Executive Summary
In the bid to make a fitting plan, there are several marketing dynamics at WhiteKnights that need to be assessed. Such factors include productivity, profits, growth, turnover, stability, and cohesion. These measures of effectiveness may vary depending on the company, its mission, environmental context, nature of work, type of product or service and customer demands. It is based on the above viewpoints, among many other issues that this Marketing plan for WhiteKnights EVS is proposed.
Project Definition
Vic Siswick started Whiteknights EVS, a charity organization aimed at providing emergency transpiration as an appreciation of the hard work the doctors and nurses put to save the lives of people. This came about after the realization that the National Hospital Service (NHS) has limited resources and personnel to offer these services.
The operations of the Whiteknights have been increasing over time. In 2011, the organization responded to 313 emergency calls (Whiteknights, 2012). This is the highest number of emergency calls that the organization has responded to since its incorporation saving the NHS thousands of pounds in emergency response.
However, being a charity organization, the operation of the Whiteknights merely relies on donors and well-wishers for its maintenance (Whiteknights, 2012). In 2011 alone, the Whiteknights received £28,000 from well-wishers. As an act of social corporate responsibility, the services provided by the Whiteknights have had a positive impact to the people of Yorkshire. It is with regards to this fact that the organization seeks to expand its services to cover additional areas within the United Kingdom.
The Leeds and Bradford areas have been identified as potential zones for expansion. However, for this move to be effective and efficient, the Whiteknights need to raise more funds, increase their available resources, and recruit more personnel. To achieve this, the organization needs to develop and implement an entrepreneurial marketing plan that will ensure that its development and marketing operations are effective, efficient, and sustainable to meet the goals and objectives that the organization has developed.
Entrepreneurial Marketing Planning
The aim of every business entity is to successfully enter into a market and be sustainable in the short run and in the long run. To achieve this, such businesses need to come up with effective strategies. Through entrepreneurship, such organization can achieve their goals and objectives.
Entrepreneurship is a process that supports innovation and creativity in setting up a business entity (Paraskevas, 2006). In most instances, relatively new firms that are small in size use the concept of entrepreneurship. These firms usually strive to enter into a new market that is characterized by stiff competition and with established brands that have loyal consumers.
However, through strategic planning, such firms can be able to overcome the barriers of entering into the market and other operational challenges such as availability of funds and resources to support their operation.
Additionally, through entrepreneurship, a firm is able to differentiate its products or services from the ones that are already available in the marker. This makes consumers to view the products or services of the new firm as different as compared to the ones that are present in the market. This thus increases the demand of these products or service.
On the other hand, a firm needs to increase the awareness of the products or services that it offers to its target market. This can only be achieved through effective marketing. According to Wienclaw (2008) for a firm to successful, it needs to employ marketing strategies but for the same firm to be profitable and sustainable in the short run and in the long run, it needs to develop and implement effective marketing strategies.
Thus, marketing is an essential factor in the long-term success of a business entity. From the study conducted by Wienclaw (2008), 70% of firms usually discontinue their services in their first five years of operation.
However, the same study asserts that with strategic management practices, the chances of long-term sustainability of a firm can be increased. For instance, a better understanding of the target market can increase the sustainability chances of a firm by 60% (Wienclaw, 2008). Thus, to achieve this, such firms need to incorporate effective marketing strategies.
However, it is virtually difficult for an entrepreneur to spend so much on marketing the products or services that he/she produces due to budget constraints. It is due to this fact that scholars have incorporated the concept of entrepreneurship and marketing. Although considered as different field, a lot of studies have been conducted in the field of entrepreneurial marketing due to the similarities that these disciplines have in their mode of operation and execution (Lynch, 2006).
Thus, since the 1980s, several theories and concepts have been developed in the field of entrepreneurial marketing. These theories aim at assisting small and medium sized to develop effective marketing plans given their limited resources to ensure their sustainability in their respective industries in the short run and in the long run.
In the process of expanding their services, Whiteknights EVS require to have an effective entrepreneurial marketing plan. Due to its few years of operation and its small size, the organization can be compared to a small business enterprise that wants to expand its services to gain a large market share.
However, the organization lacks the relevant resources to meet the requirements of this expansion. To achieve its expansion goals, the firm needs to increase its financial base, increase the number of personnel, and most importantly, the organization needs to acquire more motorcycles that meet the requirements of the service that they offer.
Furthermore, to ensure that the operations of the organizations are run effectively and efficiently, Whiteknights EVS needs to have a management team that comprises of qualified personnel who will run the organization effectively and efficiently to ensure that it achieves its goals and objectives. With an effective entrepreneurial marketing plan, Whiteknights EVS shall have a clear understanding of the industry that it is operating in and the tastes, preferences and needs of its target market.
Additionally, the organization shall be able to develop effective marketing strategies using a variety of channels to ensure that the target market is aware of the services that it is offering. Most importantly, the plan shall enable the firm to acquire more funds and relevant resources and utilize them effectively to meet the goals and objectives that the organization has set. This will ensure that the expansion plans of the organization are successful and its operations are sustainable in the short run and in the long run.
Marketing Plan
For Whiteknights EVS their goal of increasing their improving their performance by gathering more funds, personnel and resources, the firm needs to consider a number of factors. First, the firm needs to set specific vision, mission, goals and objectives that have to be achieved within a given time period.
The organization also needs to have a clear understanding of its target market. From all this information, the organization needs to develop and implement strategies that will lead to the realization of the set goals and objectives. Finally, constant monitoring should be conducted to ensure that the operations of the charity organization effective, efficient and sustainable.
Vision, Mission, Goals and Objectives
Whiteknights has the vision of being an influential force in the world of health by saving lives via offering emergency volunteer transport facilities. Its main mission is to achieve a multifaceted success in terms of saving life through free-of-charge emergency transport services that help in saving NHS money. Essentially, this calls for delivery of quality and timely emergency transport services to its highly esteemed patients. To achieve all this, the charity organization has the following goals and objectives that it seeks to achieve:
- To grow the emergency services into other areas such as Leeds and Bradford.
- To improve the financial base of the organization to acquire new motorcycles, more personnel and auxiliary resources.
- To source additional resources that can be used to support more hospitals.
- To train and recruit new volunteers to offer more support to the company.
- To delineate problems being faced in the organization (with regards to its marketing endeavors and grope for ways of forging ahead while intermittently outsmarting these problems/challenges.
Target Market
Whitekinghts EVS are targeting to expand their services into Leeds area. The city has a population of over 400,000 individuals who are the main target of the organization (Teece et al., 2006). Being a business, educational and business center, Leeds requires to have standby emergency units at all times.
However, just like in Yorkshire, most of the health facilities that are found in the city are under the umbrella of NHS. This therefore states that their transportation resources are limited and are not operational during public holidays and off-peak hours. Thus, as a result of the success of WHiteknihts EVS in Yorkshire, the residents of Leeds shall appreciate the service.
Similarly, the target market/patients will also have to be made aware of the operations of WhiteKnights and its various branches. These will go a long way in reaching the targeted markets in a better way (Harris, 2011; He and Balmer, 2006). In essence, the market being mainly targeted by our plans are emergency patients.
Financial Analysis and Marketing Plan Budget
In 2011, Whiteknights managed to receive £28,000 from donations alone. The annual expense per motorcycle for that year was £4,000. However, given the fact that the organization wants to expand its services into Leeds/Bradford, Whiteknights EVS needs to increase their earnings from donation.
This is because it shall require to double its resources to meet its new demand. Thus, to carter for the expansion costs and additional resources, the organization shall require roughly £80,000 to carter for expenses during the first year of operations alone.
Stakeholders play a very important role in any organization and in WhiteKnights, the situation is no different (Johnson et al., 2008). The major stakeholders of Whiteknights EVS include the personnel of the organization, donors, the government, and most importantly, the public. Expansive consultations with the stakeholders have already been made to know their take on this marketing plan. So far, all the stakeholders have been in full support.
SWOT Analysis
In the course of its operations, Whiteknights has its own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that affect the manner in which it can achieve its set goals and objectives.
The major strength of the organization is the experience that it has in operating at the emergency scene. The organization also has a reputable brand name within the Yorkshire are and the whole of the UK. These factors make it to be a leader in its field of operation.
Financial stability is the major weakness of the firm. Whiteknights merely depend on donors to support their initiatives. Thus, the organization does not have a guaranteed income that will sustain its operations. The organization also relies on volunteers to operate and sustain its operations. In most cases, getting people to work without pay or to motivate the existing individuals can be a challenge.
Despite this, Whiteknights have several opportunities that can sustain their operations. First, its success at Yorkshire has made people to appreciate and demand the services that the organization offers. This has led to the current expansion move and future expansions are anticipated as a result of the rise in demand of the Whiteknights emergency service.
The major threat facing the company is the failure that it has been experiencing in marketing its services and soliciting for funds. The media coverage and use of the internet have not been successful in the past. Additionally, there are fraudulent organizations that have come up with the same idea of seeking for donors to fund their operations but actually, they do not provide any service to the community.
Marketing Strategies
With regards to the information above, Whiteknights EVS needs to come up with an effective marketing plan to increase the awareness of its target market about the service that its offers. Whiteknights EVS needs to use media as its main form of advertisement. The organization should run adverts on radio, television, newspapers, and magazines.
Additionally, Whiteknights needs to use the internet as another avenue of advertisement. The organization needs to use social network sites to reach out and interact with its target market. Social networks such as Facebook, Tweeter, MySpace, and LinkedIn shall be effective.
This will not only increase the awareness of its target market about the services that it offers but it will also act as a feedback mechanism from which the organization shall have an understanding of the attitudes and perceptions of its target market (Teece et al., 1997). This will improve its operations as the firm shall concentrate on its strengths and improve on its weaknesses. Whiteknights can also use billboards and charts to advertise their services.
These billboards can be put along major highways, buildings, and buses that run within and outside the target region. This will ultimately increase the awareness of the public about the services that the organization offers. Finally, the use of road shows and word of mouth advertisement campaigns will be relevantly used. By combining all these tools, a good blend of information spread is bound to happen to the targeted audiences.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Just like any business venture, our marketing plan may result in success or failure. It is for this reason that this plan calls for everyone involved to ardently play his/her part. It is only by doing this that; we can have some assurance that our plans will be foolproof of the usual market hiccups and the never-ending unforeseen economic challenges (Ward, 2003).
Remarkably, a few minor adjustments may be made depending on the assessment and approval of this project by the relevant authorities. Nonetheless, most of the points and projections stipulated here will remain constant.
Recommendations
For the operations of Whiteknights EVS to be effective and efficient in the short run and in the long run, I recommend the following:
- The organization needs to come up with an income generating activity to supplement the revenue it is receiving from donations. This will increase the quality of services that the organization is offering. For instance, the organization should come up with a monthly motorbike show where riders from all over the UK come to showcase their motorcycles. Participants as well as spectators are expected to pay. Additionally, the show should also have minor activities where winners go home with small prizes as a means of motivation. Thus, the revenue that will be generated from gate charges and the sale of products such as Whiteknights t-shirts and hand bands shall be used to support the emergency service of the organization.
- The organization needs to partner up with other organizations to gather financial and professional support. This will increase the effectiveness and efficiency of its operations. Collaborating with large media houses such as BBC will ensure that news regarding Whiteknigts services is well known all around the UK and internationally to some extent. This might increase the donations that the organization gets and as well as public support.
- Finally, Whiteknights EVS needs to increase the level of public participation in its operations. This can be achieved by increasing the number of volunteers from the community and by starting a forum especially via social network cites whereby the public brings in its views and ideas on how to improve the operations of the organization. Online forums shall give the followers of Whiteknights an avenue f discussing contemporary issues affecting the organization and possible means of solving them. This shall not only improve the efficiency of operations but it shall also make the community feel as part and parcel of the organization by contributing in the decision making process hence supporting its activities and initiatives.
Conclusion
From the above analysis, Whiteknights EVS can be compared to a small business enterprise that is seeking to expand its operations and market share. To achieve this, it is essential for Whiteknights EVS to increase its financial base to carter for the additional expenses and resources that shall be required to sustain its extended operations.
Thus, the organization needs to have a clear understanding of the industry in which it is operating in and its target market. Additionally, the organization needs to improve its marketing strategies as a move to increase the awareness of its target market about the services that it is offering. With these considerations, the operations of Whiteknighs EVS shall be sustainable in the short run and in the long run.
References
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