MRKT20052 - Marketing Plan: Max Protein Banana Bar Strategy

This report provides a strategic marketing plan for Natural Evolution's 'Max Protein Banana Bar.' It addresses the company's challenges, including high manufacturing costs and marketing communication inefficiencies. The plan focuses on targeting health-conscious consumers aged 20-50 who are increasingly interested in organic products. The marketing strategy encompasses a detailed marketing mix, including product positioning, pricing, distribution, and promotion, with the goal of increasing sales, market share, and overall profitability. The plan also outlines financial objectives such as wider profit margins, revenue growth, and revenue diversification. Desklib offers a variety of solved assignments and past papers for students.

Running head: A STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN
A Strategic Marketing Plan
["Max Protein Banana Bar"]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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Executive summary
The study aims to deliver a marketing plan for the company ‘Natural Evolution’. The product
to be launched is ‘Max Protein Banana Bar’. The company performs average in regards to
product pricing and marketing communication. As a result, its competitors are getting
benefitted from the operational flaws. However, the marketing plan as being designed in this
report can help ‘Natural Evolution’ to effectively launch the ‘Max Protein Banana Bar’.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................3
2. Segmentation, targeting and positioning approach................................................................3
2.1 Problem statement............................................................................................................3
2.2 Discussion of a potential market segment........................................................................4
2.3 Discussion of target market and positioning....................................................................5
3. Three Marketing and 3 Financial Objectives.........................................................................6
3.1 Marketing objectives and goals........................................................................................6
3.2 Financial objectives and goals.........................................................................................6
4. A detailed marketing mix strategy.........................................................................................7
4.1 Marketing mix..................................................................................................................7
4.2 Marketing strategy proposed implementation..................................................................9
5. Budget Allocation for Promotion Mix.................................................................................11
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................12

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1. Introduction
This is a continuation of the study being conducted in assignment 1. Assignment 1
was aimed at conducting an organizational analysis of the company ‘Natural Evolution’. The
analysis did find a need to design a comprehensive and strategic marketing plan to support an
effective launch of a product "Max Protein Banana Bar". Hence, this study is actually about
designing a strategic marketing plan to support the launch of a new product. In a marketing
plan, it is essential to use the contemporary marketing tools and theories, so that, the target
population is effectively accessed (Dangelico & Vocalelli, 2017). Nonetheless, competitor
companies of ‘Natural Evolution’ are more effective in regards to reaching to the target
audience.
The chosen product is "Max Protein Banana Bar". The product is made up of
excellent quality ingredients. It is also gluten-free. The flour used for the product is locally
sourced. The target age group is 20-50. The product is a potential selection considering an
increasingly growing bent of people towards organic products. However, an effective
marketing communication will be needed as the competitors of ‘Natural Evolution’ are
comparatively more effective in accessing to the target audience. The company has a few
issues due to many reasons. Employees are overloaded with work and hence, not being able
to avail of the work-life balance. The company’s financiers are not pro-changer. The
executive level staffs are indeed friendly and supportive. An adequate support from the
Australian government can be expected as the new product is organically sourced. Small-
scale investors are earning good profits from the stock exchange market. On a whole, the
company is in a good financial situation.
2. Segmentation, targeting and positioning approach
2.1 Problem statement

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The company ‘Natural Evolution’ faces the problem of increased manufacturing cost.
The manufacturing cost could not be reduced as the company did not want to compromise
with its products’ quality. However, it has a real good opportunity in the form of organic
products. However, it may not be able to enjoy the opportunity due to its inefficiency in
marketing communication. It lags behind to its competitors in terms of reaching or accessing
the target market. There can be several reasons for the fact; however, ineffective marketing
communication is one of the reasons. The company follows a traditional marketing approach
of which most are outdated and are not effective as well. Moreover, it misses on a few
potential communication means like paper advertising, TV ads, social media promotion etc.
There is an urgent need to address the profit margin, which is being affected by increased
manufacturing costs and uncompetitive marketing strategies. A competitive marketing
communication is required to promote the launch of “Max Protein Banana Bar" to help the
product reach to the target audience (Natural Evolution Foods, 2018).
2.2 Discussion of a potential market segment
The potential market segment chosen for this report are customers who are
increasingly becoming inclined to organic products. There are ample reasons for why those
specific customer groups are inclining to organic foods. One of the reasons is definitely the
pricing. Organic products can be cheaper than the inorganics as the farming process of
inorganic products does not involve the use of any pesticides, sewage sludge, ionizing
radiation, genetically modified organisms and synthetic fertilizers. Organic products are
exclusively grown and naturally extracted from plants. ‘Side effects’ is another reason, which
attracts people towards organic products. It contains little or no side effects as organic
products are sourced from plants and prepared naturally without using any kind of chemicals.
Additionally, the production of organic products has little or no adverse impact on the

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environment. A company that does or plan to offer the organic products will have a good
reputation build up in the sight of the local government and consumers (Lee & Yun, 2015).
According to Meier et al., (2015), the overall awareness of consumers on organic food
products is soaring. Their attitudes towards the purchase of organic foods are mostly positive.
Consumers are being motivated to these products due to their rising concerns for health,
lifestyle, environment, their subjective norms and food product quality. The changing
consumer behavior and the benefits of organic foods are two of the reasons behind a boosting
consumption of organic foods.
2.3 Discussion of target market and positioning
Target market
The target consumers are the people falling in the age bracket of 20-50. A market
segmentation theory is a helpful guide towards identifying the target market. The theory says
that the target market can be identified by a few variables like geographic, psychographic,
demographic and behavioral. A behavioral segmentation will be used for this report to
identify the target market. Behavioral segmentation helps to identify the target market based
on consumers’ buying behavior (Coskun, Ozgur, Polat & Gungor, 2016). For example,
budgeted phones are shipped to the Asian countries whereas high-end phones for the Western
like the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia, New Zealand and others.
On a similar note, ‘Natural Evolution’ was able to understand the emerging trend for food
and beauty products. People especially belonging to the age group 20-50 are now
increasingly getting aware of the impact of foods and beauty products that they consume.
They have a number of resources in the form of articles in newspapers, websites, popular
magazines etc. to be aware of the emerging trends. These resources are not just educating
consumers on the harms of consuming the inorganic food products but also on the benefits of

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organic food products. Decision making is now much more matured, which is both an
opportunity and challenge to the business. Those who are flexible with consumers' behavior
they will have little or fewer troubles from changing consumer buying behavior. ‘Natural
Evolution’ is one of those few companies, which want to remain flexible with the changing
pattern of purchase.
Positioning
“Natural Evolution will make the people’s life enjoyable with organically sourced
food products at relatively low prices”
3. Three Marketing and 3 Financial Objectives
3.1 Marketing objectives and goals
The ultimate goal of marketing is to enhance the profitability margin for ‘Natural
Evolution’. The goal can be attained with the help of the following objectives:
 To target the new customers
 To increase the sales
 To grow the market shares
There was the need to target new customers as the target market is a booming prospect and
also that the ‘Natural Evolution’ had no other option than to go with this. The company did
not also want to compromise on the products' quality. Hence, the only way to perform better
than the competitors and grow the market shares also was to go with a different concept and
targeting a new set of customers. An increment in sales and so in market shares should
possibly do the needful for ‘Natural Evolution’.
3.2 Financial objectives and goals

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The ultimate goal in financial terms is to attain the wider profit margins. The goal will
be served from following financial objectives:
 To have wider profit margins
 To achieve a growth in revenues
 To have a diverse revenue base
4. A detailed marketing mix strategy
4.1 Marketing mix
Product
According to the ‘Marketing Orientation Theory’, products should be appropriate
to the target audience. The appropriateness needs to be managed along the price and
products’ quality. It means products should be demanding for its target audience. For
example, it is not appropriate to offer luxury cars to customers who cannot afford it. They
should rather be offered the budget cars with appealing features. Similarly, low-cost cars with
average features should not be offered to high-end customers as these customers can afford
and also prefer to have the luxury cars (Hafeez, Noor, Shariff & Lazim, 2013).
The product to be launched is the “Max Protein Banana Bar”. The product is made up
of high in quality ingredients. It is also gluten-free. The product is both tasty and good to
boost instant energy. Unlike chocolate the product will not melt when kept inside the bag.
The product is healthy, natural, organic and vegan-friendly. The bar is a perfect partner for
those who do a lot of physical exercises and need an instant energy booster.
Price
Price is an essential component of marketing mix theory. As opined by Weisstein,
Kukar-Kinney & Monroe (2016), pricing should essentially be more effective than

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competitors and bearable to target consumers. Both high and low-end consumers want the
best deal. The best deal is unarguably the one, which is superior both in terms of products'
quality and pricing. However, this is indeed difficult to remain both cost-effective and offer
quality products. For example, the case study company ‘Natural Evolution' has been offering
quality products; however, failed to remain a cost-effective service provider. On the other
hand, its competitors offer similar kinds of products at cheaper rates. According to Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs, marketers need to have the ability to effectively understand the buying
behavior of its target consumers. Pricing is one of the factors, which affect the buying
patterns of consumers. Hence, setting up of price is a critical part of a strategic and
comprehensive marketing plan (Karnatovskaia, Gajic, Bienvenu, Stevenson & Needham,
2015).
Place
As stated by Arnett & Wittmann (2014), the place of sales is an important part of the
marketing mix and must be planned carefully. It means that all products may not necessarily
be suitable for bigger platforms like supermarkets. Such products can also be sold through the
small-scale retailers. The purpose should be to reach to the target audience all the time. For
reputed and bigger companies, it is advisable to go multiple ways like going to supermarkets
as well as for small retailers. On the other hand, for potential but relatively smaller
companies, it is better to stay confined to small-scale retailers (Eshuis, Klijn & Braun, 2014).
In the context of the ‘Natural Evolution' Company, it would be much better to remain
confined just with small retailers. "Max Protein Banana Bar" is a kind of a chocolate in terms
of shape and physical layout. However, it is very different than a chocolate in other ways. It
is indeed an energy booster, which unlike a chocolate does not melt in a bag. It is an easy and
safe way to generate or boost instant energy. Moreover, at small-scale retail shops, the

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product can be made readily available and accessible to customers. More consumers will be
able to know about the product and use it as well.
Promotion
The importance of promotion can be understood from the theory of planned behavior.
The Theory of Planned Behaviour suggests that intentions for different kinds of behaviors
towards a product or service must be predicted with maximum accuracy (Kautonen, van
Gelderen & Fink, 2015). The theory further suggests to take into consideration a number of
variables like attitudes, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms to effectively
understand the reasons behind consumers reacting so differently to a product or service. The
theory provides a baseline for thing such as what makes consumers behave so differently in
certain situations. Such predictions can really be helpful in promoting and changing diverse
decision-making behavior through messages (De Leeuw, Valois, Ajzen & Schmidt, 2015).
In the context of ‘Natural Evolution', a number of promotional strategies can be
adopted like paper advertising, TV ads, social media promotion etc. Paper advertising is one
of the most commonly used modes of promotion. It is an appropriate mode of promotion for
small retailers. It is one of the cheapest ways to reach to a thousand or millions of people in a
shorter period of time. ‘TV ads’ is about promoting the product while during the popular TV
daily soaps, sporting events and entertaining programs. Social media promotion is a potential
platform to reach to a thousand or millions of people in a very short span of time. Social
media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter etc. can particularly be very
handful. The number of subscriptions for a page on YouTube is a good way for both making
the publicity and generating revenues. A number of likes, comments for a Facebook page are
also a way to generate views and revenues. Twitter can be used to interact with the audience
and respond to their queries.

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4.2 Marketing strategy proposed implementation
Communication: It is a very vital phase of implementation. ‘Natural Evolution’, in
particular, will have troubles because its employees are already overburdened with work.
There is no work-life balance for employees. As financiers are not the pro-changer, they will
have a resisting tendency towards the proposed marketing plan. On the other hand, the
company has good support from its executive level staffs, the Australian government and the
small-scale investors. An effective communication will hold the key to motivate employees
and financiers for their contributions. This is also necessary to effectively explain the
implementation plan to executives and small investors. Moreover, there will also be the needs
to seek an approval from the local government (Chen & Zhang, 2014).
Communicating the end goal: The end goal is to increase the profit margin. Hence, it is
necessary to communicate the rationale for the marketing plan. The expected benefits to the
business must also be explained. For example, ‘Natural Evolution' will be able to offer the
organically sourced food products at even a cheaper rate than its competitors. Revenues will
widen up and so the market shares (Berson, Halevy, Shamir & Erez, 2015). Moreover,
benefits will be for all who contributes to the implementation.
Monitor the progress: Marketing plan needs to be treated as a living document that means a
continuous monitoring of the plan. The implementation process needs to be reviewed against
several variables such as follows: (Bryant et al., 2014)
 Was the product able to hit the target market?
 Is the budget on target or else?
 Have any of the tactics not worked?
Consider the adjustments: It is important to be aware of the market trends in regards to
technology, competition, suppliers, customers and other external factors to be able to make

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adjustments when needed. This will help ‘Natural Evolution’ to effectively maintain its
marketing plans (Kumar, 2015).
Develop the contingency plans: It is a fact that all marketing plans will not work. Hence, it
is important to develop contingency plans, add new steps if needed into the actions, extend
the time frames and upgrade the marketing objectives.
5. Budget Allocation for Promotion Mix
TV ads AU$279.68 to AU$2014.61 for a 30-second
commercial
Paper advertising AU$4100.68 for 1/8 page ad
Social media marketing AU$400 to AU$22,000 per month
Table 1: Expected Budget Allocation
Conclusion
In summary, this can be said that "Max Protein Banana Bar" could be a potential
move for ‘Natural Evolution’ in regards to increasing the profit margin. It is due to the rising
popularity of organic food products in Australia. Consumers are increasingly getting
informed on the harms of inorganic foods and the benefits of organic food products. ‘Natural
Evolution’ had previously lacked in effectively promoting the products. Consequently, its
competitors took the advantage. However, this marketing plan should definitely work in favor
of the company.

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