Marketing Plan For Brisbane Brewery Company

Market Analysis

Question:

Prepare a social media marketing plan for the new business of the Brisbane Brewery Company?

This marketing plan has been developed in the context of Brisbane Brewery Company which is considering the start up of its business in the Brisbane market for its wide range of alcoholic and non alcoholic brewery products. A brief analysis as carried out in relation to the marketing of products and services indicates that Brisbane Brewery Company is known as the provider of high quality brewery products initially in the market of Brisbane and South East Queensland. Based on its performance in such markets, it is considering its expansion into the entire Australia. The market analysis has been carried out in respect to the Brisbane market for the beverages related industry and the performance of analysis has indicated that there has been stiff level of competition being prevalent across such markets especially within well established brewery boutiques across the market. As a result, Brisbane Brewery Company is also likely to face significant level of effect of such highly competitive market conditions.

The analysis of the external environment has also been carried out through the application of PESTEL analytical tool which revealed that the external environment particularly the political, economic and socio cultural conditions are highly favourable to Brisbane Brewery Company in performing the start up of its business and thereby in marketing it within such market. The analysis of Brisbane through SWOT analytical tool has indicated that the core strength point of the company is mainly in terms of its wide range of offerings, but the weakness is identified as its newness factor in the market. Apart from this, the marketing mix analysis has been carried out in relation to the company’s alcoholic and non alcoholic range of offerings, and the product strategy as noted is mainly to offer wide range of products to its customers, and it also includes different variety of alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks. The company also focuses especially towards the quality factor.

The analysis with respect to the pricing strategy indicated that the main focus of the Brisbane Brewery Company has been to target higher price or premium prices from its customers for the offerings as made by it. The place or distribution strategy considered in selling its wide range of brewery products is mainly through the supermarkets and retail chain stores and also through its own distribution outlets. Finally, the promotional strategy has been analysed and it has been assessed that the core focus of the company has been to promote its offerings through a rigorous adaptation of social media strategy. The promotional activities would be carried out through the application of both the offline media and the online media tools.

This marketing plan is in relation to Brisbane Brewing Company which has been a boutique brewery that is about to open in Brisbane, Queensland. The company is yet to start its operation and it has been in the process of building a state of art distilling plant in Brisbane northside with the aim of performing the production of uniquely different brewed drinks both alcoholic and non-alcoholic so that they can be distributed to final consumers through a range of retail outlets and licensed establishments. The distribution strategy that has been considered by the Brisbane Brewing Company is mainly to perform the distribution of its alcoholic and non-alcoholic products across Brisbane and South-East Queensland. However, the future plans of the company indicate that it intends to distribute its product across entire Queensland and Australia. Thus, the analysis of Brisbane Brewing Company indicated that the company has been in the process of starting up its operations and its core products and services offerings imply that it is planned to provide different flavours of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks to its customers. Thus, it can be categorised within the beverage industry that aims at meeting out the drinking requirements of its customers.

PESTEL Analysis

An analysis of market condition is essential in setting up an appropriate marketing strategy for Brisbane Brewing Company. The beverage market analysis in Brisbane Australia indicates that there have been direct as well as indirect competitors that are operating across the country. An analysis of the Brisbane market indicates that there are large ranges of boutiques that are currently operating and they have established themselves over the years. These are mainly identified as Castlenmaine Perkins, Green Beacon Brewing Company, Newstead Brewing Company, All Inn Brewing Company Croft Brewing Company and many more (Green Beacon Brewing Company, 2015). All these are the well established brewing company that are currently operating across Brisbane and some of these are international players that have gained significant level of recognition in the industry (Newstead Brewing Company, 2015). These boutiques are therefore known as direct competitors of the Brisbane Brewing Company, and as such, appropriate strategies need to be devised in ensuring that the company achieves higher level of growth and success despite highly competitive market. The indirect customers of the company in particular include the international and well established brewing companies such as Coca Cola, PepsiCo, and Boot Juice Bars etc. These companies would indirectly compete with the Brisbane Brewing Company with the soft drink market segments.

• Political: Brisbane Chamber of Commerce affects the growth performance of businesses across the country, and the brewing boutiques are adequately supported across the region (Brisbane Chamber of Commerce, 2015).
• Economic: Brisbane economy is growing rapidly in respect to both the business class and general people, and there has been rising consciousness of maintaining health conditions. Thus, Brisbane Brewing Company gets good opportunities in marketing such growing target population (Aitken, 2013).
• Socio-Cultural: The socio cultural trend in Australia indicates that beer drinking trend has been highly popular across the country. People likes both the alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks and this is evident from their increasing consumption for such brewery (Brisbane the Emerging Cafe Scene, 2015).
• Technological: The technological implication is severe as the brewing companies in Brisbane make use of technology to a greater level in promoting their brands. The use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter is significantly higher in promoting their brands.
• Ecological: The impact of breweries over the ecological values is also significant because they account for the consumption of significant amount of natural resources such as water. As a result, the impact of brewery companies is significant over the ecological performance.
• Legal: There are specific labelling requirements as provided by Food Regulation Australia in respect to alcohol production companies that needs to be observed carefully.

An analysis of Brisbane Brewing Company indicates that the strength point of the company is mainly its offerings in terms of both the alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks to its customers. In addition to this, the company also plans to enter into the Brisbane market initially with different flavours of beverages for its customers. As a result, the company is in a better position to target wide range of markets through its different flavours of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages for its customers. Apart from this, the weakness as evident in respect to the Brisbane Brewing Company is mainly its newness in the industry. The brand of Brisbane Brewing Company is newer into the market and as a result, this can be considered as a major weakness of the company in satisfying its customers. Apart from internal analysis, an analysis of Brisbane Brewing Company also indicates about the opportunities which have been identified as significant from the analysis of markets of breweries in Australia. The rising demand within customers for both the alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks is significant from the point of view of achieving higher level of growth by Brisbane Brewing Company. In terms of threats is concerned, the major threat is mainly in terms of stiff level of competition from the already established players in the industry within the brewery segment.

An analysis of the behaviour of consumer is essential in efficiently targeting them with the offerings as made by the company. The type of consumers including the target market for the product and services are analysed as follows:

Type of Consumers: The type of consumers that are specifically considered by the company in targeting its products and services are mainly the young consumers especially in the demographic age details of 18-25 years of age especially in respect to alcoholic segments. Contrary to this, with respect to non-alcoholic segments, the target customers include 18-35years customer groups. The consumers for the non-alcoholic beverage mainly include customers that are conscious with their health performance and pays adequate attention towards enhancing their health through naturally extracted food drinks. However, the consumer in respect to alcoholic beverages is mainly those customers that have higher preferences for alcoholic beverages such as regular visitors of beer bars.

SWOT Analysis

Target Market: The target market that has initially been considered for the purpose of targeting the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages is the market of Brisbane and South East Queensland and once the brand would achieve positive level of acceptance within its target customers, the distribution of the product will be expanded into the entire Australian markets (North Brisbane is Australia’s worst binge alcohol drinking area, 2014).

This section of analysis is now focused towards devising efficient marketing strategy through the consideration of marketing mix elements. The marketing mix comprises of four important P’s such as product, price, place and promotion. The strategy of the Brisbane Brewing Company in relation to these important P’s of marketing are analysed in this section through the consideration of social media in particular. These strategies are separately discussed as follows:

Product: The strategy in relation to the product is the most significant factor in attracting customers because the effectiveness of company’s offerings is a crucial determining factor to a company’s overall success. As in relation to the given boutique, the core product that has been proposed to offer to the customers is mainly the combination of both the alcoholic beverages and non-alcoholic beverages. This is mainly because the Brisbane Brewing Company is focused towards satisfying the need and expectations of customers in the beverage industry. Regarding the offerings of breweries, the company proposed to provide a large range of variants in its offerings. As for instance, within the alcoholic drinks, the product menu of the company will include both the soft drinks as well as hard drinks. The customers that prefer to drink stronger beer would be offered with beer that has higher percentage of alcohol whereas customers having preference for light drinks would be offered with beer with lower percentage of alcohol into it. Apart from beer offerings to customers, they will also be offered with wine of different tastes and quality as well. This would also be included within the alcoholic drink category that has been planned to offer by Brisbane Brewing Company (Bowman and Gatignon, 2010).

The current range of beers as offered by Brisbane Brewing Company under the name of Brewhouse Beers are categorised into different brand names including Sunshine that includes Honey Wheat, Star Lager including Classic Pilsner, Walker that includes American India Pale Ale and BPA i.e. business pale ale. These different categories of beers as offered to customers currently are aimed at satisfying the needs and expectations of different range of customers of the company that prefers different taste and preferences. The focus point of the Brisbane Brewing Company in this context is mainly in towards quality factor, as the company aims at maintaining higher quality levels in its offerings. Thus, the product strategy of the company is identified as satisfying the distinguishing needs and requirements of its wide range of customers. Along with the quality focus, the organisation also focuses towards the variety factor with emphasis on providing different kinds of tastes and preferences to its customers. The customers are therefore targeted with the product quality including the variety factor so that they are offered all their requirements under one roof (Brewhouse, 2015)

Marketing Mix Analysis

Apart from the alcoholic products, the non-alcoholic products are also considered within the product portfolio as offered by Brisbane Brewery Company. The non alcoholic drinks also forms a part of the company’s offerings, and this mainly include soft drinks especially for the non drinkers. These includes cola flavoured drink, different flavoured soft drinks including that of apple’s taste drinks, orange soft drinks, pineapple flavoured drinks, peach flavoured drink, litchi flavoured drink and many more. These are included within the soft drink category as planned to offer by the company. They are positioned as catering to the non alcoholic drink requirements of the customers of the company, and focused towards satisfying the healthy factor that has become the primary concern of the people at large. The product strategy with respect to different brewing products of the company is that they will be offered in different sizes such as 1000 L batches, bar in pots, pints, jugs, and tasting racks. These different sizes as offered are aimed at catering to the individual needs and requirements of the customers in a positive way.

Pricing Strategy: The strategy in relation to pricing is also crucial as it is an important determining factor with respect to the offerings as made by the company. This suggests that companies charging higher prices or premium prices for their products and services are usually regarded as catering to the needs and requirements of premium class customers, and their products are generally associated with higher quality levels. Contrary to this, the products that are made available in the market at the lower rates are generally regarded as of lower quality (Wenderoth, 2009). In respect to the given case of brewery products as offered by Brisbane Brewery Company, the importance of pricing factor is significant. The pricing strategy in relation to the brewery products of the company is considered as higher pricing strategy whereby both the alcoholic drinks and non alcoholic drinks are offered at premium rates to its customers. The premium pricing strategy is although considered in respect to the alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages of the company, however, the prices for different sizes product would be different. The packages that are of 1000L are usually charged at lower unit rate as compared to the beverages offered in small sizes and shapes. Thus, the overall pricing strategy in relation to the offerings of the company would be premium prices for both the alcoholic and non alcoholic range of beverages as offered by the company (Brewhouse, 2015).

Place Strategy: The success of a product is largely dependent on the place strategy that has been considered by the organisation in this context. The place strategy indicates about the availability of the products that has been made sure by the company across different locations so that they can be easily accessible to customers. The effectiveness of the products and services as offered by the business is mainly from its availability that has been made sure across different locations (Bowman and Gatignon, 2010). As in respect to the Brisbane Brewery Company, the strategy that has been considered in relation to the place is mainly to make the product available across all the major locations initially at Brisbane because the company aims at targeting its customers in the Brisbane markets initially. The effectiveness of the place strategy of the company is largely dependent on the distribution network and strategy that has been considered by the company (Brewhouse, 2015).

Promotional Strategies

In respect to the different brewery products that are planned to sell by the company in different shapes and sizes, the distribution strategy that would be applied is mainly through making its products available through different supermarkets and retail stores across Brisbane area. In addition to this, the company’s own outlets will also be considered in selling the wide range of alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages to its customers. In these ways, the products and services would be physically made available to large range of customers across the company. However, it is not only the physical distribution of products and services, but there would also be the online distribution of its wide range of offerings that would be made in the local markets across Brisbane. The beer products as offered by the company would be made available via its own website whereby different ranges and categories of beers and non alcoholic drinks would be listed and they would be sold via the company’s website (Brewhouse, 2015).

In these ways, the distribution of products and services would be performed in relation to the offerings of the company across different markets so that they would be readily made available for its customers.

Promotion Strategy: This has been the most crucial element in respect to the marketing mix, as adequate level of promotion of company’s offering is important from the point of view of persuading customers in purchasing its products and services. Promotion would be carried out distinctively by way of applying both the offline media and the online media in the process. The platform for marketing would therefore be offline mode which includes marketing via print medium in the form of pamphlets distribution which would include details about the wide range of alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks as offered by the company, newspaper advertisements and also use of television advertisements performed through celebrity endorsements. These are the important modes of performing the promotion through the application of offline media by the company (Bowman and Gatignon, 2010).

Apart from the above offline mode, there would also be the consideration of online mode in performing the promotion of the new business offerings. The strategy that would be considered by the researcher is mainly in terms of promoting through online mode is the social media marketing strategy. Social media marketing is an important way in which the products and services offerings by the company would be marketed to their target customers. The promotional strategy would be to link the offerings with the imagery that the products as offered are of high quality products by the company. The tone and voice of social media that will be utilised is mainly that the product is of high quality and caters to diverse needs of the customers. The brand would be promoted in a positive way via such online mode whereby there would be separate Facebook page that would be created in advertising the company’s offerings. Apart from this, the use of Twitter would also be performed whereby the people should be encouraged to tweet about their experience and share any improvements that wish in the breweries as offered by it (Barefoot and Szabo, 2010).

The implementation of the advertising through the application of social media is highly crucial from the point of view of achieving higher level of success. As a result, in respect to the marketing and promotion of the given brewery products via such social media, there will be the creation of a Facebook account in the name of Brisbane Brewery Company, and there would be separate advertising pages that would be designed. These pages would create adequate level of images of the breweries of the company and the people will be encouraged to share their views. There would not be any specific timing that would be considered in this respect, and the customers would be encouraged to share their opinion at regular basis. The testing would be done based on the positive level of comments or opinions as shared by the users, and also via assessing the number of likes in the Facebook page. The evaluation that the product has been highly efficient would be performed by way of applying the concept that higher number of likes and positive comments would mean that the product has been accepted and there has been positive marketing being performed and vice versa. The milestones that would be set to accomplish is 1000 Facebook likes and 300 re-tweets within a period of one month (Smith and Zook, 2011).

In performing the marketing of Brisbane Brewery’s alcoholic and non alcoholic products, there would be specific budget that would be needed. As for instance, in performing the marketing through offline and online mode, there would be a budget of $50000 considered. The distribution of budget to both these online mode and offline mode is performed equally whereby $25000 would be applied in activities such as pamphlets distribution, newspaper and magazine advertisement and also through TV advertisement. The remaining $25000 will be utilised in the social media advertising including the usage of Facebook pay services to advertise products, Google Adsense in promoting products online and many more. In these ways, a budget of $50000 would be applied in performing the marketing of company’s offerings via the online as well as offline mode.

References

Aitken, J. (2013). Brisbane Marketing's ambitious plans for economic growth [Online]. Available at: https://www.smh.com.au/national/people/brisbane-marketings-ambitious-plans-for-economic-growth-20130107-2cbst.html [Accessed: 04 February 2015].

Brisbane the Emerging Cafe Scene, (2015) [Online]. Available at: https://www.cafeculture.com/general-interest/brisbane-the-emerging-cafe-scene [Accessed: 04 February 2015].

Barefoot, D. and Szabo, J. (2010), ‘Friends with Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook’, No Starch Press.

Bowman, D. and Gatignon, H. (2010), ‘Market Response and Marketing Mix Models: Trends and Research Opportunities’, Now Publishers Inc.

Brewhouse, (2015) [Online]. Available at: https://www.brewhouse.com.au/sunshine [Accessed: 04 February 2015].

Brisbane Chamber of Commerce, (2015) [Online]. Available  at: https://brisbanechamber.org/ [Accessed: 04 February 2014].

Green Beacon Brewing Company, (2015) [Online]. Available at: https://www.greenbeacon.com.au/our-story [Accessed: 04 February 2015].

Newstead Brewing Company, (2015) [Online]. Available at: https://newsteadbrewing.com.au/ [Accessed: 04 February 2015].

North Brisbane is Australia’s worst binge alcohol drinking area, (2014) [Online]. Available at: https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/north-brisbane-is-australias-worst-binge-alcohol-drinking-area/story-fneuzlbd-1227041818517 [Accessed: 04 February 2015]. 

Smith, P.R. and Zook, Z. (2011), ‘Marketing Communications: Integrating Offline and Online with Social Media’, Kogan Page.

Wenderoth, M. (2009), ‘Particularities in the Marketing Mix for Service Operations’, GRIN Verlag.