Marketing Strategic
Marketing Strategy
Making Waves Foundation (10 pages)
https:
makingwavesfoundation.com.au
Expected plan: Strategic plan on how to sell tickets to increase the foundation’s funding
through annual Yacht Race?
Cu
ent challenges: disconnection between the foundation and target audience
: very niche target market; aiming at educational market only
: lack of
and awareness
: lack of sustainable sponsorships and fundings
: over reliance on grants and public donations
: lack of marketing budget
: lack of customer engagements; marketing program doesn’t communicate
or relay the message the foundation would like to direct the audience.
Reasonable goals: increase sponsors/ key partners
: need strong communication tools in order to receive grants and donations
: how to make what the foundation offers to fit with the market?
: appeal to the public that disability can manage like others.
Analyse an Organisation's Background
Before analyzing the focal organization’s marketing problems, it is important that
you look into its background and history.
The organization background includes:
1. The nature of business (in our case, the organization is a NGO), its mission and
purpose
2. Key services/programs provided
3. Targeted market segments/customer groups to be served
4. Major competitors (i.e., Are there other NGOs offering similar services)
5. Relationships with donors, funding agencies, and other organizational partners
6. Members/program participants growth/loss over time
7. A concise SWOT analysis with a proper conclusion (i.e., what insights can
managers gain from?)
Analyse Key Marketing Problems
Next, on the basis of your research, you should identify the cu
ent or potential
challenges/problems of the focal NGO. Also, it is important to distinguish between
symptoms and causes of the problems. You should not just report the symptoms,
instead you should dig deep to find out the underlying causes of such symptoms.
Students should use research findings to justify the existence of the identified
problems. You may also use frameworks and theories learned in this subject
to analyse the focal NGO’s problems.
Focus on 1 to 2 core problems that pose imminent threats to the NGO. The problems
must be closely related to marketing strategies and activities.
1. NGO X has lost members over time, faces difficulty attracting new
members and service program has failed to draw attention.
2. NGO X’s social media strategies did not receive positive response from the
target audience and digital marketing effort did not increase the target
audience's awareness and lack of
and awareness.
Often, the causes are driven by internal factors, external factors, or a mismatch
etween strategy and the business environment. Finding answers to the following
questions will help you identify the core problems.
ď‚· XXXXXXXXXXWhat are the objectives of the NGO's social services? Are they clearly stated?
Are they consistent with the objectives of the organization?
ď‚· XXXXXXXXXXAre the NGO's marketing strategies/programs well planned and laid out? Are the
marketing strategies consistent with sound management principles?
ď‚· XXXXXXXXXXTo what target audience are the marketing activities directed? Is it well defined?
Is the market large enough to justify the marketing efforts?
ď‚· XXXXXXXXXXWhat services are being offered by the NGO? What is the width, depth, and
consistency of the organisation’s portfolio of services? Does the NGO need new
services to complement its existing offering?
ď‚· XXXXXXXXXXWhat promotion mix is being used? Are the promotion activities consistent with
the organisation's image? What could be done to improve the promotion mix?
ď‚· XXXXXXXXXXAre the managers capable to translate marketing strategies into sound action
plans? Do managers undertake systematic marketing planning?
ď‚· XXXXXXXXXXWhat unique advantage do the NGO's services offer to users (customers)? If
none, what can be done to gain an competitive advantage in the (non-profit)
market space?
Provide Managerial Recommendations and Action Plans
Student teams should offer thorough and sound recommendations to the NGO to
tackle its core marketing problems. These recommendations should:
ď‚· XXXXXXXXXXBe feasible and effective in dealing with the core problems.
ď‚· XXXXXXXXXXTake into considerations the financial and human resource constraints of
the NGO.
ď‚· XXXXXXXXXXNot just focus on marketing strategies and tactics as solutions; the solutions
could be related to management practices, long-term strategic plan and inter-
organisational partnerships, depending on the nature of the problem.
Student teams should consider offering 2 alternative
solutions
ecommendations and evaluate the pros and cons of each solution.
Subsequently, students should select the best option that can effectively address the
selected company’s core problem.
After choosing the best solution, student teams should develop an action plan that
lays out the key actions that the focal NGO should take to implement the solution.
These actions may involve mobilisation of resources across departments, therefore,
the action plans should not just be confined to the marketing unit. In addition,
students should spell out the key criteria used to measure whether these actions
are progressing toward the desirable results.
More Suggestions for Recommendations and Action Plans
This is where the “Expected plan” mentioned above comes in.
Your set of recommendations and action plans should address the core problems
you identified and analyzed. State how your recommendations will solve the
problems you identified. If the recommendations come as a surprise or do not follow
logically from the analysis, the effect is to weaken greatly your suggestions of what
to do.
Obviously, your recommendations for actions should offer a reasonable prospect of
success. Be sure the NGO is financially capable to ca
y out what you recommend;
also check to see if your recommendations are workable in terms of acceptance by
the persons involved, the organization’s competence to implement them, and
prevailing market and environmental constraints.
By all means state your recommendations in sufficient detail to be meaningful - get
down to some definite nitty-gritty specifics. Avoid such unhelpful statements as “the
organization should do more planning” or “the NGO should be more aggressive in
marketing its services.” Offer a definite agenda for action, stipulating a timetable and
sequence for initiating actions, indicating priorities, and suggesting who should be
esponsible for doing what.
In proposing an action plan, remember there is a great deal of difference between,
on the one hand, being responsible for a decision that may be costly for the NGO if it
proves in e
or and, on the other hand, casually suggesting courses of action when
you do not have to bear the responsibility for any of the consequences.