First Mile Company Marketing Plan Development

This assignment requires the development of a marketing plan for First Mile Company, involving a thorough analysis of the external and internal environment. The plan includes budget allocation for various marketing activities such as internet marketing, SEO, Google Adwords, banner ads, social media, press releases, print advertising, direct mail, events, and more. Recommendations are provided to improve the company's activity through continuous monitoring and benchmarking techniques.

MARKETING PLAN

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Marketing Plan is essential for a company so that they can formulate the necessary plans
and strategies which will help them in establishing themselves in the market in a better and a
more effective manner. Those companies whose operations are limited i.e. Small and Medium
Scale enterprises are those companies who need to formulate these strategies in particular and in
the present era, digital platform is the best measure of marketing a firm's product and services. In
this report, a social media marketing plan having a span of four months has been prepared for a
UK based SME First Mile which is a closed loop recycling company working with an aim to
keep using the contents of a product repeatedly. This report has been prepared to present a
marketing plan and also identify the key issues that new ventures face in industrial and global
context (Pike, 2017). Further, the report will discuss the effective marketing tools and the
importance of development of employment skills.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Social Media Marketing Plan for First Mile...........................................................................4
Recommendations:...........................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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MAIN BODY
Social Media Marketing Plan for First Mile.
It is extremely important for companies to exploit digital means and methods in order to
expand their operations and create a wider customer base. Social Media is emerging a as great
platform for the brands to market their products and themselves as the online activity and
number of users has increased in multifold over the past few years. Mediums like radios,
newspapers are becoming older and if a company keeps itself limited to the traditional media
marketing channels, it might turn redundant in the following years (Kotler and et.al., 2015). First
Mile is a recycling company having its headquarters in London, UK. It is a waste management
company and was founded in the year 2004 and the company focuses on collecting the waste
from the various localities and then supplying it to the nearby recycling facilities. They are
aiming to spread more awareness in the public by developing a marketing plan which is apt for
the social media through which they will generate more customers.
Marketing Audit :- Marketing Audit will help the company in systematically analyse the
marketing environment of the industry in which it o0perates and evaluate both internal as well as
external factors associated with the company. SWOT and PESTLE are two methods of analysing
the internal and external environment related to recycling industry specially to First Mile
company. Internal audit can be analysed by conducting SWOT analysis and at present the social
media marketing position of the First Mile company is not so good as they have not yet created
any accounts on any of the platforms and neither there are any digital mediums adopted. Due to
this, only a limited number of people are aware for the company and its operations which is
limiting their business. Similarly external audit can be conducted by PEST analysis and at
present the social media marketing is being used extensively by the competitors as it is a cheap
medium which gives a wider publicity like BlueGrace which deals in wastage from marine
transportation field but yet they have implemented a vast number of strategies and regularly
update them which has helped in increasing their turnover and publicity.
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SWOT Analysis
Strengths
 First Mile's social media marketing
sites will be able to facilitate their
customers by being almost invisible i.e.
they create minimal disturbance
(Nykiel, 2016). Extremely developed technology and
regular innovation has increased the
growth pace of online marketing
websites like Facebook, Twitter etc.
Weaknesses
 Lack of proper control on the process
of recycling has lead social media
towards speculation.
 In-spite of technological Innovation,
the digital marketing sites, companies
like First Mile cannot compete with the
established waste recycling industries
in UK.
Opportunities
 Social media websites implemented by
First Mile must adopt Integrate
Approach where the local authorities
can examine the different process and
ensure that quality is not compromised
with. Developing the technology by
introducing innovational activity helps
social media in enhancing its network.
Threats
 Recent import restrictions levied by
China on social networking websites
has led to their question being raised on
the waste management firms regarding
their activities.
 Diversity in products and change in the
preferences of the people impacts the
internet marketing in relation to cope
up with the trend (Jarach, 2017).
PEST Analysis :- This will help in understanding the external environment surrounding the
recycling industry in UK.
Political Factor The government of UK although supports this industry as it helps in
preserving the environment and makes employees lead a healthier and
happier living but also the speculations that at its core, the waste industry is
a fraud industry which does not purports what it is supposed to be. This has
led to a more careful and increased scrutiny of government. On the other
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hand, social media game is becoming more regularized and therefore, the
activities performed online need to be monitored very carefully.
Economical
Factor
The recent Brexit has led to a rising instability in the economy of UK and
this has dwindles the profit margin of this industry. In this area of recession,
Social Media Marketing will prove beneficial as this is a cheaper mode and
gives wider access to target customers and increase awareness regarding
brands.
Social Factor The society in which the industry operates is also a very important figure
and the recycling industry is supported by the residents as the ultimately
benefits the environment encouraging sustainable development (Pike,
2017). Social marketing platforms are in trend as a large part of society
comprised by youth is increasingly active on these platforms which can
assist in developing brand image.
Legal Factor It is very important that the company operates within the legal framework
of the country and there is stricter implementation of regulations on the
recycling industry as there is a vast scope of conducting fraudulent activities
and hence generate huge profits. The content uploaded by the company on
social media should be within the guidelines that are formulated by the
government like abolishing nudity etc.
Objectives of the Company :- First Mile Company intends to expand themselves through making
people aware of their services on social media platform. Their objectives of First Mile can be
defined as following :-
 To become leader of the recycling industry in UK
 To bring innovation in the industry
 To generate revenue of £ 4 million per month.
 To encourage sustainable development.
 To increase the awareness regarding recycling industry.
 To increase the opportunities presented by the waste management industry.
 To increase the usage of recycled products.
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 To become a major recycling concern in UK. To increase online website traffic and influencer programs for marketing.
Target Audience :- The targeted audience for which First Mile Company intends to create a
marketing plan is all those individuals who are somehow associated with the social media
platforms. These belong to all age groups, segments and geographical locations but the major
emphasis is on those users that fall in the United Kingdom so that the company gets a boost at an
initial level and when the company receives the required recognition it can further plan to expand
its operations (Paley,2017).
Social Media Zones and Vehicles :- In today's digital era, there are many platforms on which the
First Mile company can plan its advertising strategy. There are Four basic zones namely: Social
Community, Social Publishing, Social Entertainment and Social Commerce. Social Community
describes the various channels on social media where there is two-way or multi-way
communication and helps in interaction and collaboration of the activities of First Mile with its
targeted audience. Various networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snap chat etc. are
the mediums under social communities. Social Publishing involves creation of blogs,
bookmarking social sites, creating websites and media sharing sites (The 4 Zones of Social
Media, 2017). Here, First Mile company can write about their activities and objectives so that the
customers intending to associate with them can form a better clarification of their activities.
Social Entertainment involves those vehicles that create awareness along with the entertainment
of customer. The various gaming site, virtual reality games, entertainment communities etc. are
some the mediums. This involves films, music, art, videos etc. First Mile Company can launch a
short video showing a very touching story on YouTube, Instagram etc. to increase the awareness.
Social Commerce is the fourth zone under which the companies can take help of these social
media platforms etc. to create or expand their business. Here, the emphasis is on maintaining
positive reviews and good ratings that customers give so that, potential customers can trust the
company. Creating of online websites selling the products, apps etc. is the medium of doing this.
First Mile can develop their own application through which they can sell the recycled products
that they manufacture to the interested buyers (Nykiel, 2016).
Experience Strategy :- The Best strategy for First Mile Company would be to create their
presence on the social media platforms and emphasize on developing online websites so that
customers located at distant places can also easily trade with the company. The company should
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select Social Community and Social Commerce. Social community will help the company in
creating the awareness and they will be able to create the 'Hype' which will give free publicity to
the company by creating relevant '#Hashtags'. Also, the company should develop a list of
keywords that it can use whenever they advertise or put up anything on their social media
platforms thus creating a optimized social profile. Social Commerce will help in increasing the
business of the company as they will be able to properly guide the customers and those visiting
their sites about the activity performed by the company (Kotler and et.al., 2015). Building of
apps and commercial websites will increase the activity of the business. They can publish
newsletters, blogs, webinars and forums which regularly update the potential customers about
their operations. They can choose many formats like creation of GIFs, online Polls, contests and
giveaways etc. so that the consumers remain attracted towards the company. Apart from this, the
company should also prepare a virtual game where the player is on a contest to collect waste ad
how successfully he can create a good quality recycled product out of it. It will give knowledge
about the activities and processes involved.
Activation Plan :- Activation Plan will help in determining what the management of the
company needs to do, when to do and within what timeline they should complete a particular
task for creating a four month social media marketing plans of First Mile Company (Jarach,
2017).
Month 1
Establishing the goals and defining
the metrics according to the
Company
Month 2
Optimization of social media
profiles and creating the brand voice
on these platforms.
Month 3
Finding the correct audience and
listening to them so that the
industry can be understood better.
Month 4
In order to improve research and
increase the engagement company
needs to fill the social content
calendar.
Month 1 :- In this month, the First Mile Co. can adopt a series of steps to define the metrics :-
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Here, the company aims to increase the traffic on their websites and increase the awareness of
brand so that brand engagement can be boosted and new leads can be generated. The company
then needs to determine the extent and level of social campaigns creating and brainstorming the
solutions (Haider and et.al., 2019). This will help in analysing the competition that is present
online so that the marketers that are available online can be estimated, and their scale or level of
competition determined. This will set the initial progress of the company
Month 2 :- After the company has successfully determined the competition level in the industry,
they need to evaluate themselves. This will help in determining the strengths and weaknesses and
a list of keywords needs to be created which will help in advertising the brand. This will help in
increasing the hype of company. Also, it is very necessary for a brand to regularize their activity
and every section needs to be regularly updated. On the basis of the key words that were most
successful during the entire month so that they can be further used by the company in all the
campaigns. Also, things like keeping a singular profile, boosting SEO etc. are some of the
characteristics that First mile can adopt (Flores and et.al., 2017).
Month 3 :- In this month, the company begins the real game by implementing all the strategies
formulated. First of all the company builds a buyer persona and First Mile can do this by
analysing many facts like demographics, lifestyle, finances etc. Since at present the company is
targeting customers in UK, they can limit the extent by particular targeting. Also, here content is
developed and marketing plan is linked with all the departments.
Month 4 :- In the last month, after the company has become familiar with the process of
operating social media platforms. Now they need to develop a schedule which is to be followed
regrading their online activities like posting etc. and by using many techniques like live videos
etc. the company can create and improve their current plan (Dib, 2018).
Monitoring and Evaluation :- Under this part, a company prepares the budgets by estimating the
costs and then they need to regularly monitor that the actual costs are in lieu with the budgeted
costs. The cost of marketing plan for First Mile Company can be displayed in the following
budget :-
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Marketing Budget Daily Budget Monthly Budget
Internet Marketing (input fields)
SEO budget £89.81 £2694.3
Google Adwords - Search £149.69 £4490.5
Banner Ads, RTB, Re-Targeting £149.69 £4490.5
Social Media, Content & Blogs £74.84 £2245.25
Press Releases £74.84 £898.1
Print, Direct Mail
Print Advertising £89.81 £2694.3
Direct Mail £59.88 £1796.2
Telemarketing £0 £0
Broadcast Media £0 £0
Radio £149.69 £4490.5
Television £299.36 £8981
Events £29.93 £898.1
Total £1122.63 £33678.75
Continuous monitoring and using techniques like benchmarking etc. will help the company in
improving their activity.
Recommendations:
Overall, it is been recommended that company should focus on assessing the external and
the internal environment and should develop the strategies accordingly. This helps the social
media websites in understanding the desire of the customers and facilitating them with the
products as per their specifications. Thin in turn helps the social media in attaining growing
success and in creating a large network.
CONCLUSION
After going through the above research it can be concluded that the marketing plan is very
important and the First Mile Co. can implement the above marketing plan so that they can
successfully implement social media marketing plans.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Dib, A., 2018. The 1-page marketing plan. Page Two Books.
Flores, D., and et.al., 2017. TEAM MARKETING PLAN.
Haider AA, and et.al., 2019. Marketing Management.
Jarach, D., 2017. Airport marketing: Strategies to cope with the new millennium environment.
Routledge.
Kotler, P., and et.al., 2015. Marketing. Pearson Higher Education AU.
Nykiel, R.A., 2016. Marketing Your Business-A Guide to Developing a Strategic Marketing
Plan.
Paley, N., 2017. How to Develop a Strategic Marketing Plan: A step-by-step guide. Routledge.
Pike, S.D., 2017. Destination marketing organisations (DMO). In Sage Handbook of Tourism
Management. SAGE.
Online
The 4 Zones of Social Media. 2017. [ONLINE] Available
through :<https://introtosmmlesley.wordpress.com/2017/05/06/the-4-zones-of-social-media/>
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