Part 1: Marketing Plan and Sales Strategy
Target Market
The product will be sold to clients living in Ocean City town, Maryland. According to the 2010 Census Report, the area has a population of 7102 people ( American FactFinder - Community Facts, 2018 ). The demographic characteristics of the region indicates that it would be prudent to the population aged sixteen years and over since they make up to 90.88% of the population based on the 2010 Census Report. It is also important to note that the target region is almost monolithic since there are 7004 persons belonging to one race out of which 6546 are White. Because of the corporate values, it would be unethical for the product to leave out the minority groups despite their relatively small numbers. The differentiation of the product—Smoothies Now, Smoothies on the Go, and Smoothies for Later—would make it possible to target both households and other forms of settlements, although the primary focus would be on people living in the 7084 households in the region ( American FactFinder - Community Facts, 2018 ). Because the target population is scattered around the Ocean City town region, it would be important to have several stores—five for the start—to meet the anticipated demand and create convenience for the consumer.
Assessment of the Levels of Competition
The market for smoothies in the region is not very competitive since there is only one manufacturer—Seacrets Distilling Company—and two retailers, which are Pablo’s Bowls and The Greenhouse Café. The competing factors identified with the existing firms are diverse, but the most noticeable ones are large scale operations, brand reputation, and the levels of investment. For instance, because of their locations along Philadelphia Avenue, the two retailers are strategically located, which makes them accessible by clients. The easy accessibility of the companies makes them to record high sales and to employ many employees. The manufacturer in the region has made significant investments in new technologies that allows for large scale production of smoothie products that are widely marketed around the region.
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The competing strategy that the company would adopt is to create a niche that would serve clients who have been ignored by the existing companies. Precisely, since the two retailers serve people in juice and smoothie bars, they mostly deal with the busy clients. Smoothies to Go would have its stores located in the quieter regions of Ocean City, including places that are in close proximity with residential regions—which is in line with the targeted households. In such locations, the company would be able to serve the majority of people who do not travel to the busier sides of the region often, such as the elderly. Additionally since the two retailers do not manufacture their own smoothies, they sell at higher prices since to meet the operation costs. Smoothies to Go would fill this gap through offering high-quality products at lower prices.
The company will seek to differentiate itself from the rest of the competitors through offering three types of products, which as Smoothies Now, Smoothies on the Go, and Smoothies for Later. The differentiation would allow the firm to serve busy and relaxing clients who would want to consume their smoothies instantly and those who may want to do so later. The two competitors major on the busy clients who would like to consume their products instantly or after a short time in the future.
Clarification of the Company’s Message using the 5 F’s Model
The Company Message
At Smoothies to Go, we care for the wellbeing of our customers. We provide our clients with the freshest, healthiest smoothies in the market in three brands, Smoothies Now, Smoothies on the Go, and Smoothies for Later, that prices and quality that our competitors do not match.
The Five F’s
The Goals and Objectives
The objective of the marketing strategy is to establish brand awareness among the target consumers. The rationale for this objective is that Smoothies to Go is seeking to start its operations in the non-alcoholic drinks industry. While other firms have been in the industry for long, the Smoothies to Go brand is new to the consumers, which calls for significant efforts to introduce it and help develop the product lifecycle.
Flavor
The Smoothies to Go products would be made from fresh organic ingredients that would be obtained directly from farmers around the state. The products would be made in a variety of flavors, and the Smoothies for Later product would allow consumers to have their smoothies with their preferred liquid while at home.
Foresight
If the company fails to generate enough traffic to its stores using the offline strategies, the company would resort to social media. In this case, the managers would use their personal social media accounts to create more brand awareness.
Flexibility
The management of the company would be open to changing the approach to marketing the product after careful considerations of the different factors that would determine the success of the plan.
Fun
The strategy would use attractive language and features that would make the target market enjoy visiting the stores and the online marketing platforms. Furthermore, the management would encourage the sales representatives to have fun by not limiting them to specific procedures that they should follow in pitching the product to potential clients. One of the examples of non-alcoholic beverage companies that has centered its marketing strategy on having fun is Coca Cola, which uses music to entertain the target market (Taylor, 2012).
The Marketing Vehicles
The company would use a generic strategy of marketing its new products. The strategy would combine platforms provisioned through the internet with those that are provided by offline means. For the online strategy, the strategy would adopt social media and the corporate website, which are two of the most commonly used approaches to online marketing (Mangold, W. G., & Faulds, 2009). The offline approach would use television commercials that are among the most common methods of product promotion used by start-up companies.
References
American FactFinder - Community Facts (2018). Factfinder.census.gov . Retrieved 10 November 2018, from https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml
Mangold, W. G., & Faulds, D. J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business horizons, 52 (4), 357-365.
Taylor, T. D. (2012). The sounds of capitalism: Advertising, Music, and the Conquest of Culture. University of Chicago Press.
