Marketing strategies are essential\nto the prosperity of an organization. For this assignment, the\nbusiness-marketing plan is designed for Pood Corporation, a ketchup making\nstart-up. Pood organization is located in Covington, Kentucky where it designs\nand packages its ketchup sold throughout Kentucky. The company is a start-up\nthat was established in 2016 and is striving to make it in the ketchup industry.\nCurrently, the company has employed over 100 employees who oversee the\ndesigning, packaging and distribution of the products. Despite Pood organization being a startup, it\nhas made great strides in the industry hence competitors are coming up with\ncountermeasures to ensure they stay at the top in the industry. This essay is\nfocused on designing a marketing plan for the company to widen its operations\nthroughout the United States and the neighbouring countries. Moreover, the\nessay will also explore the SWOT analysis of the company. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mission statement: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The company aims to inspire healthier living, by connecting\npeople to quality taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Goals and objectives<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pood ketchup firm is a startup\norganization focused on producing quality products to the American people and\nthe world. Since commencing operations in the year 2016, the company has\ninvested heavily on realizing its dreams. The company\u2019s short-term goal is to\nbecome the leading and best seller in the ketchup industry. This goal is set to\nbe realized within the next two years of its operations. It aims to capture the\nentire United States before expanding its operations globally. The company’s\nlong-term goal is to globalize its operations. Pood organization is focused and\nis making great investments in realizing this goal in the next seven years of\nits operations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The company needs to have a way of\nmeasuring the goals attained. Therefore, the best way to ensure these goals are\nattained is through systematic analysis. For example, the company\u2019s short-term goal\nis to concur the U.S ketchup industry; therefore, the best way to measure\nwhether this has been attained is through conducting regular surveys on which\nfirm is the best seller in the country. On the other hand, the company aims to\nglobalize, therefore, measuring this goal is through surveying the company\nsales in every country the company distributes its products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Competitive Forces:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pood organization is already shaking its competition in the\nindustry despite starting three years ago. The company has become a favourite\nin Kentucky and is focused on making more conquests in the industry. Despite\nthe company being a favourite, it still faces great opposition from firms\nalready established in the ketchup industry. Some of the major competitors\ninclude; Del Monte, Hunts and Heinz ketchup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of the company\u2019s strengths and weaknesses are\nhighlighted below; <\/p>\n\n\n\n Strengths:<\/em><\/strong> The ketchup produced by Pood organization has better tastes\ncompared to those produced by its competitors in the industry. The company uses\nthe price tool to get recognition within the industry, this follows as its\nketchup are cheaper and of high quality compared to those of its competition.\nAnother important factor is that the company uses only quality tomatoes grown\nall over the US for its production. Lastly, the fructose corn syrup used for\nproduction is not as high compared to the competition. These strengths set up\nthe company as a favourite in the industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Weaknesses:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the major weaknesses of the\ncompany is that it has low brand awareness in the market. Moreover, this fact\ncan be attributed to lack of ketchup advertisements hence the brand is not so\npopular among the people like its competitors in the industry. Furthermore, the\nketchup produced by the company is not equally distributed among the stores,\nwhich makes it unknown to the people. Moreover, the people who the product\ncannot easily access it in the stores. Lastly, the fact that Pood organization\nhas not been in the industry for long becomes a weakness considering it does\nnot know much about the people\u2019s tastes and preferences and how to counter\nmarketing strategies implemented by opposing firms. The fact that Pood\norganization is new market entrant means the firms already in the industry are\nemploying strategies that make it hard for new entrants to operate in the\nindustry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Economic Forces:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the economy of the United\nStates has improved and stabilized from the great recession. The general\npresidential election has a slight effect on the nation’s economy and that of\nKentucky. Jobs have been scarce in Kentucky hence translating negatively in the\nstate’s economy. Moreover, the living standards of the low and middle-income\nearners are precarious and inequality between the people continues to widen\n(NACS, 2014). However, in 2016, the state\u2019s economy began on a high note with\nconsumer\u2019s buying power increasing enormously especially women purchasing\nhousehold products. Towards the end of 2016, the purchasing power of consumers\nin the ketchup industry increased steadily thanks to exposure done by a\nnational taste test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Political Forces: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite there being elections\nrecently, the landscape has not changed much in the state hence business\ncontinues as usual for the organization. Pood organization is fully aware of\nthe current political temperatures of the state and its influence on business\noperations. Therefore, the firm believes that nothing would threaten the way\nbusinesses operate. Additionally, the firm holds the belief that issues such as\nimmigration would only make the business boom considering that there would be\nmore workers in the state hence influencing business operations positively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Legal and Regulatory Forces:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Currently, the regulations put in place for\nbusinesses in the ketchup industry are favourable for the operations of the\nfirm. Moreover, there are no regulation proposals being made by either the\nfederal or the state government that aim to change business operations in the\nstate. However, when the firm aims to expand globally, the North American Free\nTrade Agreement (NAFTA) may have some challenges and may have negative effects\non how the company operates globally since the body was created to enhance\nglobal economic growth. On the other hand, the General Agreement on Tariffs and\nTrade (GATT) will not affect the firm since the World Trade Organization (WTO)\nreplaced it. Therefore, the business is free to expand its operations\nthroughout America; however, it will have to prepare for international\nregulations when expanding globally. Global expansion is not easy, but adequate\npreparations for all the policies and regulations make the venture more\nenjoyable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Technological Forces <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Technological innovations have\nbrought great improvement and efficiency throughout the world especially in the\nbusiness world where time is a factor. Technology has made it easy for our\nproducts to move fast to different locations. Availability of technology will\nmake it easier for packaging of ketchup into branded bottles ready for\ndistribution. Technology changes the time taken in packaging and manufacturing.\nOn the other hand, marketing has become quite easy considering there is\ninternet and online platforms making it easier to market the company ketchup\nreaching millions of people throughout the world. This is a technological era\nhence it is easy to reach a big population through online platforms. Generally,\ntechnology is a blessing to the business world hence technology cannot threaten\nthe operations of Pood organization and cannot make ketchup produced by the\nfirm obsolete. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sociocultural Forces <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The baby boomers have become old and\nare dying and the scenesters do not follow the same rules used by the baby\nboomers. Therefore, the operations of this organization may be affected in the\nevent the current managers retire or die considering they are responsible for\nthe operations of the firm. The products produced by the firm are widely used\nto add flavour to food. Therefore, it is difficult to change the taste and\npreferences of clients once they identify a product brand they like. The\ngovernment does not interfere in the operations of the firm unless there is a\nproblem in the production that affects people. Currently, social-cultural\nfactors do not have an impact on business operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Specify the primary and secondary\ntarget markets for your company<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pood organization is a startup\ncompany with global aspirations, however, the company understands the value of\nhard work and knows that it\u2019s the only way to achieve the company goals.\nCurrently, the company has set its eyes on the United States as the primary\nmarket for its products. However, the company\u2019s secondary target is to\nglobalize since it knows that is the only way of making its presence felt\nthroughout the world. The company’s strategy of enticing clients is through\ninvesting in the quality of products it produces (Perner, 2008). The firm\nunderstands that appealing to the American people is the only way to go global.\nThe company has invested in quality tomatoes for the production of high-grade\nketchup. The company aims to conquer the local market before spreading its\noperations in other countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The company has set its prices lower\nthan its competitors have as a strategy of appealing to ordinary people. The\ncompany has a mind of all the expenses the company will incur during\ndistribution. Some of the strategies the company plans to use is collaborating\nwith the fast food firms like Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), McDonald’s and\nothers, which have a chain of stores worldwide in its efforts to globalize.\nThis strategy will help the firm globalize fast and make huge sales. The\ncompany fully understands the importance of incorporating the 5Cs, the\ncustomer, collaborators, company, climate and competitors in its marketing\nplans. This follows as the company is fully aware of the importance of these\n5Cs to the success of the organization. Pood organization intends to capture\ncustomers with the pricing tool, and quality taste, moreover, once the clients\nare captured, the company aims at making constant improvements to ensure the\ncustomers do not migrate to rival ketchup producing firms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Strategies\nused to capture the market<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Branding strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/strong>Branding is one of the most effective ways of capturing\ncustomers. Therefore, the company aims to use the brand to lure more clients to\nsubscribe to its products. The company aims to brand its product in a way that\nshows it cares about the health of its customers and at the same time include\nthe picture of a cartoon. This follows as children identify with cartoon\ncharacters, hence they may propel their parents to buy the cartoon branded\nketchup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Collaboration strategy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Collaboration strategy is a fast way\nof marking a mark in the business world. The company aims to collaborate with\nfast food companies such as KFC and McDonalds, which often use ketchup for\nfries and other services. This is a sure way to make a mark in America and\nglobally considering that these companies have stores globally. This strategy\nwill help the Pood organization realize both its long and short-term goals\nwithin a short period. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Conducting annual performance\nanalysis on the company performance <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Performance analysis is essential to\nthe success of an organization. They help organizations track the level of\nsuccess, moreover, it confirms when a business is on track to achieving the set\ngoals and objectives. The parameters within performance analysis help an\norganization measure success or failure. In this scenario, performance analysis\nis essential to measure both short and long-term goals of the business\n(Gregoriou, 2004). Therefore, to get the performance analysis in this scenario,\nafter subtracting the cost of investment from the gain in the investment then\ndivided by cost of investment, then the performance analysis is obtained (gain\nfrom the investment-cost of investment)\/cost of investment). In an effort to\nmake comparisons in performances between Pood Ketchup Company and one of its\nmajor competitors in the industry, Heinz ketchup, the analysis of every metric\ncan be transferred since the benchmarking percentages are also available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The customer engagement metric is\ncharacterized by the activity time on the company website and the frequency of\ncustomers on the same website. Technology has made it possible for customers to\npurchase products online, therefore, the number of visitors on a company\nwebsite may be used to approximate the revenue a certain company makes. For\nexample, when making a comparison between Pood organization and Heinz ketchup,\nthe best way to do so would be through comparing the visits Pood organization\ngets on its website and that Heinz ketchup gets. Therefore, in the event that\nabout 2000 people visit Pood organization\u2019s website while about 4500 people\nvisit the website of Heinz ketchup on a daily basis then the calculation would\nbe 3500\/4500 giving 444. This would mean that the number of visits to the\nwebsite of Heinz ketchup would be more than those visits of Pood organization\nby 55.56%. Making the assumption that Pood organization’s retention rate was at\n30% in July, on the first day of 2017 and made a slight improvement to 50% on\nJuly 15th<\/sup>. On the other hand, that of Heinz ketchup was at 50% and\n70%, hence the retention rate would be: <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pood organization: (50%-30%)\/30%=0.6=60%<\/p>\n\n\n\n Heinz ketchup: (70%-50%)\/50%=0.4=40%<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another metric that would be used to\nmeasure performance is the market share captured by each brand in the industry.\nFor example, let us assume that Heinz Ketchup holds a 23% market share at the\ntop of the industry. The company experiences a 1% in the first quarter of the\nyear from the previous year\u2019s 22%. On the other hand, Pood organization falls\nbehind Heinz with a 15% market share; this is an increase from 11%, which was\nrecorded at the beginning of the year. Therefore, this increase of both\ncompanies has different explanations, the increased experienced by Heinz ketchup\nis due to its strong and steady customer network while that of Pood\norganization is due the new channels used in distribution recently introduced. It\ncan be concluded that during the period reviewed, Pood organization did not\nimplement new strategies for its operations. The following is the computation\nof market increases in percentages; <\/p>\n\n\n\n Pood organization:\n(50%-30%)\/30% = 0.6 = 60% <\/p>\n\n\n\n Heinz Ketchup organization: (23-22)\/22 = 0.0045 = 4.5%<\/p>\n\n\n\n From the analysis, it is quite\nevident that Pood organization has minimized the gap with the industry leader\ndespite Heinz ketchup maintaining its position as the industry leader. In the\nshort period of time, Pood organization has managed to expand its operations to\n10 new distribution channels in the U.S. meaning that the company has managed\nto open 30 distribution channels. This expansion can be used to show that the\ncompany\u2019s short-term goals are on track and that the company may achieve it\nwithin the set time limit of three years. On the other hand, Heinz ketchup has\nmaintained its position at the top of the industry with a total of 90\ndistribution channels. Therefore, given the current trend in the ketchup\nindustry, within a year\u2019s time, Pood organization could equal or surpass Heinz ketchup\u2019s\ndistribution channels, this would mean that Pood organization will have\nrealized its goal of becoming the industry leader within three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From this analysis and the analyzed metrics,\nit is quite evident that Pood organization needs to improve on its marketing\nstrategies. This follows as the number of people visiting its website is low,\nand customer engagement is close to none. However, in the growth rate metric,\npood organization shows strong performance, which may influence the performance\nof other metrics. Therefore, in an effort to realize both the short and\nlong-term goals, the company must maintain its tempo. The following chart shows\nthe quantitative goals stage for Pood organization\u2019s development:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company should consider the following quantitative\ndevelopment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Develop both a SWOT analysis and\nneeds analysis for your product\/service. Each analysis should examine three\nstrengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for your company<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Strategic analysis is an essential aspect of an organization.\nThe strategic analysis relies on SWOT analysis (Strength, Weakness,\nOpportunities and (Threats) instrument to make essential adjustments and\nimprovements to businesses (Al-Araki, 2013). The following includes the\ncompany’s SWOT analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Strengths<\/p>\n\n\n\n Weaknesses<\/p>\n\n\n\n Opportunities<\/p>\n\n\n\n Threats<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Every organization needs better\nmarketing strategies to propel it to the next level. In this setup, the Pood\norganization has ambitions of expanding both locally and globally. Therefore,\nthis requires marketing strategies that would enable it to achieve its goals.\nThe company’s strategy of collaborating with other fast food brands to help\npush its brand internationally. This move would make customers realize there is\na new brand with superior taste than what they are used to getting. The company\nmay use customer engagement metric and the market share captured by the firm to\nmeasure the firm\u2019s performance over the approximated period. Therefore, with\nthe right strategies, Pood organization is bound to make it in the ketchup\nindustry. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Marketing strategies are essential to the prosperity of an organization. For this assignment, the business-marketing plan is designed for Pood Corporation, a ketchup making start-up. Pood organization is located in Covington, Kentucky where it designs and packages its ketchup sold throughout Kentucky. The company is a start-up that was established in 2016 and is striving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-research-paper-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1141"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1142,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1141\/revisions\/1142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/papersspot.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}