be known worldwide. Since we live in a technological society and this application is technology based,
continuing to advertise through these methods may increase sales.
Price: The price of A PLUS may decrease to $0.99 to attract new customers. The most logical reason for
the decline stage is that competitors had entered the market and we will need to competitively price to
compete with these competitors. These small improvements may allow an increase in sales, thus escaping
the decline.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Product Life Cycle
Decision Point
Product: Triple J Success will reformulate, redevelop and reintroduce a better version of A PLUS. Triple
J Success will do continuous research about student life and what they would want as new features on A
PLUS. Our research and development team will generate surveys to ask students what features they
would want to see on the newly designed A PLUS. Our company will then use this research and feedback
to create and design a new and improved A PLUS that meets consumer’s needs and wants. Some new
features that may be included are educational-based games so students can understand the work while
having fun. Once these needs and wants are met, the popularity of A PLUS will rise. Also, we can use the
existing code of the features of A PLUS to make new apps that perform only one feature. Since A PLUS
was already popular, our new apps will gain popularity easily.
Place: A PLUS will still be found on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, as well as the Triple J
Success website.
Promotion: Triple J Success will promote and launch these new apps to consumers. Our company will
advertise this new app once again through the same methods as well as some new methods. We may
target parents of teenagers as a means for teenagers to purchase this app. When parents are informed that
A PLUS is an amazing app that can help their child excel in their academics they will quickly inform
their children to purchase it. These new methods will help launch and reintroduce the new and improved
A PLUS to consumers.
Price: The price of these new apps will be fairly cheap. The price will be competitively priced with
competitors, and be the lowest as possible to attract our target market. The price of these new apps will
be priced at $0.99 to attract students.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Product Life Cycle Management: 4 P’s of Marketing
Product
Triple J Success will research about a student’s daily life. Our research team will record their
needs, wants and habits in an educational environment. Also, our research team will look deeply into
materials and sources that help students with their educational lives. With this research, Triple J Success
will design and develop the perfect app to help students perform to the best of their ability
Promotion
Triple J Success will promote A PLUS through media reports, newspaper publications, TTC
shelters and social media sites. With the help of these sources, our company will be able to explain the
uses and features of A PLUS to build publicity among consumers. These advertisements will grab student
attention as A PLUS will be the first all in one educational productivity app. Also, we will promote A
PLUS with popular universities and colleges as publicity grows. Students will see these popular sources
supporting A PLUS and word will spread among the student population, generating excitement and
popularity for A PLUS. Also, our company will create a video tutorial that outlines the uses and features
of the app as a sales promotion, so consumers will know what to expect of this app.
Price
A PLUS will be sold at the price of $1.99. This price is a very low price for students. This means
that consumers will have no need of purchasing other apps as A PLUS will already have all their features
and much more. Without the need of other applications, the price of $1.99 is competitively priced among
other competitors. In fact, this price is actually cheaper as apps that have single features and tasks
generally cost between $0.99 and $2.99, while A PLUS offers dozens of amazingly different features for
only $1.99.

Place
A PLUS can be purchased at the app store just like a regular app. Consumers have easy access to
the app store and A PLUS can be easily purchased. The information and data regarding A PLUS will be
kept and stored at the head research department at Triple J Success. There will be no need to ship or
transport any goods physically, as this is all technological computer based. There will be no need for
inventory as this is not a tangible product, it is an application used by technology. Also, the location that
A PLUS will be heavily advertised is in the urban areas of Toronto.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

APPENDIX

Information and Communications
Technologies in Schools Survey
2003/04, Centre for Education,
Statistics, Statistics Canada.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-595m/81-595-m2004017-eng.pdf (accessed
December 7, 2013)

Internet Uses by Canadians

http://www.statcan.gc.ca
/tables-tableaux/sumsom/l01/cst01/comm29a
-eng.htm (accessed
December 8, 2013)

Percent of Usage

Statistics Canada, CANSIM,
table 358-0130.

100
80
60
40
20
0

2005
2007
E-mail

Researching
events

Online
Investments

Education
related
material

Other Activies

2009

Uses

These two graphs shown above show a trend in the use of technology and interest in education.
From the years 2005-2009, it has shown, on the second graph, that there is an increase in the use of
education related internet services. There is a direct correlation between the use of technology and
interest in school. In the first table, it shows many software programs that schools use to help educate
students. This also correlates with technology use by students. This is because the use in technology is
only acceptable when there are programs to educate students with. If schools have access to these
programs, they will most likely use it to enhance the learning experience of the students. Because of this,
the A PLUS app will be able to appeal to the students through the use of technology.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Appendix: Competitor Advertisements
Graphing Calculator Advertisement:

Product Showcase:

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Appendix: Competitor Advertisements
iStudiez Pro Advertisement and Product Showcase

.

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Margins Advertisement:

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

inClass Advertisement:

Bench Prep Advertisement:

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A PLUS: Marketing Plan

Appendix: Citation
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Farago, Peter. "Mobile App Growth Led by Video Sharing: YouTube in the Crosshairs?" Flurry
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Flack, Derek. "Ever Wondered What It Costs to Advertise on the TTC?" BlogTO RSS. BlogTO, 25 Oct.
2010. Web. 21 May 2014.
<http://www.blogto.com/city/2010/10/ever_wondered_what_it_costs_to_advertise_on_the_ttc/>.
"Graphing Calculator by Appcylon LLC (CA) - Sensor Tower - App Marketing and Mobile SEO
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