Introduction
The use of social media, for instance, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter could pose a big boost for a fruit basket franchise. This paper will major in determining how the sale of fruit baskets can be made through social media. Additionally, the paper will highlight the mission and goal setting and the environmental assessment and sociocultural factors that may affect expansion into the foreign market. The main topics discussed are demographic and economic factors, political and legal factors, and technological and competitive factors. Lastly, this paper includes reasons why the USA gives the fruit basket business a better opportunity using social media with market segmentation, positioning plan, and the promotion mix and assessment of its marketing efforts.
The USA is considered the best global market for using social media to engage in the fruit basket business. Therefore, this improved their technology; hence, many of their population are available on most online platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter which are very efficient for reaching consumers (Tsai et al., 2017). In addition, the availability of reliable internet in the USA proves to be an excellent opportunity for using social media in promoting a fruit basket business.
A global market is one in which the products and services of one nation are exchanged with the citizens of other countries. The United States has the most outstanding household spending globally, contributing to more than a quarter of all private consumption worldwide (Tsai et al., 2017). Simultaneously, free trade agreements with twenty other nations improve access for millions of customers.
The USA provides a better market for fruit baskets, especially using social media. 70 percent of American citizens have active social media profiles (Shareef et al., 2019, p. 58). Facebook has established an amazing framework for salespeople to promote their products via online advertisement, which is observed by over one billion online shoppers (Shareef et al., 2019, p. 58). The number of users in America increases daily, creating an excellent chance to enter the fruit basket sector in the United States.
Mission and Goal Setting
The Fruit basket franchise has a mission to establish a company large enough to offer gift baskets to their potential clientele in Canada and throughout the United States. The following goals developed by the business would help improve sales in the foreign USA market; Boost brand recognition. It is simple to understand why: because the typical individual spends around two hours on social media, it is one of the most effective ways to attract customers. Another goal is to increase the number of visitors to an individual’s website. Driving visitors to one’s website or blog, who may become customers, is a step beyond having a social media presence for their brand. If the business sales procedure is not too time-consuming, they can use social media to turn their viewers into paying customers straight away. For example, social media advertising, such as Facebook advertising, is becoming a more popular increase in sales.
Environmental Assessment and Sociocultural Factors
Organizational Structure
As a part of the culture, social organization refers to how a society arranges itself, such as how it views kinship, status, social institutions, and interest groups. Women’s roles in society, such as whether or not they make purchase decisions, are considered marketing. Oil companies in Texas, for example, are a powerful local interest group with substantial societal ramifications (Shtal et al., 2018). A small company marketing strategy that focuses on women or parents, a specialized interest group, or an influential community leader can be effective.
Society’s Role and Status
A person’s social standing and role in society influence her shopping decisions. Each person has a dual place in society, depending on the group to which they belong. A person’s socioeconomic standing also plays a role; someone from the upper middle class might spend money on frivolous items, while someone from a lower income group would spend money on needs (Ajitha & Sivakumar, 2017). Knowing the income of potential customers gives the small-business owner an advantage because it allows them to learn more about their habits and design a successful marketing strategy. Sociocultural elements present a potential for the company to expand into the US market.
Demographical Factors
The Effect of Income on Business
Income is one demographic trait that has an impact on enterprises. A corporation’s products usually appeal to a specific income group. Premium goods, High-end women’s fashion, for example, tend to appeal to women with higher earnings. On the other hand, individuals earning less money are more price-conscious and may purchase reduced things (Shtal et al., 2018). The items they buy are primarily governed by their perceived value. As a result, the best route for a company to access lower-income customers is through discount stores and wholesalers, whereas specialty retail shops attract higher-income purchasers.
Age Factors Affecting Business
Age is another population factor that affects business units and organizations. Particular age segments are more likely to be interested in an organization’s products and services. Typically, younger adults under 35 are the first to purchase high-tech devices such as smartphones, digital copies, and game consoles (Shtal et al., 2018). While the younger generation’s spending power and customer base increase, the millennial generation remains a sizable and robust demographic. Demographic characteristics will once again create an opportunity for the Fruit Basket sector to enter the US market.
Economic Factors
Economic considerations consider the many sectors of the economy and how the prediction in each industry may affect the firm. In most cases, central banks and other public sectors record and evaluate these economic data. Some examples are as follows: rates of interest and economic growth. These two financial elements, interest rates, and economic growth rates will allow the Fruit Basket business to expand into the USA since they ensure cheap interest rates on loans and discounts.
Political Factors
The first is political stability, in which Political unrest in a country has an impact on business operations. Thus, this is especially true for companies that do business on a global scale. In contrast, the second political aspect is a tax, hike, or decrease. The United States government may decide to raise taxes on certain firms while decreasing them on others will immediately impact an individual’s company (Shtal et al., 2018). As a result, they must always be informed of political events. Changes in interest rates, for example, might affect a company’s demand patterns.
Legal Factors
Organizational Law
Administrative law is the first sort of business law to be examined. Any business organized as a legal entity must follow the state laws in which it operates. Company entities come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Organizations, partnerships, companies, and parastatals are only a few examples. Therefore, a business must always ensure that its laws are adequately structured for effective administration.
Securities Legislation
If a business seeks to raise money from various sources, it may face legal concerns, for example, security legislation. For instance, if a firm decides to issue promissory notes to its investors as a type of loan, state and federal regulations, and security laws will govern the legal aspect of its business. Every firm secures and provides a developing corpus of law that maintains that non-managerial shares in a limited liability corporation are also securities (Shtal et al., 2018). Most small firms should not be concerned with corporate legal issues such as federal and state security regulations that affect them.
Technological Factors
Automation. Corporations may replace human-operated production lines with entirely machine-operated lines by automating numerous low-skilled positions. Manufacturers, distributors, supermarkets, and several other businesses can benefit from this. On the other hand, the further advancement of work automation may not help job search firms access the internet. There is no disputing that internet connectivity has improved globally in recent years (Perera, 2017). This expands the market for many companies that connect with their consumers over the internet. Worldwide internet access may result in a reduction in the desire for conventional modes of communication. The drop could be detrimental to some telecommunications operators, who will be forced to adapt their offers to remain competitive, and printing enterprises that rely on printed paper.
Competitive Factors
Competition in Pricing
Organizations may participate in a pricing battle to win consumers and increase their marketplace. A pricing war happens when a business strives for consumers by lowering its costs. Customers benefit from price competition because they can obtain the goods and services they desire at a reduced rate (Li & Chen, 2018). Prices may fall to the extent that none of the rival companies can benefit from the commodities during a pricing conflict.
Imitators
When a popular product is released, competitors frequently attempt to undercut it by swiftly producing cheaper alternative versions. Competitive forces will pose a danger to the Fruit Basket franchise’s entry into the new USA market, making expansion nearly tricky due to existing firms cutting their pricing, making it impossible for the Fruit Basket business to thrive. Therefore, companies need to identify such imitators and strategies for how they will deal with them.
Strategies for Market Segmentation, Target Market, and Marketing Positioning
The paradigm of STP promotion Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning is a widely used strategic marketing strategy in today’s environment. It is among the most commonly used marketing methods, with advertising agencies praising it for its efficiency and simplicity of transmission (Camilleri, 2018). Commercial effectiveness is the focus of STP marketing, which includes determining the most valuable customers of a business and establishing a marketing strategy and brand positioning strategy for each.
Because the STP methodology assists advertisers in prioritizing concepts and then designing and disseminating targeted and customized content to interact with the intended audience, it aids in developing a marketing communications plan. The three steps in the funnel are market segmentation, market targeting, and product positioning (Camilleri, 2018). Organizations to identify a basis for segmenting a target audience and critical criteria for separating each market segment throughout the research-based market segmentation process.
Implementation and Evaluation of the Marketing Mix
The promotional mix is a collection of actions or techniques used to sell a service or commodity. The four Ps of advertising strategy are cost, products, marketing, and positioning (Wroblewski et al., 2021). The first aspect of developing a digital marketing approach is specifying the target demographic. This step in building a social media promotional strategy should help a firm define its target population and consumer persona. A customer profile is a fictional representation of a company’s ideal customer created by a business.
A precise set of goals and objectives underpins every successful marketing plan. Marketers must create SMART goals to track the effectiveness of their campaigns and demonstrate the value of their efforts (Saura et al., 2017). The Franchise should generate and curate engaging content since it is much easier to create and curate material that a business’ audience will engage with when they know their buyer personas.
The next phase is to concentrate on the social media networks that best suit a firm’s strategy. As such, this is why social media teams must discover the SM channels that best suit their objectives and generate the most revenue. Furthermore, separate social media channels utilized by the same firm may have different KPIs and target quite different audiences (Saura et al., 2017). Businesses investigating their competitors, as researching what their top competitors are doing on social media is crucial for any social media marketing strategy. There is a good chance their competitors are using social media already, which means they can learn from their profiles.
The first stage in any successful digital marketing plan evaluation is a detailed examination of a business’s specific goals for itself in the past. Consequently, reviewing their target client profiles once more precedes the first step (Saura et al., 2017). It is also important to remember that any solid digital marketing plan is built on a set of well-crafted customer profiles that specify the particular types of people a business wants to contact with its campaigns. The other stage is when an organization looks at its digital presence since they reevaluate the clients they want to attract (Saura et al., 2017).
The business will want to make sure it is active on suitable digital properties. Finally, companies evaluate their return on investment through digital marketing. When assessing their digital marketing success, the last item they will want to consider is the firm’s overall return on investments.
References
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