1

6

Beautiful Pets

Positioning statement and branding strategy

The success of every business relies on its ability to identify competitors because this can guide them in selecting the best strategy to compete (Fleisher & Bensoussan, 2015). The pet grooming business is dominated by different companies operating in the same area. Our company therefore has to compete for customer and take different strategies to maintain customer loyalty. Based on the analysis of our main competitors, we are currently at the 4th position. Our main competitor is Keller's Loving Bath. The service provider offers a wide range of services such as cat or dog walking, play time for pets, helping overweight pets lose weight and helping underweight pets gain weight. The company has been recognised as one of the best pet grooming provider. The second competitor is Knoxville Boarding by Heather. This grooming service provider offers flexible services thus making most clients prefer taking their pets there (Soleh, Wuryani, & Farizi, 2017). The third competitor is Bonnie’s Spa Day, which is generally a parlour and therapy centre for pets that provides full-service dog grooming aimed at achieving the highest quality care in a relaxed and nurturing atmosphere. The parlour poses a great threat to our business because of creating stiff competition. Our position in comparison to our main competitors is still favourable because we can improve the quality of our services and get ahead of Keller's Loving Bath and Knoxville Boarding by Heather. We however have to go a long way before we can get ahead of Bonnie’s Spa day because we do not have the resources required for that.

Branding Strategy

A brand name plays a significant role in communicating value to potential customers (Hajli, Shanmugam, Papagiannidis, Zahay, & Richard, 2017). It also provides customers with an idea of the objective of a business. A strong brand name can help in attracting customers because they want to find out what the brand is offering. A company’s branding strategy includes selecting a strong brand name, a slogan and brand extension. A slogan acts as a phase to remind customers about a company (Dan, 2015). It is important for companies to select attractive slogans that help customers gain interest in the brand (Choi & Hyun, 2017). Given the intense competition that Beautiful Pets is facing, it is imperative to have a strong branding strategy.

Our products brand name will be Beautiful Pets. This brand name communicates the value of our services by creating an idea of what the goal of our services is which is in this case making pets beautiful by bathing and drying them, training, day care and nail grind services. We intend to enhance brand awareness through our slogan which will be ‘a clean pet is a happy pet’. We intend to promote the cleanliness of pets by offering affordable cleaning services. We also intend to show people the connection between cleanliness and happiness. We additionally intend to expand our brand by reaching people from different locations. We will achieve a wider reach through high presence on social media and providing leaflets to advertise our services.

Pricing Strategy

Our company’s pricing strategy is penetration pricing which incorporates setting a lower price to enter a competitive market as well as increasing it later. We have selected this pricing strategy because we intend to maximize rapid market entry into new markets and introduce better services to attract more customers. We also expect that eventually we will raise the price when we fulfill our marketing objectives which are to acquire a large market share, to maintain customer loyalty and to create competitive advantage. We want to attract as many customers as we can so that we can maximize profit and also get money to expand our services to incorporate more high quality services. We intend to strengthen our pricing strategy through low product differentiation, elastic demand and minor revision of our services. We understand that we may make less or no profits in the beginning but after we acquire the required market share and increase prices, we can generate a lot of profit.

One of the factors influencing our pricing strategy is competition. We are currently experiencing intense competition from companies that have already dominated the market. These companies are however charging high costs for the same services that our company is offering therefore creating an opportunity for us to gain a reasonable market share if we lower prices. The second factor is the nature of our services. There is no way our customers can know the quality of our services unless they experience it thus forcing as to begin by setting a low price until our services are recognized in the market. The third factor is the predetermined objectives which are increasing market share and creating competitive advantage. The fourth factor is the price sensitivity nature of our target customers. We understand that our customers are highly sensitive to price and may try our services to compare its quality with the quality of similar services that are highly priced by other companies. We will conduct regular market researches to establish the changing needs of customers in relation to price so that we can determine the most appropriate time to increase price.

References

Choi, Y. G., & Hyun, S. S. (2017). Relationships between brand experiences, personality traits,

prestige, relationship quality, and loyalty. International Journal of Contemporary

Hospitality Management.

Dan, L. (2015). Techniques for the translation of advertising slogans. In Proceedings of the

International Conference Literature, Discourse and Multicultural Dialogue, LDMD (Vol.

15, pp. 13-23).

Fleisher, C. S., & Bensoussan, B. E. (2015). Business and competitive analysis: effective

application of new and classic methods. FT press.

Hajli, N., Shanmugam, M., Papagiannidis, S., Zahay, D., & Richard, M. O. (2017). Branding co-

creation with members of online brand communities. Journal of Business Research70,

136-144.

Soleh, O., Wuryani, R., & Farizi, R. (2017, November). OPet's is petshop mobile application to

meet all the needs of pets (day-care, shopping and grooming): Development and business.

In 2017 2nd International conferences on Information Technology, Information Systems

and Electrical Engineering (ICITISEE) (pp. 141-146). IEEE.

Keller's Loving Bath

Knoxville Boarding By Heather

Bonnie's Spa Day

Beautiful Pets

 

 

OPTION A: Focus Four Toolbox Talks 1 [Student copy]

Actual Incident: A 36-year-old construction inspector for the county died when an asphalt dump truck backed over him. The inspector was wearing an orange reflective vest and hard-hat and the dump truck had a backup alarm that was functioning. The truck traveled approximately 770 feet in reverse. How do we prevent these results? ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Additional discussion notes: ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Modified reproduction of material produced under grant number SH-16591-07-06-F-11 from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. It does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Module 4, Electrocution Talk Number 1 IUOE National Training Fund • 304.253.8674 • www.iuoeiettc.org

 

 

OPTION B: Focus Four Toolbox Talks 2 [Student copy]

Actual Incident: A 56-year-old truck driver was crushed when a crane tipped over and the crane’s boom landed on the cab of the dump truck in which he was sitting. The crane had been lowering an empty 4-yard concrete bucket, while booming out. How do we prevent these results? ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Additional discussion notes: ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Modified reproduction of material produced under grant number SH-16591-07-06-F-11 from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. Department of Labor. It does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Labor, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Module 4, Electrocution Talk Number 1 IUOE National Training Fund • 304.253.8674 • www.iuoeiettc.org

1

Distribution Strategy:

The distribution strategy for the company will be lined alongside the goals of the company (Katsikeas et al., 2019). The goal of the company is to provide the best grooming services to the pets at home so that they remain happy and satisfied. The distribution will involve a network of organizational channels in each area of the cities like San Diego and Los Angeles to provide dog grooming services using mobile vans; equipped with all the tools and equipment required for providing these services. There will be a single level of the channel between the service providers (Company franchisee, groomers) and the customer segments; but closely monitored by the upper management (second level) based in the headquarter located in Los Angeles, CA. Service providers are located at the hotspots which increases our chance of targeting more consumers. The future rapid expansion in San Francisco and San Jose; and better reach for clients will help the company develop numerous mobile centers across the area and the country in a very short time. The channel down-streamed to the consumers is explained below:

a) Owners/Partners: Higher authorities involved in decision-making skills and ensuring the expansion of the company's distribution channel; wherever required in the near future. We are also responsible for the funds and expenses of the company.

b) Project Managers/Supervisor: Project manager will be placed at each mobile service locations to aim at managing lower authorities under them, and aiming at their highest possible productivity/ efficiency. They are also responsible to maintain a record of the permits/ licenses required for continuing business.

c) QAQC Officials: They are aimed at timely monitoring the quality of services being provided including tools, equipment, and other anticipated logistics.

d) Franchisee: Local mobile centers/owners with some business management experience; who pays an upfront fee for enjoying our established brand name and our continuous support. The products such as shampoos, deep conditioners, nail cutters, brushes, and miscellaneous tools required for services will be provided by the company.

e) Mobile Van Operators: Responsible/ licensed for operating van and providing the fastest route alternatives without disrupting the traffic rules and regulations. He is also responsible for maintaining and ensuring the cleaning services of the van.

f) Dog Groomers: Trained, certified, and experienced professionals placed either by the franchise at a service location to provide dog grooming services to the customers.

g) Customers: Individuals who seek benefits from our services and are expected to pay the company. The target consumers that do not have sufficient options near their locality or are busy professionals.

The above details indicate that there is a two-level of the channel of distribution system from the company (Owners/Partners, Project Managers & QAQC officials), Mobile centers (Franchises, Mobile van operators & Groomers), and Customers. These strategies will help to continuously monitor the progress of the company and will help the company to expand to other areas. This is because these strategies will help the company to seek the attention of those customers who do not have proper pet grooming services near their houses.

Factors influencing Distribution Strategy:

The main factor that will be influencing this distribution strategy is the satisfaction of the customers along with the better expansion of the business to new areas. Since the pricing strategy is also kept at a nominal rate and divided into monthly, bi-monthly, and one-time, there will not be much problem. A proper distribution strategy always helps a company to gain a competitive edge over its competitors (Jiménez-Asenjo & Filipescu., 2019). It also helps to completely utilize the available resources of the company. However, some of the major factors are discussed below:

a) Channel Distribution Coordination: Proper coordination could be achieved by having weekly kickoff meetings and ensuring that intermediaries know their responsibilities and other authorities involved in coordination. Any coordination issue can be resolved by involving higher authorities and the franchisee to share their business experience and provide ways to deal with them. The coordination issues are usually encountered when there is an increased level in distribution channels, which is not in our scenario.

b) Market Location: Potential areas to locate our market is where the customers look for the nearest and the lowest priced service provided without them taking a hassle to research more on the competitors. Existing loyal customers to our competitors can be lured by our existing/ new customers through them gaining the referral bonus for each new customer brought into our market.

c) Demand vs. Supply: The supply needs need to be monitored daily to avoid excessive wastage of overestimated demand, or request of supplies to meet the anticipated demand at an earlier stage. The franchisee owner will be responsible for better coordination with the company.

d) Maintenance: Maintenance of the located mobile centers and also the mobile vans will be a challenging task in view of holding licenses and permits. It is the supervisors, groomers, and mobile van operator's responsibility for proper maintenance and will be checked by the QAQC officials in a timely manner.

e) Customer feedback/Evaluation: Each mobile service locations will be evaluated based on customer feedback on mobile locations. Thus the possibility of expansion/downsizing of the respective location will be evaluated depending on the budget.

Promotional Strategy

A promotional strategy of a business can be defined as a plan to increase the demands for the services and products of the company (Izquierdo & Blanco., 2020). The promotional strategy mainly depends on the audience targeted by the company, the budget of the company, and the appropriate plan of action. Primary promotional strategies for this mobile pet grooming company will be:

a) Advertising brochures will be used to reach out to specific big organizations. These organizations will be asked to help with advertisements on their bulletins. A 10% discount will also be applied for a limited time which will help to build a client base.

b) Along with advertising brochures, local TV channels will also be contacted to feature the business during their services. Pet owners of the areas where the company will be offering services will be contacted and handed out brochures. The use of direct mail to the owners will also be acknowledged.

c) The company will also hand out brochures to different restaurants and other public places to ensure maximum client reach and to make the customers feel an affinity towards the products and services of the company.

d) Referrals will be a part of the promotional strategy for the company. Referrals or advertising by word of mouth always has a significantly higher advantage in the initial days of the business (Chung, 2020). The company will make sure to give the customers helping in the referrals program, special discount offers, or certain incentives that they can use for their next visit.

e) Sponsorship along with inbound marketing will also play a big role in the promotional strategy for the company. Inbound marketing helps to provide potential customers with relevant information and help them become actual customers.

f) For the media strategy and online marketing plan, social media like Facebook and Instagram will be used extensively. Social media will help the company reach out to several people and make sure that the business does not run out of clients. The company website would be so designed to match the most searched keyword in order to popup every time a customer is searching it online.

g) Discounts and special offers will also be given out on special days or special occasions. These offers might include getting one free pet grooming service. The discounts will be offered to the clients after a certain number of services to develop the client base. The offers will also include free annual service for one extra year if a one-year subscription gets completed successfully.

h) For the message strategy, a digital content marketing strategy will be used to its complete potential. This will drive better traffic and engage more clients.

References

Chung, J. (2020). Effect of Quality Uncertainty, Regulatory Focus, and Promotional Strategies on Perceived Savings for Sustainable Marketing. Sustainability12(14), 5653.

Izquierdo, M., & Blanco, M. P. (2020). A multi-level contrastive analysis of promotional strategies in specialised discourse. English for Specific Purposes58, 43-57.

Jiménez-Asenjo, N., & Filipescu, D. A. (2019). Cheers in China! International marketing strategies of Spanish wine exporters. International Business Review28(4), 647-659.

Katsikeas, C., Leonidou, L., & Zeriti, A. (2019). Revisiting international marketing strategy in a digital era. International Marketing Review.

1

Distribution Strategy:

The distribution strategy for the company will be lined alongside the goals of the company

(Katsikeas et al., 2019). The goal of the company is to provide the best grooming services to the

pets at home so that they remain happy

and satisfied.

The distribution will involve a network of

organizational ch

annels in each area of the

cities

like San Diego and Los Angeles

to provide dog

grooming services using mobile vans

;

equipped with all the tools and equipment required for

providing

these services.

There will be a single level of the channel between the service providers

(Company franchise

e

, groomers

) and the customer segments; but closely monitored by the upper

management

(second level)

based in the headquarter located in Los Angele

s, CA

.

Service

providers are

located at the hotspot

s which increases

our chance of targeting more consumers.

The

future

rapid expansion

in San Francisco and San Jose;

and better reach for clients will help the

company develop numerous mobile centers across the area and the country

in a very short time

.

The channel down

-

st

reamed to the consumers is explained

below:

a)

Owners/Partners:

Higher authorities involved in decision

-

making skills and ensuring the

expansion of the company's

distribution channel; wherever required

in the near future

.

W

e

are

a

lso responsible for the funds and expenses of the company.

b)

Project Managers

/Supervisor

:

Project manager

will be placed at

each

mobile service

locations to aim at managing lower authorities under them

, and aiming at their highest possible

productivity/ efficiency.

They are also responsible to maintain a record of the permits/ licenses

required for continuing business.

c)

QAQC Offici

als:

T

hey are aimed at timely monitoring the quality of services being provided

including tools, equipment, and other anticipated logistics

.

1

Distribution Strategy:

The distribution strategy for the company will be lined alongside the goals of the company

(Katsikeas et al., 2019). The goal of the company is to provide the best grooming services to the

pets at home so that they remain happy and satisfied. The distribution will involve a network of

organizational channels in each area of the cities like San Diego and Los Angeles to provide dog

grooming services using mobile vans; equipped with all the tools and equipment required for

providing these services. There will be a single level of the channel between the service providers

(Company franchisee, groomers) and the customer segments; but closely monitored by the upper

management (second level) based in the headquarter located in Los Angeles, CA. Service

providers are located at the hotspots which increases our chance of targeting more consumers. The

future rapid expansion in San Francisco and San Jose; and better reach for clients will help the

company develop numerous mobile centers across the area and the country in a very short time.

The channel down-streamed to the consumers is explained below:

a) Owners/Partners: Higher authorities involved in decision-making skills and ensuring the

expansion of the company's distribution channel; wherever required in the near future. We are

also responsible for the funds and expenses of the company.

b) Project Managers/Supervisor: Project manager will be placed at each mobile service

locations to aim at managing lower authorities under them, and aiming at their highest possible

productivity/ efficiency. They are also responsible to maintain a record of the permits/ licenses

required for continuing business.

c) QAQC Officials: They are aimed at timely monitoring the quality of services being provided

including tools, equipment, and other anticipated logistics.

Project Scenario

As the chief information security officer known as the CISO [pronounced siss-so] for a trade association, part of your job is to monitor potential legislation that could affect your industry. You've been following attempts by legislators to amend the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), which made the news some years ago when Internet activist Aaron Swartz committed suicide before he went to trial on federal data-theft charges under the act.

Swartz, who believed in open access to information, was indicted for downloading millions of documents from a subscription-based academic database. Although Swartz was authorized to read papers on the site, federal prosecutors alleged that Swartz hacked restricted data from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's network. He was indicted for counts of wire fraud, computer fraud, unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer, and recklessly damaging a protected computer, all with a maximum penalty of 35 years in prison and 1 million dollars in fines.

This week, the CEO of your organization sends you a memo explaining that he has been asked to make a statement before a Congressional committee. In the aftermath of the Swartz case, lawmakers have proposed amending the CFAA. The memo states, "I need you to provide me arguments for amending the CFAA, as well as specifics on where and how the law should be amended. Should some criminal sanctions be preserved? If so, which kind of actions would be appropriate? Provide examples of how your proposed changes would affect potential problems in the workplace."

When you submit your project, your work will be evaluated using the competencies listed below. You can use the list below to self-check your work before submission.

· 1.3: Provide sufficient, correctly cited support that substantiates the writer's ideas.

· 2.2: Locate and access sufficient information to investigate the issue or problem.

· 7.4: Align an organization's security posture to applicable laws, statutes, and regulatory documents.

When you submit your project, your work will be evaluated using the competencies listed below. You can use the list below to self-check your work before submission.

· 1.8: Create clear oral messages.

Running Head: Group Project – Beautiful Pets 1

Group Project – Beautiful Pets

Team Williamsburg

Jonathan James Hawkshaw, Anusha Jagupilla, Sourabh Katariya,

Keerthi Nallabothu, Ahsan Ullah Hussaini Syed

University of the Cumberlands

Professor: Dr. Jingyun (Kay) Zhang

BADM 533 – M40 Marketing Management

Group Project – Beautiful Pets

Executive Summary

Introduction

We have witnessed many pet grooming centers across the world who claim to be providing quality services. But seldom do we realize that either they are too far, the products they use are of lower quality, or the staff is not rightly equipped to handle various dog breeds because of the varying characteristics. We studied every pet grooming center's patterns in the California area focusing on two major cities of San Diego and Los Angeles. Further, we conducted surveys to get feedback from the customers and concluded that most clients had three basic requirements.

Firstly, customers wanted a mobile pet grooming service where the service providers could come to a customer's preferred location and provide the service at a time convenient to them in the fastest time. Secondly, the customers wanted superior quality products to be used on pets. Finally, they wanted the service providers to be certified and trained professionals who could handle any breed of dogs and provide a smooth and quality service so that the pets are stress-free and not be terrified of the experience. We noticed that there are not many such services provided by companies in the nearby locations of these cities mentioned above. Therefore, we decided to start our venture of 'Beautiful Pets.'

Beautiful Pet, as a company, will provide mobile pet grooming services such as bath & dry, haircuts, and nail trimming & clipping to dogs and cats. Our company will be headquartered in San Diego, California. We will start operations in two cities, i.e., San Diego and Los Angeles. All our employees will be trained and certified professionals who have had at least three years of experience in this field.

Contents of our Marketing Plan

The contents of our marketing plan including environmental analysis, SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) analysis, targeting markets, positioning statements, branding strategy, pricing strategy, distribution strategy, and promotional strategy. Our strategy or marketing plan is to be energy efficient through reduced water usage, advertising through channels such as mobile apps, Facebook advertisements, one-day seminar events, etc.

We will be targeting the middle-income group of families where people who do not have time to provide proper grooming to their pets can conveniently get our services at their preferred location. Further, we will price our services in terms of a subscription service where the customers can avail monthly, bi-monthly, one-time subscription.

As a promotional strategy, we will provide bundled services at reduced costs and two free grooming services as a referral bonus. Our channel of distribution will be through our mobile centers located in the cities of San Diego and Los Angeles in the form of a franchise. Each of these components has been explained in detail in the following paragraphs.

Missions and Goals

We understand that mission statements are equally important, and a strong mission statement sets the right tone of the company to its employees, the management, and the customers along with the market. In other words, mission statements act as the organization's identity in the business world (Martin, Cowburn, & Mac Intosh, 2017). Our company's mission stands on our four pillars, i.e., providing pet grooming services on the go, fastest service in the whole area, superior quality products and service, and trained professionals.

Our short-term goal over one year is to make our presence felt in San Diego and Los Angeles area through our marketing channels. Our growth measurement will always be based on monthly customer subscriptions. We want to convert the maximum number of customers from one-time service to at least two years of monthly services. Due to our aggressive promotional strategy and uniqueness in providing service from the convenience of the home, we strive to achieve a monthly customer subscription base of about 250 families in these two cities during the first year.

Our long-term goal over five years is to have a minimum of 2000 monthly subscriptions and expand our business by providing services in San Jose and San Francisco areas, along with the current two cities.

References:

· Iacobucci, D. (2018). Marketing Management. Fifth edition. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning

· Martin, E. M., Cowburn, I., & Mac Intosh, A. (2017). Developing a team mission statement: Who are we? Where are we going? How are we going to get there? Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 8(3), 197–207.

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