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This assignment consists of two (2) sections:
a marketing plan and sales strategy, and a marketing budget. Note: You must
submit both sections as separate files for the completion of this assignment.
For the first six (6) months your company is
in business—to give you time to perfect your product and to learn from actual
customers—you will start marketing and selling in your own community, a radius
of twenty-five (25) miles from where you live.
For most non-alcoholic beverages, marketing
(as opposed to the actual product itself) is key to success. Cola drinks, for
example, are fairly undifferentiated, as are many energy drinks, juices,
bottled water, and the like. Companies producing these types of beverages
differentiate themselves and attract market share through marketing and brand
awareness—both of which are critical to success.
Section 1: Marketing
Plan & Sales Strategy (MS Word or equivalent)
Write the three to five (3-5) page Marketing
Plan & Sales Strategy section of your business plan, in which you:
1.
Define your company’s
target market.
o Analyze the types of consumers who will be
drinking your beverage in demographic terms (i.e., age, education level,
income, gender, ethnic group, etc.). Support your analysis with actual data on
the size of the demographic groups in your local community (nearby zip codes).
o Outline the demographic information for your
company specified on the worksheet in the course text (p. 107 | Demographic
Description).Click
here for help accessing a specific page number in your eBook.
§ Hints: At American FactFinder (http://census.gov), you will find demographic information on
potential consumers in your area. If you are selling through other businesses
(such as grocery stores), indicate the number of those businesses in your local
area. You will find information about such businesses in your local area at
County Business Patterns (http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/). Check Chapter 2 of Successful Business
Plan for more research sources.
2.
Assess your company’s
market competition.
o Use the factors listed in the course text
graphic (p. 123 | Assess the Competition) to assess your company’s
market competition.
o Defend your strategy to successfully compete
against market leaders in your segment.
§ Hints: For example, in the soft drink market, it is intimidating to
try to compete against Coke and Pepsi. Newcomers in mature markets typically
must pursue niche markets or even create new market categories, as Red Bull did
with energy drinks.
o Defend your plan to differentiate yourself
from the competition using the information detailed on the worksheet in the
text (p. 131 | Market Share Distribution).
§ Hints: Every business faces competition and the non-alcoholic beverage
market is an especially crowded market.
1.
Clarify your company’s
message using the information provided on the worksheet in the text (p. 160 | The
Five F’s).
o
§ Hints: Before you choose your marketing vehicles, you must determine
the message you want to convey through those vehicles.
2.
Identify the marketing
vehicles you plan to use to build your company’s brand. Justify the key reasons
why they will be effective. Provide examples of other non-alcoholic beverage
companies that use these tactics effectively.
o
§ Hints: If you plan to use online marketing tactics, refer to the
worksheet in the text (p.171 | Online Marketing Tactics) to aid your
response. Remember that even if you’re selling through grocery stores you need
to build your brand and social media is a major part of that in regard to
beverages. Some of the marketing tactics that beverage companies use include:
sampling in grocery stores, building a following on social media, sponsoring
events, exhibiting at trade shows attended by retailers, and so on. You will
use a combination of these tactics. For example, if you decide to give out
samples in grocery stores, promote your sampling on your social media networks
and those of the grocery store.
o
§ Hints: If you are planning to distribute through resellers, describe
how you plan to reach them, for example, through industry trade shows or by
establishing your own sales force. For information on trade shows, visit the
Trade Show News Network (http://www.tsnn.com). You can exhibit or network at these shows.
1.
Format your assignment
according to these formatting requirements:
1.
Cite the resources you
have used to complete the exercise. Note: There is no minimum requirement for
the number of resources used in the exercise.
2.
Be typed, double
spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all
sides; references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your
professor for any additional instructions.
3.
Include a cover page
containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name,
the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not
included in the required page length.
Section 2: Marketing
Budget (MS Excel worksheets template)
Section 2 uses the “Business Plan Financials”
MS Excel template (see: Course Required Files in Week 1). Use the “Business
Plan Financials Guide” (see: Course Required Files in Week 1) to support your
development of the Marketing Budget.
1.
Complete the Marketing
Budget worksheet for your company.
o
§ Hints: The goal of the marketing budget is to help you determine how
much it will cost you to reach your market and achieve your sales goals.
§ Hints: When filling out the “Marketing Budget” worksheet in the Excel
spreadsheet:
§ Begin in the current year and complete a
marketing budget for the first year of your business. The information you enter
in the marketing budget spreadsheet will flow through to your “Income
Statement” in the Business Plan Financials.
§ Leave the number at zero (0) for any marketing
vehicles you do not intend to use.
§ Remember that all marketing activities involve
costs. If social media represents a significant portion of your marketing,
assume you will have cost of advertising and that should be reflected on your
budget. Even if a social media site charges nothing to use it, you will need to
use company resources to manage the site, pay someone to execute your social
media marketing campaigns, and will most likely pay for ads on that site.
§ Do NOT leave the “Marketing Budget” blank,
assuming you will not have any marketing costs.
Use this template APA_Template_With_Advice_(6th_Ed)
.doc
107_demographic_description.pdf
assignment_1_company_description_and_swot_analysis_sp.doc
171_online_marketing_tactics.pdf
160_the_five_f___s.pdf
131_market_share_distribution.pdf
text_book_files.pdf
assignment_1_company_description_and_swot_analysis_sp.doc
business_plan_financials.xlsm
business_plan_financials.pdf
