Developing A Marketing Communication Plan For A Restaurant Company

This individual assignment consists of two parts:  
You are expected to develop a marketing communication plan to address the problem described in the below case. 
You, as a marketing communications specialist, will present your marketing plan in front of your classmates who will perform the role of your client. You will be expected to answer the client’s questions and suggest feasible solutions for the issues identified.

Marketing communication mix

Advertising

According to Terkan (2014) it can be argued that advertising is the fast and foremost important element on which the organizations must keep their concerns. From that point of view, it can be stated that it is important to implement some advertising planning at first. As far as the restaurant company wants to keep its plan fix for the target customers at the age of 60-69 therefore the traditional advertising campaigns can be a beneficial move. In this context, de Vries, Gensler and Leeflang (2017) opined that advertising on television and newspaper are subjected to the traditional advertising methods. Therefore, the company must follow it.

As far as personal selling is concerned it is resembled with the concept of personal presentation by the firm’s sales force in order to building customer relationship more effective (Bolander et al., 2015). In response to this, the restaurant company must follow the order to deal with personal selling approaches. There are two types of personal selling such as the outbound technique and the inbound method. The company can choose both the techniques. The outbound technique is related to the door to door selling or promoting the brand. On the other hand, the inbound selling is comprised with the telemarketing (Hall, Ahearne & Sujan, 2015). Keeping in mind about the growth and market capitalisation of the restaurant telemarketing will be the best option because not only it reduces time but also the cost of the restaurant will be curtailed.

In this regard, the sales promotion is a major factor for attracting new customers. According to Kang, Tang and Fiore (2015) sales promotions are short-term benefits for the organizations to encourage the purchase or sales of the company. Moreover, for a limited period of benefits the organizations generally follow this technique (Oladepo & Abimbola, 2015). Henceforth, it will be a strategic advantage for the restaurant to initiate some promotional offers in order to deal with the high competition. For an example, 30% offer in the half one hour or flat 50% offer on a specific day in a week can be creative and lucrative for the customers. Besides this, promotional offers for the aged people will provide more advantage to the sales growth of the company.

According to Avidar (2017) public relation can build a better relationship between the customers and the company. Therefore, the company can put some thrusts on the public relations in terms of dealing organising social events for the aged people. It can be normal health checkups or some recreational events that make the elderly people happy. Moreover, making direct contacts with the elderly customers will provide the company advantages to maximise target customers. As in his research, Silver & Shaw (2018) showed that the public relation is considered to be a driven factor that enables the companies to make a good relationship with the customers.

As a matter of fat, direct relationship with the customers facilitate more information regarding the behaviour and specifications of the customers. From that point of view, it is important for the restaurant company to set some planning for fostering a better direct marketing process.

Campaign media budget

As a marketing communication specialist, this can be seen that there are different creative strategies which can be implemented by the restaurant in managing the overall effectiveness in an appropriate manner. From the above case scenario, this can be identified that the restaurant has gained less popularity in comparison to the other competitors in the competitive market and this is affecting the ovserall efficiency of the firm in an ineffective manner (Armstrong et al., 2014). In regards with the respective problem, the marketing communication manager needs to include a proper and creative kind of strategy which will be beneficial for the overall success of the restaurant in comparison to Eat Street Restaurant.

The restaurant can implement a creative strategy which is inclusive of introducing a new buffet system for the breakfast and lunch time which will be helpful for them in increasing their sales and revenue. The low-cost buffet system can be one creative option which can be opted by the restaurant in gaining stronger customer base in the market. Furthermore, with the starting of the buffet system, this will help the restaurant in gaining the customer base in comparison to the other competitors in the entire market. The promotion of the same can be done through proper presence in the different social media channels that can be effective in becoming more competitive in nature.

The restaurant can include the Facebook and Instagram as their social media handle which will be helpful for them in increasing their rate of revenues and sales. Furthermore, the restaurant can look at the different events which are taking place in the nearby locations which will be beneficial for the success of the firm. The involvement in such kind of events will be beneficial for the success of the firm in comparison to the other competitors in the same locality. This kind of low cost system of buffet in lunch and breakfast will attract more customers and this will be beneficial for the success of the restaurant (Chernev, 2018).

In Facebook and Instagram, this is required to be seen that the restaurant is shown in the local search results by the local individuals in the entire market as this will increase the overall popularity of the restaurant and gain strong base of customers as well. Moreover, the price penetration technique can be used and taken into consideration by the restaurant to improve the customer base (Olson et al., 2018). This is being noticed that brand equity and image plays a major role in managing and maximizing the business of the restaurant effectively. The penetration pricing strategy is helpful for the restaurant wherein the lower prices are being charged from the customers after offering best quality food to them (Sargeant& MACQUILLIN, 2016).

This technique can be used by the restaurant in drawing the attention away from the other competitors in the market. This can be initially a loss segment for the business, however later on when the sales and profitability will be increasing; this will be efficient in nature in making them standing out of the crowd in the competitive marketing environment as well. Additionally, the market penetration pricing strategy will be helpful in creating referrals among the different customers and gain more profitability in the future as well (Di Benedetto & Lindgreen, 2018). With the implementation of the same, the respective restaurant will be able to improve their distribution channels and food provided by them which will be improving the overall services provided by them to the different customers (Philip& Keller, 2016).

Creative Strategy

Lastly, with the social media presence can be beneficial for the overall success of the business of the restaurant in the competitive market (Serrat, 2017). As from the case study, this was seen that the restaurant was running into loss and there were less number of customers who visited the restaurant, this can be seen that there are different other aspects such as informing the customers through Facebook as this is the ultimate medium used by them in gaining knowledge on various prospects which is happening around the world (Lee& Kotler, 2015). The regular updates is necessary which is required to be done by the marketing communication manager as this will be beneficial for the success of the restaurant and there will be more competitive advantage which will be gained by the restaurant as well.

Contingency Planning is essential in nature which is required to be prepared by the respective restaurant in case of any kind of emergency or natural disaster which will be helpful for improving the situation effectively. If the market penetration pricing strategy will fail for the restaurant, there can be inclusion of the different loyalty programs by them as this will include the strategies which are inclusive of the different kinds of prioritization of the risks. Furthermore, in case of the disaster such as huge loss occurred by the restaurant, in such cases, there can be inclusion of the off-site arrangements which will be helpful for regaining the same position in the entire competitive market.

The primary reason for the contingency plan for the restaurant business as this will help them in working effectively in case of the different kinds of disasters which will be beneficial for the success of the hotel in an effective manner. Moreover, in case of the fire or any other natural disasters, there can be inclusion of the EAP (Emergency Action Plan) which will be effective in nature in reducing the different issues and identify the alternative manufacturing sites for the different products and services which are being provided by them to the different customers.

The low cost buffet system can fail in the future which is required to be managed by the hotel or restaurant authorities by implementing the diversification strategy such as by changing the scope of the restaurant into a bakery which can be helpful in saving the business in an appropriate manner as well. There can be different long term bad impacts on the restaurant if the penetration pricing strategy is applied. In such cases, the diversification can act as the savior which will be the ultimate goal of the business.

References   

Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., & Kotler, P. (2014). Principles of marketing. Pearson Australia.

Avidar, R. (2017). Public relations and social businesses: The importance of enhancing engagement. Public Relations Review, 43(5), 955-962.

Bolander, W., Satornino, C. B., Hughes, D. E., & Ferris, G. R. (2015). Social networks within sales organizations: Their development and importance for salesperson performance. Journal of Marketing, 79(6), 1-16.

Chernev, A. (2018). Strategic marketing management. Cerebellum Press.

de Vries, L., Gensler, S., & Leeflang, P. S. (2017). Effects of traditional advertising and social messages on brand-building metrics and customer acquisition. Journal of Marketing, 81(5), 1-15.

Di Benedetto, C. A., & Lindgreen, A. (2018). The emergence of Industrial Marketing Management as the leading academic journal in business-to-business marketing. Industrial Marketing Management, 69, 5-12.

Hall, Z. R., Ahearne, M., & Sujan, H. (2015). The importance of starting right: the influence of accurate intuition on performance in salesperson–customer interactions. Journal of Marketing, 79(3), 91-109.

Kang, J., Tang, L., & Fiore, A. M. (2015). Restaurant brand pages on Facebook: do active member participation and monetary sales promotions matter?. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(7), 1662-1684.

Lee, N. R., & Kotler, P. (2015). Social marketing: Changing behaviors for good. Sage Publications.

Oladepo, O. I., & Abimbola, O. S. (2015). The influence of brand image and promotional mix on consumer buying decision-a study of beverage consumers in Lagos State, Nigeria. British journal of marketing studies, 3(4), 97-109.

Olson, E. M., Slater, S. F., Hult, G. T. M., & Olson, K. M. (2018). The application of human resource management policies within the marketing organization: The impact on business and marketing strategy implementation. Industrial Marketing Management, 69, 62-73.

Philip, K., & Keller, K. L. (2016). Marketing Management, Global Edition. Essex, England: Pearson Education.

Sargeant, A., & MACQUILLIN, I. (2016). Marketing for nonprofit organisations. In The Marketing Book (pp. 555-576). Routledge.

Serrat, O. (2017). The future of social marketing. In Knowledge solutions (pp. 119-128). Springer, Singapore.

Silver, I. M., & Shaw, A. (2018). Pint-Sized Public Relations: The Development of Reputation Management. Trends in cognitive sciences, 22(4), 277-279.

Terkan, R. (2014). Importance of creative advertising and marketing according to university students’ perspective. International Review of Management and Marketing, 4(3), 239-246.