My plan for the company's marketing campaign must include;
· All the options that the company should consider,
· Why I have chosen to make the decisions I do.
I will have to research the company and what forms of marketing they have intended to be set up. Also I will need to know what funds are set-aside for marketing.
2. COMPETITION AND INFLUENCES ON THE COMPANY AND ITS PRODUCTS
The main competitors of this company is the two shops based also in Granada center and they are also in the same market as “Urban surf” which are selling to the young generation. This there for means that this shop must standout over the other so that you will gain the greatest market share.
3. ELEMENTS OF THE MARKETING MIX
For this new company there are many different ways the company can market its self and its products. This can be shown when you look at the elements of the marketing mix, these are;
Product, Price, Place and Promotion
All four of these will affect the ways the companies marketing strategy works.
The product must be of a quality that not only allows it to be sold in a shop but it also must be seen as some thing that the customers feel they should have. The clothes sold in the shop will manly be of an existing brand name so this means that the stock they hold will already have desirability. These existing brands such as "Quicksilver" will there for have there own advertising which will mean that the business will have advertising for the clothes they sell but not the shop itself.
Pricing strategy's can play a large part in the business as through this the company can create desirability about its products or its self. This can also bring new business to the company. For this reason there are many different pricing strategies which all should be taken in to consideration.
"Market led pricing," this where the company sets its prices in a hope to make a profit but is still low enough to create sufficient demand for the products.
"One off pricing," is where each product is at a different price this is usually use where job production is in process, not relevant to this company.
"Cost-plus pricing," is where the price of the products is calculated by working out the cost of the services and then either adding a flat rate amount or a percentage increase.
(Principles of marketing, Frances Brassington & Stephen Pettitt)
As the company has set up in an area in which there is computation form similar shops an larger retailers, the only option is to use market led pricing this is because the market is already established and so a radical new scheme would end in a loss of profit. What also adds to this is the fact that the products already exist in other shops as they are branded clothes made by manufactures so the pricing has to conform with other shops as the customers would go and purchase their goods at another out let.
The factor of Place is not on such a large scale, the outlet is the shop and although products may be offered by post most of the transactions will take place at the shop.
However the shop must be in a position in which to offer its services well and easily accessed by the customers. For example there must be plenty of car parking near by so that the customers can easily access the shop, it should be available to as many customers as possible.
Promotion the fourth element and refers to how the potential customers are made aware for the product and or products. Before the promotion campaign firstly the company must find out who its customers are and whom they are aiming their products at. This would be found out through out throw the use of market research which will not only tell you the market you are looking at but also it gives you a change to develop the product more. Knowing that the market for.
This company is between the age ranges of 14 to about 25 and is mainly based at young people.
The techniques for promotion is based under five different headings, these are;
· Packaging
· Personal selling
· Public relations
· Sales promotions
· Advertising.
For each of these in turn there are different options that are available,
Packaging it is how the product is presented to the customers this is normally the physical appearance and the packaging in which the product is sold. For this company as the products are bought from manufactures which sell through many different outlets the product already come packaged up and this is not a large concern of the company just to ensure that the packaging stays in good condition.
Personal selling involves communication directly with the customers; this is always one to one contact for example double glazing sales man. This involves the sales man approaching the customers rather than the customers coming to a shop. Potentially this is the promotion technique that is most likely to sell the most products but this is not a good option for your company, as it would involve large amounts of stock being taken to see all the clients.
Public relations are the relations between the company and the public. This is about presenting a caring image to the public and potential customers, of a place were they would want to shop.
This image can be achieved by:
· Through sponsorship of events related to the product or the image that is wished to be portrayed.
· Sponsorship or the setting up of youth teams.
· Making money available for help with community projects such as building a youth centre.
· Buying equipment for schools.
(Marketing Plans, Malcolm McDonald)
Due to the fact that “Urban Surf” is such a small newly opened company they will not have the large P.R budget to cover these large events. In the future they may be able to put a small amount of money in to local schemes or events but this is not in the immediate future.
Sales promotion is also known as point of sale promotions this is because this is where it happens. The different sorts of sales promotion are:
1. Buy one get one free - this can also be buy one and get something else free.
2. Discounts.- where products are reduced in an effort to sell more.
3. Competitions - used to get people interested in he shop and products.
4. Free gifts - another way to pursued people to buy products.
5. Product trials - allows people to try the products before they buy.
6. Point of sale displays - special displays to promote the products and gain customer awareness.
(Principles of Strategic Marketing, Don Booth)
For your company I would expect these to play a major part in the shop. I would use the point of sales displays, as the major part of the sales promotion as this will give reactively cheap and cost effective method.
Advertising is the process of communicating information about the product or service to as many customers in the target market as possible a way that arouses interest so that the customers are encouraged to buy products. This must be accurate as law states it. The advertising method chosen should suit the size of both the firm and size of its market.
Small firms should consider these options because they are of low cost and are cost effective still:
· Word of mouth
· Local press
· Commercial directories. (e.g. yellow pages)
· Delivering leaflets.
All of the above should be considered as they are all with in the small marketing budget that is available to me.
4. COMPANY AND PRODUCT ANALYSIS
Swot analysis
Using the swat analysis it will help with determining which new products to introduce in the company and examine how existing products are doing. SWOT stands for Strengths weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The first to of these are internal and the second two are external.
Strengths: the company has as an advantage over the other companies because it sells from many different well-established names all who are associated with good quality. All of these name have there own form of advertising as well as any Urban surf put in to practice.
Weaknesses: is the size of the company selling the products, as it is very small. Also the product is week because the clothing is based at a particularly type of person with in the age group as the clothes are designed to a limited amount of people. The other problem is that the small company only has a very small amount of money available. This limits both expansion and marketing plans.
Opportunities: For the company to expand because of the ever growing population and the fact that the area of Granada will be prone to a great economic growth due to the increase in access that is likely to become available.
Threats: The treats to the company is the clothes shop just up the street which is based in the same market as us there also a shop in the main present which will again is based in the same market.
(Principles of Strategic Marketing, Don Booth)
5. SUGGESTIONS FOR “URBAN SURF”
I have chosen this theory because I think that the most important thing, in this moment , for this company is doesn’t loose money and to improve its cash flow.
The BOSTON MATRIX (Boston Box)
A company’s products/service portfolio changes over time as market needs change and in order to maintain growth, cash flow, profit and minimise the risk of not achieving its objectives this portfolio must be constantly reviewed.
(Principles of Strategic Marketing, Don Booth)
- Over Coming Financial Problems.
As the company I very small and does not have much capital to put in to setting up a large marketing campaign they have a few options. One of the options is for the owner to input money to the business to start the campaign. I would expect that the owner what put in about 15.000 euros. The second option is that the company could get out a small term loan which could be paid back over two or three years. They could chose to borrow 15.000 euros from a bank. So using both options the companies would have about 30.000 euros budget to put forward for the marketing campaign.
- Evaluating and decisions I have made.
The small budget that is mandatory to keep this restricts the strategies that your company can under take. The constraints of the budget means that the market research for the company must be on a very small scale and I suggest that it is carried out in the shop. Therefore giving cheap field research.
Firstly considering the low advertising budget that the company has the company should have a large sign made to go out side of he shop. This should be both eye catching and bold along side this there would be a sign of the same design at the end of the street detailing where the shop is this would come to just over about 750 euros.
The second choice would be to have leaflets printed that detail both the type of products they stock and he position of the shop. These would be printed using the shop computer and so this would keep the costs low. The owners of the shop also suggested this. The leaflets would be handed out on a Saturday morning or during busy time giving a small discount to new customers. This would there fore mean that new customers would visit the shop because there is a discount.
Thirdly I would I suggest that the company has a large and colourful displays which are in store. This will there for be point of sale promotion. Using this the company will be able to market the product ranges in specific ways. This could also an advantage to the company as the clothing firms that the shop deals with may already supply stands and displays. If they do not the clothes company may be willing to allocate funds for purchase of these products. Also I would also recommend a large sign out side of the shop to increase attention and to encourage people in to the shop this should also be accompanied by sign on the side of the street for the purpose of informing people where the shop is allocated.
The pricing strategies of the company would not greatly come in to play as the clothes prices are already set when they come from the factories so your company will only have a say on the discounts on old ranges or other deals negotiated with the producer.
The final suggestion I think that the company should use is that they should have an advert in the local newspaper which will then have the affect of also drumming up new business this could also have a free 15 euros off voucher on it so that customer will be more likely to try the shop. Although this will cost the shop quite a large amount of money it will introduce new customer and also get the company know.
