Objectives of Marketing Plan

Discuss about the services provide by Blank Page. Blank Page is a training institute in Australia and is functioning over a period of seven years. The institute mainly gives training to the individuals and corporate.
 

The blank page is a training institute which trains individuals in software skills and soft skills. The organization usually gives training to the corporate and in educational sectors. The organization also helps young individuals to crack interview processes. The organization was set up in Australia in the year 2008 (Blankpage.net.au 2016). The founder of Blank Page is Mr. Anton Porteus. He has been in the field of training industry since 1997 (Blankpage.net.au 2016). The training institute has expertise trainers who have experience of more than eighteen years. The organization is specialized in training software applications like Microsoft packages, Adobe packages, HTML, graphics design and soft skills. It is a home based Institute and is trying to promote its products through marketing. Marketing is essential in the 21^st century because it will help the organization to communicate with its target customer.  Moreover, a proper marketing strategy will also help the organization to have a competitive advantage over other competitors. The objective of the organization is to be among the top ten training institutes in Australia.  The researcher has thoroughly discussed the different marketing strategies which will help the institute to progress at a quick space in the future and reach its goal.

According to Adam, Denize and Kotler (2015), a marketing plan is a blueprint which helps an organization to know about the marketing procedures of the organization in the future. It also helps to set up the organizations marketing and strategic actions. Marketing mix strategies, target customers and probable marketing strategies are also clearly defined in a marketing plan. The marketing plan includes historical data, future predictions and strategies to achieve the goal of the organization.

According to Asllani and Halstead (2015), objectives of the marketing plan are to identify the needs of the customer through market research and how the organization can meet the demands. In Australia, a number of corporate and training educations are established. The organizations need human resources, who are acquainted with the knowledge of latest softwares which are used in the industries (Arora 2013). Blank page meets this requirement by training the young graduates and make them ready for the organization. The marketing plan also said as a process which helps a company to achieve its goals. Marketing objective also helps to determine the strength and weakness of the organization. Along with strength and weakness marketing plan supports in finding out different actions. They are the budget, control and the goals of the organization. Specific marketing trend is also selected by the marketing plan (Babin et al. 2014).

• To give training to young graduates
• To be the top training institute in Australia
• To be a brand in the field of training and soft skill development

Positioning strategy of business and brand

Positioning is defined as the place which a product or service holds in a market. Positioning helps a product or service to differentiate from its competitors. According to Dahl, Eagle and Low (2015), positioning is the action by which the image of the organization is set up in the mind of the target customers. This can be done by mentioning the features and benefits of the product or service. Blank Page is a training institute and provides different types of training. This helps an individual to get a job. On the other hand, organizations are also benefited by getting well trained human resources.

• In universities
• Training in corporate house
• Training in seminars

The blank page has given importance to the need and requirement of the individual and large enterprises to develop its product. The blank page is mainly a service providing organization. According to Entezari, Karimi and Kianfar (2014), a favourable market is established by Blank Page with the services they provide. The organization mainly gives training on Microsoft packages, graphic design and HTML. One new branch of training is also launched, in which blank page will train on Java and Android software. The employees of the organization are always trying to increase their level of service. The training session is divided into three different categories of individual one for the beginners, one for the professional and one for the corporate. In the case of beginners, the individuals are trained in a group of thirty and special care is taken to each. In professionals group, the primary focus of the organization is to teach about the latest softwares which are required in the software industry. On the other hand, while training the corporate, the schedule is followed as decided by the corporate clients. According to Lee, Kozlenkova and Palmatier (2015), this procedure has helped the organization to attract a different level of clients according to their requirement. Special training is also launched by Blank page in which the organization will train people over the internet with the help of special training module. This will be mainly for those individuals who are busy and can learn over the internet. There are seven different sections in this online training. On the end of each section, a questionnaire will come. The candidate can only go to the next section when the candidate correctly answers sixty percentage of the questionnaire set (Levy 2012). 

Distribution is an important strategy for any product or service. Distribution helps a product to reach its customer in an efficient manner. Blank Page takes help of direct channels to contact their customers (Luke 2013) directly. The organization has a knowledgeable sales team with a good network. The sales team visit different companies and educational institutes. There they give a demo of their projects and also gather the information about the requirement of the clients. Feedback from the present customers also helps them to collect information and act accordingly. According to Mousavian, Kheiry and Mirabi (2014), technology also has helped the organization in distributing their services. Details of the training along with time duration are posted on the website of the organization. These have helped the clients to get information about their services. Along with these, a new app has also been launched by Blank page to attract different customers. Newspaper, messaging and mail orders are also important attract the attention of different customer (Rad et al. 2014).

Product

According to Scott (2013), Blank page has also signed an agreement with various colleges in Australia like Box Hill Institute of TAFE and Australian Catholic University to promote their service. Various seminars and workshops organized by Blank page have helped the training institute to promote its services. Agents like coaching institutes have also helped Blank page to spread information about their services (Talpau 2014). Collaboration with giant software companies like Computershare and Reckon has also promoted the distribution channel of Blank page. 

According to Heidt and Quazi (2013), pricing strategy is one of the most important strategies for any service or product. Price is an important determinant which determines the success and failure of any service or product or business. Blank page sells their service to different categories of individuals at a different price. Blank Page has used market penetration pricing strategy to beat their competitors. The main aim of the organization is to educate individuals with different knowledge of software at a reasonable price (Wu et al. 2015). Blank page, however, follow different pricing strategy for three different sectors of customers. The organization has kept the price of the training relatively low for the individuals who are beginners. Blank page charges only 400 Australian dollars for the beginner level (Blankpage.net.au 2016). During this period, they will be trained for 30 hours. On the other hand in case of expert level Blank page charges 1000 Australian dollar for 40 hours (Blankpage.net.au 2016). However in the case of corporate training, the price varies depending on the requirement of the corporate. The blank page has also kept a low price for the individual who will learn in their online mode of training. It has also been found that the price range of the Blank Page is competitive on its competitor engineering training institute Australia (Rad et al. 2014).

According to Entezari, Karimi and Kianfar (2014), communication helps any product or service to create brand awareness in the relevant market. Marketing communication is a tool which provides any message of the organization to the desired clients. Blank pages use communication strategy to give information to the customers about their product and service. It also helps the training institute to retain its existing customers. According to Mousavian, Kheiry and Mirabi (2014), Blank page have a clear picture of the requirement of the customers and have given service accordingly. This has helped the organization to create a clear communication with the clients. The blank page has the potential to make the human resources ready for the required target market. This has been a great achievement for the organization to communicate with the clients properly. The logo and slogan of an organization is an important tool to give clear information about their activity to the target customer. According to Adam, Denize and Kotler (2015), Blank page has an objective to be the best training institute in Australia. So the organization is coming out with a new slogan “Be the Best”. The brand voice action also helps the Institute to communicate its message clearly with the target customers. The marketing mix is another tool with the help of which the training institute Blank page can communicate its message to the individuals. Technology has been a blessing in the recent century. Facebook and Twitter have also been used by Blank Page to communicate its message to the customers (Luke 2013).         

Distribution Channel

 According to Entezari, Karimi and Kianfar (2014), marketing in the 21^st century is important to strive in a competitive market. Marketing has to be carried out throughout the year to achieve an organization’s target. The researcher has given tweleve-month marketing activities of Blank page. During these twelve months, Blank Page should promote its product through advertising in television, debates and cultural functions. The Internet is a valuable tool which will help Blank Page to communicate with the customers quickly. Advertising through Hoardings and flex in colleges and coaching centers will also give Blank Page a competitive edge. Here is the action plan of Blank page to achieve its competitive advantages.

Actions

Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Month 4

Month 5

Month 6

Month 7

Month 8

Month 9

Month 10

Month 11

Month 12

Set up phase

Premise

Staffing

Equipment

Development phase

Curriculum

Material for business

Test phase

Support team

Alternative processes

Marketing phase

Campaign

Advertisement

Positioning

Pricing

Table 1: Action plan for Blank Page

After implementing the action plan, Blank page needs to control the plan in an effective way to achieve its short term goal. The training institute also needs to understand the different issues which are related to modern day training and act accordingly (Babin et al. 2014). Customer satisfaction is also another factor which will help Blank Page to implement different strategies properly.

The budget of the Blank page is created by assumption created by the author. This budget is based on the financial year 2016-17. The blank page is a mid-level training institute in Australia on market share and revenue. The budget is completely done on Assumption basis.

Primary Category	Secondary Category	Quantity	Estimated Cost
Research	Web Research	2	$400
Research	Independent Research	1	$1,000
Research	Other research	4	$500
Research	Promotional	5	$9,000
Communications	Radio	1	$10,000
Communications	Web	2	$20,000
Communications	Internet	3	$8,000
Networking	Membership	54	$7,800
Networking	Affiliation	21	$8,000
Networking	Subscription	10	$500
Event	Meal	2	$400
Event	Tax	1	$820
Event	Other services	1	$780
			Total =$77200

 Table2: Budget of Blank Page

10.0 Conclusion

Researcher has thoroughly discussed about the services provide by Blank Page. Blank Page is a training institute in Australia and is functioning over a period of seven years. The institute mainly gives training to the individuals and corporate. The objective of the organization is to be the best training institute in Australia within a short period of time. The organization have to take help of different distribution channel to promote its services, Internet and technology have also helped the promotion of the organization. The pricing strategy of the organization is also well placed to attract the different type of customers. The researcher has also discussed the budget of the organization which shows a positive indication. 

References

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Arora, A.P. 2013, “Marketing Management”, Vision: The Journal of Business Perspective, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 99-99.

Asllani, A. and Halstead, D. 2015, “A MULTI-OBJECTIVE OPTIMIZATION APPROACH USING THE RFM MODEL IN DIRECT MARKETING”, Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 65.

Babin, B.J., D’Alessandro, S., Lowe, B. and Winzar, H. 2014,Marketing research, Asia-Pacific 3. edn, Cengage Learning, South Melbourne, Victoria.

Blankpage.net.au. (2016). Home | Blank Page | Microsoft Training, Adobe Training, Consulting and Courseware. [online] Available at: https://www.blankpage.net.au/ [Accessed 19 May 2016].

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Tania von der Heidt and Quazi, A. 2013, “Enhancing learning-centeredness in marketing principles curriculum”,Australasian Marketing Journal, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 250.

Wu, J., Wen, N., Dou, W. and Chen, J. 2015, “Exploring the effectiveness of consumer creativity in online marketing communications”, European Journal of Marketing, vol. 49, no. 1/2, pp. 262-276.