International Marketing Strategy for Berry Cream Product - Business Plan Example

International Marketing Plan

Introduction

The main aim of this business plan is to focus on the introduction of the Berry Cream product to the Brazilian Market. The marketing plan is addressed to the CEO of the Aries Cosmetics Limited company. The company belongs to the European Union.

Business Objectives

The Aries Company has several objectives for marketing its product in the Brazilian market. One of the company’s interests in the country is to ultimately be profitable in the market. To achieve this, the company needs to ensure that its total expenditure does not exceed the total revenue gained. The company should also ensure that through its activities, it maintains a good production level that is able to satisfy the Brazilian market demands. For instance, it can consider investing in adequate provision of resources to its staff and employees. Furthermore, the resources can also be in the form of employee training and performance appraisal (Beamish and Ashford, 2006).

The company can also invest in good customer service. Research has established that maintenance of a good customer service is a business objective that can enable a business to retain its clients. Furthermore, the company should also be focused on retaining its employees. Turnovers have often been associated with increased expenditure by companies in addition to the initial startup costs that they incur (Nargundkar, 2008).

The other objective of the company should be to maintain its core values within the nation. In the long term, upholding the company’s core values will enable it to establish an advantageous corporate culture. The company should also be focused on the improvement of its overall growth. After successfully establishing itself in the market, the company will be in a better position to grow with time. The other key objective for the establishment of the company is to be able to gain supporting finances. The finances will be of importance to the company by enabling it to supplement its initial capital investments (Chase, 2009).

More importantly, the company should invest in proper marketing strategies. A good marketing strategy will ensure that not only a proper advertisement is created, but a customer feedback on the company’s operations is attained. For this reason, the company should ensure that it performs an extensive research on various market factors such as the market trends. Hence, it will be able to forecast the future market needs that ought to be addressed. Furthermore, the company should assess the need for establishing a productive relationship with other companies. For instance, it could invest in partnering with other related businesses. The company could also invest in subcontracting some of its noncore activities to other companies.

The final objective of the Aries Cosmetics company is to perform a critical analysis of the competition that exists within the Brazilian market environment. The analysis should be comprehensive enough to allow the company to evaluate its position in the market. The information from the study will also increase the company’s revenue (Paul and Kapoor, 2008).

Country Screening

The choice country for the product is Brazil. The reason is, as compared to many other nations, the Brazilian market has been identified to have one of the highest demand for cosmetic products. Despite the fact that the Chinese market has a very large population, its market has however been too saturated. For this reason, there exists a very high competition within the market. Thus, this may be unhealthy for the business development. The other possible countries that may have been considered as alternatives for the introduction of the product are Nigeria, China and Vietnam. However, the countries’ respective markets have been characterized with slow growth rates. Furthermore, the market sizes are also not large enough to warrant an introduction of the product (Dayal-Gulati and Finn, 2007).

The Brazilian market has also been seen by many investors over the recent years to own cheap assets. For instance, the stock market price has gone down to 75% since 2011. Furthermore, the country’s currency has dropped for the past 11 years as compared to the US dollar. Despite the fact that the country’s economy is stable, there however are some limiting factors that have pose a challenge to it. For instance, the Brazilian government has been criticized for having too much control over the country’s economy. Furthermore, similarly to most developing economies, the Brazilian market has been noted to be affected by cases of corruption. The country’s stock market has also been majorly controlled by only two commodities, which are from the Petrobras, and the Vale Companies. One of the advantages of the Brazilian economy however is the fact that it is characterized by a great diversity. The diversification is a result of the policies formed by the government after the war crisis (Rajagopal., 2007).

Market Segments

Using the STP model, the product marketing plan for the Aries Cosmetics company can be evaluated. The model is considered to be one of the best strategies that can be used to analyze a company after the SWOT analysis. The company will focus on the establishing appropriate communications so as to be able to successfully deliver its product’s information to the public. The main strategy that the company will focus on based on the use of this model is to concentrate on its audience instead of majoring on the products (Richter, 2012).

Market Segmentation

Segmentation can be performed based on the demographics. For instance, the product will target young women between the ages of 19 to 37 years. The reason is, the age group is usually composed of females who put great emphasis on their attractiveness. The individuals in the group are also mature enough to make their own mature decisions. Despite the fact that the product will first be introduced to females, the concept will later be extended to include products meant for male individuals as well. The perceived benefit of the product that has been used to narrow down the target market is the fact that the product’s use will bring an element of beauty to the individual (Doole and Lowe, 2008).

Market Targeting

In targeting the market for a particular product, several factors need to be put into consideration. For instance, criteria sizing is an element of market targeting that involves the definition of the size of the market. For this reason, targeting of a particular market requires that the market be wide enough to allow the product to be economically introduced. The target audience exists in a wide geographical setting of the Brazilian market. The product’s sales in Brazil can therefore be considered to be large enough so as to effectively offset the costs used in other additional marketing strategies that will be implemented in the future. One other important consideration in the implementation of the marketing strategy is the accessibility of the target market. The market plan shall be done in such a way that ensures that the target audience receives the marketing message being addressed. In targeting the market, the perceived benefits for the products also have to be done. For instance, the main benefit that the customers expect from the usage of the product is attainment of beauty (Dupré, 2005).

Product Positioning

The positioning of the product involves the perceived need of a product by the consumer. For instance, it can involve the use of perception maps. Furthermore, the product can be located on the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. For the Berry Cream product for instance, it can be located on the self-actualization level. The reason is, despite the fact that the product is not a basic commodity it can however induce an individual’s self-acceptance and a perceived satisfaction of personal needs.

(Hill, 2016)

Marketing Objectives

To increase the awareness of the product in the Brazilian market, the organization will need to establish some marketing objectives. For instance, the main marketing objective is to make a high number of sales within the Brazilian market environment. Since good marketing strategy consumes resources, the strategy should be designed such that its final returns are greater than those used in the marketing process. Furthermore, the target audience needs to first be identified, and a specific price for each product also quoted (Richter, 2012).

The other main objective in the introduction of the product in the Brazilian market is to enable the company to establish itself within the country’s industry. Since the market is a new one, the Aries Cosmetics company might face some difficulties when launching itself in the foreign market. A good marketing strategy will therefore enable the company to overcome these difficulties, and eventually be accepted in the Brazilian market. Research has for instance indicated that the formulation of a comprehensive marketing strategy has the capability of enabling a foreign company to become one of the top brands in the nation. Furthermore, marketing strategy can also be done for the purpose of managing a particular brand. For instance, international marketing is always viewed as a continuous process that demands constant updates. For this reason, the marketing strategy can be aimed at maintaining the product’s relevance within the target audience. For instance, the organization can use the strategy of utilizing images and variations in colors and tones to represent their brands as opposed to the actual marketing of the particular products. However, since the strategy is best suited at promoting the long term relevance on the product, other short term strategies can also be used by the company (Fu and Zou, 2011).

(Ariescosmetics.com, 2016)

Entry Mode Selection

The entry mode that the company will utilize will be exporting. The method involves the production of goods in the parent country before being offered for sell in foreign countries. In the case of the Berry Cream for instance, the product will be manufactured in Europe before being distributed to the Brazilian market. The best type of exporting that will be adopted by the company will be the use of indirect exporting technique. The strategy will involve the use of intermediaries, who will be based in the foreign countries. The main advantages of adopting the strategy is the fact that it involves low startup costs. The method also has a significantly lower risk level as compared to directly exporting the product. Furthermore, the strategy also entails a significantly lower need for resources in terms of the workforce, time and finances. The strategy will however require only a limited amount of information since the local intermediaries are usually well informed about the target markets. Also, a less time period will be required to get the product to the market. One case that involves the practical application of the strategy in the market is utilizing some companies that manage the exports (ETCs). Such companies can be used by the Aries Cosmetics Limited in marketing its products in Brazil. The main distinctive feature of such companies is the fact that they usually take up the risks, and are mainly concerned with only one product type (Hotter, 2010).

Detailed International Marketing Mix

Product

The marketing mix usually entails the Price of the commodity, its place of distribution, promotion strategy used, and the product itself. The Berry Cream products range in many different forms. For instance, there exists a Facial Cream, Face Wash, Hair Conditioner, Shampoo, and Body Lotion. All the products are expected to gain an acceptance into the Brazilian market. The products have been made from biodegradable materials so as to prevent the natural environment degradation. The products have been manufactured using natural milk proteins. For this reason, they offer a long-lasting moisturizing effect on the individual using them. Furthermore, the hair products not only protect the person’s hair, but also soften it. The other merit of the products is that they can be used to restructure and improve the appearance of an individual. Because of the benefits that the product present to the user, they will therefore be readily accepted by the consumers.

The body creams are also made of other quality products to ensure that they have a competitive advantage over the others in the market. For instance, the milk product, lacto-serum, has been used in the manufacture of the product. Besides protecting the skin from drying out, the product also improves an individual’s appearance (Int'L Business Publications, 2015).

Place

The positioning of the Berry Cream product will be done in high end retail centers. Such centers will ultimately allow the subsequent distribution of the products to the localities surrounding them. Furthermore, the products will also be available online for purchase by the customers.

Price

The pricing of the products will range from $10 to $30 depending on the product’s use and its quantity. Since the product is of quality and high competitive edge over those from other companies, it will therefore cost a little higher than those from other companies. However, since the product is being introduced into a new market, its approximation of the best offer price should be done by conducting a research aimed at determining the prices of the competing products (Lintner, 2009).

Promotion

The mode of promotion that will be used in marketing the product will be celebrity endorsement. For instance, research has indicated that celebrity endorsement is one of the best promotional strategies that can be used to increase the awareness of a product to the public. The strategy will involve associating a Brazilian celebrity to the product. A female celebrity will be used since she will better represent the target audience, which will mainly be composed of women. Furthermore, the use of social media in marketing will also positively influence the marketing strategy. Marketing through the use of social media can be enhanced by, using the celebrity endorsement marketing technique. The product will then be advertised on various social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

The other promotional strategy that can be employed is the use of calendars. Studies have shown that calendars have often proved to be successful promotional tools over the course of history since they usually offer permanent records over time. The use of calendars as a marketing strategy cannot however be used as the main mode of marketing since their demographic coverage is not often wide enough. Furthermore, the company can provide the calendars in readily downloadable pdf formats so as to be able to be readily be accessed by everyone using the internet within the region (Majaro, 2013).

International Marketing Budget

The overall revenue that is expected to be realized by the company during its first year of operation is expected to be positive. However, the profits will not be as much as expected since a significant amount of money will be used in the product’s promotion within the first year.

International Marketing Budget For The First Year

Anticipated Sales $(1000)

6,000

Personel $(1000)

300

Telemarketing $(1000)

480

Internet Marketing $(1000)

120

Direct mail $(1000)

1,250

PROFIT

3,250

The budget has to receive approval by the CEO before being implemented. Furthremore, the budget should also contain the estimated expenditure expected for the future operations of the company in accordance to the marketing plan. Furthermore, it should be used to represent the various developments that are out of reach from the control of the management team. Despite the fact that the impacts cannot be forecasted or predicted they should however be factored into the plan as they happen. Futhermore, it is important that the approximation of the forecasted costs is done as accurately as possible even if losses are recorded. Finally, the modelling for the costs should be done in a way that expresses the most likely scenario (Mühlbacher, Leihs and Dahringer, 2006).

Conclusion

An International Marketting plan is an important tool that ought to be used by most companies seeking to introduce their products to foreign markets. The Aries Company limited can therefore adopt the strategy in marketing of its product, the Berry Cream, to the Brazilian market. Some of the key considerations that are made in the market plan include the business objectives, the country screening, the market segment, the marketing objectives, the entry mode considerations, the detailed marketing mix, and the international marketing budget.