Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong defined marketing as “social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others”. Marketing should be customer oriented since customers wants must be recognized and satisfied. Marketing should start with an idea about a want satisfying product or service and continues until the customer wants are satisfied. Before beginning the whole process of marketing, an organization should prepare a marketing plan. The marketing plan is a sensitive part of a business plan.
Focus on the marketing plan of Aloe Company.
Aloe Company is a company that extracts process, distribute and sell medicinal products from Aloe Vera plants. This company specializes in medical products example Aloe Vera cosmetics ranging from soap, lotion, creams and glycerin .Aloe toothpaste is also another product.
VISION
A strong and future oriented company, promoting the use of natural products.
MISSION
Objectives
- Facilitate an increase in sales
- Improve the image of the company
SWOT analysis of the company focuses on the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It helps to decide which marketing strategy to use. It also helps in determining the target market.
Strengths of the company
- The location of the company should be efficient to the customers.
- The brand of aloe product should maintain its reputation
- Company personnel can innovate additional use of aloe extracts
Weaknesses of the company
- Inadequate online presence
- Lack of clear product differentiation compared with competitive products
Opportunities of the company
- Use of technology to develop new products
- Growing demand for overseas markets
- The use of special media. Example Facebook and twitter to advertise and sell products
Threats of the company
- Competitors introducing better products at lower prices.
- Changes in the economic environment which encourage customers to be less loyal to the established aloe product brand.
- Changes in customers taste and fashions thus reducing the sales.
Marketing objectives of Aloe Company
The aim of the marketing Aloe Vera product of this company is to increase sales and therefore generate enough profits so as to expand the business globally. Another objective is to create awareness of the new brand of aloe products and attract more customers. Also in the process of attracting customers through branding, the company will be able to maintain its reputation and this will boost the image of the company which will result to recognition globally. Aloe products have come up with a new market segment and therefore through marketing it will be possible to penetrate into the customers in these segments. Winning the trust of customers by providing them what they want at the exact time and place will prolong the sales of the company and hence the company will have its loyal customers .( Piercy, 2010, pg. 64)
Target market for aloe products
The target market for aloe products follows two steps; market segmentation and market positioning. Market segmentation is the process of dividing the total market into smaller distinct sub markets basing on the differences in the wants, location, buying attitudes and buying practices. Market segmentation can be based on geographic segmentation whereby the markets will be divided into different regions so as to enhance product availability to the customers, Demographic segmentation whereby markets will be divided based on demographic variables such as age, gender, family life cycle and incomes. This is done because customer usage variations ,demands and needs are closely linked to these valuables, Psychographic segmentation based on psychological and behavioral descriptions of the market, they include lifestyle, social class and personality and behavior segmentation where buyers are segmented into groups based on their knowledge ,attitudes, uses or responses to a product. Behavioral segmentation emphasizes on the purchase occasion, the benefits that the customer needs of the product, readiness of the product and the loyalty of the product by customers. Market positioning refers to the impact of the product on the mind of a customer with reference to the competing product. Aloe Company aims at designing a marketing plan that will influence the mind of the customer by developing an appropriate marketing mix. (Piercy, 2010, pg .42)
Aloe Company plans to emphasis on marketing of its products effectively, and it therefore integrates the main elements of the marketing mix which are the product, price, promotion and place. All these activities are aimed at maximizing sales worldwide.
Integration of marketing mix with target market for Aloe Company
Product
A product is defined as the goods and services offered to the market, the products of Aloe Company include cosmetics, medicinal products like toothpaste and creams. Aloe Company will vary these products so as to appear in different designs. These products require a packaging that will attract customers, and prevent the product from exposure thus increasing the shelf life and enhancing cleanliness; this maintains the reputation of the company and encourages the customer to continue buying from the company. There will be after sales services to explain to the customers on the importance of using aloe products. Also Aloe Company will ensure that the product will serve customer accordingly by ensuring they process user friendly products that fits all the stages of a human being.
Price
A price is what the customer pays in order to gain possession of the product or service. Before determining price, aloe company will consider the following; the cost of production which entails extraction, processing and distribution of aloe products. High cost of production will eventually lead to high price of the product. Competition is another aspect whereby Aloe Company will consider the prices of competitors, if their prices are low, it will force Aloe Company to lower theirs too. The perceived value of the price of the customers also matters because there is always a value attached to products with high prices, as a result of segmenting the product based on psychological and behavioral descriptions of the customers. Pricing of the product will also involve price discounts and bonus offer.
Promotion
Promotion is described as all activities intended to inform and persuade the targeted customer to buy a product or service. Elements of promotion are; advertising, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion and internet selling. Aloe Company will integrate all these aspects of promotion to achieve its objectives. Advertising will involve the use of radio, television and newspapers this targets people at work and older people because they are keen when it comes to listening, watching and reading newspapers. Public relations will aim at creating awareness in public and in bigger organizations. Personal selling will involve use of sales people who will face the customers directly and persuade them to buy the product, it is the sensitive aspect of promotion for the customers ask questions and demand answers, it therefore means that the company will use resources to train sales persons .Sales promotion will involve providing after sales services to customers and also giving them a prize upon the purchase of aloe products. Internet selling will involve the use of websites, Facebook and Twitter, the aim of internet selling are to reach customers globally and to avoid the threat of online absence, it also targets and attracts the younger generation, especially the youth who spend most of the time on the internet (Chernev, 2011, pg. 44). Pricing of the product will also involve price discounts and bonus offer.
Place
Place represents the location where the product can be purchased. Aloe Company does all the activities that will enable the product to be available to the target customer. Aloe Company plans to organize the channels of distribution to favor the target customers and to avail the products at the exact time and place. The outlets of Aloe Company are located in the appropriate and visible places where customers can easily locate; this will generate more sales because the products are readily available. By use of internet selling, Aloe Company will strategize their place in a manner that customers can order for the product via internet and arrangements of transporting the products made in the agreement of payment. This will enhance appropriate delivery to the customers and hence creating customer loyalty (Hiebing, 2012 Pg, 120).
Reference
Chernev, A. (2011). The marketing plan handbook. Cerebellum Press.
Hiebing, R. G. (2012). The Successful Marketing Plan: How to Create Dynamic, Results Oriented Marketing.
Piercy, N. F. (2010). Marketing Planning. Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing.
