Lush and Blush: Developing a Strategic Marketing Plan for USA

This report presents a strategic marketing plan for Lush and Blush, a UK-based cosmetics company specializing in organic beauty products, as they plan to expand into the USA market. The plan begins with an executive summary and an introduction to strategic marketing planning, emphasizing market analysis and objective setting. A company analysis of Lush and Blush is provided, followed by a marketing audit utilizing PESTEL and Porter's Five Forces models to assess the external and competitive environments. The report then outlines SMART objectives, marketing strategies based on the marketing mix, and strategies for implementation and control. The PESTEL analysis considers political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal factors in the USA, highlighting opportunities and challenges. The report concludes with a discussion of implementation and control measures to ensure the plan's effectiveness. References are also provided.

Strategic
Marketing
Plan Purpose

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Strategic marketing plan is considered as ongoing process through which a company is
able to develop strategies as well as policies for marketing its products and services properly in
order to attain their goal and objective. Along with this, through strategic marketing plan, a
company able to grow its strength, identify opportunities and grow its business operations
through expansion as well as enchaining profit ratio. This assignment is based on Lush and
Blush; which is operating its business at cosmetic industry of United Kingdom and now they are
planning to expand its business in USA. They mainly offer organic products which is prepare
through natural and organic raw material as well as it is also manufactured using traditional
methods. For doing this, they need to design strategic marketing plan that contain marketing
audit through PESTEL and Porter's five forces model. Along with this respective company also
develop SMART objective which help in attainment of goal as well as they also design
marketing strategies through marketing mix and they adopt strategies or model for its
implementation or control.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................2
Lush and Blush Company Analysis.................................................................................................2
Marketing Audit.....................................................................................................................2
SMART Objectives................................................................................................................8
Marketing Strategy.................................................................................................................8
Implementation and Control.................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................13
REFRENCES ................................................................................................................................14
1

INTRODUCTION
Strategic marketing plan refers to an ongoing procedure by which an organization
develop its marketing strategies and plan in order to fulfil its target properly. For effective
strategic marketing planning a company need to evaluate its current position at a marketplace
through which they able to identify its opportunities that help in expanding its business. This is
done through mainly three stages such as segmentation of potential customers as well as market,
conduct profiling of market segments and develop actual marketing strategies which help in
growing business operations (Paley, 2017). Their are various main aim of creating or developing
strategic marketing planning such as identifying idea customers of company products and
services, establishing marketing objective or goal, choose proper marketing tools, develop
budget and many more.
Organization taken for this assignment is Lush and Blush which is conducting its
business in cosmetics industry at market of United Kingdom. They are mainly producing organic
beauty products by using original flowers and trees. Along with is they are using traditional
method for manufacturing their beauty products. Now they are planning to expand its business in
international market i.e. USA for which they are developing strategic marketing planning that
include marketing audit, SMART objectives, marketing strategy and its implementation as well
as control in order to attain objective.
Lush and Blush Company Analysis
Planning is the process of framing perception of the ways through which a task can be
implemented. In case of Lush and Blush, it is essential for the company to make effective
marketing plan. This will help them to achieve their objectives. Following is the process of
marketing for the organization:
Marketing Audit
Marketing Audit refers to a process which is used by a company to review its marketing
plans, objective, strategies and activities which they are currently operating within its workplace
in order to attain its goal effectively. The main aim of conducting marketing audit is to evaluate
as well as analyse marketing function of an organization for identifying its efficiency,
effectiveness and quality. Through this, company is able to know that is a particular objective
will be attain by them through these marketing functions (Lidstone and MacLennan, 2017). In
2

order to conduct appropriate marketing audit, an organization needs to analyze its both internal
as well as external environment which will help them in developing its goal, strategies, plans,
principles, policies properly. This can be done through various methods and theories such as
SWOT analysis, PESTEL analysis, Porters Five forces model, competitors analysis model and
many more. Lush and Blush also conduct marketing audit in order to identify its effectiveness for
which they also adopt various theories and models, which are explained below:-
PESTEL Analysis – It refers to a process or a method which is used by a company in order to
conduct analysis of its external market on the basis of various factors such as political,
economical, social, technological, environmental and legal (Wilson and Gilligan, 2012). This
will help an organization in developing strategies as well as policies according to situation so
that company is able to attain its goal and objective properly. Evaluation of PESTEL analysis in
respect of Lush and Blush is mentioned below- Political factor: It refers to those factors which are related to government and their
policies which they develop for an organization so that they will operate its business
functions according to framework and guidelines. In include factors like taxes, duties on
export and import, fiscal policies, manufacturing policies and many more. USA is a
strong democratic country which have effective rules, regulations and legislations that are
fair as well as transparent. Respective nation enjoy huge economic as well as political
impact over both national and international policymaking as well as it is considered as
leading superpower around the world. On the other hand respective country faces global
criticism due to their interventionist policies related to war on terror that source foreign
relations, fuelling terrorist group, enhance in threat of terrorism and many more. In
respect of Lush and Blush, they are operating its business in United Kingdom and now
they are planning to expand its business in USA. The respective company have strong
demography and also have effective rules for industries which help them in operating its
business in appropriate manner. So it is an opportunity for respective company to expand
its business in USA which will help them in increasing more profit and customers base.
Moreover, it will be opportunity for Lush and Blush to conduct their business at the
respective country because government of USA support firm who come up with new
ideas or plan. Along with this, USA also have strong political impact which provide
support to respective firm that they operate successful at USA.
3

 Economical factor: It refers to economic condition of a company as well as a country
and it is necessary for a company to develop products and services accordingly which
help them in growth their business in national and international market. Along with this it
also show buying power of a customers such as if economic condition of a customer is
strong then they can able to purchase expensive products. USA is the biggest economy in
the World and they have GDP of $16.760 trillion (PEST Analysis of USA, the Largest
Economy of the World, 2019). Moreover, USA is well developed as well as strong nation
for services and manufacturing companies. Respective nation also have very less
unemployment ratio but there is less availability of inexpensive or cheap labour. This is
consider as an opportunity for respective company in order to expand their business and
gaining high profit. Along with this, buying power of respective country people is high so
it is high scope for company to sell their organic beauty products in respective country
market. On the other hand there are some limitations which may faced by Lush and Blush
if they set up their manufacturing unit at USA. This is so because at USA labour cost is
huge or expensive which may enhance expenses of respective company. Social factor: This factor is related to current and cultural trends, demographics factors,
population analytics and so on. Along with this it will also include factors like population
growth, age, distribution, health consciousness, career attitudes and many more. It is also
necessary for a company to develop its products as well as services according to need and
demand of customers or by considering social factors because this will help them in
developing products and services accordingly. Similarity to other developed country,
USA is also facing issues related to ageing population that lead to shortage of labour as
well as continuously increase in tax rate. Along with this, at respective nation there is
increase in illegal immigration which lead to increase in risk of racial discriminations,
currently there are more than 11.7 million citizen are living illegally at USA. In respect
of Lush and Blush, they are expanding their business in USA market (Cowley and Domb,
2012). Respective country population are more decline and attracted towards organic and
traditional products, which is consider as major opportunities for respective company to
expand its market in respective company and attract them with its traditional as well as
organic products. On the other hand, there are some limitations of conducting business at
4

the USA such as labour cost and tax rate is high. Due to which manufacturing as well as
operating expenses of respective company will increase. Technological factors: It refers to factors which are related to technology through that a
company able to conduct its activities or process in more effective and simple way.
Along with this by adopting appropriate technology based on process an organization
may reduce its wastage and accomplish process with attaining objective. A company can
adopt technological factors for major three ways such as for production of products and
services, distribution of manufactured products and services and communicating with
target customers or market. The government of USA, support innovation and new
technology as well as they also provide financial support to the companies who come up
with new idea or products or services. Innovation and technology are consider as
cornerstones of US economy so when Lush and Blush operate or conduct its business in
USA, they will be able to adopt new technologies which will help them in conducting its
production as well as advertising process in more effective manner. Along with this, in
respect of Lush and Blush, it will be opportunity for them as they introduce new as well
as innovative cosmetic products for the society. Through which they able to get support
from the USA government while conducting business operations as well as functions. Environmental factors: It is one of the important factor which is necessary for every
company to adopt it so that they able to produce environment friendly products and
services for which they can use organic or natural raw material, adopt ethical policies, use
traditional method for production and many more. The government of USA are very strict
about their environment and pollution according to which they develop various legal
rules as well as legalisation which provide guidelines to a company. Along with this,
USA have extreme diversity of climate, wildlife and geographic as well as they also
attract huge tourist ratio. USA government also develop strict rules and legalisation in
order to protect their environment as well as they also have policy or guidelines for every
industry. Thus, it is required for Lush and Blush to operate its business process with
limited pollution waste. In addition to this, respective company also get opportunities that
they able to attract wide range of customers, get proper guidelines for conducting
business and manufacturing process. On the other hand, it will also have some limitation
such change in climate or wealth can impact on the manufacturing process of cosmetics.
5

 Legal factor: This will include factors like health, safety, equal opportunities, advertising
standards, rights of consumers and many more. Along with this by adopting this factor an
organization able to conduct as well as operate its functions within boundaries of legal
factors which help in growth and development appropriately (Gibbs and Knapp, 2012).
USA have numbers of legal bodies such as Consumer products Safety Commission,
Environment Protection Agency, US Customs and Border Protection and many more.
These agencies or bodies take care and ensure that all industries are conducting their
work properly without harming environment. In respect of Lush and Blush, there are
some opportunities that they get while operating in USA such as they receive proper
guideline, increase goodwill, attract customers through organic products and many more.
But they also face some issues like it is expensive to adopt eco friendly products while
manufacturing. In order to this, Lush and Blush which is operating its business in
cosmetic industry need to follow several practices such as law related to raw materials,
products packaging, production and so on.
Another model which can be used for doing marketing audit is as follows:-
Porter's five forces model – This model is developed by M. Porter in year 1979. It is a tool or
technique which is adopted by a company in order to conduct marketing audit by analysing its
competition so that they can develop strategies and plans accordingly in order to attain objective.
In include major five competitive components key which help them in evaluating about their
suppliers and customers bargaining power, its competitors as well as threat of new entry and
substitutes (Thackeray, Neiger and Keller, 2012). Through this they able to identify appropriate
products and services which help them attain goal by overcoming these factors. Porter's five
forces analysis of Lush and Blush while expanding business at United State market is mentioned
below- Bargaining power of suppliers: It refers to power of suppliers which allow them to sell
their products and services at high price. At this situation a when power of suppliers is
high, they may ask for huge amount for low quality products as well as services. It is
possible when there is few suppliers but huge number of buyers, few substitutes are
available, suppliers are holding deficient resources and many more. In context of Lush
and Blush, bargaining power of suppliers are low because there are huge amount of
suppliers in respective industry. Along with this, respective company manufacture their
6

products by their own with the helps of organic materials that assist them in reducing
bargaining power of suppliers. Bargaining power of buyers: It refers to power of buyer where they can demand for high
quality products and services at low price. In this situation, company may face issues
while operating their operations. This will take place when there is few buyers of a
particular products, switching cost of other competitor suppliers is low and many more.
In respect of Lush and Blush, bargaining power of buyers is high because there are
various other competitors which are offering same kind of products in USA market and
this may affect respective company business (The cosmetic industry presentation, 2019). Competitive rivalry: It refers to factors which show how effective and competitive a
respective company in front of others. This situation may occur when there is huge
number of competitors, barriers of existence is high, growth of industry is slow or almost
negative, competitors are of equal size and many more. In context of Lush and Blush, the
competitive rivalry is high because there are many other company in USA which are
offering same range of products in almost same prices which may attract customers such
as true botanicals, Rosemira and so on. Threat of new entry: This factor is related to how easy a new company may into
particular market in order to serve its products and services. It is possible when there is
low barriers and policies at entry as well as exit time and that particular market is highly
profitable (Stevens and et. al., 2012). Along with this in respective market low capital is
required for investment. In respect of Lush and Blush, threat of new entry is low because
for entry in cosmetic industry a company required huge cost and also there is huge
competition in respective market so it is difficult for new companies to come and stay for
long time.
 Threat of substitutes: It refers to a situation when a company is having threat of
availability of substitutes at a marketplace. Due to this situation a buyer may switch from
one products and services to another for various reasons such as cost of competitive
products is low, quality of that product is high and it is available in affordable price and
so on. In context of Lush and Blush there is high threat of substitutes because in market
of USA there are number of competitive company which are operating same kind of
products and services.
7

By conducting overall analysis through PESTEL analysis as well as Porter's five forces
model Lush and Blush understand that they can expand their marketplace in USA. This is so
because there they can extant its business in proper manner due to various factors such as
economic of respective country is strong, less chance of entry of competitors and many more.
SMART Objectives
Smart objective is also known as SMART goal which provide guidelines in order to set
object for attaining target. Here, SMART refers to specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and
time bound (Mullin, Hardy and Sutton, 2014). In addition to this, it also provide direction of
what a company want to achieve and how it can be achieved in order to attain goal and target.
Some major SMART Objective prepare by Lush and Blush are mentioned below:-
 Lush and Blush want to expand its business operations and functions in USA within 2
years in order to maximising business profitability 40 % more.
 To implementing advertisement activities in firm within 3 months to enhance product
awareness 50 % more.
 To conduct hiring sessions for skilled and experienced individuals within 6 months to
enhance business productivity 35 % more.
Above mentioned objectives are develop by Lush and Blush in order to expand its
business at market place of USA in appropriate way. In order to successfully fulfil all objectives,
respective company will develop various strategies, plans as well as policies accordingly. Along
with this, they also decide time duration for fulfilling objective and goal that help them in
achieving their goal as well as objectives.
Marketing Strategy
It refers to a process which is adopted by a company in order to reach huge amount of
audiences and encourage them for become customers and purchase products and services which
an organization is providing in order to increase their sales and profitability ratio. Marketing
strategy of a firm contain various factors such as value's proportion of a company, major
marketing messages, information related to potential customers and many more. Marketing
strategies of a company help them in identifying appropriate opportunities which help in
attaining goal and objective (Donohoe, 2012). Marketing strategy of a company must be for long
time and have specific planning so that company can achieve its target by fulfilling need and
8

demand of customers. In respect of Lush and Blush, they adopt marketing mix strategies in order
to develop objective and goal, whose explanation are given below:-
Marketing Mix - This model is introduced in year 1990 and it is considered as a marketing tool
which is adopted by a firm in order to pursue or attaining its marketing objective at its target
market. Along with this by marketing mix a company able to develop its strategies, plans and
objectives in proper way for fulfilling its goal. Through marketing mix a company able to
develop its strength and ignore weaknesses, enhance its competitiveness as well as adopt
enterprises appropriately, encourage internal department of a firm to work together for attaining
goal successfully. In respect of Lush and Blush they adopt 4 P's factors of marketing mix which
help in developing strategies properly, whose explanation is given below:-
Product: It refers to item or unit which is being sold by a company in order to attract
customers. Every company try to develop products and services which are unique, attractive and
innovative through which a firm able to fulfil need as well as demand of customers properly
(Schwarz and Hunter, 2012). Along with this it is responsibility of an organization to develop or
design products according to need and demand of customers so that they can attract customers as
well as fulfil demand and need of potential customers properly. In respect of Lush and Blush,
they are offering organic beauty products which are made up of organic as well as natural
material such as plants, natural products, flowers and so on. Along with this, respective company
are also using traditional methods for manufacturing products. This will help Lush and Blush in
attracting more and more customers at USA market. Moreover it will also increase respective
company customers base and profitability ratio.
Price:It refers to amount which provide value to a product or services. Price of a product
as well as services are various factors such as cost of production, target segment, purchasing
power of customers and many more (Fine, 2017). It is necessary for an organization to conduct
analysis of market and select price of products and services according to purchasing power of
customers. This is so because if they will not do so and set product price high, but in respective
situation purchasing power of customers is low then in this situation customers not able to
purchase product due to which company may face loss. In respect of Lush and Blush they are
using skimming pricing strategy according to which they will set high price of product at initial
level and then they will start decreasing its price after some time. Through this, they will be able
to develop its presence at target market marketplace.
9

Place: It refers to point of sale which is decide by a company which catch the eye of the
consumer and encourage them to purchase products and services offer by an organization. So it
is necessary for a company to select good distribution or place which help them in attracting
customers towards their products and services. Along with this a firm also select location which
is easily reach by customer. In respect of Lush and Blush, they need to select place according to
their target customers. In respect of this, they select various location such as
shopping mall, retail stores, local stores, beauty parlour. Along with this, they can also open their
store so that customers can get more and more variety which attract as well as encourage them
for purchase products.
Promotion: It refers to all activities which are undertaken by a company in order to make
products or services known to their potential and target customers. For this an organization may
adopt various methods such as advertising, word of mouth, press reports, incentives,
commissions, discounts, coupons, awards and many more (Garoufallou and et.al., 2013). Along
with this it also include some other factors such as consumer schemes, direct marketing, contests
and prizes. In context of Lush and Blush they use various promotional techniques which help
them in attracting customers towards its products. Some promotional methods which respective
company used in order to attract and aware customers are digital media such as television, social
media like face book, Instagram, twitter, website, blogs, print media such as templates,
newspaper and so on. This will help respective company in attracting their customers in proper
manner as well as encouraging them to purchase products.
By conducting analysis of USA cosmetic market through 4 P's of marketing mix, Lush
and Blush able to develop organic cosmetic products for the customers according to requirement
of USA targeted customers. Along with this, it will also help them in setting price according to
economic conduction of USA targeted audiences. The economic conduction of USA is strong so
respective company can set their price at the middle or high rate according to the quality and
quantity. Moreover, marketing mix also help Lush and Blush to select place for selling their
organic cosmetic range as well as it also aid in choosing different promotional techniques
according to USA market such as Social media, Website, TV, direct mailing, print and so on.
This is so because through it Lush and Blush able to effectively operate their business operations
and functions at the USA marketplace.
Profit and loss forecast
10