BUSI 603 Week 5 Group Discussion Board Forum 5 Example

Group Discussion Board Forum 5: The Marketing Plan

BUSI 603 Entrepreneurship, Group Discussion Board Forum 5 (thread and 2 replies)

Thread by [Student Name]

The venture, its prices and budget, and the classmates' plans are composites written for this sample, and the assigned topic stands in for the course's own; the research cited is real, and the requirements follow Liberty's public course guide for BUSI 603.

Thread

Steward Ledger Services will position itself as the church specialist: a bookkeeper who understands designated funds, clergy housing allowances and giving statements, at a price below a general CPA firm. The plan's marketing choices follow from that position and from a tight budget. Morris et al. (2002) describe entrepreneurial marketing as proactive, opportunity-focused marketing that relies on innovation, managed risk and creative use of scarce resources rather than large budgets, and that description fits a one-person firm selling to churches.

Service and price come in three tiers. Essentials, at $325 a month, covers bookkeeping and monthly reports for churches with no paid staff. Standard, at $425, adds payroll for up to two employees and annual giving statements. Plus, at $550, adds payroll for up to five employees, a quarterly meeting with the finance committee and budget preparation. Pricing is anchored against the realistic alternatives a treasurer will compare: a local CPA firm, which may charge two to three times as much, and the volunteer, who costs nothing but leaves the church exposed.

Promotion relies on trust. Using daily data from an online social network, Trusov et al. (2009) estimated that an invitation from an existing member moved new registrations far more, and kept moving them for weeks longer, than the firm's events or press mentions did. In a German bank's records, Schmitt et al. (2011) saw that people who joined on a friend's referral brought in more margin per year and defected less often than customers won by other means, so each was worth more over time. For a service that handles a church's money, a recommendation from another treasurer is worth more than any advertisement. The plan therefore uses three channels. First, a free two-hour workshop for volunteer treasurers, held quarterly at host churches, on payroll filings and internal controls. Second, a referral credit of one month's fee for any client whose recommendation leads to a signed engagement. Third, short presentations at regional denominational association meetings, arranged through the advisory board's retired pastor.

The first-year budget totals $6,800: $2,400 for workshop materials and refreshments, $1,500 for a simple website and secure client portal setup, $1,700 in expected referral credits and $1,200 for travel and association fees. With a target of 12 clients by the end of year one, the budget implies an acquisition cost of about $570 per client, roughly 1.3 months of revenue at the Standard tier. Each workshop's attendance, follow-up meetings and signed clients will be tracked to show which channel works.

Reply to Jasmine

Jasmine, I like that your marketing plan uses Instagram and a text-message list to tell crews where the trailer will be each morning, because that solves a real problem for customers. My question is about what you post beyond location updates. Kumar et al. (2016), studying a specialty retailer, found that content a firm posted on its own social media pages was associated with increased customer spending and cross-buying, especially when customers were more connected to social media and when the content's tone was positive. That suggests your posts can do more than announce your schedule; they can build habits.

Berger and Milkman (2012) tracked months of newspaper stories and the readers who forwarded them, and the stories people passed along most were the ones that stirred them up, with awe, amusement or even anger, while stories that left readers subdued or sad traveled less. For a construction-site coffee trailer, that could mean posts featuring the crews themselves, a weekly shout-out to the team that poured the most concrete, or humor about 5 a.m. starts, rather than product photos alone. Crews who see themselves featured are likely to share the post with coworkers on other sites, which extends your reach without paid ads.

I would recommend setting a measurable goal, such as the share of weekly sales from customers who joined the text list, and comparing two kinds of posts for a month to see which brings more customers. Which crew do you think would enjoy being featured first? A post about them during your opening week could introduce the trailer to the rest of the site faster than any flyer.

Reply to Caleb

Caleb, your pricing section is detailed, but I think it may work against you in two ways. First, you set the subscription at $8 a meal to undercut fast food. Rao and Monroe (1989), integrating studies of how price affects perceived quality, found a positive relationship between price and perceived quality, which means buyers often read a low price as a sign of lower quality when they lack other information. Athletes and their coaches care about nutrition and performance, so a price far below a meal-prep competitor may suggest cheaper ingredients. Pricing closer to the competitor while emphasizing the dietitian's review might sell better.

Second, your plan offers nine subscription options combining meals per week and sport-specific menus. In a grocery tasting booth and two follow-up experiments, Iyengar and Lepper (2000) observed that a large assortment drew interest but discouraged buying, and that people choosing from many options felt less content with what they picked than people choosing from a handful. Nine options may leave athletes unsure which to pick and delay sign-ups.

I would recommend three plans, perhaps 10, 14 and 21 meals a week, with the sport-specific menu handled as a simple preference on the order form. You could test both changes with the pilot team by offering half the athletes the current price and half a higher one. Would your pilot team's coach be willing to let you run that kind of test? Even a few weeks of data on which plan athletes choose, and whether the higher price slows sign-ups, would give your financial plan a far firmer base than the survey.

References

Berger, J., & Milkman, K. L. (2012). What makes online content viral? Journal of Marketing Research, 49(2), 192-205. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmr.10.0353

Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (2000). When choice is demotivating: Can one desire too much of a good thing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6), 995-1006. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.79.6.995

Kumar, A., Bezawada, R., Rishika, R., Janakiraman, R., & Kannan, P. K. (2016). From social to sale: The effects of firm-generated content in social media on customer behavior. Journal of Marketing, 80(1), 7-25. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.14.0249

Morris, M. H., Schindehutte, M., & LaForge, R. W. (2002). Entrepreneurial marketing: A construct for integrating emerging entrepreneurship and marketing perspectives. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 10(4), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/10696679.2002.11501922

Rao, A. R., & Monroe, K. B. (1989). The effect of price, brand name, and store name on buyers' perceptions of product quality: An integrative review. Journal of Marketing Research, 26(3), 351-357. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378902600309

Schmitt, P., Skiera, B., & Van den Bulte, C. (2011). Referral programs and customer value. Journal of Marketing, 75(1), 46-59. https://doi.org/10.1509/jm.75.1.46

Trusov, M., Bucklin, R. E., & Pauwels, K. (2009). Effects of word-of-mouth versus traditional marketing: Findings from an internet social networking site. Journal of Marketing, 73(5), 90-102. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.73.5.90