Marketing Strategy
EcoShelves' Communication Plan
Overview and communication goals
Since our company and its products are new to consumers, our communication plan was created in the aim of developing product awareness in the target demographic as well as launching the sales of the company. We want to make our consumers as satisfied with our products as possible: we want them to have a great experience while in our shops, and afterword’s, while eating our fruits and vegetables.
Our communication strategy is a three step process. First, our message should be clear and delivered in a way where our targeted consumer could see and notice it. Then, our message should be understood by our consumers and, finally, the strategy should deliver consequences such as making our consumer feel certain emotions that could influence his/her behavior.
Finally, as it was described in our “Technology and food: a problem of perception” section ( ) of this marketing plan, people that where interviewed during the survey showed skepticism towards the fact that our fruits and vegetables are produces through the uses of technology. Our communication plan will help us address this problem: although the message we communicate will not be about this subject, our communication tools will help us clarify the situation regarding our production methods.
EcoShelves communication objectives are the following:
- Attract our first customers to the shop and encourage them to either try or buy our products
- Satisfy customers enough to make them come back to the shop
- Create a close bond between the consumer and the brand
- Increase traffic on our website, increase our number of followers on social medias and create an
email list of loyal customers
- Decrease the fear people usually have regarding the uses of technology in food production
All these objectives will be either directly measurable (such as the number of visitors on our website) or measurable through a survey the company will conduct a few months after its launch.
EcoShelves’ communication: a very clear message for a targeted audience
Throughout the communication plan, the company focuses on two different aspects: the segment of the market the company is communicating its message to and the actual message the company is willing to communicate to this targeted audience.
EcoShelves has concentrated its communication efforts on two types of segments. First, the geographical segment: our company is targeting the one of Watermael Boitsfort, our communication efforts are thus aimed primarily at local inhabitants of the municipality. Then, our company has decided to target the segments that attach importance to the health benefits and the eco-friendliness of our products. Since our targeted market is rather local and it is quite hard to target either one segment or the other regarding the reason of why people would buy our products, the company has decided to target both segments at the same time with a message that would appeal to both types of people. Our message will thus be that EcoShelves’ fruits and vegetables are healthier for you and healthier for our environment.
E EcoShelves’ fruits and vegetables are healthier for you and healthier for our environment.
Promotional tools
Types of media and templates
With the uses of advertising techniques, there is no direct contact between EcoShelves and its targeted consumers, different medias are thus used to transmit the company’s message. Advertising is used by EcoShelves in order to raise awareness and to familiarize the targeted consumers with the company. Two techniques are used to advertise our products and our company has selected the ones that had the lowest costs for the greatest potential to reach our target consumers.
The two medias we have chosen are the “1170 communal journal” and the distribution of flyers in the mailboxes of the people of Watermael-Boitsfort. These two medias will help us carry our message across, as it is explained above. But our message can be told with much more than just words: recurring themes throughout our advertising campaign also allow us to show costumers who the company is and what is does.
In the choice of colors, the company has opted in popping colors, and primarily green to symbolize the eco-friendly aspect of our products. Regarding backgrounds, the company has opted for high definition fruits and vegetables to make people crave the food but also to give the idea of freshness. Also, colors such as brown are avoided to distance ourselves from symbols such as dirt, to avoid being seen as a company that would like to go back to nature to produce its food.
Then, the texts written on the advertisement will mostly be informative and will tell the costumers some practicalities such as where to find our shops or where to get more information, as well as the benefits of our products compared to others and why they should come try them out. And finally, a QR code and the Facebook and Twitter logo will help people find us more easily online.
First media: The “1170 communal journal”
The “1170” journal is created five times a year in order to both keep the people of Watermael-Boitsfort informed about the events, political and urban decisions that are going to take place in the municipality but also to promote businesses that are located in the municipality.
This journal is printed in about 13.100 copies and is both distributed to mail boxes and to strategic locations such as the communal house, the library and other shops.
As our target market is the inhabitants of Watermael-Boitsfort, EcoShelves finds that transmitting its message through this journal is both strategic, because it will reach a lot of consumers that constitute our target market and cost effective.
Also, regarding the type of advertising that would be used, this medium allows the company to really get a clear short message across the potential costumer and also to explain in more details what our company is about and to promote the health benefits as well as the environmental benefits of our products.
The costs for such an ad are listed here-by and there is a 15% discount for all annual contracts. The company has chosen an annual contract and to set its ad on a whole page, bringing the costs to 646 euros per issue and 3230 euros per year.
Finally, the type of paper used to create these magazines is 100% recycled, which is in line with EcoShelves’ intention of staying an eco-friendly firm.
Advertizing for the “1170 communal journal"
Second media: Flyers distribution
Another way EcoShelves is going to announce its arrival in the municipality is by distributing flyers into people’s mailboxes throughout the municipality. This technique is more costly than the previous one but has the advantage of touching potential consumers directly and being more personal.
The same message as the one for the as in the “1170” journal would be used and would let people know that a new shop opened near their house.
The cost of printing 1300 flyers for every house in Watermael Boitsfort would amount to about 700 euros and the cost of distribution to 4000 euros.
Flyers for the flyer distribution
EcoShelves’ urban salad picnic
EcoShelves has taken the initiative to organize a late opening event: its giant salad picnic. This urban picnic would take place in front of the shop and gather all families and friends of Watermael-Boitsfort around healthy and delicious food produced in EcoShelves’ building.
The first goal of this event is to create a closer bond between the consumer and the brand by immersing them in a fun and memorable experience. Because the advertising techniques described above consist of non-personal communication between EcoShelves and its target audience, we find it important that consumers should get to know directly who is behind the projects. This is why the four founders that created and set up the company will all be at the picnic event. This will allow curious costumers to ask the questions on their minds and this will also put a face on the company and help it have a more “personal appearance”.
Also, this event will allow new consumers to try our food for free, and to taste for themselves what our fresh products have to offer. In order to really show the potential of our food, we will create a salad buffet and offer the best salad recipes of fruit and vegetables.
In order to invite the people living in Watermael-Boitsfort to this event, our company will distribute small flyers in all the mailboxes of people living the municipality with all the practical information regarding the event. The company will also inform people of the event and potential news regarding the event with the use of its website and social media.
The event will take place in May 2016 to insure that the weather is hot enough to be able to eat outside. Further technical details about the location, the exact date, the program, etc. will be communicated later on.
This event will be quite costly for the company because the entrance to the event, as well as the food will be free for consumers. We have set our budget at 10 000 euros for the total costs of the event. On the other hand, this event could greatly impact the company’s sales and would pay itself off in the long run.
Comparaison table
Other communication tools
In order to create a strong and long-lasting bond between EcoShelves and its interest groups, the company will use PR methods to communicate, such as annual reports, to keep its costumers informed about the evolution of the company. The communication tools described below play thus a different roll in the relationship between the company and its clients and all have the advantage of being free.
News releases
News releases and general feature stories will be written by members of the company for local publications before or after events and for general awareness about EcoShelves.
Our website and social media
Our website will help us communicate basic elements of the company and of its products, but also events and changes in the company. Our website will also allow us to communicate more profound and complex information over our production methods. For example, we plan on making educational videos that would describe our process from A to Z, to show people that our products are all natural. Also, our website will show other projects that have already been done in the sector of vertical farming to help people learn about the uses of these technologies around the world. Our company does want to promote this “new” technology as best as it can in general.
The company will also use Facebook and Twitter to communicate directly, on a day to day basis with its costumers that have accounts on these sites. These social media will thus mostly be used to keep people up to date with what is happening with the company.
Email list and annual reports
To keep our loyal customers updated about any important information on the company, EcoShelves will use an email list of clients. These clients will be alerted of any changes or important events linked to the company and will also receive the company’s annual report, in which they will find any information on the company’s year.
In-stores communication
In order to encourage people to buy our products and to take away the fear some have about the uses of technology and food production, EcoShelves wants to present a new initiative. We want to inform our customers of every little detail there is to know about the fruits and vegetables they buy.
When was it planted? How much water and energy did it need to be able to grow? When was it picked? All these questions that someone could ask would be answered with the uses of chalkboard posters and labels that would contain all these information.
The store would thus have big chalkboard posters on its interior walls that would contain the information that changes only a few times a year, such as the energy levels of production for example, that only varies according to seasons. By doing so, the “decoration” in the store can be as beautiful as informative for costumers.
Also, for the information that varies a lot, such as the time at which the fruit or vegetable was picked, the company plans on using chalkboard labels on the containers of the fruits or vegetables and the values on the labels would be changed every day.
This initiative is low cost because the equipment is quite inexpensive, and is also eco-friendly because the chalkboard can be used again and again. Finally, by using this method, the company will be able to communicate the advantages of its products in a manner that is both comprehensible and fun.
