MKT 361 Final Marketing Plan PDF

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mandatory essay at the end of the semester; ten page marketing plan
professor Little ...

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Meagan Sibley MKT 361 01 Professor Little June 10, 2018 Grand Valley State University Varsity Women’s Soccer Marketing Plan 1. Executive Summary The Grand Valley State University women’s varsity soccer team has been active on campus for the past twenty-two years. In those years, they attained impressive game statistics, a large base of attendees, and multiple NCAA championships. Their current roster consists of thirty-one players and five coaches. Due to competitive forces and sociocultural factors, it can be challenging to acquire the largest possible amount of attendees. The main goal of this plan is to increase the attendance at GVSU women’s varsity soccer games. This plan has been based around an evaluation of the organizations strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and marketing mix. It is focused on objectives for increasing game attendance by building relationships with the community, engaging with freshmen, and making sure that spectators have the best experience possible. 2. Environmental Analysis In 1996 Grand Valley State University officially added soccer as a sport, and the first women’s varsity soccer team was established. Since then, the women’s team has won six NCAA championships, the most recent one being last year in 2017 (Farnum, 2015). The team’s record for last season was twenty wins, four ties, and zero losses. They scored a total of ninety-six goals, and their attendance summary for the season was a total of 7,245 people, 5,481 of which were there to support GVSU (Official Site of GVSU Athletics). A. The Marketing Environment

1. Competitive Forces. Competition is one of the largest parts of the sports industry. For the Grand Valley women’s team, their biggest competitive force is other Grand Valley sports teams. The team plays in the fall season, from August to generally the end of October, and many other Grand Valley sports team share this season as well; football, golf, tennis, and volleyball all compete during the fall season as well, creating competition for attendance between the sports. 2. Economic Forces. The economic forces at play for the women’s soccer team are the prices of tickets and the sports department budget. From 2005 to 2015, Grand Valley increased their institutional funding for athletics from $6,170,579 to $12,198,807 (Gardner & McVicar). This includes costs such as maintenance, utilities, security, administrative services, and more. This economic aspect is important because without proper funding, the facilities and events would be lower quality, thus straying prospective attendees away from attending the games. The second aspect of economic forces is the pricing of tickets for the GVSU women’s varsity games. This aspect plays in Grand Valley’s favor, seeing as ticket prices for games are all seven dollars and under. For an adult, the price is seven dollars and for children and senior citizens, tickets are five dollars; all GVSU students that bring a valid ID get into every game for free. 3. Sociocultural Forces. A large part of the freshman college experience is composed of two things: being exposed to new experiences and making new friends. One of the ways that freshmen students on a budget can do both of those things at once is by going to their school’s sporting events. Since Grand Valley offers free admission to all sporting events for students, this offers an opportunity to fulfill both of those needs.

Students can get a group of friends together from their dorm and attend a women’s varsity soccer game together for free, and within walking distance of their residence. Another sociocultural factor is time consciousness. Students are often forced to balance their time between their studies and their social life; since the women’s soccer team almost always plays during the weekends, this allows the perfect opportunity for a study break with their friends. B. Target Markets Grand Valley sports teams target a variety of different markets. However, there is currently no differentiation between advertising to those markets. Their current markets are the Grand Valley student body and the surrounding community. There are numerous banners around campus promoting the women’s varsity team, and there are multiple advertisements displayed on the rear of the Rapid buses. When there is a home game, the date and time is displayed on posters throughout campus, but there are no strategies targeting specific consumer markets. The demographic aspect of their target markets is the Grand Valley student body and surrounding areas. The geographic aspect is the Allendale Campus of Grand Valley State University, where they promote the team’s games. The psychographic aspect is to fulfill a sense of school pride within the students while attending the games. The product usage and product benefits promoted are socialization, excitement, entertainment, affordability, and affiliation. C. Current Marketing Objectives and Performance As stated above, Grand Valley women’s soccer currently advertises to all of their target markets in the same way. In the fall of 2017, 4,546 freshman enrolled at Grand Valley,

and over the span of 24 games, only 5,481 people attended women’s soccer games to support Grand Valley’s team. That number can easily by increased by directly targeting freshmen students. The marketing objectives for this plan are to change the way freshmen thinks about student life, improve the spectator experience at games, and increase the involvement of the team within the community. Progress towards these goals will be measured by ticket sales, per game attendance, and overall attendance in support of GVSU. 3. SWOT Analysis A. Strengths 1. The impressive game statistics of the team. They have won six NCAA championships, and performed the 2017 season with zero losses. 2. Many girls have gone from being a member of the Grand Valley women’s varsity team to play professional soccer. Just this year a member of the team graduated and left for Iceland to play professionally. 3. Every fall there are more new girls added to the roster. In February of this year, Grand Valley signed a total of eleven new freshmen players. 4. A brand new video board was installed in March in order to enhance the viewing experience of the soccer games. B. Weaknesses 1. Although the average attendance last year at games was impressive, there is much room for improvement. Attendance could be increased significantly, especially when compared to the amount of students currently enrolled at Grand Valley, and the fact that they get in free of charge.

C. Opportunities 1. In the last couple years soccer has been greatly increasing in popularity as a spectator sport. 2. The expansion of the Grand Valley community through increased student population. In the 2017-18 year, a total of 25, 460 students were enrolled at Grand Valley. That number is a large increase when compared to the enrollment numbers from the past ten years (GVSU Office of Institutional Analysis). 3. There is typically nice weather during the season in which they play. The season ranges from the beginning of August to the end of October. According to weather reports from those months in 2017, the average temperatures in that time period ranged from sixty-five degrees to eighty-five degrees, with the exception of late October, which ranged from forty-one to sixty-five degrees (Allendale, MI, Monthly Forecast). 4. The opportunity to train new players coming to the team from high school. D. Threats 1. Other Grand Valley sports with conflicting or similar schedules. Men’s football, men and women’s golf and tennis, and women’s volleyball all take place in the fall season along with women’s soccer. Time conflicts across sports forces fans to choose between attending one sporting event over the other. 2. Due to all the games being held outside, unpredictable inclement weather can force delays and cancellations. 3. In the later games of the season, unfavorable weather (lower temperatures towards the end of October) can deter people from attending games on the basis of not wanting to sit outside in the cold.

4. Marketing Objectives The overall goal of this marketing plan is to increase attendance at the GVSU women’s varsity soccer games. In order to do this, objectives for achieving this goal must be established and implemented. The first objective put in place to reach this goal is to improve the spectator experience at the games. If the people coming to the games are satisfied with the environment and the entertainment, then it is more likely that they will return for more games and become a repeat customer. A total of 5,481 people came to support GVSU women’s soccer team last year, but that number could be increased by moving consumers up the escalator to become heavy users. It is easier to keep old customers than to gain new ones, so if we can increase the attendance of current attendees, the number of games people attend can be significantly increased, along with profits as well. There are twelve home games scheduled during this upcoming regular season. To put this objective in place, every fourth game will be considered a “free food game”. One free hot dog or hamburger will be offered to each person that shows a valid ID or ticket. The success of this tactic to bring back repeat customers will be measured by attendance of those same people at the next home game. When they collect their free food item, their ID will be scanned and logged into the computer system. This way, at the next home game, we will be able to see how many students that attended the “free food game” came back to attend the following home game. The second proposed tactic in order to fulfill the first objective is to incorporate a game or activity into every home game at halftime. Since there are twelve home games in the regular season, this means a total of twelve halftime games and activities. The specific goal of this tactic is to increase the attendance of families of the players and in the community that have young children. This can be measured by the number of children volunteering to participate in the halftime activities at each game, and the goal is to increase that

number every halftime. Children love to participate in games, and these activities will help make the experience more enjoyable for not only them, but their parents as well. The average halftime is ten minutes long, so that leaves approximately two minutes for selecting volunteers and about five minutes for the game itself. The halftime activities will consist of three games (rotated after every home game): a shoot out with four volunteers, a soccer-related obstacle course, and a two on two sudden-death mini game. The second objective of this plan is to change the way freshmen think about student life. Freshmen are an optimal target market because they are new to the school and are always looking for things to do and ways to meet new people. This is the easiest group of consumers to attract, and if their attendance at games can be increased from the beginning of their college experience, it is likely that they will become repeat attendees in the following years. The first tactic to accomplish this goal is to offer free GVSU soccer tee shirts to groups of students that come with five or more of their friends every game. This will be measured by the amount of tee shirts given away at every game, and the intent of this is to increase the number of tee shirts given away at each game. This not only offers incentive for students to come to games, but to bring their friends as well. This ties into the next tactic, which is to offer a free GVSU hat to students that bring two or more non-students to the game. If the guest is from another school, they must present a valid school ID. By doing this, we can increase the attendance of freshmen, and begin changing their mindset about the concept of student life. By focusing on getting freshmen to bring groups of people to games, we can highlight the importance of school pride and building relations with fellow students through supporting their school soccer team. The third object for this plan is to increase the involvement of the team with the community. If the soccer team spends more time engaging with the community, it is likely that

they will become more well known around town and community members will be more likely to come out and support them, thereby increasing attendance. Specific tactics for meeting this goal are to increase the number of clinics that the women’s soccer team runs. They currently offer a handful of camps in the summertime, but if they offer more clinics and increase the area in which they offer them, they would be able to engage with a greater number and wider range of people. I also suggest that they select one child from the clinic roster each game, and send them an invitation to come to the game and participate in the halftime activity. The second tactic in achieving this goal is to hold a beach clean-up day with the GVSU women’s team. Members of the community can volunteer to come clean up the beach in Grand Haven with the team. To raise awareness for this, flyers will be posted at businesses around Allendale, such as Family Fare, Meijer, Biggby, etc. On the flyer it will be advertised that if community members participate in the beach clean-up, they will be offered free admission to a home game of their choice. The volunteers will record their name on a sign-in sheet which will be logged into a computer, and they will simply have to state their name when they come to the event to redeem their free admission. 5. Marketing Strategies A. Target Markets Target Market 1: GVSU freshmen. Target Market 2: all other GVSU students. Target Market 3: Allendale community members. B. Marketing Mix 1. Products. The product produced by the GVSU women’s varsity soccer team is their games. This relates to the uniqueness of the sport product, being that their product is produced and

consumed at the same time. Since their product consists of intangible attributes, they have a competitive advantage because each game produces a different experience. The experience is based on the day, time, opponent, and players. From this product, spectators will gain excitement, affiliation, entertainment, and more. 2. Price. The pricing of tickets for the women’s soccer games is a tool that can be used to draw in consumers. For students, admission is free with presentation of your Grand Valley ID, and for adults, it is a mere seven dollars. This increases the value of the product and experience, because for a very small price you will receive all the product benefits. 3. Distribution. The distribution of the product (the games) is dependent on the location where the game is to be held. In the upcoming regular season, there are twelve home games scheduled and seven away games scheduled, one of which takes place in Grand Rapids. An asset of their distribution is that all of the home games are within a short walk or drive for most students. 4. Promotion. Due to the fact that promotional efforts do not differ based on their respective target markets, I recommend that the majority of promotion efforts be focused on appealing specifically and personally to the different segments. Social media advertising should be heavily used to target freshmen and other GVSU students. For freshmen specifically, there should be signs posted in and around their dorms with the season schedule, and promotional offerings at the upcoming games (“free food game” and tee shirt giveaways). For the Allendale community, flyers can be posted in local grocery stores, coffee shops, etc. letting them know the schedule for the season, and have an overview of the activities and promotions that happen at each game, urging parents to bring young children along as well. 6. Marketing Implementation

A. Marketing Organization For the women’s soccer team and the product they offer, it is necessary that the marketing function be organized by customer group. By doing so, it will give the organization the ability to focus on the specific needs that must be addressed with each target customer segment. The customer groups that will direct the organization of the teams marketing efforts will be: (1) GVSU freshmen, (2) all other GVSU students, (3) members of the Allendale community, and (5) family and friends of the players.

B. Activities, Responsibilities, and Timetables for Completion The first home game for the GVSU women’s soccer team is on Sunday, August 26th. All marketing implementation activities are to begin on June 1st. -

On June 1st, plan out each soccer clinic, including available locations and dates.

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By June 7th, have the finalized schedule for all clinics prepared.

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By June 8th, make registration for the clinics available to participants.

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By June 20th, begin the summer clinics.

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On August 20th, the first freshmen move-in date, display posters on the walls of each dorm with the fall 2018 women’s soccer schedule, and post signs around the dorms letting the freshman know that the first game is on Sunday, and that their admission is free.

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On August 25th, send out a tweet announcing that freshmen who come in groups of five or more will receive free GVSU Soccer tee shirts.

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By August 26th, have the first halftime activity scheduled and post information about it and the game on flyers around Allendale.

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On August 26th, post a picture on the women’s soccer team Instagram and Facebook, highlighting one of the new players with a few sentences of information and fun facts about her, and encourage students to come watch her play in the first game.

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By September 1st, have the beach clean-up event scheduled and promote it on campus and in businesses around the community.

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By September 20th, host the beach clean-up event.

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By November 1st, analyze and report the results of all promotional activities, attendance, and ticket sales of the season.

7. Evaluation and Control A. Performance Standards and Financial Controls The final project report must include a side-by-side comparison of the financial expenditures and the goals of the marketing plan. It is recommended that the performance standards and financial controls include: -

The total budget for promotions, advertising, and activities will be less than or equal to $1,000. This includes the tee shirt giveaways, free food, and supplies for halftime activities.

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Within the total budget for promotions, advertising, and activities, tee shirt giveaways will equal $600, the cost of food provided will equal $300, and the cost for supplies for activities will equal $100.

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The staff members that work at the beach clean-up will be responsible for entering the names of volunteers into a spreadsheet, that will then be checked against valid identification at the front gates in order to ensure free admission for those who volunteered.

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The women’s soccer department staff is responsible for organizing each clinic and providing the supplies necessary for it to be run. The team members are responsible for teaching the clinic and engaging with the participants.

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The staff working at the stadium entrance will be responsible for handing out tee shirts and hats to students that meet the promotional requirements, and recording the amount of students that attended each game. They will also be responsible for asking each student what year they are, so the information can be recorded into a database and used to keep track of attendance by standing year in school. B. Monitoring Procedures In order to efficiently analyze the effectiveness of the marketing plan for the Grand Valley State women’s varsity soccer team, a comparison must be done between actual performance and the objectives and goals of the plan. In order to do so, specific procedures must be in place to measure if attendance goals have been met. To measure this accurately,...