BUS 599 week8...Expert needed

Assignment2/Mari_Beverage_Company_Assignment_2.docx

Mari Beverage Company Marketing Plan 1

Running Head: MARI BEVERAGE COMPANY MARKETING PLAN

Student Name Business 599

Mari Beverage Company Marketing Plan 2

Abstract

This paper will define your company’s target market and analyze the types of consumers who will be drinking my beverage in demographic terms (i.e., age, education level, income, gender, ethnic group, etc.). It will support my analysis with actual data on the size of the demographic groups in your local community It will outline the demographic information for my company specified on the worksheet in the course text. Moreover, it will assess my company’s market competition. It will use the factors listed in the course text graphic to assess your company’s market competition. It will defend my strategy to successfully compete against market leaders in my segment, and it will defend my plan to differentiate myself from the competition using the information detailed on the worksheet in the text. Additionally, it will clarify my company’s message. Lastly, the paper will identify the marketing vehicles I plan to use to build my company’s brand. It will justify key reasons why they will be effective, and it will provide examples of other non-alcoholic beverage companies that use these tactics effectively.

Mari Beverage Company Marketing Plan 3

Marketing Plan

Mari Beverage Company Inc. is located in New York City. Its goal is to provide nutritious energy boosting non-alcoholic beverages to all major college campuses within the United States.

Target Market

MBC has narrowed down its target market to college students studying in major universities within the United States. MBS has decided to use the list provided by Forbes to specifically target major universities (Forbes, 2015). This population as depicted by the target areas will comprise of an equal number of female as well as male students who come from diversified geographical locations, backgrounds, and ethnic groups. Having specified the major colleges, MBC will select a target age from seventeen years to approximately thirty five years of age. According to Grube (2009), these age limits are the most appropriate ones targeted within major college universities. The gender issues are estimated to be equal; however, the number of male students may exceed their counterparts due to different studies that continuously cite the number of male students enrolled nationwide exceeds that of females. It is important to note that the drinks will be entirely differentiated to cater for each gender group’s choices as well as preferences.

Mari Beverage Company Marketing Plan 4

Demographics Chart:

The above demographics chart can be used by MBC to further breakdown its target market.

Mari Beverage Company Marketing Plan 5

Gender Chart:

The above chart clearly breaks down the gender differential that can be used by MBC to specifically target its market at major college universities.

Mari Beverage Company Marketing Plan 6

Moreover, many students tend to entirely rely on their parents for funding during the college years, second jobs, or student loans, so they may hardly experience issues of low purchasing power. Sales are expected to hike during the opening sessions and be lower at the end of each semester as the students targeted tend to run out of funding. The level of education may also influence the rate and frequency of consumption too. Students in medical fields, as well as those who are highly educated in other fields, are suspected to take lower numbers of beverages such as soft drinks and energy drinks. Students fitting this criteria tend to believe various health findings that assert the notion that non-alcoholic drinks have associated negative health effects. It will be MBC’s marketing policy to assert the positive effects of drinking beverages such as ours. MBS will assert an aggressive campaign highlighting the benefits of consuming out product to our target market.

Assessment of the MBC’s Market Competition

Ideally, each and every business venture must face competition. The non-alcoholic beverage market is indeed a particularly crowded market field characterized with stiff competition by not only the big players in the market but also the threat of new entries. MBC expects to face a number of challenges that will all amount to stiff completion.

Mari Beverage Company Marketing Plan 7

The most important step to take will be to deal with the depicted challenges effectively.

The threat of the Existing Big Players in the Market

MBC is seeking to invest in the beverage market, a market that is highly competitive and highly controlled by the stiff competition and rivalry exhibited between Coca-Cola and the Pepsi for example. Conversely, the entry of Red Bull doubled the competition and didn’t make anything easier for MBC. It is intimidating to compete against major market players such as these. Nevertheless, as the new kid on the block, Mari Beverage Company has devised some techniques that will adequately compete with these major players. The evidence would point to the fact that the campuses and tertiary levels of education present a good niche market to target. Methods such as reducing prices, improving quality, enhancing quantity, and using guerilla marketing tactics will be key to winning over this market. MBC can out-price the competition while marketing the benefits of the product verses drinking a Coke or Pepsi for example.

Mari Beverage Company will have an involving role of ensuring that it equips all its financial resources in the best strategies possible to sustain itself during the pressure exerted by the entry of new firms and existing companies.

Mari Beverage Company Marketing Plan 8

Differentiation Strategies

According to the CQI (2011), market differentiation is an imperative strategy in ensuring that a given business firm achieves its objectives as well as remaining sustainable after its market entry. Mari Beverage Company intends to imply a plethora of fundamental strategies to ensure appropriate differentiation in ensuring that the company outplays the existing beverage market economic controllers. Basically, the MBC will devise new product pricing strategies that will be slightly lower compared to the existing players such as Red Bull, Coca-Cola and Pepsi (Czinkota & Ronkainen, 2013). The company will also launch storage warehouses in every individual university to ensure that its products are readily and easily accessible. The company will use different bottles and packaging sizes to offset the effects associated with non-biodegradability nature of those companies already existing in the market place.

MBC Marketing Message

According to Paul (2013), it is important to choose the correct message that appropriately summarizes the entire objective of the marketing plan and aligns the activities with the company mission. The main message channeled to the entire public in regard to MBC will be proving first-class and affordable non-alcoholic beverage products. Despite the main target market of the beverage company being the tertiary levels of college students, MBC will aim at ensuring that the marketing message is well prevailed and disseminated to the market to increase the target audience and realize the envisioned profit potential of the company. This message will be integral and imperative in ensuring that there is effective campaign against the misconceptions that non-alcoholic beverage industry has negative health effects.

Mari Beverage Company Marketing Plan 9

The Marketing Vehicle

To effectively compensate for the disadvantages and challenges that accrue from using a single marketing promotion, Mari Beverage Company will use several methods to ascertain that the marketing process is successful and achieves its goals. These methods including advertisement, sales promotion, as well as publicity, will be carried out simultaneously through integration of various departments within MBC (Doole & Lowe, 2012). Both online methods and physical advertisement by the use of a tracking system will be used.

Alternatively, Hana, Al-Deen, and Hendricks (2013) suggest that managers can use social media as an effective product marketing tool. Mari Beverage Company will create official YouTube links, Facebook platforms and organizational emails to promote the entry of the beverage company to as many students as possible. The benefits and advantages of using social networking sites for marketing products vary from one site to another Sethi and Adhikari (2010). Nonetheless, social networking media platforms such as Facebook helps business firms to reach many customers as well as enhancing productivity by relaying information and feedback among different groups of employees as well customers. Online marketing eases the processing buying as people can easily purchase goods and pay through online services. Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Red Bull provide the best examples of beverage firms that use such strategies. Nonetheless, the promotion will go down over different media such as television and radio programs.

Mari Beverage Company Marketing Plan 10

Conclusion

Ideally, Mari Beverage Company has an integral role to play in ensuring that it enters the beverage market and succeeds to sustain the stiff competition predicted by not only the major market controllers but also the pressure exerted by the government and other legal entities. Firms coming into the market as new ventures must take their time to conduct sufficient and in-depth market research before taking such an imperative stage. Additionally, identification of a strongly founded and entirely evidence-based marketing plan is integral in ensuring that there is adequate achievement of the set goals. Lastly, MBC should always operate with a philosophy of minimizing costs and maximizing the output by realization of super-normal profits as well as revenue.

Mari Beverage Company Marketing Plan 11

References