Marketing Plan for Royal Canadian Legion: Strategies and Analysis

This marketing plan for the Royal Canadian Legion (RCL) addresses the organization's need to improve its market value and attract younger members and volunteers. The report begins with an executive summary, problem statement (declining volunteer numbers), and marketing objectives (increasing young volunteers and improving service quality). An environmental analysis examines demographic trends, economic factors, social influences, and relevant regulations. The analysis includes a company analysis of RCL's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as a collaborative and competitive analysis. The plan also covers customer segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies. Finally, the report outlines marketing tactics, cost considerations, and performance measurement metrics. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and recommendations, providing a strategic roadmap for RCL's future marketing efforts.

MARKETING PLAN

MARKETING PLAN....................................................................................................................4
Executive summary.....................................................................................................................4
Problem statement.......................................................................................................................4
Marketing objectives...................................................................................................................4
Environmental analysis................................................................................................................5
Segmentation, targeting and positioning...................................................................................10
Marketing tactics.......................................................................................................................11
Cost............................................................................................................................................14
Performance standards and measurement of results..................................................................14
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................15
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................16

MARKETING PLAN
Executive summary
The market plan of Royal Canadian Legion (RCL) aims at purpose of improving market
value and performance of organisation. The organisation needs to emphasis on several marketing
elements so that more and younger people can be encouraged to join the membership and thus
company can increase the quality of its services as well as market share. It requires Royal
Canadian to conduct industry analysis as well as to improve its marketing strategies.
Problem statement
The key problem concerning which is affecting the services of Royal Canadian is that its
volunteers are declining to great extent. The existing performance and strategies or organisation
are not able to attract young, energetic and skilled people. As a result of this organisation is
lacking competitive advantage as compare to other high profile non-profitable organisations. The
issue is also influencing the customer services. Since Royal Canadian work for veterans and their
family members, participation of young members is mandatory to ensure better quality of
services and for expansion of the services. When there is lack of sufficient volunteers it has
negative impact on services provided by the organisation.
Marketing objectives
On the basis of above problem statement, the key objectives which must be achieved by
organisation are as follows:
 To increase the number of young volunteers who can help in serving more than 100,000
veteran members of the organisation.

 To improve the quality of services provided to members of Legion so that an improved
brand image of organisation can be build and more and more young people can be
attracted for volunteering.
Environmental analysis
Royal Canadian Legion which provides its services to veterans and their families so that
their contribution to country can be valued and remembrance can be promoted. The organisation
is non- profit service provider which serves the community and any individual who is above 18
years old can take voluntary membership of the Legion. For achieving the marketing objectives
it is required that a fair analysis of organisation’s business environment must be performed. The
key findings of environmental analysis of organisation are as follows:
Demographic: At present Royal Canadian is facing challenges in attracting and retaining young
members. The existing member population is reducing and majority of the members are above
60 years of age. Further the percentage of membership is also reducing greatly every year. Thus
for retaining market existing it has become mandatory for organisation to attract members from
younger generation. The branches of Legion provide destinations for communities to gather and
meet. Thus volunteers play critical role in making arrangements and serving veterans.
Economic factors: The volunteering at Legion helps young people to get an opportunity to
develop different service skills by helping homeless veterans so that they can lead a better
civilian life However in terms of monetary benefits volunteers does not receive any kind of
facility. The services provided by volunteers are for respecting the services of veterans. The
average income of seniors is greatly reducing as compare to young and middle age people
(Mononen and et.al., 2019) . Thus in this era of present economic uncertainty individuals are in
search of cost effective services and facilities. Volunteers also raise money for the community as

part of their services so that charitable donations and other organisational activities can be
conducted smoothly.
Social: The social presence of organisation has been one of the popular attribute associated with
RCL which inspire youth to join organisation as volunteers. These volunteers aim at regular
encouragement of community and social groups into various social activities or events. The
facilities provided by organisations also involve hosting of various events such as game nights,
ceremonies or Barbeque’s.
Regulations: In order to meet the organisational goals of serving veterans necessary financial
services are also provided by the organisation. The services are provided as per legislations and
thus New Veternas Charter is also revised time to time by organisation so that all legal and
necessary benefits are provided to RCL members. It also assures that all organisational members
have necessary funds and resources to maintain active participation in RCL.
Company analysis:
The goal of Royal Canadian is to serve the RECMP members, military and their family
members as well so that their contribution to country can be respected and essential services can
be provided to them. Volunteers organises different social and community events along with the
assistance in their emotional, disability and financial needs. These volunteers also educate other
community members and young people so that veterans can get respect which they deserve for
their sacrifices and contribution. Thus the experience and great understanding of need of veterans
serves as great source of knowledge for the organisation. The organisation has ability to develop
strategies and to serve veteran on massive levels. Since RCL is non-profit organisation it does
not have its own resources, instead it receives its funds from various sources. The volunteers of

the organisation participate in several events and collect fund for organisation so that quality of
civilian life of veterans can be improved. Its funds are also obtained through membership dues
which are in range $40-$60 (Funding model, 2020). The branches of Legion receive support
from municipal government or federals, through fundraising or through legion merchandise
which are sold by RCL for profitability purpose.The key aspects of organisational internal
assessment are as follows:
Strengths: The key strength of RCL is that it is well established and has necessary recognition
and support from its volunteers. Its membership prices are quite low along with high quality and
extensive range of accommodation services such as social events or gatherings. The strong
outreach and active participation of volunteers helps to survive and maintain good performance
in competitive environment as well. It does not have outstanding property debt and thus there is
effective management and regulation of various operational activities of organisation.
Weakness: RCL has status of completely non profitable organisation and thus it has extensive
reliability on volunteers and fund raising for continuity and execution of its business operations.
On some occasions this aspect can influence the functional continuity of organisation. Further
RCL volunteer plan for its volunteers to value or encourage their commitment. This is resulting
in decrease in number of volunteers. The social perception of image of RCL is related to an
image of “Drinking hangout for old men”. This does not go well with many military veterans.
Thus only entertainment oriented activities of the organisation is serving as one of its weakness
because this brand image is limiting the number of potential volunteers.
Opportunity: Based on rapid technological and global changes RCL also have great
opportunities to improve its performance and to enhance the retention of its volunteers. The first
opportunity for organisation is to increase engagement of prospective members through its

volunteer initiatives using social media applications by continuous improvement of social media
applications. The organisation must also explore the initiatives to leverage the requirement of
volunteer hours for students (Magalhãesand et.al., 2020). To upgrade the quality of services
organisation can also seek the government funding choices so that it can easily make required
improvements and creativity to its services. Legion can also initiate some recognition and
monetary benefits for its volunteering programs so that more young people can understand the
importance and need of voluntary services.
Threat:The most significant threat which is faced by RCL is aging of war time population. Thus
most of the experienced and aged members of Legion are passing and they are even not being
replaced by young population. The limited number of volunteers is influencing the extent and
quality of service provided to its members. It is also affecting the fund collection which can be
accomplished by volunteers of the organisation. As a result of this continuity and goals of
organisation and can also have long term impact on existence of organisation. Another threat
faced by organisation is weak economy. The economic crisis is creating a huge stress on elder
people who have fixed income.
Collaborative analysis:
RCL has several partners with whom organisation works in collaboration to provide
satisfactory services to its customers. The national headquarters of RCL works with national
organisations for supporting opportunities and sponsorship. Legion also has corporate
sponsorship so that it can deliver various services and programs of organisation. These corporate
support helps RCL to deliver opportunities such as youth sporting events, Poppy campaign and
Legion conventions(Supporting organizations, 2020). The member benefit partner program of

RCL aims at encouraging organisations to outreach members of organisation through
advertisements which are promoted in newsletter and on social media or organisational website.
Competitive analysis:
Due to declining population of young members in the organisation RCL has been facing
tough competition from its members. The major competitors of RCL are The Knights of
Columbus and ByranFreehouse.
The Knights of Columbus: This non-profit organisation shares same goal as that of RCL. Thus it
provides a direct competition to the organisation. The key strength of this organisation is that its
total share of profit is quite high due to its charitable projects and effective organisational
management practices. As compare to RCL its social media presence is very strong and thus is
one of the reasons for having good proportion of young members and volunteers. The huge
extent of existing membership of this competitor of RCL acts as one of the plus point for this
group to build a strong perception among other people. However the performance of this
organisation is greatly criticised and in controversy due to increased religious influences and
some of the exclusive catholic practices. RCL does not have much emphasis or centralisation to
any particular or specific religion and thus it serve as positive aspect of RCL over Knights of
Columbus.
ByranFreehouse: The second most emerging and potential competitor of RCL is
ByranFreehouse. The organisation has more successful and influential social presence and also
has partnership and collaborations with local events so that it can gain more exposure. As
compare to RCL, Freehouse has more high traffic location and more impactful signature menu
and drinks(Smol, 2020). Though this organisation does not have charitable contribution and is

relatively innovative concept, its social popularity is giving good competition to non-profitable
organisations such as RCL. The membership of RCL has specific set of requirements and thus it
serve as one of the advantage for RCL over Freehouse that there is no threat of troubling crowd.
In order to gain competitive advantage it is necessary for organisation that it must
emphasis on building strong public relations and improves its social presence using modern
technologies and methods of marketing.
Consumer analysis:
The purpose of RCL was to respect and honour the veterans who have served the nation.
However most of the young members who have served army believe that involvement of non-
vets just due to their age is kind of disrespect for them. The engagement of community makes
veterans believes that they are not welcomed properly as they deserve because there is no point
for them to join a group with majority of civilians with token of veteran. Customers of RCL
consider it as civilian club and this is one of the reason that membership is reducing greatly. The
Legion also supports New Veterans charter of 2005 which has created dissatisfaction among its
members(Smol, 2020). Thus it is also perceived as old fashioned and too mismanaged from the
perspective of veterans. However the social gatherings, fun events, veteran family card schemes
and services along with prohibition of trouble crowding seems to be satisfactory aspect for the
customers of RCL.
Segmentation, targeting and positioning
RCL segments its customers on the basis of demographic, psychographic and geographic
characteristics. Demographic segmentation is based on specific group of people while
psychographic segmentation is based on the basis of values, personality traits, lifestyle and other

psychological influences(Rayme and et.al., 2019) . RCL targets ex-service men who had served
military, police, army, sea cadets as well as their family members. However for addressing the
challenge of increasing elderly members organisation is now also targeting general public so that
young members as well as volunteers can be increased.
RCL positioned itself strongly by using symbolic as well as functional positioning
strategies. Veterans who have devoted their life for the nation deserve appropriate respect and
recognition and thus for strong positioning of brand organisation solves various issues of its
targeted customers. The membership of RCL helps them to access various benefits in health care,
retail as well as in other necessary services. The organisation regularly conducts recognition,
social gatherings as well as memberships to veterans. Thus organisation also positions itself
symbolically by self-image enhancement, social meaning with purpose of respecting its target
group. The membership of organisation is considered to be a prestigious thing and thus
organisation has strongly positioned itself in the market.
Marketing tactics
Services:The existing services of RCL include discount coupons, health check assistance as well
as social gatherings and events. These events include drinks, food as well as fun activities.
However, most of the veterans and majority of community believes that services of RCL are only
limited to drinks and late night parties. Thus for increasing profitability and number of members
organisation must enhance and improve its existing services. The organisation must also focus on
some innovative events which make ex-service men’s and veterans feel proud or make them
remember to their glory.
Another major issue which is affecting organisation’s performance is that veteran
believes that involvement of civilians and making it a civilian group is not good for the glory of

veterans. Thus for increasing participation of young members it is vital for RCL to give a
message to community that involvement of young volunteers is for improving services and is not
meant to lower the pride of veterans (Smol., 2020). This can be done by providing services as per
the ranking or categorisation of membership benefits so that both purpose can be achieved.
Price: The membership price of RCL is quite moderate and thus it prevents unnecessary
crowding. RCL is also allowing participation of civilians. Thus in order to maintain the quality
of members, organisation has kept its prices quite moderate so that only upper class civilians and
veterans can get the membership. The purpose of keeping this pricing strategy is to maintain the
pride and uniqueness of the organisational services. However for achieving its objectives
organisation must enhance its prices and premium pricing will be a best solution(Paley, 2017).
By using premium pricing RCL will also be able to distinguish civilians with veterans so that
perception of an ordinary civilian group can be broken and more and more customers or
members can be encouraged to join the organisation. In addition to these volunteers are not given
any kind of monetary benefits which is also one of the reason that organisation is facing
challenges in terms of youth contribution. Thus Legion must emphasis on providing some
benefits to young participating volunteers so that along with the skill development and social
contribution they are also motivated and can get reward for their services.
Promotion: This is one of the most important strategy will is necessary for RCL for
accomplishment of its marketing goal. There are several misconceptions about organisation
among public regarding its operational approach and target group. Thus it is recommended that
organisation must increase its social media presence so that it can increase its interaction with its
members and awareness among young generation regarding volunteering. It will help RCL to
identify the service issues faced by its members and to analyse the scope of improvement areas.

On social media platforms RCL must also post the description of its activities and events so that
young people can have actual information of the organisational purpose and events. It will be
significant step to break the negative stereotypes regarding organisation and to improve the
quality of services and membership issues.
The mouth publicity is also one of the best way for promoting the services(Fahadand
Tran, 2019). Thus RCL must ensure that it always provides satisfactory services to its members
and their needs are prioritised in the organisation. In this way the positive feedback and response
from the existing members will help RCL to attract the young members. To promote the
organisational services RCL can also give attractive discounts to young members who takes
membership so that they are motivated by suitable discount offers.
Place:Currently organisation is working in Canada, Mexico as well as in Europe but it has
multiple branches across these countries. However RCL must plan to expand its network so that
its membership base will increase and it will be easy for it to build strong and loyal customers for
long term. The expansion will also be one of the factors which can raise the number of
volunteers as young people desire to work with the big brands who can contribute in their
services along with skill development. The huge presence of organisation will make it easy for
its members to approach and use the services of RCL with greater ease. The distribution network
of the organisation must be develop stronger and thus all its members will find it easy to access
the organisational services. The services of organisation are also available through website of the
organisation and thus making it more completive.
Competitive strategies:The participation of young volunteers and declining number of young
members is one of the drawback which is affecting the competitive stability of the organisation.
In order to gain advantage and remain strongest in the market RCL must focus on improving the