Marketing involves planned activities designed to promote and improve the sale of different goods and services. Increasing sales and maintaining equilibrium between suppliers and consumers require a detailed market analysis to identify the product’s potential and new customers (Saidali et al., 2019). Therefore, marketing strategies and plans commence after identifying the target audience. The sale of fast foods in Cuba is less than demand since the larger population consumes pizza and spaghetti more frequently compared to other foods sold in different hotels. Therefore, it creates a market gap which requires a solution towards satisfying excessive demand in the food market. Selling pizza and spaghetti is the best marketing choice to meet consumers’ needs since serving different fast foods in various hotels has not yet obtained customer satisfaction. Using a food truck is the alternative way to attract and maintain pizza and spaghetti customers.
Barriers and Challenges Encountered When Marketing Pizza and Spaghetti
The use of meal trucks in the advertisement of different foods was banned in Cuba after marketers violated public health policies that promoted hygiene and cholera prevention. After the resumption of food trucks in marketing, the public health policy set a fee that marketers should pay before using food trucks to promote their products as it was refunded only when policies were not violated. Raising the fee charged by the public health department became the greatest barrier to the marketing strategy since additional finances are required (Bar-Zeev et al., 2019). The target audience’s low attendance became a challenge because many pizza and spaghetti buyers were at the workplace during the working hours of the trucks. Environmental changes resulting from winter will also limit the accessibility to many customers, and additional transportation costs will hinder the marketing strategy.
Distribution Channel Used
Selling pizza and spaghetti is more sensitive to public policies compared to other goods and services sold in the market. The two foods require strict adherence to health policies that fight the spread of Cholera which is caused by food contamination. Thus, selling pizza and spaghetti directly to consumers is an effective marketing channel because it ensures customers’ contact and feedback to improve service delivery (de Matos et al., 2020). The channel is efficient in maintaining potential buyers. It eliminates intermediaries’ interference to the business, which can hinder its ability to sell selected fast foods. Delivering foods directly to the customer is also easy and faster than using a chain of intermediaries. Selling pizza and spaghetti involves instant delivery from staff members of the cafeteria to different parts of Cuba. Retailers, wholesalers, and other small-scale businesses are excluded from selling the foodstuffs to consumers.
Promotional Strategies
The easier use of unique tactics in analyzing demand and supply to plan and develop effective marketing procedures to increase sales of a particular product has been described as promotional strategies. Collecting views and opinions concerning customers’ feelings towards buying spaghetti and pizza produced by the business enabled them to determine areas of improvement to increase sales and profit margins. The provision of gifts to customers to test and get feedback concerning the product was the core strategy (Bar-Zeev et al., 2019). The use of social media to market pizza and spaghetti creates awareness to customers. Using Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms will also increase sales of goods and services. Moreover, developing ads that will be shown on local television and radios will promote customer consciousness towards purchasing fast foods from the business. Partnering with charity organizations in different events, such as football games, creating awareness about drug abuse, and other activities will contribute to increased awareness about the product. Furthermore, there is a need to understand marketing techniques used by competitors selling fast foods to ensure the selection of an effective marketing strategy to popularize the food selling business. Therefore, selling pizza and spaghetti will meet customer’s needs based on the variety of fast foods sold in Cuba.
References
Bar-Zeev, Y., Levine, H., Rubinstein, G., Khateb, I., & Berg, C. J. (2019). IQOS point-of-sale marketing strategies in Israel: A pilot study.Israel journal of Health Policy research, 8(1), 11. Web.
Saidali, J., Rahich, H., Tabaa, Y., & Medouri, A. (2019). The combination between big data and marketing strategies to gain valuable business insights for better production success.Procedia Manufacturing, 32, 1017−1023. Web.
de Matos, N., Correia, M. B., Saura, J. R., Reyes-Menendez, A., & Baptista, N. (2020). Marketing in the public sector—benefits and barriers: A bibliometric study from 1931 to 2020.Social Sciences, 9(10), 168. Web.