The marketing plan is a tool used to develop and present a company’s marketing strategy. At minimum, the plan should contain descriptive information on the company, its products or services, target customer, marketing research, advertisement, promotions, and a list of actions items that is supported with a strategy plan for execution.
Directions: Create a fictional start-up company that serves the U.S. market with a product or service.
Section 1: Executive Summary
My start-up company is a funeral home. The name of the company is “Peculiar Funeral Home”, which was founded in 2010 by____________. This funeral home is located in Pembroke, Georgia. We are a full service funeral home and offer, but are not limited to, picking up the body, embalming, cremation, dressing, make-up, caskets, flowers, wake, funeral services, and specialty ceremonies.
Product description
At Peculiar Funeral Home, we understand that life and death is guaranteed to happen but in many cases it is unexpected, so we offer an array of plans and payment options. We also have a pre-planning service, called the C&P Plan, so that individuals can take part in making their own funeral arrangements. Our mission is to provide excellent services and compassion at the most reasonable price.
Section 2: targeting customers
At Peculiar Funeral Home, we are committed to provide lower middle class of Pembroke, and other adjacent rural areas with excellent funeral services. The customers will have the option of opening credit lines with the company so that they can pay the dues in the form of installments. The needy customers will be offered free services in this regard, and their bills will be sponsored by the company’s charity.
Demographic profile
The business will start to operate in the city of Pambroke, and it has plans to expand to adjacent areas in due time. The company will operate as a social service provider, and its main purpose is to provide economical funeral services rather than the reaping of financial gains that most of the competitors are doing in the current times. The owners of the business are Regina Polite, and Crystal Elliot.
Psychographic profile
The major target population of the business will be made up of those who are living under the line of poverty, and they have to die in dark streets. No one cares about them, but we do, and we will publicize a toll free phone number that people can use to report unattended bodies.
PROFESSION
The professionals whom are engaged in labor works, and other lowly paid jobs such as watchman-ship and cleaning services will be the top priority of the business, and the spirit of social entrepreneurship will remain evident in the operations.
geographic LOCATION
The business will start operations in the Pembroke and work to expand into various geographical areas from there.
Wants and need
The most of the funeral homes are working in order to generate profitability, but we are going to promote true Christianity’s values because the dead bodies have to be buried under humanistic concerns regardless of their families’ financial condition.
Section 3: Unique Selling Proposition
Consider what distinguishes your company from competitors, their products, and / or the price of their products and services.
unique selling proposition (usp)
The competitors have recently introduced the trend of following the capitalistic mindset in the industry in that they had to apply civic values because they have to take care of the bodies without protecting their economic and fiscal interests. However, it is a pity that business psyche has invaded the industry of funeral homes in the recent years.
The company will provide free services to those who cannot pay for the funeral, we will do so out of goodness of our hearts, and we will attempt to get on the good side of Jesus as well. We will build last resort for real religious values in the industry that might inspire others to follow the path of social service as well.
marketing objectives
The company will conduct its marketing and advertising operations through the internet, and the organization will promote itself and its services on the social media as well. We will create differentiation by using different and unique marketing channels than usual.
The company will maintain brick and mortar presence because the job that it will perform is physical in nature, but it will offer online booking services so that the customers do not have to worry about physically visiting the home.
Section 4: Pricing and Distribution Strategy
strengths, weaknesses, opportunties and threats (SWOT)
Following are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that the company has to manage along the way
Strengths
- Low pricing and costs
- Public support because of socialistic concerns
- The support of the internet
- The introduction of new business model in the industry
Weaknesses
- The business is trying some new techniques in the market that can experience failure
- The business has an operational level of competitive advantage that can be copied by the competitors easily
- The processing of orders will be slow because of less manpower
Opportunities
- The business has to emerge as a church in order to make business sense because the religious values are not going to pay the bills
- The business has to expand to different parts of the country so that potential for earnings can be enhanced
- The proper accounting system should be followed so that the management can keep a record of costs and incomes
Threats
- Growing competition
- Copycats can imitate the advantage of the company within no time
- The business may become econometric with the passage of time
supply-chain and operational system
The company is working in the industry that requires the vendors to operate locally. The in-house employees will do the services of imbuement, bathing and dressing of the dead, and outside vendors will perform the building of grave because the operation involves specialized services that are hard to develop inside the home.
pricing strategy
The management based on the customer’s ability and power to pay because we have to operate by keeping the buying power of the people in view will take the pricing decisions. The business has to keep its communal and socialistic concerns intact, and that is the ultimate source of competitive advantage for the house as well.
The body has to be buried and the families become vulnerable towards exploitation of the houses that they commit in order to gain increased profitability. In case of poor customers, the home will waiver them the in-house expenses whereas, the relevant charity has to pay the outside vendors.
Section 5: Distribution Plan and Promotions Strategy
distribution strategy
The distributional strategy will not be sophisticated in this case because the company will be operating in-house, the services will be provided locally as well. The church will also be built in the vicinity of the home so that religious values can be promoted as well. However, the church will take a lead in the future, and the funeral home will operate as a subunit of the main facility.
The promotional cards and materials would be distributed on the closing of each service. The company will always look to save on marketing and advertising activities because too much spending in this regard will place a significant dent on the profitability of the company.
marketing goals
The company has to expand its operations to different cities, and therefore, market expansion will be the top priority of the company. The organization has to keep expanding in order to survive in the jungle of corporate world.
action steps (conclusion)
The company is a fresh start, and they have to keep that in mind during the strategic management decision making. They have to focus on marketing activities upfront because it is the initial lifeline to their survival.
Secondly, they have to ensure that they do not allow the traditional economic philosophies to take over their operations with the passage of time. However, they have to induce people towards sponsoring their operations through charity because it will be their primal source of financing.
They have to start the service that can pick up the bodies that remain unintended in the streets, and this measure will go a long way in terms of providing the company with the ability to integrate conventional Christian values in the work.
Reference list (APA format)
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