Strategic Management
You are the owner of a non-alcoholic beverage company that makes bubble tea. Write a 35-page marketing plan and sales strategy in which you do the following
1. Define your companys target market.
a. Analyze the types of consumers who will be drinking your beverage (bubble tea) in demographic terms (i.e., age, education level, income, gender, ethnic group, etc.).
b. Support your analysis with actual data on the size of the demographic groups in your local community (Atlanta, GA).
**Hints**: At American FactFinder (http://factfinder.census.gov), you will find demographic information on potential consumers in your area. If you are selling through other businesses (such as grocery stores), indicate the number of those businesses in your local area. You will find information about such businesses in your local area at County Business Patterns (http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/).
2.Assess your companys market competition.
a. Who are your major competitors? How do you compete? How do you compare to
competition? Who are your potential future competitors? What are the barriers to entry
for new competitors?
b. Defend your plan to differentiate yourself from the competition.
**Hints: Every business faces competition, and the non-alcoholic beverage market is an especially crowded market.
Hints: For example, in the soft drink market, it is intimidating to try to compete against Coke and Pepsi. Newcomers in mature markets typically must pursue niche markets or even create new market categories, as Red Bull did with energy drinks.
3.Clarify your companys message.
a. Describe the message you want to convey to customers about your product or service using the five F’s (function, finances, freedom, feelings future).
b. Create a marketing slogan/tagline for your product.
4. Identify the marketing vehicles you plan to use to build your companys brand. Justify the key reasons why they will be effective.
**Hints**: Remember that even if youre selling through grocery stores, you need to build your brand and social media is a major part of that in regard to beverages. Some of the marketing tactics that beverage companies use include sampling in grocery stores, building a following on social media, sponsoring events, and exhibiting at trade shows attended by retailers. You will use a combination of these tactics. For example, if you decide to give out samples in grocery stores, promote your sampling on your social media networks and those of the grocery store.
**Hints**: If you are planning to distribute through resellers, describe how you plan to reach them, for example, through industry trade shows or by establishing your own sales force. For information on trade shows, visit the Trade Show News Network (http://www.tsnn.com). You can exhibit or network at these shows.
