discussion 30

Part C: The Beauty Bar Marketing Plan

Name

Introduction

The analysis of both the long-term and short-term goals will be effective in the current section when developing the Integrated Marketing Communication. Together with the environmental analysis will act as guide to the marketing communication strategy. These environmental factors are outside the control of the business but still have an important role in the business.

The business is called Beauty Bar and should be able to thrive in the New Orleans environment due the hosts of people from different cultures, religions, races, ethnicities, and nationalities. This and other factors in New Orleans like the history of the place when it comes to liquor. New Orleans has a shortage of nightclubs and hip bars, making it a potential hub to unveil a bar. The tourist attraction in the city makes it an ideal location considering the open laws. The business has to consider the pricing strategy that will have to be competitive as the competition involves businesses that have been around for decades. The other plans include integrated marketing communications, public relations, sales promotion, and personal selling plan, competitive analysis; online and direct marketing plan and social responsibility plan

Pricing and Distribution Strategy

Price is considered as the value that is placed on a product or service after research and thorough consideration of the relating factors. The factors that are taken into consideration for this business include geographical location, ability to pay, the market conditions, input costs, competition and the trade margins. The ability to set the right price is important as it will be able to help the business sustain market competition.

While considering the above factors the pricing strategy will factor the overhead costs and the profit margins. The consideration of the profit margins is in line with both the short-term and long-term plans of the business. A research of the competition will be able to show the prices they charge for their products and the pricing strategy being used by the competitor. The bar business is complex and fragile therefore the pricing should not be too little to make the products suspect and not too high to make the customers prefer the competition. The demographic shows that the citizens of New Orleans are not afraid of trying out new things. This is in terms of cocktails and other drinks. The bar should be able to attract both visitors and the locals and the business would like to be recommended to others. A penetration pricing strategy meets all the factors that have been put into consideration.

Pricing Strategy

The business is a new entrant to the market and requires to gain share to the market quickly. A penetrative pricing strategy will be used by the business to gain market share into the market. The business is about sustainability and this strategy will involve setting lower prices to attract the customers and later increase the prices. This should be in comparison with the competition as the prices set should be compared with that of the competition. This strategy will be effective in switching customers from the competition, driving some of the competitors out of the market, utilize economies of scale and create customer loyalty. One of the main reasons with going with this strategy is due to lack of product differentiation in the bar and restaurant industry. Products that are sold like cocktails and beers are the same products being sold by the competition. It takes a while before being able to develop new cocktails that will be different from that of the competition.

Distribution Strategy

The business is multichannel where the customers will be allowed to purchase the products using the channels they want. One of the main requirements of multichannel is you have to be where the customers are and the business looks at bringing the customers from all the regions. The open laws of New Orleans allow for people to walk through the city with their drinks. This makes it easy to apply the concept of multichannel which has various advantages for the business. Research has shown that multichannel customers are more likely to spend three times more than single-channel customers.

The importance of managing distribution is to ensure the right products are received at the right time. There are various liquor wholesalers who will be used in order to ensure the inventory stays within the reorder level. The business will have an inventory software that is able to check the level of inventory and automatically place orders to the wholesalers. The recommended wholesalers that the business will work with include City Wholesaler Liquor Company, Wines Unlimited and Theriots Wholesale Liquor Co. Inc. the business is a brick-and-mortar business using wholesalers I order to minimize the movement of the products. This means that the supply chain of the business involves the manufacturers, wholesalers and the business before the product is sold to the customer. This will allow the business to purchase the products at favorable prices as some of the middlemen have been eliminated.

Integrated Marketing Communications

Integrated marketing communications is the combination of all the marketing tools for the business like online marketing, advertisement, sales promotion and direct marketing. This will be done in order to create a seamless experience for the customer. The company has to promote its brand in order to remain competitive in New Orleans. The tools for integrated marketing communication for the business include social media marketing, mobile marketing,

Message Strategy

A situation analysis was already performed which involved the SWOT analysis, environmental analysis and competition analysis. The environment analysis looked at the trends in the New Orleans market and how these trends affected the business in terms of growth and failure.

There are two target markets for the business the primary and secondary target markets. The primary target market are the primary consumers and are expected to patronize the bar daily as they head home from work. These are people over the age of 21 years and are mostly the working class who will pop into the bar to have a drink and appetizer before heading home. The primary target market is from the different demographics in the New Orleans region. The secondary target market includes tourists and the workers heading for lunch as the bar is located near the main beaches of New Orleans which receives a lot of tourists. The secondary target market will also include crowds looking for late-night venues, music halls, and late-night and bar crowns looking to party among others. The bar is expected to attract jazz music lovers, acoustic guitar music and other music over the weekdays and selected weekends. The last group being targeted are the University and college students who reside within the business areas.

The next step will involve setting of marketing goals and objectives for the business. These goals and objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and time-bound. The goals and objectives for the business include; reaching the right customers, staying ahead of the competition, increasing sales, providing excellent customer service and grow market share. These goals are achievable and they are formed from the short and long-term plans of the business.

This step involves coming up with a marketing mix strategy. There are various marketing communication methods that the business will leverage on. Social media marketing should be able to target both the primary and secondary target customers. There is a great precense in social media making it one of the most effective way of reaching customers. A blend of the few platforms of social media like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube should be able to reach all the target customers. This blend is because not all the target customers are in one platform. This will be effective in creating awareness of the business while being able to interact with the target customers. The other channel will be content marketing. The business will be able to share material like videos, blogs and pictures online. This will be done to stimulate the interest on the new business thus helping in the goals of reaching the right customers and brand awareness.

The impact of technology on society has been massive and it can be assumed that over 90% of the target customers are technology savvy. However, the business is targeting all the ages from baby boomers to millennials. Therefore, for the millennials the effective mode of communication will be texting and Instagram while the boomers will be through email marketing and Facebook. The content is important as the business will be able to showcase the design of the business. Pictures of inside the bar should at the beginning act as the content. New things attract people and photos of the beach and inside the bar should be sufficient in pulling the customers. This should blend the communication objectives and the marketing strategy.

There are various social media metrics that will be used in evaluating the strategy. These metrics should provide the numbers of how people engage in social media and will help in determining the frequency of sending content. The data will be sufficient in making decisions based on the audience and how to engage them in promoting the business.

Beauty Bar will use a positioning messaging strategy which will explain the uniqueness of the business. The business targets the use of sustainable materials which have the least impact to the environment, residents and the visitors. This will be able to offer a comparison with the competition that does not care about environmental sustainability. Beauty Bar will also want to establish itself as a premier hub in New Orleans that offer exceptional services consistently. There are various methods the business will use to ensure consistency with both the traditional and social media choices. Assigning a dedicated person or team to handle the strategy will able to ensure consistency. The dedicated person will be able to manage the content in both the traditional and social media choices.

Media Strategy

Social media is considered a revolution in the world of marketing and advertising (Bansal et al., 2014). The various social media platforms will allow the business to connect with the target customers. The business will be able to promote itself at a lower cost in comparison to both print media and mass media like television. The use of social media will be advantageous to the business because it is both a network and communication platform. Through social media the business will be promoted while the engaging actively with the customers and providing the necessary feedback.

Public Relations, Sales Promotion, and Personal Selling Plan

Public relations for the business will involve the transmission of relevant information to its diverse clientele. The Beauty Bar should be able to tailor messages to its customers that will be transmitted through its social media platforms. This is integral in the marketing mix for the company as the right messages should be able to increase the number of customers and increase the brand awareness.

Public Relations Plan

The business will have a dedicated person who will be able to handle all the social media platforms in the company. This is important because new products by Beauty Bar will be introduced in the various social media platforms. This including all the communications by the company to both the customers and potential customers. The dedicated person should be able to ensure consistency in the information about the company. This means that all the communications including news and products about Beauty Bar will be communicated through the various social media platforms unless the management agrees to change the type of media to be used.

Sale Promotion Plan

One of the most common sales promotions strategy that Beauty Bar will implement will be the happy hour where between 1700 hours and 1800 hours the drinks will be sold at a discount. Those should be able to encourage the target customers who are from the workplace and are heading home. This is a sort of flash sales where the customers will feel the urgency of purchasing their drinks at that hour due to the discount given.

Personal Selling Plan

One of the best ways for the business increasing its sales and brand will be through improving the customer experience. This will be done by ensuring the customer service is excellent and the staff will be trained to ensure on their interactions with the customers. The business is a bar and therefore verbal communication will be the most used means of communication. Those interacting with the customers in social media will also be trained in ensuring they sale the brand.

Online and Direct Marketing Plan

Website

Beauty Bar will be able to create an interactive website that allows for the interaction with the customers. The website will also post pictures and videos of customers having fun at the establishment and the views of the different customers. This will also include the complaints in order for the business to act on them and resolve any issues. An interactive website with all the feedback and recommendations will promote the brand.

Advertisement

Pay Per Click will be an effective way of advertising for the business as it involves the use of search engines to generate clicks to the business’s website. When a visitor clicks on the ad they are sent to the business’s website. This is an effective way of advertising at a minimal cost for the business. It is also an effective way of advertising as people will always use search engines and most do not mind the advertisements. They are cheap as the business will pay $5 for a click that will end up generating $200 for the business.

Search Engine Optimization

This is optimizing the online content of the business so that the search engine ensures that it is at the top of the result for searches of certain words. The search of the word bar should be able to show Beauty Bar as the top results in New Orleans. This improves the brand as more people will know about the business.

Social Media

Statista estimates that there will be a total of 4.41 billion social media users in the world by 2025. The current number of social media users as at 2020 is 3.6 billion users. This is bought about the availability of smartphone users in the world. the more tech companies are introducing cheaper smartphones is the same way the number of social media users is increasing. The number of social media users in the United States was highest between the age group of 18-38 years especially the use of Instagram (Hruska and Maresova, 2020). This shows that those creating brand awareness should be able to concentrate on Facebook and Instagram where those with high income were among the high users (Hruska and Maresova, 2020).

Direct Marketing

The business will be able to use online advertisement and outdoor advertisement for direct marketing. This will be directly to the targeted customers where the outdoor advertisement will be placed in New Orleans for the primary and secondary targets. Online advertisement will reach all those targeted customers who were unable to see the outdoor advertisement.

Social Responsibility Plan

The business will use sustainable materials which have the least impact to the environment. This is part of the corporate social responsibility of the business as it explains the business cares about the environment. It is also part of the contribution back to the community by ensuring the environment is protected for future generations. The environmental approach to social responsibility by the business is an indication by the business to show concern to the various issues plaguing the environment.

Conclusion

The marketing plan caters for all the important areas that will help the business prosper and increase its brand. The right price at the right time is important for the business to sustain market competition (Rajagopal, 2016). This why the penetration pricing strategy will be effective in ensuring sustainability for the young business. Social media marketing has been proven by scholars on its effectiveness and cost effective. The social media approach that will be used by the business will ensure interaction between the customers and business.

References

Bansal, Rohit & Masood, Rana & Dadhich, Varsha. (2014). Social Media Marketing-A Tool of Innovative Marketing. Journal of Organizational Management, ISSN: 2321-7228. 3.

Hruska Jan and Maresova Petra. (2020). Use of Social Media Platforms among Adults in the United States—Behavior on Social Media.