The Marketing Plan of Zeldas Espresso - Case Study Example

Research Project Evaluation – Zelda’s Espresso Introduction This research project evaluation pertains to the marketing plan of Zelda’s Espresso. Zelda’s Espresso is projected to be a leading pre-made focaccia cafe located in Clayfield and catering to the growing market need for fast tasty food. The analysis will focus on four key areas. First is the market research of the organisation. The second aspect that will be evaluated is the proposed marketing strategy of the organisation. The third issue that will be analysed is the gaps that can be identified in relation to the marketing strategy of Zelda’s Espresso. Based on the gaps identified, the fourth area of the evaluation will propose and discuss ways to overcome the gaps. Finally, other ideas that can be useful to Zelda’s Espresso’s marketing plan will be suggested, including a discussion on how the organization can use the ideas to achieve its desired objectives. The market research The market research that was carried out in regard to Zelda’s Espresso is quite detailed since it contains a situational analysis that covers a wide array of areas such as market summary, SWOT analysis, analysis of the competition, service offering, keys to success, and critical issues relating to the organisation. The strength of the situational analysis aspect of Zelda’s Espresso’s marketing plan is based on the view that the marketing plan brings into perspective an understanding of the organisation in question as a well as the market in which the organisation is operating. More importantly, the situational analysis is relevant because it has addressed the characteristics of consumers in the market that is targeted by Zelda’s Espresso. This point is supported by in literature by authors such as Valenzuela (2014, p. 6), who argues that the initial step of a marketing process involves getting to understand the market and consumers that are being targeted. According to the same author, having an understanding of the market and consumers is achieved by performing a current situation analysis. Further, it is argued that a situation analysis entails having an understanding of market dynamics of the environment in which a company operates (Valenzuela 2014, p. 6). This encompasses a detailed examination of the characteristics of consumers, current and future patterns and trends, as well as the economic forces that have an impact on the market’s behaviour. A good situation analysis can also be regarded as one that addresses the internal environment of the organisation, the customer or consumer environment, and the general environment that exists outside of the organisation (Ferrell & Hartline 2014, p. 53). Looking Zelda’s Espresso’s marketing research information, the market summary indicates that the company “possesses good information about the market and knows a great deal about the common attributes” of its most important and loyal customers. This is based on the fact that the company has been in operation for almost three years, which has enabled it to better understand its market and in particular its key customers. For instance, the company knows the geographic and behavioural segments of the population in Clayfield, meaning that it understands the specific market segments that it should target. As well, Zelda’s Espresso has information about market growth and how the market for its products will be over the next few years. The organisation also understands its service offering and issues that are critical to its success. Additionally, having carried out a SWOT analysis, Zelda’s Espresso understands its strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities that exist and the threats to be dealt with. The information about the SWOT analysis provides an overall picture about the brand (Carr & Newell 2014, p. 35), in this case Zelda’s Espresso and its main product. Through this information, the company is able to determine how to capitalise on its strengths, address its weaknesses, take advantage of the opportunities that exist, and deal with threats (Carr & Newell 2014, p. 35). Combined, the aforementioned points show that Zelda’s Espresso has a good understanding of its internal environment and customer environment. Zelda’s Espresso has also done well to understand its competition and the general external environment. This is shown by the fact the competitors of the company have been identified both at the local level and national levels. By understanding the competitors, the management of Zelda’s Espresso is able to understand the competitive strengths of the company vis-à-vis those of competitors, and to generate insights into the competitors’ previous, current, and future strategies (Botten 2009, p. 51). Another reason why understanding the competition is relevant is that by doing so, the company is able to determine the strategies that it should adopt in the future in order to be more competitive – such as diversification of its products or reducing costs (Sekhar 2010, pp. 68-69; Botten 2009, p. 51). The proposed marketing strategy The proposed marketing strategy of Zelda’s Espresso is also well planned as shown by the various areas that it will entail such as mission, marketing objectives, financial objectives, and the marketing and positioning approaches that will be employed. Given that Zelda’s Espresso has outlined its mission as well as marketing and financial objectives, this serves as some form of evidence that the company has set targets that it intends to achieve. According to Ferrell and Hartline (2014, p. 30), having goals and objectives is a critical aspect of marketing planning since it shows what the organisation wants to achieve. Notably, it has been pointed out that a marketing plan acts as a roadmap for executing the marketing strategy. Such a strategy informs employees of the organisation about their functions and roles in accomplishing what has been set out. It also outlines specific points about how resources are to be allocated or generated and how this will be achieved (Ferrell & Hartline 2014, p. 30). In the case of Zelda’s Espresso, the mission of the organisation is to provide office workers in Clayfield with tasty focaccia meals that satisfy their needs of quick service and convenience. This is to be achieved through the company’s commitment to attracting and maintaining customers. The marketing objectives and the financial objectives of the organisation are also specified. What seems to be lacking in regard to the marketing objectives and the financial objectives of Zelda’s Espresso is the specific way in which the objectives will be attained. For example, although it is indicated that the company has a limited advertising budget, it is projected that sales and customer numbers will be increased within one year. As well, although the company intends to achieve a double digit growth rate each year in the future, it is not clearly indicated how this will be achieved. More importantly, it is not clear how the company intends to reduce is overhead costs and variable costs. The proposed marketing strategy also has a targeting approach that focuses on individuals, groups and take outs. The significance of target marketing is that doing so enables the marketer to reach the consumers of a product or service in question more easily while not having to invest so much in marketing to achieve the desired results (Kaleikini 2009). For instance, by understanding its target market, Zelda’s Espresso is able to design its product offering in accordance with the needs and preferences of the targeted consumers. This is related to the company’s positioning, which aims at depicting the company as a “reasonably priced, upscale pre-made focaccia cafe”. The significance of positioning is that it enables potential consumers to “position” certain aspects of the marketer in their mind, which enables the consumers to distinguish between different sellers that have competing products (Sudhakar 2013, p. 12). The various approaches outlined above are to be supported by the use of strategy pyramids. The application of strategy pyramids is such that the company will base its market approach on a pyramid comprising programmes such as advertising at the base, tactics like messaging in the middle, and strategy at the top (Berry & Wilson 2004, p. 107). The use of a strategy pyramid is seen in the fact that Zelda’s Espresso will use a variety of communication channels to send messages that showcase the pre-made focaccia to the targeted consumer segments at different levels. Zelda’s Espresso also intends to use a marketing mix that focuses on pricing whereby the product cost is 40 percent of the product’s retail price; distribution that is based on takeaways; advertising and promotion; and customer service. The relevance of such a mix, especially the customer focus aspect, is that it will help the company to establish connections with the focused target segments (Kumar 2008, p. 8). Another strong point of Zelda’s Espresso’s marketing strategy is that the company intends to develop new products on a regular basis in accordance with menu changes that will be taking place every three months. Additionally, the company has planned to be offering free meals to regular customers, staff and their family members as a way of tasting the new products and getting feedback. The significance of this is that the development of new products will lead to internal growth of the company (Khanka 1999, p. 675). This is because any business cannot grow beyond a certain point by focusing on just one product or the existing market only (Khanka 1999, p. 675). By diversifying, Zelda’s Espresso will have many products and thus be able to cater to a larger target market. More importantly, since the new product offering is based on offering free samples to existing customers, the company is likely to spend fewer resources in researching about and marketing of the new products. The same can be said of the focus groups that were used by the company in the process of conducting market research. Gaps in the Zelda marketing strategy Gaps in Zelda’s Espresso’s marketing strategy can be identified when one looks at the company’s marketing mission. The company’s mission statement has been outlined as “Zelda’s Espresso’s mission is to provide office workers with the fastest service and tastiest focaccia meal in the Clayfield precinct” (section 3.1). The company also notes that it exists to attract and retain customers, and that its services will exceed customers’ expectations. Looking at Zelda’s Espresso’s mission, there is a gap in that there seems to be too much focus on the company’s current product and current customers – office workers. Yet, according to Lamb, Hair, Jr. and McDaniel (2012, p. 37), a good mission statement is premised on a meticulous assessment of the benefits that are pursued by current and potential customers as well as an evaluation of current and probable environmental conditions. In addition, the mission statement needs to focus on the market or markets that the organisation is trying to cater to as opposed to the service or good that is being offered (Lamb, Hair, Jr. & McDaniel 2012, p. 37). In contrast, it can be noted that Zelda’s Espresso’s mission statement focuses on the ‘focaccia meal’ and ‘office workers’. This implies that Zelda’s Espresso’s main focus is on one product and one group of customers. Such an approach can make the company or its main product obsolete and the mission statement unimportant should other companies come up with related products that focus on a wide range of customers, office workers included. As noted by Lamb, Hair, Jr. and McDaniel (2015, p. 22), a mission statement with a narrow focus can be made irrelevant as other technologies or products come up. In addition, it is indicated that business mission statements that are put forward too narrowly suffer from marketing myopia or short time thinking. This occurs for instance because such mission statements focus on the services and goods produced by a company instead of emphasising the benefits that are sought by customers (Lamb, Hair, Jr. & McDaniel 2012, p. 37; Lamb, Hair, Jr. & McDaniel 2015, p. 22). Zelda’s Espresso’s mission statement also seems to be narrow given that it is focused on serving office workers, yet there are many other groups of people that can be served by the product – including those who do not work in offices. As well, the narrow focus on Clayfield as the area of operation limits Zelda’s Espresso’s market scope. Ways to overcome/rectify the gaps The gaps in the mission statement of Zelda’s Espresso can be rectified by widening the scope of what the company intends to do. According to Lamb, Hair, Jr. and McDaniel (2015, p. 22), the foundation of a mission statement should be to answer the question “What business are we in?”. By answering such a question, the mission statement highlights the industry in which a business is operating and what the business wants to achieve in that industry. For instance, an example is given of a mission statement in which Frito-Lay, Inc., a snack manufacturer, has its mission given as being in the snack food industry rather than identifying the different types of snacks that it produces (Lamb, Hair, Jr. & McDaniel 2012, p. 37). What this means is that Frito-Lay is expected to offer what companies in the snack industry offer, and not specific snacks. Similarly, Zelda’s Espresso’s mission statement needs to be widened so that the company is seen to be in the fast-food industry and not just offering pre-made focaccia. For example, the company’s mission statement could be modified to read: “Zelda’s Espresso’s mission is to be in the fast-food industry and to provide customers with the fastest service and tastiest fast-foods”. This statement avoids mentioning a specific product or target group but gives potential customers an idea about the kind of service that they can expect, whether they live in Clayfield or are just visiting the area. The wider mission statement is also significant given that Zelda’s Espresso intends to develop new products in addition to pre-made focaccia in future. Additional ideas In regard to the mission statement, Zelda’s Espresso needs to also mention something about its employees. For instance, in the second or third sentence of the mission statement, the company needs to mention how employees’ goals are aligned to its mission of providing fast service and tasty foods. The relevance of this is that it will help employees to recognise themselves and their ambitions and therefore enable them to focus on attaining the firm’s larger goals (Davidson & Keegan 2011, p. 73). Zelda’s Espresso also needs to be more specific on how its marketing and financial objectives will be achieved. For example, it should clarify how the limited advertising budget will be used to increase sales and customer numbers. As well, the company needs to clarify how it will achieve a double digit growth in the future and reduce variable and overhead costs. Conclusion Overall, Zelda’s Espresso’s market research information is quite comprehensive since it has a situational analysis that touches on many areas including market summary, SWOT analysis, analysis of competitors, the company’s service offering, what it needs to do in order to be successful, and critical issues pertaining to the company. The marketing strategy of the company has also addressed crucial areas including the internal environment of the company, the consumer environment, and the general external environment. Gaps have been identified in regard to the mission statement of the organisation, which is narrow in focus. To deal with these gaps, it has been suggested there is need to expand the scope of what Zelda’s Espresso can do by mentioning the wider industry in which the company operates as well as its customer and employee expectations in the mission statement. Also, there is need to make the marketing and financial objectives of the company more specific and realistic. References Berry, T & Wilson, D 2004, On target: the book on marketing plans, Palo Alto Software Inc, Eugene, OR. Botten, N 2009, Enterprise strategy, CIMA Publishing, Oxford. Carr, MG & Newell, LH 2014, Guide to fashion entrepreneurship: the plan, the product, the process, Bloomsbury, New York. Davidson, H & Keegan, WJ 2011, Offensive marketing: a guide to gaining competitive advantage, Routledge, New York. Ferrell, OC & Hartline, MD 2014, Marketing strategy, text and cases, 6th edn, South-Western, Mason, OH. Kaleikini, M 2009, ‘Why is it important to define a target market for your business?’, Entrepreneur, 30 November, viewed 05 August 2016, . Khanka, SS 1999, Entrepreneurial development, S. Chand & Company Ltd. New Delhi. Kumar, SR 2008, Conceptual issues in consumer behaviour the Indian context, Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi. 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