Defining a Communication Plan for Graves Enterprise - Case Study Example

Defining a Communication Plan for Graves Enterprise Graves Enterprises is the manufacturers of Commercial and Consumer grade floor-care products, and has been pursuing an aggressive growth strategy that has been paying out in the form of overall increased sales for both the Consumer and Commercial products divisions. However, keeping in line with the previous organizational strategy of aggressive growth, the organization wants to set up a promotional campaign for gaining consumer exposure on a mass level and for this reason, there is a need for the creation of an Integrated Marketing Communications Plan. According to Kotler and Keller (2009), an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) plan “evaluates the strategic roles of a variety of communications disciplines”, which constitute all aspects of communication with the consumer including general advertising, sales promotions and public relations. The reason the IMC is crucial is that not only does it define all these parameters, it combines them and provides maximum impact through integration, and through the use of appropriate communication which ensures the “seamless integration of messages”. Major Areas of Concern in the Proposed Plan: The marketing director of the Consumer Products division of Graves Enterprise, Joshua Edwards has worked with his team to come up with some plans that can be used for achieving potential success, however, it is also necessary to note that the Financial Analyst, Abbey Buzwelda has reported that this campaign will result in a breakeven for the Consumer Product Division by the year, which is information that does not bode well for some of the proposed plans. Since he eventual aim of the organization is to achieve profitability, there is a little concern regarding the costs which shall be incurred due to some of the advertisement plans. However, Buzwelda has also reported that there is a way through which the Commercial and Consumer department can cut the communications plan costs, and this has been proposed by allowing a single agency to handle the promotional campaigns for both the units. According to Kotler and Keller (2009), for a successful IMC plan, companies should adopt a “360-degree view” of its consumer base so that it may be possible to understand the ways in which different ways of communication affect the buying behavior of different consumers. Since the most money has been proposed to be spent on buying the seal of Approval from the “Good Housekeeping magazine”, it is therefore also essential that the marketing department put in the necessary research into finding out the impact this seal of approval might have on the larger part of its customer base. It is also important to ensure that the customer retention rates that have been outlined are not overly optimistic and that there is an adequate pay-off from each promotional activity in the sense that the organization must reap the maximum benefit from that investment on which the maximum amount of the communications budget is being spent. In my opinion, the marketing department has to take into account the fact that although there will be increased sales due to the promotions, there is a chance that the campaign is not as well recieved and should readjust these figures on the basis of the actual and realistic number of new customers that the company will manage to retain in the long run. According to Kotler and Keller (2009), “Price promotions may not build permanent total-category volume. One study of more than 1,000 promotions concluded that only 16% paid off”. Therefore, the marketing department of the Consumer Products will have to provide more in-depth information to back their profitability and customer retention claims. The plans as proposed by the Consumer Products Division currently costs a total of $31,200,000 for the entire campaign and the division also somewhat too optimistically promises additional profits of $8.4 Million for the year as a direct result of the campaign. These profits have been promised as a result of 500,000 new customers that will be secured through the various promotional and advertisement campaigns that will be run through the various mediums chosen (Edwards, 2009). Choosing the Right Mix of Promotional activities Planning the time, sequence and mix of promotional activities will be the most important decision that the marketers at Graves Enterprise will have to make. For a marketing plan to be successful, it is essential that the firm first makes a decision as to the goal that it wants to achieve through the campaign. According to the European Commission’s guide on the subject of communication plans, the major aims can range from increasing product sales, to the promotion of specific new products (EC Communication Plan, 2010). In the case of Graves Enterprise, it is clear that the basic aim for the promotional activities shall be increasing product sales. Therefore, in light of this requirement, I am of the opinion that the plan to buy the seal of approval from the Good Housekeeping magazine should be dropped. It can be seen from Information provided that the cost for this activity shall be $25 million dollar, an amount which is much higher than the cost for co-operative advertising, and since out of both these activities, the latter will result in higher product sales, the co-operative advertising plan should be chosen. According to Douglas and Craig (2010), one of the key factors which make global MNC’s so successful is the fact that they target the right people with the right form of promotion. This applies to the Graves Enterprise scenario as well. It is absolutely crucial that the marketers keep in mind the eventual objective of the organization in choosing the mix of promotional strategies, and spend the maximum amount of money on the activities which target the broader customer base. Conclusion Apart from this need to re-evaluate whether the increases in sales have been predicted accurately, there is also a possibility as suggested by Buzwelda. Both the Consumer and the Commercial products division should work out the feasibility of using a single advertising agency to run their campaigns, a feat which will surely result in reduced agency fees and production expenses along with media buying costs. The IMC plan should also focus on promotional activities such as event sponsorships which will also ensure exposure to customers. Apart from his, other major suggestions include investing in advertisement on the internet, a medium which is fast becoming the advertisement medium of choice of a large number of organization. This will also entail the building of a solid website ad internet presence so that consumers can be directly taken to the website from the advertisement. In conclusion, I can say that through this exercise, I have learned that although it may seem a good idea to spend a large amount of sum on something because the initial figures show a good return on the investment, it is crucial to do an in-depth analysis of all options. For a communication plan to be a success, it is essential that every dollar is well spent, and to do this, it is essential to understand the basic reason that the organization in question is planning the promotion. In this case, since the main aim was for increasing unit sales, and increasing profits, it was more appropriate for the marketers to select activities which provided a balance between cost-saving and profitability for the organization. References Edwards, Josua. Marketing Director (2009). How to Prepare a Communication Plan. 2010. European Commission. The EU Internet Handbook. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/ipg/go_live/promotion/communication_plan/index_en.htm Craig, S., and Douglas, S, 2010 .Global Marketing Strategy: Past, Present and Future. Advances in International Management, Volume 23, pp 431- 457. Kolter, Philip, and Kevin Lane Keller. 2009. Marketing Management. Thirteenth Edition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Read More