5012_ASS 1 # DRAFT 1 # Assessment 1 Instructions: Marketing Plan # MBA # FLEXPAH CAPELLA

Brief Company Description

The Women's Chamber of Commerce and Industry Guyana (WCCIG) is an organization that was initially founded by Mrs. Danzie-Black and Mrs. Kerensa in June 2019. The organization is a nonprofit and charitable firm fully dedicated to creating a collective voice for women while assisting them in attaining economic independence via business partnership and ownership. The organization is proactive towards creating an equal and fair chance for women when it comes to business growth in Guyana. The company plays an essential role in ensuring that that woman with limited opportunities when it comes to meeting international standards and emerging to be successful business certified ("About Us – THE WOMEN'S CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY GUYANA," 2020). Most of the women in the organization reflect on diversity, business development, and industry growth.

Market Summary

The finance manager of WCCIG believes that if the organization can secure an efficient market entry strategy through the marketing team present, 'Women in Focus' can attain an initial 6% market share. Because of the increasing cases of gender inequalities in oil countries if south America, the target market, the women are also expected to respond positively towards the product's market mix.

SWOT Analysis

PESTLE Analysis

PESTLE analysis is a common concept in the cooperate environment. The company is majorly used by organizations in ensuring that the context in which an organization is operating in or planning to perform or the environment where a product is to be launched. The product to be launched belongs to the media industry (Rastogi & Trivedi, 2016). Therefore, the PESTLE analysis of the media industry can have a direct impact on the product. This subsection aims at analyzing the PESTLE analysis of 'Women in Focus' magazine.

Political: Rapid expansion of the digital revolution comes with several issues that need to be combated. The first issue is the number of lawsuits that need to be complied with. The lawsuits allow published to take several cautions and precautions in the content of the material they produce. WCCIG will be facing the threat of privacy and confidentiality of the stuff they have because people will be copying the content available freely and sharing them how they wish.

Economic: WCCIG should expect an increase in pressure when it comes to selling more magazines after launching it. This might imply that the authors will hardly be making enough of the revenue required. The economics of the magazine might be impacted significantly by technology. The digital attraction of the magazines might make it difficult for publishers to collect their revenues. WCCIG should put in place measures to regulate the free distribution of the material.

Socio-cultural: WCCIG should find ways through which engaged community groups can be incorporated into a digital platform. The platforms should allow people to chat about the magazine while leaving their reviews. This will create an opportunity for the organization to promote the product as many people will be in a better position of accessing the materials. However, WCCIG needs to be prepared for negative reviews from the readers. This might even make it difficult for the organization to convince new clients that the magazine is excellent and productive.

Technological: The industry in which the product belongs to is not all about technology. However, technology plays a significant role. The emerging convergence of diverse media is making it challenging to decipher boundaries. Another significant issue is that technology keeps on changing from point to point, making it difficult to benefit from one technology for long. This will require the WCCIG organization to be keen on the type of technology to invest in.

Marketing Strategy

Competitive positioning for the product will heavily rely on operational excellence and customer intimacy. Operational excellence is based on the quality of the product being offered and at the best price ever. WCCIG will need to find ways through which the magazine will be provided at the lowest price possible, ensuring that the maximum number of people are in a position to access it. This should be incorporated among the long-term strategies of the organization. Customer intimacy, on the other hand, takes into consideration, provision of more than just the product which is on the shelves. This will require a new understanding of the kind of business customers are involved in and add the information to the magazines. This will be helpful as it will not need to offer business information alone. The women will benefit collectively.

Pricing is essential in organizations due to a number of reasons. Any price set to a product will eventually have an impact to the wellbeing of the firm. WCCIG will consider setting both upper and lower limits of the prices to be included. WCCIG will utilize value-based pricing strategy. This referrers to an approach in which the price of the product is set based on its value towards the customer. Customers believe that whatever they are buying is the value of the product and nothing else. Utilizing value-based approach will come with the following advantages to the organization. WCCIG prices will better fit client expectations and perceptions, will help the organization acquire more resources because earnings will be slightly higher and lastly, failure of the strategy to work helps in finding out how customer satisfaction can be attained.

WCCIG organization is yet to launch a product which targets only one group of people, that is the women. This makes Concentrated marketing strategy an ideal strategy to use on launching this product. This refers to a procedure in which the companies make efforts to design a product that is channeled towards a specific set of consumers. This strategy is essential to organizations with limited resources. WCCIG being a newly formed organization that is less than one year old, it can successfully incorporate the procedure and end up being successful. The following are the rationale for the selection if this marketing strategy.

Firstly, is that the strategy plays an essential role in helping firms focus on a small group segment, making it easy to attain the goals. With smaller segment groups, problem solving becomes even easier because all dimensions to be addressed to rectify the issues are close to one another. Making specialized products make it easier for the organization to benefit from the actions. Secondly, there are minimal chances of losing customers because of narrow targeting (Lupo, 2018). This also makes it easier for the organization to build loyalty between the client and the product. Thirdly, market segments are easily obtained because the product ignores so many people (Paul, 2018). The sharper Focus on the client makes it possible for the organization to compete with other, more prominent organizations because satisfying a smaller population is easier. This is commonly known as demographic segmentation. An et al. (2018 )defines demographic segmentation as a type of market segmentation that takes into account the groups of people through location, gender, education among others. The segmentation becomes even easier because statistical data is factual at all times, and working with them becomes even easier. Clients satisfaction defines the relevance of an organization in the industry. Clients get attached to companies and products which addresses all their needs and makes them feel satisfied. The smaller the target group, the easier to meet their needs. This strategy therefore will give WCCIG an upper hand in the industry, hence, a preference for customers in a given industry.

Technology and social media marketing go handy because they tend to address everyday purposes. Think of how different businesses used to advertise their products initially. Ads were placed in magazines. Taking similar approaches in the contemporary world becomes problematic. Technology will entail exclusive use of the internet, mobile marketing, email marketing as well as social media marketing. Internet, through the websites, are now business necessities. If WCCIG opts to distribute the magazines in soft copy, the content will equally reach many people in the comfort of their homes. This will be effective in minimizing the costs incurred. Adoption of social media to WCCIG can be an opportunity and a challenge as well when viewed from a marketing perspective. Social media will create an easy way through which the company can communicate with the target population. This will make it easier for the company to attract more clients. Creating a compelling platform on social media with active clients will positively impact the growth of the company. On the contrary, customers will be finding it easier to make negative reviews about the product on social media platforms. Some negative reviews might be genuine while other might be driven towards tarnishing the reputation of the product, maybe by competitors in the industry. Regardless of all these it should be noted that customers are less concerned about the source and validity of the reviews, but the content presented in the reviews. Negative comments will not welcome new customers. This is one way through which reliance on social media can be disadvantageous.

Marketing Tactics

Bringing a new product into the market can be problematic, particularly in industries where similar products from other companies are available. The following are sample strategies to be used in launching 'Women in Focus' magazine. The first strategy is a comprehensive study of possible competitors (Lupo, 2018). This tactic will involve the proper utilization of company SWOT analysis. At some point, firms might think that the product they are launching is unique, only to realize that there exist different products offering the same service. A review of the market materials can help address these challenges.

The second tactic is formulating a unique value proposition. This is the point where people express a clear understanding of what needs to be offered to contain the pressure and take advantage of the offer. The tactic will also allow a full understanding of the associated benefits of the product to consumers and how best desires can be attained. The third is rolling out a campaign before launching the program (Lupo, 2018). More often, public relations play an essential role when starting a product. Through media tactic options, the product can be made available on media, where many people can get to learn about it even before it is officially launched.

Marketing Mix

Product

'Women in Focus' will be a first- and one-time magazine which will be printed in a simple language that local people in the state of Guyana will be able to read and understand. The product aims at catering for women, specifically addressing the challenges they are facing when it comes to joining the business world. The product will offer solutions on how women from Guyana can become successful entrepreneurs. By the end of 2020, the circulation of the magazine is approximated to be over 20000 copies across Guyana. The company producing the magazine will be required to translate the magazine to other local languages that women in Guyana will be able to understand and benefit from. The product will also extend knowledge about the wellbeing of women even beyond the business world.

Place

Women in Focus is a new magazine that is yet to be launched. However, a proper campaign has been done all over the country, and many women in Guyana are waiting for its launch. The advertisement which has been done for the product has ensured that the magazine has an online presence among people even though it is yet to be launched. This creates a positive attitude that the launch of the product will be helpful. The company will also have online sites through which people will be accessing digital forms of the magazine. The adoption of an extensive distribution network will be advantageous in ensuring that the delivery of the magazine is done smoothly.

Price

Women in Focus magazine will operate in a less competitive industry because there are no high-profile magazine production companies in place as at now. Although competition is not stiff, the WCCIG has decided to adopt a competitive policy that aims at serving a two-fold purpose. This approach will ensure that issues with distribution or any other competitors are dealt with. The value-based system will give a unique product and one that will be affordable to the relevant users.

Promotion

The mode of promotion that will be adopted is diversified branding. The approach will quickly create a positive influence on the consumer's mindset. Being a local brand that aims at upholding the lives of the minority in Guyana, its reputation keeps on increasing each day because the awaiting number of consumers keeps on growing. The company publishing the magazine will ensure that diverse issues affecting women in society have been incorporated. This will possibly expand the market reach.

Financial Projections

After initial capitalization, internal cash can be used in financing the growth of the firm significantly. This is best attained if the targets are met. There are chances that marketing can be cut short in the event of shortfalls. Campaigns should be utilized better in ensuring that the productivity of the product is re-accelerated. Essential assumptions to be taken are summarized in the table below. The projections are presented in Appendix A.

Controls

The control in place will depend on how the product has been rolled out. If the product is launched successfully as planned, the sales are expected to increase by 10% by the first half of the year, from which the sales are expected to record a definite increase for the coming months.

Summary

Marketing is key to any business. There is a need to understand the customer target, their needs, and also working out to find ways through which the new customers can be reached out. The plan needs to point out ways through which customers can be kept happy. Their reviews also need to be reviewed regularly to ensure that one stays ahead of the competitors. The marketing plan must be treated as the reference point and the document used when executing marketing plans. The program needs to have clear objectives to be followed when addressing the issues.

Looking at the nature of the product to be launched, the current gender issues in place will significantly support the product. Women have been disadvantaged in many ways in diverse societies. Looking for ways through which their questions can be addressed is advantageous. The product expects to receive more support from organizations that have been supporting women in society.

Being among the few products that the organization will be launching, there are high chances of success. The magazine aims at ensuring success for women. In many societies, progress for women is apparent success to their families because they take care of their respective families even better. A high number of women in the cooperate world will positively contribute to the growth of the economy.

References

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