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Executive Summary
Vino Veritas is one of the leading online wine retailers in the United Kingdom. In this pre-Christmas direct sales and digital marketing campaign project, the goal was to develop a plan that will enable this firm use a budget of £75,000 in various promotional and direct sales activities to generate sales revenue of £250,000. The report has provided a situational analysis and activities that must be conducted to achieve the desired goals.
Situation Analysis
Vino Veritas is one of the leading online fine wine retailers in the United Kingdom. The company started its operations in 2012 and has built a strong reputation because of its customer service and a wide range of high-quality products at competitive prices. The company chose to remain an on-demand retailer despite its growing popularity. To develop a detailed pre-Christmas direct and digital marketing campaign for this company, it is important to start by conducting a situation analysis. It is important to look at both internal and external market environment.
External (Macro-environmental) analysis
Understanding the external environment of Vino Veritas will make it possible to understand the forces that this firm has to deal within the market. It is important for the management of this company to appreciate that it has no control over these external environmental forces. PESTEL analysis is instrumental when analyzing the external environment. The political environment in the United Kingdom has remained stable for a long time.
Although the recent BREXIT vote is set to affect the business environment in the country, Vino Veritas will not be negatively affected because currently it only operates in the United Kingdom. The stability of the political environment creates an enabling environment for this firm to achieve its strategic goals. The economic environment in the country, especially the reducing rate of unemployment, also offers growth avenues (Roberts & Zahay, 2012).
The country’s social, environmental forces define the purchasing pattern of the customers. Sacristan (2012) says that wine drinking is increasingly becoming popular in the United Kingdom, specifically among the rich and the middle class. Wine is often taken in most of the celebrations in the country, which is another path this firm can take to achieve growth in the market.
Technology is redefining the way business is conducted in modern society, not only in the United Kingdom but also across the world (Simpson & Kurtz, 2016). Currently, it offers a platform to reach out to the customers and make sales without necessarily having physical stores. The management of this company must find a way of taking advantage of the opportunities brought about by the emerging technologies. Ecological issues are also becoming important in modern society.
The management of Vino Veritas must ensure that the firm’s operations do not pose a significant threat to the environment. Finally, it is equally important to take into account the legal, environmental forces within the country. The operations of the firm must be in line with the laws and regulations set by various governmental bodies in the country.
Internal (Micro-environmental) analysis
The internal environmental factors at Vino Veritas will define its ability to deal with the external forces discussed above. Understanding the internal strengths and weaknesses will make it easy to know how the firm can deal with opportunities and threats within the market. This company’s strength lies in a number of factors. It has a strong online presence in the United Kingdom. It also has an excellent reputation when it comes to customer service, a fact that has enabled it to create a large pool of loyal clients.
The product offered by this firm is of high quality sold at competitive prices. However, it is important to appreciate that there are a number of weaknesses that the management should find a way of addressing. The firm only relies on an online platform to sell its products to targeted clients. The firm has also avoided other alcoholic drinks which are popular with a section of the customers in the market, limiting its revenue sources.
The market presents a number of opportunities that this company should tap into to achieve its strategic objectives. The United Kingdom has registered impressive economic growth over the past decade (Ryan & Jones, 2012). The size of the middle class, which forms the most attractive market segment for the company, is also growing. Recent studies also show that wine is increasingly becoming a popular product in the country. It means that the size of the market for wine and related products is increasing.
However, this company must learn how to deal with emerging threats. Stiff market competition from firms such as Wine Society, Sunday Times Wine Club, Laithwaite’s, Majestic Wine, M&S, John Lewis, and Aldi is a major threat to its profitability. Customers have also become very demanding because they have a number of options to make whenever they want to buy this product. Uncertainties have also emerged as the country moves from the European Union. Table 1 below shows a SWOT summary for this company.
Table 1: SWOT summary (Developed by author).
Key issue definition
The increasingly demanding customers in the United Kingdom will force Vino Veritas to look beyond pricing as a strategy to win customers. It must have other ways of increasing its customer base in this highly competitive wine market.
Objectives
As a marketing consultant, the primary goal of the researcher is to provide recommendations for acquisition of pre-Christmas direct and digital marketing campaign that will run for 3 months, from October to December 2017. The following are the specific objectives that should be achieved in this report:
- To deliver £250,000 from new customers within the three month campaign period through direct and digital marketing.
- To create at least 15,000 new customers within the 3 months from the opted-in prospect list of 60,000 individuals that the company has developed.
- To ensure that the plan will help this firm to increase its revenue by 15% to £3m in the next 12 months.
Strategy
The management of Vino Veritas will need an appropriate strategy that will enable it to achieve the set objectives. The firm can opt for an acquisition-led strategy that focuses on market penetration while at the same time reducing the existing competition. Alternatively, it can opt for a strategy that balances relationship marketing, customer engagement and retention, and customer acquisition. Before choosing the most appropriate strategy, it is important to define the market segment that will be the target under the new strategy.
Segmentation and Targeting Strategy
Under the new strategy, this company will specifically target customers within the United Kingdom aged 25-34 years. A study by Simpson and Kennedy (2014) shows that wine has now become a preferred drink among these people. Most of them are yet to start families or have young families hence are not burdened by many family-related responsibilities. They also love partying a lot compared with the rest of the population.
This segment of the market will form the primary target, although the firm will not ignore customers aged 35-60 years because they also form a considerable size of the consumers of wine in the United Kingdom. The campaign will target both men and women falling in the above age bracket living in major urban centers such as London, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Glasgow, Sheffield, Leeds, Bristol, Southampton, and Leicester. Our campaign will target the middle class.
Their lifestyle involves lots of partying, and they have the financial capacity to support it (Ginty, Vaccarello, & Leake, 2012). The target audience has the tendency of making impulse purchases, especially when it comes to partying. The primary group will be the 25-34 year olds, while the second group will be the 35-60 year olds. The company will need a testing strategy to ensure that the approach taken is the most appropriate one.
Supporting Strategies
After segmenting the market and defining the most appropriate target group, it is important to define specific strategic approaches that will enable the firm to achieve the set goals and objectives. The following are the supportive strategies that will be used to help this firm achieve the set objectives.
- Product and brand positioning strategy: in the product strategy, the message that will come out strongly is the high quality of products that this firm offers to its customers. In the brand strategy, the message that will be emphasized is the reliability and price friendliness of products offered by the company. The goal will be to convince customers that all their needs, whenever they are planning to purchase wine, will be met by this firm. The strategy will be instrumental in enabling the firm to achieve the goal of £250,000 in new sales within three months of the campaign.
- Creative strategy: the campaign will focus on various events where wine is very appropriate. The goal will be to come up with creative ways of convincing the target audience to purchase wine, even in instances when they are not partying.
- Communications strategy: the plan is to use both mass and social media platform to communicate with the target audience. Social media, especially YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, are very popular among the primary target group. Mass media will help in reaching out to the secondary target group.
- Database and communications strategy: it will be important to have a secure database that cannot be manipulated by third parties. The database will be developed using emerging technologies to ensure that information can be managed and released to the target audience in the desired manner.
- Customer relationship management (CRM) strategy: one of the most important goals of this campaign will be to have an excellent customer relationship management strategy. That will be achieved through two platforms. The online platform will be used to ensure that customers can engage with the firm’s staff in the most efficient way possible. Their questions will be answered promptly, and their order will be processed within the shorted time possible. The payment system will be secure. The second platform will be through physical interactions with our staff when delivering the products after payments are made. The staff will be trained to be courteous, eloquent, and very friendly. They must leave a positive impression whenever they interact with customers.
Tactics
After outlining the strategies, it is important to come up with the tactics which will be used during this campaign. In this section, it is important to provide specific instructions that this firm will need to follow within the three months, starting this October. The following are specific instructions that the team should take into consideration to realize the objectives:
Messaging
The message that is passed to the target audience will determine whether or not they will develop an interest in the products of this firm. The marketing unit should first understand the needs, behavioural pattern, tastes, and preferences of the target audience. As explained above, the primary target audience loves partying. The marketing unit of Vino Veritas will have to find a way of making wine a central part of a standard party in this country.
In its marketing campaigns, popping champagne should always be the climax of a party. As such, the audience will be convinced that a party will not be considered complete without quality wine. When developing the promotional campaign message, a new concept will be created that emphasizes on purchasing wine through top online platforms. Customers should be convinced that purchasing of wine should not require physical movement. It only requires a simple click and the products are delivered at the doorsteps. A message such as this should be used at the end of a television commercial:
- Vino Veritas, quality, affordable wine a click away all the times
As seen in the above message, the firm will be informing its audience that it has the best wine brands and that its services are very reliable and affordable. The message also emphasizes on the fact that wine should be used at any time.
Price
The goal of this direct and digital marketing plan is to generate at least £250,000 in sales using a fixed budget of £75,000. As such, customers should be convinced that the firm offers the best deal in the market. Vino Veritas currently offers quality products at competitive prices. In this plan, the current prices will not be changed. However, the message will emphasize on how low the firm’s prices are compared to other shops around the country.
Proposition
The promotional campaign will emphasize on quality, reliability, and competitive pricing when developing a proposition for the brand. The premise will be that at Vino Veritas, customers will always get the best wine, at the best prices, and in the most reliable manner. They must be convinced that their needs will always be met.
Timing
Timing is very critical when communicating with customers. As explained in the case, the firm already has information and e-mail address of over 60,000 potential customers. The marketing unit will need to know important events and anniversaries for these people. Birthdays, graduation ceremonies, weddings, and other anniversaries are often celebrated by many people in the country. Direct and specific message should be designed and sent to individual potential customers, congratulating and wishing them all the best in their celebrations. Then there should be a message informing them about a special offer from the firm to help them in their celebration. The message should be sent a day to and on the day of their celebration. The firm will be assured that during that time, the targeted customers are likely to purchase wine.
Channel
The channel used in delivering an effective message is just as important as the message itself. As Bailey (2013) says, it is futile to develop an effective message only to use a channel that will not reach the target audience. It is the responsibility of the marketing manager and the team involved in this project to ensure that the message reaches the targeted audience. Using an integrated media strategy will be important. The team will use both mass and social media to reach out to the customers.
Social media
Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter will be the online platforms that will be used during the 3 months of the campaign to reach out to the primary target audience. Short promotional videos will be used to send messages to the customers about this brand, the products it offers, its reliability, and competitive prices.
Mass media
Mass media will be used to reach out to the secondary target audience. Television and radio commercials will be very instrumental. It is important to note that mass media will also help the firm reach out to its primary target audience.
The integrated media strategy will be critical in brand building. In order to have direct response from customers, this firm will rely on social media where customers can give instant feedback of the messages and products of this firm. Direct response can enable this firm to conduct research about emerging needs and changing preferences of customers in the market.
Testing and integration
The message meant for mass and social media marketing will be tested before being integrated. The firm will select a few of its loyal customers to rate the messages and propose any changes before making them publicly available.
Actions
The marketing unit will need to undertake the following specific actions in line with the tactics discussed above:
- Data capturing and processing will need to be conducted. A team of expert will be tasked with monitoring online activities of the 60,000 potential customers. They will come up with data showing important life events and ceremonies where wine is needed.
- Content developing will be done by another team. They will use the data captured to understand tastes, preferences, and behavioral pattern of the targeted audience. They will then develop messages based on these facts.
- Direct mail scheduling will then be initiated where a team will send messages to the customers specifically focusing on the important coming events in their lives.
- Optimizing websites and landing pages will be critical in attracting customers to the firm’s website. This activity will be outsourced.
Control
It is critical to put measures in place to ensure that there is a contingency plan that can help address issues that will arise during the implementation phase. They will include the following:
- Reports will be available to the marketing manager about the sales made at the firm within the period of promotion to determine if the firm is on the path to achieving the set goals. A number of changes can be proposed whenever necessary.
- Usability testing of the systems and structures will be conducted to ensure that they can deliver the desired goals.
- Customer satisfaction surveys will be conducted in the online platform. The outcome of such surveys will help determine if it is necessary to change the approach of operation.
Budget
As explained in the case, the budget has been set at £75,000 for all the activities. The table 2 below shows the cost various activities that will be conducted as explained in the sections above. The table also shows the anticipated revenues from the activities.
Table 2: projected budget (Developed by author).
- ROI= (Gains from Investment- Cost of Investment) ÷ (Cost of Investment)
- (250,000 – 75,000) ÷ 75,000
- = 175000÷ 75,000
- = 2.33
The outcome from the return on investment (ROI) shows that this project is viable. The cost that will be incurred is less than the revenues that will be generated from the set activities.
Appendices
The graph below shows the projected expenses.
The chart below shows the projected sources of revenue within the 3 months:
References
Bailey, L. (2013). Small business guide to online marketing: A step -by-step guide to growing your business online. New York, NY: Brightword Publishing.
Ginty, M., Vaccarello, L., & Leake, W. (2012). Complete B2B online marketing. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons.
Roberts, M. L., & Zahay, D. L. (2012). Internet marketing: Integrating online and offline strategies. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Ryan, D., & Jones, C. (2012). Understanding digital marketing: Marketing strategies for engaging the digital generation. Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page.
Sacristan, G. (2012). The digital & direct marketing goose: 16 tips and real examples that will help you lay more golden eggs. Cupertino, CA: Happy About.
Simpson, C., & Kennedy, D. S. (2014). The direct mail solution: A business owner’s guide to building a lead-generating, sales-driving, money-making, direct-mail campaign. Irvine, CA: Entrepreneur Press.
Simpson, C., & Kurtz, B. (2016). The advertising solution: Influence prospects, multiply sales, and promote your brand with lessons from the legends: Robert Collier, Claude Hopkins, John Caples David Ogilvy, Gary Halbert, Eugene Schwartz. New York, NY: Cengage.
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