The marketing mix and the promotional campaign

This is the best marketing mix and the promotional campaign can be expected to be successful and go smoothly by using the above marketing strategies. Press releases and mini-infomercials will visually introduce our product line and peak their interests. Catalogs and mailing lists are ready for directly contacting our target market. Having our catalog in their office will re-enforce what they have seen and heard on TV. On their very next trip to their office supplier the purchaser will find a catchy display.

Full of our attractively packaged fancy appliances that the customer has been curious to see in person, the display may offer a 20% Off instant coupon incentive to buy and a 60 day trail period to see if they like enough to keep it. The purchaser can take the merchandise then or have it delivered by a firm with which they already trust to do business. Sales associates can assist with questions and help with delivery arrangements. Meanwhile at headquarters, departments will be speaking with each other about daily and weekly results.

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Certain purchaser preferences and trends will begin to appear by monitoring SKUs during our initial reception. A product manager will be recording progress towards meeting goals. A smooth sailing marketing mix will be achieving company objectives.

The assignment gives Company G, renamed Live Great in this Marketing Plan, as a well established and highly respected manufacturing company with a strong foothold in the electronics market. Live Great intends to fill a niche found in the small appliance market and has already developed and readied for manufacture a line of small appliances.

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The company feels their higher quality appliances manufactured at the “lowest-cost” in the industry will be successful and seeks a marketing plan superior to their existing plan with the goal of effectively maximizing desired profits. The small appliance line consist of countertop kitchen electronic devices made of stainless steal with a choice-of-colors in ceramic trimmings and when applicable include state-of-the-art preprogrammed keypad touch operation (no push buttons or knobs).

A partial product line listing would include countertop ovens that cook at the speed-of-light (infrared light), double cup espresso machines, coffee grinders and makers, wine coolers, draught beer mini-keg tenders with tap dispensers, blenders, jar and can openers, convection toaster ovens, convection microwaves, waffle irons, sandwich and omelet makers, and a special mixer that also transforms into a blender/juicer/sausage grinder/pasta maker. Seeing our products being used in various scenarios with the benefits offered should create a “craving” of desire for appetite satisfaction from their office kitchen if they possess our products. This line is more durable than countertop devices for residential use while being lighter and more aesthetic when compared to “commercial duty” qualities of traditional institutional/restaurant equipment.

Mission Statement

Live Great forever strives to continue to be one of the nation’s most reputable and innovative manufacturers of top quality, value-priced customer driven products and related electrical-power-source products for millions of satisfied customers made by hundreds of our American employees. Our American technological advances and environmentally friendly cost efficient manufacturing processes continues to aid with our production of our innovative product lines of OfficeLife Pro. Our office kitchen countertop appliances will bring new growth and increased profitability while rewarded as the customer’s “top choice”.

Market Objectives

Target Market

Our national market targets all U.S. businesses large enough to have acquisition personnel (ex. Administrative assistants, department managers, small business owners, etc.) responsible for the purchase, maintenance, and replacement of all countertop appliances used in their office kitchen. This market has been forced in the past to purchase non-durable, short-lived residential kitchen appliances or lease/purchase heavy-duty, expensive and unattractive commercial equipment. Growth outlook is very good as millions of short-lived appliances must be replaced and thousands of business people flee the corporate structures each year to start their own enterprises.

Product Objective

OfficeLife Pro office kitchen countertop stainless steel appliances will offer unique user-friendly benefits, attractive packaging, aesthetic designs, and superior quality with a better warranty at value pricing. Refer later for more details under Marketing “Product Strategies”.

Distribution

Objective

OfficeLife Pro will be available from national retail office suppliers such as Staples, OfficeMax, and Office Depot. Smaller office supply stores in rural US areas, Best Buy and Target will also be included in our network.

Price Objective

To encourage “brand hopping” and discourage new competition our pricing is to be 15% lower than the reasonable range of the competitors’. This lower pricing will maintain an acceptable exchange value in close alignment with other brands of perceived equal value (Longenecker, Moore, Petty, 2003, pp.234-5). This allows a price range of $29-$299 for our line of various appliances. An average sale of $65 will create $247,037,700 in retail sales from our targeted market by the close of 201_.

Promotional Objective

Our sales force will utilize the advertising publicity and a public relations campaign to achieve their measurable and feasible goal of placing two appliances in 25% of the 7,601,160 United States “private non-farm establishments” (aka: small businesses with employees) or one appliance in 50% of these businesses before 201_ (US Census). This goal will generate the sale of 3,800,580 appliances to the targeted market. The third calendar year of 201_ will have the same sales objective that must be achieved in only 12 months.

Competitive Situation Analysis Consumer Product Classification

Live Great’s OfficeLife Pro appliances are a business to consumer product relatively considered as a homogeneous line having a “shopping” classification for consumers. Purchasers will spend more time making buying decisions for office kitchen appliances than they spend on regular office supplies having a “convenience” classification (Boone, 2006, p. 357- 362).

Analysis of the Competitive Environment

The following threats to our success are found utilizing Porter’s Five Forces of competitive forces.

  1. Threat from New Entrants. We find the threat of a new start-up manufacturer quite minimal due to the high cost of equipment installations and all the risks a new company must face in order to finally get a product into the marketplace. We do find concern that the internet has allowed an influx of new entrant online marketers that can produce an e-catalog for their web site and make drop ship sales with minimal operating expense. These e-catalog marketers also reduce brand and product differentiations by displaying similar small size pictures with minimal descriptions causing a homogeneous appearance of quality and value.
  2. Threat from Buyers. If buyers are found to be swaying towards other brands, we will immediately investigate with full intentions to identify their reasons, satisfy their concerns, and modify any or all of our operations into compliance with market demand.
  3. Threat from Suppliers. While we maintain a good business relationship with our primary suppliers, it may be in our best interest to develop contingency suppliers for our raw materials and component parts.
  4. Threat from Substitutes. There will always be copycats, price cutters, look-a likes, less expensive brands, etc. These inferior companies offering inferior products must keep adding and deleting their lines to remain marginally in business. The purchaser that buys strictly by price is not our customer. Our product values, features, warranties, customer service, etc. with our national recognitions as a credible leader in this industry is not affected by inferior offerings. Think of Zippo, Remington electric razors, Smith&Wesson handguns, Jaguar, and many others that still command a higher price for the value of their products while some competitors offer, well let’s just say, “Let the buyer beware.”
  5. Competitive Rivalry. Our target market is a niche market with virtually no marketing rivalry and minimal product competition, which is why we are entering this field. We will remain flexible to supplier and market demands and maintain a nationally recognized prominence that any competitor will find tough to duplicate. We will also have a first-class web site showing our product lines with descriptions, digital webcam product usage demonstrations, company info, and a live customer service line to differentiate OfficeLife Pro from other Internet offerings. Any of the other previously listed threats will be managed in an appropriate and timely manner.

SWOT Analysis

A review of Live Great internal and external environments reveals strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are important for strategic planning.

STRENGTHS

Strength 1, national recognition
Strength 2, respectable reputation
Strength 3, financially secure

WEAKNESSES

Weakness 1, needs additional suppliers
Weakness 2, introducing new product line
Weakness 3, sales management experience

OPPORTUNITIES

Opportunity 1, large niche market
Opportunity 2, favorable market response
Opportunity 3, new suppliers

THREATS

Threat 1, high unemployment
Threat 2, weak economy
Threat 3, competitors

Strengths

Years of brand name and logo recognition by consumers of Live Great are a strong asset for consumer acceptance to this new product line and a core competency. Likewise, another core competency is the credible and highly regarded reputation the company has earned in this industry, which will catapult the new line into quick dominance. Being financially secure provides a nice security blanket for fluctuations in expenditures, raw materials, manufacturing and sales income. Being able to financially guarantee that all ships sail smoothly and all is calm at home is a bonus for any industry.

Weaknesses

Finding new suppliers to fulfill our additional raw material needs and manufactured component parts is only a temporary weakness. This weakness will possibly turn into an asset by finding more primary suppliers than we can actually use. Our target market does not know exactly what our innovative product line contains nor will they recognize the new name of OfficeLife Pro. It should take about two months of a strong promotional campaigning before a reasonable market acceptance can be expected. Sales managers, account executives, sales trainers and sales people don’t have any depth of experience with this product line but in-house and field training in the value and benefits of our appliances will be ongoing.

Opportunities

Our target market is wide open for our kitchen office appliance line. No one else is working it. Filling that void has always been our reasoning behind entering this niche. Prototype testing has proven market/customer approval of design and quality. This assures us when “the rubber hits the road” it will be heading in the right direction. A search for obtaining new raw material and component suppliers will introduce us to new firms available “out there”. This will lessen our reliance on only two or three primary suppliers and get contingency suppliers in place. Perhaps we can discover a large source of lower cost materials.

Threats

Two current or potential threats within the industry involve the general economic health of the nation. A high unemployment rate equals less office employed consumers. A weak economy among many things also means there is less money available for improvements and additions, including upgrades to the office kitchens. Future competition will likely be current manufacturers and marketers of kitchen appliances. These firms may very well shift some of their marketing efforts toward office kitchens when they see our explosive campaign for that target market. Marketing Strategies Our plan to reach our selected market and satisfy their needs while making the product line profitable for the company and its retailers utilizes the following strategies.

Product Strategies

Employ various identification methods to introduce the new product line with its own brand name under an existing reputable parent company. Remain flexible to terminate less successful methods and open-minded toward untried strategies. The brand name OfficeLife Pro is directly related to the appliances functional use application, allied with a business lifestyle, is simple and memorable for its audience, and should be made “legal” along with an icon for visual recognition by consumers. Packaging within heavy-duty cardboard boxing colored in metallic silver ink and black print with the front and sides of the boxing having large see-through plastic windows having a black briefcase handle installed on top will have the visual impact of durability, functionality, added value, is easily remembered, and promotes “off the shelf” carry out purchasing.

Distribution Strategies

Will utilize direct distribution operations from the manufacture’s warehouse to the participating distributing retailers. Will make the most of “piggyback” shipping in correlation with Live Great’s distribution of other products. Direct distributing will provide outstanding service and availability at lower cost. Orders and shipments made from the manufacturing warehouse inventory are likely to be complete in quantities needed and shipped when desired to proper destinations.

Price Strategies

Enter the market at 15% less than the closest comparable competitor creates a competitive lure and encourages brand hopping. Offer 20% off total purchase “clip-and-save” dated coupons during the 1st three months of catalog and internet promos, reminds the coupon holder to purchase now. Maintain a lower pricing for our customers to create brand loyalty and more sales while monitoring profit margins for the company.

Promotion Strategies

Kick off with one and two minute press release mini-infomercials by a TV broadcaster or celebrity endorser on business cable TV channels to stimulate interest with the premier appearances of our distinctive “artistic elegance” designs and “reasons to believe” unique features while selling functional and long-term benefits. The use of high impact color graphics in catalogs, trade magazines and internet marketing will embed into memory what the audience has seen on TV. The “clip-and-save” coupons will stimulate purchases. All allocated advertising monies should be monitored and expended during the initial promotional time frame. Campaign publicity meet-and-greet events at retail distributors with sales promo tactics including educational demonstrations, 60 day risk-free trials, training and incentives for retail sales associates, eye-catching store displays, and free delivery from their local office supplies retailer. Follow-up with telemarketing and surveys. This is the best marketing mix and the promotional campaign can be expected to be successful and go smoothly by using the above marketing strategies. Press releases and mini-infomercials will visually introduce our product line and peak their interests.

Catalogs and mailing lists are ready for directly contacting our target market. Having our catalog in their office will re-enforce what they have seen and heard on TV. On their very next trip to their office supplier the purchaser will find a catchy display. Full of our attractively packaged fancy appliances that the customer has been curious to see in person, the display may offer a 20% Off instant coupon incentive to buy and a 60 day trail period to see if they like enough to keep it. The purchaser can take the merchandise then or have it delivered by a firm with which they already trust to do business. Sales associates can assist with questions and help with delivery arrangements. Meanwhile at headquarters, departments will be speaking with each other about daily and weekly results. Certain purchaser preferences and trends will begin to appear by monitoring SKUs during our initial reception. A product manager will be recording progress towards meeting goals. A smooth sailing marketing mix will be achieving company objectives.

Tactics and Action Plan

The home office product manager is the overseer and record keeper of the different departments’ activities. Many of these activities have goals and timelines in place and various parties report progress results. Sample plans follow.

Product Action Plan

  • Tactic
  • Due
  • Reported by
  • Market Reception
  • Weekly, June 1st-Sept 1st
  • Public Relations Director

The task of employing a method to monitor the market reception of our product line introduction will be in place on the launch date of June 1st, 2009.
Information will be gathered, organized, and presented weekly during the 1st three months of operations by the Public Relations Director.

Distribution Action Plan

  • Tactic
  • Due Date
  • Responsible Party
  • Orders and shipments
  • Weekly
  • Warehouse Manager

Daily orders received, filled, and shipments made are gathered daily. They are logged in order completed and compiled into a weekly report presented by the Warehouse Manager.

Price Action Plan

  • Tactic
  • Due Date
  • Responsible Party
  • Competitive Pricing
  • June 1st
  • Marketing Director

Pricing of appliances by comparative study of competitive lines, our costs, and maximum profitability considerations will be the responsibility of the Marketing Director.

Promotion Action Plan

  • Tactic
  • Due Date
  • Responsible Party
  • Press release infomercials
  • May 27th
  • Public Relation Director

Production of the press release mini-infomercials will be overseen by the Public Relations Director and should be ready for distribution by May 27th

Monitoring Procedures

Any marketing plan should have standards in place to measure the amount of activity required to meet goals and objectives. How are sales coming along? Where do we stand in the market share? Are we over budget? Have we got there yet? All these questions require some type of quantitative measures of progress towards a goal. One important way to measure the success of a marketing plan is to look at the sales revenues and find if they are on schedule for meeting or exceeding the first, second, and third year goals established by management. Annual goals may be divided into quarterly, monthly, daily, even hourly goals. This marketing plan establishes a sales goal in the 1st eighteen months of $247,037,700. This would represent a monthly sales goal of $13,724,316. The third calendar year of 2011 has the sales goal of $247,037,700 to be achieved in 12 months, denoting monthly goals would increase to $20,586,475. Other items to measure are below.

Monitoring Activity

Due Date/Frequency
Responsible Party
Customer complaints
every other Monday , bi- monthly
Sales manager
Advertising/media expense
1st of each month, monthly
Public Relations Director
Lost business
1st of each month, monthly
Accounting
Raw material costs
Monday AM, weekly
Operations assistant

References

  1. Boone, L., & Kurtz, D. (2006). Contemporary marketing 2006. Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western
  2. Longenecker, J., Moore, C., & Petty, J. (2003). Small business management: an entrepreneurial emphasis, 12th ed. Mason, OH: Thomson
Updated: Jul 06, 2022
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The marketing mix and the promotional campaign. (2016, Mar 28). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/the-marketing-mix-and-the-promotional-campaign-essay

The marketing mix and the promotional campaign essay
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