Principles of Marketing: Developing a Marketing Plan for AQC

This report provides a detailed marketing plan for Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. (AQC), an agricultural cooperative. It begins with an introduction to marketing principles and the case study of AQC. The plan outlines environmental analysis using SWOT and PESTLE frameworks, sets smart objectives, and defines segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies. It details implementation and marketing control measures, required resources, sales planning, and future strategies. The report emphasizes demographic segmentation, targeting the 45-54 age group in the UK, and utilizes the marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion) for positioning. The plan also addresses resource allocation (financial, human, and technical) and marketing control mechanisms to ensure effective execution and achievement of objectives. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and recommendations for AQC's marketing efforts.

Principles of Marketing

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
OUTLINE OF THE MARKETING PLAN.....................................................................................1
Environmental analysis................................................................................................................2
Smart objectives...........................................................................................................................4
Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning strategy......................................................................5
Implementation and marketing control........................................................................................7
Required resources.......................................................................................................................7
Presenting and Sales planning.....................................................................................................8
Future strategy.............................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

TABLE OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Marketing plan for AQC for future one year...................................................................2
Figure 2: Pestle analysis..................................................................................................................3
Figure 3: Segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies..........................................................5

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: SWOT analysis..................................................................................................................2
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INTRODUCTION
Marketing of the products and services of an organization is based on some basic
principles which help in attracting customers and increasing sales. Principles of marketing
focuses on its role in society, firm, target marketplace and marketing mix. The current research
study is based on principles of marketing (Hawkins and Mothersbaugh, 2009). Regarding this, it
has chosen a case study which shed light on marketing activities and performance of Atlantic
Quench Cranberries Inc. (AQC). It is an agricultural cooperative in the United States. Present
study will develop a marketing plan for next year for AQC. This plan will focus on market
trends, customer attitudes and growth. Including this, marketing plan of this organization will
include appropriate strategy for segmentation and positioning.
OUTLINE OF THE MARKETING PLAN
Marketing plan is a process of future advertising and promotion of different products and
services of AQC. This process comprise different stages such as analysis of environment,
developing smart objectives, deciding segmentation, targeting and segmentation strategy,
implementation and control planning (Freytag and Munksgaard, 2011). Along with this, this plan
also focuses on arrangement of required resources, marketing control, sales planning and future
strategy, etc. Coming one year marketing plan for AQC is as follows:
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Figure 1: Marketing plan for AQC for future one year
Environmental analysis
Analysis of internal and external environment is one of the major processes for
developing marketing plan. It helps in determining resource and capabilities of the organization
as-well-as also plays significant role in identifying different factors which can influence business
operations. For internal environment analysis, organization can use SWOT and PESTLE analysis
which are the best tools for analysing external environment of the company (Kotler and Keller,
2012). Internal and external analysis of AQC is as follows:
SWOT analysis:
Table 1: SWOT analysis
Strengths
 Good brand name and strong corporate
image of AQC in US and UK.
 Developing healthy food products.
 Strong financial performance of the
company from past few years. Durable connection with corporate (Ferrell,
2012).
Weaknesses
 Lack of natural and agricultural resources.
 High dependency on climate for raw
materials.
 Limited range of products and services.
 Advertisement and promotion is not
appropriate as compare to competitive
firms.
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Opportunities
 International expansion of the business in
UK and other countries.
 New products development for children of
the UK.
 Untouched market for the future growth
and development.
Threats
 Unpredictable changes in climate.
 High competition with supermarket and
other companies.
 Changes in technology and advertisement
and promotion channels.
 Retail takeovers by global organization
augment the competition (Noussair and
Matheny, 2000).
PESTLE analysis:
Figure 2: Pestle analysis
 Political factors: According to the given case, marketing plan of AQC can be affected by
number of political factors such as rules, regulations, laws, policies and enforcement of
the different government agencies and regulatory authorities, etc. Including this,
government of the UK and US are very strict towards the high quality and standard of
raw material and ingredients (Pride and et.al, 2012). These rules can also influence the
marketing plan of company.
 Economic factors: Purchasing and spending power of customers, tax rates and interest
payment are the major factors which need to be considered by AQC at the time of
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development. Along with this, economic position of the country, fiscal and monetary
policy can affect marketing budget of the organization (Doole and Lowe, 2005). So, AQC
needs to consider all these economic factors at the time of developing marketing plan.
 Social factors: Taste and performances of customers, life style and market trends are the
major social factor which may influence the marketing strategy of the organization.
 Technological factors: At the present time, many of the competitors use different and
latest technological products and services. So, at the time of developing marketing plan,
AQC needs to use latest technological marketing channels. AQC needs to use social
media and online channels of marketing for promoting products and services in the
market.
 Environmental factors: Packaging is one of the important aspects of marketing plan. As
per the rules and regulation of the UK and US government, AQC needs to focus on
recyclable packaging of juice and drinks. Including this, at the time of developing
marketing plan, company needs to focus on climate changes and increment of population,
etc (Morgan, 2014).
 Legal factors: There are number of rules and regulations which have developed by
government of UK and US for ethical marketing. These rules can affect marketing plan
of AQC. Various rules regarding rights of customers, health and safety of employees are
also major legal factors which can affect the marketing plan (Craig and Campbell, 2012).
Smart objectives
As per the environment analysis, mission and vision of AQC are as follows:
 Mission: Developing healthy juice and drinks for customers and satisfying their needs
and expectation is considered as mission of AQC.
 Vision: The vision of AQC is improving range and quality of juice.
Formulating objectives is one of the important stages of marketing planning because it
helps in completing each and every activity in effective manner. According to the given case
study, major objectives of future marketing plan are as follows:
1. To increase the growth of sales and profitability by 20% in coming one year.
2. To increase the demand of juice and drinks by 30% till the year end of 2016.
3. Increasing manufacturing and production capacity of AQC by 20% in coming half year.
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4. To introduce cost effective marketing strategies and get appropriate return on investment
in technologies.
5. To attract number of customer by increasing their awareness about healthy juice and
drink products of AQC (Whittaker, 2009).
As per the above objectives, marketing plan of AQC organization will focus on
increasing attraction of the customers because; it will help in increasing sales and profitability of
the firm. Along with this, marketing plan of the organization will also shed light on cost effective
marketing strategies of the organization.
Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning strategy
Figure 3: Segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies
Segmentation:
Segmentation is process of dividing the entire market unto different segments and this
procedure is based on needs and requirements of customers. There are different strategies for
segmentation such as demographic, psychographic, geographic, income and lifestyle. As per the
smart objectives of the marketing plan of AQC, demographic segmentation will be the best. So,
organization needs to focus on customers of different age group (Segmentation, Targeting, and
Positioning, 2016). According to the given case, major and potential customers of AQC are in
the age range of 15-24 years and 45-54 years old. These customers have huge demand of healthy
juice and drink products. So, for the future marketing organization will focus on production of
juice and drink products for 45-54 years elder population of UK.
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Targeting:
As per the targeting strategy, AQC will target 45-54 years old people of UK. Because,
according to the given information, this age group has greatest growth between 2005 and 2010.
Along with this, consumption of fruit and vegetable juice is also high in this age group because
these customers are highly conscious towards their health. They used to prefer healthy juice and
drink for improving their health (Wilson, 2001). Targeting these age groups will help in
increasing the total consumption of the products and services of AQC which will lead towards
improvement in total sales and profitability of the organization in UK. Therefore, this targeting
strategy will play important role in attaining smart objectives of marketing planning process.
Positioning:
Each and every customer is different from another so, creating and developing an image
in consumer’s mind is one of the crucial tasks for AQC. Appropriate strategy of positioning will
be suitable for this purpose. Marketing mix is one of the best models for deciding positioning
strategy of an organization (The marketing mix, 2016). It focuses on product, price, place and
promotion of juice and drink of AQC. Product: As per the given information, customers of AQC prefer healthy juice and drink
so organization needs to focus on developing healthy product for customers which will
help in increasing level of satisfaction of every consumer. Along with this, for attracting
customers, organization needs to focus on recyclable packaging of juice in can and
bottles. It will also provide appropriate protection to environment. Price: Marketing penetration pricing will be appropriate for attracting customers at initial
level. According to this strategy, organization needs to charge low price at the time of
launching products in the market. It will help in attracting customers. After few months,
AQC will retail sufficient number of customers. At this time, organization can raise the
price and can get desired amount of profit. It will help in attaining objectives of
marketing plan in appropriate way (Dent, 2011). Place: Placement and distribution are one of the important aspects of the marketing
planning. AQC can use franchising method of distribution because it helps in capturing
market share in UK. It will also help in brand identification. Therefore, this distribution
strategy will be effective for attaining goals and objectives (Franchising as a distribution
method, 2016).
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 Promotion: Social media marketing will be the best option for promoting products and
services in the market. It will be cost effective as well as helps in increasing customer’s
interaction at social media networks. Including this, organization will use some discount
offers for the high volume purchase of juice and drinks. Including this, organization will
develop appropriate website and blog page for promoting products and services. Further,
for attaining customers and increasing their awareness AQC will use mobile marketing
such as emails and messages about the any new update in products (Promotion mix,
2013).
Implementation and marketing control
For implementation marketing strategies in effective manner, AQC needs to focus on
appropriate plan of execution and control. Implementation of marketing will include appropriate
strategy to maintain coordination between different units of AQC. Along with this, company can
use formal methods for making vertical and horizontal communication at workplace. Along with
this, AQC will recruit skilled and experienced employees as well as will provide appropriate
training to increase the proficiency (Cao, Yong and Thomas, 2005). Organization will follow
appropriate motivational methods for increasing satisfaction level of employees. Therefore, all
these consideration will help in implementation of marketing plan in appropriate way.
AQC organization needs to focus on controlling of annual marketing plan, profitability,
efficiency and strategies. For maintaining marketing control, AQC will develop appropriate
values of indicators for success such as sales volume, profitability and market share, etc. These
indicators will help in making comparison between actual and planned performance of marketing
activities. By using these strategies, AQC can make necessary changes which will help in
attaining aim and objectives of marketing plan is effective manner (Liano, 2012).
Required resources
AQC needs to focus on appropriate arrangement of all required resources such as
financial, human and technical resources. Discussions of all resources are as follows:
 Financial resources: For developing website of the organization, AQC will require some
specific amount of fund. Recyclable packaging will also increase the requirement of
funds. Along with this, technology investment is also one of the major reasons behind the
requirements of financial resources. So, for satisfying financial needs and requirements,
AQC will use bank loan, retained earnings and sales of unnecessary assets. Because all
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three resources are cost effective and will provide huge amount of money for
organization (Charles, 2007).
 Human resources: For implementing marketing plan in effective manner and completing
every task on time, AQC will require appropriate number of human resources. Including
this, company will arrange some training session for employees which will help in
increasing their skills for handing the latest technological equipment.
 Operational resources: AQC will require making arrangement of appropriate machinery
and other equipment for producing juice and drink products and services.
 Technical resources: Organization will require number of technical resources for
developing website (Aaker, 2011). Along with this, AQC will make arrangement of
internet and computer system for social media marketing, mobile marketing and digital
marketing of products and services.
Presenting and Sales planning
Approval of the marketing plan by top management of AQC is very essential for further
implementation. Presentation will help in communicating the future marketing strategy in front
of top management. Managers of top level management will analyse whether this marketing plan
helps in attaining objectives of AQC or not (Cao, Yong and Thomas, 2005). Analysis of the
result will help the top management in decision making process.
After getting approval from top management, respective employee of AQC will
communicate the important information of marketing plan to sales development team. It will
provide information about goals, objectives and strategies of the company for coming one year.
On the basis of this marketing plan, sales manager will allocate roles and responsibility to sales
team members. Along with this, sales plan of the company will also focus on needs and
requirements of customers which will increase the total sales of the organization (Pride and et.al,
2012). Along with this, company will take feedback from sales team members about the
customer’s experience and their demand (Dent, 2011). It will also increase the opportunity to
produce juice and drink products as per the demand of customers.
Future strategy
Developing, implementation and controlling of marketing plan will help in developing
future marketing strategies for AQC. The current marketing plan helps in increasing knowledge
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of marketing manager about how to formulate objectives and development strategies (Whittaker,
2009). The current marketing plan will helps in increasing sales and profitability of AQC in
coming one year. Including this, the current plan focuses on UK customers only. In future, AQC
organization can launch its products and services in developing nations such as Asian countries
because population of these countries are very high which will provide growth and development
in international market. Including this, in future, AQC organization can increase the number of
products and services in its existing product line. It will also help in attracting customers of
different demand. Further, diversification in healthy food product is also one of the best
strategies for future expansion of the business (Aaker, 2007). Therefore, the current marketing
plan will increase the future scope of growth and development of AQC organisation.
CONCLUSION
Principles of marketing have helped in developing whole marketing plan in the most
effective manner. These principles have played important role in analysing micro and macro
environment of Atlantic Quench Cranberries Inc. which helped in formulating appropriate
mission and objectives of the organization for coming one year. As per the objectives, study has
used demographic strategy for segmentation and targeted 45-54 years old people of UK.
Marketing plan has applied marketing mix model for deciding positioning strategy. According
to the plan, AQC organization can use social media marketing, website, blog page and mobile
marketing for promoting juice and healthy drink product in front target customers. For
implementing marketing plan in effective manner, AQC will require different types of resources
such as financial, human, technical and operational resources. All these strategies will help in
attaining all goal and objectives and increasing growth of AQC.
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REFERENCES
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McGraw-Hill.
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Routledge.
Dent, J., 2011. Distribution Channels: Understanding and Managing Channels to Market.
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