MARKETING PLAN INPUT Week 3 Assignment – Part A: Marketing Plan Input Overview Throughout this course, you will be creating a marketing plan for a hypothetical company that provides a prod

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Mission Statement

A strong mission statement “provides a shared sense of purpose, direction, and

opportunity”(Kotler, 1). Pets are family members and should be treated as such. Pooper

Scoopers’ services provide homes and communities a high level of care, creating a family feel

while protecting the environment to everyone’s benefit. Our services are provided to pet

owners and communities with care and consideration while commending our team members for

their professionalism, dedication, and performance for those we serve. Our goal is simple –

provide customers with value, providing the services they need to take good care of their pets,

yards, and homes when life does not allow them to do so. Pooper Scoopers’ future plans are to

grow within the local area, expanding outward to other communities while adding area

management services for community groups, HOAs, and businesses. At Pooper Scoopers, we

endeavor to create a clean, green environment beneficial to people and animals alike.

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SWOT and Needs Analysis

In order to be successful, Pooper Scoopers needs to be aware of those factors that can impact their business, both positively and negatively. By utilizing a SWOT analysis to examine

the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that are most applicable to the business

performance, Pooper Scoopers can grow. Through examination of the internal elements that can

be controlled (strengths and weaknesses) and external elements that cannot be controlled

(opportunities and threats), Pooper Scoopers can better understand their operational environment.

Table 1 shows the Pooper Scoopers’ main SWOT elements.

Table 1

SWOT Analysis

Strengths • Unique service plan for minimally

competitive environment • Flexible services plan availability

including weekly, twice monthly and monthly plans

• Expanded management plans and services for communities, HOAs and other businesses

Weaknesses • Lack of local knowledge for

neighborhoods and residents • New presence in service area requiring

expanded efforts to reach customer base

• Possible lack of experienced personnel in local environment requiring importation of employees

Opportunities • Limited competition in the area allows

for quicker growth in the initial phase • Ability to quickly expand into

neighboring locales, communities and businesses

• Ability to expand service types based on the local communities and business (such as golf courses or local parks)

Threats • Increase in competition with local

small businesses and / or larger national franchisees moving into area

• Transient population impacts possible business growth

• Financial impacts due to higher numbers of retirees and older residents with limited financial resources

Note: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the Pooper Scoopers Company.

Strengths

Companies often fail to objectively assess their strengths, neglecting to take advantage of

their value to their customer base. Pooper Scoopers has many strengths that are beneficial to

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their customer base when properly understood and applied. First, Pooper Scoopers’ presence

provides customers with a comprehensive pet waste removal service provider that is unique to

the area with minimal competition. Pooper Scoopers can create long lasting customer

relationships with their prime market position.

Secondly, the ability to cater to the customers’ needs with custom service and pricing

plans allows Pooper Scoopers the flexibility to provide competitive pricing for any local

competition and support for the price conscious customer. This strength allows Pooper

Scoopers’ customers to recognize they are getting the best perceived value for the dollar. Lastly,

the ability to provide extended services to community associations, HOAs and businesses allows

for growth of the business while creating a more inviting, cleaner environment for patrons.

Weaknesses

Many companies see weaknesses as failures that cannot be capitalized upon. However,

the reality is that a company can benefit greatly when analyzing these weaknesses and turn them

into assets, benefitting themselves and the customer base. When reviewing the Pooper Scoopers’

business model, three major weaknesses have been determined. First, when creating a business,

it is important that the company understands the local area that they will be doing business in by

doing market research. With Pooper Scoopers opening their business in a new location, they

must perform the research to be competitive and provide excellent services. Pooper Scoopers

then becomes more educated and familiar with the locale and the needs of the populace.

When a new business opens up anywhere, it is imperative that they reach the customer

base. As a new venture, Pooper Scoopers has limited initial public exposure. In order to make

the customer base aware of the business, various communications tools must be employed

including a web site, social media accounts (Twitter, Facebook and other resources), and local

media (TV, Radio and print). An enhanced media presence will create customer awareness,

expanding the customer base. Finally, the new market may have a dearth of experienced

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personnel, creating the need for Pooper Scoopers to hire from outside the local area or work with

inexperienced individuals until they are properly trained, providing the excellent service

customers expect.

Opportunities

Opportunities, while external to the business, can be a boon and create significant

business growth. Successful companies take advantage of the opportunities as they present

themselves. An immediate opportunity for Pooper Scoopers is the limited local competition.

While there are small businesses in the area, none offer similar service packages. The ability to

provide a variety of services and pricing allows Pooper Scoopers to meet the customers’ needs.

There are a number of communities near the Myrtle Beach area. Once a beachhead is

established in Myrtle Beach, the company should be able to expand outward into additional

locales. With limited local competition, expansion should be easier than in a larger metropolitan

area. In conjunction with the locale expansion, an additional opportunity is to add services for

managing common areas for communities and HOAs or expanding services to maintain

businesses where wildlife has an impact, such as golf courses. With a myriad of golf courses

around the Myrtle Beach area, this opportunity is certainly worth exploring.

Threats

Threats are circumstances beyond the business’ control that require regular review and

proactive mitigation to prevent negative business impacts. Competition is one of the largest

threats companies encounter, and this is no different here. While few local businesses perform

pet waste removal services, two major cities in the state support a large national company that

performs similar services, potentially impacting business should they expand. By creating strong

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customer relationships with excellent customer service and competitive pricing strategies, that

threat should be mitigated to a level that the company can accept.

Being a resort community, Pooper Scoopers faces a transient populace as many of the

potential customers are snow birds. Similarly, the Myrtle Beach area is considered a retirement

destination with retirees often having set budgets with little leeway when looking at such

services. Per the Journal of Marketing Research, low-income households should have the

greatest incentive to use all available strategies that save them money as they make a greater

effort to search for lower prices than their higher-income counterparts (Orhun, 18). In both cases,

creative pricing and service programs can meet this challenge.

Conclusion

Pooper Scoopers is heading to Myrtle Beach to establish their pet waste removal

management business. To do so, they need to create a savvy marketing plan to jump start the

business. Starting with a strong, motivational mission statement, Pooper Scoopers can then

navigate through a number of short and long term goals while planning for their future success.

Multiple forces impact the business including competitive, economic, political, legal,

technological, and sociocultural factors. Once these forces have been analyzed, a SWOT

analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats provide additional data for the

business profile and model.