Marketing Strategies

Name

Institution

Instructor

Date due

Marketing Strategies

My coffee shop will be a unique one because of its nature to provide a friendly, effective place where all people can meet. The coffee shop will cater for individuals who want to get their daily cup of great-tasting coffee in a relaxing environment. Since it is a startup, effective marketing strategies will be important to its success and future profitability.  The basic market will include passing shoppers, students, office workers, and shopping center personnel that enjoy finely roasted and brewed coffee types such as cappuccino and Americano (take-away, or dine-in), therefore the marketing strategies should be tailor-made to attract these groups of people. The marketing strategy will also be dynamic, meaning that it accommodates change (Benjamin & McDowall, 2010), as well as one that focuses on the business as a brand, which will be our most valuable asset.

The most effective promotional strategies always begin with service and/or product development. My coffee shops will certainly benefit from coming up with a wide range of customer-friendly products and services. Providing a wide range of quality coffee is in itself a promotional strategy, as asserted by David, (1990). Since I will be targeting a particular group of people, I will bank on word-of-mouth to create awareness on the products I offer in the coffee shop. This is because it is an important tool that can effectively turn specific groups of people, especially peers, into loyal customers. I will have to talk to friends and family, who will in turn talk to their friends and their friends’ friends, until the word is spread to a good number. Since the business premises will have Wi-Fi installed for the customers, I believe that this is will help me have an edge over my competitors. People like a place where they will have their coffee as they browse and relax. As one of the core competencies, the business will stress more on Customer service that is obsessive. Customer attention is one of the strengths that we will employ to ensure that we maintain a steady supply of the customers, therefore as a philosophy we will do anything possible to impress our customers. The use of social media sites e.g. Facebook and twitter to respond to customer questions and reservations is also very important in making sure that as a business, we build a lasting relationship with the customers. This is what I believe will distinguish us, by the fact that our model of doing business will mostly concentrate on building value for  our clients, which is far beyond merely serving coffee.

Our main strategy will be mainly based on the communication of our values to the targeted groups of people.  The way to do this is to strategically place advertisements (Stefanino, 2007) that are timely, and those which are directed to a particular group of people. This will be done through a variety of advertisement methods. First, we will use brochures/flyers, where we will have volunteers give out the brochures on the streets, as well as having them at the coffee shop, for the customers who are leaving. This will help by making sure that the business is communicated to a wide range of people, thereby increasing our chances. Since it’s still a startup business, we will make use of online brochure-printing services, where printing 500 pieces of 5*8” folded brochures can be as low as $90, and are shipped in 3 days. We also plan to place advertisements in the local entertainment magazines. This is mainly to target the younger people, who seem to be the ones consisting of the majority of the coffee market, and the fact that their readership demographics is similar to our target population. A local magazine can charge $500 for half a page of an advertisement, and this is what we would go for. Another way of marketing our product would be to create relationships that are strategic with those companies that may have similar client demographics as us. An example would be the athletics Athletic Club, where they attract the same groups of people as we target. We could do this by subsidizing our products to them, and requesting for a space to place our stand in their events. This is one of the free methods of advertising. We could also participate in some of the charity events that happen in the community, such as garbage collection, with branded t-shirts on, as we answer question regarding our products in a bid to popularize the brand.

Marketing budget for the next three months

References

Benjamin, W., & McDowall, J. (2010). Successful startups: An essential guide to business

venture analysis and development. Santa Barbara, Calif.: TBG Publishing.

David A. McGaughy (1990). Quality as a Marketing Strategy.; American Marketing Association

Stefanino, O. (2007). Six Ways to Reach Your Target Audience.