Pet Paw’s Photography branding strategy is our logo and slogan which is a big part of our branding strategy to connect with our customers by placing our logo on all of our products in order to get our name out their, and remind our customers about our product. We also conduct extensive research on similar business that come to the area to find out what products and services they offer, and what will set us apart from them.
We conduct research on our customers as well, through surveys, online questionnaires to get their feedback on our products and According to the article, “The Whole Picture- a Professional Beauty Photo Shoot” the most important part of marketing is the research, before any brand development work takes place. Research sometimes can be overlooked, but is actually the essential blueprint for your brand and can actually save your business a lot of time and money down the road. Research serves as a reference point and source of inspiration as your brand’s image evolves.
It is critical to analyze what your competition is doing and saying, to define and maintain your competitive edge to better understand your customers before you can begin communicating your brand message to them (www. GCImagazine. com). Our pricing strategy is to be affordable and similar to our competitors in the area, by keeping our prices in line with our competitors gives us an even playing field. We charge the average rate of $150. 00 to $250. 00 per session, which is normally what most photographer charge for their services according to the article, “Steal this job: Pet Photographer” (Washington Post).
Although our prices are reasonable we ensure that all of our products and pictures are high quality, and we always follow up with our customers to ensure they are one hundred percent satisfied with their product and service. At Pet Paws, we use different distribution strategies in order to sell and promote our product and service, because where you sell your product or promote your service can be as important as the price you set or features you offer (www. smallbusiness. chron. com).
One of our distribution strategies is Social Media and our testimonial website, this helps us get the word out about our product and service, and helps us create buzz by allowing our customers to give their feedback on their experience with us. Another distribution strategy is our location, we are located in downtown Anderson, which has become a hot spot for new business in the area, and have brought a lot of retirees, and young adult residents to the area because of new loft apartments and condominiums.
This in turn has helped us increase sales and generate more sales because majority of these residents in the area or pet owners. Marketing Strategy In order to remain competitive and continue to increase overall profits we at Pet Paws Photography must continue to stay on target and utilize our marketing strategy in order to reach our goals and vision. One of our marketing strategies is Research, we regularly perform extensive research on our competitors and customers, in order to find out what services and products our competitors offers and how we can use this information to set ourselves apart from them.
We use surveys, questionnaires, and our blog site in order to get feedback from our customers in order to meet their needs and demands, and use their suggestions in order to find areas we need to improve. Another market strategy we utilize is target marketing; we seek pet owners, pet grooming companies, vets, and pet adoption agencies. We target market in order to highlight our business and help create buzz to appeal to this particular audience and attract new customers, to increase overall sales. We strive to be different from our other competitors in order to offer something different and unique to customers.
According to the article, “Dare to Be Different in Your Marketing Approach” states, in marketing, most companies get the perception that they should take the same approach as their competitors because they see it working for them. Instead, your business should seek to be different and offer products or services that your competitors does not offer, in order to appeal to consumers. By offering something different, it gives consumers options that will mostly likely generate buzz and increase sales (Promotional Marketing).
For example, we offer customized greeting cards, mugs, ornaments, calendars, and host a yearly pet fashion show with pets and their owners. This has proven to be a success and has helped us market our product and generate more customers. We also use our expertise skills and customer service, to build better relationships with our customers, because if we continue to make our customers happy they will spread the word about our business to co-workers, family members and friends, which will help market our brand and create loyal customers. Major Competitors
We have both Inter-type competition as well as Intra-type competition in the area, our Intra-type competition that means competition among firms in the same type of business, is Photo Photography and All Dogs Photography, both business offer pet photography pictures and videos(www. businessdictionary. com). Photo photography strengths are they provide same-day delivery, rewards programs for customers, high-tech equipment, and offer photography classes. Photo Photography weakness are poor customer service, backorder on products, no follow-up with customers, and does not offer any type of events to build customer relations.
All Dogs photography strengths are excellent customer service, rewards program, advertisement and free doughnuts and coffee. Their weakness is poor equipment, low quality pictures, no testimonial website for customers, and no events for their customers. Pet Paw’s Photography Inter-type competition that means competition among firms in different types of business, which sell the same product, are Wal-mart and JCPenny’s both make all types of photos even with pets, although they sell clothes, electronics, groceries, and other items.
Wal-mart strengths are less expensive pictures, major low-price retailer, same-day pictures, online ordering, weakness are poor quality pictures, poor quality equipment, unskilled workers, and poor customer service. JcPenny strengths are online ordering, offer coupons, low-cost pictures, rewards program, weakness are poor customer service, longer wait time for pictures, low-quality pictures, and no certified animal trainer on site. Differentiation Strategy
At Pet Paws Photography, we always strive to set our business apart from similar business in the area, in order to capture our target market and make them feel our service and product is the only place they can get high quality pictures and video. We host an annual fashion show for our customers and their pets in order to create buzz and promote our product, we provide a high quality trained staff, and have a certified animal trainer on site.
We give all first time customers a free locket with their favorite picture of their companion with each order to show our appreciation for their business, and send all of our customers a thank you card for their purchase. We use these different tools as our differentiation strategy in order to set our business apart from our competitors and gain loyal customers. According to the article, Differentiated Business Strategies” the term differentiation means making your business or brand stand out by offering unique features, benefits, services or other elements of your solution.
This strategy means identifying the most important criteria used by buyers in your market and then designing product, service or other offerings in a way that best meets those criteria (www. smallbusiness. chron. com). Leader or Follower Our vision for Pet Paw’s Photography is to become the Upstate’s leading pet photography company and eventually open up another location in the near future. Unlike our competitors who are followers and operating their business like other competitors in the area.
However, we at Pet Paws plan to become the number one pet photography business, and beat out our competitors, by adapting to change, staying informed about new trends and technology, and utilize strategic innovation. According to the article, “Strategy Meets Innovation” strategy innovation is shifting a corporation’s business strategy in order to create new value for both the customer and the corporation. Strategy Innovation is critical for a business success or survival in any dynamic markets, and can be a source of competitive advantage in more stable markets (Harvard Business School Press, 1997).
Environmental Issues Strategic planning and Innovation is a vital part of our business marketing plan and a key factor in our business overall success, it is very important for our business to look at the environmental, legal, social issues, and technological issues that could affect our business and put us at risk for legal issues and fines. According to the article, “How to Prepare a Marketing Environmental Analysis”, Preparing a marketing environmental analysis is an essential step in understanding the external local, national and international forces that might affect your business.
These different analysis are called PESTLE analysis which stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, and Legal. (1) Political factors- refer to governmental actions or policies that have an impact on your business and its ability to trade. For example, certain restrictions may be imposed on import or export of certain goods they may limit your market or prohibit your ability to obtain raw materials (2) Economic factors include all the various taxes and duties you are obligated to pay, as well as wider fiscal decisions on things like certain bank interest rates, or special taxes.
For example, in Anderson County all business are required to charge a 6% sales tax, plus and additional 1% local option tax to all customers. Business not collecting the proper sales tax, or local option tax maybe fined. Other economic factors are economy, inflation/price levels, unemployment rate; these factors can affect your business. Because if the area you are doing business in has a very high unemployment rate individuals may not spend money on items they deem not an necessity(www. petaustralia. org/pet-industries/industry-statistics. om) (3) Social factors- How society changes and adapts over time, and the differences in communities across the country and the world, are all important when planning your business. For example, in the photography business it is vital to know what is acceptable within your community and individuals perception about your service, because these are the individuals who may become potential customers so their perception can weigh heavily on your business, because most business gain more customers by word of mouth and customers perception.
In this business, it is very important to be diverse and opened minded because you will be working with all different types of individuals from different background and ethnic groups so it is very important to know a little about their culture and background in order to build a long-term relationship.
There are different aspects to consider and explore include religion, lifestyle expectations, housing standards and population demographic such as age, gender, and ethnic origin. (4) Technological factors- is staying abreast of the new technology and how these changes may affect your business, this is very important for our photography business in order to remain competitive and set ourselves apart from our competitors we will continue to invest in the latest technology and
