Marketing Plan For 42M Solar Dream

Steps in writing marketing plan for 42-M solar dream

Discuss about the Marketing Plan For 42M Solar Dream.

A project solar dream was collaboratively invented by a Swedish studio Dennis Ingemansson and the Turkish shipyard Ned Ship Group. Following an ecological ethos and making efficiency a priority their design was proposed to have a capacity of 360 square meter solar cell area together with a solution for hybrid propulsion (Groom, 2017). The hull is constructed from composites of carbon fiber and it weighs close to 1000 tons. The yacht is estimated to gain a speed of 22 knots with very minimal output. Ingemansson states that the 580 square meters interior space offers an experience which is luxurious. The interior has three spacious guest rooms with an ability to host 10 people with suites that are double owned. This beautiful yacht is said to be a green icon once it gets into the water. There is also accommodation for up to five crew members on board (Buzzard et al., 2011).

This project is a big venture which requires a good marketing plan” href=”https://#”>good marketing plan to thrive well in its business. There are a number of steps to be followed in writing a marketing plan and they include;

Determination of why a customer would come to you

This is more than the restating of their mission statement. They need to define the purpose as to why a customer should choose them over their competitors (Raab, 2011).

Identifying the target customer-in this case they should know the customers they want to attract and in most cases it could be tourists and other people working in the seas. They need to differentiate between target customers and target market. To determine their customers it requires a combination of psychographics and demographics (Akar & Topcu, 2011).  The psychographic behavior will measure the customer behavior.

Identifying the competitors that target their customers- these competitors are good for the growth of the business and the company needs to identify what their competitors are offering that they don’t. Make an analysis of their reaction on this business.

Drafting of the brand positioning statement-they need to have clarity on whatever sets them apart since this is what brings customers to their part. The information uncovered in identifying competitors can be used to achieve this (Buzzard et al., 2011).

The key features of formulating a marketing plan include situation analysis, target audience, marketing goals, strategies and tactics and coming up with a marketing budget.

SWOT and competitor analysis

SWOT is a tool for strategic planning which is used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to any business in operation. This is therefore not an exception with the 42M solar dream project (Akar & Topcu, 2011).

Strengths

Presence a coastline that is excellent, a lot of natural attractions, historical and archeological sites that are unique

Workforce that is well trained, strong support from the government, invest by the government and private sector in the project to promote Yacht tourism and the long attraction to the fixed or haltered tours by tourists (Levy  & Birkner, 2011).

There is a lot of attraction both in the water and outside and not just confinement to the boats.

A huge capacity to accommodate many customers compared to other yachts.

There are minimal environmental pollutions unlike other existing yachts.

The inbound tourism demand is high and increasing faster.

The tourists that are inbound are trying to find different forms of tourism like yachting which is different from the usual mass production (Digital Hub, 2008).

Weaknesses

The sail powered yachts pay more tax than the engine powered yachts and therefore the company is set to spend a lot of finances on taxes

There are no technical standards for the processing of solid waste and bilge water disposal

Fairs are not funded and the yacht clubs are not yet in place which could be more lucrative (Granitz & Pitt, 2011).

Many authorities are in charge of entry procedures for foreign flagged yachts leading to loopholes for corruption

Investment procedures are complicated, with inactive capacities in marinas.

The international pressure group activities are lacking.

The costs for inputs in yachts are high (Jarvinen et al., 2012).

Opportunities

There exist unutilized potentials in yachting

Young and knowledgeable workers are readily available

There is a lot of willingness to invest new marinas of both private and government sectors

Increase in the number of tourists that want to use yachts (Weiss, 2011).

There is a growing interest in the water sporting and life in the water environments

There has been a decrease on the barriers of international travels

Threats

Increasing number of competitors in the yacht tourism

Increase in the tax fees on new yachts. Obstacles that are beauracratic and increase in the fuel prices (Bovee, Thill & Mescon, 2007).

A lot of pollution at the coastal areas as well as the degradation of marine eco-systems

Marketing and financial objectives

This is part of marketing plan that the solar dream team cannot evade. In writing a competitor analysis section one needs to outline the competitive environment, by informing the world who their key competitors are, how they control the market and all the relevant details about the competition (Scottish Enterprise, 2012).  This is followed by detailed information on their competitive advantage by the explanation of why and how their company is better placed to out-compete the main competitors. It’s in this section that the customer is persuaded to read their business plan and how knowledgeable they are in this business they are venturing into.

One simple way of achieving competitor analysis is to use the competitive matrix analysis below

	42 M solar dream company	Company A	Company B	Company C
Fare	average	high	high	low
Quality	high	average	Low	High
Hours	5-5pm mon-sun	9-5pm mon-sat	8-5 mon-fri	8-5 pm mon-fri
Service	excellent	good	fair	Fair
Customer loyalty	fair	nil	fair	Fair
Advertising	nil	fair	fair	nil
Website	yes	yes	no	No
Tweeter	yes	no	no	Yes

Mission-to be an excellent partner in service delivery in the yacht industry

Marketing and financial objectives

For the project to be successful it had to lay down objectives that are achievable in the long run both in the marketing aspect and finances (Bovee et al., 2007).

Marketing objectives

Building of brand awareness

Growing of market share

Enhance customer relationships

Financial objectives

To ensure growth in revenues

To ensure higher returns on invested capital

To achieve attractive and sustainable increases in the market value added

This is a set of marketing tools that are controllable and tactical where the company uses so as to give a response that is desirable from its market of target. This is a composition of all things that the company needs to do to increase the demand for its transport means i.e. the yacht. This tool also assists in marketing, planning and execution (Wymbs, 2011). The marketing mix is made up of four sections referred to as the four p’s which include product, price, place and promotion. 

Product: goods and services offered to the customers by the company

Price: money paid by customers for the services (Preston, Kerr and Cawley, 2009).

Place: these are activities used to make the services available to the customers

Promotion: all activities aimed at communicating the services offered by the company as well as the benefits so as to persuade customers into trying out their new means of transport

Therefore each of the said four p’s has its own tools that contribute to the achievement of the marketing mix (Jarvinen et al., 2012).

Product-features, quality, variety, brand name and other services

Price-discounts, list price, credit terms and allowances

Place- assortments, channels, coverage, inventory, transportation, logistics and locations

Promotion-public relations, advertisements, personal selling and sales promotion

Therefore for any marketing strategy to be effective the four p’s of the mix have to be combined (Michaelidou, Siamagka & Christodoulides, 2011). This ensures the company’s marketing objectives are met so as to provide the customers with the value needed from the services.  However the marketing mix has its own weaknesses and some of these include the under emphasis on important activities of marketing. For instance the services are not mentioned explicitly instead they are categorized as products. Other important activities of marketing such as packaging are not addressed specifically instead they are just placed in the one of the four groups (Scottish Enterprise, 2012). These four p’s also leaves out the focus on the buyer’s or customers  views regarding the market place and focuses more on the seller’s concerns in this case the company dealing with 42M solar dream

It should also be understood that the four p’s can as well be interpreted as the four C’s where the customers’ interests are put ahead of the interests of the marketer (Weiss, 2011). These include

Customers solutions, and not products-it’s obvious that the customer is interested in the value of the services offered

Customer’s cost and not price-the customer are usually interested in the total cost of the services offered.

Convenience and not place-the customers are interested in the convenience of getting the services (Raab, 2011).

Communication and not promotion-the customers often a communication that is two way and easily achieved between the company and them

These are the next down level to the marketing plan. This is because they build on the marketing plan and corporate and not just duplicating them (Levy  & Birkner, 2011). The subject matter in this plan is always meant to communicate with the relevant stakeholders in the business and mostly customers. The marketing communication plan is broken down to

Context; this is based on research so as to ensure atone is set and also a platform is put in place to ensure the message reaches the customers.

Objectives; they should be smart and focused around service awareness, the attitudes of customers and their perceptions (Digital Hub, 2008).

Strategy; the communication strategy to be used should be of push, pull and profiling.

Tactics; their strategy has to be broken down into a view that is more granular which includes communication via social media.

Actions; the actions should be well stipulated in the plan and be clear they should be overall or broken down depending on the set objectives (Hisrich, Peters & Shepherd, 2008).

Control-this helps them to measure the success of their communication strategies.

An action program involves the collection of relevant information, carrying out pruning exercise so as to remain with the necessary items then finally organizing and prioritizing the action program in an action plan as described in the table below according to importance with A being most important and C the least important (Granitz & Pitt, 2011).

Category	task	priority
Launch the project	Research their target market to ensure advertising department hits the right tone with the role out of the yacht	C
	Finishing of cost comparison report	A
	Contraction of major service suppliers	B
Recruiting of staff	Contact of recruitment agencies on the rates for advertisement for various positions	A
	Ordering of equipment for different sections	B
	Write the help needed advert	C

During this process it’s the role of managers to ensure capital, human and marketing resources are used efficiently the strategy has to be selected well so as to have impacts on the functioning of the yacht (Crush, 2011).The effectiveness of strategic marketing is dependent on how the leadership is involved in the activities in the yacht. The important factors in the implementation of marketing plan include skills, behaviors and attitudes. The quality of management is then dependent on human resources, coordination, leadership, motivation, organizational culture and resources as well as communication (Akar & Topcu, 2011).

The marketing plan control process is achieved in various phases such as determination of tolerance ranges, setting of indicators for values, measuring of the values of indicators, comparing of actual values and planned values so as to be able to determine any deviations and also to formulate any proposals that can be used to eliminate the deviations that may be detected. The most essential marketing control types include control of efficiency, profitability and annual plan as well as the strategic control (Brady, Fellenz and Brookes, 2008).  Any problems in this process include strict controls which may lead to reduction in motivation and decrease in the innovation and creativity ideas. There may also be high costs of implementation.

Conclusion

From the discussion above, it’s evident that a lot of efforts have to be put in place in the writing and implementation of a marketing plan for any business to succeed. With a detailed and good marketing plan 42 M solar dream project can definitely thrive well in the competitive yacht business and make good returns in their business. Therefore the important and necessary steps have to be taken with the seriousness they deserve to ensure their marketing plan is effective and objective s achieved on time.

References

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