Business
Executive summary
Marketing is a fundamental process within the operational mandate of any organization. Accordingly, through marketing, businesses manage to generate product awareness through extensive approaches construed towards both product development and reach to target customers. Encompassing four facets of product, place, price and promotion, marketing is a holistic tool towards sustaining sales and market growth of an organization. Hence, through the inculcation of the diverse principles within the marketing facet, organizations reap successful outcomes. Most specifically, a marketing plan is directed towards developing an effective product policy statement in regards to vision, mission, goals and various approaches towards product launch in the diverse consumer markets. Thus, this paper will undertake a marketing plan for AHA vitamin water.
- Develop a branding strategy for your product that covers the brand name, logo, slogan, and at least one (1) brand extension.
First and foremost, a brand denotes a symbol, name, sign, design, term of a prevailing combination of the aforesaid aspects directed towards the identification of goods and services of one organization (MacDonald & Hugh 2013). A brand entails a differentiated core competency of an organization in regards to its competitors. All in all, a brand is a summation of all the features that make the product offering highly distinctive. Additionally, the branding strategy is construed towards assisting to establish a product within the market coupled with building the product within a consumer oriented mandate. Thus, an effective branding strategy is as follows:
Company logo
Company slogan
The company slogan is: “hip and healthy beverage for all”
Brand extension
The company has also ventured into extensive branding of t-shirts with the brand name. As our flagship company name, our AHA name is highly profitable in regards to other revenue sources. However, the company has invested extensively into vitamin water as the main product to sustain revenue yield.
- Develop a marketing strategy for your product and determine an appropriate time table for execution of the plan (e.g., phase 1, phase 2, etc.). Provide a rationale for your response.
Consistency is one of the most fundamental facets in marketing (Silk 2012). As such, for AHA to ensure consistency, it is imperative that coordination of all the marketing activities prevails. Thus, the company will inculcate an integrated marketing strategy for the product. The integrated marketing approach will be mainly based on three main aspect. As the first activity, research and analysis will denote examining the most plausible way to design the beverages and meet the market requirements. As such, the three main aspects within research and analysis will include:
- Development of the most appropriate message to relay to the consumer market
Determination of the most appropriate message will be based on the target customers within the operational mandate. As a business construed towards meeting the health conscious market, the message determined should be detailed to ensure extensive awareness by the prospective customers.
- Determining the plausible media to incorporate
As the second aspect within the research and analysis process, the organization will inculcate a marketing mix towards ensuring effective marketing of the products. The marketing mix will be based on three Medias directed towards to sustain an optimal mix construed towards sustaining and identification of the target market (Silk 2012). The marketing mix will entail advertising, sales promotion coupled with public relations. Advertising, as a marketing approach that denotes incorporating various advertising Medias, the main media incorporated will be internet coupled with television. The internet will generate an interactive approach whereby the social media will play a pivotal approach. On the other hand, television will encompass the top television networks in order to sustain a widened scope of market reach. Sales promotion will denote a short term incentive construed towards making the prospective customers purchase the products. As such, the company will make imperative investment into activities that will ensure that the change in prices of goods will sustain a price coupled with value relationship with the target market. Hence, in the sales promotion mandate, each customer will get a free vitamin beverage for every two purchased. On the other hand, the public relations mandate will be construed towards generating company and product awareness of the company. As such, the public relations will be undertaken through extensive exhibitions and trade fairs to sustain awareness.
- Develop the most plausible approach to distribute the product within the most cost effective prices
The company will inculcate an intensive distribution approach. The intensive distribution approach will be directed towards ensuring the beverages are available in majority of the top stores across US. Admittedly, the distribution approach will sustain product availability considering the startup nature of the company.
As the second aspect within the integrated marketing approach, the creative aspect will entail the actual marketing, designing coupled with copywriting the promotional materials to be used. Finally, the implementation process will entail the act of holistically putting the plan together, generating a strategy and ensuring that it succeeds effectively through plausible monitoring.
- Develop a positioning statement which should include, at a minimum, a benefit, user, competitive, or innovative statement about your product. Provide a rationale for your time frame for execution of your positioning statement.
A positioning statement is a plausible tool towards bringing into focus coupled with clarity to the generation of a marketing strategy (Silk 2012). Thus, from the evaluation of AHA vitamin water, the main components of the positioning statement include:
Target market / user: the organization’s main target market is the health conscious market segment. As an ongoing trend within the consumer market, the prospect of healthy eating has been evident within the developed economies. The notion of carbonated drinks exuding high calorie content has led to the emergence of the health conscious market. Thus, the company aims to rake in sales from the aforesaid emergent market.
Competitive analysis: the main competitor is the Gatorade vitamin water company. Admittedly, the company poses an extensive rivalry to the company since it is highly established within the sector.
Benefits: the vitamin water is highly innovative and based on additional ingredients construed towards making blended vitamin water. As such, the vitamin waters possess patented ingredients that pose an exclusive competitive edge over the main rival. As such, through the innovative ingredients, the company is bound to sustain competitive edge.
Reason to believe: the company undertook extensive market research to determine the consumer perception within the market of operation. Through extensive product testing, the company sustained a proper market response.
Time frame: the time frame for the execution of the positioning statement was 6 months. 6 months was mainly undertaken to ensure proper and solid research findings. Extensive market research was undertaken to ensure that the findings were solid proof and based on test retest technique.
- Examine the relevant marketing science of customer behavior for your product.
Consumer behavior has been changing significantly within the beverage and drinks industry. From the evaluation of MacDonald & Hugh (2013) consumer behavior has been shaped by both internal and external factors that determine consumption choice. The main internal factor that determines consumer behavior is the tastes and preferences. On the other hand, external factors that determine consumer behavior include peers, family and friends. Thus, from the evaluation of the beverage industry, the two main aspects that influence consumer behavior include tastes and preferences coupled with peers. The tastes and preferences entail consumer perception of the beverages that are likely to influence the consumption decision (MacDonald & Hugh 2013). Tastes and preferences emanate from the consumption choice in regards to health choice. On the other hand, peer recommendation highly influences the consumption behavior of the consumers. Through peer recommendation, the company can obtain plausible sales.
- Develop your company’s mission statement and company introduction.
Company’s mission
Company’s mission is to provide quality oriented beverages that are innovative based and construed towards ensuring a healthy society. Through continuous research the company aims at ensuring plausible beverages are availed to the consumer market. Extensive investment into research and development coupled with a continuous feedback approach between the company and the consumer market forms the foundation of the operational mandate within the organization.
Company introduction
AHA is a beverage company that was formed in 2013. As a new company, it specializes in the sale of vitamin water to the prospective customers. The vitamin water sold emanates from patented ingredients that have differentiated the company products from other rivals. As a private company, it aims at ensuring profitability and performance growth through extensive market research and plausible marketing approach.
Conclusion
Marketing emanates from the inculcation of proper tools and approaches construed towards ensuring market reach and sales yield. From the above evaluation, proper incorporation of various approaches such as branding, positioning and effective marketing strategy, the company is bound to sustain competitive advantage and plausible sales.
References
Brady, D. (2011). Essentials of international marketing. London: M.E. Sharpe.
MacDonald, M., and Hugh, W. (2013). Marketing plans: How to prepare them, how to use them. New York: John Wiley & sons.
Peter Doyle, S. B. (2012). Innovation in Marketing. London: Routledge.
Sandhusen, R. L. (2010). Marketing. London: Barron's Educational Series.
Silk, A. (2012). What is marketing?. London: Harvard business press.
