Marketing Plan For Natural Evolution’s Max Protein Banana Bar

Situational Analysis

In the modern day business, marketing has become an essential aspect. In this also it is crucial that a company does the research on the type of the customers they want to target as well as the way in which they want to position their product. Every marketing strategy needs to be understood in terms of its effectiveness as well as its feasibility in the financial terms. Before launching any product in the market, a thorough market research is needed so as to find the potential market (Stone & Woodcock, 2014). This not only improves the marketing scope but also improves the chances of the company to sell its products. In marketing creating a healthy positioning statement is essential. This report highlights the marketing plan of the company Natural Evolution while launching the product named max protein banana bar. It also showcases the financial objectives that Natural Evolution wants to achieve from the launched product.

Natural evolution is one of the biggest food companies that manufactures and sells different kinds of products. The highlights of the situational analysis are given below.

• Customer analysis: Company usually targets the people of the age group 20-50 years. Population of this target segment is increasing hence the chances to sell more such products will increase. Youngsters have bent towards organic products.
• Competitor’s analysis: This Company has a lot of competitors in the market. Due to increasing demand of people the chances that more companies will come also increases. There are many low cost suppliers emerging in the market giving the capacity to the rivals to sell products at lower cost.
• Stakeholder analysis: Natural Evolution has given proper attention to the stakeholders. For understanding their needs stakeholder analysis is important. The employees are overloaded with work but get an efficient environment to work. Financiers are not very much convenience with their business. Executives are friendly and helpful and help in immediately resolving the issues. Government has been supporting the business of the firm in the past and will support them in the future. Small scale investors are earning good amount of profit from their business of Natural Evolution.

External analysis: It is crucial that company understands the external environment that is present around the firm (Ryan, 2016). SWOT analysis of the company is illustrated below in the table.

The cited firm is facing the problem of increased manufacturing cost. It is a problem that company cannot reduce this cost as reducing it might affect the quality of the products. On the other side huge opportunities are waiting for Natural Evolution as the demand for the product is increasing constantly.

It is essential that every company defines its problem statement (Chaffey & Smith, 2013). The problem with the company’s segmentation is that the product is relatively new and hence finding the actual target market based on various variables could be a challenge for the company. The company is also facing problem in increasing the depth of marketing so as to reach to each and every consumer on the basis of their needs. Natural Evolution will also face challenges regarding positioning their product in such a way that it may attract the maximum possible customers in the market.

In the modern day business environment, segmentation is playing a very crucial role. Segmentation means dividing the market into small groups of people that shares the common goal. It acts as tool that could be used by the company to focus on the demands and needs of customers (Wymbs, 2011). Due to this the approach of business also changes for the company. Segmentation helps the company to do thorough market research which is essential for gaining competitive edge over the competitors. There are different variables that are used by the organisation so as to make segments in the market (Leeflang, Verhoef, Dahlström & Freundt, 2014). Some of the basis on which Natural Evolution has divided the segments in the market is:

• Demographics: Natural evolution divides its market segment on the basis of the age, ethnicity, and gender for penetrating deeper into the market. On the basis of age they have target the people that are in the age group of 20-50. People of this age group are highly conscious about their health. Apart from this they also target the person from both the genders. Company wish to target these people as they have high protein requirement as it is essential for them.  Since banana bars are capable enough to give the protein requirement with a taste of banana hence it might attract these people.
• Geographic: Using this variable company has targeted people from country to country. Since their products are helpful for the people from all the parts of the world hence company has targeted all these customers. Company’s main focus is now towards the developing nation as there are large numbers of population that are coming up and require high protein intake. In that also they are targeting people in the city area especially the ones that are from the metropolitan cities.
• Psychographic: Since the product is made for the health conscious people who are looking for high quality ingredients and it is gluten free. It is also made up of flour that is especially grown in Australia hence attracts people that are from the same nation. The company has targeted people that are highly health conscious or are facing some of the health issues. Since the numbers of people with this kind of psychology is also increasing hence the opportunity for the company also increases.
• Behavioural: It is always difficult to segment in terms of behaviour. But this is essential for understanding the way in which max protein banana bar is going to affect the behaviour of the person. In terms of degree of loyalty, this product could not stand in the market. Since there are large numbers of competitor’s product available in the market hence the degree of loyalty is on the lower side. There is very less hard core loyal which company is planning to increase in the coming years. They are targeting the person searching for maximum cost benefits and wants results very soon. They are also looking to target the people that care for them too much. It acts as a supplement for the people that are careless about taking proper diet.

Problem and Opportunity Statement

After segmentation is done it is crucial that company targets the segment in a proper manner. With the increasing segmentation variables in the marketing, there is a more detailed marketing plan that could be made by the organisation (Day, 2011). In order to position the product of the company in an effective manner company needs to target the segments as per their needs. This will help the company in designing the whole marketing process in an effective manner.

Under such segmentation there are many people that company can target. Company has targeted the people that are from different cultural backgrounds and age group. The major segment on which company has targeted upon is the people from the age group of 20-50. A person that is health conscious and is ready to take supplementary diets comes under the primary target section.

Since they are bringing their products for the people of all income groups hence pricing is not so much bigger issue. There are large numbers of products that are available in the market hence company will have to give importance to the pricing. Hence the company has positioned its product as something that is available as a supplement for the people that are unable to take healthy food ingredients in their diet. Brand positioning statement must be able to attract the customers that the company have targeted (Vien, 2015). For max protein banana bars the best positioning statement could be “Our quality is beyond what others think to give”. Since they want to highlight the quality of the product as their prime competency hence this positioning statement could help them.

For any firm it is essential that they have a financial and marketing objective lined up for themselves (Armstrong, Adam, Denize & Kotler, 2014). These objectives will help the company in managing the marketing and financial problems that they want to achieve from the marketing (Huang & Sarigöllü, 2014). This is because it streamlines all the processes in the marketing in an order.

3 marketing objectives

• To create more loyal customers from different segments of the society.
• To expand the base of the company in the newer market segment.
• To improve the image of the company in front of the stakeholders.

3 financial objectives

• To generate higher revenues than the previous financial year.
• To provide more dividend to the shareholder.
• To find out higher numbers of sources to raise finance.

In the marketing of the max Protein banana bar, it is crucial that each and every aspect related to the product has been highlighted. Formulation of the marketing mix has to be on the basis of the product quality as well as the competitor’s strategy. Marketing mix strategy helps in detailing the marketing plan (Gordon, 2012).

• Product: This bar is made up of high quality ingredients which help in bringing the best quality products in the market. It is gluten free and is made from the flour that is grown especially in Australia. This product is having an extra-ordinary taste and is very easy to cook. This product is provided in a package having 5 banana bars.
• Price: The price of the product is very genuine and is capable of beating most of its competitors. They have used moderate pricing capable of attracting customers from wide segments in the market. Since in the price war there is a less chance of generating higher profits (Leonidou, Katsikeas & Morgan, 2013). They have launched the product in different sizes and hence the pricing for each is different. They also sell with bundle prices that are relatively lower than the individual product price. Apart from this they also offer discounts that they provide to the customers who are loyal and take products regularly.
• Place: The cited firm has a good distributor network that helps them in reaching to the larger set of the target market. This product is available at the every big and small retail stores which help them in reaching deep into the market. Apart from this the product can be availed from the online website and other e-commerce website. Company has its own smaller stores that are capable of selling their products directly to the customers.
• Promotion: For any new product, this is the most essential marketing mix (Mintz & Currim, 2013). There are various types of promotional campaigns used by the organisation so as to improve the promotion that is done by the organisation. They can promote their product on both traditional and modern mediums of communication. The traditional platforms like newspapers, television could be used for promoting the products. The digital platforms such as social media sites like Facebook, Instagram could be used for promoting their product. This could prove as an effective platform for promotion as target market which company has selected for them is highly active on these platforms. Focus should be more on digital marketing campaigns as it is less costly and helps to reach to large number of individual customers (Khan, 2014).

There are several marketing strategies available with the company and it is crucial for the Natural evolution to understand the problems that might be face in the marketing. Strategies of marketing always depend on the type of product that company wants to deliver (Yu-Jia, 2012). Some of the strategies that company could use are:

• Cost leadership: In order to achieve success in the market, it is essential that company adopts cost leadership as a strategy (Brooks & Simkin, 2012). This will help them in gaining advantage over the competitors. Since bundle pricing is used by the cited firm hence they have easily implemented this strategy. As they have a strong bond with the suppliers hence they can easily implement this strategy.
• Digital marketing strategy: Since the use of technology has increased hence the cited firm also needs to give more priority towards performing operations through digital means (Lee & Carter, 2011). With the help of digital marketing a company can reach to larger customer segment. This is also true in the case of selling the products. As online platforms are excellent place from where company could increase their sale. This makes the work easier for both company and its customers.
• Supply chain management strategy: In order to balance the demand and supply, it is crucial for the natural evolution to have an excellent supply chain mechanism. This will not only ensure effective utilisation of resource but will also add value to the products. Since demands are getting more volatile in nature hence company must be able to cope up with these variations in demand. With the use of technology like supply chain management System Company can easily implement this strategy (Mulhern, 2013).
• Branding strategy: In order to create a name in the market, it is crucial for the company to take use of the branding strategy (Baker & Saren, 2016). This will help in the goodwill of the company and will also improve the image of the company in the minds of the people. For expanding the business, this strategy is highly effective.

Budget allocation for promotional mix

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

In order to do promotion under the budget, it is always crucial that a company allocates the budget previously (Pan & Crotts, 2012). In order to improve the promotional standards and ensure effective return on investment, proper budget allocation is important. For max protein banana bar, promotional mix is as follows:

Conclusion

From the above based report, it can be concluded that marketing has become a crucial aspect of the modern day business. For Natural evolution to market its unique product max protein banana bar, it is essential that company makes a highly focused marketing plan. This company has made many segments based on various variables. Their primary target market is the people from the age group 20-50 years. The financial objective is to improve the financial performance of the company while the marketing objective is to reach to maximum possible target customers. The marketing mix for company aims to outperform the other competitors. Cost leadership, Digital marketing strategy, Supply chain management strategy, branding strategy are some of the marketing strategies that could be used by the Natural evolution. With the amount of resource they have they can easily implement these strategies.

References

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