This marketing plan assignment is written as a part of marketing assignment help for student looking for Victoria’s communication plan. It can serve as an marketing assignments examples related to communication plan developed for Victoria.
1.0 Introduction
This report is written to develop marketing communication plan for Victoria’s Secret. Marketing communications involves how an organization communicates its product or services to the consumer. This plan must incorporate messages that will rise above the rest of the marketplace and help the organization solidify itself with one voice to cover all products, services, and customer interactions. The following marketing communication (MARCOM) plan outline will concentrate upon the lingerie brand of Victoria’s Secret which is given in all the sections given below.
2.0 Methodology
Marketing plan plays an important role in the penetration of brand. The main aim of marketing communication is to communicate the USP of brand to the customers. A well marketing plan start with situational and consumer analysis as consumers play an important role in the development of business. Increased competition and tough market condition has motivated the companies to adopt the better ways to market the products and increase the sales for the company.
Hence, this report has been prepared on Victoria’s Secret, which is one of the leading lingerie brands. The company specializes in the sales of lingerie of different varieties and is popular among the customers. So this report uses the methodology to find the importance of market segmentation and how effectively the sales for the goods and services specialized by the company can be increased through proper marketing communication after analyzing the environment in which company operates because through market segmentation the company plans to effectively market the products offered to the clients.
Situational analysis is quite an important factor that has to be considered at the time of preparing marketing strategy that is necessary for increasing the sales for the company. The report contains detailed analysis of how the market communication has been carried out and the relevance of communication channel that is basically used for creating brand for Victoria’s secret.
3.0 Situation Analysis
Every company regardless of the production activities it is involved into ails to provide comfortable products to the clients. Organization, regardless of the size and nature of production activities that it is involved into aims to develop strategies for attracting the attention of the customers. For instance, the lingerie preference of the customers differs from each other and it depends upon the budget, usefulness, and make and model of the different designs.
Victoria’s secret believes in analyzing the challenges that exists in this industry. Such an analysis will help the management to draft plans through which the customers can be served with the better options. This is necessary for building long term relationship with the existing and potential clients. Hence, we will do situational analysis here to understand the Victoria’s secret situation to devise its communication strategy.
3.1 Product situational Analysis
The product that is sold by the company has to meet the expectations of the clients, or else the organization might suffer from heavy losses. Thus, the company has to analyze the requirements of the customers before drafting and implementing the required changes. At the time of launching the new products or upgrading the existing product in the market the expectations of the customers has to be closely reviewed. This will help in building strong and positive relationship with the clients, which is a must for capturing larger market share. The same is applicable for Victoria’s Secret also which has become the number one American brand by offering a range of products that appeal to a wide range of women (Lutz, 2013). Products are constantly being updated so that loyal consumers are consistently enticed to purchase the newest item. The Pink line is aimed towards a younger demographic and the original line is being restored to a product that will suit women of all ages and sizes at stages of their lives.
3.2 Competitive Situation
The largest established competitors for Victoria’s Secret are GAP, Fruit of The Loom, and Hanes (Hoovers.com, 2014). This set of competitors focuses upon comfort and value and does not offer a wide variety within their product mix. Purchasing their products is more focused upon practicality rather than aesthetics. These companies create a “chore” out purchasing underwear. Up and coming competitors AdoreMe, Intimint, and True & Co. are utilizing a customer friendly approach AdoreMe has no brick and mortar stores, instead they ship directly to the consumer. Intimint asks consumers to fill out surveys and sends them a selection of lingerie based upon their choices. True and Co. sends a number of bras to consumers and allows them to keep the ones they prefer and send the others back (Lutz, 2013). Established clothing companies such as Abercrombie, American Eagle, and Express are creating their own lingerie line.
3.3 Distribution Situation
The packaging and distribution strategy for Victoria’s Secret is very strong as product is shipped from the main distribution center in Ohio to over 1,000 mall based outlets. The same distribution hub also supplies catalog orders and ecommerce from the Victoria’s Secret website. Besides these they also develop the habit of standing back and looking at every visual element in the packaging of their product or service through the eyes of a critical prospect as people form their first impression about their within the first 30 seconds of seeing their products. Small improvements in the packaging or external appearance of product or service can often lead to completely different reactions from the customers.
3.4 Environmental Factors Analysis
It is found that even during economic downturn Victoria’s Secret is showing growth (6% in 2012) utilizing marketing that focuses upon the experience of shopping at Victoria’s Secret has made the purchasing behavior into an experience that the final purchase is seen as an investment. The lingerie industry is seen as an oligopoly, where there are a few large established brands. We will understand the various factors that helps Victoria to achieve that growth using SWOT analysis as given below:-
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
- Strong brand with over 1000 company stores and a loyal consumer base
- Strong advertising strategies that use emotional basis to influence women into purchasing.
- Successful sister brand, Pink targeting late teen and college age women.
- Utilizes active online marketing wherein they have well organized website that seamlessly correlates with their catalogue.
- Environmental trends have caused the brand to utilize organic and fair trade raw materials for its clothing lines.
Weaknesses
- Several competitors in the value sector means consumers have the choice of obtaining a similar product for much less cost may lead to brand switching.
- Counterfeit products affect sales as well as brand image.
Opportunities
- Continue to extend its product mix into skincare and fragrances by moving into different lines to expand its offering.
- Focus on more global markets such as Asia where there is limited reach.
- Victoria’s Secret could create digital dressing rooms to create greater appeal for their products.
Threats
- Outlet stores may hinder same store sales in areas that contain a Victoria’s Secret outlet store.
- Due to limited resources the Victoria’s Secret brand may face serious issues in lieu of an economic downturn if they are unable to sustain present sales.
- Fragmented clothing industry may lead to less brand loyalty.
- Counterfeit products
- Has come under fire for new line targeting and promoting the ideal body image to women
3.5 Fundamental Decisions
Targeting
- Victoria’s Secret targets women with the lure of being sexy and confident
- Also targets men by making the purchase of Victoria’s Secret lingerie is a special purchase for their female partner
- The Pink line is aimed towards teenage and college age women
Positioning
- Victoria’s Secret has positioned itself as an affordable premier lingerie brand
- Purchasing lingerie from Victoria’s Secret is viewed as an investment/treat due to the experience the brand has created around the purchasing behavior
4.0 Marketing Communications Objectives
The various objectives of Marketing communications are given below:-
- Entice current and new consumers about the value of purchasing Victoria’s Secret lingerie.
- Beginning at the start of October until the holiday season become more aggressive with offers, not discounts but offers that will entice consumers to purchase more on their visits
- Offerings such as buy x and receive x free of certain products
- Secret Santa cards have been successful in seasons past in inviting consumers to return to the store to validate their cards and hopefully receive a $500 spree
5.0 Marketing Plan Budgeting
The budget for the entire plan is given below
- Annual fashion show has a budget if $12-$13 million, this hour long commercial is viewed by an audience of mostly women, the key target audience.
- Due to the past success of this campaign an aggressive budget of $5 million will be allotted for the secret Santa cards, allowing each store two of the $500 gift amounts, five of the $100 gift amounts, and varying amounts of the lesser gift amounts
- The implementation of the secret Santa gift cards will increase SOV as it offers a reason for the consumer to return to the store and purchase as they will receive a minimum gift of $10
6.0 Implementation Strategy
6.1 Role of Marketing Communication
Marketing communication play an important role in promoting the business to different geographical regions which should be the sole of this marketing plan so as to create strong brand for the company. The management of the company has to choose an effective method for marketing the sales of the products and services. For this, it is necessary to choose the best medium through which the marketing and promotional activities can be conducted without increasing the operational expenses for the company. These activities should include factors that will help the company in approaching maximum clients, at the shorter span of time. In this method, the company takes care of the following aspects –
- Branding – here, the company develops distinct image about the services and products that is available for the customers. It is necessary to differentiate the specifications about the services from the rest of the products that are available to the clients.
- Advertising – in this method, the management chooses an effective method through which the service that is rendered by the company is highlighted or advertised.
- Customer relationship – here, the management of the company ensures to follow the right method for advertising the services that is sold.
6.2 Methodologies
The methodologies to above strategic objectives are given below:-
- Direct mail with a secret Santa card enclosed for Angel card holders
- In store promotion in which the secret Santa cards are handed to visitors entering the store.
- Notifications can be sent to registered consumers that will remind them of the secret Santa promotion
6.3 Implemented messages
The various Implemented Messages to achieve desired objectives are given below:-
- The “gift” portrayal further encourages the fact of purchasing a Victoria’s Secret product is a treat, an investment in oneself
- It is also viewed as the brand taking care of its loyal consumers by offering this gift
6.4 Strategy to maintain Momentum
The various strategies to maintain momentum are given below:-
- The secret Santa gift cards entice consumer to return at a later date to utilize their gift, therefore increasing same store sales from the purchase of the second visit in as many weeks.
- The annual fashion is followed by promotional in store offers that will discount merchandise that must be moved in order to bring in new products for the upcoming season.
- Continue the offering of free fashion show t-shirt with every $75 purchase this will continue the momentum of the fashion show by enticing consumers to spend more to receive the free t-shirt
Marketing mix and effective marketing policies are quite important for the successful marketing communication plan. In this paper we chooses different methods to market the products and services that are rendered by the company. It is necessary to choose the right method to market the services, as this will attract customers. We can evaluate our plan by using the below methodology:-
- Evaluation of fashion show promotion can be done by consolidating the information of attaching the free t-shirt with qualifying purchases.
- The secret Santa gift promotion can also be evaluated by consolidating the amount of cards that were turned in to receive the gift amount.
- The goal of these promotions is to exceed or at least match the growth rate of last year of 6%
References
Brennan, L 2011 Operations management, 1st ed., McGraw-Hill, New York.
Greasley, A 2008 Operations management. 1st ed. SAGE Publications, Los Angeles.
Gaither, N & Frazier, G. 2002 Operations management. 1st ed. Thomson Learning, Texas.
Heizer, J & Render, B 2009 Operations management, 9th ed., Pearson, Upper Saddle River.
Kumar, S & Suresh, N 2009 Operations management., 1st ed., New Age International, New Delhi.
Mahadevan, B 2010 Operations management, 2nd ed., Pearson, Upper Saddle River.
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