Business Plan
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In a competitive market of weddings, it is necessary to develop a funding plan alongside with the marketing strategy. This will allow the start up business to create a marketing and start-up budget, and focus on planning the market entrance. In the case of a highly competitive market, the chosen market entry strategy is based on the industry’s analysis of competitive forces (Porter), and the fact that the market in the country is highly competitive, with fragmented. There is an intense rivalry among competitors, and customers, as well as suppliers have a high bargaining power. The threat of new market players’ entry is high, and the threat of substitute products is also great, as many people today decide to plan their own wedding to save some money, instead of employing a wedding management company. Based on the above analysis, it is clear that the new company will need to form strategic alliances in service industries in order to achieve its marketing objectives: increasing the number of repeat clients, decreasing the cost of customer acquisition, and creating brand awareness in the marketplace.
As it has been previously found, the wedding industry is based on value-added services, and is highly competitive. Given the fact that the new company’s marketing budget is relatively low, the main task ahead of the management is to find the most cost-effective marketing methods that will deliver the highest ROI (return on investment). After examining the possible methods of creating brand awareness, customer engagement, and market penetration, the company has considered social media and online advertising as the most feasible option. Based on the selection of medium, a marketing budget and start-up funding plan can be created, to help the management of the company plan its market penetration activities.
Budget and Funding
In order to start up the new service, the market penetration should be started online. This will include the creation of a website, social media accounts, and paid promotions. The cost of the online marketing plan will be detailed below:
Website design: $750
Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube account creation: $250
Design of logo, online leaflets, promotional materials: $250
Paid promotion (PPC and Facebook ads): $200
Total cost of start up marketing: $700
Apart from the marketing costs, however, other costs will incur, including employment of consultants from different areas of the wedding industry; catering specialists, decorators, hire companies, event organizers. The total cost of hiring staff will be $7500 per month. Offices need to be hired, and this will cost approximately $2500 per month..
Based on the above analysis, the funding needed for setting up the new wedding management business is approximately $25.000. The investment is likely to return in the first 18 months, based on the company acquiring larger contract clients from other industry players, based on long-term contracts, such as restaurants and hotels facilitating weddings.
Exit Strategy
The exit strategy of the management, or the contingency plan will be based on the initial aim of building a well-recognized and respected name for the company over a long period of time. As the service will grow, the management might engage in creating franchise packages for contractors, based on the proven business model. This will allow the new company to expand to new geographic areas, increase its reputation, and market share, while realizing a return on investment and monetizing intangible assets and intellectual property created during its activities in the industry.
Works Cited
Porter, Michael E. "Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industry and competitors." Competitive strategy: techniques for analyzing industry and competitors (1980).
