Individual Differences
The uniqueness of the volunteers in the club brings about a dynamic that can affect the cohesiveness of the group. With differences in behavior and motivation among the volunteers, leadership is required to channel their skills and time towards productive activities within the community. Leadership is also necessary to ensure that the individual differences within the volunteers do not undermine the objectives of the club, or the effort and hard work of other members. However, an issue related to leadership has been identified. Issues related to the ego are expected to a medium and high extend. The behavior modeling in the groups could be influenced by the responsibilities one is given. As a result, the egos of some of the members could inflate when they are appointed or elected to leadership positions.
Consumer Decision-Making Process
Even with the sufficient communication of the clubs aims and objectives, its desire for volunteers, and the benefits the volunteers might enjoy by participating in the voluntary activities of the club, the prospective participants still have to make a decision on whether or not to enlist with the club and take part in its numerous activities. Their decision-making process is characterized by a debate on various elements. One of the elements is the level of risk in participating in the activities of the club. The level of risk is low. The other element is the amount of effort that is required. Little effort is required from the volunteers. The level of commitment required is not a lot, and the participation is based on the individual schedules. Finally, the other element that characterizes the decision-making process is brand loyalty. Many of the members who join the club were members of the Circle K club at the high school level affiliate.
Competitive Assessment
There are several registered service organizations within the campus that offer competition to the Circle K club. Some of the student organizations include the 3% at UNL, an organization that engages in religious, charitable, literary, scientific, educational, sports competition, and public safety. Another example is the Alpha Lambda Delta, a student organization that focuses on enhancing the scholastic achievement of the students, promoting intelligent living, improving the standards of learning, and helps the students to recognize and develop goals that help them achieve their societal roles (Student Involvement).
Legal Consideration
As a registered student organization, Circle K club is bound by the policies of the university. One of the requirements is that the club summarizes the information peculiar to the club in a way that can be posted on the university website and reviewed to ensure the compliance with the policies regarding registered student organizations at the University (Student Involvement)
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Analysis of Media Resources
The choice of the media to be used in the communication of the club’s presence and the activities in which the club engages is very important. The promotional plan is dependent on the choice of media that is penetrative, hence able to read to the biggest proportion of the target market as well as communicate the promotional messages exhaustively. Some of the advertising media from which the club can choose for the communication of the promotional plan includes the print media, the use of the campus radio, the internet, and direct selling.
Selection of Advertising Media
Considering the fact that the target market is comprised of students in the university where the volunteer club is based, the most appropriate advertising media is the print media. This is because the club has elected the use of persuasion to encourage the target market to volunteer their time with the club. To enable this, there is need to appeal to the logic of the consumer by communicating the value of community service. The use of print ads, newspaper columns, and flyers can reach a significant proportion of the target market while also communicating the benefits that the students enjoy by volunteering their time in the community through the club.
Message Determination
The message in the communication plan for the promotion of the volunteer club is one o the most important aspects of the bid to recruit more volunteers to participate in the club activities. Given that model of the club is through volunteer work, the message should communicate this element as it is central to the participation of the target market in the activities of the club. Considering that there are no monetary benefits for their participation, it becomes imperative to communicate the other benefits that the target market can enjoy from their participation. The effective communication of the benefits is key to getting the target market to volunteer their time with the activities of the club, hence the importance of the message determination.
Personal Selling
Analysis of Resources
Personal selling entails the use of people, ideally referred to as a sales force, to communicate a product to the target market and persuade them to purchase (Lamb, Joseph and Carl 552). In this instance, personal selling would entail the use of club volunteers to popularize the club among the students at the university and persuade them to enlist and volunteer for the club activities.
Selection, Motivation, Deployment, Compensation, and Evaluation
The success of the personal selling approach is dependent on the key resources in the personal selling; the sales force. The selection of the sales forces should be made by the attitude towards the club and an in-depth knowledge of the objectives and aims of the club. The motivation of the sales force is inherent and is fueled by the need to achieve the aims and objectives of the club and the understanding that recruiting more volunteers is an important tenet to the achievement of those goals. The sales force should be deployed to areas within the campus where they are likely to find the targeted students. The evaluation of the sales force is to be done on the benchmark of the number of students recruited into their club as a direct influence of their pitching.
Supplemental Communications (Public Relations/Publicity)
Supplemental communication is important for the success of the promotion of the Circle K club. One of the relevant publics is the student body. The relevance of this group is that it comprises the key target population from which the volunteers are to be drawn.
Determination of Media and Messages
The promotional plan will use print ads posted in convenient locations within the university campus. The print ads will feature messages calling for the volunteer of the students in the activities of the club. The promotional plan will also include a feature in the school newspaper. This is a strategic communication tool given the circulation of the school newspaper, and that it is printed for the club’s target market. The column in the newspaper will feature a lengthy discussion of the club’s activities, the significance of those activities to the society, and the benefits that the students can draw from participating in the activities of the club. The promotional plan will also use flyers to target specifically the students who do not have access to the school newspaper. The flyers will feature the same message in the school newspaper.
Works Cited
Lamb, Charles, Joseph, Hair, and Carl, McDaniel. Essentials of Marketing. Mason, Ohio: South- Western Cengage Learning, 2012. Print.
