Integrated Marketing Communication Plan For Red Rooster Australia Essay.

Question:

Discuss about the Marketing Plan of the Organization Red Rooster. 

The following report provides an integrated marketing communication plan for the organization Red Rooster, Australia. Red Rooster located in Balcutta, Western Australia is a fast food restaurant but it has many branches throughout Australia. The restaurant is famous for selling high quality of fast food items. It is a medium size organization with increasing market share. However, firm’s position in the market is not strengthened or capability is not up to the mark due to the presence of some large competitors.  It is necessary for any organization to apply new strategies and apply changes to the operation when the organization is running out of the expected profits. Therefore, the organization Red Rooster is determined to make some changes in its operation, which can be done by implementing a marketing plan. The marketing plan includes the plan the strategy of launching a new product and opening up a new branch to a new location. The product that is considered to be launched in the market is Toasted Pocket Full and the new market selected for the establishment of new branch is Gulf St. Vincent, Adelaide, Australia.

The implementation of the marketing plan could take 6 months to finish up, as the implementation of the plan requires an external market analysis. The market research is provided in the present report. The marketing communication plan presented in the report includes a set of communication objectives that have been aligned with the organizational strategic objectives. The marketing objectives have been developed as it helps to implement each action related to the proposed marketing communication plan.  Moreover, communication objectives help to identify whether there are any activities left to implement. Likewise, for implementing the marketing plan a particular target market has been selected based on the population size and market demands. Hence, marketing segmentation model has been applied which certainly helps to learn the background of the target customers such as their income, lifestyle, preference and other related attributes. The report also includes creative messages that justify the relevancy and importance of the marketing plan. Thereafter, the report goes forward with the position strategies, which determines how the product will be positioned in the market considering the possible challenges. The report also includes a communication and media mix strategy that helps to implement the plan effectively. This strategy particularly helps to reach the audiences in the remote areas and this can be done with the help of social media tools. Eventually, an estimated budget has been provided which considers the cost of all activities associated with this integrated marketing communication plan.

Communication Objectives

Without proper goals, the marketing plan remains difficult to implement. Thus, while developing and designing the activities and plan, it is essential to develop objectives; keeping the objectives into the consideration, each related activity can be implemented properly. Thereby, to make the marketing plans successful, the following objectives have been developed.

To increase the market share for the existing products

Table 1: SMART Objectives

To develop a communication plan to make the customers aware of the new product

Table 2: SMART Objectives

To increase the profit margin by expanding the operation

Table 3- SMART Objectives

Short-term objectives

To implement social media tools in the implementation of communication strategy

To develop a marketing campaign for the launch of new product

Segmentation and Target market

In order to implement the proposed marketing plan, it is necessary for Red Rooster to pay attention to the market where the plan best fit. The target market of Red Rooster is selected based on the psychographic, demographic, geographic and behavioral attributes. Dividing a market into distinct categories of buyers who have different needs, preference or the behaviors who might need a separate product or marketing program is a significant strategy (Armstrong et al., 2015). Red Rooster only needs to focus on the following segments.

Demographic Segmentation- As put forward by Schultz (2014), demographic segmentation consists of dividing the market into certain groups on the basis of the variables such as age, gender, family, profession, education, religion, ethnicity and income. The marketers often expect that demographic segmentation variables remain as the most popular base for placing the customer groups. Red Rooster should give its concern in age, life cycle stage, income and social class. Age is a very significant concern as customer needs and demands often change with their age. There is no any particular age limit focus by Red Rooster but the target and attention is on each individual in the society. Red Rooster should particularly focus on the young people such as the school and college goers who often go out with friends and prefer to spend time in restaurants. When it comes to life cycle stage, Red Rooster could provide the new chicken items as young people often love the new items out of their curiosity. Another significant basis for the segmentation is income. As out forward by Shaw (2012), a person’s earning level embedded with the accumulated wealth remains as the determinant of the customers’ intention to buy a product. It is often said by the business scholars that income is the major decisive factor that could influence customers’ buying power. In Red Rooster, income is a significant factor and this factor determines which particular class needs to targeted. In the initial stage of firm’s operation, it has focused on upper class but in the proposed plan, the focus should be on upper class, middle class and economy products to attract the lower to middle class people. Likewise, when it comes to social class, the major focus should be on the upper and middle class people as Australia is economically developed.

Segmentation

Psychographic Segmentation-As mentioned by Yu-Jia (2012) the psychographic segmentation divides a market into different groups on the basis of the social class, personality characteristics as well as the lifestyle. Red Rooster should categorize the market based on the psychographic variables such as life style and personality. For example, they could particularly focus on the urban families of Adelaide where people prefer to have snacks, chicken items on a regular basis on their preferred restaurants. In addition to this, having lunch at a fancy restaurant certainly increases the standard of the lifestyle.

Geographic Segmentation- Always, the market should be segmented in accordance to the geographic criteria such as nations, states, regions, nations, cities and neighborhoods (Helm, & Gritsch, 2014). Red Rooster should focus on the large cities that have population more than 1.2 million. This is because the organization needs to increase the market share, which can be possible, by increasing the customer base. The selected city for the marketing plan is Gulf St. Vincent, Adelaide as this city has more than a million of population and people maintain the standard in their life style. In addition to this, people from other cities and nations tend to visit Adelaide due to the attractive tourist spot. The major key spots for the marketing plan is the tourist spot, newly developed residential areas near Gulf St. Vincent and the downtown of the city, which is usually crowed.

Behavioral segmentation

According to Hollensen (2015) in the behavioral segmentation, the customers are categorized into groups to their knowledge, attitude towards the product or service. It is entirely based on the behavioral characteristics of the customers. Here, the first form of behavioral segmentation often become selling the product in different occasion. Australia is advanced and developed in the category of sports and in every month, sport events take place in all large cities of the country. Red Rooster could offer match Red Rooster chicken popcorn and during the Christmas, it could offer special discounts with the products. Hence, Red Rooster could gain the benefits by developing the products considering the social class and recent market trends. When it comes to the status of loyalty, the first initiative of the firm is to acquire the new customers as well as second is to retain the existing customers. According to Singh (2012), the more loyal the customers become, the more customer base could increase and this is one the significant kind of behavior, which businesses should target. In the context of Red Rooster, the firm could gain a certain advantage as being a medium size firm they are popular across the country.

Positioning Strategies

Target market

As put forward by Castronovo and Huang (2012) market targeting remains as the process of evaluating each market segment’s attractiveness and then choosing one or more segment to get in.  After an organization has defined the market segment, it could enter one particular or many of these segments. Hence, Ashley and Tuten (2015) also mentioned that an organization should target the market segment in which it could profitably generate the largest customer value as well as sustain over the certain period of time. In the case of Red Rooster, the target market for implementing the integrated communication plan and expanding the market is Gulf St. Vincent, Adelaide, which is certain a potential and attractive market because this proposed market has increasing demands of fast food items due to the frequent visits of tourists and the classy life style of the residents. In addition to this, Adelaide is often surrounded by the frequent sports events, which increase the opportunities for selling more products. Red Rooster could observe a significant growth on the return on investment. In this context, Berthon et al., (2012) mentioned that the organizations with the limited resources could decide to serve one or more particular segments. As Red Rooster is a medium size firm, it is wise  for them to serve segment for its proposed marketing plan.

It is certain that business works based on the creative ideas. The creativity can be applied to all segments of operation (Armstrong et al., 2015). To develop creative message behind the integrated marketing communication strategy, the organization Red Rooster could focus on the sport theme. As discussed above, a number of sports events are organized in every month in Adelaide, Red Rooster should develop an outlet theme related to that particular sport that takes place at that time only. For example, a cricket match is organized in Adelaide stadium; the people from different nations could come to see the match. In such context, the in shop theme should be related to that cricket event. Likewise, other themes should be developed considering the occasional events. This helps to gain the attention of the customers and during the event, the customers pay visit to the outlet to explore theme. Additional profits come on the basis of the occasion that is held.

As put forward by Christopher,  Payne and Ballantyne (2013), positioning is arranging for a particular product or service to occupy a clear, distinctive as well as desirable place relative to compete the products in the mind of the target customers. Once an organization is determined about the market where it is supposed to enter, it should decide how it could differentiate its market providing for each targeted segment and the positions the organization wants to occupy in those particular segments. As put forward by Gordon (2012) a particular position is considered as the place that product acquires in consumers’ mind. Here, the Red Rooster should promote a high quality position to meet people’s standard. The organization should produce high quality products, charge high price as well as distribute through a high class dealers. To position the new product, the organization could take advantages of the social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.  These social media platforms are large and millions of people are socially connected.  In addition to this, Red Rooster could also communicate through physical size as well as that people use to judge the quality. In addition, for Red Rooster management, the image that buyers carry in their mind is the most significant factor. Thus, the organization Red Rooster should focus on the product quality, which should standardizes the entire market except little differences as due to the local requirements.

Communication and Media Mix Strategy

It is also observed that people which are the customers of Red Rooster and physical evidence, the environment the customer observe in Red Rooster are the focus that develops Red Rooster’ image in the mind of the consumers. Therefore, it is necessary for the organization to bring a positive image; thereby, each time the customers visit Red Rooster, could observe a new difference. However, as Australia is technologically developed, the firm should leverage the technologies such as the social media platforms. It could create community page on the social networking site where they could post the updates of its newly arrived product and services. It could create a video containing the product features, which should be developed based on the cultural theme- such as the culture and ritual of the market.

Coming with the advertising message that is hard to ignore

To grab the attention of the target market, Red Rooster should develop an advertising message to reach the customers and influence them to buy the products. For the proposed product, Red Rooster should develop the message- “Toasted Pocket Full Chicken, chicken that follows wherever you go!”. This advertising message signifies that newly developed items of Red Rooster is easy to carry, the buyers can have this item anywhere.  Thus, in advertising, this significant should be considered, so that, the customers could understand the differences in the new products.

Use of visual media of advertising for a larger impact

As put forward by a picture worth a thousand words; if Red Rooster wants the advertising campaign to have a larger as well as lasting impact, the firm could use the visual media. It is anticipated that an advertising message cannot be nailed without a proper use of the visual media. Visual advertising helps the customers to enhance a specific perception regarding a product or service. It is also certain that a writing advertising message might get ignored if the customers are not shown what the brand is marketing. Thus, to convey the advertising message,  Red Rooster could follow both traditional media such as Television, News Paper and Magazine and in digital media, it could follow the social media tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Media Mix

Advertising always follows the practice of any form of non-personal presentation as well as the promotion of ideas, products by the identified sponsor (Shaw, 2012). Red Rooster should introduce the new product to the customers using several forms of advertising including both digital and traditional media channels. For example, Red Rooster could publish the feature of the products on newspaper on a weekly basis. In such context, Red Rooster could focus on the highest sold out news paper- The Economic Times. On each Sunday, Red Rooster could publish the updates of the products. Sunday is an international Day-Off, when the customers could ample time to go through the newspaper. By doing this, they could inform the customers about the products, deals and offers in an intensive way. In addition to this, in traditional media, Red Rooster could publish the products and other details in terms of the services on Travel Magazine Australia. Travel Magazine is the one of the popular magazines in Australia; thereby, publishing advertisement on such popular magazine certainly increases the opportunity of gaining customer attention.

Estimated Budget

Public Relation-

Customer feedback- The customer feedbacks is one of the significant concerns that organization needs to consider. The development and evaluation of product and service depends on the feedback of the customers. When the firm has the feedbacks of the customers, it could further modify the products in accordance to the requirement mentioned by the customers. This helps to build an effective relationship with the customers.

Crisis communication-As put forward by Rice  & Atkin (2012), Public Relation practitioner become largely involved in crisis communication whenever there is a significant or natural disaster affecting the organization as well as its community. In addition, other types of crisis involve bankruptcy, product failures as well as management wrongdoing. In such context, the organization needs to develop the communication such as helping the potential victims or responding to the damage by other ways.

Word of mouth- Word of mouth is a significant practice for developing an effective public relation. The organization could create a strong influence in the mind of the customers by developing a strong relationship with them. In word of mouth practice, one satisfied customer could bring two more customers and in such way, en effective relationship is developed with the customers (Kunczik, 2016).

Red Rooster tends to develop a good and convenient relation with organization’s large relation by acquiring favorable publicity. The organization needs to develop a good corporate image to head off the unfavorable rumors, stores and events. For the proposed marketing plan, Public Relation Tools include News, Speeches and Internet. Internet is a broad medium where the firm could connect with the customers on a regular basis. In the official site of Red Rooster, the firm could respond to the queries of the customers. However, in such context, the organizations need to be active.

(Referred to Excel Sheet)

Table 4: Timeline for implementing the activities

The evaluation metrics depend on the successful or failure of the implementation plan. For the proposed marketing plan, the performance for evaluation should be measured with the performance of last quarter. This means once the product is launched, the performance after launching the new product will be measured with the performance of existing products in the last quarter. In the initial stage, Red Rooster might not observe an expect return or it might not observe an expected crowd to the outlet. However, after 3 months of launch, the scenario might change. Nonetheless, while evaluating the performance newly implemented integrated marketing communication, the firm needs to collect the feedbacks from the customers regarding the acceptance of the products. This means if the customers have any issue regarding the product or service, they could raise the query and based on customers’ response, further modification can be implemented.

Conclusion

The report includes a broad marketing plan of the organization Red Rooster. In the beginning of the report, appropriate strategic objectives have been developed that will help to guide and implement the plan. Based on the demand of products and market trends, appropriate market has been selected for the company. Market segmentation and target has been done considering the potential factors of the target market such as income, age, ethnicity and other related attributes. Appropriate media channels that will be used for promoting the product has been presented in the report. Eventually, a budget and timeline has been provided, which determines the cost and time required for each activity

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