Marketing Plan: Marketing Mix of the Management Training

When dealing with marketing planning of specific products, one should take into consideration the fundamental elements of any marketing strategy such as price, place, promotion, and product. Companies consider these four Ps of marketing, namely marketing mix, to set their actions and tactics. The essay presents a marketing plan that incorporates marketing mix in each of the four courses of the management training, such as project management fundamentals, project planning and control, project finance and budgeting, project risk, and quality management. The essay determines the significant aspects that one has to pay attention to when dealing with the Ps of marketing. Additionally, the essay discusses the steps that a company should follow to promote its management training courses.

In dealing with a correct pricing strategy for the management training courses, management should consider price sensitivity of the services offered by the company (Mind Tools Editorial Team, n.d.). Additionally, they have to consider how the set price compares to the competitors’ prices for the same courses (Mind Tools Editorial Team, n.d.). The management training courses are price-sensitive due to high competition and availability of such services on the market. Thus, if the company increases its prices, it can lose its market share. Therefore, the company has to rely on a competitive pricing strategy, which assumes that prices for the same management training courses have to be equal across different competitors.

The next step that the company should take to develop an advanced pricing strategy for the management training courses is incorporating a flexible system of bonuses and discounts. In a case of the management training courses, it is important to encourage cusomers to attend all four courses. In order to achieve this goal, the company should offer discounts for the people who have already taken at least one of the company’s management training courses if they wish to continue studying other topics. The discount price should not fixed, but rather progressive. In other words, the discount has to increase depending on the amount of courses taken by the company’s customers. In fact, the discount rate offered to the customer who has already taken one of the four management training courses should equal 5%. The discount rate proposed to the customer who has already taken two of the four management training courses should equal 10%. Finally, the discount rate that the company for the client who has already attended three out of four management training courses should equal 15%. Therefore, by using a flexible discount program, the company can increase sales of the company.

In dealing with the pricing strategy on the project management fundamentals course, the management should take into consideration such factors such the duration of the course, a form of courses (online or life form), a number of target audiences. Additionally, the following factors such as a number of competitors who propose the same courses, the prices on the project management fundamentals course set by the competitors are important. The duration of the project management fundamentals course is two days. The typical price for the live project management fundamental course that lasts two days is $399 (“Project management – PMP training,” n. d., 1 para). The typical price of the online project management fundamental course that lasts two days is $199 (“Project management – PMP training,” n. d., 1 para).

In New York, according to the results of the market research, there is hot demand for courses on project management. Therefore, in case a course is attended by a large audience, the management can set a moderate price. In fact, the larger the audience, the more profits can be gained from the course, due to the large fixed costs that occur when organizing such an event. A great number of companies provide such courses as project management training. Thus, the prices of the courses on project management fundamentals, project planning and control, project finance and budgeting, project risk and quality management should be competitive.

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In dealing with the pricing of project risk and quality management courses, management should take into consideration the value of these courses for the customers. Due to a hot demand, risk and quality management courses have a high value for the customers. The typical price of the project risk and quality management course that lasts four days is $2,990 (“Project management – PMP training,” n. d., 1 para). Thus, the company has to set a competitive price on the course that equals not more than $1495. The typical price of the project planning and control course that lasts one day is $395 (“Project management – PMP training,” n. d., 1 para). Thus, therefore, the management in order not to lose any of the customers and be profitable at the same time should price the two-day course at $790, taking into consideration the fact that data regarding the actual prices on the project finance and budgeting course is not available.

Planning the place strategy for such service as the organization of the management training courses, the company should consider where the customer looks for the service (Mind Tools Editorial Team, n.d.). First, when establishing the place or location of the venue, management should identify the building for the office. The building should have a modern design and should be equipped with high-quality furniture. It is desirable to rent the office in the center of New York City. Besides renting the office building located in the center of the city, the company should be able to make the management training courses available online. The online format will foster the sales and serve the clients who cannot attend the management training courses due to any circumstances. The company should elaborate on the procedure of online submissions. The place strategy that implies renting the office building and the online website is applicable for all four management training courses.

Regarding the promotion strategy for the management training courses, management should consider the right distribution channels, which will be used to promote the services (Mind Tools Editorial Team, n.d.). To make a correct choice of the distribution channels, the company should take into consideration such factors as who are the company’s target audience, and what channels of distribution are the most effective when reaching the specific groups of target audience. Therefore, marketing team should consider how many hours a day/a week specific groups of target audience spend on reading the news online, looking through the magazines, and watching TV programs.

One of the channels to reach the company’s audience is an online advertising. Taking into consideration the amount of people who search for the information regarding the goods or services in the web, advertising online is one of the most effective and productive channels of promotion. Another effective promotion channel is the press. To place an effective advertisement regarding the management training courses, the management has to focus on specialized press issues oriented at economics and management problems such as “The Economics Press,” “Contract Management Magazine,” etc.

Additionally, the company should place their advertisements on TV. However, the share of advertisements placed on TV will be very small, since the target market of the company is people who currently occupy a position of manager, but need the courses to either refresh their memory or increase their skills and gain competitive advantage in the same or even different managerial sphere. For example, the manager who is responsible for project planning and control needs to take the course of project risk and quality management because he/she plans to increase the competitive advantage of the company by expanding to a new sphere or changing the goals and objectives. The busy manager is the audience that cannot be reached through the TV ads since this target market usually does not spend much time watching news or programs on TV.

Therefore, the most appropriate channel of promotion of such courses as the project finance and budgeting, the project risk and quality management, and the project planning and control is specialized press and online magazines. However, in case of the project management fundamentals course, the company’s target audience is students. Thus, to reach young potential customers, such as students, the most effective way is online advertising. The first step that the company should take is creating their personal websites with a description of each management training course. Then, the company has to elaborate on the procedure of online submissions. The third step that the company should follow is investing in advertising on the most popular among student’s social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Additionally, the company should place their advertisements on the websites of business forums, educational websites.

Finally, the company should consider a distribution strategy for the business. It should decide whether it is planning to engage in the reseller business (Mind Tools Editorial Team, n.d.). The company has to make a decision regarding the most effective ways of distributions. In other words, the management needs to consider whether the company requires dealers and resellers. To make a decision regarding the distribution chain, the team has to take into consideration the specific characteristics of the product/service. In this case, the service is management training courses. The company does not offer the courses in a large amount that require the joined efforts of dealers and resellers. Therefore, the company does not need to involve third parties. The company will use the distribution channel called in marketing the direct channel to end-users. This channel implies selling the management training courses as a product directly to end-users through the website of the company. The company will not use the distribution channel that implies selling through a dealer network or through a value-added reseller.

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In conclusion, when dealing with the correct pricing strategy for management training courses, management should consider price sensitivity. In other words, it should compare the prices set by its competitors and consider following their example. Moreover, it should create a flexible system of bonuses and discounts. Additionally, the company should consider the duration of the course, a form of courses (online or live form), a number of target audience, a number of competitors who propose the same courses, and the prices set by the competitors. Regarding the pricing system for the project risk and quality management course, the management should take into consideration the value of the course for the customers. In dealing with the promotion strategy, the marketing team has to consider the right channels that can be used to advertise the service. To make a correct choice of promotion channels the company should consider such factors as who is the company’s target audience, and what channels are the most effective in reaching the specific groups of the target audience. The target audience of the management training courses is managers and students. Finally, the company has to pay attention to the fours P, which is a distribution channel. The company will focus on direct sales, through the website, and will not involve any third parties like partners, resellers, etc.