Business Marketing Plan
Section I: Marketing Plan and Sales Strategy
The target consumer is someone who is both below and above 18 years old, belongs to the low income range, either male and female, with no occupation requirement, either single and married (regardless of the family size), belongs to the Black and White American ethnic groups, preferably college educated, and owns or rents a home.
The name of the company that will do the marketing is Sync Pure Drinks Co. Ltd. (SPDCL). The top two products that the company is currently planning to release to the marketplace, following a successful launch sometime over the next six months are the Sync Pure Drinks Bottled Water and Sync Pure Drinks Juice. The operations will start in Texas by the first quarter of 2017. SPDCL has originally planned to make the target market characteristics as broad as possible so that the product would not be limited to only a certain niche. The goal was to eventually make the product a ubiquitous one. That can only be done if people of all ages, education levels, income groups, genders, and ethnic groups would be able to afford and buy it. As for the age target, SPDCL’s beverages (i.e. bottled water and non-alcoholic drinks and juices) will be marketed for people of all ages, even for infants and toddlers, and the members of the geriatric population. As for the target education level, the main target would be those who are in college because these tend to be the part of the population that is so conscious with their health. Then again, SPDCL’s products are available to all.
SPDCL’s beverages are well-priced to accommodate the members of the economy, middle, and elite classes. In most cases, however, the company foresees that the economy and middle classes would constitute the largest part of its customers. As for the ethnic groups, White and Black Americans would be the main target groups as they are the largest ethnic groups in Texas. There were some 27.4 million people living in Texas as of July 2015 ; almost 80% of which has White American origins; 12.5% has Black American origins; and 37.6% has Hispanic or Latino origins. 26% were aged less than 18 years old. Using the smallest number which is 26%, pertaining to the age group, it would add up to some 7.12 Million potential customers for the product. This does not put into consideration the other population groups that may also avail of SPDCL’s beverages, because again, it is made to be available for everyone.
Demographic Description
The target consumer is someone who is both below and above 18 years old, belongs to the low income range, either male and female, with no occupation requirement, either single and married (regardless of the family size), belongs to the Black and White American ethnic groups, preferably college educated, and owns or rents a home.
Consumer
Age Range: 18 years old, above and below
Income Range: Lower Income Bracket/Range
Gender: Male and Female
Occupation: Encompasses all occupation levels from Entry level employee to Executive Level
Marital Status: Married and Single
Family Size: Encompasses all family-sizes
Business
Industries: All corporate industries that have employees who can buy up the products. Main target would be the grocery stores
Sector: All business sectors that have employees who can buy up the products. Main target would be the wholesale and retail business sectors
Years in Business: Unremarkable as the company does not use years in industry to shortlist potential business partners.
Company Revenues: Unremarkable as the company does not use company revenues to shortlist potential business partners.
Assess the Company’s Market Competition
The U.S. bottled water market was valued at 11.8 Billion USD in 2012 so this will be used as a reference . The numbers and figures below are based on estimates only .
Historical Market Leader: Nestle
Competitors with increased market share: Private Label, Topo Chico, Sparkling, Dasani, Others
Overall Competition is seen to be Increasing
Description of Market Leaders:
Competitor One is expanding because of cheap market entry costs
Competitor 2 is expanding because of its aggressive marketing
Competitor 3 is expanding because of it also has aggressive marketing strategies
Basis of the Competition: Value, Price, Quality
How the company will compete: Cut throat, lowering down prices, improving quality
Defend your strategy to successfully compete against market leaders
The basis of the competition would be value, which is a factor of price and quality. The strategy that the company plans to use to compete against the market leaders is cut throat competition. This involves cutting down the prices of the company’s products to levels that are below the price point of the competitors. Startup companies can afford to do this (undercut the competition in terms of prices) because they typically have lower operating costs compared to their larger competition. Another important component would be to ensure that the products will be high quality—i.e. that they will actually taste good and be fun to drink. By combining a low price and high quality, customers will find it hard not to recognize the products; eventually, they will buy them. This will generate the desire effect which is the acquisition of a solid customer base and a significant share of the market. As for the barrier to entry for new competitors, this remains to be the high capital expenditure needed to run the business up to the point where it becomes profitable. With conservative fiscal spending shown in the marketing budget, this can be overcome.
Clarify the Company’s Message
The most important part of the message would be the Functions and Finances because they would be the differentiating factor that would set the company apart from its competitors. In the future, what the company aims for is the creation of an environment where the company would be able to benefit from a higher level of profit margin. That profit margin would strengthen the company’s bottom line, enough for it to channel back some of the retained earnings to the customers and shareholders. Couple the company’s lower price targets with the goal of the company to provide high quality products (i.e. Finance plus Function) and the customers would really find the value proposition of the company highly attractive.
Identify the Marketing Vehicles you Plan to Use to Build Your Company’s Brand and Justification
Offline marketing vehicles were the preferred choice of marketing strategies for the company to build up its brand. The company’s marketing and distribution network will be focused on grocery store marketing, mainly offline. Sampling in grocery stores will be provided. Continuous and aggressive promotional activities that offer huge savings will also be used.
The goal was to bank on the effects of the word of mouth advertising, which according to studies, can be an effective alternative to more contemporary strategies like social media-based ones .
Grocery store marketing
For grocery store marketing, the idea was to tie up with the biggest networks of grocery stores across the state of Texas, at least initially, then across the country in the future. What makes this marketing vehicle attractive is the fact that grocery stores serve as the last channel where a company can advertise their products; if the customers like it, they can simply go to the shelves and buy. It is a more simple and direct to the point type of marketing. Moreover, the fact that the bottled waters and juices are already in the shelves serve as a safety net that the products would be sold up to a certain extent.
Affiliate marketing and distribution network tie-ups
Affiliate marketing pertains to a marketing vehicle where the goal is to incentivize people or an affiliate organization to sell the products. In this case, it will be through sales commissions, especially for bulk orders. Money is one of the best incentives and if there is money involved, affiliate marketers interested of turning in a profit would be attracted to sell the company’s products. The company will be able to meet its sales and marketing quotas; the affiliates in turn get to generate profits for their work.
Sponsorship of Health and Fitness events
Health and fitness events can be the perfect marketing venue where the company can flaunt its products. This marketing vehicle requires the company to sponsor health and fitness events such as fun runs. Higher brand awareness and recognition would be among the obvious benefits. Offering free drinks to thirsty marathon runners, among other participants of a fun run (as an example) would definitely have a huge impact on the image of the brand.
Defend your plan to differentiate your plan from the competition
What is going to set this company’s products apart is the fact that it relies on higher value and traditional marketing strategies. Online marketing has become so ubiquitous that the public no longer tend to appreciate products being marketed online. A premium is now placed on products marketed and advertised offline. This is going to be the “Coca-Cola” factor of this company. The marketing budget justifies the use of the proposed budget for marketing with their respective percentage allocation (as part of the total budget for marketing).
References
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Census.gov. (2016). Quick Facts Texas. Retrieved from http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/48.
Libai, B., Muller, E., & Peres, R. (2013). Decomposing the value of word-of-mouth seeding programs: Acceleration versus expansion. Journal of Marketing Research, 161-176.
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