Marketing Plan & Sales Strategy: Grazom Natural Drinks

Marketing Plan & Sales Strategy: non- alcoholic beverages

 


The target market
The major market for Grazom Natural Drinks in the first six months will be the millions of tourists who visit the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area. This is within a thirty mile radius of the company’s location in Annapolis. This is because many tourists are people with discretionary incomes ready to explore and who fancy the outdoors. Many others are high fliers who represent federal and international bodies and whose companies can afford the odd fancy expensive drink.
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Tourists to Washington DC alone are about 20 million annually, contributing about $5billion dollars to the local economy. The company will target 5% of high spending tourists, about 500,000 tourists. 

Grazom Natural Drinks will also target residents with incomes of $100,000 and above per year in the Washington-Baltimore area. At about 150,000 people, this population is increasing steadily because of favourable economic policies such as health insurance and gentrification.

Hence, the total target market size for Grazom Natural Drinks will be 650,000 people.

Grazom Natural Drinks products are non-alcoholic juices with low sugar content and natural flavours. The drinks will appeal to people who appreciate healthy living. Suffice to say most people now appreciate the importance of good health regardless of age, gender, education level or ethnicity. This is evident in the fact that many people are shunning drinks with high sugar content and alcoholic drinks. Income levels and health awareness will be the major considerations when defining the market.

The company will have promotional messages that aim to capture some of the market from competing products existing in the marketplace. Most health conscious people fancy the outdoors and are likely to be found at sports facilities, hotels and cultural events. Consequently, the company’s drinks will be marketed at major outdoor social events such as Road Race America finish in Annapolis and sports events at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Potential consumers at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Naval Base Museum in Annapolis, and the National Mall in Washington DC will also be targeted.

Apart from being sold at the marketing events, the drinks will also be marketed and sold at the 500 hotels with over 100 employees in the Baltimore-Washington DC area with a view to having at least a hundred of the hotels offering our high quality drinks at their hotels.

The competition

Market leaders in the non-alcoholic beverages market in Washington-Baltimore Metropolitan Area are Coca Cola and Pepsi. However, these offer mostly carbonated drinks that target different market segments from the niche market that will be targeted by Grazom Natural Drinks. Indeed the main competitors of the company will be house mocktails, local juice makers and energy drinks. This is because these drinks sell in the same market that our niche drinks target. Many of them are healthy drinks from fresh fruits and are offered at various hotels. Alcoholic beverages as food accompaniments are also some competition, though their consumption is on the decrease, especially among health conscious populations.

With increased awareness of health benefits accrued from healthy drinks, some of the traditional beverage market leaders have ventured into this sector with new products. However, their systems are more suited to offering carbonated drinks and products with similarly long lifespans. They are also reluctant to eat into their core market and hence have not spent a lot of resources on healthy drinks. Moreover, they are used to large volume sales to the mass market which may not be forthcoming in this niche market, hence preferring to have economies of scale elsewhere.



However, Grazom Natural Drinks will have exotic flavours gathered from different fruits from various places around the world. It will target an income level that is looking for something extraordinary, who are willing to pay good money for unique, high quality products that benefit their health; meeting their nutritional needs and preventing diseases.

Few hotels if any offer such drinks, with most similar products being concocted by the hotel. Hotels will hence appreciate a company that can offer them such unique quality products that will make them attract more clientele to their establishments.

It is not easy for many companies to venture into this business because the fruits to make the drinks will be sourced internationally. The company will identify areas with unique fruits, encouraging farmers to optimise on production by offering some necessary incentives a guaranteed market at good prices. Hence many people without a keen interest and passion will not meet the exacting standards and finances required to enter and sustain the business.

The company will use a reputable distribution agency that has the ability to deliver fruits from around the world very quickly. The ability to source raw materials for the drinks from different places in the world will ensure that the company is able to add new unique products by sourcing for even more exotic fruits and mixing them to make different flavours. This is unlike the mostly local juice makers and hotels which mostly depend on local fruits.

Modern consumers are sensitive about provenance by a company. That we will be guiding farmers to optimise the quality of the  raw materials as well as paying them decent prices will be highlighted by Grazom Natural Drinks to get an edge over the competition.

The company will recruit well trained staff that will be well remunerated and motivated. This will include nutritionists, marketers and sales personnel. Most competitors who offer their juices and mocktails at lower prices will not be able to do this, making the company attract and retain the best workers in the industry.
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Company’s message 

Grazom Natural Drinks will mainly tap into functions, feelings, and future to appeal to the consumer.

The consumer will be reassured of the functional health benefits accrued from the drink; spending to protect themselves and their families from an uncertain future in terms of health; with freedom from the effects of ill health associated with most existing drinks. 

The functional drinks will be targeted to people with high incomes and hence will promote the self-image of the consumer as a discerning consumer with extra money to spend. The customer will be targeted as someone who can be more productive because of taking healthy drinks.

The consumer will feel that they are getting excellent value for their money, a healthy treat they deserve for their money. Overall sense of well-being in the consumer will thus be enhanced.

Consumers and the retailers (hotels) will also be assured of the continued supply of the drinks.

Moreover, the promotional messages will target the hotels who will offer unique drinks suitable for their high end clientele. They will receive quality products that will save them the time and logistics of preparing and offering healthy, fresh drinks with natural flavours.

Credit facilities will also be extended to the retailers to ensure that their cash flows are not negatively affected. Good margins will also be offered to the hotels that will in turn push the products to the consumers at the expense of drinks with lower profit margins.
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Grazom Natural Drinks will ensure that the drinks are delivered to the hotels. Stocks at the hotels will be monitored to ensure just-in-time replenishments.

3.     The marketing vehicles

Many companies market their non-alcoholic beverages at various social events and also use the social media to reach the consumer e.g. Coca Cola and Pepsi. Grazom Natural Drinks will be no different; employing this tried and tested approach to reach the consumers at major social events in the Washington-Baltimore metropolis. This is because it is where the outdoor types who fancy healthy drinks will congregate. Moreover, activities at such events lead to a thirst for a refreshing drink, and Grazom Natural Drinks will be there to offer a refreshingly healthy drink. 

The company will also hold promotional events at the place where the drinks will be retailing i.e. the hotels. The media will be invited to these events to witness the unique drinks.

Through word of mouth and the media, the nature of the company’s drinks will spread among the residents and tourists; with the latter spreading the word to other states and nations.
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The company will also use online marketing because it is not expensive and reaches a wide number of people anywhere at any time. This will be through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) of the company’s website to ensure the company’s visibility by highlighting the healthy approach in its products.

Paid online adverts will also be bought and specially targeted to the hotels and consumers through Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

Social media messages highlighting interesting, esoteric facts about the industry will be used. These messages will be linked to the company’s website that will include health blogs.



References

1.       Abrams, R, 2015. Successful Business Plan 6th edition: Secrets and Strategies. Palo Alto: PlanningShop.

2.       Bowman, D, and Gatignon, H, 2010. Market Response and Marketing Mix Models. Boston: Now Publishers.

3.       Hooley, G J, et al., 2008. Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning. New York: Prentice Hall.

4.       US Department of Commerce, 2010. 2013 MSA Business Patterns (NAICS), Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metro Area. Available at: http://censtats.census.gov/cgi-bin/msanaic/msasect.pl (Accessed April 30, 2015).

5.       US Department of Commerce, 2010. Selected Economic Characteristics: 2009-2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Washington (Accessed April 30, 2015). Available at: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF

6.       US Department of Commerce, 2010. Selected Economic Characteristics: 2009-2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates, Baltimore. Available at: http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?src=CF (Accessed 30 April, 2015).

7.       US Small Business Administration, 2014. Sales Strategy. Available at: https://www.sba.gov/content/sales-strategy (Accessed April 30, 2015).

 


8.       Venkatesan, R, et al., 2014. Cutting Edge Marketing Analytics: Real World Cases and Data Sets for Hands On Learning. New Jersey: Pearson FT Press.

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