Browse through the curated selection of our completed assessments to get a sense of the quality and depth of our work. Whether you need guidance, inspiration, or just want to evaluate our work, this page is your go-to resource.
Pet Palace has a product about to be introduced into the market. The product will be named Allergy Be-Gone. This product has the potential to improve the health of individuals who have allergies to pets. Allergy Be-Gone can also make it possible for individuals who never thought they could own pets due to allergies, have new options. Even though the product formulation is a first of its kind in the industry, and has already proven to be a popular product in the testing stages, a strategic marketing plan will be the key to the overall success of Allergy Be-Gone. This paper will define Pet Palace’s marketing plan for Allergy Be-Gone.
Marketing is necessary in every business for it to be successful, without exception. Whether it is minimal for a generational business in a small community or a large nationwide campaign for a well-known chain, marketing will seep into every business in some form or another. The beginning of any plan is defining the vision and goals. There should be a 12-month goal in place. When a new item is introduced into the market, it is imperative there is a good baseline from which the company launches this idea into the public. SMART is a practice that the owner of Pet Palace, Raymond Morose, has practiced with his small staff throughout the 44 years Pet Palace has been in business (Manta, 2010). SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based. Using SMART as a foundation will enable the business to describe the product, explain the importance of marketing to the business, identify the analysis, and decide on which of the many strategies are the best to use.
Because Pet Palace is a private company that has sold pet supplies for many years, it will be entering a new level by bringing this product to fruition under its own umbrella (Manta, 2010). Developing a solid marketing strategy for the new product, Allergy Be-Gone, is an endeavor Pet Palace is excited to take on. Pet Palace has been in the planning stages of this new product for almost 36 months.
Intelligence gathered has discovered that many people have allergies toward pets. Pet Palace has developed the product, Allergy Be-Gone, to reduce allergies and allow pets and people to live happily together. Allergy Be-Gone will be introduced on the market as an allergy neutralizer that will enable people to be around pets without the irritation of allergies.
Allergy Be-Gone is a liquid pump spray that can be used as a grooming aid to lower allergies. Allergy Be-Gone reduces dandruff, shedding, and coat oils that cause allergies. In addition, Allergy Be-Gone will have a fresh clean scent to encourage use on pets, pet beds, and other places pets frequent. The product is safe to use on pets several times per week, and because it is free of chemicals or alcohol, it will not dry or irritate the skin or coat of pets.
Pet Palace will sell Allergy Be-Gone in its stores in the grooming supplies section. Placing the product in a convenient location, the fresh scent, and widely needed results of irritant and allergy control, will certainly make the product a hit. Ultimately, through the release of the new product, Pet Palace hopes to open the doors of mans’ best friend to people who could never before own pets because of allergies.
Pet Palace knows it has a product that can potentially change lifestyles and health for thousands of people who love pets. They have done the research, used experts, tested, and have found success with their product. Looking at the business end of the spectrum, the bottom line is that the new product, Allergy Be-Gone, will cost the company a great deal of money to produce. Pet Palace needs to do everything they can to ensure that their product helps to meet the organization’s objectives and goals. Marketing will be a tool used to help ensure that this new product contributes to their intended goals and is successful.
Marketing will help Pet Palace be successful by anticipating the needs of the customers of Pet Palace, and finding ways to meet those needs. Knowing and understanding the customer base of the organization, is a huge part of marketing that will contribute to the success of the product. Effective marketing can also contribute to the success of Allergy Be-Gone by contributing to customer relationships through customer value, building confidence in customers, and coordinating efforts to ensure that those elements stay intact. Because Pet Palace is already an organization with a good reputation, marketing for a new product will also be successful if it can tap into that good reputation through good marketing ethics. It will be very important that the already established reputation of the organization, and the marketing ethics of Allergy Be-Gone are aligned to ensure that the customer base stays intact for profit of the organization and the new product.
Evaluating both internal and external environments is an integral part to creating a marketing plan. The SWOTT analysis provides information market researchers need by elaborating on the internal environment, strengths, and weaknesses as well as the external environment; opportunities, threats, and trends (Kotler & Keller, 2009).
By evaluating the internal environment, Pet Palace gains a better understanding of the strengths and weakness within the company. The strengths of Pet Palace include the store’s service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer retention. Despite their strengths, Pet Palace must correct some of their weaknesses to take advantage of the opportunities presented in Allergy Be-Gone. Because Pet Palace specializes in retail sales, manufacturing the product proves difficult as Pet Palace does not have a manufacturing facility; therefore, the capital needed to produce Allergy Be-Gone is increased.
The opportunity exists for Pet Palace to profit from Allergy Be-Gone. The list of pet care products reducing allergies includes shampoos, hand wipes, brushes, and air purifiers (Allergy Relief Pet Care Products, 2010). All the products listed require extensive time or money to achieve allergy relief. Allergy Be-Gone requires little time and money.
Large pet care companies like Hartz may prove to be the biggest threat to Allergy Be-Gone. Unlike Pet Palace, Hartz has the benefit of economies of scale and a preexisting manufacturing plant. Hartz would be capable of competing with Allergy Be-Gone by producing a similar product. Additionally, the economic status of the country discourages consumers from spending money.
Trends in the pet care industry mirror the trends of other industries, and the current trend is to make pet products environmentally friendly (American Pet Products Association, 2010). Using natural ingredients in Allergy Be-Gone allows Pet Palace to follow the current trend and establish consumer confidence.
The success of the new product is crucial to obtaining the objectives of Pet Palace. The ripple effect is that marketing will be an instrumental tool in this success. Market research will determine the marketing strategy that is utilized for Allergy Be-Gone. The market research approach that will be used to develop the marketing strategy for the new product will be the utilization of marketing information systems (MIS). The use of a MIS will help the marketing managers develop a plan for implementation of the product, and to control the product’s acceptance from the customers. A MIS is an ongoing study that can be done through many channels including surveys of customers, questionnaires, and other various forms of receiving feedback. The information found through a MIS is helpful to marketing managers as they strategize how to best market Allergy Be-Gone. A large advantage to using a MIS is that an organization can receive continual information that can be useful when determining the best market mix approaches for the product. As information changes from the studies and enhancements to the product are introduced, the marketing mix needs to adjust.
The American consumer market consists of more than 300 million people who consume more than $12 trillion worth of goods and services each year, making it one of the most attractive consumer markets in the world. The world consumer market consists of more than 6.6 billion people who annually consume an estimated $65 trillion worth of goods and services. (Armstrong & Kotler, 2009).
Knowing which demographic market to target is one of the primary undertakings any marketer will take prior to putting a new product in place. The normal process can be quite lengthy and include many direct mailings, surveys, and phone calls to determine who would like this product in various parts of the nation. In marketing, the culture, social class, and even lifestyle are involved to make a decision. These factors are not going to be needed in our target market. We will not be targeting the usual groups such as certain nationalities, religions, racial groups, or even looking at geographic regions. Ours will target pet owners, plain and simple. Pet owners come in every single demographic and therefore, the market is huge.
It has been said that consumers do not know what exactly influences their purchases. This statement does not fit though with our product. Identifying our target market is as simple as creating advertising within and about our stores being exclusive to Allergy Be-Gone and satisfying a need for our allergic consumers. This creates the awareness to the pet loving public. There will be available discounts and coupons in mailed flyers, as well as the ability to buy in bulk for veterinary clinics. The word will spread by word-of-mouth and eventually, the exclusive product will be well-known for its helpful effects. This creates the interest, evaluation, and possibly trial of Allergy-be-Gone, where the consumer will want to try it out. Adoption is where we hope our targeted allergic consumers will end up making regular use of the product.
Realizing that pets create an allergy to those who love them and having Pet Palace as the exclusive distributor is the marketing concept. Although Pet Palace is currently a single store, the hope is this product will become such a hit that it will eventually be able to open more locations and expand its allergy products. Knowing that Pet Palace needs to market to current and future pet owners simultaneously on an ongoing basis will be a challenge, yet as long as meticulous detail is paid to what the consumer’s feedback is saying, the product should fly off the shelves.
Pet Palace’s new product, Allergy Be-Gone, will be manufactured, and sold exclusively by Pet Palace. Because Allergy Be-Gone is exclusive to Pet Palace, targeting organizational buyers is unnecessary; therefore, the main focus for the marketing strategy is consumer based. Discovering the factors influencing consumer’s purchasing decisions will help create a marketing strategy that establishes value for Allergy Be-Gone.
According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (2010), an estimated 50 million people living in the United States suffer from some type of allergy. From the initial 50 million allergy sufferers, 40 million people suffer from indoor or outdoor allergies, and 10 million people are allergic to cat dander. The people suffering from indoor allergies (e.g. dog and cat dander) are the consumers who will benefit from Allergy Be-Gone.
To understand consumer’s behavior Pet Palace must understand the factors that influence the consumer’s purchasing decision. The factors influencing decisions made by Pet Palace’s consumers include: economic needs, psychological variables, social influences, and the purchasing situation (Perrault, Cannon & McCarthy, 2009). Researching these factors will help direct Pet Palace’s marketing strategy.
Economic need is a major factor that influences consumer decisions. Separating the consumer from their money requires offering a product they consider valuable. To make a product valuable to the consumer Pet Palace must meet the consumer’s economic needs. For Allergy Be-Gone to meet the consumer’s economic needs the product must be convenient, legitimate, and priced affordably. Ignoring the economic needs of the consumer could result in the consumer viewing the product as expensive and unnecessary – a luxury.
Psychological influences factor into a consumer’s decision to buy a product. Pet Palace’s consumers, like all consumers, experience a hierarchy of needs (Perrault, Cannon & McCarthy, 2009). Discovering what motivates allergy sufferers to make the decisions they do will help Pet Palace market Allergy Be-Gone correctly. As mentioned previously, Allergy Be-Gone should be marketed as a necessity over a luxury. Although owning a pet does not fall within the hierarchy of needs, connecting with the consumer on a social level based on interacting with others: extending that interaction to include life’s simple pleasures – the joy of owning a pet, thereby justifying the need to be a pet owner.
The third factor, social influences, determines how consumers make decisions based on relevant others. The people of the United States are infatuated with animals. According to Weise (2007), 59.5% of American households are pet owners compared to only 35% of households that have children. With a society of pet lovers, the marketing strategy should be straight forward.
The last factor to consider is the reason a purchase is made. Consumers make purchases for various reasons (Perrault, Cannon & McCarthy, 2009). Time constraints, a quick solution, or a convenient item can alter a person’s decision to buy a product they otherwise would not buy. The marketing strategy behind Allergy Be-Gone should promote a product that is convenient, affordable, and available.
When evaluating the current competitors and competitive landscape of Pet Palace’s new product Allergy Be-Gone, it is important to begin from a broad perspective. While customers will choose the product that satisfies their needs, they will begin by looking at all the close substitutes of a product. The broad competitors of Pet Palace include pharmaceutical companies, drug stores, grocery stores and other pet supply stores. Pet Palace will be competing with prescription and non-prescription medication that claims to work on pet allergies and with pet care products that claim to reduce pet dander and allergens. The customer most likely to choose Allergy Be-Gone will find a close alternative in the pet supply products that include shampoos and cleansers that reduce allergens and dander.
In the competitive landscape there are two factors that will prove to be important for the success of Pet Palace’s new product. The economic factor will require that Allergy Be-Gone be sold at a competitive price and offer the highest quality product at the same time. The technological factor will prove to be a deciding factor for the consumers as Allergy Be-Gone will meet the customers’ needs in a new and unique way. The most important task in surviving in the competitive landscape will be to showcase the new solution that is pet friendly and of superior quality and price in reducing pet allergies.
The product life cycle is a series of stages all new products go through as they enter the market. The strategies involved in the market mix can help determine how long Allergy Be-Gone will end up in each stage as price, product, promotion, and placement are all factors in the product life cycle.
The first stage of the product life cycle is the market introduction stage. Generally during this stage, the product is to new to produce high sales. Allergy Be-Gone will have to rely heavily on promotions and other marketing strategies to help spread the word out about their product. Because Pet Palace will ultimately be selling Allergy Be-Gone, they would want to consider giving out free samples or coupons of significant value although this product is in the market introduction stage. Although this promotional strategy could cause a loss in profit in the beginning, it will help to put the product into consumer’s hands with the hopes of driving business in the future.
If the marketing mix combination is successful in the first stage of the product life cycle, then the market growth stage should come quickly and successfully. Allergy Be-Gone is breaking the industry standard on allergy products. This product can help families who could not have pets previously because of pet allergies. In the market growth stage, the expectation is that Allergy Be-Gone sales will soar. The marketing mix will still play a large role in the sales, as the product is still very new and will hopefully be in high demand. The concern during this stage of the product life cycle is the likelihood that competitors will try to mimic a similar product and drive sales down.
As Allergy Be-Gone enters the market maturity stage, sales will taper off or even go down. Competition for the product will likely be high at this point. The product will rely on its branding that it has earned, and effective marketing strategies to stay competitive. Pet Palace may consider introducing another product that could partner with Allergy Be-Gone to be more effective. This could rejuvenate the sales and interest in Allergy Be-Gone from the consumers.
The key to success for surviving through the sales decline stage of the product life cycle for Allergy Be-Gone will be the loyal base of consumers that the product adopts in earlier stages. During this stage, there could be enough competition that Allergy Be-Gone will be one of several products that consumers can choose from. The product will have earned a good name and brand for itself, but the promotions, price, and placement can help it be successful through this last stage of the product life cycle.
Pet Palace, a pet supply retailer, developed Allergy Be-Gone as a convenient alternative to expensive medication and time-consuming pet shampoos. Because Pet Palace is unknown as a manufacturer, creating a product with differentiated value for the consumer will be challenging. Competing with veteran manufacturers of pet allergy control products will require positioning Allergy Be-Gone in the right market segment.
The allergy control market consists of medications, shampoos, and sprays. Allersearch, a leading allergy control producer, positions itself as “The best way to protect yourself against dust mites and other allergens” (Allersearch Laboratories, 2007). Additionally, Allersearch produces a product similar to Allergy Be-Gone – an allergy control spray. To differentiate Allergy Be-Gone from an established allergy control company, Pet Palace needs to position the product based on price.
As mentioned previously, Allersearch positions itself as “The best way to protect yourself against dust mites and other allergens” (Allersearch Laboratories, 2007). However, Allersearch’s strength can be used to Pet Palace’s advantage. Not everyone can afford the best allergy relief products. Pet Palace should position Allergy Be-Gone as the low-price alternative to pet dander allergy control. Creating the low-price alternative image, and differentiating Allergy Be-Gone from other products on the market is as simple as a slogan. “The everyday spray to make allergies go away.”
Product pricing must be in accordance to the cost of production. Allergy Be-Gone is a new product, and requires an understanding of financial position before setting a price. If product price is too high, potential customers may be turn away and decide not to purchase. On the other hand, the product may not be taken seriously if priced to low.
Two product pricing strategies are market skimming and penetration. Skimming, “…tries to sell the top (skim the cream) of a market—the top of the demand curve—at a high price before aiming at more price-sensitive customers” (Perreault, Jr., Cannon, & McCarthy, 2009, p. 464). Setting the price high to skim revenues, or skimming, works when product quality and image will support a higher price or when the product is high demand. Market penetration is another strategy that, “…tries to sell the whole market at one low price” (Perreault, Jr., Cannon, & McCarthy, 2009, p. 465). The penetration strategy is effective when the market for a high price product is small.
The mission of Pet Palace is to provide a quality product at a fair price. The appropriate pricing strategy that should be used for Allergy Be-Gone is the penetration strategy. Because Pet Palace does not expect an elite customer base that will purchase the product at a high price, penetration is more appropriate. Setting an initial low price to penetrate the market and later adjusting pricing based on changing situations such as location.
Pet Palace is the creator of the new product, Allergy Be-Gone. For this reason, it makes sense that this organization becomes the prime location to market the product. Pet Palace has a captive audience who they can share the message with. In addition, Pet Palace distributes out to other veterinarians who sell animal products. Allergy Be-Gone will capitalize on this and use those venues as well to sell and promote the product.
Sales promotions are a way for an organization to get their product in the public’s eye. The intent is that the correct target market is being hit. Allergy-Be Gone’s promotional objectives are to ensure that all current and potential pet owners know that this new product can enhance their quality of life. Since the target market for Allergy Be-Gone is very wide spread, the product will be promoted in pet magazines, the internet, and veterinarians. All of these locations would hit the intended target market in a wide variety of locations. As the producer of the product, Pet Palace will have displays, samples, and information on hand for interested consumers to try the product.
A large part of the promotional strategy will be deciding on the proper copy thrust for the product. These visuals and words will help to decide a very clear message that Allergy Be-Gone wants potential customers to see. Research and testing will be done to ensure that the copy thrust is encoded properly. These steps will be a determining factor in how successfully the promotional strategies are decoded by the consumers. The ultimate goal of the promotional strategies for Allergy Be-Gone is to obtain action from the consumer. Many of the promotional venues will feature coupons. These will help the marketing department to know how well their strategies are working and in which key areas. Allergy Be-Gone is an industry leader for this type of product. The goal of all advertising will be to ensure that consumers know this product can enhance their quality of life because they can own pets, and not suffer for per allergies at the same time.
Promotional strategies are going to be a key factor in the successful launch of Allergy Be-Gone. Promotions will be the tool used to communicate to the product’s target market what the product is and how it can help them. Sales promotions should also help to ensure that the right price for the product is being offered to the right target market.
The length of sales promotions will last the length of the product. Different types of promotional strategies will be used at the various stages of Allergy Be-Gone’s product life cycle. While Allergy Be-Gone is in the young stages of the product life-cycle, pioneering advertising will be used to get the consumer acquainted with the product. Pioneering advertising can even begin before the product is released for sale so demand can grow and consumers can anticipate the product. Direct marketing will be used during this time to allow the product to get a quick response from the consumer. This can be done with coupons, or a limited time promotional price. This strategy will allow the producer to know what the immediate interest is in Allergy Be-Gone.
As Allergy Be-Gone hits the market growth stage competitive advertising will be utilized to push the product through the market. Since a large advantage to this product over any others is the benefits of it, Allergy Be-Gone will use an indirect type of competitive advertising. This strategy will allow the product to advertise the many benefits of the product, and how it can help the consumer have a better quality of life with pets if the product is purchased.
As Allergy Be-Gone moves through the market maturity stage of the product life-cycle, reminder advertising will be utilized to keep the product alive to the consumer. Consumers will already know how great the product is and know they cannot live without it, but there will be competition in the market at this point. Reminder advertising will be done through a more direct type of advertising. This will allow consumers to see very clearly the benefits and prices of Allergy Be-Gone as compared to similar products on the market.
Many factors have to be considered when making an advertising plan. Defining the vision and goals clearly in the very beginning is the only way to start off with a good foundation. Pet Palace has set a rapid strategic goal of implementing this entire advertising plan within a 12-month period. As discussed in the beginning of our marketing plan a few weeks ago, we will continue to use SMART. SMART is an acronym for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based. Using SMART as a foundation will enable the business to describe the product, explain the importance of marketing to the business, identify the analysis, and decide on which of the many strategies are the best to use. Another piece that will need to be restated is that Pet Palace is an established organization with a good reputation; advertising for a new product will also be successful if it can tap into that good reputation through good advertising ethics.
Knowing the budget we have is set at $50,000 annually and limited to no more, created a challenge in the way we promote and advertise this exclusive product. As stated in our previous section, the main ways we will promote our Allergy Be-Gone product will be at our location itself, along with veterinarians, pet magazines and the Internet. This would cover our wide demographic market. To put this into place with a fifty-thousand-dollar budget will require creative thinking on how best to use those advertising dollars.
Because Pet Palace will be self-promoting this exclusive product at the one current location, the plan is to be sure there is a free sample near each of the two cash registers for people to try, along with displays with a small easy-to-read handout with information on Allergy Be-Gone throughout the store. The veterinary offices surrounding our location will also have the same set-up. We will be sure to have one sample plus a stack of informational brochures at each office. Pet Palace will advertise on the veterinary’s web sites on an exchange basis with our own. This will help to keep costs to a minimum.
Doing this prior to the actual product arriving into our location is a form of pioneer advertising. It will create the hype prior to the manufacturing plant shipping out the product to our store location. Pioneering advertising will have consumers anticipating Allergy Be-Gone. Once the product hits the shelves, coupons for $2.00 off will be in the local newspapers and small local weekly magazines. This number was difficult to come by because we want it to be a “high enough to catch their attention amount” yet, not so high that they use it once and never return. Market research in the customer focus group arena found this to be a satisfactory amount. This direct marketing technique works for letting us know a quick response from our consumer.
The growth stage in the product life cycle is where Pet Palace expects to be within 6 months of the advertising plan being implemented. The competitive advertising will be used to push the product out into the public eye. The competitors will be able to duplicate this product eventually as Pet Palace is aware and this is why the aggressive marketing and advertising plan needs to work quickly. Once this product is established with Pet Palace as the only distributor, it will blow the competition away in name alone. Pet Palace wants to be the only company associated with Allergy Be-Gone.
Ads are traffic building, reputation building or relationship building. The analysis of the purchase cycle needs to take place in this phase. Basically, the product is not something a consumer will buy daily so Pet Palace needs to pay careful attention to the amount sold in each bottle, how much each portion a consumer needs each dose, as well as how often the customer needs it. Any advertising Pet Palace takes on needs to target the relationship builder aspect. With our budget being minimal, this makes sense. Because once the customers are established, they will start trusting the company and won’t switch to other companies. It is known that it takes ten percent less resources to retain existing customers than to attract new ones.
Once the competition catches on, whether within our annual plan or not, Pet Palace needs to be sure to be ready to go with reminder advertising as to who brought this incredible product out to the consumer. It needs to be stated with emphasis how we were the original and the best for anyone with allergies and pets in their lives. As long as Pet Palace maintains integrity, quality value and service, it should be a successful journey. Value is paramount to meeting or exceeding customer’s expectations. Keeping the motto, “Under promise and over deliver” will work well with this advertising budget. We will have penetrated the market as heavily as possible with the amount our advertising dollars could provide and will depend heavily on our word-of-mouth advertising at this point.
In addition to the advertising plan, Pet Palace will employ the use of public relations strategies to generate publicity at no cost. Pet Palace will write an article detailing Allergy Be-Gone benefits and uses. The article will be posted on the internet and sent to magazine and newspaper editors in hopes that it will be printed for consumers to read. It has been stated that, “a consumer might carefully read a long magazine story but ignore an ad with the same information” (Perreault, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2009). As Allergy Be-Gone is a very new product that distinguishes itself from other allergy products, it is expected to create a buzz in both trade magazines and newspapers alike. Another public relations opportunity employs the use of audio/visual media.
Pet Palace will create videos of Allergy Be-Gone and provide them to the news media in hopes that the news stations will air them to the public. The key is that the publicity is desirable and presented to the consumers in a positive manner. Although Pet Palace has some degree of control with its own written and audio/visual materials, the media has been known to not always portray the images in the desired manner.
To be successful, a manufacturer first needs to secure a distribution channel for its product. Analyzing consumer needs, setting the objective, identifying and evaluating major alternatives are parts of the channel management decision (Armstrong & Kotler, 2009). Because Pet Palace was a retailer turned manufacturer, the text book principles of channel management decisions do not apply. Pet Palace is a traditional Brick-and-Mortar company, and the decision to manufacture Allergy Be-Gone was to expand Pet Palace’s offerings to the consumer. Typically, a new manufacturer offers their product through intermediaries, but Pet Palace can act as its own intermediary by selling Allergy Be-Gone in its stores. Additionally, Pet Palace can take advantage of the internet by allowing consumers to purchase Allergy Be-Gone on the company’s website.
The cost benefits of producing a product to sell within its own store allow Pet Palace to pass on savings to the consumer. Likewise, using the company’s website to expedite product to the consumer eliminates the middle man. Despite the benefits, Pet Palace is limited in channel decisions. Pet Palace has limited locations and must rely largely on the internet for extending its customer base. The limitations result in advertisement focused on internet sales. According to Horrigan (2008), “[t]wo-thirds (66%) of online Americans say they have purchased a product online, such as a book, toy, music, or clothing.” Advertising costs will increase to educate the consumer about Allergy Be-Gone because a large percentage of the target market does not live near a Pet Palace.
An online sell does not end with a click of the mouse. Customers who purchase Allergy Be-Gone online must wait for delivery of product. Therefore, Pet Palace must consider a reliable source of distribution. To complete the logistics process, Pet Palace outsources the distribution process to UPS because of UPS’s experience and the incurred savings of Pet Palace foregoing an unnecessary shipping department.
The overall budget for Pet Palace’s new product, Allergy Be-Gone will be divided into several categories. Of these different categories, Pet Palace must decide an appropriate budget for marketing research expenditures and production/advertising of the product.
Marketing will help Pet Palace be successful by anticipating the needs of the customers of Pet Palace, and finding ways to meet those needs. Knowing and understanding the customer base of the organization, is a huge part of marketing that will contribute to the success of the product. Since Pet Palace is a smaller locally owned and operated store, the budgeting for market research will be significantly smaller than the larger competitor chains. Some larger competitor chains may spend hundreds of thousands of dollars monthly on marketing and-research; however, Pet Palace has set an annual budget of a mere Twenty-five thousand.
Again, as with the marketing and research budget, the production and advertising budget will be significantly lower than larger competitors. Production is estimated to cost $4.99 per bottle, allowing the company an $8.00 per bottle toward other expenditures. Allergy Be-Gone has several ways to be advertised. Pet Palace has decided to initially set an annual budget of Fifty thousand dollars; however, Pet Place hopes to achieve desired advertising with a much lower budget by advertising within the store, at surrounding veterinary locations and providing test samples in store to entice customer interest.
Product price is also important. Setting an initial low price to penetrate the market and later adjusting pricing based on changing situations such as location. Pet Palace has elected to market Allergy Be-Gone at a price of $12.99 per bottle.
A marketing plan is not complete unless it is monitored, evaluated, and controlled for efficiency and effectiveness. Therefore, Pet Palace’s marketing plan to connect the target market with Allergy Be-Gone must be monitored for effectiveness. Monitoring various aspects of the marketing mix can provide valuable information as to the effectiveness of each variable of the marketing mix. The different elements that can be used to monitor, evaluate, and control the variables of the marketing mix include: sales reports, expense reports, and customer feedback forms.
Typically, sales reports are produced to monitor sales representatives’ efficiency rate. Because Pet Palace sells a variety of pet supplies, sales from Allergy Be-Gone will be tracked by using register provided scan data. The sales from Allergy Be-Gone will be stored into Pet Palace’s information technology system to better monitor individual sales. Evaluating the sales report aids management in the decision-making process. Sales of Allergy Be-Gone before a promotion can be compared with sales after a promotion. Management can implement decisions based on positive results. Likewise, if a decrease in sales is due to a change in the marketing mix, management can make adjustments accordingly.
A budget acts as a boundary. Staying within the budget is vital for a company’s survival. An expense report created for Pet Palace’s new product, Allergy Be-Gone, will allow Pet Palace to monitor the expenses associated with selling and promoting Allergy Be-Gone. If expenditures do not induce desired sales, management can control the amount spent on promotion or rethink their strategy.
The last quantifiable element in place is the customer feedback form. As one of the four P’s in the marketing mix, the product must meet the consumer’s standard and must be viewed as a product of value. Customer feedback forms will allow the management at Pet Palace to evaluate the consumer’s opinion of Allergy Be-Gone by considering price, product’s convenience, and the product’s overall effectiveness. If consumers do not find value in the product at the price it is set, management can lower the price to increase the product’s value. Monitoring, evaluating, and controlling the marketing plan through the elements listed will enhance Pet Palace’s ability to increase its market share with Allergy Be-Gone.
In preparation of the launch of Pet Palace’s new product Allergy-Be-Gone, a marketing plan was established in several phases. In the first phase, several important steps were taken. An overview of Pet Palace and the use of SMART goals were provided along with a description of the new product Allergy Be-Gone. Allergy Be-Gone will not only provide an opportunity for more pet lovers to live around animals but could bring a significant financial gain to Pet Palace. A SWOTT analysis was provided and a marketing research approach was chosen to aid in developing the marketing strategy.
In the second phase of the marketing plan for Pet Palace’s Allergy Be-Gone several topics were covered. The marketing research approach was used to develop the marketing strategy and tactics for the new product. The marketing plan identified the segmentation criteria that will impact the target market selection and identified the target market. The organizational buyers and consumers of the product and the factors that influence their purchasing decisions were described. The factors that impacted the marketing strategy were discussed. The current competitors were analyzed and a description of the competitive landscape for the product was done.
In the third phase of the marketing plan development, Pet Palace further defined the attributes of Allergy Be-Gone. The marketing team worked fervently to be sure the life cycle of Allergy Be-Gone was understood and how the product life cycle affected the marketing strategy of Allergy Be-Gone. Along with these factors, identifying the positioning and differentiation strategies was a priority. The pricing strategy was, also, described in this phase of developing the marketing plan.
In the final phase of developing and creating a comprehensive marketing plan, Pet Palace put all the pieces together and added the final bits of necessary information. Pet Palace identified the appropriate place and promotion strategy that should be used. An initial sales promotion schedule was developed. An advertising plan with the support of little to no cost public relations opportunities for Allergy Be-Gone was developed. Channel management decisions were made and the effect they would have on the appropriate distribution channels were discussed. A budget for the Allergy Be-Gone marketing plan was developed. Finally, quantifiable elements were defined that will be used to evaluate, monitor and control the effectiveness of the marketing plan.
Pet Palace’s Allergy Be-Gone provides everyone who comes into contact with pets to have a non-allergic and enjoyable time. Allergy Be-Gone will be the premier product for Pet Palace’s allergic-to-pet consumers, which will easily create the satisfaction for the customers and the bottom-line profits for Pet Palace which will make everyone satisfied. Pet Palace has taken the necessary steps to develop an effective marketing plan and to ensure that the Allergy Be-Gone product is a success!
Allergy Relief Pet Care Products. (2010). Retrieved from AchooAllergy.com: http://www.achooallergy.com/petcare.asp
Allersearch Laboratories. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.allergyhelp.com/
American Pet Products Association. (2010). Industry statistics and trends. Retrieved from http://americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp
Armstrong, G., & Kotler, P. (2009). Marketing. An Introduction. (9th ed.).: Prentice Hall, Inc. A Pearson Education Company.
Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. (2010). Allergy Facts and Figures. Retrieved January 22, 2010, from http://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=9&sub=30
Horrigan, J. (2008). Online shopping: convenient but risky. Retrieved from http://pewresearch.org/pubs/733/online-shopping
Kotler, P. & Keller, K.L. (2009). Marketing management (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Manta.com. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_h4hhmh
Perrault, W.D., Cannon, J.P., & McCarthy, E.J. Jr. (2009). Basic marketing: A global-managerial approach (17th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill.
Weise, E. (2007). We really love — and spend on — our pets. USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2007-12-10-pet-survey_N.htm
All orders at our writing service are delivered exceptionally for research purposes.
