Marketing and Management Purchasing - Supply Chain Management

Question: Discuss about the Marketing and Management for Purchasing, Supply Chain Management. Answer: Introduction The study consists of branding and marketing strategy of an assisted living facilities company of New Jersey. The company chosen for formulating the strategies of marketing is Union Family First. The sector is developing recently in United States along with different parts of the world. The company is focused on providing facilities to the elderly people along with providing safety and health standards. Many theories and models would be described in the study by elaborating branding, positioning, marketing and consumer behavior strategies. Marketers are always focusing on innovation that would help the company to make stand apart from the competitors present in the market. Marketing communication channels are implemented for Union Family First while promoting the brand in the market. It also includes the mission statement of the company aligned with the marketing strategy formulated for the enterprise. Consumer behavior is a vital factor that businesses focus nowadays for catering ta rget customers with specific products. The main aim is to attract more customers towards the products of the enterprise. Marketing of Union Family First is important because it is a new business in the market and people must know about the enterprise i.e. increased brand awareness. Branding Strategy Multiproduct branding strategy is the best strategy Union Family First should adapt to increase the brand awareness in the market. In this strategy, the company will use its brand name in its products. The strategy of brand building is also known as umbrella branding, corporate branding and family branding. There are many advantages of using this strategy to build brand by the company (Kapferer, 2012). The strategy can capitalize on the companys brand equity. If customers gain positive experience about the products of the brand, then he will pass positive feedback for the other products of the company. As the name of the different products serving by the company include companys name in the brand, other products and services will enjoy the advantage. The company is new in the market. Hence, the branding strategy of Union Family First will be unique so that customers get attracted by the name and facilities provided by the company (Aaker Joachimsthaler, 2012). The process of branding will include brand logo, slogan for the brand along with brand extension. However, the concept of brand extension is possible only when Union Families First will able to uphold a strong brand image in the market. Brand extension is defined as the employment of the existing brand name to a new category of product. The slogan of the brand is Happiness for life. in this case, special care to patients suffering from Dementia and Alzheimer. The company must follow few components for building a comprehensive strategy. They are purpose, emotion, consistency, employee involvement, flexibility, loyalty and competitive awareness. Brands should be promising in nature. A defining purpose of the company can differentiate it from its competitors in the marketplace. It will define the brand positioning in the market. Union Family First can use intentional purpose in brand building that includes motivation of making money along with doing well to the community (Braun et al., 2013). After setting the purpose the brand logo, slogan is commenced which will be used to implement in the next steps of branding strategy. The company should maintain a consistency that will communicate the message of the brand to the target customers. Emotion of the consumers is a vital thing of consideration for brand building. Customers should be included in the strategy for making strong image of the brand. In the competitive business world, brand must b e flexible in nature to adapt changes in the market (Gummerus et al., 2012). Apart from that, Union Family First should incorporate loyalty, competitive awareness in implementing the multiproduct branding strategy along with brand extension for building successful image in the market. Marketing Strategy Union Family First can use integrated marketing communication mix for promoting the brand in the market. In United States, many companies are into this business. The company must differentiate its facilities from its competitors to gain attention from potential customers in the market. The target customers of the company include senior citizens along with family persons. Marketing communication of the company include sales promotions, advertising, public relations, direct marketing and personal selling (Tukej et al., 2013). Union Family First can advertise their brand in the local television channel of New Jersey along with radio broadcasting, print ads, billboards, web pages, motion pictures, etc. Display ads are very important in terms of increasing brand value and brand awareness in the market. The billboards of the facilities should present in prime locations of New Jersey so that people can get idea about the new upcoming brand in the market. The content of the advertisement sho uld be innovative and clutter breaking (Armstrong et al., 2012). Personal selling includes sales people to meet potential people and convert them into customers via sales presentation, sales meeting, telemarketing, etc. The sales people of the company should be trained in a way so that they can convince elderly people to avail the exclusive service provided by the company. The company can take part in exhibitions, trade shows, trade-ins for forecasting their brand in public. Direct marketing technique of Union Family First consists of promotional letters, online display ad, online display ads, social media marketing, etc. The company must have to develop a website that should be user-friendly and must contain all the required information a viewer search for an assisted living facility (Rothaermel, 2015). A professional high quality video must be uploaded on YouTube. In this way, the marketers of Union Family First can increase customer engagement. The company must register itself in Google My Business and Google Local in search engine optimization. Union Family First can sponsor many cultural events in the community for branding and marketing of the new company (Barney, 2012). A timetable is provided for the marketing strategy adopted by the firm for checking the time required and budget involved in the commercialization strategies of Union Family First. Outline Number Task Name Duration Start Finish Predecessors 1 Marketing strategy of Union Family First 105 days Wed 8/17/16 Tue 1/10/17 1.1 Billboard advertisement 15 days Wed 8/17/16 Tue 9/6/16 1.2 Promoting on social networking sites 10 days Wed 9/7/16 Tue 9/20/16 2 1.3 Advertising on media channels and press 10 days Wed 9/21/16 Tue 10/4/16 3 1.4 Hiring search engines web sites for search optimization of company's websites 1 month Wed 10/5/16 Tue 11/1/16 4 1.5 Brand awareness by participating in trade shows and social campaigns 15 days Wed 11/2/16 Tue 11/22/16 5 1.6 Promotion of services through sales representatives 1 month Wed 11/23/16 Tue 12/20/16 6 1.7 Advertising through pamphlets on local shops 15 days Wed 12/21/16 Tue 1/10/17 7 Table 1: Marketing Strategy of Union Family First (Source: Created by author) Positioning Statement There are many assisted living facilities in New Jersey. The companies in this sector already occupy dominant position in the market. Every company specializes in particular factors that attract new clients to their enterprise. Positioning is very important for starting a new business in this sector. The primary target market for Union Family First is the people between the age group of 45 to 55 years (Kozlenkova et l., 2014). They are the people who will choose facilities for their parents. However, secondary target market of the enterprise is the elderly people. Many old people are alone and search suitable complexes for themselves in their old age. The company promotes the product in the market by conducting extensive market research so that it can satisfy the demands of the customer (Morgan, 2012). Market research will help Union Family First to know about competitors as well as latent needs of the prospective clients. The assisted living facilities companies in New Jersey are Pe ggys House (PH), Residence at Forsgate (RF), Sunrise of Basking Ridge (SBR), Merion Garden Assisted Living (MGAL), Granville House (GH), Juniper Village (JV), Reflections, Presbyterian Home (PH), Sunrise of Edgewater (SE), etc. A perceptual map is developed for union families first for developing marketing positioning strategy of the company in the market. The map will help the enterprise to understand about its position in the market (Sirianni et al., 2013). Development of perceptual map by Union Family First helps the marketer to frame a positioning strategy along with a positioning statement. The perceptual map is drawn in the following regarding affordability and quality of the assisted living facilities of Union Family First (Fuchs Diamantopoulos, 2012). Figure: Perceptual Map of Union Family First (UFF) (Source: Author) According to the perceptual map of Union Families First, the company will position itself as budgetary living with high quality of service provided to the elderly people. As it is a new business in the market, the price should be kept quiet at the beginning for attracting customers. The positioning statement of Union Family First is Assisted living homes at affordable prices with high-class service provided to the customers. Consumer Behavior Consumer behavior is a vital aspect that companies must focus for developing new products as well as formulating marketing plans according to the nature of the customers. The company is based on New Jersey. Union Family First can use theories of consumer behaviour for determining the buying behaviour, purchasing decision, influence of people on shoppers, and nature of buyers in the market (Ridder et al., 2014). The business of assisted living facilities is itself a niche category of business. Black Box model is used for identifying the behaviour of the customers in the market. It is a theory of behaviorism that will help the company in determining the decision-making process of the buyers along with their characteristics. The theory considers rational decision-making process of customers in the market (Schiffman et al., 2013). However, consumer behavior is important in formulating the positioning strategy, marketing strategy and branding strategy of the company. The company collects a lot of information by implementing the model in real life scenario. The target customers must belong to middle class and upper class of the society. The lifestyle of the people should be healthy. The target customers especially the family person must be working in higher position in organizations (Kacen et al., 2013). It is clear that the people are knowledgeable enough to decide their preferred companies for availing services for their nearest people. Another significant advantage of the model is recognizing problem. If the Union Family First provides effective solutions to the problem raised in the minds of the customers, then the company will definitely convince the customers (Venkatesh et al., 2013). Based on the consumer behaviour, the branding strategy, marketing strategy and the positioning statement of Union Family First are right in terms of identifying target markets. The marketing plan is perfectly aligned to the consumer behaviour. Every strategies of the company are targeted towards the nature of customers so that the brand earns recognition and reputation from the market. Mission statement of the company The mission statement of Union Families First is to create a nurturing, exceptional and supportive environment to the elderly people with newly designed beautiful homes. Union Family First is a company based on New Jersey in the sector of assisted living facilities. The company is focused to serve elderly people along with providing extra healthcare facilities. The headquarter of the company will be located at Cape May area of New Jersey. Union Family First focuses on delivering exceptional flats with modern amenities. Extra care should be provided to older people along with different types of healthcare facilities within the residential complexes. The company owns its licensed physicians and physical therapist to provide emergency support to the elderly patients. The people who will reside in the residential complexes of Union Family First will feel difference provided by the company. The staffs that are in charge of the flats or living facilities are well trained and are known for providing excellent customer service. The executives of the company are constantly focused in building trust and good rapport with the existing customers. The living faci lities of Union Family First are built in areas that are located in the outskirts of main city of New Jersey. Conclusion The study explains various framework of marketing and consumer behaviour that enhance the company to build a strong image in the assisted living facility market. The market is developed in United States. The accommodation for the elderly people is a booming industry in United States. The company has sufficient scope to expand its business in the New Jersey area by formulating effective marketing strategy. Elderly care in an assisted living facilities company is a sensitive issue that targets senior people and their families. A sense of care and trust should be build among the clients of the company. Fostering trust is a vital aspect that can actually enhance the company to gain confidence of more customers in the market. Apart from that, word of mouth is an important aspect that can create a significant impact in the marketing of the company. 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