Shrewbury Business and Matketing Plan

Question: Discuss about the Shrewbury Business and Matketing Plan. Answer: Introduction: Background analysis of a business plan can also be the analysis of the current situation of the business and the market. Dillerup Stoi (2006) defines market analysis as the study that identifies the attractiveness and the changing nature of the specific market within an area. It involves the performance of SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis to identify the current situation of the market. It is the most important part of the business plan as it sets foundation through which all other components will follow in the entire plan. It helps to clearly identify what is happening in the market at the particular time. One should only include only that information that is considered important and relevant to the product or service to be offered. Churchill (2014) identifies three important that should be considered when performing the background analysis. First is the study of the current situation. The information necessary should be that which can hinder the success of the marketing activity like information about the competitors, whether the market is growing or declining or declining and in case there is room for innovation. Over the past years, Shrewsbury has been the center of many conflicts especially between Welsh and English. This has made its neighbors like Bayston Hill to prosper at the expense of Shrewsbury due to political instability. In 2009, town council of Shrewsbury was formed to stabilize as a way of stabilizing the town. Churchill (2014) adds that while performing the background analysis, it is important that the target group is identified; the demographics, psychographics, the market size and scope as well as their buying behavior and identified needs. This helps in deciding where the company will be built, the quantity to produce, and the compelling product to be provided. Shrewsbury has a population of about 100,000 which is a good number to start a business. A large metropolitan village, Battlefield covered by the parish of Shrewsbury has a large population of different groups of people. As a result, starting a business in Shrewsbury is a great opportunity for investors as the market is guaranteed and the climate is also favorable. Last but not least, an overview of the competitors has to be carried out and ensure a thorough understanding of them is known. The important aspects to be considered here include the position that the competitions hold in the market, their performance in the last years, their strengths and weaknesses which may influence your opportunities and bring threats to your business, their size, marketing communication activities and the distribution channel they have adopted. (Churchill, 2014). With more students coming to Shrewsbury, competition has been on the rise especially raising competitors like the Buttermarket situated in Shropshire which offer entertainment. Shrewsbury owns one of the largest horticultural sales in England and has a population of about 72,000 people (Destination Guide for Shrewsbury, 2007). This has however been increasing with the increasing number of students and birth rate. Competition is expected in all business but this cannot stop any investor. With the favorable climate of 76 to 100 centimeters average rainfall, horticultural farming is likely to grow even better. Customers are also expected to grow in number which means potential profit for any new investor. The competition is also not very stiff as most investors have not realized the opportunities yet. Marketing objectives Business Dictionary (2016) defines marketing objectives as the strategies or goals that a business set aside during its goods and services promotion to acting like a guideline of what should be met within a set period. The objectives should be SMART. This means they should be specific or accurate, measurable, achievable, realistic in nature and timely. The goals should not be underestimated or overestimated (Bogue, 2013). This study comes up with some of the marketing objectives that can be applied in Shrewsbury to help in building a healthy business. The first objective a business can consider is improving the products awareness (Kaho, 2016). It is important that the interest of an existing product is recovered for there are some customers who may have become ignorant of buying a product since little is said about the product. As a way of increasing awareness, the business will do advertisements in local and national televisions. This information will also be provided in the websites so it can be known globally. There will also be billboards and posters across the town and free samples will be given to interested customers including after sale services are to be offered like home delivery. Another important objective that a marketer should consider is acquiring new customers. When the customers are acquired quickly, they are most likely to influence other customers to purchase the product offered (Johnson, 2016). At the moment, mostly the original residents of Shrewsbury are aware of the horticultural market. This business will visit the University Centre Shrewsbury; convince the new students as well as continuing students. It has been realized that many students are joining the institution bringing the opportunity of acquiring new customers. They will then be provided with fliers containing the business details including the website where all the additional information can be generated. Besides, marketers can have the objective to improve stakeholders relations. The main reason why a business succeeds is that of its stakeholders. The marketers should, therefore, come up with strategies that will ensure that the stakeholders remain committed no matter how the situation may be. In Shrewsbury case, the marketers should ensure the farmers continue planting the flowers. They can even promote them by providing fertilizers for the flowers to improve yield and reducing the tax rate. Lastly is managing the brand. As Kaho (2016) suggests, marketers should maintain in the public mind their brand. The public should not reach a point where they are unable to differentiate between the products with those of the competitors. The major competitors identified are the Battlefield which offers entertainment. With the students being the major customers, this business will ensure they are convinced beyond reasonable doubt that flowers as opposed to entertainment are the best ways to make up for broken relationships, for example. The business will provide these products in strategic places like the university Centre gate. Marketing objectives are important aspect of a marketing plan and should, therefore, be considered with keenness. Without proper goals, the business may not succeed and therefore in case one is not able to come up with SMART objectives then an expert should be consulted for non-specific, immeasurable, non-achievable, unrealistic and untimely objectives will automatically make the business fall (Mckinney, 2016). The above objectives have already been tested and proved SMART. Defining the customer A customer according to the Business Dictionary (2016) is a person who acquires goods and services from the seller or supplier and has the freedom to decide between the available goods and sellers. Some business agencies focus on a mass market while others segment their market to come up with a specific target group. These are group of consumers that a business has set aside to focus its marketing strategies and all their (Kurtz, 2010). For the case of Shrewsbury, it is appropriate that the mass market approach will be the most appropriate. This is a strategy where a firm reaches the entire market as opposed to a specific target market (Business Dictionary, 2016). Most residents in Shrewsbury have reached the dating age while others are married and therefore they require horticultural products in one way or another. For this reason, it is unnecessary to segment the customers into a smaller niche. A persuasive marketing strategy is what should be adopted to ensure that all the potential and existing customers are convinced the products offered are the best (Lane et al. 2013). The business already has an idea of a persuasive advertising which will be aimed at convincing customers, mostly students, that broken relationship can be mended by a red rose flower. The business will also provide flower pots for free as an after sale service just as a way of persuading them to purchase your product. Mass market is also the most appropriate for most people in Shrewsbury own a television. This will, therefore, enable you to reach as many people as possible with the shotgun method (McDaniel et al. 2008). As a way of doing this, the business will have its own website where all its activities will be provided. The website will have a worldwide reach which will help increase the number of customers. Lastly, since the competition for horticultural products is high, with the mass market, a guerrilla marketing can be done where the customers are involved in branding the product (Bigat, 2012). A brand name will be generated and no product is to be sold without the brand name. While dealing with the customers, marketers should know to differentiate the internal customers from the external. Internal customers are directly involved with the business and may be internal to the organization such as the stakeholders, employees, and creditors (Blythe, 2008). External customers are not directly involved, for example, the government. The Shrewsbury town council will form the part of the external customers since the business will be paying tax to it. In conclusion, since the audience is large, there is a high probability of getting more customers than when the market is segmented into smaller niches. In the event that one or few customers withdraw from the market, there will still be others remaining to purchase the products. This plan is therefore appropriate as it will serve both the local customers and the international customers like tourists. References Bigat E.C (2012). Guerrilla Advertisement and Marketing. Social and Behavioral Sciences Blythe, Jim (2008). Essentials of Marketing. Pearson Education. Bogue R. (2013). Use S.M.A.R.T goals to launch management by objectives plan. TechRepublic Business dictionary (2016) (online) retrieved from www.businessdictionary.com/definition.html Churchill Z. (2014). Understanding the situation you are in with a background analysis. (online) available www.maxandbuddyconsulting.com.au/how-to-write-a-background-analysis Destination guide for Shrewsbury (2007) Dillerup R. and Stoi, R. (2006). Unternehmensfhrung. Mnchen: Vahlen Johnson S. 2016. Objectives in Marketing a New Product. (online). Available www.smallbusiness,chron.com/objectives-marketing-new-product retrieved on September 24, 2016 Kaho M. (2016). Examples of Marketing Objectives. (online). Available www.smallbusiness,chron.com/examples-marketing-objectives retrieved on September 24, 2016 Kurtz D. (2010). Contemporary Marketing Mason. South-Western Cengage Learning Lane R., Miller A.N., Brown C and Vilar N. (2013). An Examination of the Narative Persuasion with Epilogue through the lens of the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Communication Quarterly McDaniel C, Hair J and Lamb Charles (2008). Essentials of Marketing. P 224 Mckinney P. (2016). What Are Marketing Objectives? - Examples Overview. (Online) Available www.study.com/lesson/what-are-marketing-objectives retrieved on September 24, 2016