The Marketing Plan for Mia Sushi Bar - Case Study Example

Name Course Instructor Date Marketing plan Introduction Marketing strategies give a sense of direction for the marketing initiatives. The marketing plan for Mia Sushi bar focuses on the marketing mix including product, price, promotion and place. Mia Sushi bar need to take into consideration these 4 p’s of marketing mix before launching its services as are based on its situational analysis. Marketing objectives Before launching any plan, it is important to have clear objectives that you want to achieve (Constantinides 2006). The objectives should be specific, measurable, attainable, and reliable and time bound (Constantinides 2006). The marketing objectives of Mia Sushi bar are to create awareness about business existence and to attract more clients to the business to ensure increased profitability within a period of three months. Product strategy Thinking about the product to offer in the market is very important for Mia Sushi bar in its marketing initiatives. Mia Sushi bar intends to offer various products one of them is Sushi. This delicacy is highly demanded in Australia hence presenting an opportunity for the start up business. Consumers are definitely going to like the delicacies because of its better quality and easy availability due to the location of the business (Constantinides 2006). The business products must offer value to target market in this case the middle class- young people in the Canberra. Customers will enjoy the high quality Sushi and other products hence attain value for their money. Differentiation is an important concept in the product strategy that allows the business to adapt to suitable strategy to market their products (Levi 2007). Mia Sushi bar will be different from the rest of the retailers in Australia in the way it will package its products. The business will serve Sushi with other delicacies at competitive price. This will help to improve the perception and the volume of customers. Product positioning is also a concept that business should put into consideration when planning their marketing strategies (Baker & Hart 2007). The way products or services are positioned to the target audience will determine the way they are received. The mission is to try to create a distinct impression in the minds of customers in relation to the competition products or companies. Mia Sushi bar positioning strategy is to ensure that products such as Sushi are of exceptional quality. Through branding, Mia Sushi bar will showcase its uniqueness and its value. One of the branding strategies of the Mia Sushi bar is to give a discount to its first 100 customers after the launch of its services. Product life cycle as well has implication on the marketing plan and on achievement of the marketing objectives. Mia Sushi bar products and services will go through different stages and it is important to ensure that these stages add value to the business. At the introduction stage, the cost of the business will be high due to expensive premises, labour costs and this may lead to increased prices of its services. This may affect the company profitability. Pricing strategy Pricing is yet another important aspect in the marketing mix that guides on the way forward of a business. The objective of pricing may vary from business to business. In the case of Mia Sushi bar, the pricing strategy intends to achieve cash flow, gain market share as well position the business. Therefore, the pricing method and tactics to be employed in this business will aid achievement of this objective. The pricing at the commencement of the business will be low to position the company and increase its market share. The price strategy as the business carries on with its initiative will adopt value based pricing strategy (Nagle & Holden 2002). This strategy is appropriate since customers will not have to spent much money traveling in other locations as the business is within the city. Therefore, they will get value by saving their time and as well getting quality services within the city. Most of the customers will be willing to pay for slightly higher prices for the value they get from the business. When setting up the price, it is also important to consider competitors, their strategies, their number, market share and prices as well. The price Mia Sushi bar will charge is competitive and this will not have severe impact on the business operations. Promotional strategy Promotion involves use of integrated marketing communications to make known the products and services to the target audience (Mulhern 2009). Mia Sushi bar will employ various promotional strategies such as advertising, sales promotion, referrals among others. The major aim of using promotion is to ensure that the target audience knows the brand since it is start up and to increase awareness and market share. Other objectives of promotion will be to increase demand and differentiate the products offered to the consumers. The business will use advertising to reach many people. One form of media that will be used is social media and online marketing. The choice of this media is motivated by low cost, ease to use, wider reach and convenient. Many target customers are social media consumers and therefore, they will be easily accessed. The business will also use sales promotion especially when it opens. T he prices will be low to attract customers. Personal selling will also be adopted, as customers will use word of mouth to refer other clients to the business. This will enable target customers to become aware about the new business, its location and the kind of services and products it offers. Effectiveness of these promotional mixes will be determined through the numbers of customers that comes and the profit margin that the business accrues in a specific period. Distribution strategy The distribution strategy is very important in marketing mix. Selecting the channel through which products will reach consumers affects the profitability of an entity (Ataman, Van Heerde & Mela 2010). Mia Sushi bar will use consumer-product distribution channel since the kind of business deals in consumer products. The place or the location of a business enterprise matters a lot and has huge effect on profitability. Since Mia Sushi bar is a start up, it has not expanded in other areas. The company location is at vantage point because it is in the city. The location is strategic since it businesses within the city hence, will take advantage of the many customers in the city. The company however, can decide to expand in other areas outside the city to area that have ready markets. Implementation of the marketing plan It is important to have a clear plan on how to implement the market plan to ensure higher chances of success. The objectives of the marketing plan should be vividly understood before implementation and the steps of actions required taken. The person to implement the plan should be skilled and should understand the marketing plan. It is also important to consider the time it will take to implement the plan and the resources required to ensure successful implementation. A marketing professional will implement the plan. He or she should have in depth skills and knowledge on marketing strategies. The plan will have to take three months to implement. This time is enough to recruit staffs and to solicit all the necessary materials to facilitate implementation. A budget will also be created to ensure proper utilization of resources to ensure that they cover the whole process. In implementation, some of the staffs will be in charge of advertising. They will come up with creative brief, then make designs, and negotiate prices in various media. All these process will be done with the motive of ensuring that the plan is implemented well to achieve the marketing objectives. Schedule of implementing the marketing plan Activity Duration Recruitment of staff Two weeks Setting of objectives One week Creation/designing of advertisement campaigns 4 weeks Launching of the advertising campaigns 14 weeks Evaluation method and timeline Evaluation is also important process in this marketing plan. Through evaluation, it will be possible to understand whether indeed the process of implementation was done well or whether there are some gaps that need to be addressed to ensure that the process is successful (Constantinides 2006). One of the evaluation methods Mia Sushi bar will use is customer satisfaction and repeat purchasing. Surveys can be done to determine whether indeed target customers got access to the advertisements. If the number of the respondents that gained accessibility to the advertising messages or any promotional message about the business is higher, then it can be assume that the promotion were successful (Mulhern 2009). Evaluation can also be done based on the number of customers that visit the business and purchases various products such as Sushi. The level of customer satisfaction will also be used to assess the success of the plan or the failure of the plan. Another way of evaluating the plan is through benchmarking. The business performance level can be compared with the competitors in the same business to provide insights on the performance of Mia Sushi bar. Such evaluations methods are essential, as they will enable the company to determine indeed if they are on the right direction or not. Having timelines allows good planning and as well ensures that processes run smoothly. Timelines as well contributes to proper resource utilization. The business will take duration of three months to implement and to evaluate its marketing plan. This is enough time to allow the business to evaluate its progress. In conclusion, marketing plan is important for any business as it provides insights in decisions making. Mia Sushi bar stands a better chance to understand its market through scrutiny of its marketing mix also the 4 p‘s of marketing. Price, product, place and promotional strategies provides insights on the marketing plans of a business. Mia Sushi bar through analysis of its marketing mix will position itself in the market. The products should provide value to customers. Prices should as well be competitive, the product should be easily accessible and the business must employ a rage of promotion mix to create awareness. Implementation and evaluation of the processes and activities of Mia Sushi bar will as well ensure that the business-marking plan succeeds. Reference list Ataman, M, Van Heerde, H & Mela, C 2010, ‘The Long-Term Effect of Marketing Strategy on Brand Sales’, Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), Vol. 47 no. 5, pp. 866-882. Baker, M, & Hart, S 2007, Product Strategy and Management (illustrated ed.). FT Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0273694502. Constantinides, E 2006, ‘The Marketing Mix Revisited: Towards the 21st Century Marketing’, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 22 no. 3/4, pp. 407-438. Levi, K 2007, ‘Differentiate or Diminish: The Art and Necessity of Business Positioning’, p. 9 Mulhern, F 2009, ‘Integrated marketing communications: From media channels to digital connectivity’, Journal of Marketing Communications , vol. 15 no. 2-3: p. 85. Nagle, T, & Holden, R 2002, The Strategy and Tactics of Pricing. Prentice Hall. Pp. 84-104. Read More