This document discusses the marketing challenges faced by two friends, Paul and John, who have started an organic pet food company called Healthy Gourmet. With a limited marketing budget as a new startup, their problem is how to effectively market their new product. The document outlines alternatives they are considering, including conducting a focus group to gather customer feedback, exploratory research like a product trial program, and developing a website and social media presence to help promote the brand.

1. Brett
Henderson
COMM
636:
Integrated
Marketing
Communications
Case
Write
up
8.2
October
2,
2012
Statement
of
the
problem
This
case
study
focuses
on
a
new
entrepreneurial
venture
between
two
friends
Paul
Fry
and
John
Kirk.
After
researching
the
market
of
organic
pet
food,
the
two
friends
from
college,
John
a
recent
graduate
of
veterinary
school,
and
Paul
who
has
a
master’s
degree
in
biology,
decided
to
create
their
own
organic
pet
food.
They
will
sell
their
organic
pet
food
in
the
animal
clinic
that
they
own
in
Austin,
Texas.
The
problem
that
they
are
faced
with
now
is
marketing
this
new
product
on
a
budget.
With
Healthy
Gourmet
food
being
a
start
up
product,
their
budget
for
advertising
and
marketing
is
very
minimal.
They
are
focusing
on
a
two-­‐year
plan
because
of
the
budget
limitations.
This
problem
can
have
a
huge
effect
on
how
well
the
company
does,
if
they
don’t
figure
out
the
marketing
future
of
the
company
it
can
cause
the
product
to
fold.
List
of
critical
factors
1. Focus
group
to
gather
information
on
how
to
market
the
product
2. Exploratory
research
to
future
understand
the
target
market
3. Website
and
social
media
plans
to
be
able
to
market
the
product
4. Advertisement
plan
to
expose
the
product
to
the
target
market
5. Marketing
materials
to
continue
to
keep
the
brand
in
the
minds
of
the
target
market

2. Definition
and
evaluation
of
alternatives
1. First
thing
I
would
do
is
form
a
focus
group
a. Pro:
A
focus
group
would
give
let
Paul
and
John
get
a
feel
on
how
the
potential
buyers
feel
about
their
product.
It
would
give
them
insight
on
how
they
should
move
forward
with
developing
and
marketing
the
pet
food.
This
is
very
valuable
insight
to
have,
because
with
the
limitations
on
advertising
budget
they
can’t
afford
to
waste
any
of
their
budget
on
something
that
won’t
positively
enhance
their
product.
b. Con:
This
takes
planning,
manpower
and
time
to
conduct.
They
will
need
to
select
a
group
of
people
that
will
give
them
good
information
that
they
can
convert
to
a
marketing
plan.
They
will
need
to
spend
time
at
a
location
mediating
the
focus
group.
They
will
then
take
the
time
to
transcribe
it
and
decided
which
way
they
are
going
to
market
the
product.
2. Based
on
the
feedback
of
the
focus
group,
they
should
do
further
research
or
the
purchase
behaviors
of
a
more
general
pet
owner.
They
should
conduct
an
experiment
where
they
let
pet
owners
do
a
free
trial
&
taste
test.
They
should
distribute
out
sample
size
portions
of
their
pet
food
to
pet
owners.
Attached
to
the
sample,
they
should
attach
a
mail
in
survey
that
will
enter
the
participant
into
a
drawing
for
free
organic
pet
food
for
a
year.
a. Pro:
This
will
give
the
potential
customers
a
trial
of
the
pet
food.
They
should
have
faith
in
their
product
that
if
they
can
get
it
into
a

3. household
than
the
pet
owner
would
choose
it
next
time
they
went
to
buy
food.
The
raffle
will
show
the
participants
that
their
participation
is
serious
to
the
company
and
the
potential
customers
would
love
the
chance
to
get
free
pet
food
for
a
year.
b. Con:
This
type
of
experiment
will
take
more
time
to
conduct.
They
will
have
to
perfect
the
survey
to
get
correct
information.
They
will
have
to
pay
close
attention
to
each
survey
returned
and
throw
out
the
surveys
that
they
can
tell
didn’t
have
honest
answers.
Another
complication
will
be
finding
a
sample
size
large
enough
to
distribute
the
sample/survey’s.
3. The
next
step
I
would
take
is
to
build
the
website
and
social
media
plan.
a. Pro:
Having
a
fully
functional
website
will
give
potential
new
customers
a
way
to
get
more
information
about
the
product.
They
will
also
be
able
to
sell
their
product
via
Internet
and
not
only
have
to
rely
on
selling
it
in
house.
They
should
also
create
a
social
media
plan
to
get
their
name
out
in
the
world.
They
should
create
a
Facebook
fan
page,
which
will
allow
their
customers
to
interact
with
them.
They
will
also
be
able
to
create
polls
in
which
they
can
test
their
target
market
on
different
products.
They
should
also
create
a
Twitter
to
post
coupons
and
specials
and
also
create
a
platform
to
interact
with
clients.
b. Con:
According
to
the
book,
the
website
will
cost
$40,000
to
create.
That
is
a
large
chunk
of
the
budget
spent
just
on
the
website.
They
are

4. only
able
to
spend
$100,000
over
two
years
so
that
puts
a
huge
crunch
on
them.
That
will
leave
less
money
to
create
a
marketing
plan.
They
will
need
to
put
in
the
work
on
the
social
media;
this
will
take
time
away
from
development,
sales
and
time
in
the
shop.
If
they
choose
to
hire
someone
to
run
their
social
media
and
marketing,
which
will
save
them
time
but
cost
them
more
money
from
their
set
budget.
4. They
have
a
pretty
solid
advertisement
plan
in
place.
They
will
use
radio
ads
to
spread
their
product
and
raise
awareness.
Each
30-­‐second
radio
ad
will
cost
$250.
They
opted
to
do
four
commercials
a
week
for
the
first
six
months,
and
then
two
per
week
to
maintain
awareness.
I
would
also
ad
the
spread
in
the
Austin
Monthly
publication.
a. Pro:
The
radio
spots
will
raise
tons
of
awareness
to
a
mass
audience.
This
will
get
their
brand
out
in
the
open
and
it
will
drive
people
to
their
website
or
clinic.
This
is
a
pretty
inexpensive
way
to
advertise
and
build
brand
awareness.
A
creative
ad
spread
in
a
general
Austin
magazine
will
draw
customers
to
the
site
as
well.
The
initial
process
this
advertising
plan
should
be
to
build
up
a
brand.
These
are
two
ways
that
work
in
an
inexpensive
efficient
way.
b. Cons:
It
will
be
hard
to
gauge
how
efficient
this
type
of
advertisement
really
is.
If
they
are
combining
this
with
other
types
of
marketing
they
won’t
really
be
able
to
know
which
one
works
more
efficiently.
It
still
costs
quite
a
bit
of
the
budget
for
the
radio
ads.
The
publication
ad
has

5. potential
to
go
unseen
if
it
doesn’t
reach
the
correct
target
audience
because
of
generality
of
it.
5. They
have
an
idea
on
how
they
want
to
use
some
marketing
materials
to
drive
revenue.
They
plan
on
sending
mails
to
10,000
households,
four
times
a
year.
I
think
the
mailers
should
have
coupons
they
can
bring
in
to
get
5%
off
of
that
purchase.
This
will
give
the
clients
a
reason
to
come
into
the
store,
and
it
will
also
give
the
company
a
way
to
track
how
many
customers
it
drives
to
the
store.
If
they
have
a
website
store
they
can
put
a
coupon
code
on
the
flier
and
still
track
it
that
way.
a. Pros:
This
will
reach
a
lot
of
households.
The
reason
I
choose
this
in
the
5th
position,
even
though
I
think
it
will
be
effective,
is
because
I
want
them
to
narrow
down
their
target
market.
If
they
are
able
to
build
a
sample
of
households
that
would
enjoy
these
coupons
than
they
won’t
be
blindly
spend
money
on
home’s
that
don’t
have
pets.
b. Cons:
People
sometimes
don’t
look
at
advertisements
through
the
mail;
they
just
throw
them
away,
which
would
be
a
waste
of
money.
It
can
be
difficult
to
judge
the
impact
it
has
on
customers
returning
after
the
initial
buy
with
the
coupon.
Conclusion
In
conclusion,
I
recommend
John
and
Paul
take
a
five
step
process
in
the
development
of
their
marketing
plan.
The
first
step
is
setting
up
and
conducting
a
focus
group
to
generate
a
starting
point
and
how
to
market
to
that
particular
group
of
potential
clients.
After
the
conclusion
of
the
first
step,
take
that
information
and

6. help
generate
a
survey
to
distribute
with
a
sample
of
their
organic
dog
food.
Distribute
these
to
pet
owners
that
they
are
targeting
as
their
target
market.
This
is
the
next
step
of
the
process,
and
to
make
sure
the
surveys
are
returned
attach
a
raffle
for
free
organic
pet
food
for
a
year.
In
step
number
three
I
recommended
creating
the
social
media
plan
as
well
as
making
sure
the
website
is
created
and
maintained.
Step
four
is
to
create
an
advertising
plan
with
radio
spots
and
magazine
spreads,
these
would
create
a
buzz
about
the
company
and
start
the
branding
process.
And
the
last
step
of
the
process
is
to
create
a
marketing
plan
and
system
in
which
to
track
flyers
they
send
to
households.
I
believe
that
with
this
five-­‐step
process
Health
Gourmet
would
become
very
successful.
It
will
take
a
lot
of
time
and
patience
to
make
this
company
work
but
it
has
potential
to
be
very
wealth
business
venture.