Good Example Of 3-Year Marketing Plan For Company G Essay

Introduction

Company G has already become a well-known representative of qualitative electronic goods producers in the US and abroad. Recently, it has decided to launch a new product line of coffee makers aimed at introducing several brand-new solutions in the market. This 3-year marketing plan is dedicated to providing the key characteristics and qualities of the new product line, as well as detailed strategies for its promotion in the market.

Mission Statement

“We enable consumers to improve the quality and convenience of their lives by providing high-quality, innovative electronic solutions.”
The Product
The product line will involve coffee machines of two major types – automatic and capsule machines. The first group of goods involves the automatic machines, which allow for preparing different types of coffee with just one press of a button. The entire coffee-making process takes place inside the machine, and the more expensive model in the line will have an option of making cappuccino without any extra procedures – the same touch of a button. The cheaper models will have a bit limited opportunities for the clients, but will definitely be of high quality. Another important property of such machines is the quickness of the coffee preparation process.
The second line of products is the capsule machines. In this variant, the clients will have to buy capsules for the machine, but they will not have to bother with anything else, as what will be left is just insert the capsule in the machine and in a few moments, they can receive different types of coffee. It is also easy, does not make loud sounds, and the dosage of coffee is always the same. These lines of products perfectly fit the Company’s mission statement, as this solutions are definitely innovative and improve the quality and convenience of clients’ lives by providing an opportunity for quick and easy coffee preparation.

Consumer Product Classification

In the product lines presented above, there will be items corresponding to the shopping goods. Consumers with different background and level of income can find an option suitable for them. The products will differ in terms of the quantity of coffee types that can be prepared with their help, the time of preparation, the easiness of the process and the energy saving characteristics. In any case, coffee machine will be a valuable contribution to the house small appliances of every family.

Target Market

Demographic characteristics:
Age. The product lines are targeted at consumers of age, when they start consuming coffee with peak popularity at working people, business women and men. Thus, the average age is 20-50 years with peak at 25-45 years of age. According to statistics, total percentage of Americans over the age of 18 that drink coffee everyday is 54% (Live Science, 2014).
Gender. Both men and women are involved into the target audience in equal proportion.
Income level. The level of income needed for the cheaper line of products is $3000-$5000 per month, while for the luxury line, it is $5000-$15000 on average.
Occupation. Coffee machines are most popular among businessmen and women, as well as housewives, who spend a lot of time at home and consume coffee on a daily basis. Most often, it is taken in the morning at breakfast.
Marital status. Both single people and married drink coffee a lot, although those who are married are more likely to buy the coffee machine, as the level of consumption goes up if several people are drinking it daily.

Psychographic characteristics:

Lifestyle. The product lines will be mostly interesting for the pre-family and family groups of people, when they are already not dependent on their parents, and still are not in the late years of life.
Interests. These people are usually active, like to meet with people, speak with them, and invite them for a cup of coffee to their household. They may have versatile interests.

Character traits: energetic, dynamic, feasters, active, sociable.

Competitive Situation Analysis
Analysis of Competition using Porter’s 5 Forces Model
Competitive Rivalry. The market is already mature and there are strong competitors already present. Moreover, the competitors have little differentiation conditioned by the limited number of coffee types and technologies of its making. Besides, there is low exit barrier, which is a positive. This threat exists already and is of high level.
Threat from New Entrants. Patents covering vital technologies make it difficult to enter the market for new competitors, which is a positive. Industry requires economies of scale, which is also positive. Strong brand names are also important in the industry, which means that there will be necessary to improve Company’s brand value specifically in the market of coffee machines production. This threat exists already and is of low level.
Threat from Buyers. Buying power of one person is low and far more rarely machines are bought before the family life. There is medium level of price sensitivity and low switching cost. This threat exists already and is of high level.
Threat from Suppliers. Critical production inputs are similar for the producers and volume is critical for the suppliers. This threat may exist in the future and is of medium level.
Threat from Substitutes. The substitutes are usually of lower quality and there is a limited number of them. This threat exists already and is of low level.

SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis conducted for the chosen product lines will allow for forming the bigger picture of the products’ position in the industry, its challenges, strengths, opportunities and threats. The brief outline will be presented in the table and further described in the relevant sections underneath.

Strengths

Reputation for innovation. It is the second core competency of the company. Today our world and markets around the globe change very fast. This is an important reason why companies to achieve success have to invent new and successful solutions for people. Company G has always accepted this challenge and has already earned a reputation for its innovative and effective decisions.
Successful marketing strategies. Management of Company G perfectly understands how important it is to implement successful and interesting marketing strategies to make people aware of its products. As of today, successful marketing strategies implemented have already become the company strength.

Weaknesses

Staff resources are already stretched. Today the company experiences a certain lack of staff in launching the new product lines and the available staff members work at their maximum to get their tasks done. Still, such situation can further be poorly reflected on the product quality, which makes it a company weakness.
No direct marketing experience in this field. Although the company has a long-standing and successful experience in other fields, in the market of coffee machines the direct experience is absent, which is why there are possible different mistakes and problems.
High production costs. The company has to spend a considerable amount of money on producing the new product lines, which increases the price for the product and limits the buyers’ opportunities to purchase these products.

Opportunities

Very wide market of home coffee drinkers. The market is very wide, as a lot of people love drinking coffee and buying a quality coffee machine is a must for many of them. It allows for spreading the product as a convenient and high quality one among the target audience, extending it in the geographical sense as well.
Increase distribution channels in rural area. Rural area unites quite a large portion of people in the USA and abroad. This is why it is a great opportunity for business development to extend marketing efforts to the rural area apart from the urban territories.
Highlight health benefits of coffee. If the health benefits of drinking coffee receive proper attention and coverage among people, it is possible to extend the target audience and attract new customers to it. It is a great opportunity, because today more and more people are choosing healthy lifestyles.

Threats

Very strong competition. In the given market, there is already existing rather strong competition, which makes it difficult to enter the market right now. There is a threat that customers will give preference to the brands and producers they are already familiar with.
Alternative variants of technologies. The fact that there are alternative variants in technologies of coffee machines means that there exists a threat that people will not like the offered by Company G technology and prefer another option.
Resistance on the part of consumers. There is a chance that consumers may resist the new product due to some personal specific reasons. It is important to understand what is the basis for this resistance and find the ways to overcome it.

Market Objectives

Product Objective
1. Become one of the top three brands in the market named among consumers by the end of 2016.
2. Complete product launch plan and obtain sign off from sales and engineering by summer 2015.
3. Track competitor activities so organization learns about new developments no more than 5 days after they occur on a constant basis by the end of 2018.

Price Objective

1. Achieve a sales run-rate of $20,000 per quarter by year-end of 2015.
2. Generate $100,000 in product sales by the end of 2017.
3. Achieve revenue growth of 15% per year for the next three years.

Place Objective

1. Reduce average distribution costs to less than 5% of gross revenue by the end of 2016.
2. Add 60 distribution partners in the rural area by the end of 2015.
3. Form and enhance online presence of the company reaching 10,000 monthly visits by the end of 2016.

Promotion Objective

1. Obtain at least 1,500 new customers per month by the end of 2015.
2. Increase market share for the new product to 45% by the end of 2017.
3. Write 15 press releases each quarter and ensure they appear in at least 20 industry journals by the end of 2018.

Marketing Strategies

Marketing strategy defines how to create a marketing structure to attract and satisfy target markets and achieve market and organizational objectives. In deciding on the main marketing strategy, it is necessary to involve product, price, place and promotion strategies. Marketing strategy is the formation of goals, achieving them and solving problems of enterprise-producer for each individual product, for each individual market for a certain period. Strategy is formed for the implementation of industrial and commercial activities in line with the market situation and the possibilities of the enterprise.
One of the leading and most well-known experts in the field of marketing Philip Kotler describes the marketing strategy as a rational logical construction, guided by which the firms expect to solve their marketing problems. It includes specific strategies to target markets, marketing mix and level of marketing costs. Marketing strategy should definitely decide on market segments, in which the company will focus its main efforts. Following the development of marketing strategies, there is developed a detailed program of activities for the production and sale of goods with fixing the perpetrators, deadlines and cost determination.

Product Strategies

1. To become one of the top three brands in the market, it is necessary to create and develop product lines that are client-oriented and popular among the target audience, it is necessary to conduct market research and updates on a regular basis by gathering focus groups and conducting surveys, both off- and online.
2. To complete product launch plan and obtain sign off from sales and engineering, it is necessary to employ good specialists in the given fields, as well as to complete the work at the best possible level of quality within the set deadlines.
3. To track the innovations and decisions taken by competitors, it is necessary to constantly monitor their activities both online and offline and take quick and effective decisions when noticing some important information.

Price Strategies

1. To achieve a sales run-rate of $20,000 per quarter, it is necessary to look for the ways to decrease the production line expenses with no compromise to quality.
2. To generate $100,000 in product sales, it is necessary to design and develop products that can satisfy audience of different background and needs.
3. To achieve revenue growth of 15% per year, it is required to find such a combination of product qualities and price that would allow the product to be distributed effectively in the target sector of the market.

Place Strategies

1. To reduce average distribution costs to less than 5% of gross revenue, it is necessary to look for the places in large cities, where it would be possible to establish good distribution channels, constantly analyzing their efficiency and improving them.
2. To add 60 distribution partners in the rural area by the end of 2015, it is essential to find ways of reaching the audience of the rural territory by understanding their needs and opportunities.
3. To form and enhance online presence of the company reaching 10,000 monthly visits, the company has to find designers and content managers, optimization specialists that will allow for establishing good and quality online distribution channel.

Promotion Strategies

1. To obtain at least 1,500 new customers per month, it is necessary with the help of proper market research and introduction of successful marketing instruments usage, to form and enhance the brand awareness of the product in the given market.
2. To increase market share for the new product to 45% by the end of 2017, it is necessary to use social media optimization, search engine optimization tools, effect of viral sites and videos to increase people’s awareness of the brand and product lines on the web, as well as effective strategies in offline environment.
3. To write 15 press releases each quarter and ensure they appear in at least 20 industry journals, it is necessary to strictly adhere to deadlines and find new promotion tools every season, implementing an effective promotional campaign on a regular basis.

Tactics and Action Plan

One of the aims of marketing plan of the company is timely decisions about the appropriateness of the design and production of a new product. Due to the subjective and objective reasons, sooner or later the goods, no matter how exceptional consumer properties they do possess, cease to be in demand among customers and are replaced by new products, improved. In this action plan, there will be defined certain actions needed to develop the product and enhance its popularity among the consumers.

Product Action Plan

Price Action Plan
Place Action Plan
Promotion Action Plan
Monitoring Procedures
For successful implementation of the marketing plan, it is necessary to constantly monitor its success and change certain strategies in case they do not bring the desired result/benefit. For reaching the objectives defined above, in this section there will be proposed the monitoring activities that will allow maximizing the effect of this marketing plan.