Question:
Essentially you are required to establish a marketing plan to increase the membership of the Chamber of Commerce for the target market you have focused on and given the situational analysis you have conducted in assignment 1.
The previous assignment was based on the marketing audit of Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce that is working to bring the economic development in the regions of Toowoomba (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce is also trying to develop the strategies that could help in facilitating in increasing the previous and upcoming regional business and trade activities (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). The organization main aim is to focus towards development of the economy, bring more investment and the business in order to encourage the main investment and sustainable business development (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). It also focuses on conducting the tourism marketing in the regions of Toowoomba (Strategic Plan 2013).
The organization also focuses on service membership and development of the community for initiating the programs and activities (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). The mission of the company is to increase the level of knowledge along with training and performance (Strategic Plan 2013). The organization is highly impacted through the changes happening in the QLD government, and through the changes that are coming in the TRC relationship (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). The organization is also impacted through the growth rate of the economy and the areas that are surrounding Toowoomba, as the economy has created challenges of unemployment, inflation rate, interest rates, labor cost, strengthening of Australian dollar and exchange rates (Strategic Plan 2013).
In the previous report it was noted that Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce is uncompetitive, but there are other companies that lack in the financial resources and different services (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). The target customers of the organization are the business associations and business niches along with small centers of business development, as they are aware about the local conditions of the regions (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). Customers targeted by Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce are mainly concern about the increasing living cost, global and local economic news, as these are major issues (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). Merchant associations are the key competitors of the organization (Strategic Plan 2013). The stakeholders of Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce are MoU partners such as USQ, SQIT, media, CCIQ, TRC, and TSBE (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006).
Specific- Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce objective is to enhance the repeated customers by around 7% in per quarter (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). Reduce the acquisition cost of customers by 8% each year and enhance the awareness about the offered services by 2% along with increase in unsolicited services (Keegan 2011). Financial objective of the company is to attain profitability by 3 years, maintain the growth, and reduce the cost of training and production (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006).
Measurable-These objectives could be measured through strategy formulation and its proper implementation (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). The organization can also take report of the regular work, in order to understand at what level the objectives are achieved (Keegan 2011).
Achievable- These objectives are achievable, as the organization is involved in facilitating the services to different departments, so that Toowoomba region could be developed and this could enhance the tourism of the region (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006).
Realistic- These goals are realistic, as the demands of customers are increasing towards the offered products and services of the company (Anderson 2011).
Timely- Each task is assigned with the specific deadline. The deadline is assigned so that results could be achieved and if there is any loopholes it could be mitigated on time (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006).
Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce marketing mix includes the following approaches such as distribution, pricing, promotion, advertising, and customer service (Anderson 2011).
1. Pricing- The pricing scheme relies over per project that is estimated and tailored to every customer (Toowoomba Regional Council: Annual Report | 2012/13 2013). The Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce will be quite comparable with the competitors along with the value added features related to the immediate, convenience, and drive-thru services (Toowoomba Regional Council: Annual Report | 2012/13 2013).
2. Distribution- Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce services could be performed all over the Toowoomba regional area that is determined through the requirements of the customers (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce departments promote various experiences to the customers (Toowoomba Regional Council: Annual Report | 2012/13 2013). It is noted that the tourist attractions at Toowoomba provides various and beautifully decorated facilities that were surrounded through the wondrous aromas and explores the sensory experience through it, along with mask the average products with the premium cost (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). However, it is noted that the proliferation of the various tourist attractions tries to prove the market viability (Toowoomba Regional Council: Annual Report | 2012/13 2013). The same is also duplicated through the similar process of delivery that presently existed in Australia (Anderson 2011).
3. Promotion and advertising- There are different types of promotion and advertising that could be used (Anderson 2011). Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce tries to make use of their website, partnership and networking, along with organizing various tradeshows for promoting their services and products (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce is also involved in the advertising medium that could support in getting the word out about the business with the people of Kitchner Waterloo. Through the Notables Chamber members, the achievements of the organization are advertised for viewing the potential of the customers (Riddell 2009).
The organization tries to give opportunities to the members of chamber to save up to $900 each year through taking the benefits of their programs based on member rewards (Riddell 2009). The Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce also tries to communicate extensively with the chamber members through electronically, personally and through the help of the printed media (Toowoomba Regional Council: Annual Report | 2012/13 2013). Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce also advertise in business today of the region, which is the daily electronic newsletter, and helps the members in keeping them updated with the information related to business world, business opportunities, products and services along with news of the tender (Baines and Fill 2014).
Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce also use the gazette notices of the government that helps in highlighting the currently published government as well as provincial gazette notices that tries to distribute daily to all the interested members of Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce (Baines and Fill 2014). The organization also focuses on events, which is the fortnight mailer, which helps the members by reminding them about all the upcoming events as well as functions, along with various networking opportunities, which are related with the company (Toowoomba Regional Council: Annual Report | 2012/13 2013).
The Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce also promotes their services through their website, which is the comprehensive portal for collecting all the business services and information (Baines and Fill 2014). It also provides the national, local, as well as global exposure to all the members of the chamber (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). Its consider as the best place for keeping companies profile along with the information of products and services that assist the organization in enhancing the internet and SEO relevance (Phillips 2002).
1. Customer Service- the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce goes across the daily operations along with the belief that they could achieve the full satisfaction from the customers that is needed to make the successful business (Toowoomba Regional Council: Annual Report | 2012/13 2013). All the organizational level is practiced by the company. In order to give best services to the customers, Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce tries to organize the seminars and workshops that are mainly offered for the purpose of sharing the information and for imparting the training to the business (Phillips 2002).
Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce also help in networking and in building business contacts, for which they organize the speed networking services along with networking at breakfast that gives opportunities for the formal and informal networking among the business groups (Phillips 2002). There are around 300 opportunities given by the organization for networking to be undertaken each day. All these popular events are actually well attended and leads towards new business and ability to extend the indirect as well as direct network (Toowoomba Regional Council: Annual Report | 2012/13 2013). Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce also focuses on conducting conferences and key events, for which they organize events like, enhancing business in Toowoomba regions, conference for resource efficiency, and breakfast budget speech (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006).
It is noted that Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce can be aggressively considered as the courting company that can easily win the future contracts. The company should try to provide the superior services that too at the low cost (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). Through focusing over the particular services, Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce can become more proficient and could easily perform their services in better way through the similar expertise level. Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce can also try to enhance the visibility of the company by their website, or through the local commerce chambers networking or either participating in the trade shows (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). The company can make the detailed website and could even offer the visitors in-depth data related to the services. Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce can provide the corresponding quality level along with cost savings.
Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce can become active in local chambers in Toowoomba. In the last few years, it is realize that there is lot of business is transacted by the relationship that started by the company (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). This objective can be easily communicated through variant methods. The website can even include the detailed services, information about the previous customers and sample of work. Another strategy is of communication that could be conducted through Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce networking. It is noted that networking activities are significant, because it helps in bringing significant business (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). Another method for communication is through conducting trade shows that could create awareness about the company.
It is recommended to Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce to strengthen the chamber along with the member companies (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce should also create and try to sustain the strong entrepreneurial network, try to support the efforts in retaining and expanding the previous business and in attracting the new business, along with enhancement in the economy and quality of life in the Toowoomba communities (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). There are few tactics that could be recommended to Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce:
1. Membership growth and retention- The Company is expected to focus over the committee of the members over developing the goals for the retention and growth of membership and its tactics for achieving the set objectives (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). It is also recommended that committee and staff members should work in coordination in order to strengthen the relations with the previous members by improving the communication and their involvement with the chamber members (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). The organization should also develop the membership development activities periodically. It is also expected that work should be done with the marketing and committee of public relations for developing the marketing material in order to support the development of the membership (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). It is also expected that there should be continuous review and additional recommendations and changes in the products and services in order to give value to the chamber membership (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006).
2. Community relations and development- It is true that community relations often become visible within the community (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). It is recommended to have the regular personal contacts, cooperation as well as communication with the members along with various other community and business leaders (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). It is again recommended that sponsors should be contacted for the economic and the community development seminars as well as workshops (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). It is also important to collaborate with the other chambers, development organizations and the business support and education providers (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006).
3. Advocacy- Through the active government and committee of community relations leadership it is recommended to develop the advocacy platform for handling all the issues related to the concern of the business community, membership and community (Kolb 2006). It is also recommended to the government officials through different levels of the business leaders, community and the government should be contacted on day to day basis in order to exchange the information and for maintaining the mutual advantageous relationship (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). It is also important to work with various other areas of the chambers along with state chambers to give information to the members (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). It is also important to advocate the deemed issues for the benefits of the community in general and for business community (Stapleton and Thomas 1998).
4. Promotion and marketing- It is recommended to develop the promotional and marketing plans in order to ensure that the information and the news related to the benefits, services and features of the chamber of commerce are made available to its members, along with business community, and prospective members (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). It is also recommended to develop the partnership for promotion and marketing with the other companies and members in order to promote the members in the business and within the region (Stapleton and Thomas 1998). It is also important to review the positioning of Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce in the market area, so that it would be good to represent the service area for enhancing the membership and increase the opportunities for expansion and growth (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006).
5. Development of Finance- It is also recommended to develop the goals and plans that could include the timetable and tactics for the purpose of reducing the activities of fund raising for supporting the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce normal operations (Stapleton and Thomas 1998). It should also be recommended to permit the limited use of the invested funds in order to create the balance in the budget until the operating income the funds are raise for the purpose of balancing the budget (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). It is also recommended to adjust the structure of membership dues in order to make it more comparable with the other chambers of commerce within the Toowoomba region and for increasing the revenue of chambers without leading the decline in the entire membership (Stapleton and Thomas 1998).
Therefore, it’s important to review this membership yearly and give the recommendations to the board for having the periodic adjustments (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). It is also recommended to review the surplus funds and try to indicate towards the membership how these funds could be actually used for supporting the chambers that includes the expected projects, improvement in capital and various other uses (Stapleton and Thomas 1998). It is again recommended to have the share of office space, administrative cost and office expenses under the experience of the chamber for experiencing the sufficient increase in membership and in revenue for permitting to support the additional staffing, office space, and additional office hours (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). It is also recommended to investigate about the different alternatives for the office location of Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce by considering the cost, status of the present arrangement of office and its advantages and disadvantages about the location that is visible to the prospective members, public and visitors (Stapleton and Thomas 1998).
Timeline is important in the marketing plan for marking the time for completing every task. If all the tasks are completed on time then it can help in fulfilling the objectives.
|
Research Activities |
Time Required |
|
Economic Development – Develop strategy to support communities – Economic development opportunities – Explore tourism for promoting growth – Explore Revenue sources |
1 Week |
|
Community Development – Working with country and planning commission – Promote education, entertainment, along with cultural resources – Increase working relationship with agencies of government |
1 Week |
|
Membership Development – Provide benefits to members – Create new opportunities to met with chamber staff – Communicate with members – Review organization dues structure – Membership survey |
2 Weeks |
|
Organizational development – Develop and implement long term financial plan – Staff training – Evaluate organization structure – Yearly review of strategic plan |
2 Weeks |
Contingency plan could be developed in order to manage the continuity of business for the network infrastructure of waste water in the scenario of the service loss by the support of critical assets (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce can make similar plans for the assets of water network (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). The organization can try to commence the water infrastructure services in the key projects for collecting and validating the asset data for using the system of new asset management (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). This system can help in facilitating the approach to manage the asset as well as methodology in the waste service and water group. It will also permit the continuing and development review about the programs of management and maintenance (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). This can even increase the resource effectiveness along with funding assets of water and can even increase the different ways in which water infrastructure could be maintained and managed (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006). It is noted that Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce is fortunate and they don’t try to compete with other market players, as they are more interested to work with other commerce chambers in various other countries (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2006).
Conclusion
The report has discussed about the marketing plan of Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce, in which objectives of the company are discussed. The objectives are realistic and achievable. The report also includes about the marketing mix elements of the company that help in analyzing the product, prices, and promotional strategies of the company. The company most promotes their services through their website in which they include information for the staff and customers. The company also organizes the trade shows in order to enhance their business and degenerate new business opportunities. The report also includes the strategy of the organization and prepare contingency plan.
References
Anderson, I. G. (2011). Marketing & management: a world registers of organizations. C.B.D. Research.
Baines, P. and Fill, C. (2014). MARKETING 3E P. Oxford University Press.
Czinkota, M. and Ronkainen, I. (2006). International Marketing. UK: Cengage Learning.
Keegan, W. J. (2011). Global Marketing Management. Pearson Education India.
Kolb, B. (2006). Tourism Marketing for Cities and Towns. UK: Routledge
Phillips, R. (2002). Concept Marketing for Communities: Capitalizing on Underutilized Resources to Generate Growth and Development. USA: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Riddell, R. G. (2009). The Business Who’s who of Australia and Australian Purchasing Year Book. The University of Michigan
Stapleton, J. and Thomas, M. J. (1998). How to Prepare a Marketing Plan: A Guide to Reaching the Consumer Market. Gower Publishing, Ltd.
Strategic Plan. (2013).
Toowoomba Regional Council: Annual Report | 2012/13. (2013).
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