Introduction
One of the most successful industries in the world market is the energy drink industry because if the right strategy is used, the business has a great chance to become successful.
The success is not only in terms of having smooth operations throughout the company, but also in the fact that in this industry, there is a very large margin for premium pricing if the company is able to develop a strong value with its customers. While this is a completely new product, which is being introduced, every precaution has been made in order to make sure that it will be successful.
Market Summary
The energy drink industry is highly competitive, and consumers are aware of this fact, thus making the industry complex. Companies operating in this business should enhance their customer services to avoid losing customers.
Mission statement. The mission is to provide a quality energy drink and create value for stakeholders. The main stakeholders are the Cleary University, employees, and customers. Creating value will be done by maintaining a significant amount of margins for the university activities and have a motivational compensation packages for the employees and a product that exceeds the customers’ expectations.
Marketing Goals and objectives
The main objective of this plan will be to deliver a product to the university student, faculty or support staff. To achieve this objective, we aim to:
- Increase sales by 10% in the next 2 years;
- Attain a growth rate of 15% in terms of revenue per annum in the next five years;
- Produce the highest possible customer satisfaction;
- Launch a product that serves the university with its environs, so it will enable the product to oust other one of a more popular brand than this one;
- Let the organization have more than 3% of the market share in less than 12 months;
- Reduce a loss of just under $6000 as per budget during the first year. It can be achieved due to extra expenses relating to the implementation of technology, one-time startup expenses and launching related marketing expenses.
- Make the product be profitable even by the third year. This is because the competition is so high that some form of price incentives would be provided in order for the customers to be lured in to taking a chance with a new product.
Target market
The main target market for the new energy drink, cougar bite, is the university students, faculty staff, alumina, and the surrounding community. The following table shows segmentation of the target market
Strategies
The foundation of the marketing strategy for this company would be the differentiation strategy. This would be the perfect foil for the market because although the customer might be price sensitive, they will not trust a product with low price as it could be perceived as of low quality.
Marketing mix
Product strategy. The product to be produced and distributed is cougar bite energy drink, which will be in two flavors that are lemon lime and coffee. The product will be packed in two sizes of 16 oz and 20 oz.
Pricing strategy. The pricing strategy used will be effective if it will help, the university attain profit and financial goals. At the beginning, we will apply initially penetration-pricing strategy, which will only be sustained in a few months to attract customers. Then, we will apply a price that covers manufacturing and marketing cost plus a small profit margin.
However, this pricing strategy will be determined by different tastes, income, and presence of substitute products. The price, which is charged to the customers, should be reasonable to influence the customer to purchase the item again. This will enable the product to create a market share and increase awareness, acceptance and reputation (Rainey, 2005). Discounts will be offered to those customers who buy large quantities. This strategy will help in creating customer loyalty.
Distribution strategy. The University will open a store for a distribution of the products within the compound, and the rest will be sent to supermarkets, shops, shopping malls, and canteens that are located near the institution. The product will also be marketed online. It should be noted that most of the distribution will be done by supermarkets and other stores.
Offering message. The offering message of the product will be the following one, “a new energy drink is manufactured for health living at affordable price. It is made for all people young and old with the desire to keep health and it’s offered in two flavors. Coffee and lemon lime. Buy one and you will never regret.”
Promotional mix strategy. The products will be promoted using various advertising techniques. The aim of promotional strategy is to create a strong awareness off cougar bite to the target market. Most university students and other youths pay more attention to the media than to other source of information.
The product will be advertised in the university magazine, on television, and through the university radio. Free samples will be given to various categories of target market. This free sample will specifically aimed at talkative and influential people.
Social net working strategy
Since most of the people who are the target market use social net working sites, the university will use social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and go to advertise the product. Social net work will assist in delivering the message to the large number of people who eventually will buy the product.
We will also build a responsive opt in e-mail list where consumers will communicate directly to us, publish online web releases, facilitate and run online contests and introduce a blog/online 24-hour customer support where the university can chat directly with online customers providing answers to their queries.
In addition, the social networks through chat rooms will present another platform for customer relationship management. These will improve the relationship between customers and management greatly and make both of them to stay constantly in touch with each other.
Customer loyalty program
The customer loyalty programs will entail new discounts and marketing gimmicks, so the customers are always excited to see and buy the product. To avoid offending customers or lowering customer satisfaction, companies must constantly solicit feedback from their clients concerning the services or products they obtained.
A simple complaint can turn into a big problem if it is left unattended. However, when the customer is given the opportunity to express his concerns, dissatisfaction, or complaints, this will give the individual the feeling of being important (Liu and Yang, 2009).
Marketing Research
Telephone and personal interviews are used in carrying out research. The university also studies existing business models.
However, the university will encounter a number of challenges in the research including varieties of biasness that occur during research and include compliance as well as expectation bias. Another challenge that we may have in our research may be the justified non-cooperation from competitors who might not want to share information with a future competitor. Moreover, existing business models and their success might not be available.
Marketing metrics. Over $ 2000 will be used for marketing and marketing research.
References
Liu, Y. & Yang, R. (2009). ‘Competing Loyalty Programs: Impact of Market Saturation, Market Share, and Category Expandability.’ Journal of Marketing, Vol. 73, 93–108
Rainey, D. (2005). Product Innovation: Leading Change through Integrated Product Development. London: Cambridge.