Market Planning and Control as a Very Important Aspects in Business - Coursework Example

Market Planning and Control: Introduction Marketing is a very important aspect of business venture since the main aim of any business is to make profits. The process of planning and implementing the concept of price, promotion and supply of products and services is very complex and requires a plan; market planning. Marketers use a variety of means to describe how, when and where information on a product is presented to the customer. The aim is to convince the customer to purchase the product and successful market plan creates the wish to buy hence the marketer needs to understand the likes, dislikes and expectations of consumers. In addition, marketers need to know any other information that would persuade customers such as health claims, celebrity and expert information. In marketing food products like sandwiches and soft drinks, the marketing strategy has a direct connection with the buying and eating habits. An example is about what the scientists say about eating high fibre foods and reducing cancer risk or eating foods with saturated fats and heart problems. The Plan Developing the format of a marketing plan is the first step in making a marketing strategy. The plan should include; the objective and business mission; situation Analysis; the aims of the marketing strategy; strategic and tactical procedures; the budget and means of analysing performance; and contingencies (Aitken 2004). The first step is to describe the challenge i.e. product to be marketed; in this case, the products are sandwiches, cold and hot drinks. Situation analyses include several aspects, competitor analysis, SWOT analysis, company analysis and customer analysis. The food industry in London is usually very efficient focussing on the customer requirements in terms of culture, taste and other aspects like scientific information about foods and eating habits. Customers a very critical element of any business venture and during market planning it is very important to carry out a market research about customer information including purchasing habits, eating habits, type of customers, number of customer, concentration of customers centre for certain products etc. Competition can be overcome by optimizing on the opportunities, maximizing the strengths and eliminating the weaknesses. All these are obtained through market analysis of market share and position. As London develops even more, diversity and consciousness on food is also increasing, the city has many restaurants with many educated and middle class people adopting healthy eating (Aitken 2004). On the other hand, the poor are getting worse. Market Analysis Market analysis is very complex undertaking especially in the current society where people are more educated, health conscious and open minded. It is therefore very important to study all aspects that lead to purchase of food ranging from nutrition information buyer behaviour, price and event psychological aspects. The best place to find information is from the company's SWOT analysis where market segmentation can be determined by the way the buyer use the products, their requirements, pricing, and how to access them(Aitken 2004). In business it usually very hard to come up with a distinct marketing strategy however the best strategy should involve the use of a "Marketing mix" that addresses the 4 P's i.e. Price, Place, Product and Promotion. Making decision about the product should bear in mind the advantages and method of control. Quality is most important feature of any product and should not be compromised upon; other aspects would include branding, and packaging. Pricing is also a factor and when making the price tags, it may have to include discounts or offers to attract more customers. Fast foods in London market have a variety of delivery form hence distribution is not so difficult however sandwich and soft drinks business can opt for delivery services and takeaway services. (Aitken 2004) Nutritional information, culture and other scientific data play a very critical role purchasing and eating habits and should be considered. Promotion is the means by which customers get awareness, in terms of advertising, and selling. Recommendation for Food Marketing Considering the changes in the consumer habits due to education and health awareness, foods industry has been affected especially fast foods like snacks (sandwiches in this case) and soft drinks. Consumers are conscious on what they eat and as such depend on the product promotion (advertising) and food labelling for nutritional and other health information (Aitken 2004). Marketing in food industry should address the following strategies; the promotion should not include false, vague, misguiding or overstated declarations; the advert should not include partial or distorted explanation of claims put forward by science or other professionals; and the promotion strategy should not carry out what is termed as unfair product comparisons Marketers should think about the long term consequences or the possible damage from their claims. These recommendations are very essential in developed nations like UK and can be used to market the products even at international market. The customers play a useful role in assessing health declaration and make product comparisons hence the marketers should consider the customers likes, dislikes and expectations. Though marketers know the need for truth in product promotion, sometimes the desire to make greater sales overrides a precise disclosure of product characteristics. Effectiveness is measured by the sales made. Food is a basic need and affects health directly hence inaccurate or vague health claims, and nutritional data can cause financial adversity, illness and even death! It is very important that the marketing strategy used for food advertising should be subject to the highest standard of truth in product promotion. Boston Matrix: Introduction Car industries have seen the importance of having strategic marketing plans thus the knowledge of what is going around in this industry. That is, what are the needs of their customers and what are their competitors doing to win very many clients. With such knowledge, this industry has seen the need of carrying out the SWOT (strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis that helps the different car firms to know how they are going to differentiate their products and services from their competitors. This enables them to find out ways in which they are going to build customer trust as they carry out research, analyses it and then come up with new and better strategies of keeping their customers. Such research focuses mostly on what the customer needs and not the company. The Matrix Boston matrix also called the BCG matrix provides a practical method of assessing opportunities that open up for companies and assist to evaluate which segments of the business perform well and those that are not. This way, you get a very important means to decide on the most proper investment strategy for the business venture in future and the best resource allocation. In car industry like Ford Cars, the planning of product portfolio requires the understanding of how market share and market growth. Market share described the fraction of the market that is supplied by that particular company measured in terms of unit volume and revenue. The Boston Matrix takes the assumption that if a company has a large market share then the company is definitely making money. This assumption bases on the fact that the company should have been in the market long enough to have known how to be cost-effective and will enjoy economies of scale as an advantage. The question the model asks is "should investor put resources venture into the product line for the sake of making money" the answer "not necessary". This is where addressing growth of market is important. The market growth is meant to determine the market attractiveness, a growing market is the one in which market share increases and gives the venture to make profits, on the contrary, competition and low market growth is not attractive. The model: Boston Matrix This model classifies opportunities into four categories on axes of market growth and market share; the Matrix Itself: High Question Marks Stars Dogs Cash Cows Market share Low High The above categories are explained as follows; Dogs: this is the Low market share and low market growth where the company's presence is low and would not take a lot of work to get distinguished plus the company would not enjoy economies of scale like other large organizations. Cash Cows: this describes the High Market Share and Low Market growth, at this position, the company is already established and it's very easy for the company to get noticed and optimize on the new opportunities but it's significant to use particular amount of labours since the market isn't expanding and the opportunities are restricted ALOA (2009). Stars: this describes high market share and high market growth- at this point, the company is well established with excellent growth. At this point also, there are greater opportunities and hard work needs to be effected in order to realize them. Question Marks (Problem Child): this describes Low Market Share / High Market Growth- this is a situation where opportunities are presented but no one understands what to do with them. The opportunities do not generate a great deal of revenue since the market share is small but the market expansion is high hence creating the possibility of making profits. Question marks could end up being Stars and eventually cash Cows ALOA (2009). Using the Tool: Boston Matrix The first step is to plot opportunities considering the market presence and market expansion, secondly one need to categorize the opportunities into four categories, if the products fall on boundaries, analyse the real and practical situation like past performance. The market share for Ford cars has increased in the 15 out of 19 European states. Dogs have low market share but still sell for this reason, Ford Cars should still maintain the small cars and Minis in their product portfolio. Being a leading car manufacturer in Britain, Ford cars enjoy benefits of the economies of scale and can optimize on any new opportunities that may present, The Auto Channel (2009). The third step is to determine what to do with each of the categories of products. This is very difficult and most important aspect where the company has to; establish the market share (making more investments in new products like special cars for disabled, automatic cars etc) this maintains star status or a question go to star status; sustain already established status quo by maintaining top brands and car designs ALOA (2009); Harvest- this means to cut down unnecessary investments and benefit from the positive cash flow while maximizing profits from cash cow and star category products; and divest- this is where the company removes dogs and invests in stars or question marks. However in the case of Ford cars it better to maintain the dogs (minis) they still sell. Conclusion In any investment, diversity should dominate the marketing strategy since the customer needs are as diverse as the people themselves. Encouraging diversified product portfolio is very beneficial to the business since the market trends could change or the opportunities may shift. Marketing mix is hence very essential to company's success. References Aitken L (2004) Marketing. Fast Food Delivery. Independent, the London retrieved on 21st January 2009 at 2.33pm from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_/ai_n12820702 ALOA (2009) Understanding and Using Boston Matrix. A Level of Achievement in business studies. Retrieved on 21st January at 2.00pm from http://www.ngfl-cymru.org.uk/vtc/bus_studs/WJEC Business/Core Notes/bostonm.pdf The Auto Channel (2009) Ford Of Europe Strengthens Market Share In 2008 And Takes Number Two Position http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2009/01/14/363486.html Read More