W8A

Running head: WEEK 7 1

WEEK 7 2

SWOT Analysis

American Military University

Torrin Bouvia

Marketing and Advertising Strategic Plan

Marketing and advertising plan is a structured plan that directs long-term activities based on the goals of the company that clarifies how to act, get an edge in the market and gain a competitive advantage. Marketing strategy considers the needs of consumers and the company where the available resources are obtained to bring advantage to the company while meeting the needs of the customer, (Mousarezaei, 2016). A continuous analysis of the market trends, competition, customer expectations and desires are linked to the marketing and advertising plan in any business venture. A marketing strategic plan is necessary for organizations that are interested in continuous improvement in the market and sustaining competition. The marketing strategy of a business is built based on the design of the product, advertisement, pricing, sales, and distribution and packaging activities. The marketing mix strategy is an approach that most organizations have undertaken to make decisions in a way a product can be promoted, identify the right product, select the best price and place it well so as to attract and satisfy the customers.

The marketing strategy plan has to be incorporated with the market segmentation strategy where the demographic characteristics of consumers in various markets are divided in terms of age, the purchasing power and location, (Mousarezaei, 2016). Product positioning is detrimental to the success of marketing strategy plan where the brand image is created in the mind of consumers and impact their purchasing power and ability to pay for the products. The marketing goals and business venture are to increase sales, build brand awareness, enhance the market share, target new customers, gain a local and international market entry, enhance customer relationships and launch new products and services.

XYZ Company provides consumers with beverage products and targets children, families, middle-class populations to gain a higher purchasing power and adults. The XYZ Company beverage business seeks to increase the brand engagement and attribute the marketing activities to generation of revenues. Another goal is to reach 7,000 marketing qualified leads.

SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is a tool that is used in strategic planning and management in corporations that enhances effective organizational strategy and competitive advantage (Gürel & Tat, 2017). Internal factors constitute the strengths and weaknesses and external factors include the opportunities and threats which make up the SWOT analysis facet.

Strengths refer to the abilities that an organization exhibits in its practices. The strengths of a company’s product or service is the first step in the analysis process where the firm has to identify the characteristics that make the product offers distinctively attractive in the market (Mousarezaei, 2016).The strengths of the marketing plan of the XYZ Company include:

· The standards of performance at XYZ help us to public better advertisement content than our competitors at the marketplace.

· Our location downtown will attract new customers and the downtown shoppers. We have the loyalty of our customers and vendors.

· XYZ has assembled a team that embraces diverse disciplines with expertise in all areas of the beverage business.

The company has a better location for easier access and distribution of goods to our consumers. These internal characteristics place the company at a better position than its competitors. It provides an opportunity for the company to capitalize on its strength and work so that they work on opportunities that may arise, (Gürel & Tat, 2017).

Weaknesses: The next step is to identify the weaknesses that the organization faces and makes it less competitive. The performance of an organization is also influenced by the weaknesses the reason as to why an organization needs to identify its weaknesses is for the purpose of not building a strategy on weaknesses (Gürel & Tat, 2017). The weakness of XYZ include

· The company has a small advertising budget for our beverage products

· Relatively high prices for our beverage products compared to our competitors in the industry.

· XYZ has not established a reputable image in the market yet

The marketing campaign depends on a large amount of advertising budget that has not been established to make the marketing strategy as a success. As compared to the competitors in the market, the pricing of the product is higher and it can impede the capacity to attract consumers and retain customers. A reputable image is yet to be developed in the market place and in the minds of consumers.

Opportunities are those factors that can yield positive results when an organization is determined to achieve its marketing goals and overall business goals based on the analysis of the business environment (Gürel & Tat, 2017). Planning for an effective marketing strategy, it is essential to identify the opportunities for the company and its offerings, (Mousarezaei, 2016). The opportunities include;

· The new generation of consumers appreciates high end-bottling and labelling.

· A growing market for sugar-free soft-drinks to meet the needs of consumers that have sugar-related complications.

Threats are elements that make it difficult to reach organizational goals and lose competitive advantage at the marketplace. The threats include:

· A competitor has loyal customers which could knock us out of the market

· The initial poor services or product quality could discourage consumers from returning.

In conclusion, the SWOT analysis provides the basis as to which the XYZ beverage company can evaluate its marketing strategy plan and improve on the pinpointed areas. The business has to overcome the weaknesses to attain opportunities and use its strengths to reduce the vulnerability of the business to threats. The internal and external analysis of the business environment supports strategic decisions and manages strategic planning processes.

References

Gürel, E., & Tat, M. (2017). SWOT analysis: a theoretical review. Journal of International Social Research, 10(51). file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/gurel_emetswot.pdf

Mousarezaei, M. (2016). Marketing analysis for future strategic plan. http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1046887/FULLTEXT01.pdf