Harvard style term paper e-business start-up plan complete
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Market Opportunity
Strategic Marketing is the management function which is responsible for the identifying,
anticipation and satisfaction of the customer requirements profitably. The Strategic Marketing is
a set of the techniques that address such issues as research, the product design and development,
pricing, packaging, the sales promotion, advertisements, the public relations, distribution
and the after-sales service. Marketing mix is achieved by integrating many marketing plans.
Strategic marketing is aimed at maximizing returns of stakeholders and the same time
create a competitive advantage, communication and the delivery of value to the esteemed
customers thereby developing a long-term relationship amongst the customers. This clearly
defines the objectives of any business in marketing and the evaluation of its performance. The
specific contribution in marketing is organization which strives to choose the appropriate
customers, create competitive advantage and build relationships with the clients. Hence. the
marketing strategy consists of internally integrated but externally focused choices on how the
organization should address its customers in the context of a very competitive environment.
(Quinn, 1980). A business strategy has five elements:
− It deals with where the business plans to be active.
− How it will proceed forward.
− Means of success in the marketplace.
2. Market Opportunity 2
− The speed and the sequence of moves to be taken.
− How the organization will obtain the profits.
The SOSTAC model is one of the most powerful planning systems. It is simple but
extremely effective; it contains the ingredients which are vital for a perfect marketing plan. This
method will help Yummy vouchers in the creation, writing and development of the marketing
plan by breaking it down into six elements: the Situation analysis, the Objectives, the Strategy,
the Tactics, Action and Control, each element asks a simple question and provides the easy
starting point.
• Situation analysis requires the current state of the business.
• Objectives, list an overview of the goals for the business.
• Strategy provides a plan to achieve the goals.
• Tactics breaks down the strategy into the smaller details.
• Action assigns the responsibility and deadlines for the tasks.
• Control offers the easy way to tracking the progress of the plan
Generally the SOSTAC helps to provide the overview of the business without the
objectives, the strategy and actions which are needed to meet the objectives, if a business simply
exists then there is much chance for failure as success. Assigning the accountability for the
actions encourages the managers in the business to perform. The implementation the control
process tracks the progress of a business towards its objectives thereby keeping the business
moving forward.
However, the only disadvantage of using this Model the complex means of learning and
implementation. It takes time and effort in considering and planning of each of the six elements.
Despite the time that is required to learn and implement the model, it is advisable for the Yummy
3. Market Opportunity 3
Vouchers to consider it. Using this model will help the Yummy Vouchers to create the solid
marketing plan which helps to propel the business towards success. Establishing of the current
state of the business, creation of the objectives and the planning strategies, tactics and the actions
aimed at meeting the set objectives can keep the Yummy vouchers’ online business moving
forward. Further, the use of a control system tracks the progress of the business and helps to
ensure that the business operates as effectively as possible. (Sheraz, 2008)
The SOSTAC Model is the perfect solution for yummy Vouchers’ online business which
struggles to create the online marketing opportunities. The markets that the business chooses to
reach through the web presence have effects on the language of communication of website’s
content, the tools are used, the payment methods, and the promotional techniques. For instance,
in the European markets a larger section of the population is conversant with the English
language. A large proportion of the population also speaks German, Spanish and French.
Consequently, Yummy vouchers may consider translating some of the most important pages of
its website into these languages. The language factor is also significant in the Asian markets.
Especially in Japan where less than 10 percent have the ability to speak English.
In other regions the connectivity presents a challenge, it means that the businesses that
Yummy Vouchers, due to the nature of its business that is engaged in the online marketing
should make the considerations for the tools to be used on their sites. In case a region has slow
connectivity, then the web site should have fewer graphics.
Therefore the online strategic marketing is outlines the marketing opportunities which
are matched to the resources and the abilities of the company. The restaurants forms a
special sector of the consumer industries that are intertwined, the Yummy Vouchers is a dynamic
link in between this industries and the customers. (Gupta, Lehmann & Donald, 2005)
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Yummy vouchers being an agent of the restaurants especially those in the food consumer
market it adopts the theory of running the business centered on the consumer, Shopper & the
Retailers needs. The marketing departments of Yummy vouchers should spend quality time
looking for the market growth opportunities in its category by identifying the relevant insights on
its target consumers, the online shoppers and other partners. The growth opportunities emerge
from the changes in the food market trends and the operational the business challenges. Yummy
vouchers online marketing team should then prioritize these growth opportunities and develop
the strategies to exploit the opportunities that could include new services. The Yummy Strategies
should be based on the market dominance, the restaurant firms should be classified based on the
market share or the dominance of the industry. Through the internet the Yummy Vouchers
should employ four types of market dominance strategies: the Leader, the Challenger, the
Follower and the Nicher (Miles, 2003)
The following are the marketing opportunities that Yummy Vouchers can engage in;
• Its website – the online marketing team should obtain the email addresses in the exchange
for the discount code. With help of a web developer, it can create a box on its website to
capture its customer’s names, the date of birth and other important information which can
be added to the customers’ database for the future marketing activities. Using the Live
bookings, promotions can be automatically shown up by the website booking tool, with
added distribution through the Live bookings partner network of websites.
• Email – Yummy vouchers can make use of the phrase to ‘Share this’ in the links to
encourage recipients to distribute its vouchers to their friends and the family members by
email, Facebook and also on Twitter.
5. Market Opportunity 5
• Facebook – Yummy Vouchers can encourage people to share its vouchers on Facebook it
can also help to spread them amongst the Facebook groups of people.
• Twitter – Some Special offers are very effective at attracting the followers on Twitter. In
this case it should be remembered to ask the followers to ‘re-tweet’ the voucher code to
help in spreading it virally.(Rosie, 2010)
Yummy vouchers should assess the market opportunities through the identification of the
addressable market. To achieve its vision the company should adopt a structured approach which
considers the overall economic, market and the technological trends. It includes the development
of the medium and a long term market forecast. A top-down approach can be used in the
identification and addressing of the market and the potential opportunities.
The development of a clear and profitable strategy relies on the ability to balance the
company's competencies and abilities against the market opportunities that spans into the future.
The Strategic analysis forms the base for the development of the market strategies by looking at
the customers and the markets, the competitors and the competencies in order to identify the
areas of the opportunities and threats based on the online customers’ really value.
6. Market Opportunity 6
Reference
Gupta, Sunil. Lehmann, Donald R. 2005. Managing Customers as Investments: The Strategic
Value of Customers in the Long Run, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education/Wharton School Publishing.
Miles, Raymond, 2003. Organizational Strategy, Structure, and Process, Stanford: Stanford
University Press
Quinn, John, 1980.Strategies for Change, Irwin, New York, NY.
Rosie ,Baker, 2010. Restaurant vouchers most popular online discount. Available at;
http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/restaurant-vouchers-most-popular-online-
discount/3013472.article[Accessed on 19 Feb, 2011]
Sheraz, Alvi, 2008. SOSTAC Model Of Marketing – step by step. Available at;
http://corporateskills.co.uk/project-management-skills/sostac-model-marketing/
[Accessed on 19 Feb, 2011].