¶ … Marketing Muffin Tops Limited Company Principles Of Marketing

Increasing the awareness of consumers to the product provided by the company will be one of its key objectives. Situational analysis of the market where the organization is shows that the company has the weakness of low awareness of consumers to its products. Low consumer awareness to the product translates to decreased organizational visibility alongside the consumers utilizing its services. Therefore, increasing consumer awareness to the products of the company will improve the performance of the company in the modern competitive marketplace significantly.

Secondly, the company strives to increase the brand of the products provided to its consumers in the marketplace. Situational analysis of the organization reveals that the company faces the challenge of weak brand name. Weak brand name threatens the realization of organizational performance, competencies, and sustainability in the marketplace full of well-developed companies that provide similar products as Muffin Tops Limited Company does. As such, strategies such as product promotion and differentiation prove effective for adoption by the company to enhance the name of the brand it provides to its consumers (Penrose, (2008).

Thirdly, the company aims to expand its region of operation to other areas within the state. Situational analysis of the market shows numerous opportunities that can be exploited by the company. Among the opportunities in the marketplace, include product line expansion because of the availability of numerous company resources and possibility of increased production due to the adoption of new technology by the company. Fourthly, the company aims to achieve an increase in consumer loyalty to the products it provides to its target consumers. The company can achieve this by strengthening the quality of its brand and providing customer care services that exceed their expectations. Cumulatively, these objectives will allow Muffin Tops Limited Company to acquire its desired competitiveness and sustained performance.

Issues

The culture of the company might affect its performance and realization of the desired performance objectives. The company will face cultural conflicts from the employees and consumers in the new markets as it expands its operations to the new geographical locations. Cultural conflicts arise from the variance in the values and preferences of the clients and the employees towards the products provided and organizational practices. The organization might also encounter employee issues that affect the performance and the realization of the organizational objectives. Employee issues include personality conflicts, resistance to change, supervisor issues, and organizational structure oriented issues. Such issues affect the dedication and employee job satisfaction; hence, declined organizational performance. Thirdly, the company is likely to encounter team related issues that will affect its overall performance and sustainability. Team issues arise from the difference in the personality of the employees alongside the influence of the organizational leadership and culture (Penrose, 2008).

Strategies for combating the issues

Cultural conflicts can be managed by promoting an environment that accommodates the various cultural needs of the employees and consumers. Alternatively, cultural conflicts can be prevented by conducting market analysis for the target market to identify the varied cultural needs of the consumers. Employee issues can be managed through the adoption of different strategies like adopting effective leadership styles promoting the interaction and sharing of ideas between the senior management and the juniors. Leadership styles like transformational and democratic recognize the role of the employees in the organization; hence, their prioritization. Training opportunities can be provided to equip the employees with the necessary skills of problem solving and conflicts management. Team related issues could be managed by adopting strategies that focus on the provision of coaching and mentorship to the employees. Coaching and mentorship foster the recognition of employees' weaknesses that can be improved using teamwork. In addition, team issues can also be managed by fostering an environment that ensures open communication for them to share their ideas and feelings. Cumulatively, these strategies will contribute to the realization of the desired organizational objectives and competencies (Penrose, 2008).

Marketing Plan

The company will use demographic, geographic, and behavioral variables to segment its target market. Demographic variable focuses on consumer factors such as age, marital status, occupation, education, income, and social class. Demographic variable is important because it provides insights into the potentials of the target market to sustain the utilization of the product provided. Geographic variable focuses on consumer factors such as the location, neighborhood, and the metro area of the target consumers. The variable provides ease provision and identification of consumer needs basing on...

Behavioral variable focuses on the patterns of consumers' purchase, usage of the product, consumer present and future perception towards the product. It helps in the provision of products that meet their varied needs (Luther, 2001).
The company will use targeting strategies that include undifferentiated and differentiated targeting strategies. The undifferentiated targeting strategy will focus on the company providing a single to the whole of the target market. The strategy will provide the company with benefits such as increasing its abilities to produce its goods on a large scale that benefits all sectors by economies of scale. Differentiated marketing strategy focuses on providing products that target each of the market segments based on the consumer needs in these segments. The strategy provides the company with opportunities to increase the satisfaction of consumers and consumer loyalty. The strategy also spreads organizational risks to the market segments resulting in enhanced performance (Luther, 2001).

Pricing strategies used by the company will significantly position it in the competitive marketplace. The company will provide its products at a relatively low price to acquire the desired penetration into the target market (Luther, 2001). The products will have high quality than its competitors and provided at a reduced price; hence, its competitiveness. It will also use product differentiation as a positioning strategy. Product differentiation will entail providing unique products that exceed those of its competitors in terms of quality.

Achieving the desired brand of the product provided will combine different factors, including product attributes such as quality, features, and design. Combining the quality level, consistency, physical and intrinsic features of the product will result in a unique brand of the product that will acquire the desired market attention. In addition, the product will possess other dimensions that include differentiation, relevance, and functionality to meet consumer needs in the target markets (Luther, 2001).

Pricing Strategy: The business intends to master the essential marketing mix element, the price strategy. This approach will serve an unmatched success, often depicting the company as a destroyer of small business. Various activities will drive this cost leadership strategy in lowering prices; operations, distribution, supply chain management, sales, and marketing. The price will be always cheaper than that of the other competitors. In turn, this will enable the company gain the loyalty of masses due to large volumes. By cutting its prices, the business will boost its sales to earn more at the cheaper retail price compared to selling at a higher price. This strategy will give the company a peculiar selling point because customers will always be attracted to shop from a place where they can obtain a good value for monetary proposition. The company will use this cost leadership strategy to create a price barrier for new entrants (Penrose, 2008).

Distribution Strategy: the company will emphasize on automation of its distribution centers. This will allow the department to operate 24 hours daily, hence becoming the basis for its growth. The business will erect at least 40 regional distribution centers. When penetrating a new geographical area, it will establish if the arena can contain adequate stores to support the distribution center. Every single distribution center will support a number of retail stores in the area. After building a distribution center, store will be built around it to saturate the arena and the network of distribution will be aligned to maximize efficiencies via the re-optimization process. This will trigger a trickle-down effect whereby trucks will not have to travel far to retail outlets to deliver products. It will also reduce the distance translating into reduced transportation costs and shorter lead-time. In case of product shortages, it will be easier to replenish them because stores will receive deliveries everyday from the distribution centers (Luther, 2001).

Marketing Strategy - Part 3

Marketing Communications Strategy:

Adopting effective communication strategies will contribute significantly to the performance of the company by increasing brand awareness among the consumers. It is advisable that the business use both the traditional and the modern methods of communicating to the consumers the products and services provided by the company. Among the traditional methods of reaching the consumers, is using Medias such as radio and television to advertise the products provided by the company. It will also entail using newspapers, magazines, and other forms of print publications to create awareness among the consumers. Traditional methods of promotion such as in storage signage, point of purchase displays, sales discounts, and brochures will prove effective. Apart from this, the company will use modern methods of communication that include the internet and social media. Social media platforms that will be used include social networking sites such as the Facebook and Twitter. Promotion mix adopted…