Marketing and Management Report: YHGP SWOT and Marketing Plan

This report provides a detailed analysis of Your Home is a Good Place, Inc. (YHGP), encompassing a SWOT analysis and a comprehensive marketing plan. The SWOT analysis identifies YHGP's strengths, such as its one-stop experience and diversification, while also highlighting weaknesses like potential competition and the need for detailed demographic analysis. Opportunities include its unique selling point and location, while threats involve substitution and economic considerations. The marketing plan emphasizes the importance of the four Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) and recommends strategies to expand the customer base, including analyzing the target market, attracting contractors, and controlling promotional costs. The report also discusses the importance of hiring qualified staff and transparent communication to ensure YHGP's continued success. The report concludes by suggesting that Norwalk adopt new ideas and techniques to enhance communication and reduce costs.

Running head: MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Marketing and Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note

1MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Answer to Part a...............................................................................................................................2
A SWOT analysis of the business conducted by YHGP.............................................................2
Answer to Part b..............................................................................................................................3
A marketing plan for YHGP........................................................................................................3
Bibliography....................................................................................................................................7

2MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Answer to Part a
A SWOT analysis of the business conducted by YHGP
A SWOT analysis of YHGP that has been conducted can be listed down as follows:
Strength:
 One-stop experience - the one-stop experience provided by the business to its customers
is one of the major unique selling points
 Diversification – the facility provided by business is derived from the diverse range of
business entities with whom YHGP proposes to work. This enables the business a
complete house remodeling solution to its clients
 Brand value – the strategy that has been revealed in the case study in all probabilities
predict the creation of a brand value that would carry the particular business to great
heights
Weakness:
 Competitors – YHGP does not take into account the potential competitors that may
imitate the business strategy adopted by the firm thus, affect business
 Large scale contractors - Norwalk should avoid partnering with the large scale
contractors as they might substitute YHGP in the pursuit of earning higher returns
 Demand side – the demand side included by Norwalk should be properly analyzed and
interpreted in order to determine the target group of customers or market
 Hiring of staff – the appointment of staff should be carried out only after proper review
of their personal and professional background
Opportunities:
 Unique selling point – the business has an ex factor to it. This means that the providence
of convenience to the customers as a strategic marketing variable is the first of its kind.
Thus, YHGP has enough opportunity to prosper and earn revenue
 Creation of brand image – the business idea also possesses enough flair to become a
market for the providence of home improvement services

3MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
 Location – the business is located in the town of Mishawaka, Indiana, in the middle of
Michiana area. The area is not officially recognized by the U.S. government. Thus, it can
be implied from this fact that the tax that the business has to pay for conducting business
in such a location would be less. This would decrease the operational costs of business,
Threats:
 Substitution – the first major threat that the firm, YHGP is exposed to, is the threat of
being substituted by its partners or any other already existing competitor firms by the
means of imitating its strategy
 Interpretation of the demographical particulars – the interpretation of the demographical
particulars should be carried out in a much more detailed manner. This is because the
particular assumption that the individuals with household income more than $100,000
may not indulge in home improvement processes. This would effectively hamper
business
 Economic consideration – the economic consideration should also be considered in order
to accurately forecast the projected revenues from business
Answer to Part b
A marketing plan for YHGP
Your Home is a Good Place, Inc is a unique business that effectively plans to utilize the
luxury of providing convenience to its customers as a strategic marketing variable. The business
also provides a one stop shopping experience to the customers who are looking for home
improvements. The unique selling point of the business lies in the fact that it relieves its
customers from the unnecessary stress of going from one place to another for the purpose of
constructing his dream house. However, it comes up from the case study that the forces of
demand of the region in which the business is conducted has been under speculation. Therefore,
it can be implied that the marketing strategy of business cannot be limited to keeping the existing
customers happy. The marketing strategy has to be such that the business acquires an expanded
customer base in order to survive and compete with the fellow firms in the industry. A particular

4MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
consideration of the plan or strategy that should be employed by YHGP is that the four Ps of
marketing should invariably be considered while creating the strategy.
The four P’s of marketing are Product, Price, Place and Promotion. In case of YHGP the
particular service provided by it was unique in its own nature. This is because, at YHGP the
customers had the facility of literally viewing the each and every piece of design that he would
like to place in his house. YHGP gave its customers the much needed break from the cycle of
remodeling the house again and again. This is because the customer did not need to search for an
architect and contractors separately. The firm provided its customers with the much needed
luxury of deriving all the facilities from a single point of transaction. The customers only needed
to articulate their dram in regards to the design of their house and the rest was the responsibility
of YHGP. However, the potential competitors of the firm are the small business investors who
after observing the success of YHGP, might invest in a start-up business of the similar nature.
Moreover, the different intermediaries may wish to substitute YHGP itself by owning the agency
and starting the business on its own. Therefore, these are the areas where Norwalk needs to be
careful. Once YHGP is able to create a brand value for itself the threat from arrival of
competitors will effectively reduce.
Norwalk’s idea of one channel integration wherein he brought together the supply and
demand sides had been an important perspective from which the entire business could be
analyzed. The one channel integration has been a brilliant and unique entrepreneurial idea. The
strategy for the supply side that has been devised by Norwalk also appears to be beneficial for
business. The barter for labor and material in return for the allowance of showcasing the wares of
the contractors and the facilitators benefits business in both ways. The demand side on the other
hand, needs to be analyzed further in order to identify the target group of customers.
The particular strategy that Norwalk could adopt in order to attract more contractors and
investors in the business of YHGP is that an effective forecast of the returns that may be derived
by business in the future financial years to come should be carried out. This involves the analysis
of the demographic particulars of the place where the business is carried out. Therefore, a
transparent communication of the strategy that has been adopted by YHGP and the amount of
revenue that would be shared with the partners, would definitely attract more contractors.

5MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Nevertheless, it should be noted here that approaching the small scale contractors is
recommended. This is because partnering with the big contractor firms may eventually lead to
substitution of YHGP itself.
In case of the existing band of employees as mentioned in the case study, the major
problem that has been observed is that each of the employees displayed a particular trait of
behavioral dysfunction. This might have occurred due to the hiring of the employees without
proper checking of the background of the particular employees. Moreover, the reputation of the
employees with their previous employers should also have to be judged in order to understand
and identify any behavioral discrepancy in them. Thus, before hiring the new set of employees
proper review into their personal as well as the professional background should be conducted
along with the fulfillment of the requirement of the specified skill set.
The analysis into the demographics of the business location revealed that the targeted
base of customers in the area formed a small percentage of the total population. An initial start
up venture would be beneficial by targeting a lager band of customers. Moreover, it could not be
guaranteed that all the new house owners would opt for home improvement.
Norwalk aims to serve the customers whose household income exceed $100,000 and the
projects that cost an average of $10,000. The demographics of Michiana reveal that the
household income of only a small percentage of the total population in Michiana (10.45%) was
more than $100,000. Moreover, majority of the population over the age of 18 years were female.
Therefore, the customers that potentially could be targeted were the individuals whose household
income exceeded $50,000. This is because the increase in the number of target customers would
effectively increase the amount of returns for the initial years of the business. However, once the
business creates its brand image then targeting a lesser number of quality customers would not
affect the quantity of revenue derived.
Lastly, the most important aspect of a marketing strategy is that it should develop
techniques for the purpose of minimizing the promotional costs. The cost of implementing the
promotional ideas of Norwalk can be reduced by further focusing on the barter system that
between the local dealers and other subsidiaries as this would both benefit business and reduce
the operational costs.

6MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Thus, the marketing strategy is self-explanatory and aims to resolve any area of doubt
regarding the business plan by YHGP. However, Norwalk’s independent streak and his
reluctance to accept new ideas can hinder the process of communication. The particular method
adopted in such a situation is that presenting the advice in such a way that it appears to be the
idea of Norwalk himself.

7MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT
Bibliography
Baker, M. J. (2014). Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Biégas, S., & Neto, P. J. S. (2015). Innovation in marketing strategy process: an integration and
empirical examination. Revista Brasileira de Estratégia, 8(3), 417.
Chng, D. H. M., Shih, E., Rodgers, M. S., & Song, X. B. (2015). Managers’ marketing strategy
decision making during performance decline and the moderating influence of incentive
pay. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(5), 629-647.
Gummesson, E., Kuusela, H., & Närvänen, E. (2014). Reinventing marketing strategy by
recasting supplier/customer roles. Journal of Service Management, 25(2), 228-240.
Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Lusch, R. F., & Vargo, S. L. (2014). The service-dominant logic of marketing: Dialog, debate,
and directions. Routledge.
Slack, N. (2015). Operations strategy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Zeriti, A., Robson, M. J., Spyropoulou, S., & Leonidou, C. N. (2014). Sustainable export
marketing strategy fit and performance. Journal of International Marketing, 22(4), 44-66.