Business & Operations

UpTown Swirl Marketing Plan 1

BUS 559 – Dr. Andrea Banto

Week 5 Assignment 2: UpTown Swirl

Marketing Plan

By: Deborah Hughes

February 08, 2020

UpTown Swirl Marketing Plan 2

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 3

2.0 Target Market................................................................................................................ 4

3.0 Company’s Description ................................................................................................ 6

4.0 Company’s Competition ............................................................................................... 6

5.0 UpTown Swirl’s Message ........................................................................................... 10

6.0 Key Distinction of Market Leaders ............................................................................. 11

7.0 UpTown Swirl’s Marketing Strategy .......................................................................... 13

8.0 References ................................................................................................................... 15

UpTown Swirl Marketing Plan 3

1.0 Introduction

UpTown Swirl is a firm that offers a variety of non-alcoholic beverages and desserts that

are of different flavors and intensities. These products are sold at reasonable prices that are lower

than the costs of the other products sold by companies in the same industry. This helps in

ensuring that consumers of all ages can be able to afford to purchase the company’s products as

well as select their desired flavors. Through producing milkshakes using fruits obtained from the

local farmers, the company can satisfy the needs of the clients by offering products that have

health benefits. This encourages the consumption of the products by customers of all ages;

children, youths, adults, and even the elderly.

As technology advances, it’s impacting in most areas of society. Overly, technology has

positively impacted business. Through technologically enhanced innovation, companies today

can reach consumers all over the world. Consequently, technology has improved communication,

and the sharing of information globally has been made accessible (Grant, 2016). Using various

devices and social media platforms, it’s easy to target and sell products and services to people in

any corner of the earth. Nonetheless, technology has also spiked competition to the extent that

poor marketing strategy can force a company out of business. It has, therefore, becoming

increasingly essential to develop appropriate marketing plans that will ensure business

competitiveness. For the first six months, our company has been in business; it has given us time

to perfect on key market metrics like products and understanding consumers. The core objective

is to start marketing and selling within a radius of 25 miles from where we are located. This

paper is a marketing plan as well as a sales strategy section of Uptown Swirl.

UpTown Swirl Marketing Plan 4

2.0 Target Market

Uptown Swirl is strategically located in North Carolina. It’s a unique Company that

offers a wide range of products to its consumers. Specifically, the Company provides health

desserts and beverages, which are in very high demand. Its products are unique for their

nutritional value and high-quality. Although the Company operates in North Carolina, the area

focus of this marketing plan is Raleigh. This is a town with a total population of 470,509. The

city is famous for its diverse culture from Whites, Hispanics, African Americans, and Asians.

The racial composition is as follows 48.4% Whites, 40.5% African American, 4% Asian, and

0.5% Native American (Raleigh census. 2017). Overly these are cultures that appreciate and

embrace quality and healthy drinks and foods. The current lifestyle trend has made people more

sensitive to healthy eating and beverages. The company’s ability to produce healthy desserts and

beverages makes it appreciated by many consumers. The majority of the town residents are

educated. As such, these are individuals who understand the importance of healthy living and the

dangers a sedentary lifestyle continues to pose to society. These are people who would much

appreciate healthy products.

All in all, youth age is the primary focus of the company. In instances of time, they know

the meaning of healthy living. Similarly, the youths make up for approximately 80% of the entire

population. The company will be looking at the age bracket of (10-54) years. As needs and

sensitization for healthy lifestyle spikes, the town has several organizations that influence the

food choices of the entire population. Bearing this in mind, people interested in fitness exercise

form another primary target market. These will include people of various ages, from the old to

the youths. With the rising number of fitness firms due to the high demand for fitness programs,

UpTown Swirl Marketing Plan 5

services, and products, the sale of drinks is projected to increase. These desserts and beverages

are expected to provide a replenishing experience to people.

Table 1: Raleigh data breakdown

Subject Number

Total population 470, 509

Median age 34

Median household income $65,695

Poverty rate 15%

Median poverty value $268,900

Data provided by the Census Bureau-Based on One Year Estimate.

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

asian

white

other

more races

black

UpTown Swirl Marketing Plan 6

3.0 Company’s Description

Uptown Swirl offers organic products to its clients. The company has undergone a series

of transformations. Operating in the food and drink industry, the company offers health desserts

and non-alcoholic beverages. For several years, the company has been operational; it has

attracted consumers with different interests, particularly the youths. The company revenue is an

estimate of $1.08 billion UDS as of 2017. The company has employed more than 42,000

employees. However, the number is consistently increasing as the company expands its

operations in the region. The company has many branches across the towns which are

strategically located to attract consumers.

4.0 Company’s Competition

The company is in a very competitive niche/ market. As such, it has multiple competitors

in the market. This poses a considerable risk for the company because projection shows that

other companies will be entering the industry due to the high demand for products. To address

this challenge, businesses are, therefore, focusing on their customer avatar. This entails

understanding consumers’ habits, interests, and everything that might more effective in

marketing plans. From this point of view, it’s adamant about analyzing the level of competition

in the industry. Often, it’s tempting for a brand to judge another, particularly on the basis that

their product most preferred.

However, a good marketer understands that other factors determine business success in

comparison to other businesses in the same niche or sector. With the current business trend,

company success can be determined by its well-known brands or perhaps because of their well-

organized and effective distribution channels. That aside, the company competitors can be

UpTown Swirl Marketing Plan 7

classified as either established or firms considering entry. McDonald’s Corp. is a perfect

example of an established brand. These and other brands like KFC Corp are well established to

the extent of capturing the attention of customers globally. To attract new customers and retain

the existing one, the company will reduce prices and focus on improving quality even further. By

filling a competitive analysis worksheet, we can thoroughly evaluate the Company’s level of

competition.

Competitive Analysis: Customer Perception Factors

Factors Maximum

points (1-10)

UpTown

Swirl

McDonald’s

Corp.

Shake

Shack,

Inc.

KFC Corp Blue Bell

Creameries

Product/services

features

8 8 8 8 8

Purchase price 6.4 7 6.5 6.8 6.7

Indirect costs 9 8 8 8 7.9

Quality 8 8 8 8 8

Durability/maint

enance

6 6 6 6 6

Images/design 5 9 9 9 8

Perceived value 7 8 8 8 8

Brand

recognition

7.6 9 9 9 7

Customer

relationships

6 8 7 8 7

Location 7 7 7 7 7

Delivery time 6 8 7 7 6.8

Convenience of

use

7 7.4 7.9 8 6.4

Credit policies 6 6 6 6 6

Customer

service

7 7 7 7 7

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Social

consciousness

7 7 7 7 7

Total points 108 113.5 104.4 102.8 99.8

Comments High

competition

Mediu

m

Medium Fair

Competitive Analysis: Internal Operational Factors.

Factor Maximum points (1-10)

UpTown

Swirl

McDonald’s

Corp.

Shake

Shack,

Inc.

KFC Corp Blue Bell

Creameries

Financial

resources

7 8 8 8 8

Marketing

budget

6 8 7.5 8 7.7

Technological

competence

7 7 7 7 7

Access to

distribution

6 6 6 6 6

Economies of

sale

7 9 8 9 7

Operational

efficiencies

7 8.5 7.6 7.8 7

Sale competence 8 8 8 8 8

Product line

breadth

7 8 7 7 7

Strategic

partnerships

5 6 5 5 5

Company

morale

7 8 7 8 7

Regulation 8 8 8 8 8

Trademarks 5 6 6 5 6

Ability to

innovate

7 7 7 7 7

Total points 87 101.5 91.1 90.7 90.7

UpTown Swirl Marketing Plan 9

Comments High Medium Medium Medium

Market Share Distribution

Competitor % of total revenues % of total units sold Trend of market

shares (increasing or

decreasing?)

McDonald’s Corp. 21 % 22% Decreasing

Shake Shack, Inc. 5.2% 13% Increasing

KFC Corp 19% 16% Increasing

Blue Bell

Creameries.

4% 7% Increasing

• McDonald’s Corp. and KFC Corp have historically been the market leaders. The two are

well-known brands all-over the world. To some degree, this helps to reduce their

overhead costs like marketing. As a result, they can attract many customers because of

the relatively low prices of products.

• KFC Corp has increased market share sustainability in the recent past. This is due to its

expansion strategy to other global markets like China and Africa. The Company is

performing well in new regions.

• The overall competition is increasing. This mainly due to the threat of copied ideas by

other recognized brands. This might pose even high competition for the company.

Overall the food and beverage industry is highly competitive. This is substantially

attributable to changing consumer preferences, stringent food safety, mergers, and

innovation. Moreover, rising uncertainty is a significant issue in the food and beverage

industry.

UpTown Swirl Marketing Plan 10

5.0 UpTown Swirl’s Message

The company goes by the name Uptown Swirl. The company is committed to offering

fresh and high-quality products to its consumers. The company’s core aim is to guarantee

consumers replenishing experience with their products. As part of its marketing strategy, the

company uses keywords to boost sales or mobilize consumers. In this case, there’re several

keywords; however, the most common are healthier desserts and beverages and healthy choices

for a healthy life. The company packaging is aimed at increasing ease of use and reducing

breakage. As such, the drinks will be packaged in plastic bottles under FDA regulations. To

leverage the internet, the company will have a website to interact with consumers and dealers.

The website will be www.uptownswirl.co.org. In the simplest way possible, the logo will be

designed to portray the information about quality desserts and beverages. It will have a design of

natural products and raw materials to associate with originality.

Uptown Swirl, unlike other companies, offers organic products to its customers. The

company mostly targets consumers interested in buying healthy desserts as well as non-alcoholic

beverages. There is a high demand for the company’s products. This is based on multiple factors,

but the main reason is its strategic location. Despite this, the company faces competition from

other firms in the industry. Even worse is that the company competition is increasing due to the

expansion of big companies. It’s, therefore, crucial for UpTown Swirl to use any chance

available to focus on improving customer satisfaction. Nowadays, people are more cautious

about drinks and beverages. This is considering the current trend of obesity and lifestyle-related

diseases. From this point of view, feelings and finances are the messages integral to the

company’s marketing plan. The company needs to convince consumers about the uniqueness of

its products. The company products should create perceived value taking care of consumers’

UpTown Swirl Marketing Plan 11

overall health. Finances are another essential message that must be coined to the company’s

products. To increase its consumer base, the products must be relatively cheap.

Every business in today’s global world has a website or a social media account. This is

because social media has proven to be so powerful. When developing out the plan for marketing,

one must consider appropriate social media sites (Baker, 2014). For better insight, specific social

media sites will work very well with certain products or services. For example, a business

targeting the audience below 25 years of age would consider Instagram and YouTube.

Consequently, Pinterest, unlike other social media sites which is more of a search engine, has its

most active users above 25 years. This would, therefore, be the best site to promote company

products. According to statistics, the majority of Pinterest users are women who are arguably

responsible for most household decisions. Other than that, such elements like packaging, style of

clothing worn by employees, and blog language should create a lasting mental picture to

consumers. The rationale is to package everything in such a manner that it will have a

physiological impact to steer purchases.

6.0 Key Distinction of Market Leaders

McDonald’s Corp: The Company is well recognized locally and globally in the food and

beverages chain. This gives it leverage in the market over its competitors.

KFC Corp: The main reason the company is so successful is that its supply chain and

distribution system is unique. It cultivates business partners in a region where competition is still

struggling.

UpTown Swirl Marketing Plan 12

Chart 1:

Chart 2:

Marketing Vehicles

Among the main goals of the company is to increase its consumer base. To achieve this,

popularizing the business to its intended consumers is fundamental. Several techniques will be

applied. The company will mainly focus on online strategies through social media. This is given

the fact that the world is advancing technologically. It would be increasingly important to invest

in social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Funnels, or Pinterest. The majority of people

can access at least one of these social media platforms (Bradley, 2005). In other words, most of

the people have opened an account with one social media platform. Moreover, the company will

be involved in building relationships with customers through such methods as sponsoring events,

Market Share By Revenue (Estimate)

MacDonald's

KFC Corp

Market Share By Volume

McDonald’s Corp.

KFC Corp

Shake Shark Inc.

Blue Bell Creameries.

UpTown Swirl Marketing Plan 13

offering free samples, and organizing trade shows, among others. As part of our marketing

strategy, we will create a page and an option for a new letter subscription. This will allow us to

collect consumers’ email. Email marketing is a trending marketing approach that will help

promote our products. The rationale in this is to create more value for consumers and focus on

building long-term relationships. Ads placement approach will also be used in different sites. We

want visitors who enter these sites to find our products. Using the right marketing approach like

funnels we will attract some of these visitors to buy. Some of these marketing techniques like

email-marketing and building of funnels will require skilled personal. They will play a critical

role in running ads, interpreting data, and managing these online accounts.

7.0 UpTown Swirl’s Marketing Strategy

In closing, competition among businesses is rapidly increased. This is caused by many

factors ranging from innovation, change in lifestyle, and globalization, among others. With these

trends, companies are required to develop practical as well as a reasonable marketing plan that

will help increase their competitiveness in the market. Exploring a new market requires a

company to expand their knowledge of the target market so that they can identify what the

clients expect and the things they can do to ensure they meet these specifications of the clients.

An assessment of the target market is essential before the development of the marketing strategy

so that it can provide directions to what the company will expect to find in the market.

UpTown Swirl can establish a market for its products through its ability to produce

products that are unique in the market and be able to fulfill the thirsts of the clients with new

tastes that offer health benefits. The company provides products that attract consumers from all

age brackets since they have numerous flavors and are sold at low prices. The company targets

UpTown Swirl Marketing Plan 14

the clients who are in the middle class since they consist of the largest group in this area.

UpTown Swirl is looking to develop products that are mostly loved by the dominating ethnic

group as well as the ethnic groups that are said to increase gradually in the area.

The main message that the company wishes to pass along to the clients is that they should

be able to consume healthy products that are of their preferences. The firm uses this advantage to

compete against other established brands in this market and to be able to encourage consumers to

start looking for new tastes that are not offered by the dominating brands. The company

anticipates using social media marketing to be able to reach its target population and to spread its

message in this region of North Carolina.

UpTown Swirl Marketing Plan 15

8.0 References

Baker, M. J. (2014). Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan.

Grant, R. M. (2016). Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. John Wiley

& Sons.

Raleigh census, (2017). Retrieved on May 12, 2017, from

https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF

Bradley, F. (2005). International marketing strategy. Pearson Education