Happy WeddingMarketing Plan

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

India, at the cusp of the digitization era, has over 90% of total internet users’ access to mobile internet. Thus, Smartphones are expected to exhibit a massive 36% compounded annual growth rate in the next 5 years.

But, the wedding industry still needs to revamp itself and inculcate technological innovations to keep in pace with the fast growing world.

Happy Wedding is a simple app that provides a platform to organize a perfect wedding. From managing the budget to booking all the vendors, everything can happen at one place.

This app aims at providing an easy and affordable way to the users to make their wedding day a memorable one without any chaos and confusion.

SITUATION ANALYSIS

Company Overview

Core competencies:One -stop destination for all wedding arrangements for its clients

Reduced time and efforts of customers

Wide range of vendor options depending on location and budget

Efficient cost management

Implementation of Search engine optimization & app store optimization

Strategic assets:Tie ups with online websites like shaadi.com, bharatmatrimony.com, etc

Arrangements with hotels, farmhouses, caterers, photographers, etc

Premium app purchases

Market Overview

India is known for its colorful culture and weddings are the perfect example

Moreover, it is fast becoming a lucrative business opportunity

This industry is flourishing and statistics corroborate the fact

Currently, the industry is over Rs 100,000 crore and is growing at 25-30% annually

Opportunities Untapped market

The marriage market has a huge potential target audience

Lesser competitors

Increasing use of smart phones

ThreatsRelatively new concept may take additional effort and time No benchmarking of parameters Requires huge marketing budget and awareness to create awareness

Target Customers

The target group primarily includes the brides and grooms (age 21 – 40).

Another customer segment is represented by the numerous family members and guests attending weddings, anniversaries, and similar events.

GOAL

Eye on small percentage of total market size to start with (about 3%)

Revenue target of Rs. 5 cr in year one to Rs. 25 cr in 5 years

10,000+ listed vendors

Establish brand equity and customer satisfaction

STRATEGY

Target market

Customer needsChecking the availability, cost, reviews, etc of different wedding venues according to the location and budget set

Finding vendors, contacting and booking them

Performing the tasks on schedule to arrange the perfect wedding

Allocating budget efficiently and smartly

Keeping a track of the payments, advances paid and the dues

Collaborators

Suppliers

Channel members

Communication partners

SuppliersTie ups with various wedding venues like hotels, farmhouses, destination wedding locations etc

Tie up with various vendors

GOALS

These suppliers are the primary source of revenue

They are also an important source of word of mouth publicity and promotion

Channel MembersApp Store or Play Store – the best way to acquire new users, due to the high intent to download due to credibility of Google or Apple Google Adwords – cost effective channel that can create a hype about the app and increase customer base.

GOALS

The goal of these channels is to effectively increase the visibility of the app

These should also generate large amounts of traffic on the app and retain them.

Communication partners Social media - Twitter’s App Cards, Facebook’s App Install Ads, and Pinterest’s App Pins are great way to reach a very targeted audience Blogs and multimedia - Well produced app demos or promotional videos provide best chance of getting content viewed and shared by large audiences

GOALS Effectively target a huge and appropriate consumer base

Fostering brand awareness and helping customers evaluate the brand’s perceived ability to meet a current relevant need

CompanyKey stakeholders include:Customers Suppliers Investors Advertisers and publishers IT department

Points of parityEasy and efficient planning of all the events and tasks of the wedding, vendors, guest list, etc

Proper budget allocation to effectively manage the affairs of the wedding

Points of differenceBooking wedding venues and various vendors for the various events of the wedding

Through a free personalized dashboard couples are served an automatic feed of relevant content, tools and solutions that are based on their stage in the wedding process and tied to their preferences, such as wedding location, style and color.

Technological ContextIndia has a large and growing millennial population – young, tech-savvy consumers with rising earnings potential and disposable income.

With 220mn users, India is now world’s second-biggest smartphone market

By 2017, India will have more than 350 million smartphones.

Socio cultural context Currently, the country has a population of around 1.25 billion and considering an average family with five members, there are around 250million families in India

With about one marriage per family every 20 years, the country averages roughly 10 million marriages every year

Presently, it is a Rs. 100,000 cr industry and is expected to grow 25-30% annually

Value Proposition

Customer ValueFacilitates wedding management-clothes, gifts, venues, food and beverages, etc

Free, simple and customizable checklists to do the tasks on schedule The ‘free’ budget tool to allocate budget efficiently and smartly by receiving suggestions and estimates.

Collaborator valueHuge customer base

Well established app in the market with less competition and growth potential

Extremely agile and user-focused team

Company valueStakeholders: increased profits and return on investment, growth potential, financial stability, association with good brand image

Employees: exposure, flexible and adaptable work environment, performance dependent rewards and opportunities, job security

TACTICS

Product

Free Version The customers will be able to find wedding venues and vendors, contact them and book them. Vendors will be available for the following categories:

Beauty, health and spaFlowers and DecorationEntertainment (DJ)Food and BeveragesGifts and FavorsAttire and AccessoriesPhotography and videoWedding cardsHotel bookingsMiscellaneous

Simple and customizable checklists and the budget tool are also available

Premium VersionPremium’ feature of the app will include the options of booking of destination wedding locations. It will also include services that complement destination weddings such as,

Flight bookings Pick and drop transportation facilitiesStar performances Choreographers

Brand

Name- ‘Happy Wedding’

Tag Line –“Plan your most memorable day with us”

Core brand Values - Variety, ease and efficiency are the main attributes

Price

Identifying the target market segment

Determining pricing objective

Estimating demand

Estimating costs

Analyzing competitor’s costs and prices

Selecting the final price

Pricing process

The suggested price for the premium version of the app is about $51

The customers who opt for the destination weddings will mostly be well off and more affluent ones and therefore, the cost selected is not too high and not too low

The facilities available in this version of the app like star performances are otherwise not easily available, and hence, the cost reflects the tie-up costs with these groups

Incentives

To customers Price reduction – rebates, coupons for dollars or percentage off

Loyalty programs Trade up programs

Free upgrade with purchase

To collaborators Recognition and self-worth

Money has been and continues to be an important motivator for participating in collaboration

To employees Reward

Recognition

Bonus Instead of fixed work timings, flexible environment with daily goals

Communication

Users found online thus, cost-effective methods like Facebook, Twitter and even Pinterest can be used to build followers

Building a website to showcase the app

Starting a blog

Pitching to websites that review apps

Creating a video of how the app works

Gathering potential customer email addresses through non-monetary tie-ups with sites like shaadi.com, etc by providing them incentives like increasing their reach through publicity from the app and its website.

Encourage people to share content on their social media handles and providing them with incentives

Distribution

App Stores/Recommendation Sites -There are a large number of app stores like the Android Market, Nokia’s Ovi Store, Microsoft’s Windows Phone Marketplace and others, plus independent app stores (like GetJar), carrier app stores and more

Specialist Press - Another good way to get the app distributed is having it reviewed the by press, especially those who review apps exclusively

Incentivized CPI -The acquisition of incentivized user downloads (incent traffic) can assist in growing your mobile app installs and top list rankings. One of the most effective methods for boosting install rates over a short period of time

IMPLEMENTATION

Infrastructure

Happy Wedding

Sales and Marketing

Information

TechnologyCommercia

l Vendor Tie-Ups

Finance and

AccountsHuman

Resources

Processes

Scanning the marketing environment, forecasting demand, and conducting marketing research

Creating customer value and customer relationships

Analyzing consumer markets

Identifying market segments and targets

Crafting brand positioning and brand equity

Setting product strategy

Developing pricing strategies and programs

Delivering value

Designing and managing integrated marketing channels

Schedule

Assessing market opportunities & customer value 3 months

Identifying market segments and targets 2 months

Setting product strategy 1 month

Developing pricing strategies 3 weeks

Designing integrated marketing channels 1 month

Managing retailing, wholesaling & logistics 2 months

Created by Urmi Arora, NSIT, during a marketing internship under Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow