Mama Chef
9 Month Marketing Plan
Lana Voynova
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Marketing 634
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Summer 2011
MENU 1 - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY p3
a. Introduction b. About Mama Chef c. Differentiation d. Value Proposition
2 - OBJECTIVES + GOALS p6 3 - SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS p7
a. SWOT b. Market Analysis c. Competitive Analysis
4 - SEGMENTATION + TARGETING p10
a. Behavioral Segmentation b. Target Market Selection
5 - TACTICS + CONTROLS p13
a. Marketing Mix b. Customer Retention c. Charity Promotion
6 - SUMMARY + SOURCES p19 DESSERT: 7 - THROWAWAYS p21
1 - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 a. Introduction This marketing plan is intended to be used over a period of 9 months as a guide to successfully grow, position and promote Mama Chef as a unique, profitable venture. Mama Chef is a small business started by a culinary school educated mom and focuses solely on gourmet food prepared by women during and after pregnancy. Like any successful recipe, this marketing plan combines the right combination of ingredients, timing, and tastes of and for those intended to consume it. Mama Chef's broad positioning is a product differentiator. As pregnancy creates 3 potential usage states of pre, during and post, the Behavioral segmentation tactic was chosen as the most effective to properly position Mama Chef's product offerings. These include a gourmet pregnancy cookbook, personalized cooking classes, and online recipes with cooking advice. During the first 9 months of operation we plan on executing this marketing plan in 3 phases and turning a profit by the final phase. Success will be measured by profit generated from online advertisements and increased traffic, revenue from cooking classes, increased clientele, and lastly, sales of the cookbook.
1 b. About Mama Chef is a busy, young, culinary school educated New York City based mom who believes that it’s important for future and current moms to create a variety of delicious, nutritious, chef-level food via a unique cookbook, personalized cooking classes and digital support. The chef, Inga Voloshin, is originally from Eastern Europe but professionally educated in the American culinary system. Frustrated by boring pregnancy diets and countless rules but enabled by her education, Inga decided to self-research all the proper nutrition a woman needs during her 3 semesters of pregnancy and turn her findings into recipes. This became The Pregnant Chef, a quality cookbook of creative recipes that any foodie with at least some cooking knowledge can create. Unfortunately, Inga could not get published due to a large amount of competition and lack of official medical training and guidance on nutrition. She then decided to publish her cookbook digitally and created a cooking blog, Mama Chef, while the book is in production. This blog is intended for moms cooking gourmet meals for their families. However, this too was not a unique enough approach to stand out in toady's crowed blogosphere, especially as an unknown chef. Thus, Mama Chef is becoming a service that addresses eating limitations during
Inga, AKA Mama Chef
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pregnancy, gives cooking advice and unique recipes both online and in a book, but also teachers women how to prepare gourmet food by hosting personalized cooking classes. Mama Chef’s primary specific value proposition is in providing quality, but with a user focus. A gourmet chef catering mostly to foodies, quality in ingredients and resulting dishes is a must. Secondly, because this business is so focused on the unique and evolving needs of its customers, mama chef is able to adapt and position itself for the specific needs of the user. Customers always have access to gourmet tips and recipes either online, by requesting cooking classes, or referencing the Pregnant Chef cookbook.
1 c. Differentiation As noted, the markets for food bloggers and cookbooks for pregnant women are already saturated and un-welcoming to new competition. Luckily, there is no need to compete directly with their offerings. Overall, Mama Chef is different because it does not focus on nutrition, organic eating and health as its main offering, it instead focuses on quality. This alone makes it stand out among the myriad of health nut blogs, books and personal trainers. Getting turned down for publication due to focus on taste and not health (thus, not being like everyone else) is being used to our advantage to go after a different market. Also, many brands revolving around motherhood cater only to pregnant women or only to moms, while Mama Chef can evolve with her customer and use its small business aspect to edit quickly while remaining personable. Differentiated aspects of the 3 product offerings are: COOKBOOK: - not focused on health and calories - has more photographs and a clean presentation of food and ingredients organized by trimester - does not assume the women cannot cook and start from scratch - harnesses the foodie’s love of cooking and gauges their interest with recipes that quietly hide all the necessary nutrients a pregnant woman still needs so that she does not miss what she cannot eat - book comes for purchase in hardcover, USB flash drives and pdf - book makes a unique gift for pregnant foodies who enjoy collecting cookbooks books and anyone who enjoys cooking at home. - serves as segway to blog and base for cooking classes BLOG/FACEBOOK: - not many blogs for gourmet pregnant women and moms blogs - offers advice, helps expand cooking horizons and peak the interest of those women only starting to plan their pregnancy
COOKBOOK PUBLISHER Rejection Letter Dear Ms. Voloshin, Thank you for querying us about your book project. We have evaluated your materials and regrettably, your project is not a right fit for our agency. We currently have a very full clientele and must be highly selective about the new projects we pursue. Thank you again for thinking of us. Please know that we wish you much success in all of your writing and publishing endeavors. Publishing Company
FOODIE DEFINITION “A person that spends a keen amount of attention and energy on knowing the ingredients of food, the proper preparation of food, and finds great enjoyment in topnotch ingredients and exemplary preparation. A foodie is not necessarily a food snob, only enjoying delicacies and/or food items difficult to obtain and/or expensive foods; though, that is a variety of foodie. urbandictionary.com
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- can be used to as an open forum of Mama Master Chefs to share recipes, have digital cooking competitions and generate new ideas - works as self promotion for events, cooking classes and cookbook COOKING CLASSES: - currently no “official” cooking classes for pregnant women in NYC - private classes exist, but few are curated by a professional chef who is also a mom or pregnant - costs are kept lower by using own and customer’s kitchens and small groups and sourcing high end ingredients at lower costs - classes can evolve with customer needs or address particular pet peeves and learning gaps of foodie moms and provide challenges - classes can also be used as a social gathering in the Chef’s closeknit community and are a great source of Word Of Mouth advertising - Gift Givers can gift this class to pregnant women or moms for special occasions
HEALTH BENEFITS OF COOKING FOR KIDS “Kids who eat meals with their parents at least three times a week are 12% less likely to become overweight; prompting researchers to call for more "shared meals." shine.yahoo.com
1 d. Value Proposition Due to these unique product offerings, it is determined that Mama Chef is the More For Same value proposition. Mama Chef offers a better cookbook with more versatility, images and recipes and a unique focus for the same price as other hard copy or digitally published cookbooks. The blog and videos are also free, but there is more information and they are more specific for foodies. Lastly, because the cooking classes are small scale and can be done at the customers or chef’s kitchen, operational costs are lower.
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2 - OBJECTIVES + GOALS 2 a. Objectives Our objective is to gain notoriety among foodie moms at any lifestyle phase by properly positioning a unique set of products with the active goal of becoming profitable in 9 months.
2 b. Goals To achieve these objectives, our goals are in honing our product offerings and bringing then up to par, identifying profitable, strategic and innovative partners and executing creative promotions at little or no cost to Mama Chef. We also wish to be dominating the gift giving for expectant moms niche and utilize data to gain and retain loyal customers while expanding product offerings. These goals are to be achieved over a course of 3 phases of implementation (or trimesters) as follows:
INGA’S THOUGHTS ON FOOD & MOTHERHOOD This blog is an effort to force mothers (myself included) to sustain the quality of their own lives. This will be done by infusing your daily life with choices that will make you feel better and, in effect, perform better as a mother. My choice is to eat great food. http://ingasindulgence. blogspot.com/p/aboutme.html
RAW PHASE - redesign of the blog for ease of use, aesthetics, advertising revenue - completion and publication (hard copy and digital) of the cookbook - beginning spreading word in local community and via friends and family - brainstorming of a variety of offerings and menus for the cooking classes - identification and selection of unique collaborators for promotions MEDIUM PHASE - launch of the cookbook - search engine optimization - promotion of blog and increased traffic - beginning of promotion and teaching of small cooking classes - active utilization of selected collaborators - collection of data on promotion successes and for customer retention WELL DONE PHASE - re-marketing of services as clients move through lifestyle segments - expanding cooking classes into guides and publications for families - establishing position as the ideal pregnancy or gourmet gift for moms - expanding to new partners and bigger markets - exploring going after the high-end customer more aggressively - restructuring of plan and goals as needed to reflect current/external trends
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3. SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 3 a. SWOT N WE AK G STR EN
T HS
ef is) al c h e c ip e s n gh th o i u s o r s r e e h f l nt asy - Pro e versati (b e e n ed, e o e z i i c u t i i n r q o i a t nu org ed v - Un d on naliz tent, e o n h s c o r r c e to es d ea -P y res presente r all recip book l i d v a n s/ a ut / - He d fo lude video laid o / c l l k n i e o bo -W phy /face on og r a g t o o l h i b -P lo c a t r ting f o o p s p ec t ut - Su l al ll asp health n a r igita ingu e l i d r / b o / d cov s iet tie rinte tad unit y be p m n - No a m c o ip e s ng/c - Rec n speaki sia a s ed - Rus or k b n Y w er - Ne /mod g n u - Yo le et a b k r a -M
T T UNI R O P P
IE S
or doc t r o t s tioni d nutri udget a plete t - No tar tup b ed/com n s sh w - No yet publi ld/unkno sses e t fi c o r la e -N to th ic tions fo s w e om -N s tr vel re to new m p a r T ng er revam - Stra needs a g - Blo
gi t al m o re in d i d s te d n u a r t d T r i n te ni s t s ks o k s p s n u t r i t io e e e b o o o b y e ma n e tc ks, fr nu r s tors/ - Too r b o o k o n blo g c e o v d o te r rd c wo r - Wri of ha ocial net s e l a s s s s re n t - No o nt h c t io n f c ur m o 9 k c n e s tri i r d e - La n e tim nd s v i c e s a s s co s t / al s e ma d l - Ser k c e me o l g y o t n b i s k th c hef - Coo any heal in g co o k o m t co o k o o g o n n T o ol have es to om s m - Tak w ip e s e ne l t re c e yet m r - S o m n ce a t a l ou text) g , e d i n r r a a p, ip expe to le es r t (ap h a rd o p o liveri p o e u d s -T l d a oe) y fo o d ig i t d er j na n c - No a ws g t e , r t ec v s ho y/p r t i b , d a e h B b f re s ou tu pod, gs, y o l B ( p ea y c y ma n g na n - Too ed to pre c at d edi ss
TS HR E A
ks rs t wor hes e tome n s u g c i c n i n l ok ya ific ial co spec ecome lo - Soc tials for b n en s c an - Pot sion buy nt wome a a n is e - Occ ion preg ncies t he r w m om s n o l a n il ne - 6 m ed pregn ng wome astes of nts i a t n k n r ood /ingredie oking cl f - Pla ated wo n r o e s c d / c d o - Edu loped m ink of foo romotion f moms e v rp ge o o th - De vel fo knowled s me t a i r t t e l l - Lit t York loca cooking ts/recipe ds g/ oo an w - Ne of trainin y restaur cultural f il k e d ed - Lac althy fam y in som s ne e a s t i e e k l t i - Unh of versat ns of tas over boo o i k t d c a r t a c - La xpec of sold h e h - Hig d, free s s site te - Prin pons/sale et work n u ion s - Gro nal niche ef at tent onth m 9 o t h s pas - Per nalized c r t om s o o m s p r w p e -P f ne e su l-tim rnover o a e R tu s i b le - Pos
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3 b. Market Analysis There are currently about 6 million pregnant women1 in the United States. In New York county alone the pregnancy rate was abut 115 per 1000 females, but it is slightly declining over recent years5. We believe its because many women are also waiting longer2 to have children and therefore, are better established financially once they do. There is also a strong-hold on nutrition and healthy eating, but often little attention paid to the variety of food pregnant and its quality pregnant women eat or moms, who still wish to cook like chefs. Due to the economy and time constraints, many are not willing to pay for services or items that are considered a luxury, or things that could be selftaught. They would however, gladly receive these items as gifts4. While it is necessary to eat, is not necessary to prepare gourmet meals which also add a time constraint. However, many women enjoy cooking and often eat at home to save money, so the slowing down of economy on dining out is to our benefit as we dine in. Also, the rise of baby planners and concierges made famous by the TV show Pregnant in Heels make pregnancy services that includes cooking instruction more acceptable, although not more affordable. Lastly, the market is heavily skewed towards using organic cooking and locally sourced ingredients. Several benefits of this are preventing obesity, diseases and allergies in children6, and thus, many people have jumped on this bandwagon and saturated the market. Mama Chef cares about using proper ingredients, but is focused more on the end result. We again take advantage of this market opportunity of people cooking at home and putting more emphasis into their ingredients. Mama Chef shows them how to use these ingredients for a fantastic gourmet meal. ADDITIONAL DATA COLLECTION: An online poll was used to see how women in different stages of pregnancy reacted to our product offerings, what caused some hiccups and etc. Some interesting results were revealed that would in turn guide our segmentation and targeting efforts. 20 participants total: 9 planning pregnancy, 3 currently pregnant, 8 already a mom Survey takers were 50/50 immigrants and Americans: - most think their national food is diverse - quarter think its unhealthy and limited Most cook at home at least 3 time a week: - most identified themselves as “obsessed” with pregnancy nutrition - a bit under half only know the basics but wish to expand their knowledge Half would only own cookbook if it was gifted:
*See Sources section for Information on research
BLOGGER QUOTE ON EATING WELL WHILE PREGNANT BOOK “One of the very first pregnancy books I purchased was What to Eat When You're Expecting, a book I swiftly returned. This and other so-called "basic" pregnancy nutrition books were very simply about healthy eating, and, mostly, gave advice on how little a fruit roll up actually resembled a serving of fruit along with scattered recipes for western omelets - so, very, very basic healthy eating. Like, eating for people who have never eaten healthy ever before. Child's play! Clearly we were going to need a bigger boat. Without a resource, I've had to forge ahead on my own. Some books, like Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck, have some good solid guidance beyond "avoid fruit roll-ups" but don't delve deeply into the forbidden foods and ways to bypass your new dietary rules, and that is really what I've been looking for. A cheating guide. What To Eat When You're Expecting But Also Expect To Eat Well, and this book does not exist.” via Tiger Lily blog
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- the rest are split with just wanting a cookbook for their collection and only wanting the digital one - half got their knowledge of cooking from family, the other half from online sources Most survey participants wished they had more time and money for healthy ingredients: -a quarter wanted more education and advice on cooking
ON BABY FOOD: Chef Alex Guarnaschelli “::mush:: food is likely to be an improvement over the formula that is still the baby’s main diet newyork.grubstreet.com
SURVEY TAKEAWAYS: - Interpersonal communication still key in cooking knowledge - Mothers are more open to attending cooking classes and socializing around food preparation - Women of all stages cooked at home pretty often - The Cookbook will only appeal to few hard core foodies but makes a great special occasion gift - Women are more likely to attend any classes if their friends join them or if someone gifted the classes to them - Location did not play a role in food interest, foodie status
3 c. Competitive Analysis The market of product offerings for pregnant women is saturated but it is also mostly one-sided. Research revealed a plethora of competitors for blogs, cookbooks and even many cooking classes. However, very few were positioned directly for foodies and offered a variety of products for these women at every conceivable stage of life. As it is impossible to separate nutrition from pregnancy, this is indeed addressed in all of Mama Chef’s recipes. Some women have also identified this issue and have started writing books and blogs on gourmet cooking while pregnant and parenting. Fortunately, there are few of them and few seem to be partnered with unique companies and have unique promotions for their products. Mama Chef’s top competition: COOKBOOKS: Expect the Best: Your Guide to Healthy Eating Before, During, and After Pregnancy by Elizabeth Ward This addresses all stages of pregnancy and has many recipes but is very health and weight loss focused, gourmet aspect is missing so this is not the strongest competitor. The Gourmet Pregnancy: Be a Foodie – Even While You’re Pregnant by Leah Douglas This book is a direct competitor on every aspect from cooking *See Sources section for Information on research
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gourmet meals and maintaining a foodie lifestyle without missing a beat. Additionally, this book was reviewed by doctors which make it more credible in the eyes of many moms and publishers. Feed the Belly: The Pregnant Mom’s Healthy Eating Guide by Frances Largeman-Roth Also addresses all stages or pregnancy even the pre-pregnancy stage and reads a lot like an advice book sprinkled with anecdotes, but is still more health focused over eating well/gourmet level. However, it has reviews from top chefs, therefore is competition. Parents Need To Eat Too by Debbie Koenig Debbie is a jack of all trades and also shows up under blog and cooking classes competitors. This book addresses the direction Mama Chef is going with her next possible publication. Cooking for moms as though all moms are chefs, as well as the differentiation in her cooking classes by focusing on family. BLOGS/WEBSITES: One Hungry Mama by Stacie is a top NYC based blogger with a clean organized blog by child age and recipe. Ease of navigation and additional items like gift suggestions and guides give Stacie an advantage over Mama Chef.
COOKING MANIFESTO BY AMANDA HESSER * If you cook, your family will eat dinner together. * If you cook, you will naturally have a more sustainable household. * If you cook, you’ll set a lifelong example for your children. * If you cook, you’ll understand what goes into food and will eat more healthily. * If you cook, you’ll make your home an important place in your life. * If you cook, you’ll make others happy. * If you cook, people will remember you. Amanda Hesser, author of The Essential New York Times Cookbook and owner of the blog food52
Words to Eat By blog by Debbie Koenig is another NYC based blogger who enjoys gourmet eating but heavily focuses on health and weight maintenance. Babble - the online magazine for new parents with many food tips. The diversity of tips and recipes here is wonderful, though overwhelming, but it does organize recipes for gourmet offerings. Cooking Classes & Services: Parents Need To Eat Too by Debbie Koenig Private cooking classes in Brooklyn for new parents. Small, personable and focused, Debbie again proves to be competition. The Wooden Spoon - Cooking Classes in NYC that do special occasions but are cost prohibitive and do not list pregnancy or mom focused classes Home Cooking New York - private and group cooking classes in NYC. Does not seem to have mother or pregnancy offering, but has special kids cooking classes, therefore are competition. Rosie Pope & Maternity Concierge are baby planners who help higher income moms with all things pregnancy and baby, including cooking instruction. However, they are cost prohibitive and are mostly for urban moms without any cooking experience.
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4 - SEGMENTATION + TARGETING 9 B
. *
4 a. Segmentation
Our target market is foodie women of child bearing age. This market 9 * 6 6 D 6 +E-!
was further divided using Behavioral segmentation due to the user status 3
potential. Because Inga already has a blog which she uses to promote fun
4 and gourmet recipes for moms, it was only natural to try and utilize the entire
5
lifecycle of child bearing women and react to each one accordingly.
. * There are only three things our target market can be and that is planning,
pregnant and post pregnancy. Even though this may all be the same woman at different stages, there are different values and price elasticities
6 6 D 6 +E-!
that exist at each stage and we plan on taking advantage of this during ! ! !& -< 0-.1 3
our tactical phase. Segmenting further, we identified 3 major markets 4 with unique needs, price constraints and values. 4 5
DOCTORâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S QUOTE ON BALANCED DIETS FOR PREGNANT WOMEN
"We have a tendency to beat pregnant women 0 # over the head with 'do + %
this, don't do this,'" said obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Laura Riley, medical director of labor and delivery at the Harvard9 B affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. "We 9 B
%
% : always want people to
have a balanced diet that includes protein, fat and 9 B carbohydrates. We don't think pregnant women
should take any one thing out of their diet."
9 B
82 Dr. Laura Riley, OBGYN abcnews.go.com
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4b. Targeting Even though we have 3 segments which include women who are planning pregnancies, we will not be actively targeting them due a lack of a differentiated Marketing Mix. We will however, actively watch this market and allow them to find us via keyword searches and word of mouth advertising from customers in other segments. Meanwhile, this market is also hard to identify as are just contemplating having children and thus, would not yet use Mama Chef services, but we want to make sure they know we exist.
0. PRE-PREGNANT PLANNERS
They are: organized, curious, researchers, frequent diners, but also cooks at home. NOT as price elastic. Are looking for future value, reasons to get involved, maintain foodie lifestyle while pregnant and as a mom, they also like variety and unwilling to settle. This leaves us with two more segments, pregnant women and those who are already moms. From our research and survey, it was determined that there are two reasons for using Mama Chef services and they have to do with Frequency and Special Occasions. From this arose our finalized 3 Targets:
1. PREGNANT FOODIE FANATIC
Loves to eat, knows food, cooks, expects high quality, does not like food restrictions, high price elasticity. Can offer other services such as a pregnancy concierge depending on income level, private classes, advice, book (hardcover) and tips and etc.
2. OCCASIONAL GIFT GIVERS
Pregnancies and motherhood mean changes in behaviour, responses by others and increased gift giving. This is also temporary. We are taking advantage of the shorter time frame and positioning this service and book as a great gift idea for busy moms who wish to socialize, pregnant women and baby showers and special occasion cooking. Givers are also more price elastic.
3. MAMA MASTER CHEF
Has less time, less disposable income so not very price elastic, would do group classes to socialize and maintain a high level and versatility of food for the family. Might be loyal to the brand due to experience, is curious but is also happy to spread the word.
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5 - TACTICS + CONTROLS 5 a. Marketing Mix Wrapping up the RAW implementation stage of our marketing plan and moving into the four 4P’s for each segment, Mama Chef is getting closer to being a profitable business after successful completion of the MEDIUM stage. Properly implementing and tracking our advertising efforts after each targeted promotion is also touching on the final WELL DONE stage of our plan.
PREGNANT FOODIE FANATICS Product – all products with the potential of their higher value offerings, the hard-cover cookbook and private cooking classes. Price – higher end as it is elastic during pregnancy and will reach for higher priced products, possibly even concierge services. Place – at own home or chef’s home/rented restaurant spaces for cooking classes. Online advertising and promotion. Also, knowing new necessities that arise from pregnancy, cooking demonstrations can be given at furniture/appliance stores such as IKEA or Sears and at Bed Bath & Beyond. Promotions 1. Cooking demonstrations at mentioned stores as future moms are there to buy baby furniture and cutlery. Utilizing this need and promoting IKEA kitchens at the same time, hungry shoppers can sample foods, buy the book or download a pdf on the spot. CONTROL FOR IKEA - Monitoring how many books were sold during the store demonstration and spikes in traffic to website in the next 2 days - Collecting emails at presentation and following up shortly - Directly asking how they’ve heard of us when someone buys an ebook, posts on the blog or orders a cooking class 2. Social media and chef’s own blog used to promote the services and cookbook via contextual advertising. Using available and low cost media to identify where our target is on the web. CONTROL FOR SOCIAL MEDIA - Monitoring spikes in traffic to website and referral URLs for smarter customer targeting and ad placement - Noting book downloads from the site + same controls as IKEA 3. Blog to be used to involve Foodies for recipe swapping, 13
cooking competitions and daily inspiration. Acknowledgment and participation has a higher retention, so Foodies constantly have to be stimulated for reasons to come back to our blog over another. This will spike traffic and therefore, advertising revenue. CONTROL FOR BLOG INTERACTION - Same as for social media, but also monitoring specific user activity and identifying leaders and converters to our blog, then reaching out to them directly for potential partnership 4. Higher end clients can use a Pregnancy Concierge and Rosie Pope services to send Mama Chef to their homes and ramp up on cooking meals for baby that taste at a level they are used. While foodies do not have to be high income, but in this case partnering with a brand that happens to be popular and filling a need has great revenue possibilities and little cost.
REASONS FOR A BABY CONCIERGE â&#x20AC;&#x153;She opted to hire professional baby planners who, much like the better-known niche of wedding planners, came armed with expertise to ready the overwhelmed, soon-to-be mother for her big day -- her son's arrival.â&#x20AC;? Reuters.com
CONTROL FOR PREGNANCY CONCIERGE - Track amount of training classes generated by Concierge and the total income from it. - Offer cookbook during home visits & monitor sales. - Being personalized, word of mouth is paramount. Always make sure to ask how they heard of us, monitor our referrals. 6. Store displays and digital tips at stores like Whole Foods and Fresh Direct. Online, we can set off alerts or tips at Mama Chef recommended ingredients and suggest the next ones to complete a cookbook recipe. CONTROL FOR STORE PURCHASES - Online, track how many purchases were used by adding a Mama Chef recommendation tab or JavaScript to the website - Same control as for Social Media when online - Encourage moms to share what they made with ingredients recommended by Mama Chef and track this activity - For in store displays have a trackable coupon or phone tag
5 b. Retention of Foodie Fanatics As Foodies have the potential to be loyal long-term clients and move into the next segment, giveaways of the cookbook or cooking classes can be utilized for frequent customers. They are often social and love to share, they can help bring in customers by spreading the word online and to friends, and be rewarded accordingly for their efforts.
PREGNANT FOODIE FANATIC CUSTOMER
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OCCASIONAL GIFT GETTERS Product – private and group cooking classes, cookbook Price – higher, as it is elastic during pregnancy and gift giving as the service we are providing and for gifts, but not cost prohibitive as we honor our More for Same value proposition. Place – at own home, chef’s home or rented kitchen spaces. Book is available online, through the chef herself and her blog, and is purchasable at the cooking class. Promotions: 1. Gift and baby registry websites, blogs as well as e-card sites. Instead of registering for clothes or diaper genies, Mama Chef will partner with companies like Macys and Toys R Us to include gifts for the mom. As the ones making the purchase are not necessarily the moms themselves, areas of where gift givers might dwell are important. Once a pregnancy is announced e-cards usually get sent to the mom to be. Many now offer to add gifts with the card. Partnering with sites like Hallmark will allow Mama Chef to become gifted right away. Because The Pregnant Chef cookbook is digital too, either product offering can be called out on the sites and blogs such as Mommy Poppins, which helps women in NYC navigate their pregnancies and finding proper services. CONTROL FOR ONLINE -Tracking the purchases made via all the partnerships and calculating revenue directly from them. -Nothing the purchasing of books or classes as gifts vs for interest to cater the offering properly as these women might have less cooking experience than most foodies. -Monitor follow up with class attendees for possibly converting occasional purchasers into frequent users. 2. Groupon and livingsocial.com Partnering with the popular group discount sites is not just a way to allow a bigger group of people to experience personalized cooking classes, but also makes a great gift as that option is built right into the sites. Here, either the mom wanting to try new recipes for her family and socialize with friends can get this for herself, or a gift can be purchased for a mom to be.
OCCASIONAL GIFT GETTERS
CONTROL FOR COUPON SITES - Counting the of purchases made from the coupon sites. - Noting of questions and preferences at the cooking class to .potentially turn these one time attendees into loyal customers. - Monitoring spikes in traffic and contacts as people discover this new company when the coupon goes live. 15
3. Event planning businesses Partnering with event planners will once again allow us to reach a higher end demographic of moms who will surely be having events to celebrate their pregnancies or even moms who wish to be social on another special occasion like a birthday, or to unwind with friends while learning something new. CONTROL FOR EVENT PLANNERS - Track all referrals from event planning sites - Keep track of attendees by getting their contact information and remarketing to them in the future as they change segments or wish to attend different cooking classes.
5 b. Retention of Gift Getters This is a hard group to retain as they are usually low frequency users and special occasion shoppers. Often, someone else might be making the purchase decision as it a gift. Fortunately cooking classes allow Mama Chef to meet the moms and gauge their true interest in gourmet style cooking and continue the communication process to them. It is also important to note that in any segment Word of Mouth advertising is essential for our business. Being a small company offering an intimate and often personalized product, referrals are key to our goals of growing the business and becoming profitable in under a year.
MAMA MASTER CHEF Product – blog and additional cooking materials such as flash cards or e-book catered for families no longer just one pregnant book will be enough. Family oriented cooking classes and cooking for baby classes. Price – will depend on the type of class purchased, but this is the lowest cost option as moms are price inelastic and while they are willing to learn, they are careful about their purchases Place – at home cooking class, interactive blog posts, cooking competitions, in store and online promotions, stores, schools and kindergartens
MAMA MASTER CHEF
Promotion – 1. Mobile Mom Munchies Hunt. Besides the basic promotions with use of social media and engaging blogs as mention under the first segment, Mama Chef will take advantage of the Mobile Mom7. There was a %64 increase in smartphone purchases among moms and according to mediapost.com, moms seek 16
utility and entertainment in their apps. This bodes well for mama chef as cooking is a utility but doing so with gourmet ingredients can be very entertaining to a foodie. Given the low or no budget of Mama Chef in the RAW and MEDIUM stages of the plan, we will harness existing apps and revolving around food and games. Moms will be sent an ingredient to their phone. They would have to identify it and then use it in a Mama Chef recipe. In reverse, they would also share the ingredients they have left in the house and then use creativity and gourmet know-how to turn them into something special. These simple mobile games engage, moms, educate them, but also challenge and entertain them. CONTROL FOR MOBILE MOM -use apps with reporting capabilities to track usage rates of moms coming from the Mama Chef site - identify top uses and harness their networks for brand expansion -drive online traffic back to the blog for increased visitation and exposure to other money generating offerings 2. meetups and social gatherings and events for moms are a great place to set up meetings for free and begin discussing cooking while relating to other moms. This sets the stage for loyal customers and allows moms to connect and share recipes and stories in person. Foodie meetups should be attended, but other relatable topics on babies such as homemade fomula vs. store bought, are also interesting topics. In-person discussions are a great way to quickly gauge the market and its changing needs faster the 9 months of this planâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s existence. CONTROL FOR MEETUPS - establish connections in meetup groups and social gatherings and follow up online or on the phone - establish own meeting groups and customers outside the local community and begin growing the business as noted in the WELL DONE phase of the implementation. - give away branded stickers or mini recipe cards with Mama Chefâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s information on them, but also offer to purchase books and recipes at very low cost on a memorable USB drive, and note how many sold 3. babysitter services , schools, kindergartens, block parties are a great place to connect with moms by placing flyers, talking to other moms and teachers and connecting with women with similar interests, much like meetup groups. Also, partnering with babysitter services by allowing moms to attend more gatherings and cooking classes, a lack if time was the biggest pet peeve in the survey. Block parties and cookouts are a great way to show off cooking skills and attract local moms to the brand while selling samples of home-made dishes as well as the Pregnant Chef cookbook in all its iterations.
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CONTROL FOR LOCAL PROMOS - same as meetups but a lot more focused on familiar community members as inside the community - collaborating with babysitting services and nothing how many moms decided on the cooking class once her time was freed up - track sales of USB book and items like cookies by monitoring traffic spikes and always making sure to ask how the customer heard of you.
5 b. Retention of Mama Master Chef Mama Chef will have to constantly be on her toes with this group, and a shorter term marketing plant that allows for quick edits at low costs helps. Modern mom are innovative, connected and busier than ever. Constantly coming up with creative cooking solutions like mobile ingredient hunts will be essential to retain the digital audience. We will always have to remember that our potential customers are right there in the community, so retaining close friendships and being empathetic to moms changing needs will help with retention. Harnessing the power of groups and attending events or initializing meetups for moms on any topics, will help establish a bigger picture of the modern foodie mom and ALL her interests. We will go where she goes and as a smart brand we will listen and react as necessary. an adaptive brand with a personal connect to its customer is one of the most effective ways to retain customers and earn their loyalty.
5 c. Charity Promotion For our charity or Pro Bono section, Mama Chef has decided to tap into her Russian community and help young immigrant moms through an organization called NYANA (New York Association for New Americans.) Inga personally knows how difficult it is to be in a new country, and this is doubled when a child is involved and language skills are lacking. As Inga is bilingual, she will be able to partner with NYANA and help moms of Slavic origin to navigate grocery stores, online and on the phone. Mostly importantly, she will provide education as needed on different products they might not have had access to before, as well as with food preparation. This can be done onsite at NYANA or in their homes. Not only will Mama Chef be helping an organization that is true to her heart, her new friends will be able to return the favor by spreading the word in the tight-knit Russian community about the services they have received and remain in contact with Inga and her brand even after they are not longer enrolled with NYANA ,after some time in the country. In the end, both Mama Chef and the incoming immigrant moms benefit from her services and expertise. 18
6 - SUMMARY + REFERENCES 6 a. Summary We believe this marketing plan will be successful as it appeals to women at all stages of pregnancy. We have identified a real need and lack of gourmet cooking for pregnant women and moms, and have found few competitors here. Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve also partnered with collaborators to create memorable and lasting promotions. We hope these efforts allow us to attract potential new and retain loyal customers.
6 b. References Market Research References 1. 6 million in US pregnant right now: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/main/statistics.html 2. Moms are older http://www.babycenter.com/0_22-surprising-facts-about-birth-in-the-united-states_1372273. bc?page=2 3. Not enough about nutrition and pregnancy info in NYC: http://www.thepregnantnewyorker.com/guide/nutrition.html 4. The Mama Chef live survey: http://lanamaniac.polldaddy.com/s/pregnantchef 5. Pregnancy Rates in NYC: http://www.health.ny.gov/statistics/chac/birth/tpreg60.thml 6. Preparing own baby food can reduce allergies http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AllergiesFood/moms-diet-influence-babys-allergies/ story?id=12035687 7 Moms going Mobile http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=153173&pa ssFuseAction=PublicationsSearch.showSearchReslts&art_searched=pregnancy&page_ number=0 Competition References Lots of cooking classes, but none geared towards pregnancy and most are price prohibitive: http://www.shawguides.com/nycooking/ http://www.thewooden-spoon.com/index.html http://www.cookingbythebook.com/ http://www.homecookingny.com/ Private cooking class by blogger Debbie Koenig is a direct competitor: http://www.achildgrows.com/2011/05/19/cooking-class-parents-need-to-eat-too/ No nutrition cooking guide even for pregnancy concierge: http://mommypoppins.com/ny-kids/can-fast-food-be-part-of-a-healthy-pregnancy-diet
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Pregnancy Cookbook Competitors: Expect the Best: Your Guide to Healthy Eating Before, During, and After Pregnancy by Elizabeth Ward The Gourmet Pregnancy: Be a Foodie – Even While You’re Pregnant by Leah Douglas Feed the Belly: The Pregnant Mom’s Healthy Eating Guide by Frances Largeman-Roth Parents Need To Eat Too by Debbie Koenig Pregnant Concierge Services offer no cooking: http://www.rosiepopematernity.com/momprep/ http://sweetpeababyplanners.com/wordpress/ Direct Online Competitors of Mama Chef: http://www.babble.com/ http://onehungrymama.com/ http://wordstoeatby.blogspot.com Similar (national) blogs to Mama Chef: http://preggiechef.blogspot.com/ http://community.babycenter.com/journal/sesara/3010951/ask_a_pregnant_chef http://chefchristine.wordpress.com/ http://www.babymed.com/category/top-level-article-keywords/info/lifestyle-and-beauty/foodand-nutrition http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/my-body/nutrition/ http://www.fitpregnancy.com/blog/pregnancyrecipes/40481862.html?section=914 – mom apetit http://puremamas.squarespace.com/ http://www.modernalternativemama.com/ http://bellybarblog.com/ http://www.naturalmomsblog.com/tag/pregnancy-nutrition Quotes and definitions on nutrition and cooking: Definition of a foodie: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=foodie Dr. Laura Reilly Quote on Balanced Diets http://abcnews.go.com/Health/AllergiesFood/moms-diet-influence-babys-allergies/ story?id=12035687 Butter’s Alex Guarnaschelli Is Her Baby’s Personal Chef http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2007/09/butters_alex_guarnaschelli_is.html Blogger on the need for a pregnancy eating cheating guide http://sainttigerlily.blogspot.com/2010/03/foodie-pregnancy-listeria-and-other.html Cooking manifesto by Amanda Hesser, author of The Essential New York Times Cookbook. http://www.food52.com/blog/1462 Kids who eat meals with their parents are less likely to be overweight http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/parenting/family-dinners-can-keep-kids-healthy-2508731/;_ ylt=Alr.Vlv2QFqSB_zXjBKuO3J6bqU5#poll-788C3ED0AD9D11E0807A90D2659275F0 Inga on motherhood and food: http://ingasindulgence.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html
Marketing Plan photography & design by Lana Voynova, @lanamaniac
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7 - SEGMENTS NOT TARGETED
Why didn’t target:
Why didn’t target:
-would be too luxury focused -would be too narrow and ignore other markets -would overlap with other segments -would be harder to position products for
- location didn’t determine foodie frequency - while Inga is Russian, there was not enough of a MM for the community - would overlap with other segments - would be harder to position products for and price elasticity changes for the same person depending on behavior
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Thank You!