Marketing Plan For A New Kids Clothing Line Essay.

Devise Marketing Strategies

i. The primary objective of Smart Wear Company is to introduce two new product lines- lightweight luggage and customized logo sportswear and to become a leading supplier of these products in the next five years. These products will be produced and marketed in a new geographic market in located California in the US. The company will source for materials at affordable prices from trusted suppliers which will enable it to provide these products at relatively low prices and target the low and middle-income earners who are interested in obtaining high-quality products at cheaper prices.

Besides, the company aims to develop a successful internet site in the next five years to market its customized log sportswear and lightweight luggage while maintaining a strong link with its loyal and potential customers.

ii. Since its launch a few years ago, Smart Wear has experienced an overwhelming demand for its products. Although the company is located in Ohio, most customers travel from as far as California just to purchase sportswear due to their high quality and affordable prices. The company has therefore seen an opportunity to capture a new target market, consisting of sports-minded consumers located in California and has seen it appropriate to develop a new product line consisting of customized logo sportswear and lightweight bags at cheaper prices to be sold in this region. Developing these new product lines will enable the firm to geographically expand its target market to include the consumers from California, with a potential for improving its revenue from sales due to expected economies of scale.

iii. The two product types will be offered at relatively cheaper prices. This means that the company will adopt cost-leadership as a competitive strategy. By using this strategy, the company will be able to obtain a large number of middle-income and low-income earners located in California who is price sensitive and interested in obtaining high-quality sportswear at affordable prices. The customers who are passionate about sports but were originally unable to purchase casual sportswear due to high prices charged by other suppliers will provide the company with a ready market.

Furthermore, the company expects to achieve economies of scale in the next five years by pooling a large group of customers through effective promotional strategies. This will enable the company to enjoy huge profits from sales.

However, in its attempt to achieve cost-leadership, the company may be exposed to different competitive risks. The first risk is that some customers who associate quality with price may view the firm's product as of low quality. To curb this risk, the company will stress the quality of its product by using testimonies from returning customers. The second risk is that the company may face is a dilution of profits due to low pricing. However, the company has put in place proper operational mechanisms like obtaining raw materials cheaply from trusted suppliers which will also enable it to sell the products at cheaper prices.

Plan Marketing Tactics

It is apparent that the company has put in place accurate measures to deal with the above potential risks. Therefore, balancing the risks and returns the company is exposed to, the returns are more than the risks. This means that it is feasible for the firm to introduce the two product lines. 

i. Kumar (2015), defines a marketing strategy as an overall plan of how the firm intends to attract customers to buy its products or services. It mainly focuses on what the business aims to achieve and its overall marketing efforts. 

ii. 1) Distribution: The products will be availed in the store for the customers to purchase. Furthermore, the firm will develop an internet site where the customers can make their orders and then one of its representatives will deliver them to the customer’s premises. The company will also sell the products to different retailers who will sell them to final consumers.

2) Product performance: The product performance will be evaluated in relation to feedback from the customers. The company will develop high-quality products to ensure positive feedback from its customers which will also enable it to achieve high customer retention.

3) Product range: The Company will major in sportswear and lightweight bags as it mainly targets the sports-minded customers located in California.

4) Distribution speed: This implies the time taken for the products to be availed to the customers. The firm will establish its store in California to enable the customers to readily access the products whenever they need them.

5) Cost: Cost is the value tied to the product and the expenses incurred in developing it. This is the most important element. The firm intends to attract low and middle-income earners in California, hence will adopt a cost leadership strategy. The firm must, therefore, reduce its cost of operations to achieve this strategy. 

iii. Cost (5) - The company is likely to succeed in adopting a cost leadership strategy as it already has a pool of trusted suppliers who will provide it with raw materials at cheaper prices, consequently enabling it to offer the finished products at cheaper prices.

Distribution speed (4) - the company intends to avail its products in stores for the customers to purchase. Also, it will establish an internet site for the customers to make orders then a representative will deliver them to the customers’ premises by road.

Product range (3) - the company is likely to succeed in its product range as there is a group of sports-minded individuals in California who already knows about the company.

Prepare and Present a Marketing Plan

Product performance (2) - the company has evaluated that most customers already know about its presence in Ohio. However, it must convince the customers that the products are of high-quality by using reviews from returning customers. The firm will also use these reviews to improve its product performance and quality.

Distribution (1). The firm will ensure that the products are available in the stores. However, customers who will request them online will have them delivered by a representative. This will largely depend on the transport cost and the distance.

i. The company has developed an estimate budget allocation of 100, 000 USD to accomplish its mission of developing two product lines in California. This budget has been split into two. The first 50, 000 USD will be derived from its profits for 2017. The next 50, 000 USD will be obtained by acquiring loans from financial institutions.

Also, the company has a team of motivated employees at Ohio. The manager who for the new product establishment in California will be transferred from Ohio to reduce costs. However, the firm will conduct a recruitment drive to obtain two additional brand ambassadors.

Furthermore, the employees of Smart Wear are well-versed with the clothes industry and therefore, it will be easier to transfer them to California without any needs of further training.

The company will maintain its customer-oriented strategy by ensuring that the customers are always satisfied and that any complaints from the customers are addressed. However, the firm has no intentions to exit the market by involving in partnerships or joint operations with any firm.

ii. The company has an already strong credit rating secondary to its high profits in 2016 and 2017. Therefore, the company will take this opportunity to obtain more credit from credit institutions.

i. The company has done research and established that most of the potential customers in California have access to the internet. The company will therefore major on social media and internet advertising as it is also cheaper compared to other promotional methods like active campaigns and use of print media. 

i. A strategic direction entails the central forces that guide the business towards its desired objectives (Chernev, 2015). To better align the organizational strategies with its strategic direction, the mission, tactics, goals and core values of the firm should be in line with the proposed strategy.  For example, the company's decision of developing two new product lines in California in vertically aligned to its mission of becoming a leading distributor customized casual wears. This is because it will enable it to expand its brand to include sportswear and lightweight bags and expand its geographical target market in California. Furthermore, the decision has an accurate operational alignment with the company’s goals as it will enable it to increase its revenue through sales.

Tips for Communicating Verbally

ii. Smart Wear’s mission is to be the leading manufacturer and seller of customized casual wears for consumers who love the outdoors. Smart Wear aims to inspire clients who are passionate about getting outdoors regularly and enjoying with friends and families. The vision of the company is to become the worlds’ most preferred, most respected and valued producer and marketer of customized casual wears.  The company's corporate values are based on mutual respect, cooperation, and innovation. During the next five years, the company’s main goal is to attain the following goals:

1. Obtain funds to finance the introduction of  the two new product lines

2. Increase its yearly sales revenues by 50%.

3. Establish two new products-lightweight luggage and customized logo sportswear.

4. Develop an internet site while maintaining positive relationships with the clients

5. Enter new geographic markets including California

i. The competitive analysis encompasses evaluating the unique attributes of a product which may make it more preferred by the customers when compared to other competitors’ products and services.  Smart Wear Company will conduct its competitive analysis in terms of product quality, market share, and profitability. The company will develop a standard performance level and compare it with the actual yearly performance to identify profitability. Profitability will also be calculated in terms of returns on Investment (ROI) of the firm. When the company will make positive ROI, then it will be viewed as profitable. Furthermore, the company intends to expand its market share by expanding into California. Therefore, its competitiveness will also be measured in terms of market share improvement. Besides, the company will measure its competitiveness in terms of product quality and customer preference to its products. This will be measured on the basis of positive feedbacks from returning clients.

ii. There are four basic stages of a product lifecycle (introduction, growth, maturity and decline stage). The introduction stage relates to the initial introduction of the product into the market. It is characterized by low profits due to lack of awareness. This stage is important as the manager should consider involving in vigorous promotional activities to build product awareness and allocate more funds to finance the operational costs as it is also characterized by high costs and low profits.

The second stage is growth. It involves either improving the demand for the product or improving the product itself to become more appealing to the customers.  This stage is important as the manager will need to closely monitor the growth of the product and make any necessary improvements. The company also needs to involve in brand promotion to inspire customers to be loyal to the brand as competition increases.

Leadership Skills

The third stage is maturity. At this stage, the growth of sales would have picked up and the sales revenues will be more predictable. There is also an increase in competition at this level meaning that the company will be able to reduce the prices of its products to win customer preference. The customers will also be more aware of the product hence no need for intensive product awareness and promotion. At this stage, the company should practice product differentiation to combat competition and also use incentives.

The last stage is the decline stage. At this stage, a decline in product profits may be experienced due to a number of factors like market saturation or changing customer interests. This stage is important as the company should consider entering a new market, merging or reducing products or change the pricing options.

iii. Product portfolio analysis involves an analysis of a firm's entire portfolio of products. A product portfolio, on the other hand, refers to a collection of all the services and products offered by an enterprise (Kraiczy, Hack & Kellermanns, 2014). A product portfolio analysis can provide accurate views on a company’s growth prospects, stock type, profit margin drivers, operational risk and market leadership. Furthermore, a product portfolio analysis may evaluate the volume of sales made by a firm, new customers contacted versus the existing ones, the link between the new clients contacted and the sold products and the costs involved in product promotion.

i. 1) Milestones- the action plan should contain the milestones reached by the firm. This can be in form of a target market, product sales, and promotion.

2) Costing for each tactic- the action plan should show the costing for each activity carried out by the firm. For example, the costs incurred in making sales, staff training, product promotion or any legal costs applicable.

3) Targets- The action plan should also contain a list of each action and the expected date of completion. Furthermore, it should indicate whether the action is in progress, completed or whether it has not been started.

4) Partners- when the firm is working along-side other firms, then it should list down all the firms it is working with.

5) Priorities- the firm should indicate its priorities. This may include monitoring the performance of different organizational aspects or researching customer visits to a company website.

6) People responsible- the company should list in its action plan different professionals and managers responsible for handling different tasks. These personalities may also include supervisors, subordinates or technical staff.

Consideration of Codes of Practice

ii. The company should follow the following tips for proper time management:

Avoid procrastination: The company should avoid postponing important activities to later dates when they can be carried out immediately. Important activities should be carried out without any unnecessary postponements.

Proper time planning: The company should develop a schedule for doing different activities to avoid confusion or overlapping of tasks. This will ensure the company moves from one activity to another without delays.

Keep a Calender: The company should establish and follow a strict Calender in handling different tasks. For instance, a specific action should be done at a particular date. It should also develop deadlines within which specific activities should be completed.

Set targets for each day: the company should set daily targets to be accomplished. This will ensure that it does not waste time handling tasks outside its targets.

Involve the employees: The company should involve other employees in setting targets and deadlines to ensure that such targets are reasonable and achievable by the employees.

Ask for help from team members and other employees: The company should encourage its members to constantly ask for help from team members, whenever they have doubts about how some tasks should be handled. This will ensure that the employees do not waste time doing the wrong tasks.

i. The company should get a balanced view of both qualitative and quantitative data to accurately monitor the effects of its advertising activities. Qualitative data is a non-numerical data that is rich and may contain customer feedback and opinions of other people. On the other hand, quantitative data is usually numerical and presented in form of statistics. Using the quantitative method, a study can be conducted that encompasses showing the target audience the advertisement and giving them an opportunity to answer a list of standardized questions about it. This also enables the company to examine how memorable the advertisement is among the participants as compared to those of other competitors. On the other hand, when using a qualitative method, the firm can use interviews or focus groups to discuss specific elements of an advertisement.

The company can also undertake buying reviews using different media. For example, a company can run an advertisement on a television channel and then ask the channel to provide data on the number of customers who viewed the advert and then compare it with the number of viewers it was expecting.

Action Plan for Setting Targets and Goals

i. To ensure that the tactics are achievable, there should be proper consultations with the relevant stakeholders and colleagues in different departments. These may include marketing partners, employees, and managers. The organization should also evaluate the estimated expenses and total them up to ensure that they do not exceed the budget.

A proper evaluation should also be conducted to identify the best possible revenue the organization can achieve and the worst revenue outcome the organization may experience. This will ensure that the tactics are formulated within the budget limits.

Furthermore, other considerations like the available infrastructure, the technology available and the relevant staff skills and knowledge available in the firm should form the primary focus of the manager. This will ensure that the tactics correspond to the employees’ capabilities, the technology available and the equipment held by the firm.

Also, there is need to conduct a wide range of consultations with the stakeholders involved, on the expected impacts of different tactics to be adopted. This may include financial impacts, operational impacts, and even technical impacts.

i. The organization should ensure that the tactics align with the ethical and legal requirements such as:

Codes of Practice: The company should align its tactics to the codes of practice provided by the state or the organization. While executing the marketing tactics, the employees should align with the codes of behavior expected of them by the organization.

Environmental issues: The company should ensure that its tactics align with the provisions of the environmental laws guiding pollution, emissions, and plastic bags usage and garbage management.

Ethical principles: The company should ensure that it respects the ethical principles in its operations. This entails maintaining the dignity of employees, avoid workplace bullying, promoting respect and mutual understanding and operating within acceptable time-frames and limits.

Safety issues: The company must ensure the safety of its employees and its customers. The products should not expose the consumers to health risks. Also, the workplace should be safe to eliminate accidents.

Security and privacy issues: The marketing tactics should not compromise the privacy of the employees and the customers.

Societal expectations: The marketing tactics should live up to the expectations of the members of the society. They should ensure that the members of the society receive jobs, live in clean environments and obtain quality products among other expectations.

Legislation: the business should operate within the legal provisions and ensure that it deals in products that are not prohibited by the government.

Monitoring the Effects of Advertising

ii. Social responsibility entails an organization taking responsibility for different social issues like environmental issues and child protection. The society expects that organizations should have a social conscience and be actively involved in local and global social issues affecting the economy. This can be achieved by working as efficiently as possible, researching suppliers and using Fairtrade where necessary, protecting orphans, vulnerable individuals and children in the society, anticipating social change and voluntarily taking appropriate actions and demonstrating ethical behavior.

i. Performance can be reviewed by organizing regular one-on-one discussions with the individual staff members involved in handling different activities. By doing this, the staff members can explain their progress with the strategy and any difficulties that they are facing, making the company be able to identify any possibilities for adjustments.

Furthermore, group meetings can be used to give a chance for different employees to give feedbacks concerning their progress. The management can also take this chance to give any clarifications on unclear parts of the strategy.

Whether the company uses group meetings or one-on-one discussions to get the staff members' views concerning the progress with the strategies, the managers can use brainstorming as a technique. Brainstorming is an open discussion which can enable the respective staff members to give their experiences and progresses with the strategies and consequently identify areas for improvement.

Also, it is good for a company to develop adaptable plans to allow for incorporation of any developments and adjustments. Creating an adaptable plan shows that the organization is ready for a possibility of change

ii. Brainstorming is the best method an organization can use to generate ideas for adjustments. In brainstorming, every person is encouraged to think and make as many suggestions as possible no matter how outlandish or bizarre they may seem (Rawlinson, 2017). Furthermore, a criticism, an analysis or discussion of the aired views is permitted only at the end of the brainstorming session. When the brainstorming session ends, an evaluation session begins whereby the ideas are evaluated to find the best and most feasible ideas.

i. The marketing approaches available for the company include the following:

Differentiated target marketing: In this approach, the company can adopt different marketing approaches o different target markets.

Direct Marketing: This is where a company communicates directly to the customers through a variety of media like print media text messages, cell phones and emails.

Direct response Marketing: This is an approach used by marketers whereby they elicit direct responses from the clients.

Case Study

E-Business: This is whereby a company conducts all the business processes on the internet.

Mass Marketing: In this approach, a company may decide to ignore the differences between the market segments and approach the whole market with one strategy.

Product variety marketing: This involves adopting different marketing strategies for a different range of brands or products offered by a firm.

Promotion marketing: this is the use of any special offer or incentives to raise customers’ interests and influence product purchase.

ii. A marketing mix is a way of making important decisions relating to the execution of a successful marketing plan. It was coined by Neil Borden in 1953 and encompasses four Ps- promotion, place, price, and product. The product refers to the market offer. A marketer must consider the product's lifecycle and any other challenges that may be experienced while moving the particular product or service. Promotion may entail sales promotion, advertising, print media and other means by which a marketer notifies and convinces the consumers to buy the product. Furthermore, the place is the distribution canter or where the product is sold or placed for the customers to access. Lastly, the price is the value tied to the product.

i. The following information should be included in the rationale:

The Budget: The budget shows the expected expenditure per item and the available funds.

Description of the product or service: The rationale should also contain a clear product description, its features, use, and specifications.

The parties interested and why: The rationale should also contain the stakeholders who will be directly affected by the proposed strategy and tactics.

The methods are chosen and why: The rationale should contain the methods used the disadvantages and the advantages of the method and why it was chosen. 

ii. Advantages of Direct Marketing

Builds loyalty: If the direct marketing campaign is well-constructed, then it may promote brand loyalty as the customers develop a preference for the brand.

Easy to monitor: Tracking and monitoring are easy to put in place to efficiently evaluate the results of the campaign.

It is personalized and targeted: This marketing approach can be targeted on the basis of the social and economic factors and the experiences gained while working with specific customers.

Reduced Competitor awareness: This approach deals directly with the customers hence help keep the company’s strategies secretive and away from the competitors’ knowledge.

Disadvantages of direct marketing

Competency Questions

Limited reach:  This is due to the fact that mass media like Radio, TV and internet advertising are not used.

Privacy intrusion: Direct marketing is associated with privacy intrusion especially in telemarketing and direct mails.

Image impact: The company’s image can be adversely affected by this marketing approach especially in poorly managed campaigns.

i. If your organization has a template for marketing plans attach it here. What information is needed when presenting your marketing plan for approval

(Important in giving the relevant stakeholders the overview of the plan)

(Describe target customers- their demographic profiles like gender or age, a psychological profile like interests and wants that coincide with the product)

Unique selling proposition different from those of competitors

Align the pricing and positioning strategy must be aligned

How will the customers buy from you?

May include money back guarantees, free trials, and free packages

What will you use to promote your business (print brochures, catalogs?)

What are the promotional tactics? (Trade shows, press releases, event marketing)

(How will you go online? (Paid online advertisements, social media, websites)

How will you turn prospective clients into paying customers?

Do you intend to involve in some joint ventures or partnerships?

(Insert your referral program)

What is your customer loyalty program?

ii. Some format recommendations for the above template may include a table of contents, font style, line spacing, color, use of headers and footers and graphs and charts. The organization should use charts and graphs to make the marketing plan more practical. For instance, it may develop graphs for its budget forecasts and profit postulates. Appropriate font size and font type should be used such as an Ariel font and font size of 12 or 11 to make the plan more readable. Furthermore, the company should use a more attractive color so that the marketing plan may be more appealing.

i. Stakeholders are people who are affected by the strategies made by the business. Some stakeholders may also directly or indirectly influence the strategies of a firm. The stakeholders may include customers, financers, employees, the government, and management.

The employees are important as they are responsible for handling different tasks to ensure that the marketing plan is successfully implemented. Some employees may include the marketing team who handle the promotional duties and the business analysts who monitor the success of the business in implementing the strategies.

Management involves the people who are responsible for strategic monitoring in the firm. They are important as they ensure that adequate resources are allocated for the accomplishment of the set strategic objectives.

Smart Wear Company's Marketing Plan

Another group of stakeholders is the customers. These are the buyers of the company's products and services.  When customers are treated fairly, they may develop product loyalty making the firm to increase its revenue from sales.

Financial institutions are also important as they are the sources of finance for the firm. They may provide loans and grants to the organization to aid in implementing the strategy.

Lastly, the government is responsible for formulating rules and regulations that guide business operations in a particular jurisdiction. The business should ensure that it complies with all government regulations to avoid fines and penalties.

ii. When implementing any adjustments the relevant stakeholders must be made aware of such adjustments. Also, the organization should evaluate the alternative adjustments and select the most appropriate adjustments that would enable it to make the required changes. 

The organization should evaluate whether to make major changes or whether small changes could be most appropriate. This is because small changes are often easy to implement and exert minimum impacts on the strategic direction of the firm. Larger changes may include such actions as changing the strategic direction of the firm, changing the target audience and changing the product line. These changes may have significant impacts on the organization and may be time-consuming.

1. Verbal communication entails relaying information from one person to another using the word of mouth. To conduct an effective verbal communication a person should do the following:

Use active listening techniques: There should be an accurate role taking in the communication process. One person should not dominate the whole process. After relaying a message, a person should give a colleague time to respond. Furthermore, a communicator should clarify any unclear points by providing an evaluated summary.

Controlling the tone, body language and voice: The body language can speak a lot in verbal communication. Therefore a communicator should use accurate body languages such as nodding the head, moving the hands and smiling whenever appropriate. The person should also talk slowly and pronounce terms appropriately to avoid any confusions. Furthermore, the person should show interest in the conversation and express concern about major ideas.

Questioning: In a verbal communication, a person should ask questions to enable the communicator to clarify unclear points and confirm understanding of different ideas being discussed.

Using language and concepts appropriate to a particular culture: In marketing, it is important to understand a particular culture and its values before starting the marketing process. This will enable the marketer to use the appropriate signs, languages, and concepts that are accepted by the specific culture. In some communities, English may be an alternative or second language hence the need for the communicator to use simple and understandable terms. Alternatively, some words may be viewed as offensive hence the need for the communicator to avoid them.

Using positive cooperative and confident language: The communicator should be confident when speaking and be able to make any clarifications when prompted to do so. Furthermore, the speaker should be cooperative and bold enough to allow the recipients to relay their feelings and concerns and address them appropriately.

2. Leadership skills are competencies that should be shown by leaders while executing the leadership functions. Leadership skills can be demonstrated as follows:

Lead by example: A leader should act as a role model to other employees, by always doing the right thing. This will help in motivating the employees to work. The leader should also be enthusiastic in handling different tasks in the firm and promote a culture of cooperation, respect, and accountability.

Build relationships: A good leader should actively work to build positive relationships with the employees. This can be done by creating genuine organizational connections in a way that creates a sense of community and a familiar feeling.

Non-verbal communication: A good leader should be a good communicator. Furthermore, being a good communicator should transcend written and verbal communication. The leader should demonstrate a sense of openness and non-discrimination even without speaking up.

Demonstrate emotional intelligence: Emotional stability is a key skill in leadership. Leaders should be able to control their emotions and those of other employees. This helps in encouraging a peaceful coexistence and cooperation in the firm.

3. Some codes of practice that are relevant in this case  may include:

The Competition and Consumer Act 2010. This law regulates fair trading and consumer protection. It applies to employing external contractors, suppliers, and agencies. Under section29 of ACL, an individual is prohibited from making misleading or false representations in relation to the possible supply, actual supply or promotion of products. Therefore it is important to comply with these regulations.

Another code of practice pertains to copyright laws. These are laws that provide legal protection for businesses and individuals who express ideas in certain forms like images or music. It also relates to brand protection by claiming copyright of the brand image. Therefore, it is essential to avoid breaching copyright laws to escape legal proceedings.

Furthermore, Defamation and libel is another code of practice. Defamation involves writing or publishing a negative and damaging information about a company while libel is a defamation that has not been published. This is important during the brand promotion as it is important to avoid defamatory terms.

4. 

Action Steps	Timeline	Resources	Potential Barriers	Communication Plan
Introduce Two new product lines	June 2018	50,000 USD and 20 Employees	Resistance from employee Inadequate Market research	Product awareness will be communicated to the consumer using the internet and social media
Brand Awareness	Dec 2018	5,000 USD Brand promotion team	Inadequate funds	The brand promotion team will give a report on the advancements
Intensive brand promotion	Feb 2019	5,000 USD Brand promotion team	Inadequate funds	The brand promotion team will give a report on the advancements
Increase sales by 20%	March 2019	10,000 USD Sales team	Inadequate brand awareness	The sales team will give a report on sales revenue.
Increase the market share	September 2019	10,000 USD Sales team	Competition	The marketing team will give the percentage of market share achieved
Evaluate strategic deviations	December 2019	5, 000 USD Management	Incompetent financial records	The management to analyze the financial forecasts against the actual performance
Strategy revision	January 2020	10,000 USD Management	Inappropriate strategic formulation	The management will brainstorm and come up with any adjustments

Evidence of Success:  Increased brand awareness, improved sales, increase sales revenue by 20% and increased market share.

Evaluation Process: Customers are aware of the products, the actual sales exceed or are equal to the standard sales, and there is an increase in market share. 

5. To understand the impacts of the advertising process, the manager must first examine the business before the campaign is started and set specific goals to be attained. After conducting the advertisement campaign, the business can review the set goals and compare them with the actual achievements to find out whether the advertisement campaign was successful. An advertisement is considered successful when it results in an increase in the level of inquiries and sales, improvement in the business image, attainment of the marketing goals and positive feedback from the clients

1. The company mainly deals in clothes and it intends to start manufacturing clothing for kids as a new product. These clothes will be customized and made from high-quality raw materials to enable the customers to derive value from their purchases.

The main objective of the company is to enable its esteemed customers to obtain high-quality customized clothes for their loved kids at affordable prices. Therefore, the company will price its clothes lowly to enable the middle- income and low-income earners to afford them. The company intends to achieve this strategy by obtaining raw materials in large quantities using trusted suppliers who will offer them at cheaper prices, which will also enable it to sell the clothes at cheaper prices.

The firm intends to use the internet and social media marketing as basic promotional strategies. This will enable it to reduce the cost of advertisement and brand awareness as using the internet is quite cheaper as compared to other promotional strategies.

Furthermore, the company intends to develop a large store in Australia, where the customers will purchase the products. The company will also develop a website where customers can view and order for products which will be delivered to their premises at an affordable fee.

2. The company will post its products on social media, its website and other internet sources. The customers will have an opportunity to view these products and make an inquiry using a contact that will be provided on these sites. The returning customers will also be given a chance to make positive reviews alongside the product they purchased. This will act as an appropriate tactic as it is cheaper and affordable by the firm. The brand and marketing managers will be responsible for managing the social media, website and other internet sites developed by the company. 

Men's Clothing Company was established three years ago to provide high-quality cotton T-shirts, shirts, and trousers for men who are discriminative and fashion conscious. Since then the company has been in operation in Melbourne Australia having established two stores. The company is committed to increasing its profits and becoming the best fashion destination for men living in Australia.

The company’s mission is to become the leading manufacturer and seller of customized clothes for men who love outdoors. During the next three years, the company’s main goal is to establish a new market target consistent of children’s clothes so as to further expand its market target, improve its profitability and diversify its product portfolio. The company aims to raise 100, 000 USD to finance the development of the new product. Already, it has 50, 000 USD from its previous years’ profits. However, the company has a good credit rating consequent to its continued positive performance and will be able to raise an additional 50, 000 by acquiring loans from financial institutions.

Men’s’ Clothes Company aims at using its core capabilities to achieve a competitive edge against its competitors. Its core competencies are based on providing high-quality products, creating a sense of respect and cooperation with the consumers and developing a reputation among the suppliers and retailers as the best manufacturer and distributor of Men's and children's clothes.

The marketing environment in the fashion industry presents tremendous opportunities and some threats to the company as evaluated using the SWOT model below:

                                                                       

The target market for Men's' Clothes Company consists of active customers living in Melbourne Australia, who love their babies and are passionate about obtaining high-quality customized clothes to fit their babies at affordable prices for outdoor ventures. The company will manufacture clothes to fit babies of between one day and 15 years. The clothes will be made affordable to enable the middle-income earners and the low-income earners to purchase them.

The following paragraphs entail a discussion about the proposed marketing mix for Men’s’ Clothes Company product.

PRODUCT STRATEGY: Currently Men's' Clothes Company offers a range of high -quality customized clothes for its esteemed customers. Likewise, the company has conducted a wide research and identified the best colours, quality, and sizes and customized fashions that impress mothers and fathers living in Australia. Australian mothers and fathers are fashion conscious and love attractive and high-quality clothes for their babies. This is what the company will offer

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY:  Currently, the company has two stores in Melbourne. The company intends to avail its new products in these stores for the customer's to purchase. Furthermore, the company will have an internet and social media site where the parents will view the clothes and make orders for delivery at their own convenience.

PROMOTIONAL STRATEGY:  Men's Clothes Company communicates with its retailers and consumers in a number of ways. The company’s information is available on its website and Facebook page. Furthermore, the company plans to launch an internet source where it will advertise its kid's clothes. The kid's clothes will contain the company's brand image which will further act as a promotional strategy. Since most parents in Australia have smartphones, the company knows that social media and internet marketing is a cheap and convenient promotional strategy. The company has also crowned a promotional slogan "Make My Baby Shine" which will be used to market the clothes in social media and internet.

PRICING STRATEGY:  From its inception, the company has continued to price its products with a competitive mind. The company does not focus on setting high prices which will render its products unaffordable. Furthermore, the firm has in mind, the interests of the low and middle-income earners and understands that they need high quality and affordable products. Therefore, the company intends to extend its cost leadership strategy to its new product line and attach affordable prices to its clothes.  Sometimes, parents may need to buy clothes for their kids as birthday gifts but may not have a lot of money. Pricing these products lowly will ensure that such parents are covered.

The company has enjoyed an improvement in sales over the last few years. The figure that follows shows the performance within the three years and the sales projections for the next three years of operation: 

                                                           

The timeline for the establishment of the new product is clearly shown in the following table. The implementation of the listed tasks will closely be monitored to evaluate success 

Introduction of customized Children Clothes	June 2018	New fabrics Designers 20,000 USD	The unique designs of children’s wear have been developed
Brand Awareness Campaign	Dec 2018	5000 USD	Customers are aware of the new product
Improve sales by 20%	March 2019	Sales team	Sales revenue increased by 20% or more
Improve the market share by 30%	Dec 2019	6000 USD Management	The market share has increased by 30% or more
Increase production by 40%	Jan 2020	30,000 USD Management	Production has been improved by 40%

References

Chernev, A. (2015). The marketing plan handbook. Cerebellum Press.

Kraiczy, N. D., Hack, A., & Kellermanns, F. W. (2014). New product portfolio performance in family firms. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), 1065-1073.

Kumar, V. (2015). Evolution of Marketing as a Discipline: What has happened and what to look out for. Journal of Marketing, 79(1), 1-9.

Rawlinson, J.G., 2017. Creative Thinking and Brainstorming. Routledge.