| Introduction Put yourself in your customers’ shoes: Why would you shop at Marvelous Market? Perhaps you’ve heard Marvelous Market has better food than the average Food Lion. Maybe you’ve heard they have good bread. Some of your health-conscious friends might have shopped there and they may have even said, “It’s like a smaller FreshFields.” But, if you’re in Virginia, you probably haven’t heard any of this – or anything else about Marvelous Market! So, yea, you might stop by some Marvelous Market – maybe someday. But this is probably not how you want Marvelous Markets thought of. So, let’s have a little fantasy. Imagine a grocery store that isn’t really a grocery store – it’s a community center where you go to buy high quality food. This is a place people will travel from miles around to visit because their friends have been raving about the great bread they are always buying there. This is a place that you really want to stop by a couple times each week just to catch up on the news from your community. This is a place where you know you’ll run into friends. And, this is a place with two extremely successful locations in Virginia that give promising signs for future expansion! _____________________________________________________________ Yes, this place is Marvelous Market - with the help of Real Deal Marketing. _____________________________________________________________ Goals * Increase the number and frequency of shopper visits at all Marvelous Market locations. * Give Marvelous Market a reputation as an upbeat, involved community contributor. * Generate excitement in the public’s mind surrounding Marvelous Market and each of its locations. * Create newsworthy events and innovations that will attract the news media’s attention. Strategy Shoppers have many options when they go to buy their food. But, we will make Marvelous Market unique by making it the heart of their community. Shoppers will be likely to run into their friends at these stores, because they will have told them to shop there, and this effect will only be magnified as we create community events that matter to the people! It’s like going to school – nobody ever wanted to study things that didn’t matter to them. But, a little bit of true-life relevance did always tend to improve our study habits. Further, educators know that students who study in groups tend to get better grades than those who go it alone – the fun of social interaction and the encouragement of familiar faces keeps people coming back for more. Real Deal Marketing is going to make it easy for Marvelous Market to have Grade A performance in the eyes of the public! Audiences Anecdotal research shows that the groups most likely to become new customers for Marvelous Market are health conscious and have good amounts of expendable income. The following groups will be especially targeted: • Capital Hill workers, D.C. lawyers, and other professionals – these high income professionals are likely to live both in the district, and in the areas of Bethesda and Chevy Chase where you have stores • college students – often subsidized by their parents and having few real responsibilities, college students seem like strong candidates • gay and lesbian communities – anecdotal evidence shows that this community is peppered with two-income, childless families that are likely to be health and nutrition conscious • vegetarian groups – this group has obvious special dietary needs which will be more likely to draw them to specialty stores, such as Marvelous Markets • environmental activists – concern about the environment probably breeds concern for nutrition, and we know they aren’t too lazy to try a new store The following 6 point plan details how we will reach these audiences and lure them to happier days of shopping at Marvelous Market! Tactics 1. The Good Food, Good Friends Program To run from June 1 to December 30, 2002. During this seven month promotion, customers will be encouraged to sign up for a “Marvelous Market Card” – much like your web site currently asks customers to simply register, except that they will then be mailed a small membership card. Card membership should have the following benefits: - a monthly Marvelous Market newsletter. - $5 in Marvelous Credit for the next Marvelous Market purchase that the card is used for. - an additional $5 in Marvelous Credit for each friend who signs up for the card and puts the original member down as a reference. This strategy will enlist all of your satisfied customers as honorary salespersons for Marvelous Market! Instead of passively waiting for word-of-mouth promotions, this tactic aggressively encourages it in ways that people are becoming used to getting from reputable companies. AOL pays their members $25 in cash for new members referred – but this strategy isn’t going to cost you anything in outgoing cash, and is sure to increase your long term revenue as more and more people send all their friends to the local Marvelous Market. 2. The Marvelous Market Mobile Booth This strategy was originally designed to increase awareness of Marvelous Market in Virginia. We will construct a booth that can be deployed to locations with promotional food items. Virginia County fairs, holiday celebrations, and summer celebrations would be ideal settings to promote the goods Marvelous Market has to offer. Real Deal Marketing professionals would work with Marvelous Market food handlers to distribute food samples among crowds at these events. Each time the booth is deployed, Marvelous Market will benefit in several ways: the company’s logo will be prominently placed on overhead banners that all passersby will see; flyers with inventory highlights and store locations will be distributed; and a number of spectators will get to sample the quality of Marvelous Market food for themselves. We expect that the roaring success of our first few engagements with the Marvelous Market Mobile Booth – aimed for early June – will cause us to expand our fleet so as to cover several locations by large holiday events – especially surrounding Independence Day – later in the summer. 3. Marvelous Reading Areas Most major grocery stores do include a section of books and magazines. Marvelous Market should also, but since Marvelous Market is no ordinary grocery store, this will be no ordinary book and magazine section. First of all, it should be a reading area. Even if it is just benches in the space between two aisles, people should be sitting to read in Marvelous Market. Further, it should focus on community issues. The selection would vary among locations as the locations are in different communities. The Georgetown location, for instance would include books by and about Washington groups and individuals and magazines such as The Washingtontonian, The Georgetowner, and Roll Call – only a few examples of the myriad books and publications that could be on hand. 4. The Marvelous Speaker Series These events should be held regularly at each location. Speakers and topics of local interest should be invited to an audience of Marvelous Market patrons. This could include author book signings, political discussions, environmental presentations, and many other options. 5. The Marvelous Market Street Team A staff of energetic volunteers should be recruited for interpersonal promotions. These volunteers will be brought to locations to distribute flyers promoting Marvelous Market. College students looking Public Relations experience, students needing community service to perform, environmentalists, or others who have an interest in insuring that people eat healthy are likely candidates for this Street Team. Volunteers will be recruited and briefed by Real Deal Marketing representatives. 6. Healthy Eating Promotional Campaign A series of promotional items – such as flyers, posters, and display advertisements – will be developed to encourage people to eat the sorts of foods that Marvelous Market provides. Real Deal will consult with medical experts in the field to insure the quality of all recommendations. These materials could also be used by the Street Team, by the Marvelous Market Mobile Booth, and for distribution in the Marvelous Reading Areas! 6. Zero Budget Advertising Campaign An advertising campaign in local publications could be executed without spending any money. Real Deal would solicit ad trades with local publications in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. A catered staff party or some special offer of free food will sway most ad managers to allow us some display advertising space. This legitimate means of advertising is often used by movie and concert promoters – we’re going to put Marvelous Market in that same exciting category! Media Coverage We believe that activity listed above – the Marvelous Market Mobile Booth, opening the Marvelous Reading Areas, the Marvelous Speaker Series, the actions of the Street Team, the Healthy Eating Promotional Campaign, and the Zero Budget Advertising Campaign – all of these things will generate press coverage on their own because they are newsworthy in the niche of food news. But, we will not depend on that. We will be aggressive in contacting the press list below – giving them advance notice on events, providing information for and pushing for feature article coverage and, of course, sending them press releases. Media List (partial list) Tom Sietsama, Food Critic, Washington Post Sally Squires, Nutrition Staff Writer, Washington Post Susan Morse, Medical/Health Assistant Editor, Washington Post Abigail Trafford, Medical/Health Columnist, Washington Post Jeanne McManus, Food Editor, Washington Post Magazine Maria Steiner, Food Editor, Washington Times Richard Slusser, Food/Restaurant Editor, Washington Times Vaishall Honawar, Health Reporter, Washington Times Michael Wilke, Columnist, The Washington Blade P.L. Woolf, Managing Editor, InTowner Jenn Kepka, Managing Editor, The Eagle @ American University campus Liz Atwood, Food Editor, The Sun (Baltimore) Rob Kasper, Food Columnist, The Sun (Baltimore) Kemal Kerspahic, Editor, The Connection Newspapers (Virginia) Mary Anne Weber, Features Editor, The Connection Newspaper (Virginia) Kevin Maggs, Medical/Health Reporter, Suburban Sun Gazette (Alexandria) Budget Here’s the Real Deal: Give us seven months – from June 1 to December 30, 2002 – and $25,000. Then: IF you have received a total of 4000 new customers in our Good Foods, Good Friends program IF we can show scientifically gathered anecdotal evidence of customers attracted to and happy with programs we are here proposing and IF we can show at least a 50% increase in the media coverage you received in these seven months, as compared to the previous seven months Then and only then will you owe Real Deal Marketing the fair price of $150,000. If we fail to accomplish these goals we take only the initial $25,000 and cause no more cost to you. At Real Deal we believe in results – positive ones. If our campaign works and you see the results predicted here, then you will profit far beyond our fee. If we fail, then we have failed and we will take the loss – not you. That’s the Real Deal. Return to Writing Ryan's Communications page Return to Writing Ryan's main page |
| The Marvelous Mission: Exciting Market Improvements Copyright Ryan Cofrancesco, April, 2002 |
| This is a Public Relations Proposal for Marvelous Markets - a health food chain store bassed in Washington, D.C. More info on them can be found at marvelousmarket.com. |