Marketing Driven Strategy
In a market driven strategy the customer is the focal point, which means that everything the bar and grill does should be oriented towards benefiting the customer in some way. To know what OPG can do to benefit the customer, it has to determine its distinctive capabilities. These would be the strengths it possesses as identified in its SWOT analysis. It would also include opportunities identified in the same analysis. Then comes the step of matching customer value with the bar and grill’s capabilities and to ask whether leveraging the pub’s resources would help to create customer value. If there is a match and the pub can do it, the steps should lead to superior performance and a successful marketing driven strategy.

Positioning is key to this process and as Trout and Rivkin (2006) argue, a company must differentiate or die, which is what OPG aims to do with its marketing strategy. Using customer benefits and product characteristics as a marketing positioning strategy is the way to go for OPG. OPG’s strengths are its location and its food. Its location in the community is perfect for the demographic and it feels like a neighborhood pub and that it is truly part of the neighborhood, having grown up organically with the neighborhood: it is a place that gives the neighborhood its sense of identity and people like that about the pub. Its foods is also great and people love coming there for the beer, the food and the fact that it is in great location that is convenient and easy to get to for all the locals. Its opportunities are another aspect: there is an opportunity for it to open a beer garden and really hit it out of the park with the locals. There is also the opportunity to start up a brewery, which would be great for the pub. And then there is the great idea of expanding its kitchen services so as to provide full-scale catering for people in the neighborhood. Each of these ideas creates customer value and thus positions the company well with respect to its resources and what it can do.

Product-Market Boundaries

The pubs and breweries in the area all satisfy a generic market need, but none of them really provide that holistic customer need, which is a place that they can call their own. Breweries are big now because everyone in this demographic enjoys craft beer, so if the pub can offer their own craft beer it ups the pub’s value in the eyes of its customers and gives customers yet one more reason to be loyal to the pub, to buy pub merch, and to promote the pub by word of mouth and social media marketing, i.e., user generated content. User-generated content is free for the pub and is also one of the most effective ways to market because of the role that social media influencers play in the lives of consumers today (Dhar & Chang, 2009; Lim, Radzol, Cheah & Wong, 2017).

In terms of value chain strategy, the pub would add value to its product line by brewing its own beer and differentiating itself from the pub across the street in that way. It would also enhance its reputation as a legitimate outpost for a good time in the community, as the community is filled with craft brew loving customers. The differentiation advantage of brewing beer and of having a beer garden would put OPG at the top of a short list of best pubs in the neighborhood. Its food and location already put it near the top but opening a brewery and creating a beer garden would create even more value for customers.

Then expanding into catering for big events would also improve its standing in the community, especially as it could sponsor local...…Big Data heuristics in order to identify where traffic is coming from to its website and who is interested in reviews of its restaurant. It can use social media to collect information about potential customers based on who follows the pub online and who is liking posts or taking part in social media challenges.

Selling functions used by organizations to increase buyer response from marketing strategies include the 4 p’s of the marketing mix—product, price, place and promotion. The pub already has a great place: its location is superb. Its products are well-reviewed but could be even better if it becomes a brewery of its own craft beer, opens a beer garden and gets its catering service going. Price has never been an issue because its prices are very competitive, almost to the point where they may be too low. However, low pricing is not an issue because the loss is made up for in sales volume, and low prices keep customers happy. Promotion is where the pub could stand to improve its marketing strategy, and promotional activities include communication via social media, sponsoring local events, and getting user generated content. One idea for user generated content is to offer a weekly free meal for whichever user posts the best collage of eating out and enjoying a good time at OPG on OPG’s social media account. The more collages that come the better it is for OPG and it will show how everyone there is always having a good time and it will encourage people to come back for more. It also lets users have a good time by taking fun pictures and sharing them.

In conclusion, OPG’s marketing strategy has to focus on applying its strengths and creating customer value. It should pursue the opportunities identified in the SWOT analysis, and it should focus on getting user-generated content on its various social media sites.