Marketing Essay For Wildflower Perth Restaurant In WA.

Choose any hospitality business in Western Australia. You have just started working as the marketing coordinator of this business. The marketing department is disorganised and your job is to organise it and plan new marketing activities. Prepare a detailed report for the owners of the business.

Application of the 4 P’s

The case study is related to the restaurant called ‘Wildflower Perth”, located in Cathedral Square, Perth, Western Australia. As the marketing coordinator, new planning has to be done so that the marketing activities are carried out properly and the image of the restaurant is enhanced resulting in better business.

The 4 P’s are very vital to have the marketing activities that need to be carried out for the organization or the business. In fact, these are the parameters that are to be taken into consideration for the marketing endeavours.

Product: For the concerned business, it is the food that the restaurant is selling is to be marketed. It needs to be seen that the taste of the food is appealing to the customers.

Place: The location of the restaurant is very important. It should necessarily be at a place where it is easily accessible to people. If it is located at a place where there are larger numbers of footfall, it will be favourable for the business (Bax, 2013).

Price: The price of the food will determine the customer base. If the price is kept reasonable, a larger section of people can be targeted. If it is higher, only the affluent people will be interested.

Promotion: The restaurant needs to be promoted by all suitable methods so that more and numbers of people come to know of it and are interested to visit the place to try out the food here.

A market research was carried out on a chunk of customers and competitors. This was done with the aim of finding the exact standing with respect to the market. This data would help in planning out the required marketing activities that would be aimed at increasing the numbers of customers in the days to come. The research activities were carried out through an entire month. The subject of the research was the customers and the competitors of the restaurant. A separate questionnaire had been framed out for the customers. The customers were made to fill up the questionnaire whenever they visited the restaurant. A separate study was made on the competitors also. Around 5 other restaurants that were of the similar size as the one in question were taken. These restaurants were studied with respect to the 4 P’s. It was tried to understand of the products sold, price of the food, location of the restaurants and the promotional activities done by these restaurants. The data that was got from the research provided ample mater of study. These were of great help to plan out the marketing activities for the restaurant in question. In fact, this data was the foundation stone for the marketing initiatives (Cavusgil, 2009).

Strengths: The food sold is at rates which are affordable. The location of the restaurant is at a place where a large number people make movements. The restaurant sells dishes of different types which can attract a larger number of people. It is already well-known to a large number of people (Sakas and Konstantopoulos, 2010)

Market Research

Weakness: The ambience of the restaurant is not as great as other restaurants. It has not been able to tap the elite customers. The restaurant is not among the few which come to mind first for the customers. The promotional activities are not up to the desired standards.

Opportunities: There are many ways that can be worked out for the advertisements. The ambiance of the restaurant can be redone. The image makeover can be done easily. There are several ways in which the digital media can be used for the ad of the company and a large segment of people will come to know of the restaurant.

Threats: There are threats from many other competitors. The main cook is a prized person. If he leaves, the quality of the food may go jittery. The lean season is the period when the business is low. Low-cost eateries tend to lure away the customers.

There are 2 target markets that need to be aimed at capturing. This has become evident from the market research that was carried out. The first one is the common people who do not have a high affordability. These people have limited cash in hand. If the food quality is kept optimum and the price is kept low, they can be attracted easily. Since dining out is matter of option, if the prices of the food is within the pocket of the customers, a larger footfall can be guaranteed. Here larger volume of business can be expected (Russmann, 2011).

The other group of customers are the elite ones who have a larger amount of cash at disposal. These people are ready to shell out a larger sum of money but they are bent on having a superior quality of the food that they are paying for. A separate class of menu has to be developed that will comprise of the high-class dishes. Savouring these dishes will give a heightened level of satisfaction. The quality of the food has to be matched with the top eateries of the town. No compromise can be made whatsoever with the quality of the food and the ambiance that is being offered to the customers.

There are certain laws that need to be abided by for the marketing activities of the restaurant. The food and beverage safety norms have to be abided by while running a restaurant. There are bar licences that need to be valid for running a bar at the restaurant. The food safety regulations have to be abided by completely. The fact that these regulations are being maintained properly need to be highlighted during the marketing activities of the restaurant. The people will be assured of the quality of the food that is being offered to them. When there is Government permission, people will be assured that all things are in place and they can consume food at the restaurant without any risk at all. There will be employees who are working at the eatery. They should be covered by all the regulations that are set aside by the government. The salary that is being paid to the staff should be as per the guidelines of the government, keeping in mind of the minimum salary figures that are in line with the segment of the industry. The environmental norms that are set aside by the government have also to be abided by religiously and needs to be highlighted in the marketing activities (Pride, 2017).

SWOT Analysis

Networking: Use of social media networking must be used that has a large potential of tapping a larger number of customers. The customers who visit the restaurant should be kept in touch with that will help in expanding the network page. Satisfied customers can be utilised as the brand ambassador for the restaurant. Schemes can be worked out on how they can be utilised.

Promotions: There can be several promotions made for the increase of the sale of the food items. The restaurant can act as a partner for several key events that are taking place in the city. A large number of people will come to know of the restaurant and the different offers. It can act as a sponsor in some of the major events also. If there are food fairs held, the restaurant should take part that will create a promotional effect for the restaurant.

Advertisements: The advertisement that will be created should be eye-catchy. It must be colourful so that more people are attracted to the ad. There should be offers that must be mentioned in the ad. The use of the social media is a must apart from the traditional media. The plan for all this has to be briefed to the staff also (Pearson, 2011).

There are certain ethical considerations that need to be made for the making and the carrying out of the marketing plans. The marketing activities will not involve any immoral action. The advertisements that may be prepared will be done in a manner that will not create any kind of demeaning effect for any person or other organisation. The initiatives will not be meant to show the products or the services of a competitor in a low light (Powell, 2011). All the advertisements that will be made to satisfy the marketing needs will be created in a polished manner. No form of vulgarity will be used. The elegant approach will be helpful in creating a positive image for the restaurant. If any celebrity is used for the promotional purpose, a person with an absolutely clean image is to be chosen. A controversial; person is to be avoided by all means. All the marketing activities are to be carried out in a manner that will not create any harm to the society and the environment. The restaurant being a member of the society has an ethical responsibility towards the society and is committed to perform the same. If the ethics levels can be maintained, it will be beneficial to the restaurant in the long run (OUP accepted manuscript, 2016).

The marketing plan needs to be evaluated to find out how effective it is. This will ensure the success of the marketing plan. The data of the customers are to be monitored right from the time the marketing activities are started. This will enable to measure how much change the marketing activities are being able to make in the generation of business. The increase in the number of customers will show the reach of the marketing activities. This will also suggest whether the activities are going on in the right direction. The reach of the social media can be evaluated also easily. The web page has to be monitored on a regular basis to find out the number of visitors who are visiting the web page. The web pages which are SEO optimized will show how much traffic is being generated on the website. A survey must be carried out after a few months of the marketing plan to evaluate the effective ness. This will show how much popularity the eatery has gained with respect to the former position before the initiation of the marketing activities. This evaluation is essential to gauge the effectiveness and make alterations in the approach of the marketing activities (Hiebing, Cooper and Wehrenberg, 2012).

Target Market

Service Marketing is related to the offering of certain services like space, facilities, etc. to customers on the basis of hiring. People use these services for certain personal requirements and pay a certain amount of charges against this. The restaurant in question also has scope of good business by offering services through service marketing approach. The whole restaurant space can be booked by parties who want to organise private parties. In this case no outsiders would be allowed at the restaurant (Ho?chli, 2010). There is also external; space outside the restaurant. This space can be used for the purpose of letting out on hire. People may hire the space for organising parties and events. The space can be covered with a shamiyana and the same can be used in a private manner. There is also ample parking space that may be utilised by the guests (Rust and Huang, 2011). Proper advertisements of this facility are to be done so that more and more (Frost and Laing, 2013).

Internet websites are the most effective means of creating promotion of one’s business. The restaurant should have an attractive website that will be able to create a crowd pull among the targeted customers. The design of the web page should be done in a manner that it should be eye-catchy and interesting to the customers (Marketing and management sciences, 2010). The highlights of the offerings should be presented in the websites so that the people get a gist of the take away from the restaurant. 3rd party websites should also be utilised to broaden the reach towards the customers. This is possible with click ad campaigns that result in the payment for the views. This will also create a network that will increase the promotion of the restaurant (Dong and Ling, 2015).

Social Responsibility has become a part and parcel of business today. Among the Social Responsibility initiatives, environment protection is one of the major concerns. All the activities that are carried out must not create any adverse impact on the environment. This has to be highlighted in a way that the customers get the feel that the restaurant is environment-friendly in its approach. The form of garbage disposal has to be highlighted to show that no harm is being done to the society. The image building procedure is vital to the enhancement of the sales of the restaurant (Karas, 2005).

Conclusion

In the above report thus it is quite clear that the co-ordination of marketing activities is the most vital ingredient for the success of the marketing vehicle of any organisation. Most importantly the company should not be only looking at maximising revenue, and must therefore focus on sustainable and ethical operation procedure for development and growth of the brand in the market competition.

References

Bax, S. (2013). Cambridge Marketing Handbook. 1st ed. London, U.K.: Kogan Page in association with Cambridge Marketing Press.

Cavusgil, S. (2009). Conducting market research for international business. 1st ed. [New York, N.Y.] (222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017): Business Expert Press.

Dong, Y. and Ling, L. (2015). Hotel Overbooking and Cooperation with Third-Party Websites.Sustainability, 7(9), pp.11696-11712.

Frost, W. and Laing, J. (2013). Communicating persuasive messages through slow food festivals.Journal of Vacation Marketing, 19(1), pp.67-74.

Hiebing, R., Cooper, S. and Wehrenberg, S. (2012). The successful marketing plan. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Ho?chli, M. (2010). The invisible scissors. 1st ed. New York: Peter Lang.

Karas, G. (2005). On earth. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.

Marketing and management sciences. (2010). London: Imperial College Press.

OUP accepted manuscript. (2016). Analysis.

Pearson, T. (2011). The old rules of marketing are dead. 1st ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Powell, S. (2011). The nexus between ethical corporate marketing, ethical corporate identity and corporate social responsibility. European Journal of Marketing, 45(9/10), pp.1365-1379.

Pride, W. (2017). Foundations of business. 1st ed. New york: Cengage learning.

Russmann, U. (2011). Targeting Voters via the Web - A Comparative Structural Analysis of Austrian and German Party Websites. Policy & Internet, 3(3), pp.26-48.

Rust, R. and Huang, M. (2011). Service Marketing. Cambridge, MA: Marketing science institute.

Sakas, D. and Konstantopoulos, N. (2010). Marketing and management sciences. 1st ed. London: Imperial College Press.