Gymshark's Comprehensive Plan for Growth through Social Media, Brand Awareness, and Customer Retention

Executive Summary of the Plan

The marketing plan activities shall involve investing in social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Promotion of new products will also on the list of the objectives. Moreover, plans will be designed to extend brand awareness further. Lastly, a customer turnover rate will be devised to reap maximum benefits from present clients. In implementing these aspects of the plan, a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis shall be done to assess the most viable method of execution.

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Marketing Objectives

A marketing plan will remain an essential part of Gymshark's strategy of becoming a dominant global brand for fitness accessories and apparel. At the center of any great marketing plan lies a collection of definitive marketing objectives (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel 2008). The objectives will outline the intentions of marketing teams regarding the company's brand and pathways that these teams will follow to actualize the brand intentions of the company's marketing wing.

One of the company's objectives is to grow its online sales by an average of 10 percent for the next three years ending December 2023. The other objective for the Gymshark is to increase sign-up and leads for the company's products by 5 percent each year for the next three years, in line with its broader strategy of raising brand awareness. And the third objective suggested is to decrease the customer turnover rate by 2 percent each year for the next three years. The last objective is to sell at least 100 000 new pieces of accessories and apparel within the first two months from the time of launch. The marketing team expects that a combination of the listed objectives' outcomes will enable Gymshark to grow its profit by 20th percent by the end of December 2023.

Outline of the Marketing Plan

Online /Social Media Marketing Strategy

The social influence of marketing and social media occupies a vital position at Gymshark. Since the company will seek to sell more using online spaces where there have been promising signs in the recent past regarding its potential to increase sales revenue. According to the company's chief creative officer Noel Mark, Instagram, and YouTube have been an essential part of Gymshark's success story as it allows the marketing teams to post videos of marketing influencers wearing the gym accessories and apparel as well as give customers opportunities to share their workouts online (Marketingweek 2021). To stand out from other online sellers, the company will pursue a strategy of accepting feedback videos from customers who have used the company's products for more than a year to educate others on the user-friendliness of the products alongside current practices of Instagram, Facebook, and Youtube engagement in all the more than 100 countries that it currently enjoys presence. The strategy will specifically entail contracting local experts and celebrities to endorse the products through workouts on social media sites. It is expected that this approach will grow more followers of the brand and, in turn, result in increased sales on the online marketplace.

Brand Awareness Strategy

Brand awareness will be critical in realizing the targeted goal of increasing the company's profit. As more people become aware of a brand, the higher the seller's potential to make money from new customers (Lavinsky 2013). The objective is expected to generate more sign-ups and also generate new leads that can be followed by the marketing team. In this respect, the marketing team intends to design a robust referral program that rewards existing customers who successfully refer the new customers through existing online purchase platforms and brick and mortar stores. The referral system is a useful marketing tool since it allows an organization to leverage the recommendations and word of mouth of current customers regarding the quality of its products (Wershing 2013). In our case, for every referral of one-time current customers, a discount shall be offered on subsequent purchases, and this discount shall increase for more regular customers or as one purchases more frequently from the company. Additionally, regular customers will receive well-branded gifts relevant to specific holidays' themes to enhance their experience with Gymshark products.

Mitigation of Customer Turnover Rate Strategy

Gymshark recognizes that customer retention is pivotal for the company to sustain its current sales volumes since most of the organization's sales revenue is generated from its existing pool of buyers. According to Lavinsky (2013), most business organizations spend more time securing new customers than investing in the current collection of clients so that they can buy from them often. Such a strategy is not sustainable in an operating environment where there is stiff competition among companies seeking to outdo each other in business activity. Because of this reality, the STP model where customers are classified based on their loyalty will be adopted. Accordingly, a reward system will be set for the most profitable customers, and a special offers target shall be established for those that fall within the classification of very important persons (VIPs). It is anticipated that the mentioned two categories of customers will increase their frequency of making purchases at Gymshark, leading to increased sales volume. The regular newsletter for customers will support the strategy, but this time around, the document will personalize content to meet the receiving customers' needs. These measures will ensure that the rate of customers leaving Gymshark for another brand is significantly reduced.

Promotion of New Products

Gymshark acknowledges that investment in new product development is unavoidable for it to sustain its current profit margins. The company's objective of generating more profits includes promoting new products. This shall coincide with significant global athletics events and other events that attract sales for companies dealing in ordinary wear. The company has already shown that this plan can work well because of increased sales recorded when launched; it departed from its shiny offers to black types on Black Friday's discount offerings (Marketingweek 2021). In this regard, the current sales promotion will feature new products whose launch will coincide with the period leading up to the Tokyo Olympics and other athletics championships scheduled in 2022 and 2023. It is worth noting that celebrity endorsements will not be explored as part of the sales promotion for new products and offerings.

Barriers Associated with the Implementation of a Marketing Plan

Failure to create a new model for the implementation can be a hindrance to the latest marketing plan. It is very often for marketing leaders to craft marketing plans without recognizing the need for a new model that will work as the framework upon which the new strategies are implemented. They create the plan, but that remains just a document that is privileged for a few in the organization. For this reason, the marketing leadership at Gymshark shall adopt Ansoff Model to redesign the workflow in a way that recognizes the need to develop new products and increase market penetration for the company. This will be captured in the four strategies highlighted previously. The new workflow needs to be communicated to employees effectively so that they can have a ready template to follow as they learn to commit the new processes to their day-to-day marketing activities (Lavinsky 2013). Effective communication enables employees to own the new strategy because they clearly see what Gymshark wants to achieve concerning sales revenue.

Failure to adapt to the changing business environment may create barriers to implementing the new marketing plan at Gymshark. Adaption in business is mandatory in the current climate where competition and operational environment change are commonplace. Companies that adapt are better placed to deal with risks and uncertainties resulting from a change in the political, social, and economic factors in its operation areas (Reeves and Deimler 2011). With Brexit taking shape in the UK's financial sector, Gymshark must adjust its marketing plan to reflect the realities of the trade, considering that a different class of laws will govern the trading of UK companies with its former EU partners. The barrier can be further mitigated by design action activities in line with the new regulations and adapt as the deal is implemented by the government. Similarly, the marketing should bank on remote working to adjust to the new climate of Covid-19 restrictions and eventually invest more in online shopping post-pandemic.

Besides adaption, generation of traffic and leads as the company seeks to grow its online footing is a big challenge that Gymshark will confront in implementing the new marketing plan. Generation of leads and traffic continues to be a big challenge for companies' effort to increase their online sales, with one survey of 750 decision makers of UK businesses indicating that 58 percent of sampled leaders face challenges of lead and traffic generation in their efforts to grow online business segments (Whitler 2020). In this regard, the expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools will be embraced to track market leads. The potential of this new technology can help Gymshark to reach more potential customers in its marketing efforts through complex algorithms that track the behaviors of those who visit its online platforms. With such information, the marketing team may develop tailored adverts to attract a new audience.

Approaches to Coordination and Team Management

The transformational leadership model will allow shaping and streamlining relationship ties between workers and the leaders. This leadership style advocates unity and solving differences among workers, thus eliminating chances of derailing the company performance through active engagement and honest review of performance targets (Mason et al., 2014). For such a leadership style to work at Gymshark, small teams should be created so that marketing activities are assigned to each group depending on their contribution to the set objectives. When the sub-groups have been created, each individual must be assigned a role and explained how their position in the team contributes to attaining the marketing objectives of the teams at Gymshark. With transformational leadership, leaders and employees can easily collaborate and discuss issues that may hinder the teams from achieving their targets. Rewarding exceptional team players can help implement the marketing plan as it enables workers to have a positive notion and cultivate a teamwork spirit essential for proper coordination among members.

Effective communication with teams can also create a favorable atmosphere for team members to share ideas and face problems affecting the marketing effort with little disruption of the company's marketing strategy. When workers communicate with the leaders and fellow employees about their challenges, issues are likely to be addressed as promptly as possible. For this reason, team leaders need to communicate to their followers in a manner that is as open as possible to ensure that everyone in the team understands the real value in realizing the objectives and they will personally benefit from such achievements. Adopting such means in passing information to the marketing individuals could further help the leaders resolve the everyday conflicts that face teams in an organizational set-up.

Bibliography

Lamb, C. W., Hair, J. F., & McDaniel, C. (2008), Essentials of marketing. Cengage Learning.

Lavinsky, D. (2013). Marketing plan template: Exactly what to include, Forbes.