Activity 1
Define marketing
Marketing is defined as the process of passing information to the customers regarding the value of goods and services with the goal of influencing behavior of the buyer. The process of marketing involves the coordination of elements of the 4P’s of marketing.
The basis of marketing tries to work out the customer needs as well as deal with their satisfaction. It cannot be compared to selling since it’s concerned with the existing values in the entire process. It can be said that, marketing does not emphasize on exchange of products with money. It ensures that it develops a high demand for products and fulfills the needs of the customers.
How marketing helps to achieve business objectives
Marketing helps organization to realize their objectives. This has been enabled by marketing strategy which is inclusive of long-term plans. Marketing has contributed to instill a sense of delight to customers therefore the business objectives are easily realized. Yummy Cupcake Company needs to have unique marketing objectives and this will ensure the realization of goals due to the strategies that lies within marketing. (Wells, Burnett & Moriarty, 2006).Marketing as a major function of management plays a major role in ensuring that the future of a business is not put under risk. It ensures that it wins the competitive influences that can bring down the business to a failure. Marketing has the ability to track profits generated by an organization and these helps the managers to estimate the likely trends towards the achievement of business objectives. On the other hand, a platform to monitor competitors is set and it makes it easier to establish vulnerabilities that might affect the stability of an organization. Putting all factors under consideration, we draw a conclusion that marketing is very essential towards achieving business objectives.
External factors that influence marketing
The success of the Yummy Cupcake Company will mainly depend on the adaptability to the external factors influencing marketing. The factors include the macro and micro environment.
The micro environment is consists of suppliers, market intermediaries, customers, the government and non-profit customers, competitors, internal customers and the public.
The macro environment factors that will influence marketing will involve demographic forces, economic factors, physical forces, technological factors and legal and political forces.
The role of marketing in a not for profit business
The role of marketing is not for profit business since it only concentrates with meeting the customer needs and satisfaction. . It cannot be compared to selling since it’s concerned with the existing values in the entire process. It can be said that, marketing does not emphasize on exchange of products with money. It ensures that it develops a high demand for products and fulfills the needs of the customers
Elements of the marketing process
They include the parties, marketing offering and the marketing environment. Since the consumers are ready to buy products of Yummy Cupcake Company, it means that the producers must be in a position to satisfy all the needs provided that he generates profit. The total market offering will be determined by: products, distribution, communication and pricing. The marketing environment requires the managers to conduct a comprehensive investigation that will point out how the environment tends to operate. This will help them to realize the opportunities and threats that lie within the target market.
Elements of the marketing mix
Yummy Cupcake Company elements of marketing mix aims at creating a successful mix of: the right products, selling the products at the right price, in the right place and this will be enabled by application of the most suitable promotional methods. Henceforth, the elements include product, price, place and promotion.
Methods of segmenting markets
Geographic segmentation targets people in accordance to their physical localities. Behavioral segmentation will split consumers based on their knowledge, beliefs, opinions and the rates of using a particular product. Segmentation by occasions is built on special desires and needs that arise on numerous occasions. The last segmentation method is known as segmentation by benefits. The benefits may include real or perceived ones.
Benefits of segmenting markets
Segmenting markets have the following benefits: the method increases the focus of an organization, it also helps to promote increased competition, it has helped most firms to expand their markets, a thorough segmentation also encourages customer retention, it also promotes the culture of better communication as well as increase the profits generated by different institutions. Proper market segmentation of the Yummy Cupcake Company will reap all the stated benefits (Morgan & Levy, 1993).
Methods of researching a market
Primary research involves conducting surveys, observations, direct group discussions and interviews. Despite that it is costly and time consuming, it has a high value since an individual has the power to ask the questions that he intends.
Secondary research collects the information that is available from written sources. Its inclusive of internet information, existing data from customer databases, prevailing market research results and the information that exists in different industries, government agencies, local municipals and libraries.
Quantitative research collects numerical data which includes financial trends, product sales numbers, surveys on return frequency and sales figure. On the other hand, qualitative research will collect opinions, views and attitudes. This is promoted formal and informal conversations, Focus group discussions with customers and reviewing competitors so that they can understand the practices and products offered.
How current technology impacts on marketing activity.
The current technology has played a positive role in the marketing activity. Information technology I behind the success in marketing and it includes of use of computers, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, videotext, digital communications and the internet (Schmid, 2005). The existing technologies make it easier to market certain products to a large population despite the geographical location. The adoption of e-commerce has promoted online business as clients can buy and sell their products through the internet. Most companies have their own websites where they display information that will help to market their goods and services to the people. Most of these have reaped benefits die to the increased sales of many firms. People are also utilizing the existing social sites like Facebook, twitter and LinkedIn to popularize their products and services to a large target market. It can therefore be said that, the current technology help to boost marketing activities in most firms and organizations.
Activity 2
A review of the market segments for the business
For Yummy Cupcake Company to benefit from the use of marketing mix, it must properly segment its markets on the basis of their performances. It should identify the markets with high population of consumers with a high economic power and those which have a high population of low income earners (Kotler, 2000). It concentrates on both local residents can tourists as this is one way of creating a strong customer base. Additionally, it should monitor the markets that more promising that the others and concentrate on them more. Additionally, Yummy Cupcake Company should ensure that the professional and attractive cupcakes are placed in the right locations from where the various groups of customers can easily access them from.
An analysis of how the business positions its products
The company must design and produce the best products that will meet the needs and expectations of the market. Considering the various economic classes that exist in the society, the company must pack its products in affordable quantities that will be sold at a price that will be affordable to various members of the society (Kotler, 2000). The products must be fairly priced or else the consumers will be scared and this will result to a great loss to Yummy Cupcake Company.
Simply producing the right products, pricing them and availing them to various places is not enough for a company that wants to register great revenues. It must take an extra step of promoting the products. This can be done by undertaking activities such as advertising that will enable consumers to either learn of the new or improved product (Kotler, 2000). Product promotion, though costly, has proven to be of utter importance of an organization that wants to expand by ensuring that it secures a large base of customers who are loyal to its product. Additionally, a good brand name must exist as this will supplement the efforts of promotion.
An explanation of how its products are distributed
After developing the right products and assigning them the right price, Yummy Cupcake Company must then ensure that the products are available at various places from where the consumers will purchase them from or the right places from where the potential buyers can easily access them from (Maclaran, Saren & Tadajewski, 2008). These places must be convenient to the consumers so as to cultivate in them the urge to purchase and use the products. The company distributes its products by use of intermediaries thus lessening the cost of marketing and also ensures that the product is available at many different markets. The intermediaries add value to the product by changing various aspects such as packaging and ensure that the cereals are availed to the consumers at the right time and place (Kotler, 2000).
An analysis of the use of pricing strategies
Yummy Cupcake conducts a thorough marketing research that enables the company to learn various aspects about the market. These includes the diverging needs, preferences and tastes of the consumers, competition level and possibly provide a hint on the best price to charge for the cupcakes. However, it needs to create a price elasticity model that will enable it to make prompt decisions on the prices of cupcakes. Its current pricing strategy where it delivers its products at a charge £3.75 in many parts of the world has helped the company to reach out a large market.
This price is below that charged by competitors and has really made the company to be competitive in the industry. However, it should consider reducing the prices by approximately 15% so as to make it harder for its competitors to survive (Kotler, 2000). However, it should examine the perception of the customers and that of rival products in the market, the economic power of customers, the cost of manufacturing and an overall estimation of the operational and selling expenses so as to arrive at the right price for
An analysis of the promotional strategy used by the business
Currently, the company majorly uses advertising, good public relations and Presentation and demonstration to promote its products. This has helped the company to increase its sales volume by 10% every year. Yummy Cupcake Company needs to engage itself in activities such as celebrity advertising, offering discounts and gifts and also engage in various forms of visually-aided advertising that will enable it increase its sales (Maclaran, Saren & Tadajewski, 2008). This will increase the sales by about 30.5% annually and the profit margin of the company is bound to increase.
Activity 3
Aims and objectives of the marketing plan
- Increase the memorability and visibility of brand identity by paying a close attention to customer surveys.
- Increase the number of customers by 22% every year.
- Increase the percentage of returning customers by 38% annually.
- Inaugurate lifetime worth of consumer metric and striver to increase it by 15% monthly.
- Increase the sales revenue by 40% within the first half of the year and the healthy profits realized used to effectively finance other profitable projects of the company.
The target markets for marketing activity
The marketing activity targets markets in North Lancashire and South Cambria. These markets are still unexploited and the business will reap maximally by taking advantage of these markets. Additionally, the markets are promising due to the high economic power of the traders in these markets (Maclaran, Saren & Tadajewski, 2008).
Analysis of the macro and micro environmental factors influencing the marketing planning
Competition is becoming stiffer in the industry and Yummy Cupcake must find a way of surviving. The entry of new suppliers of the same product threatens the survival of Yummy Cupcake (Maclaran, Saren & Tadajewski, 2008). The customers too are increasing at a very high rate. Technological advancement warrants that the business uses modern methods to produce and market its products. Additionally, the law requires that businesses in this industry adhere to the code of ethics and this was clearly considered in the plan.
Marketing mix for the product
The cupcakes needs to be round, highly quality and have all the spices that will make it more flavorsome and attractive to the consumers. It should be priced at $ 3.50 and distributed to the North Lancashire and South Cambria markets. The company should use intermediaries to distribute the product and also use TV and celebrity advertisement to promote the product once in the market (Wells, Burnett & Moriarty, 2006).
How factors relevant to the implementation of the plan have been considered
This plan has been influenced by the increasing competition in the industry, the prevalent economic condition in which most people find it difficult to survive using their meager incomes, changing nature of markets and the legal restrictions that govern the operation of businesses in this industry since Yummy Cupcake has to comply to all the rules that have been put in place (Maclaran, Saren & Tadajewski, 2008). This presented a risk to Yummy Cupcake and it just had to respond by considering the adoption of a new marketing strategy.
In conclusion, solid marketing strategy is the underpinning of a well-written marketing plan which in turn is of utter importance for the success of any business. Yummy Cupcake Company must use a comprehensive blueprint that will outline the overall marketing efforts of the company. A successful marketing plan consists of marketing mix which is crucial for the success of the marketing activity. If Yummy Cupcake applies the elucidated marketing strategy, it will no doubt achieve the desired growth and expansion since customers are the most special asset for a business.
Bibliography
Kotler, P. (2000). Marketing management. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall.
Maclaran, P., Saren, M., & Tadajewski, M. (2008). Marketing theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Morgan, C. M., & Levy, D. J. (1993). Segmenting the mature market: Identifying, targeting, and reaching America's diverse, booming senior markets. Chicago, Ill: Probus Pub. Co.
Volker Schmid, 2005, The Impact of Technology on Marketing Strategy, Munich, GRIN Publishing GmbH, http://www.grin.com/en/e-book/38123/the-impact-of-technology-on-marketing-strategy
Wells, W., Burnett, J., & Moriarty, S. E. (2006). Advertising: Principles & practice. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
