OUTLINE

Marketing Strategy Overview Introduction Relating Target market to strategy

Industry Background

Exploding marketing Target market expanding Sales Forecasts & Trends

Marketing Strategies

Membership points Educating the consumer Recipe contest Bag Stuffers Autism speaks Flyers Slice of life campaign Social Media Marketing

o Web 2.0o Social Media

Long Term – Partnering with Celebrity/Spokesperson to represent the brando Novak Djokovico Toni Braxton

Long Term – Ramp up production and cater to events, and eventually supermarkets

Marketing Concepts

Consumer decision making concept Marketing Mix Sales Forecasting

Closing thoughts

Introduction

Will be completed last.

Industry background - DONE

Apart from those individuals who suffer from Celiac disease, there also appears to be a growing number of people who have gluten sensitivities and intolerances . In fact, there is evidence that supports a link between gluten sensitivities and individuals with autism which would also be at risk for this disease. Moreover, there is also a growing emphasis on the connection between gluten sensitivities and diabetes. Lastly, gluten free diets are not only supported by the aforementioned groups, but there is also a large group of individuals that choose healthier gluten free diets to enhance the quality of their nutrition in their everyday lives.

In fact, the gluten free movement has been making significant strides in both production, retail and consumer packaged goods markets. In fact, the first giant marketer to create a gluten free product was Anheuser-Bush, which debuted a gluten-free beer called Redridge in 2006. Product quality for gluten free foods has significantly improved, as more products are making their way into mainstream supermarkets. According to Packged Facts, a Rockville, MD based research firm, by 2016, sales of these products will total more than US$5BLN. It literally surpasses much more than those with celiac disease or gluten sensitivities. There are many more people who are choosing a gluten-free diet for the perceived health benefits.

In the last 5 years, market has changed dramatically in terms of availability and quality of gluten-free products. When comparing products with and without gluten, the biggest difference can be texture which impacts a consumers eating experience. Shelf life is another issue, with gluten free breads generally sold out of the freezer due to a shorter expiration date. One issue companies typically run into is production challenges, when marketing strategies are adjusted by going from small to large production capacities because of challenges found in maintaining quality. Other issues with gluten substitutes are found when companies are determining the appropriate ingredient interaction. To compound the issue, it can still be difficult finding a reliable supply of gluten-free ingredients that are certified and deliver on taste and quality while still being affordable. Finally, companies are also plagued with the shelf life of gluten free products because of their short duration and is why there is a large amount of frozen products found in the industry.

The retail market for gluten free foods and beverage is exploding as a result of multiple triggers. For example, on the marketer side, General Mills has converted its venerable Chex Brand to gluten-free status, thus beginning what promises to be a battle of giants as other mega-marketers look to enter the fray. After Anheuser-bush launched its gluten-free beer in 2006, international spice giant McCormick and Co.

acquired Simply Asia Foods. As a result, numerous specialty marketers have sprung up, using web 2.0 networking to sell directly in what has long been a consumer driven market.

On the consumer side, demand has been growing exponentially as individuals suffering from a wide variety of maladies (including celiac disease, autism, attention deficit disorder, irritated bowl syndrome, and MS) have come to believe a gluten-free diet will provide relief. As mentioned before, the consumer core of celiac disease, and gluten allergy sufferers is also growing steadily as diagnosis and treatment of these conditions has improved and increased. On the same token, retailers are holding up their side as well. Supermarkets are carrying a wide variety of gluten free products with gluten-free marketing ranges from gluten-free product lists on their websites, to gluten-free private label reformulations, to gluten-free store sections. Even the federal government is lending a hand as it finalizes regulatory criteria for gluten free labeling. This new regulatory clarity should prove a major catalyst to marketers currently struggling through a medley of self-help organizations for certification. Finally, the gluten free industry has shown signs of resilience as even the current global economic slowdown cannot be seen as a negative factor for the overall gluten-free foods and beverages market, as hard-pressed consumers continue to be motivated to try dietary self-help items when mainstream medical assistance grows out of reach.

Marketing Strategies (need to elaborate)

Membership points Educating the consumer Recipe contest Bag Stuffers Autism speaks Flyers Slice of life campaign Social Media Marketing

o Web 2.0o Social Media

Long Term – Partnering with Celebrity/Spokesperson to represent the brando Novak Djokovico Toni Braxton

Long Term – Ramp up production and cater to events, and eventually supermarkets

Marketing concepts (these will be adapted to our specific business model)

The management group at Sweet Joy bakery strongly believe in implementing a structured and focused marketing plan, based on fundamental marketing concepts used in similar industries and business models in the recent past. These include understanding and identifying the specific niche of customers that our business will cater to, and focus our marketing campaign to target these specific customers. From a strictly marketing concepts perspective, the following concepts will be highlighted in order to achieve optimal marketing results: The consumer decision making process, marketing mix, and sales forecasting.

In order to launch a successful marketing campaign, it is very important to be able to understand and respond to our consumer’s needs. Thus, we will focus on the consumer decision making process concept as it provides the marketer with a useful framework for determining the consumer’s interest in a problem situation. In order to determine such interest, there are four steps that need to be identified in order to implement this concept. These are problem recognition, information research, product choice, and the post purchase process. When evaluating the problem recognition, we have realized the growing need of individuals particularly with celiac disease that suffer from gluten sensitivities. As previously mentioned, there are other individuals that suffer from gluten sensitivities such as diabetics, autism spectrum disorder, and others. This led our management team to realize the potential in catering gluten free bakery goods to these particular individuals. Through vast industry research and analysis, we have found that not only is there a group of individuals that demand gluten sensitive products, but there is an ever present wave of consumers that prefer a healthier choice in gluten free products. Therefore, we believe by educating and launching a successful marketing campaign, Sweet Joy Bakery will be able to cater to these specific individuals an provide a valuable and healthy options. Finally, the post purchase experience is another critical component of this concept where our customers need to achieve complete satisfaction regarding their purchase and consumption in order to express their experiences to other peers and return to our store in the future.

We believe the consumer decision making process is influenced by both internal and external variables. The internal valuables include people’s attitudes, believes and values while the external variables include culture, social class and family of the decision maker. By taking these variables into considering when planning the marketing campaign, this will help our team focus on a particular niche which will achieve a higher level of success. In order to achieve the desired results, we will focus on target market selection, market segmentation, as well as product, positioning, pricing, and promotion which are termed the 4 P’s of marketing or marketing mix.

The marketing mix is a program of combining several marketing ingredients which are designed for a particular product or service in response to the marketing forces that bear on it. It is made up of controllable and uncontrollable variables which include Product, Price, Promotion, and Place (4p’s) for the controllable variables, and consumer needs, government regulations, and environment for the uncontrollable variables. With regard to the controllable variables, we have determined that Sweet Joy Bakery will provide our customers with gluten free bakery products we described earlier in section (NAME SECTION HERE). As far as pricing is concerned, we have taken into consideration the characteristics of the typical demand curve including price elasticity. Also, we have considered insights into consumer sensitivity to price by determining the importance of the decision to the consumer (mentioned previously), as well as the consumers perception of the substitutability of competitive products, and importance of price in the consumer’s choice criteria. Therefore, our prices (EXPAND HERE). Promotion is a critical component of our marketing program as it is guided by understanding information what consumers seek in order to evaluate and purchase the product and also by an understanding of the level of importance. We have focused our promotional activities to a few marketing programs that will be discussed in detail in the following section. Lastly, we will focus on product positioning which includes finding and exploiting a competitive advantage that is meaningful to consumers in the target market we have chosen and will set our products apart from competition.

Sales forecasting – process of determining current and future sales for a product or class. For marketing decision making, the key end product of the process is a sales forecast for an individual brand.

1. national economic forecast. - Need to rely on economic forecast made by economic services, universities, or governmental units. If related to other factors, such as health, needs to be projected.

2. brand sales forecast – level of detail depends on problem. Total brand sales can be broken down by geographic areas, by various time units (quarter or month) and by target market if there is more than one.

3. business sales forecast – an strategic business unit (sbu) may be needed by forecasting sales of individual brands in the sbu and combining them to form a forecast for the total business.

Methods of forecasting = 1. Causal method – uses historical data to establish the relationship between product class sales and other factors that are thought to govern product class sales. Factors such as population growth, age group growth, level of disposable income, sales level of some related product such as autos, home steroes. 2. Judgmenetal methods – do not rely on historical data. Instead, seek

qualitative information from persons beleieved to have insight into the future of a market. These attempt to bring objectivity and order to the collection of judgmental data. No on method is best, it depends on the situation.

Conclusion

We are trying to create a great tasting product that is softer and less dense.

The challenge now is educating consumers about what gluten free is, its benefits, and quality of life.Biliography - DONE

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