Tactics Based on the Mission

¶ … Tactics

Based on the mission of becoming the leader in edible greeting cards, our strategic plan involves select marketing and information technology tools. The SWOT analysis highlighted key areas of strength, weakness, opportunity, and threat. Based on this analysis, we have developed a strategic plan that is workable and immediately implementable. We are also committed to being an industry leader in terms of ethical product sourcing. Our strategic planning reflects are core commitments to consumers and our ethical goals.

Our primary marketing tactics will best be outlined in a thorough marketing plan. Specific tactics include product packaging and presentation; strategic product placement; optimal product pricing; and positioning the edible greeting cards as luxury ethical products. This strategy will allow our company to eventually expand into other areas related to edible greeting cards such as cupcakes or performance art greeting cards using local artists.

Until then, we will develop an initial line of edible greeting cards that includes a few special occasion and public holiday cards. These cards will be strategically placed and positioned in gourmet food stores, department stores, and select retail outlets such as Whole Foods. A company history and mission statement will be printed on a small reusable tag. Customers will learn about the fair trade origins of the products they are consuming: where their chocolate, sugar, and vanilla were sourced from and possibly even the names of the farms. Other value-added services include the donations offered to social justice organizations from every edible greeting card purchase. We will also be developing a loyalty club as part of our strategic marketing plan. The loyalty club will offer customers discounts on some orders, and give them previews for new edible greeting cards. Moreover, the loyalty club will be part of our overall marketing strategy because it allows us to gain valuable data. The data will be used as a method of monitoring and controlling our strategic plan. We will be able to find out which areas of our plan need improvement because of the customer feedback.

We will also keep track of sales and purchase orders from different stores to find out which retail outlets are best serving our target demographic. Our Website will be the primary area in which information technology is used as a strategic measure. The Website serves several different but interrelated functions: as an online store from where customers can purchase custom-designed and standard edible greeting cards; a venue at which customers can learn about our company, our values, and our mission; a networking portal for customers to find out about charitable organizations; and a way for us to keep in touch with consumers. As we measure consumer traffic to our Website and track purchasing patterns, we can then decide whether to invest more in wholesaling our edible greeting cards to retail outlets or investing more in our online store.

Our objective is to expand beyond the local market, and penetrate the online greeting card industry as well as the national health food industry. Sales will be one quantitative way of measuring the success of each specific marketing strategy. Customer feedback will be one qualitative measure, and so too will employee, supplier, and vendor feedback.

Marketing strategies rely on information technology tools beyond the company Website. For example, Facebook will be used as a strategic tool of creating brand awareness. We ultimately intend to corner the edible greeting card market by developing brand equity. We will measure brand equity through consumer marketing surveys, and through interviews with vendors.

The organization does need to address ethical, legal, and regulatory issues in a systematic way. By performing thorough research on all of our suppliers, we will create products that can be branded as socially conscious, organic and fair trade. Our employees will confirm the ethical corporate culture created by our organization. We will also use vendors that pass our rigorous test of ethical scrutiny. Our stakeholders depend on us to remain true to our ideals, and our increasing sales and profit margins over the course of the next five years will prove that an ethical business strategy is an effective and profitable strategy.