BUS 485 Week 3 Assignment CLC - Marketing Plan for the Capstone Project

The Homework Hangout Inc.

Grand Canyon University

The Homework Hangout Inc.: Business Plan

The Homework Hangout’s target market would be appealing to the tween, teen, and early adult age group. The Homework Hangout will provide services to teens of different backgrounds because the focus is to promote equality and respect. As tweens begin to discover the changes from childhood to early teens, they start to question their surroundings and feel like they are alone in figuring out what to do with themselves, which usually leads to juvenile criminal activity during unsupervised periods. The Boys & Girls Club of America provided a statistical analysis of minor crimes committed during the time frame of 3 pm to 7 pm which was determined to be time left alone. “11.3 million Kids are left unsupervised.” (Boys & Girls Clubs of America, 2010.) Once teens enter the early adult stage, they are lost again, at each stage; the goal is to provide positive guidance for a successful future for each clients. The target market is not limited to but may include a majority of kids from the low to mid income scale. The Homework Hangout’s goal is to provide an equal opportunity for all teens no matter the age, ethnicity, religion, gender, or income class. Clients will be taught to be respectable, responsible, and positive role models for the younger generations.

The overall opportunity in size for the target market of children in seventh through twelfth grades is a continuous flow of changing levels dependent on the populations of children in the community the company would serve. These fluctuations within the enrollments of each grade will always be an up and down challenge to drive revenue. As for potential size, it is only limited to the populous of each community. The company’s market share will depend heavily on the marketing campaigns we can manage in providing assistance to those in need of extra help or social interaction and guidance after school. If the recent dropout rates overall for Arizona of 3.46% in 2015 reported by the Arizona Department of Education, (Arizona Department of Education. 2016), are any indication of the need for the Homework Hangout’s services, then the target market is very sustainable. In particular, the focus is the top three subgroups in this report, the Native American, Hispanic, and economically challenged. These subgroups, who statistically have higher dropout rates, would be the first tier of our target market focus. The company can be a great source of intervention in the struggle that these subgroups have when it comes to staying in school to pursue their academic dreams and life goals through the support and guidance the club would provide in their life. Even if the initial market share in this arena is only 30%, it will still be a large enough portion of the target market to build a reputation within the market to grow the business through the success of the initial group of clients.

The Homework Hangout’s SWOT analysis has been enlightening for the principals to see. Significant weaknesses and threats will include the competition, funding, and the potential for poor quality employees to ruin service quality. On the other hand, The Homework Hangout’s strengths and opportunities are also a bright light in this company’s possible future. The Homework Hangout has the potential to offer more than the traditionally free or low-cost options such as the Boys and Girls Club, and to provide additional services, centering on but not limited to homework help, music assistance, sports training, and just good old fun. Below you will see our comparison in the SWOT analysis grid.

Strengths

Working / guiding teens to make healthy decisions
Keeping kids out of trouble by providing and promoting a variety of services
Work with local communities, school districts, and parents
Earn trust of clients and parents
Focus on safe environment
Promote higher education and employment opportunities
Promote sports, music, and other after school activities

Weaknesses

Keeping “bad eggs”, bad influences, bad habits out of facility
Cost of facility/services
Boys and Girls Club exists and is free.

Opportunities

Train and/or employ local community members including clients
Expand nationwide / globalize
Work along-side or with other entities
Obtain “buy-in” from local businesses and/or political officials
Offer unique and better facilities and services

Threats

Funding Sources
Regulatory authorities
Competitors
Community support
Changing trends
Unsuccessful approaches

The Homework Hangout’s product is primarily an intangible service; the principals are offering a clean, safe, educational and productive atmosphere for young students to go to after school hours. The price, yet undetermined, will be affordable and reasonable so that regular folks can use these services on a daily basis without breaking their financial budget. It is important that the services The Homework Hangout provides are perceived worth the money. The Homework Hangout’s location will be set to grow throughout the United States and globally in the future but for now, will initially start in centrally located urban areas such as Phoenix, Denver, or Dallas. The promotions strategy will range from an extensive social media campaign spanning on websites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Promotions will be a critical aspect amongst the 4ps of marketing for The Homework Hangout because the business will promote its self through massive advertising campaigns that will increase awareness in each city a location is opened up. Additionally, The Homework Hangout will incorporate the four I’s into its strategic plans. The four I’s represent a significant portion of The Homework Hangout’s business since the product is not something that the child can hold in their hands, rather they will have memories of the services making these kids successful later in life. Other types of services to provide will include occasional snacks, treats, or gifts that will motivate clients to our engage in the services rendered. The Homework Hangout’s services identify as harder to value services because of the intangibility of a clear and distinct product. Therefore, inconsistency will be a source of difficulties for The Homework Hangout in the future because it will rely on the employee and principal’s abilities to keep service and human error related negatives to a minimum. Charles Rivers states “Services on the other hand rise and fall on how well the service is performed” (Rivers, 2010), which shows that quality personnel will be key. Charles, Rivers statement shows that no matter how well the company is performing one “off” day could ring out potential profits into the drain. Because of our “intangible” product, we will have little to no tangible products and will require little inventory time. However, there are plans for some snack and drink services for students and family. Ultimately it will come down to how well the principals and sales agents will be able to sell this company to students, parents, and school administrators, as well as the local communities, this will be our inventory of sorts. Most importantly, The Homework Hangout will have to have key personnel in positions to deal with clients, public, and other situations because of the inseparability between this company, its services, and the image this will give to the enterprise. Parents will not send students or children to a group to spend time un-attended from their legal guardians if they do not trust the company implicitly, as such The Homework Hangout will make massive endeavors ensure safety, cleanliness, and perhaps most importantly trustworthiness.

References

Arizona Department of Education. (2016). Dropout Rate Study Report. Retrieved from http://www.azed.gov/research-evaluation/dropout-rate-study-report

Boys & Girls Clubs of America.(2010)America’s Kids in Crisis. Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Retrieved from http://bgca.org/whoweare/Pages/FactsFigures.aspx

Rivers, C.(2010). Marketing Services – The Four I’s of Service. Ezine Articles. Retrieved June 30, 2016, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Marketing-Services—The-Four-Is-of-Service&id=4494283