An important aspect of the marketing management plan relates to communication. Key internal stakeholders must be kept informed of the objectives of the marketing plan, progress, as well as any relevant updates as the implementation of the plan proceeds (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014). Effective engagement of internal stakeholders is crucial if the desired outcomes are to be achieved. When internal stakeholders are well informed of the marketing objectives, they are likely to be more committed to the initiative, hence increasing the success of the initiative. At HtW, internal stakeholders mainly include the board, the management, and members of staff. The board acts as the overall decision making organ of the organization. It formulates polices and the strategic direction of the organization and supervises the management. Communicating the marketing objectives and progress to the board would, therefore, be vital. The board requires such information for purposes of decision making on aspects such as policy development and resource mobilization. Communication can be made to the board through board meetings. As the board meets from time to time, these meetings present an ideal opportunity to engage the board. Special meetings can also be convened if necessary.
The management is responsible for implementing the decisions of the board. It is involved in executing the organization's strategic plan. The management is, therefore, an important stakeholder, which must be kept informed of the marketing objectives, progress, and updates. Unlike the board, the management meets more regularly. These meetings present perfect opportunities to engage the management. The management relies on members of staff to achieve the objectives of the organization. Employees are directly involved in implementing the activities and initiatives of the organization. Among other everyday activities, they go to the field, conduct research, visit prisons, and perform evaluations. Effective communication to this group is essential. Indeed, without effective engagement, employees may not have the understanding, commitment, drive, and morale required to achieve the objectives of the marketing plan (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel, 2009). Members of staff can be engaged via staff meetings, employee discussion forums, internal memos, and team building events. Using as many channels of communication to engage members of staff would be important for...
In other words, an evaluation must be carried out to determine the extent to which the marketing objectives were achieved or rather the success of the marketing plan (Mullins & Walker, 2013). This means that the stated marketing objectives form the basis of evaluation. The plan in this case seeks to achieve five objectives: 1) understand and raise awareness of the plight of prisoners in low income countries (especially in terms of healthcare); 2) understand the major healthcare issues faced by prisoners in low income countries; 3) examine factors that hinder low income countries from providing quality healthcare to their prisoners; 4) recruit more donors; and 5) market the organization. Activity will be monitored on the basis of these objectives.
With technological advancement, marketing objectives can now be achieved via social media. Popular social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram provide ideal channels for reaching out to the target market, engaging the audience on fascinating topics, monitoring feedback, and so forth (Zimmerman & Ng, 2013). Using social media makes monitoring of activity easier. An overarching objective of the plan is to raise awareness about shortcomings in healthcare provision in prisons in low income countries. By tracking likes, comments, and reposts on social media, information about the level of awareness achieved following the social media campaign can be obtained. For instance, the number of fans that like and/or follow the Facebook page can be a good indication of the number of people aware of the problem at hand. It could also be a pointer to the popularity of the organization. This would be helpful as the plan also aims to market the organization.
An even more important objective of the plan is to recruit more donors. HtW is heavily reliant on donors and sponsors for its everyday activities. Without donors, the organization would virtually cease to exist. The more donors the organization has, the more the resources it has in its disposal. As social media will be used as one of the tools of executing the plan, it can as well be used determine the number of donors obtained through social media. This would not be…
