Clean Tails with a Smile Marketing Plan

Clean Tails with a Smile
Marketing Plan
Name

Product/Service offered in the marketing strategy
Clean Tails with a Smile while carrying out the needs and preferences of the target mar-ket, has focused on the identified needs as market penetration strategies. It has performed re-search on the students who own dogs in colleges, working class and business personnel to identi-fy the problem in the market. The study led Clean Tails to come up with the following products to solve the market problem (Sue Dallas, 2006). This will be an appropriate opportunity to devel-op the new brand image in the market to curb the fierce competition facing new business entry in the industry. The product strategy will also act as the means by which the facility establishes a lasting relationship with the consumers. We have recognized the need for consumer satisfaction since search consumers are likely to influence their family and friends on their buying decisions (Tracy, 1996). Our products are clearly differentiated in accordance with the market segmenta-tion and needs. The following are the products the facility focuses to offer in its marketing pene-tration strategy market.
A. Dog washing and grooming services – Both mobile and in store
B. Dogs will be bathed by our experts in accordance with the clients’instructions. Secondly we have realized the need to expand the services from mere bathing to groom-ing. The services involve:
i. Nail cutting, tooth brushing and breath freshener using our special cleaning machines
ii. Bathing using a variety of shampoos that fit the needs of each dog (Anti-itch, Coat brightening etc..)
iii. Special hair-dos upon request, doggy cologne
C. Dog food, bones, treats, toys, leashes and collars
a. We offer a variety of dog foods which will have important nutrients for dogs such as nutrisource premium dog foods, bones and dog chews; The food of-fers chondroitin and glucosamine which is important for most dogs as they all have imbalanced hips and bad joints as they get older. We will also have a nice se-lection of solid and printed dog collars that fit any owner and its dog’s lifestyle and taste. D. Self Service Dog Wash and Drying
a. Clean tails is also aware that some customers take pride in washing and grooming their dogs by themselves, and they will love to use our fully equipped facility that enables them to do so with comfort and ease, for both them and their pets, through the self-service dog wash and drying (Ehrich, 2006).
E. Scheduling dog wash and grooming services through appointment.
a. The service is divided into two options, mobile grooming and on-site grooming. Mobile grooming services are offered for the older pets who can’t be easily transported to our facility, as well as the elderly pet owners who also tend to have mobility issues; To eliminate such stress and burden, our service mobile service will provide the dog wash ser-vices at homes upon request.
F. Scheduling photography appointment with the on-site photographer for special oc-casions such as Christmas, Easter, Birthdays etc..
G. On-site grooming services are offered to our busy customers who cannot find time to visit our facility frequently. The service enables them to book for the services in advance (Sue Dallas, 2006). The service will make sure that each dog gets taken care in a timely manner, thus avoiding having delays for their owners who need to get back to their hectic schedule.
Value Proposition – Primary Research

The proposed Do-It-Yourself Dog wash facility will be located within the Central Busi-ness District and residential areas of the Kansas City. The city has been chosen as the most ap-propriate location of the business after conducting a thorough market feasibility study (Dalas, 2006). The facility focuses on providing dog and pets wash and grooming services (Enilich, 2008). The targeted market includes employed adults who would need grooming services for their dogs while at work as well as college students who have dogs and are looking for afforda-ble wash and grooming for their pets.
Through the market analysis it has been identified that the nearest dog wash facility is 50 Miles away. It is not convenient in accordance with the occupation of our target market (Trends, 2008). The core objective is to offer the residents with available, credible, reliable and affordable dog wash services. The name of the Do-It-Yourself Dog Wash facility is Clean Tails with a smile. Clean Tails will strive to provide quality wash and grooming services to our client that will leave them satisfied and their dogs happy.
The wash facility will offer variety of services to the client and their dogs that would in-clude:
a) Dog washing and grooming services
b) Dog food, bones, treats, toys, leashes and collars
a) Self service dog wash and drying
b) Scheduling dog wash and grooming services through appointment.
c) Availability of professional photographer for pictures
d) Treats from a local bakery
Based on an interview we have conducted on November 7, 2014 with the owner of, Soggy Dog, a grooming facility in Ohio, we have received the following feedback from her:
“My start-up cost was $100k and I only put away a three month reserve, which is not near enough. I have been in business for 9 years and I was able to break even the first few years, but was not able to actually pay myself until the third year. My store space is approximately 1300 square feet, and my monthly rent is $1500. I buy all of my products such as pet food, toys, ac-cessories, etc. wholesale in bulk. I have three full-time employees including myself ; a full-time groomer who is on-site by appointment only, which I pay a wage to; a full-time store assistant, and myself. I also employ a part-time store assistant. My facility consists of 5 wash-tubs, one of which is the groomer station, but can be utilized when the groomer is not here.”
Market penetration: Pricing of the products
The importance of paying attention on the industry trends and competitors activities is understood. This is the reason for carrying out a SWOT analysis in the market. The focus will be on the generic strategy, cost effective strategy, xLocation of the firm, price of the products and the future market trends.
Through the generic strategies, we focus on provision on the clients need to provide unique services to them. First, it is the intention to form a good communication relationship with our clients. To achieve this, our services shall be standardized and their qualities improved to give the ultimate satisfaction to the clients (Tracy, 1996). Offering satisfied services to the client shall increase their loyalty and hence increasing the market base.
Cost effectiveness and pricing strategy are very important in gaining corporate branding and competitive advantage in the market. Clean Tails will focus on comparative prices with respect to the competitors’prices as a market penetration strategy. This will be achieved through access to cost effective machinery and other facilities supplies to control the operational cost. When operational costs are lower, the price of the products/services can then be lowered. The study of the marketing and consumer behavior reveals that consumer will always go for products and services that are pocket friendly (Tracy, 1996).
Location of the facility: the nearest dog washing facility is 50 miles away. Clean Tails will have a more accessible location to bring the services near the residential areas. This will shorten the commute time and fuel expenses to get to a dog wash facility By providing easy ac-cess,great customer service, and a variety of pet services, Clean Tails will build strong clientele base.
Future trends: This venture group intends to be alert to the changing market trends in the grooming industry. Such services like dog vacation boarding services shall be invested onx (Tra-cy, 1996). We shall develop an effective responsive approach to take advantage of the arising opportunities and the changing consumer needs.
The following are the prices of our respective products. The pricing strategy will ensure that Clean Tails competes in the market through consumer friendly prices. The prices of the mobile grooming services are expected to be higher than the facility based services due to the transport and logistics costs incurred to reach the homes of our clients (Nancy Kerns, 2012). We have at-tached prices to our respective services as shown below:
a) Dog washing and grooming services
Weight of the dog price
Below 20 lb. $ 12
Between 20 lb. and 39 lb. $ 15
Between 40 lb. and 79 lb. $ 20
80 lb. and above $ 25
Nail Cutting $13 (Small breed)
$18 (Medium breed0
$22 (Large Breed)
Teeth Brushing $10

b) Dog food, bones, treats, toys, leashes and collars
Items Prices in $
Nutrisource premium dog foods 20 per 2 lb.
Bones and dog chews 15 per 2 lb.
Printed and solid dog collars 10 per piece

d) Self service dog wash and drying

The table below reflects the prices for the self -service dog wash services:
Weight of the dog price
Below 20 lb. $ 12
Between 20 lb. and 39 lb. $ 15
Between 40 lb. and 79 lb. $ 18
80 lb. and above $ 22

e) Dog wash and grooming services through mobile appointments.

For our mobile services our costs are as follows:

Dog weight short pricing Long Coat pricing
Below 20lb. $ 35 $ 45
Between 20 lb. and 39 lb. $ 55 $ 65
Between 40 lb. and 79 lb. $70 $ 90
80 lb. and above $ 90 $ 110

The above pricing strategy is comparative to the competitors’prices. Through the projec-tion, the prices are between $15 and $10 lower than those of the competitors. Since most of the services in the industry are homogenous, the business will use pricing as a differentiation tech-nique
The business shall focus on the use of communication strategy in creating awareness about its products to the clients. The use of advertisements, promotions to the frequent clients, public relation, and printed materials for example flyers, catalogs and brochures and personal sell-ing will be heavily invested in (Tracy, 1996).
The company will also take advantage of the advancement in technology to create a web-site containing all the products offered. Secondly, the site shall be used to communicate with the consumers about the services offered to them.
Marketing plan schedule and Budget
The total amount to be invested in the marketing and sales events is $ 50,000
Months Marketing plan schedule Marketing Budget
January • Launching of the marketing message using flyers and brochures
• Launching of the business.
• Use of Radio and TV advertisement • 2,000 for the production of brochures and flyers
• $6,000 for Advertisement and launching event
February • Launching of the online advertisement by opening the companies website. • $ 1,000
March • Intensifying the use of marketing message and advertisement • $ 9,000
April • Launching gifts,giveaways and discounts to the existing clients • $,5000
May • Involvement of sale personnel to engage on face- to- face selling • $6,000
June • Launching of social media events ;development and running both a Facebook and a Twitter account. • $ 3,000
July • Sponsoring of Dogs events in the City
• Increasing the number of sales personnel • $2,000
• $1,000 for increasing the number of sales personnel
August • Re-launching TV advertisements • $,2000
September • Sending of postcards and emails to our loyal clients to strengthen the relationship. • $500
September to November • Production of flyers,catalogs and brochures • $ 1,500
December • Offering Gift cards and Giveaways to customers • $ 11,000

Brochure advertisement:
Below is an example of Brochure/Flyer that will be used in our advertisement strategy:
It is the intention of Clean Tails to produce two thousand copies of the brochures that shall be distributed to our potential clientele. The brochure contains all the information required to market out products and services. The business message is a company that is gentle, experi-enced and offers affordable grooming services which includes a discount offer.
Marketing and Sales Strategy
• Dog washing and grooming Industry overview
The dog wash and grooming industry has been expanding every year. The American pet Association through its annual budget recorded an amount of 2.7 billion dollars spent on washing and grooming services in 2006. In 2007, the association recorded an increase of 0.2 billion dol-lars to 2.9 billion dollars (News, 2007). This growth has been influenced by demographic growth of dog owners which starts at 2.2 percent increase annually. There has been an increase demand of premium dog products in the US. In 2013, there were total sales of 4.4 billion dollars which further increased to $ 4.73 billion in 2014. There are also emerging industry trends every year to which the service providers should adapt. This will assist in identifying potential customers with-in the target group. The number of dog groomers has increased to 36,097 in 2013 from 34,140 in 2012.The emerging industry trends include: tooth brushing, manicure and pedicure services, spe-cialty styles dog apparel and breath freshener (Enilich, 2008).
In Kansas City the number of dog groomers stood at 1,184 in 2012.There was an increase of 248 groomers in 2013; this shows that there is a potential of growth in the industry.
The targeted market group
Clean Tails will focus on the college students, Employed people (single and married), and the elderly in Kansas City. Their population constitutes 60 % of the Cities 467,007 according to the 2013 census report. This will be the basis of our market segmentation in reference to our ser-vice varieties. Within the segmentation we intend to meet specific needs of our clients.
The target market entails; the single and married employees who need dog washing and grooming services, and the self-service dog wash and drying. Some services will be targeted at the student and business people’s segment (Tracy, 1996).
The other segment will constitute elderly pet owners who are not in a position to visit our facility. Commercial and mobile grooming services will best fit the group. The same service can also be offered to the business people who might lack time to visit the facility due to their tight schedule.
Clean Tails will also provide all the services mentioned earlier for all pet owners in the general market. They can choose the service that best fits their needs in accordance to their occu-pations, taste, preferences, needs and the needs of their pets (Tracy, 1996).
According to a report by the American pet owners Association in 2013, on average a pet owner would spend $127 dollars annually on washing and grooming services. Among the market segments, married couples without children spend 38.72 dollars on the services. They are fol-lowed by couples with children at 30.69 dollars and singles (students, single parents and elderly) in average spend 18.9 dollars annually on their pets. This shows why we will pay attention to the above groups.
The target market by demography
The purchase index illustrates a statistical technique that illustrates the proportion of purchases, by various market segments (Tracy, 1996).
Target Groups Percentage of the City’s Population Percentage of projected buyers Purchase index
College Students 13% 10% 1.46
Single and em-ployed 10% 7% 1.74
Married and Em-ployed 33% 25% 0.88
Business people 25% 12% 0.47
The elderly 19% 15% 1.73

References
Ehrich, E. (2006). Go Mobile And Succeed: The must have manual for starting and growing your mobile grooming. Journal of grooming.
Enilich, E. (2008). The successful Pet Groomer. Journal of Dogs .
Nancy Kerns. (2012). Going to the Dog Groomers. Whole Dog Journal’s Blog .
News. (2007,September). The Booming Grooming Industry. Retrieved 11/24/2007 from Pet Product News: http://www.petproductnews.com/top_stories/Grooming-Industry-0709.aspx
Sue Dallas, D. N. (2006). Grooming Manual for the Dog and Cat. New York: Wiley-Blackwell; 1 edition .
Tracy, B. (1996). Advanced Selling Strategies: The Proven System of Sales Ideas, Methods, and Techniques Used by Top Salespeople Everywhere. New Jersey: Simon & Schuster ISBN-13: 978-0684824741.
Trends, I. S. (2008).Home, Mobile or Salon Grooming Menu. Retrieved from Industry Statistics & Trends: 2007-2008: http://www.petgroomer.com/MENU/homemobilesalon.htm.