Supply Chain Management and Financial Plan

MARKETING PLAN 1

Promotion and Pricing Strategies

Name

University

Promotion and Pricing Strategies

As noted in Scarborough and Cornwall (2015), entrepreneurs must have a marketing plan that identifies their company’s target customers and also describes the promotional and customer retention strategies. Thus, in this section, I would address the promotional and pricing strategies section of my start-up’s marketing plan and help refine my strategies for ensuring that the business will be successful.

My small business idea is a black-owned hair store specializing in natural hair and skin products. The start-up will be named Natural Hair Goals, and will be located here in Huntsville, Alabama, given that there are not many natural hair care products around. Our Mission is to provide a friendly atmosphere where customers can improve their individuality by embracing low-cost but quality natural beauty. As I had earlier indicated, the extensive research that I conducted during the initial planning stage on the kind of products and services I will provide shows that the offerings are feasible. Currently, skin and hair products and service have become indispensable offerings in the modern lifestyle. Although the cosmetic industry has long been dominated by women, more men are increasingly using beauty products as well. Thus, our target market generally consists of males and females of all ages who value beauty, particularly the middle-class and low-income earners. Specifically, the target market will consists of individuals like tourists, businesspeople, workers, actors, and all those who come to visit, shop, or work around the area. Given that people consume cosmetic products and services such as the one in our niche, we foresee a situation in which the business will run year-long. However, the business will particularly boom during springtime as many people will be outdoors and tourists will surge in the area.

At Natural Hair Goals, our competitive strategy will rely on our ability to research and identify the customer’s needs and wants and then deliver them. Usually, different customers have different needs and wants, and the most successful entrepreneurs are those who identify them and develop customized solutions. For us, we will research the customer needs and wants by observation, listening and questioning. Looking through the records, talking to the staff, mapping the customer’s journey and interviewing and surveying them are highly invaluable strategies to identify the customers’ needs and wants. Usually, the identification stage would entail following customers’ needs and wants analysis through approaches like social listening, focus groups, interviews and surveys. Distribution is the next step. It entails distributing the identified customer’s needs and wants across the right teams and departments. The third and final stage is creation, and it entails tasks like customizing product and service features, creating detailed contents that speak about the applicable needs and wants, and etcetera.

Our marketing mix contains the product, pricing strategy, promotion and distribution. First, as already mentioned, ours is a black-owned hair store specializing in natural hair and skin products. Our products will be promoted amongst both men and women through various strategies. The fast growth of the cosmetic industry means that even the smaller brands can also grow within a short duration. However, there are also many players in the industry, necessitating the need for product promotion. The website DesignHill.com recommends ten effective marketing strategies to promote cosmetic brand, and I would like to employ the tips in my business. Some of the strategies including: contacting wholesale distributors interested in the beauty products; generating online sales by placing the products on the web; exploring social networking channels like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and other virtual markets as they are ideal for enhancing the number of potential consumers, i.e. for crowdsourcing; having a unique and memorable logo; contacting independent sales representatives; participating in various trade shows for cosmetic products; requesting for experts to review the products; distributing flyers; and, offering enticing deals like giving free gifts for product purchase, offering discounts, and etcetera. Given that the current business is a small start-up, I will apply all these strategies to ensure an aggressive product promotion. The use of marketing materials like flyers, logo, website, and business cards would enhance the impression about the products on the potential customers. Thus, we will apply both the traditional media and new media and publicity to promote the product. As at now, propose to apply an amalgam of these strategies for the next one year to determine the business’ progress.

Finally, regarding the pricing strategy, I will employ cost-plus pricing and price skimming strategies to price my products. The reason why I have chosen the cost-plus pricing strategy is because of its simplicity. Given that my business targets customers in both middle-class and low-income earners, all my products will be pocket-friendly. I believe that this target group is the best option for my business to maximize profits and also to build a strong market brand (Barusman, Yuliana & Mirfazli, 2020). I will also utilize the price skimming strategy in setting prices for some of my products. Although my business will solely specialize in natural products, it does not mean that my market competitors do not have some of the natural products I will be having. For this reason, I will use the skimming strategy to set relatively higher prices on some of the common natural products in the market.

References Barusman, A. R., Yuliana, T. M., & Mirfazli, E. (2020). Analysis of Implementation Cost Plus Pricing Method in the Decision on the Determination of Product Sales Prices. International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, 29(6). Kel, H. (2017, July 22). 10 Marketing Tips To Promote Your Cosmetic Brand Effectively. Retrieved May 3, 2021, from DesignHill.com: https://www.designhill.com/design-blog/10-marketing-tips-to-promote-your-cosmetic-brand-effectively/ Scarborough, N. M., & Cornwall, J. R. (2015). Entrepreneurship and Effective Small Business Management (11 ed.). Pearson.