The use of channel strategies to actively promote the use of mass customization as a product differentiator will also be accomplished through intensive dealer and channel training (Swiercz, Lydon, 388). Finally the use of an integrated Partner Relationship Management (PRM) system that will give channel partners the flexibility to provide resellers with support on a 24/7 basis will also be created. The intent is to create enough support for channel strategies so they can produce up to 60 -- 70% of overall revenue for the product line.
D. Promotion
There are many different aspects of promotion that need to be included in the launch of the Liberta Ultralight. First, there is the need to quickly and convincingly differentiate its value with thought leaders, key influencers and members of the analyst and industry press. This can be accomplished through a series of outreach campaigns and also by providing these key influencers with the first production units so they can test and evaluate them. All of these key influencers need to also have access to the engineering teams so their questions can be quickly responded to, and if any problems come up, they can be quickly fixed. Another aspect of the promotional strategy for the Liberta Ultralight is in creating a lot of buzz online through the use of social networking technologies. A representative set of these applications are shown in Figure B: Web 2.0 Applications. Creating Facebook, Friendfeed and Twitter accounts and also creating and continually providing new content for blogs is critical. These strategies interlink with the need for the third major promotional strategy for launching the ultralight, and that is making sure search engine optimization (SEO) is attained on the company's website through the use of keywords and targeted blogging activity to drive up search engine rankings. Paid search through Google AdWords needs to also be included in the promotional launch too, so that when someone searches on the term "ultralight PC" or "netbook" they will see the Liberta Ultralight ad on the right side of the Google screen. All of these activities need to be coordinated into a single consolidated strategy to ensure the freedom that the Liberta Ultralight provides is clearly and well communicated.
Conclusion
The market for ultralight or netbook systems is growing at a very rapid rate due to the growth of social networking applications (Bernoff, Li, 36) and the growing adoption of low-priced systems that have SSD-based drives to optimize storage costs and minimize power consumption. The ability of ultralights to stay connected to the Web has been sporadic however. In devising a product design that includes EVDO technology (Lee, Kwak, Kim, Kim, 296) and the ability to customize configurations (Hutchings, Knox, 74) the Liberta Ultralight will attain significant market position and have a defensible, competitive unique value proposition as it is launched.
V. Appendix
Figure A: Web 2.0 Meme Map
Source: (O'Reilly, 2006)
Figure B: Web 2.0 Applications
WEB 2.0 APPLICATIONS
Applications
Descriptions
Blogs
Online diary or journal entry on the Internet, which primarily supports text, photo (photoblog), video (vlog), and audio (podcast) formats
• Google, AOL, and Yahoo offer free blogging platforms
Mashup
• Web service that gathers related content from more than one source
• IBM's mashup applications enable project managers to match team resources with a map to identify the geographical locations of the resources
Peer-to-Peer Networking
• A technique for effectively sharing music, audio, and text files
• Napster and Gnutella are popular peer-to-peer networks
Real Simple Syndication (RSS)
• Feed-based technology that, with the aid of an RSS reader, enables users to subscribe to newly released content such as text, Web pages, sound files, photos, and video
• RSS feed may contain the full content, for example a podcast, or simply a link to the content
Social Media
• Encompasses all online tools (blogs, podcasts, Wikis, social networks, vlogs) and Web sites enabling people to share content, such as text, audio, picture s, and videos
• Popular social media sites include YouTube (video) and Flickr (photos)
Social Networking
• Web sites that permit users to create online networks and communicate with friends and colleagues
• Social networking sites include MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, and Friends Reunited, and business networking sites include LinkedIn and Ryze
Tagging
• Allows users to bookmark or rate online content to share their recommendations with other online users
• Typically used by publishers of media sites attempting to benefit from users' recommendations • Popularized by sites such as Digg and del.icio.us, which enable users to publish, categorize, and share their bookmarks
Wikis
• Enables users to create and edit the content of a Web site, leveraging the expertise of online users
• Consumer Wikis enable users to comment on content, in addition to editing content
• Wikipedia, a community Wiki encyclopedia, includes approximately 1.3 million English-language articles
Sources: (Bernoff, Li, 2008); O'Reilly, 2005. What is Web 2.0. Design Patterns and Business Models of the next generation of Software. Tim O'Reilly. Published September 30, 2005. http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html
FIGURE C: Competitive Analysis
Product name
Asus Eee PC T91 (black)
Asus Eee PC 1005HA (Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, XP Home, black)
Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Netbook
Gateway LT3103u
HP Mini 5101 (Intel Atom N280 1.66GHz, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD, XP Home Basic)
HP 2140 Mini-Note
Nokia...
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