Tech Assignment 3

COMPANY DESCRIPTION: BUBBLE TEA Bubble Tea, as the name suggests, is a bubble tea store with its roots in Toledo, OH. It is located near the University of Toledo on Secor Road. Established in 2010, is it a part of Balance Grille which offers snacks, tacos, bowls, etc. They are a pan-asian inspired chain of restaurants that focus on fresh ingredients along with keeping nutrition in mind. Bubble tea is a Taiwanese based tea drink that has taken the United States by storm. The Bubble Tea store is a name that all students are familiar with and is a pretty popular drink seen in the hands of many. Bubble Tea offers many options and combinations of drinks that you can customize as per your liking. You can choose between milk or fruit tea. Followed by that, you have tea bases like green tea, oolong tea, assam tea, and darjeeling tea. There is also an option to choose between tapioca boba or even fruit bubbles. This forms the outline of the Bubble Tea store. They are solely dedicated to making fresh bubble tea for its customers. The price range starts with $3.50 for an entire drink with bubbles, but you can add more toppings as per your liking. The ambience of the store is also fun yet relaxing. There is ample space to study and hang out with your friends as well. They want to show their customers how dedicated they are to Toledo. They have a quote in the store saying, “made with love in the glass city.” Using the above quote, when it comes to social media, its username on Instagram and Facebook is also @madewithlove419.

Part I. Situation and SWOT Analyses 1. Situation Analysis – A situation analysis involves detailed examinations of (1) competitive brands, (2) the customers that purchase brands within the product category, and (3) environmental factors (the economy, social-cultural developments, pressing regulatory issues, and so forth) relevant to the category and to the brand’s growth prospects within the category. a) Competitor Analysis:

1. R&B Bubble Tea KTV: The closest competition to Bubble Tea is R&B Bubble Tea KTV. R&B has a presence on Instagram. They have an official profile on Instagram. It has 283 followers. R&B uses this page to deliver messages to their customers about new flavors as well as the days that they will remain closed. They are extremely active on Instagram. They use their instagram page to market their bubble tea and also showcase their various offers on it. Their recent offering of making any bubble tea of any flavor available as a hot tea was also showcased on Instagram. Therefore, R&B uses their Instagram page quite extensively for marketing their product. For example, on Black Friday, R&B put up their Buy 1 Get 1 Free offer as a post on their Instagram page to attract more customers.

While posting their offers and new flavors on their Instagram page, R&B uses “#bubbletea” in all of their captions. This idea is used so that whenever anyone searches for Bubble Tea on Instagram, R&B’s post comes up and they gain more customers. They also use”#toledo” to attract more customers in the Toledo area. Apart from the Bubble Tea, R&B is also a Karaoke Bar. It has a huge seating area that allows customers to sit back and relax while playing games with their friends. R&B does a great job at marketing this unique proposition of theirs on their Instagram page. Their Karaoke section keeps them busy on weekend nights and it also increases their chances of getting more customers for their Bubble Tea. R&B also has a huge blackboard in their seating area that is open to anyone to draw on. This blackboard is in the past, used by various student organizations to advertise their upcoming events. This allows R&B to be a location that is attractive to more and more students who need to advertise to a large audience. Some great works of art have also been showcased on the blackboard by some students. Following are some of the posts that R&B has put up on their Instagram page:

R&B’s has an official page on Facebook as well. It has 182 likes and 190 followers. When compared to Instagram, R&B’s presence and activity on Facebook is extremely low. In fact, their last post on Facebook dates back to May 25, 2016. That is a dangerous position to be in, when Facebook is used by a lot of local businesses to increase their customer base. R&B’s posts on Facebook have been nothing out of the ordinary. They have not been as creative on Facebook as they are on Instagram. Apart from a few pictures of the rather confusing Menu, they have not been very active on Facebook. Back in 2015, when they were opening up, their posts were fairly active, but they have not been active ever since. R&B has not exploited Facebook if its entire potential as a marketing platform. The reason for it is probably that R&B has a stable flow of customers at this point, and they do not see any point in investing in marketing for more. Apart from the following picture, R&B has not used Facebook for advertising their offers:

Apart from R&B’s presence on Instagram and Facebook, it does not have an official webpage. In this day and age, it is really important for any business to have their official webpage, as customers will then depend on other websites like Yelp or Zomato to gather information about the place. This can lead to some prejudice that can harm the influx of more customers. 2. Barnes and Noble Starbucks: The other competitor to Bubble Tea is the Starbucks Cafe that is located in Gateway Plaza, just a few stores down from Bubble Tea. This Starbucks is a part of the Barnes and Noble Bookstore. The Starbucks provides all the flavors that a regular Starbucks would. The Barnes and Noble Starbucks cafe does not have its own official page on Facebook or Instagram. When searched on the official Barnes and Noble Web page, the Gateway Plaza location does not even show in the search results. This shows that the location does not have a lot of marketing efforts. Apart from their absence in the form of an official webpage and their absence from being one of the locations on the official Barnes and Noble website, the Starbucks at Barnes and Noble, Gateway Plaza does not have an official page on Facebook or Instagram. But, Strabucks as

corporation has an official Facebook and Instagram page that has a following of about 37 Million. Any new flavor or offer that Starbucks as a corporation offers, is offered at the Starbucks at Gateway as well. Thus, this might be the reason why making an official page on Facebook for one location may not be desirable for Starbucks. On Instagram, Starbucks has a following of 16 Million. Needless to say, the official page on Instagram is extremely active. There are pictures posted on the page almost everyday. They use their Instagram page to post videos of their new flavors and their new offerings. These videos are creative and get many views which increases their probability of getting customers to try their new flavors. Starbucks has an extensive following on Twitter as well with 11.9 Million followers. Starbucks, being the mammoth of a corporation that it is, uses their creative minds to post creative videos and tweets to keep their feed updated and attract new customers. Starbucks is also present on Snapchat since November, 2014. Starbucks is also present on Pinterest with about 332k following. Starbucks uses all of the resources available to them to market their product on all of the social media platforms to make the most out of their resources. Along with their drinks, Starbucks also provides light sandwiches, danishes, etc., that are appreciated by customers as breakfast items. This makes going to Starbucks a wholesome experience to the customers. TABLE 1: COMPETITIVE SCENARIO

BUBBLE TEA R&B BUBBLE TEA STARBUCKS

Product Portfolio Moderate High High

Price Lowest Moderate High

Official Website No No Yes

Presence on Social Media

Only on Facebook and Instagram

Only on Facebook and Instagram

Present on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Pinterest

Activity on Social Media

Low Moderate High

Option of Food served

No Food items served Only Cookies available

A whole menu of food items served

Choice of Boba Not an extensive variety of Boba available

Variety of Boba along with a choice of Jelly

No Boba available

Choice of Hot Not available Hot teas available Separate menu of Hot

beverages beverages

Ambience Large seating area, quite environment

Large seating area, lively environment

Small seating area, lively environment

Perks Available Proximity to Rice Blvd, Social Gastropub, Jimmy Johns, Dominos

Variety of games available, Karaoke section

Books and UT gear

b) Customer Analysis For Bubble Tea, their customer base mainly focuses on the students studying at The University of Toledo since it is very close to campus, as well as families with young children. The same customer base is present for its competitors who are in its geographical proximity, being R&B Bubble Tea and Starbucks. Size of customer base: The University of Toledo currently has over 23,000 students, with 81% being full time and the remaining 19% part-time. The current undergraduate enrollment is 16,247. The gender distribution is 51% males to 49% females. Majority of the students live off- campus. Reasons for buying in the product category: they are interested to try out all the flavors and fruit bubbles, they are happy with the portion sizes that Bubble Tea has to offer for that price, and they are influenced by their friends or family members to try it out. Reasons for not buying in the product category: people still might not be used to the taste of the traditional tapioca boba, might find it pricey, might not be the ideal drink during the cold months since customers want something warm and filling. Demographics: include males and females both, but it is dominated by females. The age group will be between 18-25, as they are college going students. Since the target market is mainly college students, their level of income is still fairly low as they have to study and work part time. They are mostly unmarried and would come to places like Bubble Tea, Starbucks, R&B Bubble Tea, etc. to hang out with their friends. Psychographics: Students always need something on the go, maybe on their way to work or college. Getting a beverage can help them get through the day and make it refreshing for them as well. Chains like Bubble Tea, R&B Bubble Tea, Starbucks, etc. make their stores student oriented with lots of seating so that they can come and study or just hang out. Spending habits of

students are not high since they are on a budget. So getting a beverage sometimes would not harm them. It is also seen as a statement to be having Bubble Tea or Starbucks because they are well known all around campus. This young generation is always online, so posting photos of it is common as well. Behavioristic segmentation: the behavior of the young adult segment is rather unique. They have the technology, all the information available at their fingertips, etc. They tend to not be loyal to one particular brand because they are interested in trying out new things all the time. Switching behavior is very common for them. If they do not like a product, they know they have other options. Voicing their opinion is important for them as well. This relates to their online presence. They look at reviews and opinions from people and base decisions of that. Online media presence and media habits: The internet is the best tool that this generation has. They have the highest presence on the internet and they know how to use it well. Different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. are present to share their life. They like to live in a world in which they make their online life seem very happening and post a lot of photos and videos. This also translates to them posting photos of what they are eating and drinking. Bubble Tea, Starbucks, etc. are popularly shared photos on the internet. Reviews about a product are also important to them. If the customers like or dislike a product, they can rate and review it as Bubble Tea, Starbucks, and R&B Bubble Tea do have social media pages and try to be present where their customers are. Anticipated developments: Through our Internet Marketing Plan, we want to help Bubble Tea stay ahead of its competitors and be the preferred option of beverage for the people. Customer behavior changes overtime, and is changing at a faster rate compared to before. We have to try and match that change so they can be loyal to Bubble tea. Personalization is extremely important for them. The more control you give them, the more they can relate to your product. People want a better customer service and experience as well. The overall effect that the employees have and how they help you out really matters. Before the power was in the hands of the marketers, now customers are in charge and they want just that. Being present online is also an important factor. Day by day, people are resorting to the internet to find out reviews, shop for products, give their opinion, etc. This trend will only continue to grow. If the company doesn’t have an online presence and doesn’t interact with their audience, it is perceived as bad. Coupons and offer are a growing trend everywhere. People might be expecting it in the beverage section as well. Why internet marketing may succeed in reaching the target market From the above information that we know about our target customers, we want to formulate our internet marketing plan to make them reach their target audience better. The biggest advantage that they have is the location. Even though its competitors are placed close as well, it is the closest from the Lofts At Gateway Bus stop. It gives students easy access to visit Bubble Tea

whenever possible. From our research we found that Bubble Tea and R&B Bubble Tea do have social media pages but nobody is active. The more inactive you are, the lesser you will be present even when the customers are not in the store or thinking about getting a beverage. The faster we can capitalize on that, the better. The Starbucks branch on Secor Road does not even have a Facebook page to interact with its customers for it’s store exclusively. Through our internet marketing plan, we can help customers engage in our product more. Answering questions that people might have on these social media pages instantly. Posting fun photos about the store and its customers enjoying bubble tea, branding it as a quiet and bright place to study or to just hang out with friends. Combining offers and the internet can be a great way to bring customers to the store. This will encourage people to follow their social media pages and perceive it as a brand that is not just giving them a product, but focusing on their customer experience as well. c) Environmental Analysis There are a few economic factors that are affecting the brand’s success. Technology within Bubble Tea is new and very interesting, setting them apart from competition whom use basic equipment to make coffee drinks and hot teas. The type of technology that sets them apart is the sealing machine that is used for sealing the top of the drink off so there are no spills and the customer is able to poke a hole in the seal with cool thicker than normal straws to be able to drink the actual bubbles in the tea. Another technology is the shaker machine which shakes each individual tea to mix to create the most delicious flavors. Competitors such as R&B Bubble Tea do not have these machines, therefore setting Bubble Tea apart. These machines overall make the process of serving customers quickly and efficiently much easier in the long run. Currently, the rise of quick serve bubble tea type restaurants is increasing. Bubble Tea is very well known in the Toledo area. Partnering with Balance Grille to help bring in more business, Bubble Tea has been creating an upward trend for the beginning of the new year economically. A huge factor in this success is mobile applications. Being able to order your favorite Bubble Tea from the touch of a finger is huge in today’s world. The biggest social cultural trend would be technology and making things like ordering teas easy to access. Another trend that makes Bubble Tea more attractive is natural health trends. People are starting to understand that eating healthy is a better lifestyle, Balance and Bubble Tea both offer organic, healthy and natural options on their menus. With these trends working in Bubble Tea’s favor, we believe that there is a lot of potential for this business to grow with the help of a solid marketing plan. Expanding to other territories, promoting on social media, and treating every customer transaction with energy and positivity are some of the most important steps to Bubble Tea becoming even more successful.

2. SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths: One of the greatest strengths of Bubble Tea as a brand is that their menu consists of teas that are of high quality. The high quality coupled with their low prices (Bubble Tea has the cheapest choices when compared with the competitors), makes Bubble Tea a great contender in the market. Apart from the price and the high quality, the employees at Bubble Tea also provide speedy service. This is a great strength as customers nowadays are always in a rush, especially college students. And providing speedy service to such customers make a statement to the customers about the service. Most of the ingredients used by Bubble Tea are natural and these are very beneficial for Bubble Tea as it positions Bubble Tea as a health conscious brand in the minds of the customers. Bubble Tea also lets customers choose the ingredients of their tea by the use of an interactive computer screen. This allows for the customers to choose according to their preference rather than getting stuck with a generic drink. The ambience of Bubble Tea is very cool and hip, and the wall murals make a statement about Bubble Tea and gives it a Chic appearance. Bubble Tea is located at one of the best spaces in Gateway plaza, where it is close to eating joints as well as the University Shuttle’s bus stop. This makes it easy for UT students to grab a drink from Bubble Tea and head to their classes. Bubble Tea is a homegrown brand and that strikes a cord with every customer. It makes Bubble Tea more relatable to Toledo residents. Weaknesses: When compared with the competitors, Bubble Tea’s menu can be considered very narrow as they do not offer as many drink as R&B or Starbucks. Bubble Tea does not promote their brand and thus has a very narrow base of customers. R&B Bubble Tea sees a lot of Asian families as well as college students, while Bubble mostly sees UT students. Bubble Tea was established in 2010 and it still a relatively new brand when compared to Starbucks. Although Bubble Tea has been around for almost 8 years, Bubble Tea is still a foreign concept to many Toledo residents, and this leads to people preferring Starbucks over trying a new concept. Bubble Tea is famous among UT college students, but it hasn’t struck a cord with other customers bases. This reduces Bubble Tea’s scope to grow. Opportunities: The widespread craze of Bubble Tea that has happened in the recent years provides a great opportunity for Bubble Tea to grow. Bubble Tea can cash in on the popularity of the concept among youngsters. Since Bubble Tea has not used any medium till now to market the product to their customers, they can concentrate their efforts on social media advertising and try to gather more customers. This would increase their customers and also increase their presence on social media, which is very important for any brand in today’s business world. With the society and especially millennials becoming more and more health conscious, Bubble Tea has the opportunity to market itself as a healthy brand and also concentrate on the advantages of Bubble Tea when compared to Coffee that is the main product of Starbucks. A particularly good opportunity for Bubble Tea to grow in the market would be to come up with new deals, coupons and even sales promotion activities. This would encourage customers to purchase Bubble Tea even more. Alos, Bubble Tea can partner with various student

organizations that are present at UT. It return for sponsoring events of these organizations, Bubble Tea could market their product at these events. Threats: The fact that Bubble Tea’s competitors are present very close to it is a great threat. The reason being that it gives customers a choice to choose from and it makes Bubble Tea’s chances of attracting a customers that much slimmer. Also, the fact the Bubble Tea is not the most well established concept doesn’t help. It is quite possible that the craze for Bubble Tea might die down and give way for Starbucks to gain even more market share than it already does. Americans in Toledo may assume that Bubble Tea only caters to the Asian tastes. This might discourage them from purchasing or even trying Bubble Tea. Also, the traces of DEHP being found in Bubble Tea might discourage customers from purchasing Bubble Tea despite it’s health benefits over Coffee. TABLE 2: SWOT ANALYSIS

STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES

1. High quality 2. Speedy service 3. Cheapest price 4. Natural Ingredients 5. Customizable drinks 6. Ambience 7. Proximity to bus stop 8. Homegrown brand 9. Proximity to eating joints

1. Narrow selection 2. Narrow customer base 3. Relatively new business 4. Unfamiliar concept in the Toledo area 5. Famous among only college going

students

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

1. Widespread bubble tea craze 2. Potential for increasing customer base 3. Health conscious customers 4. Scientific research may be used as a

marketing tool 5. Scope for Social Media marketing 6. New offers and deals to compete with

competitors 7. Partnering with UT

1. R&B and Starbucks in close proximity 2. Prejudice against a new concept 3. A new concept like this may die down

in the future 4. DEHP Toxins

Part II. IM Strategy: The Fundamental Decisions An IM manager must make four fundamental decisions: targeting, positioning, objective setting, and budgeting. These decisions provide the strategic foundation for the brand and guide subsequent decisions in implementing the IM program. 1. Targeting Targeting is the very first step to be taken when designing a marketing plan of any sort, be it an Internet Marketing plan or any other. It allows a company distinguish between a Potential Market and the actual Target Market. In our case with Bubble Tea, we realized that we need to make the most of the location that Bubble Tea is situated in. Bubble Tea is situated on Secor Road, which is the 4th busiest street in Toledo, it is a major road which has a number of intersections, ensuring a lot of traffic throughout the day. It is also located in close proximity to the Gateway Bus Stop of the Gold and Blue Loop routes of the University of Toledo’s shuttle.Gateway Plaza is also home to restaurants like Rice Blvd, Dominos, Jimmy John’s, Social Gastropub and other Quick Service Restaurants are present right across the street including Arby’s, Burger King and Subway. Another major factor that plays in Bubble Tea’s favor is that it located right below LoftsAtGateway which sees mostly University of Toledo’s college students as their residents. Due to the Geographic location of Bubble Tea, we have decided to target college going students as our Primary Target Market. These students will fall between the ages of 18- 25 years. The targeting is based on Geographic and Demographic factors. Since Bubble Tea is located close to the University of Toledo and is virtually a part of the Main Campus, the Geographic factors make University of Toledo’s students to be our Primary Target Market. The Demographic factors leading us to this Target Market range of 18-25 years of age is that this the average age that most UT students fall in and this age range is mostly open to try new concepts like Bubble Tea when compared with other age groups. One would assume that bubble tea would be a drink preferred by Women, but Bubble Tea sees as many men as women, therefore we did not restrict our target market to just women. According to our segmentation, the Potential Target Market for us would be all 23,000 students in UT, as of July, 2017. About 19% of the UT’s students live on campus, which is the most desirable target audience for Bubble Tea since only based on geographic proximity. This would make the target market just 4370. This number is too less for a target market and therefore, we did not limit our target market to just students that live on campus. Although it is easier to get the attention of the students on campus, the other 81% living off campus provide more potential based sheerly on numbers. Since Bubble Tea is located at Gateway Plaza, it shares building space with LoftsAtGateway as mentioned before, that sees mostly UT students as their residents.

Other Student Housing complexes around Bubble Tea are Vivo Toledo and University Circle Apartments. These Apartment complexes see a huge number of UT students living off campus. We plan to target all of UT’s enrolled students in order to make the most of our Internet Marketing efforts. One of the other important reason that we selected 18-25 years old students is because of their use of the Internet. This age group uses the Internet the most when compared to any other age group and are easier to target as far as the Internet is concerned. This age group shows the most affinity to Social Media Platforms and can be easily targeted through this medium. The most social media apps most used by the students would be Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. Other social media websites like Twitter, Pinterest are also used by students, but not the 4 mentioned would suffice the Internet Marketing plan for Bubble Tea as we want to limit our social media platforms to effectively get our brand through to the customers concentrating our efforts to these social media platforms. Since most students are active on at least one of these apps, they serve to be the most logical and practical choices. Also, this age group heavily relies of apps like Yelp and Zomato to search for new places to visit. Therefore, our Internet Marketing efforts will concentrate on increasing the presence of Bubble Tea on these apps by encouraging reviews on these apps by offering free drinks reviews provided by customers. Reviews of businesses available on Social Media are also a source of information for this target market. Apart from Yelp and Zomato and Google searches, Social Media apps are also growing as a source of information for this target market. Facebook and Instagram pages are used by this age group to reach out to businesses and express their opinions, suggestions and even complaints. The target market is very dependent on the Internet not only for their information search, but also expressing themselves. Social Media would therefore be the most efficient platform to position Bubble Tea to the target market. 2. Positioning After targeting, it is necessary to position Bubble Tea in the minds of the consumers. Positioning refers to making your company or brand occupy a specific place in the minds of the consumers. We are targeting the University of Toledo students from the ages of 18 through 25 for our internet marketing plan. To elaborate on the positioning strategies, it is important to first highlight the benefits and competitive advantages that Bubble Tea has over its competitors. Firstly, the price point comes into consideration. Bubble Tea offers the cheapest beverage option compared to R&B Bubble Tea and Starbucks. You have different choices of adding more tapioca boba, sugar syrup, etc. but the base price is at $3.50 which is fixed. You can build on from there. Students are on a budget which makes this drink affordable. Secondly, the location is a big factor. It is located near the LoftsAtGateway bus stop which is not even a 30 second walk. The location is prime, many students pass through it everyday so it is always present at the back of their minds if they ever want to get a refreshing drink. Many eating

joints like Rice Boulevard, Dominos, Subway, etc. are in its close proximity. It is quite common for students to grab a drink of their choice from Bubble Tea and take it to those eating joints to enjoy it with their meal. Adding on to the location aspect, many student housing apartments are in the area. They pass through these places everyday while going for classes. It is easy for them to go and grab a drink since it is open 7 days a week till 10pm. For our Internet Marketing plan, we will be using Competitive Positioning and User Category Positioning. Competitive positioning- it is about how we will differentiate Bubble Tea with respect to its competitors. For this, our competitors are R&B Bubble Tea and Starbucks. The target market for our Internet Marketing campaign is the students of The University of Toledo, between the ages of 18 through 25. Competitive positioning will give Bubble Tea a chance to stand out from its competitors so customers will specifically be able to point out the difference and be loyal to them.Staying on a budget is the top priority for students. Bubble Tea’s price range is the lowest out of its competitors. This can make Bubble Tea stand out and make them the preferred choice of beverage. Also, Bubble Tea is located near the campus and is the closest out if it’s competitors as well. Students can grab a drink while on their way to class without wasting any time. The store also itself is relatively quiet with lots of charging points available. This helps students study in peace on their laptops. R&B Bubble Tea offers karaoke and is a place for people to play video games as well as board games. Bubble Tea can set itself apart from it since R&B may not be ideal spot for studying as there are many distractions. Same goes with Starbucks as well. Being located inside the Barnes and Noble store, there are people looking for books, supplies, etc. which may be distracting. Also, there are no charging points available everywhere for students to sit and study while enjoying their drink. User Category positioning is also helpful since it gives an insight into the target audience and what they want in a product. This positioning can be combined with competitive positioning to make the product stand out and be the solution for the target audience. User category positioning keeps the buyer persona in mind to shape the internet marketing strategy accordingly. For this type of positioning, we know the buyer persona focuses on a student on a budget. He/she will have classes and a lot of studying to do. Bubble Tea an inexpensive place to grab a bubble tea, it is close to campus and a good place to study as well. The age group of 18 to 25 is open to trying out new things. Customization is of ultimate importance. Bubble Tea offers different flavors, tea options, bubbles, etc. that the customer can choose from. Also, social media plays an active role in this type of buyer persona. It is important to post pictures of experiences, food, places, etc. Bubble Tea has a sticker that they put on each of their drinks and also have colorful straws which make the drink even more appealing. All these aesthetic factors do play an important role in a young adult’s life. R&B Bubble Tea does not have that but Starbucks does. But it is a good way

to get people to post photos like these on the internet. These type of points are what a user looks for in bubble tea. 3. Objective Setting The most important objective of the IM plan is to increase Bubble Tea’s presence on Social Media. The entire IM plan revolves around increasing awareness about Bubble Tea in the target market with the use of social media. Our choice of target market is heavily dependent on Social Media and relies on it for their information search. Therefore, our main objective is to reach the customers through extensive advertisements of 3 social media platforms. The Ad Campaign will be called “Bubble Tea, Made with Love in the Glass CiTEA!” We will stick to the company’s tagline to position the brand effectively in the minds of the customers. The Ad campaign will feature college students and will be based in a college setting. The college setting is used to connect with the target market and convey to them the commitment of Bubble Tea to serve the new generation their favorite flavors with a blend of tea and exciting combinations. The Campaign will start on 1st August as the date students will be back on campus and will last for 5 months (20th December). The time range for the campaign is decided on the basis of the fact that Iced Teas and Milk teas are drinks that students prefer to buy more in the Fall as compared to the Spring. Therefore, we plan to capitalize on this season and semester where students are seen to be more present on campus and choose to hang out outside, enjoying the few months where it is not cold. The other objective is to increase likes and followers on social media like Facebook (currently has 447 likes and 460 followers) to 2000 likes and 1,500 followers, and Instagram (currently has 5 followers and is following 1 user) to 1,000 followers and following the people that are related to UT and what students like to be updated about. Posting timely stories, memes, etc. Youtube ads will start from 1st august for Toledo. As students enter the geographic location, they will get ads on Youtube. The ads will be 10 to 30 second ads. Fall semester is also chosen because it sees the most freshman admissions and increase awareness and getting these students hooked since the beginning will generate loyalty from their freshman year itself. The effort will be to post at least once on Instagram and Facebook. Also, building a profile on Snapchat and incorporating #bubbletea in the posts on Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook will be of importance to increase awareness and to appear in search results made on these platforms related to Bubble Tea. Also, we will be concentrating on increasing awareness about Bubble Tea on Yelp and Zomato. These applications on smartphones are used by college going students to determine how desirable a restaurant is and how it is rated on these applications. Therefore, another objective is to encourage Bubble Tea’s loyal customers to post their reviews on these applications, which

will work towards encouraging new customers to be more convinced to try Bubble Tea. Incentives of a free bubble tea for their review will be offered to these loyal customers. 4. Budgeting Answer: The beauty of using the internet for advertising, is most of marketing can be done for free or for very little cost. The company name itself is very generic, meaning it would be very easy to show the business location and information when a potential customer searches for bubble tea in general, or for the actual business. We can tackle this by using SEO, or search engine optimization. There is a free route, and small cost route both of which I think would be beneficial. In order to generate buzz about the location, sending a every door direct mail flyer to the surrounding neighborhoods in Old Orchard, Ottawa Hills, and dorms/apartments would be a great way to offer a promotion for people to try out Bubble Tea. Besides the fact we would also boost the following of social media channels by potentially offering a discount for a follow, we would also launch a dedicated website dedicated about the business. There is currently a major disconnect for mobile ordering or finding information on the business. Visiting BalanceGrille.com only allows you to order food online, and the URL the company says to mobile order Bubble Tea (balancegrille.com/bubbletea) doesn’t work. Our budget will also contain feature a separate Advertisement budget for the online advertisements that we plan to launch to increase awareness about Bubble Tea as a brand. Ads will be launched on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook to ensure that the target audience comes across the ad on at least one of these platforms. The budget outlined below would include the following: Budget for Marketing Efforts to Increase Brand Awareness and Traffic

SEO (search engine optimization) ● Purchase domain dedicated to Bubble

Tea ● Add to website “Bubble Tea” and

“Bubble Tea Toledo” keywords to, for free, increase ranking and discoverability on Google

$100-$300

Website ● Launch basic website allowing mobile

ordering using the already purchased platform used for iOS and Android

$300-$400

SEO Advertising/Social Media Advertising ● Launch a cheap ad campaign on

$10-$100

Facebook about the new redesign the business recently completed, and invite to try new flavors for a discount linking to new website to mobile order

● Launch Google AdWords campaign to show first results when customers search anything related to Bubble Tea in the surrounding areas

Online Advertisements  YouTube ($0.20 per view, target -

23,000 views)  Instagram ($6.7 cost per thousand

views)  Facebook ($0.27 cost per click, target -

23,000 clicks)

$4,600 $3,432 $6,210

Increasing awareness on Yelp and Zomato  Offering a free bubble tea for the

customer’s review

$500

Part III. IM Strategy: Tools, Venues and Creative Decisions - Due 03/28/2018. 1. Determining the Mixture of IM Tools: Based on the objectives that were set forth in the previous part, our IM plan will be concentrating mostly on the use of Social Media Marketing as the prime IM tool to be used to position our product to the target market. The Social Media platforms being used by us will be YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. Advertisements will be launched on the official pages of Bubble Tea on these 3 platforms. The video will be targeted towards getting the attention of our target audience, which are the 23,000 students of UT. Since Social Media is a platform used by most of the target audience, a prime focus will be on optimizing the use of these Internet Marketing resources. Another important objective of our campaign is to increase attention towards Bubble Tea. A great tool to make that happen is through Search Engine Optimization. Google Adwords will be employed to show our ad to any search that is relevant to Bubble Tea. Google Adwords will also be a great resource to determine the progress of the ad campaign and how well it is doing. Getting Bubble Tea’s name as one of the first search results for any searches made in the Toledo area will also be accomplished through SEO. Since Social Media Marketing is of prime focus, Mobile Marketing will also be used to target the audience. “A new study from researchers at Baylor University has found that women college students spend an average of 10 hours a day on their cell phones, while men students

spend nearly eight hours.” Given this statistic, it is only fitting to use Mobile Marketing to reach our target audience. Social Media advertising will be the main tool to target the audience through mobile marketing. Further, we will also be using email marketing as a subset of mobile marketing to target our audience. Bubble Tea has an electronic order placing device in their store. We will be starting a signup feature of giving your email address in order to receive new deals and offers. Email marketing is the cheapest and virtually free marketing tool and will be effective as email is one of the features that students check on their mobiles. Since Bubble Tea does not have an official website, launching an official website for the store will also be a tool used to increase awareness and also ensure credibility. Almost all businesses have their own websites outlining the vision, mission, top executives, social media platforms, etc. The official Bubble Tea website will feature a theme of young and hip college going students on the first page. The website will contain links to the official social media pages of Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. This will help website users to navigate themselves to these pages and will also increase viewership on these pages. Along with that, the website will include the menu that Bubble Tea offers. The website will also be mentioned on the Yelp and Zomato pages so that users can navigate themselves to the website and educate themselves about Bubble Tea. Yelp and Zomato will also be a prime tool to be used to encourage new customers to try Bubble Tea. Our budget allows for free bubble teas to be offered to customers that share reviews on Yelp and Zomato. Up to $500 will be spent on providing these free bubble teas. This will encourage loyal customers to submit their reviews and will prove to be helpful in increasing awareness about Bubble Tea on these reliable sources used by the target audience when screening new places to try in Toledo.

2. Creating Messages:

A. Message

In our Internet Marketing campaign, we wanted to focus on tools like social media marketing through Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, increasing its awareness, email marketing, getting followers and likes on various social media platforms. Our target audience is the students of The University of Toledo between the ages of 18 to 25. Our message needs to be specifically catered to them in a way they can understand and be loyal to Bubble Tea. Bubble Tea has the lowest price among its competitors, the perfect location, lots of flavors of bubble tea to choose from, different varieties of tapioca boba and fruit bubbles, great ambience, they recently renovated the interior of the store, ample amount of space to sit, and also many charging points. The points mentioned previously highlight what is important for this particular audience. The message should be delivered correctly through the internet and link Bubble Tea to what the audience deems as important. We want to communicate Bubble Tea as a store that is friendly, affordable, a great place to relax with your friends or just work on your assignments in peace. The provision of free Wi-Fi and many charging points goes towards that. Creating an internet presence is important for the company because it will be on the platform where the audience

already are. We do not want to make them come to us, Bubble Tea has to reach out to them. By being present on the internet and conveying the right messages, both online and offline, we can set it apart from its competitors. All of them are present within a close proximity to each other, so being ahead of the game will certainly help. Internet is a platform that the ages of 18 through 25 are completely hooked to. Through competitive positioning and user category positioning, we can set them apart in terms of price, how aesthetic the drink and store looks, how close it is to the LoftsAtGateway bus stop, and being more present on the internet.

B. Format The objectives and vision of our internet marketing campaign needs to be translated into the correct messages and delivered in the right way with the right vehicles. The internet is like a second home to this generation, especially social media. We know the target audience is always on a budget since they are students. We want them to feel like Bubble Tea is a place that they can afford, click great photos for their social media pages, study as well as have fun. Increasing their Instagram and Facebook presence is one of our main goals. We want to be active on that, get more followers and likes, and post photos on a regular basis. “Madewithlove419” is a great username and will stay constant. It shows Bubble Tea’s dedication to Toledo and tries to connect with the audience more. We can encourage people to post photos with bubble tea, tagging Bubble Tea’s page or even specifying the location to increase awareness. “Think outside the bubble” and “Bubble Tea, made with love in the Glass CiTea!” are two important campaigns we want to focus on. Getting on the trend of hashtags, more likes, comments, positive reviews, engaging with the customers, and many more are important points to kept in mind. Also, people feel special special when their photos are shared on other social media pages. This can be done for Instagram too. The photos that Bubble Tea likes which other users have uploaded, can be shared on their Instagram page to show those customers having fun and being loyal to Bubble Tea. Facebook is also another important platform where sharing photos, from both, Bubble Tea and the customers is required. More reviews, being more active, talking about the latest flavors, asking for suggestions from the customers, etc. is a good way to keep them engaged and making the audience feel like a part of the decisions. A 10 to 30 second Youtube ad will be the biggest step for Bubble Tea. We want to reinforce Bubble Tea in the minds of its consumers, especially the freshmen so they will stick to that brand from early on. Once a person enters Toledo’s geographic area and is in a 3 mile radius from it, Youtube can be used to display its ads.Email marketing can start off with discount coupons since Bubble Tea does not offer that yet. Lastly, creating a separate website for Bubble Tea will be step ahead since it will only be about bubble tea. The website can talk about the origins of bubble tea, the ingredients, how did Bubble Tea start in Toledo, any photos and videos that they can share on the website and other platforms simultaneously, as well as reviews from customers. Mainly, it is important to link the website to other social media pages and ensuring consistency so people can check out all the pages smoothly and be delivered with consistent information.

3. Selecting Vehicles: The selected vehicles are Facebook and Instagram. These social media platforms are popular and used heavily by our target audience that is college students. Most students have at least one profile and are active on one of these social platforms so they will be effective as vehicles to use for this campaign. Instagram and Facebook would be great for live videos or short ad videos that would show bubblistas making bubble teas and making it appeal to all fans and followers. By focusing mostly on these social media platforms, we can make sure we actively posting to bring awareness about our brand and engage as much followers as much as possible. Another vehicle we would like to utilize is review apps such as Yelp and Zomato as well as using the Bubble Tea/Balance app. By posting reviews, customers can post picture of their choice of bubble tea drink and evaluate their dining experience at Bubble Tea. Customer reviews and review apps are powerful in that they give the customer the feeling of feeling important and special. Also, it builds brand loyalty and returning happy customers. By putting our efforts into these review applications we will hopefully attract ad entice customers to try Bubble Tea and rewarding them with discounts and possibly free drinks. Like we said in targeting, Social media apps and platforms are on the rise as they allow customers to post experiences, reviews, suggestions, opinions, comments, and many more. A unique way to interact with customers would be to also use beacon tools to be able to target and send ads to customers phones if they are within range of the business. There are many wireless routers that companies can install that send via Bluetooth notifications to nearby customers on their smartphones. This could be used if the customer is next door having a meal, it could offer a refreshment. Or, say each day has a different type of deal, the beacons would know what customer arrived when to take advantage of the deal and then use that data to better target popular items. Facebook and Instagram will essentially be free marketing and hopefully create buzz about Bubble tea. These social media platforms wouldn't cost us much money other than boosting posts to reach more people to see them and it is very cheap to boost or promote a post. All we would need is a person or two dedicated to managing all of our social media, posting engaging posts, reaching out and communicating with followers, actively use our platforms to create brand and generate customer loyalty through social media. The social media platforms will help us convey our brand and messages clearly to our customers and target audience in an inexpensive manner that will help us with the viral marketing aspect on social media.

Part IV. IM Calendar and Implementation.

1. Editorial Calendar Our IM plan will span across 5 months starting from August, 2018. We’ve chosen to conduct the campaign during this time as our target audience, which are the college going students of UT will be present on campus from August. We’re looking to create a powerful impact in these 5 months as they comprise the Fall Semester, which is most conducive for students to go out and enjoy drinks. Summer would also be a choice, but not as many students are present on campus during the summer. Therefore, our Internet Marketing Plan will span across 5 months from the beginning of August, 2018 to the end of December, 2018. The editorial calendar will be aligned with the activities taking place on the campus.

AUGUST TO DECEMBER EDITORIAL CALENDAR

DATE EVENT SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORM

1st Week of August (August 1st-5th)

Creating Official Website -

August 6th-8th Creating Official Page On YouTube YouTube

August 9th-12th Creating Advertisement for YouTube, Facebook and Twitter

-

August 15th- December 15th

Run Advertisement YouTube, Facebook, Instagram

August 13th-15th UT Law College Orientation Facebook, Instagram

August 16th-20th Launch Google AdWords Campaign Facebook, Instagram

August 24th CAP Foam Party Facebook, Instagram

August 27th First Day of Fall Semester 2018 Facebook, Instagram

August 29th Student Involvement Fair Facebook, Instagram

September 1st-30th #ReviewYourTea (On Yelp, Zomato, FourSquare)

Facebook, Instagram

September 1st National Tailgating Day, Toledo Rockets vs. VMI

Facebook, Instagram

September 3rd Labor Day Facebook, Instagram

September 5th National Cheese Pizza Day Facebook, Instagram

September 7th National Neither Snow Nor Rain Day Facebook, Instagram

September 12th National Chocolate Milkshake Day Facebook, Instagram

September 15th National Double Cheeseburger Day, Toledo Rockets vs. University of Miami

Facebook, Instagram

September 22nd Toledo Rockets vs. University of Nevada Facebook, Instagram

September 27th National Chocolate Milk Day Facebook, Instagram

September 29th Toledo Rockets vs. Fresno State Facebook, Instagram

October 6th Toledo Rockets vs. Bowling Green Facebook, Instagram

October 20th Toledo Rockets vs. Buffalo Facebook, Instagram

October 30th I-Halloween 2018 Facebook, Instagram

October 31st Toledo Rockets vs. Ball State Facebook, Instagram

November 2nd National Ohio Day Facebook, Instagram

November 5th National Color the World Orange Day Facebook, Instagram

November 8th CAP Karaoke Facebook, Instagram

November 14th I-Village Facebook, Instagram

November 23rd Toledo Rockets vs. Central Michigan Facebook, Instagram

November 27th CAP and Canvas, National Giving Day (#GivingTuesday)

Facebook, Instagram

December 10th-14th Finals Week Facebook, Instagram

December 11th National App Day Facebook, Instagram

December 16th National Chocolate Covered Anything Day Facebook, Instagram

2. Display Advertisements

The tools that we will be using for the implementation of the IM plan are platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, creation of an official website, and Google AdWords. We want to make sure they are working in sync to deliver the same consistent messages throughout all the

platforms. Our main focus will be on social media as this age segment is always present on it and it is inexpensive.

Within all our displays of advertisement, it will be to educate and remind people of Bubble Tea. It is important that we analyze each platform’s strengths and what would work best. Creating unique content per advertising platform would yield the best results. We plan to help Bubble Tea increase their sales, and with the combination of marketing plans unique for each platform combined with the new website to generate the lead/sale, it will boost Bubble Tea’s profits and exposure. Facebook Advertisement

The age group between 18 to 25 is always on their phones with Facebook being in the list of the most widely used applications. We want students to follow, like and share the posts that Bubble Tea uploads. We will be posting photos of the store, students enjoying bubble tea, different photos of bubble tea to show the combinations are endless, promotion of new flavors and offers. The more people that interact with a post, the more people on Facebook will see it. The advertising itself could naturally take off with free shares and likes, make the budget even smaller for Facebook advertising. Posting photos of employees, the timings, the store, etc. will help customers connect to Bubble Tea better and establish a relationship.

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0- 9/14448781_1100494383338930_4288632461178972620_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=dfe2ecc4633ac 4527fdfd4cd2ca14897&oe=5B2D42D2 2) People may not be familiar with bubble tea since the concept is relatively new. Posting facts about bubble tea and how it is customizable as per the customer’s tastes can be presented as well.

http://bubblelicioustea.com/image/data/What-is-bubble-tea.jpg

3) Facebook ads like the one given below photo will encourage more followers within a small span of time and build customer loyalty as well. Sponsored ads like these can appear on the Facebook pages of these students who are in the geographical proximity or have expressed a liking towards bubble in their recent activities.

Instagram Advertisement

We feel Instagram is more used by the 18 to 25 age group as compared to Facebook. Bubble Tea has an Instagram account with the username @madewithlove419 but with only 5 followers. We want to drastically increase that by investing in sponsored advertisements which will appear on the feed of the students who are within 3 miles of Bubble Tea, urging them to try it out. We also plan to help Bubble Tea in ensuring that all their branding usernames and content

are the same across all social media platforms. This keeps the brand familiar and comfortable to the potential customer. Posting information about easy ordering on the Instagram page.

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0- 9/8342_984547138266989_3209170373088446870_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=b0f5e14517d8a92cca 5de06d708b780a&oe=5B73784E

Customers can be source of marketing activities itself. Bubble Tea can repost photos of customers enjoying bubble tea, that they posted on their Instagram account. This will make customers feel special as Bubble Tea is sharing their photos, making them more loyal. Encouraging hashtags like #madewithlove419, #bubbleteatoledo, and many more is essential to social media growth as well. Keeping the hashtags constant through various social media platforms will result in more number of followers, likes, and shares.

We want to make the Instagram handle fun for the customers since they will be following the page. Along with facts and photos, memes speak the best to this generation. Portraying it as a brand that is young, it will make the customers more comfortable, and will increase the frequency of them visiting the store.

https://pics.onsizzle.com/i-hope-you-find-happiness-in-the-form-of-corgis-9290218.png http://creatememe.chucklesnetwork.com/memes/58775/one-does-not-simply-say-no-to-bubble- tea/

Youtube Advertisement Our Internet Marketing campaign will feature a 10 to 30 second advertisement when customers, who fall under the 18 to 25 year age group are within a 3 mile radius of it. The 15 second ad will be non-skippable while the 30 second ad will be. The advertisement will showcase new offerings, and quick blurb on what Bubble Tea is, and the video when clicked during the ad will lead to the new micro site developed for Bubble Tea. More on the website is mentioned below.

https://youtu.be/XwsFCagEKrc Website creation We want to create a website that is specially dedicated to bubble tea so that customers can get more information regarding it, and also connects it to Balance Grille’s other branches. The website clears out what bubble tea is, along with its facts, the ingredients Bubble Tea uses in its teas. Mainly, it introduces the customer to Bubble Tea’s presence on different social media platforms if they want more information, reviews, photos, etc. One of the most important aspects of the website will be a clear and fast way to place a mobile order. Since the main idea of the campaign is to increase sales, all our ad placements on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, etc need to link to a small micro site with a small view on the offerings and a quick way to online order for pickup.

https://balancegrille.com/#bubbletea Google AdWords With Google Adwords, we can attract more customers to the store, increase the number of website visits. Through Google Adwords, our campaign will be region specific, within 3 miles of The University of Toledo. When a customer tries to search for new places to try, Bubble Tea will pop up in its results. The keywords which we will be using are-

 Bubble Tea  Bubble Tea Toledo  Balance Grille  Milk Tea  Fruit Tea

https://www.google.com/search?q=bubble+tea&rlz=1C1CHZL_enUS707US707&oq=bubble+te a&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i61j69i60l2j69i59l2.2467j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Conclusion Through our Internet Marketing Plan, we want to help Bubble Tea increase their profits and awareness level, connect with customers more and be a part of the community. Bubble tea is a fairly new concept, but it is taking off quite well. And in Toledo, we would like the Bubble Tea store to be the face of bubble tea. No matter what season or what time of the semester, students should be loyal to Bubble Tea and it should their first choice of beverage. Just because of the customer segment we are focusing on, social media is kept in high regard. Through social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook, we will be able to communicate with customers better. We are reaching them where they are already present. Through that, people can connect with Bubble Tea, stay updated with the latest offers and flavors, and visit Bubble Tea more often. We want to show Bubble Tea is a great place to hang out with friends, or even to study due to the many charging points in the store. Creation of a separate website, showing ads on YouTube, and using Google AdWords will help boost Bubble Tea’s sales as well. Even the location of Bubble Tea can be used to their advantage. Also, engaging in the University’s activities will help them become well-known. The Editorial Calendar states the various activities that Bubble Tea can be a part of. REFERENCES: http://azngroup.blogspot.com/2013/08/swot-analysis-strength-low-cost-of.html http://static1.squarespace.com/static/56e85bd540261db9be8c125b/t/56eba2a827d4bdff1f7e3083/ 1458283178494/Target+Market+Project+-+Final+-+Jon+Field.pdf http://zhihanfyp.blogspot.com/2012/05/situation-analysis-chapter-7-swot.html https://www.profitableventure.com/bubble-tea-shop-business-plan/ https://prezi.com/zugpvgaxshzi/a-marketing-research-about-bubble-tea-station/ http://azngroup.blogspot.com/2013/08/swot-analysis-strength-low-cost-of.html https://www.slideshare.net/ziyamelik/buble-tea-marketing-plan https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/university-of-toledo-3131 https://www.facebook.com/RB-Bubble-Tea-KTV-1549694545285860/ https://www.yelp.com/biz/r-and-b-bubble-tea-ktv-toledo https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2015/10/13/customer-experience-is-the-future-of- marketing/#7e52f587193d https://www.fluxtrends.com/6-trends-2018/ http://www.gomapper.com/travel/busiest-streets-in/toledo.html http://www.utoledo.edu/admission/freshman/keystats.html https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/university-of-toledo-3131/student-life https://psychcentral.com/news/2014/08/31/new-study-finds-cell-phone-addiction-increasingly- realistic-possibility/74312.html