Action Plan and Strategy

Question: Discuss about the Action Plan and Strategy ? Answer: Introducation This marketing plan aims to facilitate the marketing of desktop computers in the city. To do this, an online presence is necessary, since the target market is expected to be made up of frequent internet users. The action plan will therefore include reaching out to the target market through popular social media sites, popular forums that they are likely to visit, and sending them emails. There will be a concerted effort to develop a message that appeals to this market, showing the distinct advantages of the product over others. In doing this, we aim to build a presence in the market, in line with our vision, mission and core values (Vyakarnam Leppard, 1994). Vision, Mission and core values Our mission is to be the premier computer hardware supplier in the country. Our mission is to engage our clients with the aim of providing the best technical solutions to their hardware problems. Our core values are integrity, fairness to both clients and employees, and quality. We also treasure mutual trust, realizing that this can only be built on the other values above (Karami, 2016). SWOT and PEST analysis Our strengths include a thorough technical expertise in our field, built on years of experience and professional qualifications. We also have sufficient capital to undertake rigorous marketing and meet our prospective clients demand. We have a well located premises, which is likely to attract walk in customers and help spread the word. Our weakness is that we are relatively new in the business, and have to wait for close to one year to break even, since this is a capital intensive venture. There are several opportunities to be tapped, including upcoming businesses that will definitely require computers. However, there are new entrants as well, who we are competing with to get the desired business (Gupta, 2013). PEST There are new regulations that will make it easier for us to conduct business, such as access to credit and advisory services from the department of trade. The easing of import restrictions will also give us the opportunity to import affordable but high quality machines from abroad. The economy is growing rapidly. This will mean that we will have a bigger and more affluent market to target. People are increasingly turning to other gadgets such as tablets and iPads. This social change will affect our target market, but office equipment market will not be affected in the short term. The new technologies that are coming up will force us to look for better and more innovative products to work with, if we are to compete in this market (Gupta, 2013). Description of E marketing tool We will have a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. These pages will be used to aggressively market our products, and encourage people to visit our websites. Pay per click will also be utilized, whereby adverts will be placed on websites that our target market usually visits. They will also be used to encourage more traffic to our website. The website will be free for all. It will have all the details on prices and products available, and will be done in a sleek design showing our technical prowess. This e marketing tools are meant to complement each other. They are not so effective on their own, but taken together, they will give us an excellent marketing machine. Relevance to business The strategies selected above are aligned with the nature of the business, and the market it hopes to tap into. Our business is in the technology sector. As such, many of our prospective clients are to be found on the internet. By adopting this e marketing strategy, we will be able to connect with the vast majority of them. They will see a partner who has the same views as they do about technology and how it can provide solutions. Our market will be more appreciative of an online marketing campaign, especially since they will need someone they can trust will give them the services they need. Since our products will be accompanied by the agreement to service machines for a year, the clients need a trustworthy and proficient team to meet this part of the deal. Our marketing campaign will show this (Karami, 2016). Legal Considerations and considered research The import of technical equipment in the country is strictly regulated. There is a requirement to ensure the procured equipment is genuine, and is fit for the intended purpose. However, other free trade requirements may not affect the running of the business to a considerable scale, since the market is in near perfect competition there are several businesses in this market, none of which has a clear advantage over others in terms of expertise or other assets. We will sign confidentiality agreements with our clients, so that our personnel are legally bound to protect any client information that they handle. Strategies Our social media strategy will be simple, involving the creation of a page, and posting of our brochures on this page. The page will be updated regularly with new and existing products, details of price and location, and other activities we are involved in. The strategy is expected to be cheap, costing less than 1000 dollars per year. The strategy will be evaluated on the number of clicks and views, and will be managed by the marketing manager(Karami, 2016). The website will have more options than the social media website, including price and option to buy. This will be more expensive, costing more than 2000 dollars. This will be spent on hosting and design. The website will be managed by the IT team in conjunction with the marketing manager. It will be evaluated on the number of visits to site, and number of online purchases. The pay per click strategy will involve more costs than the social media option, but will be cheaper than the website, costing around 1400 per year. The strategy will involve placing a banner on popular websites. It will be evaluated by tracking the number of licks on the banner. The strategy will be managed by the marketing manager, in conjunction with Google. References Gupta, A. (2013). Environment PEST Analysis: An Approach to External Business Environment. International Journal of Modern Social Sciences , 2 (1), 34-43. Karami, A. (2016). Strategy Formulation in Entrepreneurial Firms. London: Routledge. Vyakarnam, S., Leppard, J. (1994). Action plans for the small business: growth strategies for businesses wondering where to go next. Springfield: DBM Publishing.