Maximizing Profits: The Role of Marketing Plans & Strategies - Essay Sample

Introduction

The focal point of most business establishments is undeniably the pursuit of profitability. The accruement of profits by an organization is a very gravitas prerequisite primarily based on the need by the organization to expand its overall operatory and functionality scope. However, the realization and maintenance of a profitable trend demand the institutionalization of pertinent procedures and strategies. One such critical approach is the marketing plan and marketing. Essentially, a marketing plan denotes either a blueprint or a comprehensive document that outlines the marketing and advertising efforts of an organization for the coming year (Elsayed & Paton, 2005). The marketing plan, more so, describes the business activities involved in the accomplishment of specific marketing objectives within a specified period. Therefore, the focus of this paper is principally an individualistic reflection of the group marketing plan and marketing.

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The Scope of the Marketing Plan

The firm, Overlux, is primarily a luxury streetwear company located in London. The prime focus of the company is to have the knack of penetrating the global market to expand its sells of high-quality products. Hence, the firm's marketing plan is aligned with its mission and vision. The marketing plan, in its descriptions, considers vital aspects such as the firm's resources as well as the knack of the company to reach its intended international customers and convince them to consider buying its athletic shoes (Yang & Gabrielsson, 2018). The realization of this international sales endeavor is very pivotal to the firm in the making and formulation of strategic decisions.

Nonetheless, the shoe industry is both locally and internationally very competitive year (Elsayed & Paton, 2005). Consequently, it is not a choice but an inevitable prerequisite for Overlux to put into consideration several factors in the attempt to come up with an effective and pertinent marketing plan. The marketing plan, therefore, coincides with the Ansoff matrix mainly to provide a practical outline crucial for aiding marketers, managers, and executives in the establishment of relevant strategies needed in driving the company to growth and prosperity. The key focus of the marketing plan is the product development segment, the introduction of new shoes as well as the purist of diversification immediately the firm lands its feet on the international market arena.

Overlux Marketing Analysis

In analyzing the shoe market industry, the marketing plan used several resources to collect fundamental information concerning the dynamism of the shoe industry. Such a move is very pivotal owing to the veracity that it makes it very much attainable to establish its exceptional characteristics that draw the redlines between Overlux and its competitors, therefore, enabling Overlux standout. The marketing analysis, more so, identified prospective clients as well as their purchasing habits, the target market size, the strengths and weaknesses of the chief competitors, and the prices that most customers are ready to pay to acquire the latest footwear. To obtain this critical information, the marketing analysis applied several models, such as the USP model, marketing mix, the growth strategy mix, and the brand positioning map model (Yang & Gabrielsson, 2018). Thus, both primary and secondary data was gathered.

Moreover, primary research was applied in the collection of raw data and sequentially in the interpretation and analysis of the same data to be presented as secondary data. The company went even further to hire the services of marketers who were majorly used in the gathering of information directly from prospective customers. To obtain the information, the hire marketers primarily asked the prospective customers appropriate questions concerning their spending and preferences habits.

The marketing analysis eventually revealed several marketing gaps within the firm. For example, in terms of company performance competency, it was evident that Overlux was facing several dire issues concerning its total unit sales, the overall client satisfaction in comparison to other companies within the same market, issues relating to return on sales as well as issues related to net profit. Overlux is characteristically inclined towards a low value of net profits in the entirety of the simulation when compared to other firms. Also, the company's overall level of customer satisfaction in comparison to other firms is relatively low, mainly due to the veracity that the company has not been able to present a high level of its products in the market.

Objectively, the marketing plan of Overlux was aimed at realizing the same day delivery of shoes to its clients chiefly to improve its customer satisfaction as well as the creation of limited-edition shoes. Regrettably, the company failed to realize this objective mainly because of the high amount of expenses that the firm had as a startup. More so, this and other more creative and innovative concepts failed to be applied mainly because the company lacked adequate income for investing in such particularities year (Elsayed & Paton, 2005). Hence, in response to this actuality, the focal point of the Overlux marketing plan during the simulation was the attempt to increase the company's home market share as well as its domestic and foreign markets. This was to be achieved by increasing the overall amount invested in product development. Importantly, the action was relatively fruitful since an evidential increase in the market share of the company was realized.

The Simulation Decisions

Aiming to compete as a luxury brand and positioning with a higher price proved to be a less appropriate plan when operating in a real market with a new product. In the first period, we priced at $129 in the home market as well as in the domestic market. At this stage, we did not consider that domestic customers aren't willing to pay as high of a price as the home market. Consequently, our unit sales dramatically decreased from 198,000 to 15,637. Once we analyzed the market more closely and changed the prices, accordingly, dropping to $109 in the home market and $99 in domestic sales increased again to 129,663 units (Yang & Gabrielsson, 2018).

We were forced to defer further from the marketing plan as the simulation went on with time. For our product, we had planned to budget a large amount of research. However, during the simulation, we were reluctant to spend a considerable amount of market research until the later periods due to high expenses. In terms of distribution, we aimed to sell a large proportion of our shoes directly online. However, between when this was introduced in period 2, through to period 10, sales stayed particularly low, only increasing from around 24,000 to 100,000. Therefore, we decided to focus less on this. We also had a massive promotion plan, which had to be cut slightly, lowering expenses in consumer promotions and advertising due to costs being too high. However, we could focus more on influencer marketing, which is cheaper than mass media promotions.

Mistakes Made in the Marketing Plan

Market research is an essential element for a business, and one of our key errors in this simulation was not purchasing it from the beginning, given the fact that it is an essential tool. It was critical to buy it at every stage. We only began research at period six and continuously from period 8, however, once we understood how to use the research to improve our results, we saw a significant increase in performance, which we can see from figure 8. Although we spent a considerable amount on market research this period, with expenses from it being $75,000, the net profit of the company was still higher on period eight than on period 9, with values of 5,160,436$ and 1,197,391$, respectively. We purchased a full report on domestic pricing to see that we were priced the highest in the market, which was another mistake of ours. When comparing the values from figures 8 and 9, it is possible to analyze the impact that market research had on the simulation.

Recorded Success of the Marketing Plan

Overlux was a new company which meant uncertainty for the brand in the market; a luxury brand needs an established good reputation and loyal customers (Miller and Mills, 2012). The product was also new. Based on this, one of the critical success factors of the simulation was that we started to understand the unpredictability of the market. Consequently, it is crucial to invest in product development and market research to be able to compete against our competitors. We reached level 5 on product development, which we saw through market research was above the industry average. This gave us a unique selling point and coincided with our plan of offering a high-quality product, giving us a higher chance of success.

Bridging Difference Between Simulation Decisions and the Plan

To bridge the gap, Overlux needs to create added value for customers to develop their competitive strategy. The shoe manufacturer will do this by acquiring raw materials and using them to produce something commercially viable. Porter (1985) looks at the inputs in primary activities that add value for a consumer. One of these is inbound logistics; the business should receive, store, and distribute inputs correctly, maintaining good relationships with suppliers by not having long payable days and having frequent meetings in-person to communicate.

The operational systems of producing the shoes will create value by providing the finished goods to consumers. Distributing the shoes too high market retailers and via the online store as part of outbound logistics makes the products reachable to the consumer. The marketing mix aims to communicate high quality, as well as offering promotions. Support activities such as procurement to reduce costs, human resource management hiring talented individuals in personal selling, and maintaining technical excellence in the designing of the shoes will also be used as building blocks for Overlux to create a valuable product (Varadarajan, 2010).

Target Level

Regarding the target level, the marketing plan relatively failed to achieve its anticipated targets. Among the failed targets is the realization of one-day delivery primarily to increase customer satisfaction as well as the creation of limited-edition shoes. Another failed target of the marketing plan is the implementation of creative and innovate concepts. As summarily explained above, these innovative and creative ideas could not be implemented mainly due to insufficient income available for investing in the particularities (McDonald & Wilson, 2016). This is more so coupled with the amount of expenses that the company had as a startup. However, the marketing plan was able to achieve the target of increasing the company's market share in the home as well as both the domestic and foreign markets. This was attained principally through increasing the overall among spent on product development. For instance, in the simulation period, the spent amount in the first period increased from $ 950, 000 to $ 1,750,000 in the last period. Consequently, the achieved target resulted in an increased market share of Overlux, evident when the company's market share increased from 0.9% to 7.3% (Varadarajan, 2010). Personal Contribution

The preparation of the group marketing plan involved the four of us. However, only two of us were committed and showed dedication in coming up with a suitable and seemly marketing plan. For the other two students, however, they lacked commit...