Marketing Plan on "City Services Group Marketing Plan"

Marketing Plan 6 pages (2873 words) Sources: 6

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Moreover, in those days, many individuals could access email but not the web, especially from workplace computers. Two modes are present for conducting a survey by email: 1) including the survey as part of the email's main body; and 2) sending it as an email attachment (Poynter, 2010).

Implementation strategy

Implementation must incorporate special allocations for enabling foreign subsidiary firms to source particular market opportunities/challenges faced in certain markets. Management and operating department hold discussions and come to an agreement. Subsequently, comprehensive budgets and schedules can be fixed for all marketing areas, including outside agencies (like ad agencies, marketing researchers and designers) for ensuring that timely delivery of their contribution ensues, within allocated budget. Some allowance should be made in relation to activities whose estimation, in time or cost terms, is more difficult. Thus, the plan should be 1) strategic, i.e. It should fulfill marketing and company objectives and coordinate individual SBU (strategic business unit) plans; 2) tactical, i.e. It should concentrate on individual, country-wise SBU marketing actions; and 3) implementable, i.e. It should detail distinct activities of every department in the SBU (Doole & Lowe, 2008).

Implementation time plan

Five (5) year expansion plan

At present, City Services Group offers a range of economically priced, high-quality real-estate utility facilities. Secondly, the Group also plans to widen its range of offerings through improved service delivery at cheaper, highly competitive prices. The firm is currently marketed via local and regional specialty shops dispersed along its countries of operation. In a span of five years, the firm aims at expanding its distribution network to specialty shops in all its countries of operation, in addition to expanding its presence on the internet via enhanced online marketing. The company communicates product information, through various means, to retailers and consumers. Information on the firm and its product mix can be obtained in person, on the web, and through direct mailings. Promotional efforts of the firm also strive for product differentiation from competing products (AB City Service, 2015).

Annuals sales estimates for the next five years

Social media

Facebook: this social networking service connects individuals around the globe, and is well-suited to bring target customers closer to the firm.

Real Town: this is the most respected, and oldest, real-estate network, which features numerous online communities and a vast resource base of community-created material (National Association of Realtor, 2014).

Performance standards

Subscribers (Email, Newsletter, Blog, etc.): What, if any, growth can be seen in firm-owned contact lists? Is a steady stream of subscribers coming in to the firm's email or blog list, and does the firm actively engage with audiences who are most interested in what the firm has to offer? (Rented or bought lists are not counted. Only those who opt in should be considered).

Inbound Links: Amount of quality incoming links to the firm's website depicts power to Bing, Google and other search engines (Poynter, 2010; National Association of Realtor, 2014).

Monitory methods

One method is executing and tracking marketing plan performance through marketing audit, which is an extensive inspection of aims and approaches for determining improvement opportunities and problem areas. A second method is internal reviewing, and monitoring the firm's marketing performance. The above procedures will be implemented as often as required, or carried out continuously for regularly providing a summary of company success (Poynter, 2010; Doole & Lowe, 2008).

Financial controls

Budgeting: Marketing budgets provide a balance, to offset cost of generation of advertising material against revenue generated as a result of marketing strategy.

Target Market Sales: Measurement of sales can be done in terms of units sold, returns from sales, or company profits. Every marketing plan intends to ascertain the impact of the strategy on target population. Again, this can be done by way of market surveys, as well as at point-of-sale, employing retail partners' assistance (Poynter, 2010).

Company's overall performance

The marketing strategy, which bases itself on a comprehensive understanding of company, market, and customer requirements, integrates directly into the company's strategic plan for providing a roadmap, for the company, as an ultimate tool to guide leaders in decision-making, for sustainable company growth (Arab British Academy for Higher Education, n.d.; TODOR, 2014).

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

AB City Service will make sure that quick and honest communication of decisions takes place, on every organizational level, for avoiding an outbreak of employee questions, rumors and fears (Arab British Academy for Higher Education, n.d.).

Advertising: This refers to any paid, non-personal communication regarding an idea, company, product or service by some identified sponsor. 'Paid' implies that the time and space for ad messages have to be bought. A rare exception is public service announcements, for which media donates ad time or space. 'Non-personal' implies that mass media (TV, radio, newspapers, magazines etc.) is involved in advertising, and the message can be transmitted, often at once, to several people (Moderandi Inc., 2013; Arab British Academy for Higher Education, n.d.).

Direct Marketing: This denotes direct interaction with target market for generating response and transaction. Direct marketing was not a traditional element in firms' promotional mix. However, as it is so integral to IMC in many firms, and often has separate aims, plans and budgets, it is now included in promotional mix. It entails much more than simply mail-order catalogues and direct mail; direct marketing comprises various activities, which include database management, direct response advertisements, telemarketing, and direct selling, via direct mail, different print and broadcast media, and the Internet. In fact, some firms, like Amway, Tupperware and Discovery Toys, use no other channel of distribution, and make use of independent contractors for directly selling their products to customers (Arab British Academy for Higher Education, n.d.; Doole & Lowe, 2008).

Sales Promotion: This element, aimed at stimulating immediate sales, involves marketing the product to end customers (consumer-oriented sales promotion) or distributors (trade-oriented activities). The former is aimed at ultimate users of products/services, while the latter is aimed at marketing intermediaries (i.e. retailers, distributors, wholesalers). Some promotional tools for encouraging retailers and other intermediaries to stock as well as promote an organization's products include price deals, trade shows, merchandising and promotional allowance, and sales contests (Doole & Lowe, 2008).

Internet marketing: This element is spurred by technological progress and development, which have resulted in dramatic progression of communication via interactive media, especially the internet. Through interactive media, back-and-forth movement of information is possible, and users can involve in and alter the content and form of information received. This medium enables users to carry out numerous functions, including receiving and modifying images and information, making inquiries, making purchases and responding to questions. Other interactive media, apart from the Internet, are mobile phones, kiosks and interactive TV (Arab British Academy for Higher Education, n.d.; Doole & Lowe, 2008).

Advertising strategy refers to a plan for reaching target consumers and persuading them to purchase a product/service; it must be in line with the firm's marketing plan. AB City Services, through linking and coordinating its ad campaign with promotional mix elements (internet marketing, advertising, sales promotion and direct marketing), can broadcast a consistent brand message to potential customers, thereby effectively differentiating their product from competition and improving their market share.

References

AB City Service. (2015). AB City Service MarketLine Company Profile, 1-16.

Arab British Academy for Higher Education. (n.d.) Chapter 8: Marketing Strategy and Competitive Analysis. TLFeBook.

Doole, I. & Lowe, R. (2008).International Marketing Strategy, 5th Edition, Cengage.

Ho Yin, W., & Merrilees, B. (2007).Closing the marketing strategy to performance gap: the role of brand orientation. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 15(5), 387-402. Doi:10.1080/09652540701726942

Moderandi Inc., (2013). The Strategic Marketing Process; How to Structure Your Marketing Activities to Achieve Better Results. Marketing MO.

National Association of Realtor (updated September 2014). Field Guide to Social Networking for REALTORS®. Retrieved on July 9, 2015 from http://www.realtor.org/field-guides/field-guide-to-social-networking-for-realtors

Poynter, R. (2010). The Handbook of Online and Social Media: Research Tools and Techniques for Market Researchers. John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Smith, G.E. And Nagle, T.T. (2005) A question of value. Marketing Management 14(4), 38 -- 43.

TODOR, R. (2014). THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING AND REBRANDING FOR STRATEGIC MARKETING. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Series V: Economic Sciences,… READ MORE

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