Supper Drinks Company: Marketing Plan and Sales Strategy

Target Market 

Supper Drinks is located within the city of Richmond, the capital of the state of Virginia in the United States of America. The company has had plans to venture into the global market with the smoothies and other non-alcoholic drinks that the company is offering. Supper Drinks will begin by opening three branches in Montreal, Canada, London, United Kingdom, and Cape Town, South Africa respectively. The cities have a high population and are important centers for their countries. The cities have also invested in state of the art infrastructure with airports being ultramodern such as the London Heathrow airport towards the west of London. The company will then open two branches in Shanghai and Guangzhou, both in China. The branches will be instrumental in the physical presence being used to attract customers to Supper Drinks. 

Back in the United States of America, Supper Drinks will primarily target the areas within a twenty-five-mile radius from the city of Richmond in Virginia. That will include smaller towns such as Wilkinson terrace, Bensley, Williamson Farms, Bon Air, Highland Springs, East Highland Park, and Tuckahoe. Many of the areas are developed already and have established urban settlements, and modern class offices, schools, hospitals and other amenities such as stadia. The weather within Richmond is usually partly cloudy in most of the months in a year, which makes the city a favorite spot for the tourists and residents, who want to stop by a warm place and enjoy a smoothie or two. 

Predominantly, the state of Virginia uses English as the primary language with some other languages rarely spoken such as French, Italian, and Spanish. The roads in Richmond are well built and convenient in the reduction of traffic snarl-ups that affect many of the states within the United States. Therefore, deliveries in the city by road are usually convenient and fast. Telecommunications have been invested in by the city of Richmond with strong internet speeds and network to facilitate calls. Located slightly more than ten miles from the downtown, Richmond international airport is a vital airline hub with many daily flight connections in and out of the United States of America. Supper Drinks will set up a drinks outlet within the premises of the airport. Railroad stations owned by Amtrak are also available within Richmond. Such a variety of transportation forms will be an advantage to the marketing efforts by Supper Drinks. 

Demographic Description 

Richmond, Virginia is a populated city and is located at the center of its metropolitan area, which is part of the target market of Supper Drinks. The median age of the people in Richmond is 34 years (United States Census Bureau, 2018). The following is the age range of the residents in the city. 

The median income for a household of the city was $ 31,121. For a family, it was $ 38,348. The males in the city had a generally higher median income at $ 30, 874 than the female residents who had $ 25,880(United States Census Bureau, 2018). Around 21.4% of the residents were below the poverty line in Richmond. In the most recent census estimate, the city was recorded to have 87.1 males among every 100 females (United States Census Bureau, 2018). A total of 27.1% of Richmond households had married couples living in them, and 20.4% had a female leader of a house with no husband present (United States Census Bureau, 2018). Therefore, there are married and divorced people within the city. 

The average family in the city of Richmond had 2.95 individuals (United States Census Bureau, 2018). The black or African Americans were the dominant race in the city in the estimate with 48.6% of the residents identifying themselves as black or African American. The whites followed closely at 44.2%. Hispanics or Latinos were 6.3%. Asians were 2.1% percent of the population. The estimates did not indicate any Hawaiians on other Pacific Islanders (United States Census Bureau, 2018). High school graduates in the city of Richmond were 84%. About 36.7% of the residents at Richmond have attained bachelor's degree levels of higher (United States Census Bureau, 2018). 

Richmond is built alongside James River, which makes the city a link for the commercial activities in the area. The industries in the city have ranged from the manufacturing, processing and service industries, among others., there are significant fortune 500 companies located in Virginia such as Dominion Energy Inc. which provides customers in Virginia and North Carolina with electricity and gas, the car retailer CarMax, the healthcare logistics Owen & Minor, and Genworth Financial, an insurer. Such companies are among the best five hundred companies concerning revenue in the United States of America. They have provided stable sources of employment to the city's residents and alleviated their financial distress. They are classified as vast and expansive companies. The city is one of the most lucrative areas in the country for the establishment of businesses in the various industries. 

Market Competition 

The non-alcoholic drinks within the city of Richmond are amidst stiff competition from companies, both big and small within the area. Sime of the firms providing non-alcoholic beverages to Richmond's market is Loveland Distributing, Breakthru Beverage Virginia, and Blue Ridge Beverage. They are the primary distributors and manufacturers of the alcohol-free drinks, which Supper Drinks want to venture into and serve the market. Some of the strategies used by the well-established companies in the sector are the establishment of physical locations, using technology to their advantage and the targeting of significant markets. Physical locations are an essential part of the presence of a company amongst its target market. For instance, Loveland Distributing has more than twenty locations within the metropolitan Richmond. That gives the company an advantage in marketing. 

The use of technology is instrumental in the market ng processes and the last gaining of competitive advantageousness for a company. Blue Ridge Beverage, for example, has invested in the improvement of its website to attract customers and make it easier for them to look up the company and its fascinating services to them. That gas substantially increased their market share and sales. The companies have also ensured that they have diversified their marketing by targeting the mostly unexplored markets within and without the metropolitan Richmond. That has provided the companies with avenues of growth and investments, which have ensured that the companies are exponentially growing in both revenues and customer bases. Supper Drinks has an uphill task in beating the giants of the industry before it sets root in the market. 

The Five F’s 

Supper Drinks must have a marketing message that touches on the five f's as follows. Supper Drinks will explain to the target customers how the products in the company will be beneficial to them and meet their needs as far as the non-alcoholic drinks are concerned. Purchasing the products of Supper Drinks is expected to delve into the finances of the customers. Nonetheless, the company is willing to make the prices of the drinks affordable for the customers to avoid them straining to have the beverages. Supper Drinks will ensure that the quality of their products is worth the time of the customers, besides their pockets. That will be assured by making the products fit the consumers' freedom requirements. The products at Supper Drinks will use the various nutrients that are healthy for the customers. That will be expected to make them confident and enjoy the drinks. The salespersons will be respectful so that the customers can trust them. Supper Drinks is making sure that the security of the products is guaranteed to give the consumers peace of mind as they consume them. The company will increase the nutritional composition of the drinks to ensure that they will be of great help to the consumers now and in the future. The message regarding the future of the product will be the most important in the marketing process. It will be done on the company website, and t-shirts will be made for both the customers and the sales persons. 

Online Marketing Techniques 

Supper Drinks will revamp the company website to make it more interactive so that the company is in a stable position to market its goods to the target market. The primary objective in the renovation will be to individualize the customer service and enable the consumers to order their favorite products via the net. Supper Drinks will make use of both the paid and the unpaid search engines to increase its online presence in the market. For instance, Supper Drinks will be on the various search engines such as Google, Bing, and Wikipedia since they are the most used in the world. The search engines will drive the traffic to the company website. Weekly newsletters will be sent to the customers who will use their email addresses to subscribe to the free newsletters. The bulletins will cover the various topics such as health and fitness, money management and the low-cost drinks that the company offers. All that will be part of the effort to attract the customers to the company. Health and fitness blogs, as well as money management, will be instrumental in the marketing of the products at Supper Drinks. The company will come up with its blogs to efficiently and adequately cover such topics. 

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram will be among the platforms that Supper Drinks will be involved in to attract more customers into the company. The platforms will also offer an interactive approach to handling the compliments, comments and the complaints of the customers. Supper Drinks will pay for advertisements on the other websites and portals, which do not belong to it. For instance, the company will advertise its products in the city of Richmond's portal. That will be paid advertising. The advertisements of the points of interest in the city will include Supper Drinks. The company, to generate the sales and spread the word to the target market, will continuously use videos such as those on YouTube. Podcasts will also be useful in the process. 

References 

United States Census Bureau. (2018). U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Richmond city, Virginia . Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/richmondcityvirginia/RHI225217#viewtop