ssignment 4: Part D: Your Marketing Plan

date of submission: tuesday April 16, 2019

RE: YONAH BACK HOME SHIPPING SERVICES

I. OVERVIEW

This Partnership is newly established to cater to the shipping needs of Africans especially those from Mano River Union countries on the west coast of Africa. The Liberian civil war that lasted for fifteen years spilled over to three neighboring countries namely Sierra Leone, Guinea and the Ivory Coast. Resettlement programs led to the migration of people from those countries to Australia, America and some parts of Europe who constantly purchase and amass needed items for shipment to families and friends back home. The company will be located in Woodbridge, Virginia. Our interest is to get more customers, kindle loyalty to our service, and since we are new comers, join the already tense competition confident to defeat them.

II. MISSION STATEMENT

Use us to help satisfy back home with improved quality handling, packaging and shipping. Our capable support staff value all packages, big and small, from origin to destination using trusted carriers. Get a quote today and take advantage of our low rates for a safe and timely delivery

III. Short and long -term goals

Our short- term goal is to establish outreach stations in Minneapolis Minnesota Pennsylvania Philadelphia and Phoenix Arizona, where we have majority of our target population. We intend to grow into a corporation, a fully registered legal entity with the ability to attract adequate capital to go public in all the countries we would like to operate in. Raising the requisite capital will enable us to also identity with the general services agencies of the West African countries responsible for the importation of the logistics required to run ministries and agencies of government, public and private corporations. We do not only want to understand and satisfy our customers, we also want to be able to answer all the questions asked pertaining to shipping and to develop the requisite technology to enhance efficient service.

STRATEGY AND TACTICS

Our team consists of dependable individuals primarily from an ethnic group affected by the scramble for Africa after the Berlin conference of 1984-85 who now fortunately possess formidable political economic and social influence in three of the four targeted countries. They are well accustomed and knowledgeable in the port operations in terms of goods clearing and handling requirements in those countries, and are also capable of performing the post shipping and pre-distribution activities which include but are not limited to, warehousing on the ground, human resource management, labor, and distribution of goods to delivery addresses upon arrival and clearance. Since the individuals in the core management team were all originally schooled in the respective countries which were colonized by France, Britain and the United States, barrier adjustments for the official languages of French and English used for business in the respective countries for filling in application blanks and other forms of legal documentation will be extremely minimal.

The market is extremely viable and is primarily a function of integrity and timeliness in delivery. Competition is tense in the premises; primarily consisting of sole proprietorships with ties to other individuals contracted in the destination cities for the purpose of clearing at the sea ports.

Competitors in the industry operate as sole proprietorships in individual countries of the Mano River Union utilizing the individual ports of entry in those cities. A conglomerated effort like ours will help in the analysis of Shipping and clearing costs thereby selecting the comparative lower costs of operations that will be beneficial to the investors and also reduce shipping costs for our customers. Of late, it has been observed that the United States frowns on the persistent transfer of cash by residents out of the US, however, since cash is primarily used for the purchase of basic needs, we stand a chance of identifying what the needs are and making such necessities an available opportunity for expanding , the market in the future to include money transfers and provision of on the ground basic needs. The advantage of such a future expansion program is that it will drastically minimize and or eradicate the impart of profiteering vendors who import and price goods with high markups that plummet economic benefits of the consumers leading to using most of their income for consumption other than saving.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION

There are notable periods during which families, friends and relatives would expect goods from acquaintances abroad some of which they will sell on the local market to provide for items beyond needs that include wants and demands.; The seasons are Christmas, new year and Ramadan not forgetting some other holiday seasons like decoration and independence days. We are also well aware of the times for festivities and will ensure the timely delivery of barrels and containers from the customers to the designated recipients.

V. FINACIAL PROJECTIONS

We will encourage our team members to exhibit honest and good character where they live for the fact that influence marketing is based on individual recommendation. Such goodwill contribution is cogent to our modus operandi. Additionally, logistical support to amass customers goods to designated areas for temporary storage prior to shipping and before collection at the various localities will also form the basis of investment and recorded at book value to the credit to the partners. Since upfront cash is required for the paper work for shipping and clearing, to be submitted, we will request 60 percent of invoice total to be paid after pick-up and the balance 40 percent rest after delivery and receipt of goods acknowledged. This will lessen our financial burden and the need to borrow from those without, but we will instead depend mostly on in kind and cash contributions of partners at least to jump start the program. Our goal is to ensure a bottom line of USD 20,000 after the first shipment with 30 percent increase as we grow the market at the giving and the receiving end.

VI. CONCLUSION

We will be in the position to identify the actual needs from the beneficiaries and communicate the actuality to the senders who will in turn use the communication to select options as to what the priorities are in meeting the real obligations they intend to satisfy. We are of the conviction that recommendation from the beneficiaries to the senders relating to the efficient performance will grow the customer base. The sustenance of the sender customers will be based on the end user’s reception and approval of our marketing strategy; in other words, we intend to capitalize on influential marketing determined by the beneficiaries.

VII: references

1 Mary Uhl-Bien, John Schemerhorn R. Jr., Richard Osborn N, Organizational Behavior, 13th edition (John Wiley& Sons, 2013)

2 Maslow H. A., The theory of Human Motivation (Start Publishing LLC, 2013)

3. Og Madino, Greates Salesman in the World (Buccanneer Banks, June 1993)

4. Philip Kotler, Gary Amstrong (Principles of Marketing (Barnes & Noble Jan. 2004)