The Sweet Bits Company: Marketing Plan

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Introduction

The Sweet Bits Company (SBC) has been operating in the environment of the New York market for several years from now. With a focus on quality and the willingness to cater to the needs of the target audience to the greatest extent possible, the entrepreneurship has rather big chances to gain recognition among the local customers. Moreover, there are strong indications that the firm is ready to expand into the global market, therefore, targeting a larger audience.

Environmental Analysis

SBC is affected by a variety of forces that define its further course of operations and affect the decision-making process occurring in the organization to a considerable extent. It would be wrong to assume that the factors under analysis must be viewed solely as negative or positive. Instead, the entrepreneurship should identify the threats and opportunities that each of the characteristics of the target market implies, therefore, designing the framework that will permit of building a competitive advantage (Iacobucci, 2008).

Competitive

Unfortunately, the target market is already dominated by a range of organizations that produce chocolate of impressive quality (Nestle, Mars, Mondelez International, Hershey’s, to name just a few). Competing with the identified firms will be a challenge, which means that SBC will have to work on its competitive advantage and design a unique brand that will be instantly recognizable.

Economic

Given the moderate unemployment and inflation rates in the identified environment, it can be assumed that the organization is not going to face significant challenges in the specified environment.

Political

The democratic principles that rule the contemporary trade world can be deemed as rather favorable for SBC’s expansion (Iacobucci, 2008).

Legal

Similarly, the low rates of bureaucracy and the numerous options for running all types of corporations (the target one being an S-corporation) can be considered an advantage.

Technological

The recent IT breakthrough requires that the entrepreneurship members should be able to retrieve, analyze, and transfer data as fast as possible. More importantly, the issue of data security will have to be addressed. Information sharing must be promoted at all levels of the company so that the staff could make relevant decisions adequately.

Sociocultural

The concern for healthy food and proper nutrition may pose a threat to the business. However, a well put together promotion campaign with an emphasis on the positive effects of chocolate consumption will help address the issue.

As the description provided above shows, SBC needs to design a unique brand product and create an elaborate promotion campaign that will help set its products aside from the organizations that have already gained global recognition and are nowadays dominating the target market. Naturally, it would be wrong to expect that a change in the vision and values of the entrepreneurship will help it take over the target market and oust corporate giants from it. However, with a strong brand product and a reasonable pricing strategy, SBC is likely to become quite popular with the customers that represent the market (Iacobucci, 2008).

4Ps

Product. Chocolate bars, chocolate drinks, chocolate candies, and other types of chocolate products will be offered to the customers.

Place. Retail shops will be the primary customers.

Price. Medium prices along with discounts will help attract customers.

Promotion. Branding the product as healthy candies that will let buyers relive sweet childhood memories will be the focus of the promotion campaign.

5Cs

Customer. A customer-focused approach will be applied to attract buyers of all ages.

Company. The firm will focus on meeting the needs of key stakeholders.

Collaborators. Local organizations should be viewed as primary suppliers.

Competitors. The firm will take a unique niche and be in friendly terms with its rivals.

Climate. Friendly environment will be created with the help of cooperation and information sharing.

STP

Segmentation. The target audience will be split into three segments (children, teenagers, and adults).

Targeting. Age-related branding (i.e., use of the corresponding imagery, colors, etc.) will be used.

Positioning. The product will be positioned as a healthy and tasty snack.

Target Markets

Primary

The American market should be viewed as the essential target for SBC to focus on at present.

Secondary

In terms of secondary markets, the company should take a closer look at the European ones, in general, and the United Kingdom, in particular. As a recent report shows, chocolate consumption rates are very high in the Irish and the British markets (McCarthy, 2015). One might argue, however, that SBC should target the countries where the consumption statistics is at the highest levels. However, the report mentioned above indicates that Switzerland and Germany are currently at the top of sweets and chocolate consumption. Given the fact that their markets are represented by very strong brands related to chocolate and confectionery (McCarthy, 2015), it is very likely that SBC will have significant risks in the process (Iacobucci, 2008).

Main Goals

Short-Term

Work on the brand product and the brand image of the organization (Hestad, 2013);
Design a cost-efficient approach that will help the entrepreneurship become a part of the target markets;
Shape the company’s mission and vision so that stakeholder satisfaction should be the primary concern;
Increasing the number of customers by 75%;
Gaining a distinct competitive advantage (Kaynak & Darling, 2013).

Long-Term

Invest in the staff members by promoting consistent training, acquisition of new skills, and unceasing competency upgrade;
Reinforcing the concept of Lean Management as the tool for reducing waste along with production costs (Charron, ‎Harrington, & Voehl, 2014);
Expanding into the global market;
Promoting sustainability as the foundation for the company’s success;
Using the iSix Sigma framework to maintain the quality of the product at the required level and meet the ever-changing quality standards (Pyzdek & Keller, 2014).

Tracking down the Goals Completion

To make sure that every single objective listed above is accomplished, the organization will have to use a variety of measurement tools. Particularly, the analysis of the change in the number of site visitors will have to be considered as the evaluation of the progress made by the entrepreneurship.

Similarly, the increase in the market share will allow for detecting a variety of changes in the overall design of the entrepreneurship, not to mention the alterations in its dialogue with its customers. The specified tool will show whether the firm gained a competitive advantage, increased its products quality, and introduced the new principles of communication between the stakeholders successfully. In a way, the identified strategy will also serve as the means of determining the success of implementing the Lean Management and the iSix Sigma frameworks.

Particularly, the rise in the market share will point to the fact that the organization has finally designed the framework of operations that allows for the most reasonable use of resources, as well as their best allocation. Specifically, the change in the market share will show that the percentage of waste produced by the firm has been reduced, and the expenses have been curbed. In other words, the measurement of the changes in the corporate market share can be deemed as the primary tools for locating the degree to which the sustainability principles have been incorporated into the design of the company’s processes.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths	Well put together approach to staff management; Focus on the key stakeholders; Incorporation of the Lean Management principles to reduce waste; Sustainable use of the corporate resources.
Weaknesses	Lack of experience in operating in the context of large markets; A vast number of competitors, most of which have been dominating the market for years; Lack of clarity in the choice of branding tools; Not fully designed promotion campaign.
Opportunities	Designing an efficient promotion campaign and attracting new customers; Taking the niche that none of the firms has considered yet; Changing the staff’s organizational behavior patterns; Acquiring more customers.
Threats	Failure to gain competitive advantage; Lack of financial resources; Failure to boost the staff’s loyalty rates; Failure to promote Lean Management.

Needs Analysis

Strengths	Need for new experiences is a part of the customers’ demands; Cheaper products of fine quality are in demand.
Weaknesses	People need well-established brands and may overlook new ones; Customers cannot put their finger on what they would like to consume; People look for cheap yet high-quality products; Because of the ease in meeting most needs, competition levels increase.
Opportunities	Demands for a new product may help SBC gain competitiveness as a new firm; Introducing a new taste may attract customers; People need healthy products, which means that the firm’s promotion campaign with a stress on green production is likely to succeed; The niche of healthy chocolate has not been taken by many companies yet.
Threats	People may dismiss the firm’s products as too costly for their taste; People may dismiss the products as too cheap; People may prefer the traditional taste to the new one; People may find the advertisement too childish.

Reference List

Charron, ‎A. R., Harrington, H. J., & Voehl, F. (2014). The Lean Management systems handbook. Chicago, IL: CRC Press.

Hestad, M. (2013). Branding and product design: An integrated perspective. Franham, UK: Gower Publishing.

Iacobucci, D. (2008). MM4. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Kaynak, E., & Darling, J. R. (2013). International management leadership: The primary competitive advantage. New York, NY: Routledge.

McCarthy, N. (2015, July 22). The world’s biggest chocolate consumers [infographic]. Forbes.

Pyzdek, T. & Keller, P. (2014). The Six Sigma handbook (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

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