Goals of the campaign
Public relations is all about creating reputation for a company and monitoring what others say about the organization. It is for the same reason, important to frame PR strategies in order to help to promote a service or facility or to launch a new initiative on an ongoing program. The aim of this report is to frame a PR strategy for Sunshine Café that would improve the image of the Café among the target group of people. In the competitive market, it is important to create a positive image of an organization that the consumers could easily recognize the organization and would select that particular company over other (Elder 2014). In addition to this, the campaign also aims at creating an online presence of the café that would create a platform where the consumers and the authority of the café could communicate easily. This study shall conduct a situational analysis of the café and would suggest certain ways of improving the image of the café and attract more visitors.
To create awareness about the café among the people in the community using both media and consumer awareness program
To combine the in-store marketing with the public relations that would increase the sales of the café and at the same time create a positive image of the organization (Carins and Rundle-Thiele 2014).
Strengths |
Weaknesses |
§ The cost of products are reasonable to fit the budget-conscious students § Good range of food items to offer to the visitors § Located on a high traffic area that would attract many consumers § Also offers recreational activities like indoor games and provide free Wi-Fi. |
§ The staffs are not experienced enough to handle large number of visitors § No specific brand identity § Very poor online presence in social media § No restaurant rating or brand recognition |
Opportunities |
Threats |
§ Huge scope in creating an online presence § Can develop partnership with other well established firms that would help to promote § Can expand its cafeteria to dining place as well. |
§ The existing number of competitors in the market in the greater threat § Increasing number of staffs’ attrition is another threat for the proper functioning of the café. |
It has been found that there are a number of coffee shops and small restaurants around the University where the students prefer to go and have small meals. For example, Beans N Blooms, Ching Yip Coffee Loung, The Nectar Coffee Shop and others. However, it has been found that these restaurants are not good rated in one way or other in terms of the cost of the product or the types of food that they offer (Dozier et al. 2013). The Sunshine Café has something unique to offer to the consumers because it has a good range of food items to offer to the people. In addition to this, the price of the product is also pocket-friendly. Unlike the other cafeterias or restaurant, this particular restaurant offers both the essence of good food and enjoyment where the college goers can easily go and spend some time; all these in a pocket-friendly manner (Stack 2016).
The target group of consumers for this particular café is the college goers which clearly identifies that the age group of 20 and 25 years including both girls and boys.
Situation analysis
Factors |
Characteristics |
Geographic segmentation |
Geographically, the target group of people is the residents of Sydney. The students of the Elite College and the other people in the community are the main target groups of people (Cutlip 2013). |
Demographic segmentation |
Demographically, both male and female people fall under the target group. The primary age group of people is between 18 and 25 years of age. Since the target group of people is the Students and not working individuals, the income of these people might not affect the business much. |
Psychographic segmentation |
Psychologically, it is expected that the individuals who like to spend a simple life and want to enjoy their lives are the major groups of people under consideration (Coombs and Holladay 2013). |
Behavioral segmentation |
Students who would like to spend some time together and hand out for some time and enjoy good quality food are the target groups of people. |
Factors |
Analysis |
Specific |
If the Café is not known to all, the number of visitors will not increase. It is therefore important to increase the awareness among the local people. |
Measurable |
If the number of visitors increases, the success of the objective can be easily assumed. |
Attainable |
The objective is easily achievable if enough promotion is carried on and the right group of people is targeted. |
Relevant |
The objective is relevant because it is one of the means of increasing the number of visitors for the particular café. |
Timely |
By carrying out the marketing or the PR plan, it is expected that people would be able to know about this restaurant within a time frame of 3 months. |
Objective 2: To involve the target group of people in the online platform of the Cafe
Factors |
Analysis |
Specific |
The campaign shall aim at asking the target group of people to involve in the major online platforms like the Facebook or the Twitter Page. This is important because it would create a platform for communication with the visitors. Thus, it is a participative objective of the campaign. |
Measurable |
The increasing number of likes in the respective online pages could be a means of measuring the influence of the online presence of the café. |
Attainable |
The objective is easily attainable if a team of online marketing expert is appointed for the purpose of creating an online presence and increase the popularity of the café. |
Relevant |
As it has been mentioned that the target group of people are the college goers, so can be easily determined that they are present in the social media and so they can be easily targeted using the social media sites. |
Timely |
With the right approach, it is expected that the proposed objective can be achieved within a time span of 3 months. |
The theme to be used for attracting more consumers and creating a space for the café among the local people, the theme can be based on the things that the café offers to the visitors apart from the food. For example, as it has been mentioned that the café offers recreational activities like indoor games or a place where a group of friends can easily spend good time together and can enrich their memories (Cutlip 2013). Therefore, the theme shall be focused on the extra things that the café offers to the visitors and not only the food. Therefore, the theme will be ‘Enjoy your time and create memories’.
In order to achieve the mentioned objectives, primarily it is important to form a team of experts that shall be responsible for carrying out the marketing and the PR activities. It is very important to create a social media presence of the café (Raghu and Shyamsundar 2013). In order to do so, it is expected that a social online community shall be created to attract the Students of the University (Austin and Pinkleton 2015). It is important to create a Facebook Page where the activities would not only limit to the promotional activities, but it shall be informative as well. For example, the page shall also give proper information about the café if there is some kind of discounts or offers available in the café or not.
In order to create more dominance in the social media, the contents that shall be used for posting in the social media sites shall be more focused towards the college goers. The content shall have more images and fewer words. Another important point of consideration is that the content needs to be focused on the proximity and the things that happen around the locality (Spicer 2013). This way the readers can easily relate themselves with the posts and that will attract them. It is also recommended that focus can be made on blog or content writing that would hold the attraction of the readers and at the same time, it will act as a marketing element as well.
In order to create an online presence of the café, it is expected that the marketing or the PR team shall be active on the page and would try to communicate with the people as well. In fact, the marketers could take the approach of involving the participants in the process by arranging some contest (Wu and Wang 2014). For instance, the visitors could be asked to post their selfies in the page of the café and the best photograph shall be given some discount or voucher of the café. Apart from creating an online presence, other approaches like distributing brochure or pamphlets to the college goers or carrying out some kind of CSR activities by contributing money for the same of improving the community in order to show that the café also involves in some community work as well (Chang and Chen 2015).
SWOT analysis of Sunshine Café
Activities |
1st Week |
2nd-4th Week |
5th-6th Week |
7th-8th Week |
8th-9th Week |
9th-11th Week |
12th Week |
Collection of various data and resources |
|||||||
Survey of the market |
|||||||
Creating layout |
ü |
ü |
|||||
Implementation |
|||||||
Keeping a trace of the plan |
|||||||
Getting feedbacks |
ü |
||||||
Make necessary changes |
ü |
||||||
Proceed with new plan |
ü |
||||||
Final outcome |
ü |
Table: Timetable for the campaign
(Source: Created by the author)
Activity |
Cost ($) |
Auditing |
2,000 |
Payroll |
5,000 |
Marketing |
7,000 |
Utilities |
3,000 |
Media expenses |
8,000 |
Labor cost |
7,000 |
Other expenses |
5,000 |
Total |
37,000 |
Table: Proposed Budget of the campaign
(Source: Created by the author)
The tactics to be used for the purpose of the marketing and PR is by the means of measuring the progress of the plan. A thorough check has to be kept on the complete process in order to gain better outcome of the process. A number of steps can be mentioned here:
Use of hybrid marketing channels: The complete marketing process shall not be limited to social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but it is expected that the marketing can be carried on by other means as well like CSR activity or sponsorship (Pride and Ferrell 2016).
Holding meeting or conferences to communicate with the target groups of people: As the main concern is to create a better image of the café, it is also recommended that communicating with the people is important. The same can be achieved by the means of conducting survey or taking feedback from the visitors.
Key performance indicators: The sales measures and the customer satisfaction rate are the two major KPIs.
Monitoring the process: Keeping a close eye on the entire marketing activity is the foremost thing required to monitor the process. In addition to this, taking the feedback of the consumers is equally important (Kim et al. 2015).
Success recognition: The increasing number of visitors in the café is the ultimate success recognition factor.
Conclusion:
A detailed analysis of the need of conducting PR strategy for the Sunshine Café has been conducted in the study. The strategy that has been used to communicate with the people is by focusing on the social media platform and at the same time carrying out survey among the target groups of people. As it has been evident that the major target groups of people are the college goers, it is expected that targeting them by the means of social networking medium shall be the best possible option. It is expected that if the proposed strategy is carried on effectively, the marketing and the PR plan can be easily achieved.
References:
Austin, E.W. and Pinkleton, B.E., 2015. Strategic Public Relations Management: Planning and Managing Effective Communication Campaigns (Vol. 10). Routledge.
Carins, J.E. and Rundle-Thiele, S.R., 2014. Eating for the better: A social marketing review (2000–2012). Public Health Nutrition, 17(07), pp.1628-1639.
Chang, W.L. and Chen, S.T., 2015. The impact of World Café on entrepreneurial strategic planning capability. Journal of Business Research, 68(6), pp.1283-1290.
Coombs, W.T. and Holladay, S.J., 2013. It’s not just PR: Public relations in society. John Wiley & Sons.
Cutlip, S.M., 2013. Public relations history: From the 17th to the 20th century: The antecedents. Routledge.
Cutlip, S.M., 2013. The unseen power: Public relations: A history. Routledge.
Dozier, D.M., Grunig, L.A. and Grunig, J.E., 2013. Manager’s guide to excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge.
Elder, J., 2014. Social Media Fail to Live Up to Early Marketing Hype. The Wall Street Journal, p.B1.
Kim, D., Jang, S. and Adler, H., 2015. What drives café customers to spread eWOM? Examining self-relevant value, quality value, and opinion leadership. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(2), pp.261-282.
Pride, W.M. and Ferrell, O.C., 2016. Foundations of marketing. Nelson Education.
Raghu, G. and Shyamsundar, D., 2013. A Report on Service Quality Analysis at Café Coffee Day.
Spicer, C., 2013. Organizational public relations: A political perspective. Routledge.
Stacks, D.W., 2016. Primer of public relations research. Guilford Publications.
Wu, S.I. and Wang, W.H., 2014. Impact of CSR perception on brand image, brand attitude and buying willingness: a study of a global café. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 6(6), p.43.