One of the fundamental procedures involved in any successful business operation is creating and implementing a marketing plan.

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INTRODUCTION

One of the fundamental procedures involved in any successful business operation is creating and implementing a marketing plan. A market is a particular group of buyers—or in the case of libraries, users or clients—who needs services. A marketing plan consists of several components, each of which is described below.

Before writing a marketing plan, it is necessary to define your target market and to understand its needs. This involves conducting market research such as, user surveys, focus group interviews, and information interviews to provide insight on what the customers really expect.

India and Srilanka have a diverse cultural heritage.  Sub continental people living in Australia do not have adequate facilities to experience their culture and let their children learn more about it. This is a growing concern to these people. The cultural school proposed in this business plan can provide services to fulfill this need.

The marketing edge in this business plan is that many activities are provided under the same roof. Customers will have the luxury of choosing from a collection of cultural activities. They get to introduce their children into an environment which will provide them with a cultural experience. There is no organisation in Australia which offers such facilities to these people. The competition to the business plan will be from small organisations or individuals who specialize in a particular field and have built a reputation. But these competitors can not provide the ultimate cultural experience this business plan proposes.

A good comparison for the concept will be the food courts through out the country. Even though they serve the same product (food), they can serve specialized products to cater individual taste and choice under the same roof. This allows the customer to choose or combine his or her requirements with out having to worry about searching or traveling to various places. As a result it saves time and creates opportunity to choose.

STATEMENT OF MISSION

This school intends to provide a dramatic indo- srilankan cultural activity and keeps its motto to serve the interested public a value added service at its best. “Unity is diversity” is the basic principle of this school and always remains the best in its performance at all levels of its service.

BUSINESS PORTFOLIO

INDO – SRILANKAN CULTURAL SCHOOL

Main features offered:

Spiritual and philosophy / psychology Classes: Hinduism, Buddhism.

 

Classical Instrument Classes: Mridangam, Vina, Flute, Violin, Sitar, Tabala.

 

Languages: Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Singhalese.

 

Vocal: Carnatic Classical, Semi Classical, Hindusthani Classical, Bhajans / Devotional Songs.

 

Dance Classes: Bharathanatyam, Kuchupudi, Oddisy.

 

Entertainment features:

Musical concerts – classical, semi classical, fusion

Dance concerts

Stage shows – debates, discourse, dramas

 

Functional activities:

Diwali, ugadi, tamil new year,

 

Membership services:

Tour planning – family, group, individual.

Special privileges for members – personal tour guide, organising accommodation, V.I.P tour of historical places in Srilanka and India.

 

MARKET AND MARKETING RESEARCH

Market research is very important as it can provide valuable information about customer perception, competitors, etc. Research shows there is a potential market for an indo – Srilankan cultural school. There are a few schools in Australia which offer services in a particular field, for example a dance school which teaches only bharathnatyam dance and does not promote other forms of dancing. The indo – Srilankan cultural school provides many activities related to indo – Srilankan culture under the same roof. The research done recently does not indicate any change in the market. The out come of the research is the same as for the assignment one. For further details regarding research techniques used refer assignment one.

Marketing research:

Due to financial constrains we had to limit our research techniques. Marketing research is defined as ‘the function that links the consumer, customer and public to the marketer through information’(Kotler et al,1998,p.153).

First the problems encountered in this business plan were defined. They are:

Competitor’s strength: primary and secondary data.

Customer requirement:         primary data

Customer satisfaction:                primary data

Customer needs:                        primary data

Demographic environment:        secondary data

The importance of market research is to identify the macro environmental factors that can influence the marketing plans of the organisation (study guild4-3). The method of research used to collect this data is explained in assignment one.

PROFILE OF CUSTOMERS

‘Most firms use some form of market segmentation by dividing the total market into groups of customers having relatively common needs and create a marketing mix that appeals to them’(Ferrell et al,1998,p.93). This business plan targets the Indian origin and Srilankan origin people living in Australian. It does not emphasis on age limitations as it targets the whole family to take part in a cultural experience. People belonging to other communities would be our second target because we have to create or introduce basic information about this culture to gain their interest and time.

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Spiritual and philosophy / psychology Classes – Hinduism, Buddhism.

Suitable for men and women between the age group of 40 plus.

Classical Instrument Classes – Mirudangam, Veena, Flute, Violin, Sitar, Tabal.

Suitable for boys and girls between the age group of 4 - 18.

Languages – Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu, Sinhalese.

Suitable for boys and girls between the age group of 4 -12.

Vocal – Carnatic Classical, Semi Classical, Hindusthani Classical, Bhajans / Devotional Songs.

1, beginners – boys and girls between the age group of 4 - 16.

2, advanced – women between the age group ...

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