Vision and Opportunity
Goals, Purpose, and Mission
After leaving the university, I’d like to create a business project that would be sustainable, correspond to the demand on the market, and, most importantly, coincide with my philosophy of not bothering anyone unless it is necessary. While many business models of our time are built around the aggressive strategies, I believe the time is ripe to build a business around the audience which appreciates unintrusiveness. Thus, I’d like to create a franchise the purpose of which is to emphasize the values of privacy and individuality of its customers, and aims at providing serenity and joy.
Differences from Broader Populace
A good example would be a network of cafes (working title – QuietCafe), that would value the customer’s privacy and the desire to distance themselves from the stress of everyday life. This will require novel approaches as such a project would be hard to lift off. Besides, I have experienced failures with unusual ideas in the past, so I’ll need more than a little audacity to start it.
The 3 Keys Questions
The three questions that will determine my approach are: What do people currently want to change? Which of these changes is not yet implemented? Are such changes financially sustainable when presented as a service?
Market Positioning Statement
For the consumers who frequently visit cafes, the QuietCafe is the establishment that provides the much-needed experience of stress relief when it comes to service and customer care. Unlike traditional cafes, the QuietCafe franchise will offer the experience of an uninterrupted and relaxing experience that is so valued in contemporary society.
Marketing and Implementation Strategy
The current state of the market denotes the colossal demand in various activities that target stress and aim at relieving it by different forms of psychotherapy, like couching and beauty parlors (Meyer par. 1). Most of the alternative medical practices also proliferate from it (Hyland 361). However, while providing real help, they make dubious claims, which often put them into the category of deceptive marketing, which is unethical.
Ethical Principles
QuietCafe brand, on the other hand, will be clear in its marketing campaign about the soothing nature of the atmosphere, which provides the relaxing effect, thus differentiating both from the HoReCa segment and the specialized facilities available around the world.
Key Milestones
As this is a novel concept, it cannot be judged using the traditional milestones. At the very least, the revenue curve should be accordingly adjusted to account for the dynamics of the new and unusual service on the market. The ultimate success will be achieved when the concept will be recognized as important without the reliance on marketing.
Risks and Mitigation
The most obvious risk connected to the proposed strategy is the lack of public interest. The two main reasons for this is the presence of similar establishments on the market and the presence of a novel service model that may alienate the customers.
Contingency and Risk Mitigation Strategies
Thus, strategies will include the appropriate marketing campaign, the stress on the unique character of the service, and the radical redesigns in case the initial stage will prove a financial disaster. The ad campaign must avoid the cliches of the commercials of similar industries, like, and instead present a fresh and appealing approach.
The Choice of Mentors
I can not say I know in detail how such a campaign can be structured, so I name Steve Jobs as one of the mentors I’d like to have for this project. While I understand he did not create all the lore surrounding his products, he certainly was a marketing genius, which essentially managed to sell a brand without ever crossing the ethical boundaries (Alef 211). Another mentor I’d like to name, perhaps much less evident, would be Ferdinand Waldo Demara.
While media usually focuses on crediting his incredible impersonating skills, his much more important underlying implications remain unmentioned. I’m talking about his understanding of the niches that demand to be filled (Crichton 102). He essentially provided supply where the society exhibited the most demand and did it in the most inventive ways. For a project such as mine, such a trait would be truly invaluable.
Six-Word Memoir
The six words to sum such PBP would be “We welcome those not in a hurry.”
Works Cited
Alef, Daniel. Sold! How America’s Greatest Sales and Marketing Titans Pulled it Off, Santa Barbara, California: Titans of Fortune Publishing, 2011. Print.
Crichton, Robert. The Great Imposter: The Amazing Careers of Ferdinand Waldo Demara, New York: Random House, 1959. Print.
Hyland, Maurice. “A Tale of Two Therapies: Psychotherapy and Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) and the Human Effect.” Clinical Medicine 5.4 (2005): 361-367. Print.
Meyer, Seth. The Psychology of Hair Salons & Stylists: Therapy for Free. 2012. Web.