Lesley Chocolate Cafe Marketing Strategy - Case Study Example

Lesley Chocolate Café Marketing Strategy (Name) (University Affiliation) (Date) 1.0 Lesley Chocolate Café Marketing Strategy Lesley Chocolate’s marketing strategy will be based on introducing the new brand to its target customers in Canberra hence communicating Lesley’s value to its potential clients. The communication will be initiated through a myriad of techniques. Some of these methods will include strategically placing advertisements, strategic relationships with other firms which could be having similar customer demographics as well as other traditional forms of advertising such as giving the customers coupons for their close friends to try Lesley Chocolate products and services. This is in line with Macdonald and Sharp’s (2000) argument who points out that promotion or rather brand awareness is the key element in increasing a firms sale’s as well as attracting new customers. 2.0 Mission Lesley’s Chocolate Café’s mission would be to provide a social environment where friends and acquaintances can meet for delicious Chocolate tastes as well as other delicacies as they interact. The firm exists to attract as well as maintain patrons. The Café’s services will exceed the patron’s expectations. 3.0 Marketing Objectives According to Fill (2005), for a company’s marketing strategy to be successful, it must be based on SMART objectives. In other words, the firm’s objectives should be specific, measurable, Achievable, realistic as well as timed. The objectives should be specific in the sense that the marketing strategy should often focus on one goal per time for efficiency to be maximised. Secondly, the objectives must be measurable in the sense that, the plan should have milestones as well as goals to measure. The achievable aspect is associated with the objectives being real. They should not be overambitious such that it would be difficult to attain them. The other important element is the realistic aspect of the objective, which is closely related to ensuring that the objectives being set are in line with the available resources or the company’s capability. Lastly, the objectives must be time bound. In other words, the objective should considerable the scheduled beginning and ending of the marketing plan Fill (2005). In effect, Lesley Chocolate’s SMART objectives are: I) To develop brand awareness initiative that will reach out to 76% of the firm’s target market by December 2016. II) To convert 80% of coffee and other beverage product lovers to chocolate delicacies within three months. III) To bring more than 50% of target customers to Lesley Chocolate Café in Canberra within the first two months of its inception. IV) To take more than 35% of the market share in Canberra by the first year of the café’s inception. 4.0 Lesley Chocolate Café Target Market As Boone and Kurtz (2013) posit, it is often important for a new business to identify its target customers or market in its marketing strategy for it to be efficient. Lesley’s potential customer can be categorised into 2 sets, that is, singles and non-singles. Notably, the non-singles category happen to be lesser than the singles category; this is due to the fact that if an individual is meeting his or her friend, the two of them can initiate a topic of conversation associated with themselves, thus, Lesley Chocolate Café offers this group a somewhat limited value. The demographics associated with the non-singles are somewhat akin to the singles as it will be indicated below. The demographics of the singles category are as follows: Single: self-evident. Professional: this feature is intuitive as the underlying aspect of Lesley Chocolate Café is thoughtful conversation, and research indicates that a significant number of professionals often appreciated thought-provoking conversations. Income over $35,000: this to a large extent is linked to the fact that they are professionals. Age 24-44: this correlates to the fact this it is the largest category of single looking for companions. 5.0 Marketing Mix 5.1 Product Strategy Lesley Chocolate Café is set to offer a range of unique chocolate products such as signature hot chocolate, deluxe white hot chocolate, orange and cinnamon hot chocolate, classic original as well as spicy dark hot chocolate. Lesley’s will also bring into place world tasted chocolates such as the Italian baileys hot chocolate and the Brazilian coconut hot chocolate. In order to be different from the competitors that have dominated the chocolate café industry in Australia, Lesley will also offer a range of tea beverages such as the Black Tea, herbal tea, flower tea, green tea as well as Matcha latte green tea. With this offering, customers who might have friends who are tea lovers would also have a good time in the café while they socialise. Apart from the beverages, the café will also offer various chocolate flavours as well as types. The Lesley Chocolate Café will also come with a smaller product line which would be introduced into the Australian market during the first two years. The product line will include Lesley bar and Lesley rolls. The Lesley bars will come in different types such as milk chocolate, peppermint for a seasonal flavour, caramel crisp, hazelnut as well as dark chocolate. The company’s product offerings would be of unique product quality as the chocolate products will get its rich flavour as well as quality from using the cocoa bean and transforming the product using a unique formula. This, in turn, will give the range of product offerings a hint of caramel flavour which melts in the customer’s mouth. Lesley Chocolate Café will also differentiate its products through its unique packaging which would appeal to its customers. For individuals purchasing takeaways, the company will ensure that the chocolate creams and bars are packaged nicely in bright coloured wrapping as well as reusable plastic cans. The packaging will be significant as it will use environmentally sustainable products. 5.2 Price Strategy Since Lesley is expected to acquire its raw materials locally, the pricing of their products would be subsidised thus offering products that are cheaper than its competitors. The other strategy would be offering premium prices for unique products that are not offered by the local cafes. These range of unique products would include, deluxe white hot chocolate, orange and cinnamon hot chocolate, classic original as well as spicy dark hot chocolate. These products will be served at prices ranging from $8 to a maximum of $12. The firm targets high-end customers when it comes to premium-oriented chocolate products. The other chocolate beverages, as well as tea, will be less that $2, which is way below the current offering by a significant number of coffee and chocolate bars/cafes, whose price are above $3. More often than not, Lesley Chocolate will offer seasonal discounts in order to attract new customers as well as reward loyal customers thus increasing the market share. 5.3 Distribution Strategy On the onset, the Lesley Chocolate Café will offer its products at its first Chocolate shop that that will be located in the heart of Canberra where people can have good socialising time with their friends after work or during lunch breaks. According to Huang and Sarigöllü (2014), the location of a beverage or food shop plays a significant role when thinking of establishing a restaurant as it is associated with hygiene. Similarly, Kotler et al. (2015) and Mariotti and Glackin (2014) are of the opinion that studies indicate customers often chose a restaurant based on its location. In effect, the Lesley Chocolate Café will be located in a serene environment with an option of an outdoor setting. With such an environment, individuals can seat to enjoy their beverages and food as they experience the cool air that is freshened by the green trees. Unlike its competitors such as Pie Face Coffee House, which is located in a noisy street, Lesley’s patrons will enjoy a quiet space where they can have thoughtful conversations while they have their meals. Lesley Chocolate Cafe will also cutter for special deliveries. Customers will have an online ordering system whereby they place orders and pay online and door-step delivery will be done. 5.4 Promotion Mix The key promotional channels for Lesley Chocolate Café would be through in-house promotions, print advertising, social media adverts free taste samples as well as discounts, electronic advertising and through events. All the promotion items such as cups, T-shirts, pens, posters, banners and caps will have the signature phrase “Mmm…Yummy Lesley Chocolate.” 5.4.1 In-house promotions During the launch and other chosen days, in-house promotions will be carried out at Lesley Chocolate café. More often than not, the promotions will incorporate initiatives such as buy one get one free as well as 12%-24% discounts on the products purchased at the chocolate café. The promotions will often take place after every two months in order to increase the awareness of Lesley Chocolate brand as well as purchases in Australia. 5.4.2 Free tasting samples Outside the Lesley Chocolate Café as well as along strategic points near the café premises, free samples of different chocolate-flavored beverages will be offered. Representatives who will be giving out free samples will be wearing t-shirts with the café’s trademark and phrase “Mmm…Yummy Lesley Chocolate now launched.” According to a pilot survey conducted by Lesley Chocolate Café, consumers are often inspired or motivated to purchase a new beverage or food product if they get an opportunity to sample a few flavours. The free samples will often be given regularly in the targeted market in order to burgeon the purchases. 5.4.3 Print media The café will make use of the local newspapers such as the Canberra Weekly Review, the “Best Restaurants in Town” magazine as well as the “Eating Healthy Monthly” magazine. The café will go a notch higher and book a space in the national daily in order to increase the brand awareness so that tourists planning to visit Canberra will be aware of Lesley Chocolate Café. The Café will also make use of referrals as the power of the word of mouth is often efficient. Lesley’s Competitors such Gino Coffee House rely mostly on the local T.V stations to communicate its promotional messages. This is an advantage to Lesley as most of its target market rarely watch television but spend most of their time on the internet. This means that Lesley will have to be active on the social media platforms such as twitter, Facebook and Instagram in order to increase its brand awareness as well as communicate with its customers. 6.0 Marketing plan implementation timeline for Lesley Chocolate Cafe Time Activity Department 1st Jan 2017 - 1st June, 2017 Product and Market Research Marketing, Finance & Quality control 2nd June 2017 – 1st Sept, 2017 Business policy development, Products development, premises acquisition, recruitment & branding Human resource, Quality control, Finance & Marketing 3rd Sept 2017 -28 Dec, 2017 Product testing, Promotion and advertisement planning Marketing, finance and Quality control 29th Dec 2017- 30th, 2017 Shop opening and promotion events Human Resource, Finance Quality control & Marketing Feb 1st 2015- Product and service quality improvement; & market performance evaluation Marketing, Finance and quality control 7.0 Evaluation Lesley Chocolate Cafe marketing plan success will be assessed based on two key metric measures: rate of positive and negative reviews received from patrons’ feedback. The feedback will be collected through feedback boxes located at the entrance of the café as well as random structured interviews with the patrons done after every two months at the café’s premises. The café targets a pre-tax monthly revenue collection of $72,000 for the first year, if the marketing plan is to be successful. 9.0 Budget estimate Presented in the table below is Lesley Chocolate Cafe projected marketing mix budget for first year though it is subject to review depending on possible re-evaluations. Item Description Projected expenses Product costs Product Research and development, packaging and branding $24,000 Pricing costs Product discounts, referral costs and seasonal offers $73,000 Location costs Start-ups Regulatory & compliances fees, Rent, premise renovations and interior designing, branding, electricity and water $150,000 Promotion Print advertisements Lifestyle Magazines and Local Newspapers. $43,000 Social media campaigns and Website marketing Fees paid to contractual digital marketing agencies, website upgrade and developer $20,000 Promotion materials Banners, Pen, Diaries, caps, mobile billboards and T-shirts $ 58,000 Posters, flyers and flyers $13,000 Events marketing Beauty contents, food and Beverage expos and Brand Awareness $76,000 Total marketing mix Costs $453,000 10.0 Conclusion and Recommendations Lesley Chocolate Cafe has the opportunity to grow as well as successful because of its location. Many people visit the Centenary Trail throughout the year, more so tourists. As such, many of the people visiting Canberra Centenary Trail are spendthrift as they come for leisure and the café would benefit from this. The café should capitalize on its unique chocolate beverages and fruits dishes such as Portabella Mushroom Burger as it differentiates it from its competitors. This marketing plan should be accepted and implemented by the Lesley Chocolate Café management as it considers the café and chocolate business is unexploited in Canberra City References Boone, L. E., & Kurtz, D. L. 2013. Contemporary marketing. Cengage learning. Fill, C. 2005. Marketing communications: engagements, strategies and practice. Pearson Education. Huang, R., & Sarigöllü, E. (2014). How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113 132). Springer New York. Kotler, P., Burton, S., Deans, K., Brown, L. and Armstrong, G., 2015. Marketing. Pearson Higher Education AU. Macdonald, E. K., & Sharp, B. M. (2000). Brand awareness effects on consumer decision making for a common, repeat purchase product:: A replication. Journal of business research, 48(1), 5-15. Mariotti, S. and Glackin, C., 2014. Entrepreneurship and small business management. Pearson Higher Ed. Read More