Dillons is a supermarket based in Hutchinson Kansas that deals with grocery. The supermarket aims at being the leading shop in Kansas by offering the best quality products. Dillons targets all sorts of customers through advertising their products online, marketing strategies as well as the use of electronic media. For Dillon to succeed, sophisticated marketing strategies should be arraigned in place considering that the shop aims at expanding its merchandise all over the country. The store wants to create awareness that their products are healthy and of high quality from the best farms in the USA. Considering that Dillons is a fast rising shop, it is possible for the supermarket to attain its set goals through the best advertising plan not only in Kansas but the entire USA.

The contacts of Dillon, the supermarket CEO, are provided below

Dillons,

The ABC Co.
123 Vine Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202-1100

Situation Analysis

Dillons uses social media, physical media and free advertising such as products promotions and marketing strategies. Despite its efforts to promote its products, Dillon experiences small customer base due to lack of appropriate target during the advertisement process. A business that uses advertisement to promote its products but fails to reach the targeted customers is the same as the firm that hardly advertises. Dillon does not put much attention in its marketing strategies. As a result, the supermarket rarely gets the high number of customers as per expectations.

The fact that Dillon mainly deals with grocery products, a great advertising plan is required to convince everybody that the supermarket offers healthy and high-quality foodstuffs at a lower price. There is power in advertisement regardless of the types of products in the plan. Dillon deals with a broad range of goods apart from the grocery products. Despite the fact that the company engages itself in some advertising efforts, the customer’s information is the primary type of advertisement in the shop. The fact that Dillon uses tons of money in its advertising, it does not channel a high number of customers. Young & Milton (2011) observe that a good supermarket advertising strategy is the ones that trigger customers to buy more irrelevance of whether they needed the products or not. Therefore Dillon does not engage in psychological, economical, social and behavioral forms of advertising that attract a large number of customers. For a business to entice extra purchases, the company should accommodate all types of marketing strategies that reach all kinds of customers. For example in a grocery store, their should be textured rubber mats that slows down the shopping cart to make the customers to shop at a slower pace, and be in position to view all the products displayed in the grocery section of the supermarket the only way to beat this trick is by leaving the shopping cart where the rubber mat begins. Dillon should engage in more advertising methods than the formal advertising that attracts the only low number of customers. Dillon should try to get used to the possible customers as well. In this case, there is the need for Dillon to advance its advertising and marketing techniques by engaging more tricks because there is always a chance for any business to maximize the use of the potential customers following their interests in food products. For instance, some customers are likely to buy all the types of fruits in the shop. Thus it is the responsibility Dillon to offer guidelines to these customers through advertisement techniques based on their preferences in products such as foodstuffs.

Historical context

After analyzing and recognizing Dillon’s business needs, the supermarket principle player developed an Encouraging business plan and an idea that focused on the current market demands. The plan was drawn up because there was a great opportunity to reach a larger customer base as compared to the current one. In this case, through its efforts to arrive at a large number of customers, the brand aims at providing all sorts of products to all customers both locally and nationally. The business also has plans to expand its merchandise by establishing more branches all over the country. Considering the rise in competition from other rival shops, Dillon must come up with great and unique techniques that will enable them to survive especially outside Kansas. Any business can become great if it focuses on excellent marketing strategies and high adverting procedures. For instance, when Dillon was established, it is through customers convincing and marketing plans that brought it where it is today. The main aim of this business is to establish itself with the large customer base in the USA by expanding its merchandise all over the country. The company not only focuses on the provision of grocery products, but it also looks forward to expanding their products range based on the customer’s preference. The business arrived at this situation following lack of proper advertising strategies. The critical moment in Dillon includes dealing with spoilt fruits and vegetables due to lack of customers and the dynamics with which the customers shop in the merchandise. For instance, the client’s number varies from day to day. Therefore, if the customers do not turn out as expected, the business is likely to incur extra costs and losses. Hohenberg & Homburg (2016) observe that it is important for a company to know its customer variance to avoid spoiling of perishable products as fruits and vegetables. Therefore, for Dillon to cut little this problem, it must look for ways to get more customers to purchase their items.

Industry Analysis

In the US, the grocery markets include all the supermarkets in the States. The supermarkets are accountable for the largest retail sales in the country. Wooliscroft (2011) observes that in 2013 alone the grocery stores were responsible for 90% of all the states food and beverages supplies. On the other hand, supermarkets accounted for 95% of the total food supplies in the country. This is an indication that the industry is very competitive and for any business to do well it must come up with unique strategies to reach the customers.

Following the recent statistics, there has been a steady rise in market concentration based on the grocery segment. Dillon belongs to the Kroger Co. which ranked among the top firms in grocery segment in 2015. Dillon engages itself in grocery and general merchandise in a format that is bigger than the actual grocery stores. Dillon considers its 100,000-130,000 square feet store sizes to be the primary form for its development in future. The demands for customers vary from products to products. The main items offered by Dillon include fruits and vegetables that meet the requirements of both national and international food preferences. Thus there is a large customer demand for products in this category alone.

The currently debated business plan for Dillon engages the clients who prefer to make choices out of a variety of the fruits and vegetables offered by the supermarket. The firm also focuses on engaging more marketing techniques that aim at attracting a greater customer base. Dillon not only aims at those clients who prefer a variety and cheap items, but the company aims at providing the best quality products and services to their customers. Young & Milton (2011) observe that a business should be conscious of all customer needs based on individual preferences. Thus a company should focus on healthy consumer products that meet the customers’ preferences.

Market Analysis

Factors that drive the market demands are based on customer’s preferences on the types of products the shop offers. Dillon offers a variety of grocery products targeting different types of end users. For instance, some customers require nutritious fruits such as watermelons while others would go for sales in the vegetable section. Some clients would change their mind based on the variety of the products at the display while others would go for the product based on their diet plans. Dillon is aware almost all the customer’s needs, but the problem is access to a broad customer base.

In this market business risk are so concentrated regardless of whether a person is from food, or grocery chain supply store. Therefore, any company in his sector is required to have highlighted market opportunities before thinking of expanding its premises. Dillon should look for more means to connect with its customers in more powerful ways to beat the competitive rivals. Young & Milton (2011) observe that every business target is to increase customer interaction strategies by making them possible and meaningful the best way available. Dillon is a completely integrated firm that has capabilities of optimizing, executing, and defining the complete customer experience depending on its methods of brand-boosting and engagements in all perspectives. A good business strategy that focuses on the brand expertise strategy and analytics tend to trigger development in a firm. By using all the marketing channels ranging from customer contact center, direct mail, print media, social, mobile to digital, Dillon is likely to reach its set target in its plan and management based on optimization, program planning that is configured to facilitate the customer’s journey.

According to the current competitive market, business is expected to have significant refining and assessing tricks that will see it find its place in the harsh market. For Dillon to reach its set targets, it must be willing to shift marketing techniques to the next level. This can be achieved through advertisement strategies. Thus in the current complex world marketing and media overload, it is a significant step to keep on interacting with your customers effectively

Competitor Analysis

Grocery stores and supermarkets are the main competitors of Dillon for the grocery products it offers. Competition is usually very high in ready and competitive customized markets. Dillon should focus on collecting intelligence based on the game to survive in today’s market. Game knowledge is very critical for the business that wants to overcome the pressure. Thus, with better business intelligence, Dillon ought to have high competition information. Gathering market intelligence as well as making correct decisions for business success could help Dillon in the competitive market.

Competitors pricing strategies are very complex to stand against them. One way to fight the competitors is by finding out their marketing and pricing strategies. Wooliscroft (2011) assert that by making pricing decisions must go hand in hand with competitors pricing information. Thus having a great pricing overview before setting up prices would make a great counter attack to the competitors. Researching on the competitor’s success techniques could help identify opportunities in the competitive market and could as well help adjusting Dillon’s product assortments.

As a grocery services provider, Dillon aims to follow closely and contrast competitor’s prices daily to recognize the price variations immediately. Hohenberg & Homburg (2016) assert that a business should have a good picture of a market landscape than enhances reliable tools of analysis and visualization that triggers excellent strategic concentration.

Several forces shape antagonism in grocery retailing. Companies are madly in search of the best ways to curb and understand the customer’s mindsets. To begin with, the retailers are trying to respond quickly trends that are shaping final competition in various forms. This makes it clear that an active strategy that focuses on merchandise innovation has all it takes to develop a stronger shift to seeking value among clients.

In Dillon, there are high fixed costs and low margins in the food retail market. The hardest thing about it is the harsh environment posed by contenders with great competition strategies. Many forces are being aligned by the competitors against the organic grocery stores and supermarkets to ensure they do not reach the heights of the market dominants. In this case, Dillon is facing a lack of opportunities due to the threats posed by the contenders. Wooliscroft (2011) observe that companies with strong survival and adaptation tactics are more likely to survive in the harsh environment. To come stronger, Dillon must be flexible to the emerging trends that the competitors are using to remain in the market. One strategy that could be helpful to Dillon is getting used to techniques such giving discounted benefits that adapt to the consumer threads that see other grocery stores rising to the top.

Objectives

Rising grocery store companies have had several goals. Many grocery stores have a tendency of listing their targets before a fiscal year begins to ensure that they have achieved them by the end of the year or else to discover where they went wrong after all. Hill (2016) observes that many companies concentrate on customer’s preferences to realize their targets at the end of the year. Other techniques that businesses use include focusing only on the products and services that their customers need. To reach its key goals, Dillon should always concentrate on drawing comprehensive marketing strategies. This well helps Dillon to realize their aimed customers and store notions in a way that they serve specific sectors like organic food eateries. The objectives for Dillon include building sales and profits. According to Hill (2016), the primary goal for a majority of the grocery stores is to sell all types of products to maximize profits. Nonetheless, supermarkets and grocery find everything tough due to the competition posed by other retail shops and restaurants. One of the most common strategies the grocery markets is employing serving takeaway foodstuffs to enhance business convenience. Hill (2016) asserts that serving readymade food caters for the customers in a search for continence. On the other hand, rising grocery markets such as Dillon could look forward to utilizing the free space by offering services such as movie rentals and check cashing services to maximize sales and profits.

Increasing customer traffic could help boost Dillon’s sales and profits, this strategy could see the grocery store get more customers. One of the best ways to building customer traffic is by positioning a business in a strategic location where the client’s traffic is relatively high. According to Hohenberg & Homburg (2016), business districts nearing residential areas and apartments are the most convenient for the markets. Besides, ample parking lots provided by industry could help boost the customer traffic because customers with vehicles usually prefer shops with spaces where they can have their cars parked as the progress with the shopping process. Proper lighting and enough security tend to attract customers as well especially the customers that shop during the night.

Building customer loyalty will help Dillon to have more clients who are loyal. Loyal customers are the daily customers who prefer the same store now and then. Loyalty programs could help a retailer to build a stronger client base. In this case, consumers are rewarded according to their purchasing power with free products or coupons or even popular items. Hohenberg & Homburg (2016) observes that some grocery stores end up providing their customers with magnetic stripe cards that record the number of times that a customer has visited the store. Therefore, Dillon should aim at building customer loyalty by acquiring the plastic cards to recognize the loyal customers.

Improving department rating can be achieved by carrying out market research periodically in their various branches. Dillon is a grocery store that has that capability of increasing their store rating. Schwarz (2007) asserts that customers usually expect great quality items as they proceed with their shopping process. In this case, the customers do not expect different products in the same grocery branches. Departments are usually rated based on the nature of their products, services, and cleanliness. Another trick that can be used to improve departmental rating is by hiring research companies that help in finding out the customer feedback based on the enterprise’s products and services provision.

Other advertising objectives may aim to accomplish the following:

Promote brand awareness
Publicize brand name
Identifying potential market and customers
Target clients with foodstuffs preferences
Introduce the shop as a customer friendly grocery market
Spread the brand name

Quantitative benchmarks

The quantitative parameters represent the business objectives and goals that will help it to handle daily activities. The following are the market milestones:

To boost sales by 5%
Increase profits by 10%
Increase customer traffic by 30%
Increase brand publicity by 20%
Boost customer awareness by 10%

Measurements methods and criteria for success

Measurement method for the above objectives is designed in such a way that they will help the business proceed towards achieving its goals where they are easily identifiable in case the business lack an operational direction.

Boost sales by 5%

By achieving the set objectives, and the rate at which the goals are being achieved, the estimation for sales increase can be done. On the other hand, the remaining slot represents the business incapability in sales generation. Some factors determine the sales increase performance. These factors may include:

Quality – quality may be estimated regarding customer’s satisfaction, achieved scope, the quantity of sold items and the number of the increased grocery products.
Quantity – these are determined regarding profits generated regarding dollars, a volume of sales, and some customer visits, as well as the accounts, acquired.
Suitability – these may include business reports, results, and food service process time.
Service efficiency – involves the nature of the services being provided as well as codes & standards accomplishment
The significance of the cost – This can be measured by calculating the effectiveness of the expense budgets as well as the operations were done.

Increase profit by 10%

The measurement of the gain gives details of how much the business has been triumphant and how it has incorporated its customers in the firm. Three aspects are considered in profit determination. They include:

Intuition – Intuition represents a critical part of the advertisement process. Intuition provides an extensive detail of the product.
Customer participation – this represents the intensity at which the customers take part in the activities concerning the business. In this case, if there was a lot of consumer participation in the buying process, it means that more profits were generated.
Frequency and reach – this determines the customers the made advertisement reached and the rate at which the contacted customers turned out.

Increase customer traffic by 30%

The measurements for customer traffic can be done through simple steps that find out the statistics and frequency at which the customers purchased their items from the merchandise. These measurements could do by determining the number of clients that visits the business in one week and divide by seven to find out the average.

Increase brand publicity by 20%

This measurement could be possible by carrying out online and physical surveys by contacting the customers to inquire about their awareness of the business. The number of people aware of the company is compared to the individual who is not conscious of the firm.

Boost customer satisfaction by 10%

To begin with, the first measurement on this aspect is determining the client’s knowledge of the nature of the products offered by the business. This identifies the products in which the customers buy most. The frequency at which an individual product gets preference from the customers says that the customers are satisfied with the particular product. On the other hand, the products that are not bought most means that they do not meet the client’s preferences.

Timeframe

Below is the period took for each of the above objectives to accomplish

Objective	Time frame (to measure)
Boost sales by 5%	Sales estimate in second month, half and publication dimension of sales
Increase profits by 10%	Every week patterns of profits, quarter and seasonal
Increase customer traffic by 30%	Every month, quarter and seasonal
Increase brand publicity by 20% and Boost customer satisfaction by 10%	The first month, measurement after every four months, twice a year and annually

Integrated Marketing Communications Strategy

Integrated market strategies usually combine media and communication tools to spread messages. Saavedra (2016) observe that combination of various instruments enables marketers to be satisfied that their target audience has been reached. In this case, the sellers can leverage a combination of several tools in the best way possible. Integrated marketing is complicated following that it combines both traditional and modern ways of advertising to give out a more efficient strategy. For instance, public relations efforts are integrated to use of online communication instruments such as the use of social media.

Creative Strategy

Blurring lines between advertising and PR

In this case, the business will use the lines that are commonly utilized by the marketing communication. This practice will see the company engage a combination of approaches by use of integrated marketing to achieve their target of reaching the targeted audience and pass the set information. Wooliscroft (2011) observes that it makes a lot of sense in communication tools leveraging. Thus this method is unique because it engages a combination of media, effective communication with the customers and enables marketers to understand and have a diversity of options available.

Execution

Media Plan

In this case, the best media that would suit thus purpose would be social media since most of the people nowadays are in the Social Medias such as Facebook and Twitter. Thus the best way to go about this is by creating the Facebook page that is easily accessible to the customers. Further, the business could easily display its products in the social media. The other method is the use of print media which is almost as accessible as social media. In print media, the business will make a point of having some of the most common products published in some papers alongside with their pictures to attract a broad range of customers. The business website should avoid other advertisements from other companies because they tend to disrupt the customers directing them to products they did not require. Finally, ads on televisions would do better this would work out better especially in the movie and sports channels that accommodate a larger number of audience as compared to other local television channels.

IMC Tools

IMC such as the company logo appearing in Facebook page, or on its website would be a great deal in attracting the customers. The business logo combination with its tagline would easily be recognized by the online customers. Besides, whenever the print media and social media appear carrying the same tagline the customers can easily tell that it is the same business that they saw somewhere else. This also simplifies the advertisement process following that the seasonal products will receive the right audience. Besides, the seasonal products are quickly promoted. Further IMC tools enhance more additions in the advertisement menu where people can draw a picture of the product being advertised bin their minds.

Advertising

Below forms of advertisements come with the discussed impacts

The poster images should be designed in such a way that pictures of the products are so appealing and in case there is the promotion of the goods; it should be indicated together with the products image. Young & Milton (2011) observe that advertisements made with bright color images are likely to reach more audience as compared to the products produced with the actual colors of the products. Some businesses end up developing a high level of relationship with the targeted audience especially if the brand in the advertisement is of high and desired quality. In this case targeted audience become loyal and embrace the quality of the products by telling friends to go for the same product.

Direct Marketing

Direct marketing may involve such marketing strategies as face to face communication with the customers or billboards. In this type of advertisement, businesses are capable of communicating with the through a variety of media such as televisions or radios. Besides, messaging, fliers, catalog distribution, emails, online advertisements could suit perfectly for this purpose. In this case, the billboards would suit advertising the new arrival products while the social media would suit the purpose of keeping in touch with the customers.

Interactive/the Internet marketing

This type of marketing depends on customer’s expressions concerning the products being advertised. In this case, it is believed that only the customers are capable of producing the best opinions about the products. In interactive marketing, the advertisement follows a direction where there is n actual dialogue between the marketers and the target audience. Customers are usually invited to produce their opinions regarding the products. The response is purely based on the client’s feelings by expressing their personal preferences. On the other hand, internet marketing involves the use of social media and websites belonging to the business in the promotion of the products as well as the firm events. To make this method even more efficient, the new products are given the priority to appear on the Facebook pages and the website by offering attractive deals. On the other hand, a business can establish itself with the online advertising giants such as Google.

Support Media

There is that audience that could not be accessed through other forms of advertising such social and print media. To reach these people, support media is used to reinforce the advertisements that were not received or adequately. These media can be regarded as non-measured media or alternative media. Support media can be mainly be found in those places that offer review and guidance to individuals by helping them realize where the grocery markets could be available.

Sales promotion

These include any forms of initiatives used by a business to enhance an increase in products and services sales. Promotions usually vary according to the types of the products being purchased. Advertisements may include:

Gifts attached to the product that is in the advancement or where the customers are encouraged to buy some products to receive others products free.
Discounted products where the prices of new arrival products are cut to encourage the users to buy them and feel their taste.
Free samples where some products are offered freely in the grocery stores so that customers can feel their taste for example drinks and fast foods.
Vouchers and coupons are commonly found in magazines and newspapers on the pack.
Cause-related and fair-trade – these are products used to raise money employed in charitable works.
Competitions and prize draw – competitions and prize draws are done on TV’s, packs, radios, the internet, magazines, and newspapers.
Finance deals – for example where a company gives 1% finance over five years on selected products.

In this case, the most products promotion will be done in all the above methods mainly by offering the most regular customers coupons and electronic royalty cards.

Public Relations/Publicity/Corporate Marketing

Customers feedback and include any communications made purposely aiming at maintaining goodwill between an organization and its publics. The business aims at creating good relations with all sorts of public ranging from customers, employees, media, government, shareholders, competitors, suppliers, media, and customers to the public in general. The business aims at creating a strong connection that favors all the public. For instance, product promotion helps to build a good relationship between the firm and the public.

Budgeting

Methods

Before making the final decision on the total amount of money that will be used in the advertisement process, it is important that the business reviews the market situations on whether they are favorable or unfavorable. Market conditions have a habit of altering the advisement budget. An advertisement budget involves the total amount of cash spent in the publication process from designing, promoting to making the sales to the end user. The advertisement should be well designed in such a way the business does not incur losses. The aim of the publication is to build a greater customer base so that the customers can bring profits to the company. In short, the advertisement should be able to bring benefits to the business.

In this case, the ad will follow an advertising strategy that describes the products that Dillon deals with. For example, an advertisement should appear either in such a way that products are found in Dillon at a lower price or promotion. The most important aspect of the announcement is the budget share. Thus the market share acts as the determinant of the product’s popularity. Therefore the business should set aside an amount that is equivalent to the products voice in the market share.

To determine whether the budget is sufficient, the company should observe whether the advertisement thoroughly covers the customer market. If the notice does not reach all the targeted audience, then it is time to embark on the budget to make necessary adjustments. This strategy ensures that the scheduled ad goes hand in hand with the targeted market share.

In this case, this strategy will work out well considering that the main aim of the business is to create larger customer traffic. For instance, because the firm is a grocery store, it should focus more on product promotion rather than the actual advertising. Thus, this approach should aim at enhancing a broader customer base by all the available means.

Amount

The following table represents the new advertising budget as compared to the older one

	Current Budget	New Budget
Website design and maintenance	$10,000	$6,000
ad production and distribution	$15,000	$10,000
Social media advertising		$4,000
Outdoor advertising		$30,000
Mobile marketing		$10,000
Promotions and deals offered		$15,000
Membership plans		$15,000
Total	$30,000	$82,000

Justification

Due to limited marketing activities and appropriately made calculations, the current budget goes hand in hand with the advertisement cost thus there is no surplus until the market demands are adequately reviewed after the designed ad feedback. Therefore the new budget aims at achieving what the current budget failed to deliver and that explains the reason why the new budget is slightly higher than the current budget.

Evaluation

Criteria

The following table represents the planned timetable

Activities	Time
Industry analysis	3 weeks
Market analysis	2 weeks
Competitors analysis	2 weeks
Formation of objectives/ measurements	1 week
Creative strategy	2 week
Budgeting	1 weeks

If the plan is executed perfectly according to this outline, then it is determined to succeed. The following are the elements at which the program will be implemented

Completion in time
High levels of effectiveness
Portray high level of standards
Go per the business objectives

Conclusion

For any business to make an effective advertisement, it must focus on an excellent publication plan that observes all its current needs and concentrate on enhancing customer awareness. The advertisements should usually be made about the client’s preferences. A good ad program should be well established in such a way that it observes changing trends in the market. Further, a business that engages in all types of ads is likely to perform better. Finally, the aim of a business is making a profit. Thus an advertising plan should not be costly in such a way it brings loss to the company. It should be aimed at generating more profits.

References

Hill, J. (2016). Marketing Advertisement Space. The British Newspaper Industry, 162-169. doi:10.1007/978-1-137-56897-7_17

Hohenberg, S., & Homburg, C. (2016). Motivating Sales Reps for Innovation Selling in Different Cultures. Journal of Marketing, 80(2), 101-120. doi:10.1509/jm.14.0398

Saavedra, C. A. (2016). The Industrial Sales Force. Management for Professionals The Marketing Challenge for Industrial Companies, 235-279. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-30610-0_8

Schwarz, P. (2007). Sales promotion. Anesthesia, 43(3), 248-248. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2044.1988.tb05561.x

Wooliscroft, B. (2011). Marketing theory as history. Marketing Theory, 11(4), 499-501. doi:10.1177/1470593111418800

Young, T., & Milton, N. (2011). Communities in sales and marketing. Knowledge Management for Sales and Marketing, 69-84. doi:10.1016/b978-1-84334-604-3.50004-8

Sample Advertising Plan