A marketing plan gives an overview of an organization and depth analysis of its marketing strategy the marketing plan highlights the major aspects of an organization that is related to marketing. In this paper, we will develop a marketing plan for Williams Engineering Company.
The business Mission
The mission of the organization is to enhance the turnover of the organization and to increase the sales of the organization in such a way that the employees and the other stakeholders are satisfied with the organization. However, emphasis is laid on the technological advancement of the organization.
Introduction
The WES (Williams Engineering Services) is a small organization that provides different services which are related to subcontracting metalwork and engineering works. These works would include different categories like grinding, fabricating, profile cutting, and flame cutting. This organization also engages itself in trolleys and they undertake broken contract fabrication of a different range of trolleys. It is an outwork arrangement that was developed some ten years ago with the collaboration of a trolley manufacturer. This organization is quite committed in its approach and they have a wide range of experience in providing consulting services to both the subcontractors from the government and the private industry. A competitive pricing approach is followed by this organization and for both the short term and the long term project organization’s policy as far as quality is concerned remains the same.
The external marketing audit
The following aspects can be regarded as the external marketing audit of the organization and certain features of this audit are given below:
Facts and Figures
The monthly turnover of the organization in 2005 was £60,000 and they had a total of 22 employees. However, the organization suffered a lot because of the yearend financial crisis that was caused due to the decline in the car assembly in Coventry. However, in the long run, this organization was also affected by the global recession and stiff competition from the global market. However, the current scenario of the organization has changed drastically and the organization has a total of thirteen employees, and the entire turnover of the organization has fallen to £38,000 per month. This turnover is considered as one of the biggest problems for this organization (Jobber and Fahy).
Promotional Activity
This organization focuses on different promotional campaigns and it inculcates itself in different promotional campaigns. Different approaches are used by this organization and the ultimate objective of the organization is to retain and attract more and more customers in both the short and the long run. These activities that are used by William Corporation are direct marketing, Trade Advertising, PR Activity, Customer Entertainment, Sales Promotion.
Because the services of this organization are based on engineering works that are the reason why the organization focuses on direct marketing campaigns. Similarly, emphasis is laid on marketing through industrial channels. The expenses on direct marketing were increased in the organization and it ranges to £44(thousand) in the year 2007. Since the customers of this organization are other organizations and emphasis is laid on B2B marketing that is the reason why the organization spends less on customer entertainment. Similarly, trade channels are strengthened by the organization by actually focusing more on trade advertising, and different trade marketing approaches are used by the organization (Jobber and Fahy).
Strategic Factors and marketing
One of the senior managers of the organization is very much concerned about the strategic measures that are taken by the organization and he is stressing the fact that different strategic factors are open to an organization. Some certain new markets or hotspots are untapped and these fields and markets can easily be catered by Williams Corporation. The organization has to change its positioning strategy and for this reason, they have to their brand image by removing the conventional “metal-bashing” name with them. A proper brand name must be created by the organization and this organization must commercialize the brand name. Through this strategy, the organization can easily control its destiny. The brand name of the organization must be commercialized and the branded products must be supplied to the open market.
Similarly, a strategic measure through marketing the products through an e-commerce website must be taken by the organization. This website is designed by the company and products like metal garden furniture, metal drives, etc are marketed through this website. A proper database is maintained by the organization and it possesses the names of 500,000 people and their home and email addresses (Jobber and Fahy). Through this database, the customers can be contacted through different telemarketing campaigns and this can easily enhance the sales of the organization. Similarly, another viable strategy can be opted by the organization and they can distribute the pamphlets and promotion letters through a small mail catalog in the weekend press.
Competition
The organization faces stiff competition from local and international companies and researchers and strategists believe that the core competitors of the Williams Engineering Corporation are big DIY warehouses that are interested in selling products in the main and some of the organizations are selling it. This strategy is negatively affecting the sales of the organization and this competition is affecting William Engineering Corporation in the contracts of metal bashing. The pricing strategy of WES can be treated as the major advantage over its competitors. There are certain other competitors of the organization and these competitors don’t affect the sales of WES (Jobber and Fahy). The pricing strategy of the organization gives an advantage in both the short and the long run. However, the core issue is whether the market is ready to accept this price or not. Another issue that is associated with this brand is that the products of this organization are seasonal and the element of metal bashing works in winter/autumn.
Conclusion
The entire analysis of the organization depicts that WES is a small organization that focuses on engineering and metal-oriented works. The organization started quite well in the initial stages and this organization was progressing but after certain years due to several reasons, the sales of the organization declined a lot. WES initiated in 2005 and the sales figures at that time were 720 (thousand). This figure due to economic recession and certain other factors were disrupted and the sales in the year 2006 were fallen to 399. However, the organization improved a bit in the year 2007 but still, they were incurring net losses. The sales at that time were 464. However, the organization every year was jolted by net losses. That is the reason why they need a proactive marketing strategy that can change the fate of this organization. In a similar manner emphasis must be laid on trade marketing and direct advertising campaigns. The organization must focus on its channel members and effective and efficient strategies must be developed for the channel members.
Works Cited
Jobber, D. and J. Fahy. Foundations of Marketing. Berkshire: Mc Graw Hill, 2003.