Promotional Mix (Report and Design)

About the Product

In terms of a gap in the market, it is worth noting an insurgence of veganism and vegetarianism, whereby plant-based products are on high demand. The need to eat healthy has been on the upswing, whereby people are increasingly looking for products that are healthy — and not necessarily veganism and vegetarianism. Still, the product to discuss and analyze in this paper is a plant-based, which is a gap in the veganism market. Although there are lots of products on vegetarianism, this particular product is meant to take advantage of both the core market (veganism) and the general market on food products.

The niche market of veganism has been on the rise, particularly in the United States, where 6 percent of the population now identifies as vegans (Petty, 2017). While healthy eating is mainstream, the rise in veganism is phenomenon, representing 500 percent from 2014 to 2019. Therefore, this paper is an in-depth discussion and examination of a plant-based product, and how it can be introduced into the market, to take advantage of the market gap. The paper looks at the unique space and specific market positioning that guarantees success.

Target Market

As observed by Nishanova et al. (2020), every business needs to have a comprehensive understanding of its demographic ad targeted audience, which starts by imagining its target and ideal customer. With this, the target audience are the vegans and vegetarians. However, the intention is to broaden that spectrum and target even the non-vegans looking for healthy foods. After all, even the non-vegetarians occasionally eat plant-based products. The reason for broadening the spectrum is because the veganism market is very niche, and limit the product’s profits.

The need to focus on both the vegan and the general food market is the gap this product will be exploiting. The decision to come to this conclusion has been made by taking the perspective of the targeted customer, and asked all the necessary questions. For instance, what might be the right way to approach such customers? Of course, they are vegans, but what are their feelings regarding plant-based products targeting non-vegans. Hence, it is important to find ways of incorporating the non-vegans into the niche of producing plant-based products, and hopefully win their trust.

When it comes to the target audience of vegetarianism, it is imperative to tread carefully with the marketing message (Budiherwanto et al., 2019). For instance, precaution should be taken by making sure the product’s labeling is neutral, and does not alienate the non-vegan segment of the market. Therefore, instead of using words like “meat-free” and “healthy foods”, it is advisable to stay neutral and become creative with words such as “plant-based beverages” which targets anyone looking to change diet. With such a target market, using the right language choice makes all the difference.

Brand Name (Justification of Name)

After examining various branding names for the product, the final decision landed on TEVO PLANT-BASED FOODS, with the short version of the branding name being “TEVO”. The process of picking the name involved comparing with other already existing products in the veganism market. Most competitor products didn’t use the “vegan” language, thereby prompting the need to follow suit. Better yet, with a name like TEVO, most customers will find it easy to pronounce and remember.

It is important to notice the lack of words that may create an ‘us vs. them’ mentality, hence the additional “plant-based foods” for the branding. The brand naming coincides with the objective and mission of the business, which is to target a broader spectrum of the market. Osaremen (2019) notices attempts by vegan products companies shifting their branding message to target the younger generation. Hence, the TEVO Foods will be taking advantage of this and focus on the same younger generation, especially the young adults, and even younger children. This is to create a long-term culture where the TEVO brand become known to every generation.

Finally, the target market also involves anyone who loves the exotic foods. Therefore, as a way of winning such a niche market, it will be important for TEVO products to name some of its products based on the origin of the plant-based food. For instance, instead of simply labelling “TEVO Green Cappuccino” the product can be renamed as “TEVO Scandinavian Cappuccino”, which is more appealing to such a niche of customers.

Product Feature and Benefit

Other than coming up with a catchy name, it is important to include the benefits a product offers (Fairlie & Miranda, 2016). This is especially true if the product’s target market are the vegans and healthy-eating buyers. For starters, the TEVO branding will include various plant-based foods, and not just one specific product. It is important to take such a route, because the brand will be targeting a broader market, hence the business cannot limit itself from the benefits it can reap.

The TEVO branding will include the message on beneficial aspects of improving a user’s immune system. Such benefits will be included at the back of the product’s label, as it enumerates its ingredients. It will be crucial to further explain its benefits in minimizing chances of being diagnosed with cancer. Such a message is not only meant to target the diehard vegans, but also targets anyone skeptical of cancer, and is looking to abate any chances of being diagnosed. This is expected to work because of the increased cases of cancer.

One other effective message of benefit is that of weight loss (Budiherwanto et al., 2019). The TEVO products will be targeting those with weight loss problems, and therefore, such a benefit is expected to win the trust of a market’s specific segment. The marketing team at TEVO will find ways of educating the target market of its weight loss effectiveness. The advantage of such a move is that it will not only win the vegans, but also win the non-vegans, especially those who are overweight. As noticed, this proves the need to target both veganism market and the general foods market.

SMART Marketing Objectives

As simplified by Pulido (2018), SMART marketing is all about specific outcomes, measurable results, achievable goals, realistic objectives and meeting of timely deadlines. Therefore, and for starters, the TEVO plant-based business will have to develop a very specific mission — which is to create products that ae satisfactory to the targeted market. For TEVO’s scenario, the company will develop variable products with different messages — targeting the diehard vegans, as well as winning the overall food enthusiasts looking to eat healthy foods. That is, the products will be differentiated in terms of the messages. One that is overt and the other one subtle with the “vegan” message.

It is also important to have measurable results, whereby the products by TEVO will have to be enjoyable to the targeted market. In essence, if the fans love the plant-based products by TEVO, it is then the right time to take advantage of the situation and release such products into the market. It is all about timeliness, and thereby making sure the products are within the market at a time when needed — like it is right now, whereby veganism is on the rise. As reiterated by Nishanova et al. (2020), achievable goals as a SMART marketing aspect should be derived from the perspective of the consumer. Therefore, with TEVO products, it is imperative if the final products are good and effectively satisfying the needs of the targeted customers.

As a marketing stint, it will be great for TEVO business to carry out realistic objectives, which ought to involve the aspects of TV adverts. Of course, this is additional to the social media marketing. It will be imperative to balance both the social media and TV campaigns. The latter is advantageous because it brings families together, which is the market TEVO is targeting. Nonetheless, it is equally significant to carry out PR initiatives, alongside digital content that focuses on different consumers.

Pricing Strategy

The first strategy is to focus on cost-based pricing, which usually leaves the required margin for profit making. Usually, there is a base price, which is determined by the business’ fixed costs whereby the product should not go below its printability threshold — this is known as the “floor price” (Santos & Fukushima, 2017). At the same time, there is the ceiling price, which should not be surpassed, for it may result in loses. Now, with this in mind, the TEVO products will be targeting customers whose buying power is average. Hence, the pricing will not be too expensive to drive away customers, but low enough to make it available for them to buy.

Such products will be sold in big outlets like Walmart, where most people shop. At the same time, TEVO’s products will be sold online in various ecommerce sites — which is different from TEVO’s website. The intention is for TEVO to offer competitive prices that are better than competitors. Since the company will be targeting a larger and wider audience, it would be easier to consider dropping its pricing to something closer to the floor price. The larger market audience will result in more sales, and thus more profit. Of course, and expected, the pricing will be weighed upon the cost of production, distribution and retail.

On the other hand, TEVO will also utilize the value-based pricing, which is based on the customer’s perception of the product’s value. Since core vegan and vegetarian customers are always looking for quality, there is no alternative for TEVO products to be of high-quality ingredient. For better pricing, it would be advisable to consider initial release of the plant-based products and have a few and core customers to have a go at the products, and get feedbacks in terms of what they would be willing to pay. The best thing about value-based pricing is that it helps generate more profit, which then enables the business to offer customers with extra services.

Promotion Strategy

The objective at TEVO Plant-Based Food is to focus on growth, which is achievable through the products’ availability — both mentally and physically. The company intends to think outside the box, and come up with new and fresh ideas. For instance, while most businesses offering vegan foods are popular for focusing on a small, very niche market. As concurred by Osaremen (2019), this prompted such firms to bank on occasions like New Year and Birthday events where folks tend to make resolutions to eat healthy. However, after a month or so, the sales shrink, thus resulting in minimal profits.

Therefore, at TEVO, the company’s goal is to focus on the same niche market, but widen the net to capture the non-vegan market. This is expected to increase the firm’s profits by a notch higher than just focusing on the veganism niche alone. In essence, the marketing team will have to change its promotional strategy. For starters, the language used in promoting the products will have to change. This goes alongside the change in the product’s labeling. That is, instead of using phrases like “for vegans” and “meat-free”, it will be preferable to be simple and subtle with the marketing message. For instance, using the simple phrase “plant-based” is a better alternative, because it does not form divisiveness (Setini & Caisar, 2020).

As expected, these messages will be available in all major social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. The message will be advertised in all relevant channels to make sure all kinds of audiences are reached. This way, TEVO will increase its profits. However, it is important to mention that the niche on veganism will continue to exist, whereby the message on such products will be just as strong against taking meat products. Still, the message for the general foods targeted audience will also be enjoying the products, but with a different message.

Packaging and Labelling

The TEVO should strive to be as eco-friendly as possible. The intention is both ethical and for profit-making purposes. It will be killing two birds with one stone. Focusing on being eco-friendly with packaging is smart business move for TEVO. This is because a large portion of its target market (vegans and vegetarians) appreciates eco-friendly products. Hence, TEVO needs to emulate some of the leading firms offering vegan foods. An example is using packaging its products with vegan wax papers, which is replacing vacuum-wrapped plastics. As echoed by Petty (2017), nothing makes a vegan more excited to buy a plant-based product than realizing the product is packaged in a plastic-free wrap.

Better yet, this econ-friendly packaging is not meant to target the vegans alone, but even meat-eating customers tend to strive for eco-friendliness. Hence, this packaging strategy will help TEVO acquire more profits. The one advantage to this strategy is the avoidance of massive investment in plastics, which is due to cheaper ways of producing environmentally-friendly packaging. This is because of the possibility of recycling of the packages. Also, customers will be willing to spend extra on such products, hence TEVO will cater to any extra expenses.

Regarding TEVO’s labeling, it is imperative to indulgent words and phrases that are very catchy and friendly to the targeted audience. As mentioned earlier, such great phrases ought to be neutral and less divisive. Since TEVO will be producing a variety of plant-based products, the firm needs to have all its labels feature the phrase “Plant-Based” as its leading message. This way, even non-vegans feel neutral towards the product, thus increasing sales for TEVO as a company.

Location, Layout and Channels of Distribution

For starters, it is worth noting the importance of location strategy, which helps a company achieves its objectives by accessing its target market (Fairlie & Miranda, 2016). For TEVO, the company will find the best locations by looking for areas compatible with the product’s benefits to the customers. As a result, the firm will maximize costs of production whist minimizing risks. Most importantly, as suggested by Pulido (2018), the location will conform with TEVO’s mission, goals and objectives. That is, since the retailing business is targeting the veganism market, it would be important to acquire shelves in leading retail chains like Walmart and others.

In terms of channels of distribution, a relevant one is affiliate marketing, which allows a company like TEVO to access a larger market audience. The importance of this is to make a faster market accessibility. As noted by Nishanova et al. (2020), affiliate marketing usually features low barriers to market entry, which is due to an already identified market, hence no need to convince customers unfamiliar with the product. Therefore, the best way to achieve affiliate marketing is through vegan bloggers, who will helps put TEVO’s products on their reputable blogs. This is an affordable way of accessing vegans and vegetarians. Better yet, affiliate marketing helps TEVO acquire easy revenues.

Omni-channel is the other distribution TEVO can take advantage of, which is a multichannel approach to integrate different customers. For instance, TEVO will be targeting consumers via different channels like Facebook, Emails, and blogs, which is achievable via either desktops, phones or physical stores. The objective is to make sure all channels are the same, and that the experience in all channels are seamless.

No. of Employees and Hiring Criteria (Training & Reward System)

When hiring, TEVO plans to choose the right marketing team, which is going to guarantee the results are acquired as per the timeline. An effective hiring process involves picking candidates based on their marketing capabilities (Setini & Caisar, 2020); hence, in TEVO’s case scenario, it will involve mostly those experienced in marketing vegan products. Secondly, the hiring process will feature choosing a candidate based on the kind of value he/she brings into the company. Although it would be important for TEVO to save on salary expenses, especially at the beginning, it is advisable to make hires based on the candidate’s worth.

Regarding reward systems, it is recommendable for TEVO to look beyond financial rewards. That is, of course employees are well motivated with better pay, but a company must further this with other rewarding avenues (Santos & Fukushima, 2017). Thus, for TEVO, the management will emphasize on offering a balanced work-life system for its employees, whereby flexibility is paramount. Other programs like free yoga classes, paid maternity leave, and quarterly bonuses will also be featured.

References

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Santos, A., & Fukushima, N. (2017). Sustainable Product Service Systems Design: Tools For Strategics Analysis. MIX Sustentável, 3(4), 149–156. Doi:10.29183/2447–3073.mix2017.v3.n4.149–156. Retrievable at https://bit.ly/3gLHZC4