Marketing Plan for RSL Service League Club: Barossa Branches

This report presents a marketing strategy for the RSL Service League Club's Barossa sub-branches (Tanunda and Nuriootpa). It begins by outlining the environmental issues facing the club, including political, economic, social, and technological factors, and then performs a SWOT analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The report proposes strategies to differentiate the RSL from competitors, addresses the club's future if no changes are made, and suggests changes to reinvigorate the club and attract a younger demographic. It explores ways to attract new members, overcome the perception of being for older people, improve the club's decoration, and capitalize on mobile phone-obsessed youth culture through SMS advertising. The report also describes current product offerings, such as counselling and voluntary support services, and includes a reference list.

MARKETING STRATEGY FOR RSL SERVICE LEAGUE CLUB-
BAROSSA SUB-BRANCHES (TANUNDA AND NURIOOTPA)

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
a) Describe the environmental issues facing the club..................................................................3
b) Perform SWOT analysis of the club.........................................................................................3
c) Describe how you can differentiate the RSL from its competitors..........................................4
d) Assuming there is no change, where do you see the club heading in 10 years’ time. Give
reason to support your answer.........................................................................................................5
e) Assuming you are to change, suggest what you should change to improve the situation of the
club and ways to reinvigorate the club............................................................................................5
f) Describe the likely age group that you should be targeting at.................................................5
g) Describe how you would attract the members to join the club while trying to overcome the
perception the RSLs were for older people.....................................................................................6
h) What plan should you consider to improve the decoration which will be in line with being
modern?...........................................................................................................................................6
i) Assume that you want to capitalize on the mobile phone obsessed youth culture, describe
some of the ways you can reach them.............................................................................................6
j) Describe the current product offering that can be available to the target people.........................6
Reference List:.................................................................................................................................8

Introduction
The Returned and Services League of Australia is one of the most widespread organizations for
supporting individuals who have been members of or are currently serving in Defence forces.
While there are various RSL clubs spread over the local areas of Australia, one of the oldest and
most reputed clubs is the Barossa RSL club and its sub branches, Tanunda and Nuriootpa. The
below mentioned is the marketing strategy that can be followed by the branches in order to be
more relevant and gain considerable reputation.
a) Describe the environmental issues facing the club
Political- The support attained from the government in order to reach out to the mass is
limited. It does not extend the opportunity to provide the locations of the potential members
in and around the region where the organization is functioning. Additionally lack of
government grants and funds also exist.
Economic- The economic condition is yet to get stable. The reliance of the club is on the
membership funds which are attained by the club. In addition to this, fundraising events are
organised every year ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day. It can be seen that the cash-flows
are not sufficient and consistent.
Social- It can be observed that the people within the community where the branches are
operating are not completely aware of the services which are provided by these clubs. The
benefits of being members of clubs as such are not recognised by the majority of the people
(Broome, 2015). The requirements of encouraging the youngsters in the area by both the
mentioned clubs are being recognised.
Technological- The incorporation of technology is being recognised by the branches in
recent times. The official websites of the organisations are updated on a regular basis. In
addition to this, the social media platforms are also utilised in order to garner the attention of
larger number of people.

b) Perform SWOT analysis of the club

Strengths
 Dedicated members
 Increasing support of the citizens in
Australia towards the defence service
providers
 Funding collected from Veteran Affairs
and Council
 Veteran affairs assistance
 Counselling and support services
Weaknesses
 Reduction in the membership of the
clubs
 The existing members are aging
 Lack of awareness among people
regarding the services extended
 Relying heavily on volunteers’ support
 Lacking office equipment facilities
 Lack of government support
Opportunities
 Additional fundraising events
 Promotion of the events undertaken to
enhance the awareness among
individuals in the localities (Lee, 2016)
 Providing opportunities to registered
professionals serving as police, nurses
and so on to become members
 Social membership
Threats
 Perception of the community
 Increasing costs for operation
 Issues relating to the history limiting
membership, for instance, Vietnam
Veterans
 Other clubs and venues posing
competition
c) Describe how you can differentiate the RSL from its competitors
While there are various other competitive sets that are operating within the locality some of
which are the Rotary club, Tanuda clubhouse, community sporting clubs and so on, it can be said
that what makes these sub-branches stand apart from the crowd is the dedication towards the
individuals serving the defence. Hence, a level of patriotism is involved in the functioning of the
club which can garner more respect from the citizens (Gainsbury et al. 2016). Thus, it can be
said that while there are other competitors that can influence the time and money of the people,
the involvement of the people towards these sub-branches can be driven more provided
appropriate awareness programs are being followed.

d) Assuming there is no change, where do you see the club heading in 10 years’ time. Give
reason to support your answer.
If no appropriate changes are introduced, there are chances that the numbers of members will
reach a standstill. Since the current members are aged, there are chances that they might not take
part in the future events and functions organised by the sub-branches. Hence, the overall
functionality of the organisation may get terribly hampered (Rydon, 2017). In addition to this,
the lack of awareness among the local people will reduce the volunteer counts as well in the
future. The interest of the people will definitely not be in line with the requirements of the
organisation. Thus, the dedication of the members will be hampered.
e) Assuming you are to change, suggest what you should change to improve the situation
of the club and ways to reinvigorate the club.
If suitable changes are required to be made within the sub-branches, it is important that
promotions regarding the operations and events conducted by the organisation are done (Reeve
and Lewincamp, 2014). Presentation in local schools and community halls can be done in order
to drive the interest of the local residents. Additionally, the online platforms can be utilised in
order to share standard information. Thus, the declining membership can be checked by attaining
attention of the people.
f) Describe the likely age group that you should be targeting at
The younger generation will be targeted in the marketing strategy. In order to maintain the
relevance of the club in the society for a sustainable period, the requirement of energetic
members cannot be denied. By investing on the energy and willingness to get associated with
social clubs as such, it will be easier for the sub-branch to be functional for a longer period of
time (Driscoll, 2017). Additionally, the services undertaken to serve the community will be done
in a more systematic manner with the cooperation from the youth in their 20s. They can spread
their acquired knowledge to more numbers of people as well.

g) Describe how you would attract the members to join the club while trying to overcome
the perception the RSLs were for older people.
Information document relating to the sub-branches and their relevance can be developed which
can be distributed among the target groups. This will create better awareness regarding the
functions of RSL. Additionally, investing in media like outdoor advertisement can also be
helpful in attaining the attention of the people (Australia et al. 2014). The management can
consider developing better relationship with the service-centric organisations like educational
institution or social care. This would provide a greater scope for the organisation to be able to be
able to come in contact with larger number of target audience and influence them to get
membership of the club.
h) What plan should you consider to improve the decoration which will be in line with
being modern?
Attaining the attention is not enough, it is also important that the attention is retained. Hence, in
order to ensure that the interest of the target audience is enhanced, appropriate consideration
towards the decor of the club can be done (Williamson and Ruming, 2016). Decorating the
premises with the arms which are currently not functional can be effective in reflecting the
purpose of the club. Additionally, decorating the walls with interesti9ng trivia or information,
pictures can also be a good idea.
i) Assume that you want to capitalize on the mobile phone obsessed youth culture,
describe some of the ways you can reach them.
In order to influence the youth which is heavily depending on the mobile phones in recent times,
the utilisation of communication channels like SMS advertising can be done (Loeffel, 2015). It
will be helpful in reaching the required message to the people in a more effective manner.
j) Describe the current product offering that can be available to the target people.
The counselling and voluntary support services can be made available for the target youth. While
the amount of stress among the youth is on the rise, the effectiveness of the counselling and
support group can be a driving factor in influencing the attention of the target people (Malouf,
2015).