The Marketing Plan of Creations for You - Term Paper Example

?Executive Summary Creations for You is a brick and mortar Victorian home which will be developed to offer the distinct wedding services in the Colorado area. The basis creations that will exist in the home will be theme weddings, receptions, kid’s birthday parties and any other entertainment events requested. In this report, the marketing plan of Creations for You has been presented. The situation analysis suggests that marketing for wedding services is becoming lucrative because people want to organize memorable functions without having much focus on costs. Rather than visiting the different service providers for wedding arrangements, people prefer hiring a planner which may organize everything for them. SWOT analysis has identified that one-stop location and the huge Victorian house with a capacity of 600 people make Creations for You a perfect place to celebrate all kinds of functions. However, lack of awareness of customers about the new startup and huge initial investments appear to be two major weaknesses of company. To compete in a highly competitive market, the company aims to target the marketing segments through an effective promotional strategy. Both the indoor and outdoor promotional tools will be used to create awareness among the people and integrated marketing communication approach will be used however; to recover these costs and other fixed and variable costs, company will adopt a captive pricing strategy. SWOT Analysis Strengths Company has a huge Victorian home in which 600 individuals can be adjusted A client one stop location where all wedding services are available Weaknesses Being a startup company, no one knows about the company therefore, significant marketing efforts need to be put to promote the company Huge initial investments and marketing costs and less profitability Opportunities Changing thinking patterns of people such as considering marriage a big one-day event in life is favorable People are willing to spend more money on their weddings and ceremonies to maintain their social image The increasing busy routines lead the people to opt for full services like this Threats Increasing competition Easy access to wholesalers and vendors facilitate people to organize such functions very easily Increasing prices and costs of products and services can increase the costs of operations of the company Pricing Creations for You aims to offer distinct services to its customers, so that the big days of celebrations may become a beautiful part of their memories. To offer exclusive and excellent services to customers, company needs to establish a premium image in the market; therefore, company is spending huge costs on marketing and promotions. Although fixed costs of the company are not very high however, variable costs will be significantly high. To achieve the marketing objectives of the company, Product-line pricing strategy will be used. There are various types of pricing methods in the product-line pricing strategy including captive pricing, bait pricing, pricing line and premium pricing (Pride & Ferrell, 2007). The valuable services of the company will be offered to customers by adopting a captive pricing strategy. Captive pricing strategy is the most suitable strategy for services of the company because the customers will be attracted by keeping the prices of basic services low whereas, the prices of other services will be kept high (Pride, Hughes, & Kapoor, 2009). For example, for a specific event the Victorian home will be available at market competitive prices. The customers will get attracted when they will see the low price of the hall however, the value of the other services that will be required to organize the entire event will be kept high for example, other than the hall charges, the per head cost, lightening cost, music system cost, floral setting or stage decoration cost etc will be offered at high prices. Therefore, captive pricing strategy will help the company to attract the customers and it will help the company to set higher premium prices for the other services offered by the company. The prices will be adjustable based on some variable factors such as number of individuals attending the ceremony, kinds of floral or light setting, type of chosen menu etc. The hall charges, service charges and tax imposed on the total cost will be fixed. The cost per guest will be based on type of food menu chosen and different food menu options will be given. The pricing strategy will fit into the target market as compared to the existing competitors because the prices of core services will be kept low as compared to the competitors. This strategy will be appealing to attract the customers and once the customers show their willingness to take the services of the company they will be given the highly valuable and distinct services at premium rates. The rates will be revised on quarterly basis to adjust the inflationary pressures and to avoid cost burdens. Channels of Distribution As there will be no intermediaries involved therefore, a zero-level or direct channel strategy will be used. Being a B2C company, Creations for You will directly target the consumers and the direct channel strategy will allow the company to have a greater control over every step of the service process (Michael, 2010). A vertical marketing system will be used by the company to pursue a direct marketing strategy. The company will develop its own distribution capabilities to serve the customers. For example, company will have its own trained staff for food catering purpose. Victorian home will be the only physical facility of Creations for You. Being a complete wedding service provider, Creations for You will organize various tasks like caterer, photographer, bakery, bands, florists and the hall to hold the event etc. For few activities, the staff will be hired like floral setting, hall decoration etc. On the other hand, some of the services will be outsourced like food and beverages. Company will develop strong links with the wholesalers however, these partners of the company will not interact with the customers and customers will only be able to interact with the staff of Creations for You. Since the company will establish direct relationships with the wholesalers therefore, before holding a ceremony in the Victorian house, it will be ensured that all wholesalers timely provide their services. Through legal contracts, the wholesalers will be bound to fulfill any loss caused because of them. All materials received from the wholesalers will be stored in the store of the Victorian home. The company will have its own transportation through which the raw material and other important stuff will be transported. To reduce the shortage of required materials, information will be completely shared between the relevant departments and organizing team. Before organizing very event, the individuals from different functions will share information about the required materials and the end of each event, the unused or spared material will be placed in inventory. All events will be organized in the physical facility of the company. The physical facility will have a sanctuary and a small chapel to perform the ceremony in. In the sanctuary more than 500 people will accommodate and in the chapel total 100 people will accommodate 100. The creation of chapel is meant to provide a smaller intimate atmosphere to the guests. Within the home there will be a kitchen, lounge, dining area, store and dance area. For the specialized activities like floral settings, hall decoration and photography Creations for You will permanently hire its own staff. For example, during the process of recruitment and selection, only individuals with relevant backgrounds will be hired. Moreover, from time to time courses and trainings will be offered to the staff of company to improve their professional skills and to keep them updated with the latest trends. Promotion Company will adopt an aggressive promotional strategy to increase awareness among the customers. An integrated marketing communication plan will be used to increase awareness among the target customers. The tools of integrated marketing communication that will be used include media advertising, direct response and interactive advertising, place advertising, sales promotion, public relations and personal selling (Shimp, 2008). The intensive ad campaign will be a combination of radio, printing and online advertising. Radio and newspaper advertising will be used for promotion of the new company however; television advertising appears to be very expensive therefore, it will not be used. In place advertising, the outdoor printing advertising including posters and traditional bus promotions will be used. An official website of Creations for You will be developed which will aim to provide all information to the customers however, price information will only be given directly. Based on the costs comparisons of different advertising and media agencies, the selected newspaper is Denver Weekly News and radio channel is KCUV-FM of 102.3 FM. Moreover, the selected outdoor advertising agency is Lamar. By communicating with these companies and offering them a longterm relationship, the annual packages at reasonable costs can be purchased. As a direct marketing program, direct mail will be used. and for direct mail package, DMX has been selected. In addition, in the online advertizing, the social media networking will be also used. The online social website, Facebook and Twitter will be used to maintain a direct communication with the customers. The company will deliver direct mails to the members who join the pages of the company on these two social networking website. The membership option and early booking at low rates will be offered as sales promotions. In the membership options, the people will be attracted to become the member of Creations for You. By giving a small membership fee the people will be able to get the membership for one year and they will be given a discount of 10 percent on every event they organize within one year of membership. After one year, the individuals will be supposed to renew their membership. A discount of 5 percent will be offered to the people who will make early book at least two months before the event and the discount will be 10 percent, if the people get early book at least four month before the event. Creations for You will also focus on loyalty program as a part of public relations strategy. The aim of the loyalty program will be to establish long-term relations with the customers and to retain the customers. In the loyalty program of the company, if an individual organizes an event by taking services of Creations for You, he will get one bonus pass of the company. If four of his friends and relatives on his recommendation take the service of the company, he will get four more bonus passes. After receiving five bonus passes, the person will be able to get a discount of 10 percent if he organizes an event within one year. Creations for You will develop a sales team which will visit the homes in the locality. The team will be responsible for personal selling of the membership cards of the company. Personal selling is important because the sales team will also be able to take the feedback of the people about the services and prices. A proper plan has been developed to use all tools of integrated marketing communication. The radio ad will be broadcasted for three days a week and throughout the year. On Sunday, the ad will be broadcasted in evening and on Tuesday and Thursday, the ad will be broadcasted in morning. Ad in the newspaper will be published every week throughout the year. The media advertising will start one month prior to the launch of company. The direct mail service of DMX will be used after the launch of the company. The online page on the two social networking websites will also be developed prior to the launch of the company. Moreover, the loyalty program, two strategies of sales promotion and personal selling techniques will be also pursued one month prior to the launch of the company. On all prommotional medias, the reason of choosing Creations for You Company and the benefits and offers of the company will be promoted. In consideration to Integrated Marketing Communications approach, the consistency in message will be adopted and all advertising agents will be called in a session in which the aims and missions of the company will be conveyed to them. For example, the services and offers of Creations for You that will be promoted through radio advertising will be consistent with those promoted in newspaper, direct mails etc. Another aim of promotional campaign is to convey the reason of existence of the company and how it can help the people to fully enjoy the events without being involved in organization and management. Promotional Budget: The promotional budget for one year has been shown in the given table: Media advertising   For 1 year   Newspaper $1,100   Radio advertising $28,000     Place advertising     Outdoor advertising $40,500   Bus and poster ads $10,400     Direct marketing Direct mail package $5,000   Social networking websites $0     Sales promotion/personal selling   $5,000     $90,000 The table shows the total budget allocated for each tool of integrated communication marketing. These figures have been taken from the official websites of the respective companies. The allocated budget for newspaper advertising is $1,100. The selected newspaper is Denver Weekly News and every week the ad will be published at a cost of $21 and for 52 weeks it is $1,092 (Gaebler, 2011). The allocated budget for Radio advertising is $28,000 and the selected radio station is KCUV-FM of 102.3 FM. One-time cost of 30 second radio ad is $194 and if the ad is broadcasted on three days per week, then total expense is $27,936 (Gaebler, 2011). The televisions advertising will not be used in the promotional plan because one-time 30 seconds cost is around $350,000 (Gaebler, 2011), which is very expensive. The allocated budget for outdoor advertising is $40,500 for 24 weeks. Posters of 10'5" X 22'8" size will be used which will target a population of around 386,100 (18 years above) individuals at a cost of $6,744 for six posters for four weeks. The total estimated costs for a panel of 6 posters for six months are $40,464. The Tradition Bus-King cost will be $10,400 for total 20 buses for four weeks and the size of poster will 30" X 144" targeting the population of 217,341 above 18 years old (Lamar, 2011). For the direct marketing program, direct mail package of DMX will be purchased and the allocated budget is $5,000. For the sales promotion, the relations will be built with beauty clinics and wedding vendors and brochures will be made available on such shops. The rough allocated budget for sales promotion and personal selling is $5,000 annual. Therefore, the total allocated promotional budget is $90,000 for the year; however, it has been assumed that the yearly packages will be purchased which will not be subjected to inflationary adjustments. In other words, it has been assumed that the prices of packages will remain constant throughout the year. References: Gaebler. (2011, February 5). Denver Weekly News - CO - Newspaper Advertising Costs. Retrieved February 5, 2011, from http://www.gaebler.com/Denver+Weekly+News-CO-Newspaper-Advertising-Costs++3128 Gaebler. (2011, February 5). How Much Do Television Ads Cost? Retrieved February 2011, 2011, from http://www.gaebler.com/Television-Advertising-Costs.htm Gaebler. (2011, February 5). KCUV Radio Advertising Costs. Retrieved February 5, 2011, from http://www.gaebler.com/KCUV-FM-CO-Radio-Advertising-Costs++14150 Lamar. (2011). Boulder(Denver Bus Transit 127). Retrieved February 5, 2011, from http://www.lamaroutdoor.com/StateRates.aspx?State=CO Michael, L. (2010). Marketing: Defined, Explained, Applied. India: Pearson Education. Pride, W. M., & Ferrell, O. C. (2007). Foundations of marketing, Edition 2. Cengage Learning. Pride, W. M., Hughes, R. J., & Kapoor, J. R. (2009). Business, Edition 10. Cengage Learnning. Shimp, T. A. (2008). Advertising Promotion, and Other Aspects of Integrated Marketing Communications, Edition 8. Cengage Learning. Read More