Free Custom «Successful Business Plan» Essay Paper

A wedding is more often than not a once in a life time event thus all the people concerned directly always want the ceremony to be memorable for the couple. The preparations are supposed to take care of the costs and events that take place on the wedding day. Other details would include the food to be served, the all important cake and the number of people to be invited to the ceremony. There is need to have professional planners take care of all the needs of the big day because it is a day that cannot be replicated. There are many smaller things that can be overlooked and may lead to the total meltdown of the important day. People do not know where to go to look for good deals that can assist them to cut costs while at the same time maintain the quality of all the products (Pinson, 2007). An events planner has all the right connections and can be used to source for deals and offer the best services in the market. The wedding preparations include a lot of details that a bride and groom may not have the time to look through. An events planner will have the resources and ample time to get exactly what the couple needs to make their dream day a reality. The bride and groom do not need to keep rushing up and down following up on their suppliers since the stress and the anxiety of the big day is already enough to wear them down. A professional wedding planner can take the stress away and allow the couple to have a successful ceremony in peace and enjoy their big day.

Project Background

Events’ planning is a lucrative business since it has a very wide range of products that can be availed to the customers (Berkery, 2008). People hold parties every other day like birthdays, weddings, family get together parties and others, which require the input of events organization. They have sought the services of a professional wedding events planner to assist on making the plans of their big day. Wedding planners are available to assist brides and grooms to plan for their wedding day. The fact that more people are busy and have no time to even socialize makes it important to have professional people who can assist in organizing events like weddings for these busy people.

Marketing Objectives

            The objectives of having wedding planning business include;

• Increase product awareness in the target segment by 20% within the year.
• Create awareness on the benefits of using my services and attract 25% more business within the year.
• Reduce the customer resistance towards my products resulting in a projected increase in business by around 15% in a year.
• Attract new clients by offering free consultation thus making new business by almost 20%

Marketing Strategy

The business will set out to successfully compete in the events organization market. It is not a saturated business environment thus there is still a lot of room for growth and expansion. The strategy would be to become an exclusive business catering for wedding events as the primary event. The company will have exclusive advantages to cater for the needs of clients seeking wedding services.

The business will follow the cost leadership strategy where it would start by offering the wedding planning packages only at a lower price than other players in the market. This would ensure that it attracts clients due to the low rates and once the client base has been build, then the prices can be reviewed upwards. It will strive to offer the best quality at very competitive prices.

The business will also follow the business differential strategy whereby it will market itself as the one stop shop for the highest quality, low priced, exclusive wedding planning package (McKeever, 2011). The business will strive to make each wedding it covers exclusive and intimate for the couple thus avoid the duplication of ideas in different weddings. This will be an attraction since most of the brides love to have something special on their wedding day that is not in any other weddings.

Being a small business in the beginning, the business will focus on serving a smaller specific market niche thus  offer effective quality services instead of focusing n the wider market that is not easily tapped into. Establishing and sticking to a clearly setout marketing strategy will enable the business to make reasonable progress in the acquisition of an advantage in the market.

The marketing strategy would include issuing comprehensive information on the products and services that the business is set to offer to the clients. This will include all the wedding packages and any other services. An approximation of the prices for these packages will also be offered to those requesting depending on the type of service they want. The strategy would also touch on the ways that awareness is to be created on the existence of the business and the products and services offered. Lastly, the marketing strategy will have to give adequate information on the ways that the services requested for would be delivered to the clients.

Market Research and Target Audience Identification

The business will employ some research results to identify its market segment and target audience in an effort to ensure that it gains clients. Some of this research results will be based on;

• Recommendations from market analysis results done by other businesses and independently done
• Testing the market in an effort to gauge the response
• Targeted positioning recommendations derived from results analysis
• Internet based feedback especially through the use of the social networking sites

The business will in the beginning rely on some market segmentation to reach the target market. By simply following the psychographic segmentation, the business will be able to reach clients with the values and lifestyles that the business is targeting to serve. The behavioral segmentation can also assist the business to get clients in that people seeking to have wedding planning services will be people who are loyal thus if the business focused on the places like churches, there would be a high chance that customers can be found. The relationship of the people and the product is important thus the target audience cannot be in schools where there are zero chances of finding people in need of wedding planning services. The demographic segmentation also comes to play since the people seeking to have weddings will probably be young, financially stable couples who have completed their education and do not have families yet (Pinson, 2007). 

Situational Analysis: SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis is important in the general growth and development of the business in terms of potential expansions. It is a critical analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of a business (Bangs, 2002). The strengths would include the exclusiveness of the wedding packages in that no similar packages would be offered to two clients thus will keep the services exclusive. This would be an advantage for the business since the competitors almost offer the same packages. The weakness of the business would be that it is new thus no one really knows for sure if the business can handle the pressure and also no one for sure can tell if the business can be able to deliver the quality of the services it markets. This is a disadvantage for the business since people tend to go for previously proven service providers. There are numerous opportunities in this segment of the market since those who offer such services seem to be too busy to listen to individual needs of the client. Threats from the environment would include the presence of unfair competition from well established companies in an effort to push us out of business. Opportunity in this industry is an external determinant as to the extent the business can grow. It is obvious that there is a lot of potential in the wedding planning business as it is not saturated. The threats that could affect the business could come from the larger businesses that may still want to penetrate and take on the smaller business opportunities that this business targets to acquire.

PESTLE Analysis

The business would not be affected by the political environment for the time being. This is because there are set tax policies and labor laws that seek to regulate the market place . There may however be issues on trade restrictions that may make it difficult for the business to import some products. The country has been enjoying favorable politically stable environment thus it may not be a course of concern for the business at this point.

Economically, the business may suffer the effects of a recovering economy due to the recession (Costa, 2010). This will affect its initial cost of capital which may also suffer in the wake of the high interest rates levied by the banks when borrowing. The supply and cost of importing goods is also affected by the exchange rate.

On the social environment, the business will benefit from the rise in the number of the young middle class people who are set to be its main client base. The demand for the products and services offered by the business would not be affected negatively by the social demographic (Abrams, 2010).

Technological advancements are the pillar of the marketing strategy for this business. To get business clients, the use of the many social networking sites available today will be the best way to go for the business. This will also be the best way for the business to create awareness on its products and services.

The business will from the beginning strive to work in a green and clean environment so as to make a contribution towards maintaining the environment. There will be no use of products that degrade the environment. The health and safety laws are important for the business since it is a people oriented business. The company will strive to operate within the required laws.

Marketing Mix

Product: The business in focused on the sale of products and services mainly tailored for the wedding parties and other types of events. These may either be tangible or intangible services (Berkery, 2002). The tangible goods would include the food and drinks, tents and chairs, transport and car hire services. The intangible services will include entertainment, planning and organizing.

Price: This will depend on the size and composition of the package that the client chooses. It will be derived from the current market prices and dynamics.

Promotion: The business will largely rely on word of mouth for marketing its products and services. Some brochures will also be printed and distributed in the shopping malls and church compounds where potential business is expected to be derived. The social media is also important for the growth of the promotion of the business. A dynamic sales team will be put in place to market the business and have all the answers to a client’s questions.

Place: The business will have grounds that can be hired for the ceremonies but incase an event is to be held elsewhere, the business will deliver the services to the clients chosen area.

Physical evidence: The business will provide cake and food sampling for those who want food to be delivered in their functions. Samples of the chairs and tents available for hire would also be availed to clients to assist them make the right choices. Flower decorations would also be made as samples for presentation to the clients.

Process: Since the business will be making tailor made products for each client, maximum time will be allocated to each client to offer full support. However, there will not be invasive questions and lengthy questionnaires to fill.

People: The business is people oriented thus there will be friendly, humble yet intelligent staff to deal directly with the clients to offer them a friendly service.

Communications Plan

The business is based on the delivery of quality customer experience to the clients thus a good communication plan is essential. All the staff and people representing the business will have to abide by the strictly set guidelines that govern the way the goals of the business are to be met. Good communication plans will give the business the much needed focus, order and sense of direction to meet its objectives.

Action Plan

This will assist the business since it is based on the assumption that the set goals have to be met to satisfy the clients and even exceed their expectations. The specific tasks that a client requests from the business have to be delivered to satisfy the customer needs and expectations. The services have to be delivered within the agreed upon time at the right quantity, quality and location. These types of tasks require cash to implement like buying drinks and cooking food, thus enough money has to be allocated to cover the initial costs.

Budget Measurement and Evaluation

There will be an initial starting budget of the money needed to buy some of the things needed for the business. The initial number of staff will be five and their pay will have to be included in the starting capital since they will need to be paid. The business will be operating from personal premises so there will be zero expenses for rent. The grounds to be offered for rent are private grounds and the owner will meet the costs of maintaining the grounds. The business will have to source for chairs and tents for at least one hundred people at the beginning which also requires money for purchasing.

An evaluation of the starting capital has to be done so that the total amount of money required can be estimated (Donnel, 1991). From there the business owner can then look for the ways and means to find the money. In this case, the initial capital will be sourced from private savings and additional borrowing from family members. The business will rely entirely on the money derived from selling its services for sustenance from the beginning. Thus it is essential that the business starts getting clients immediately.