final+group+project

** EXECUTIVE SUMMARY **
KSAL General Contracting Ltd. (KSAL) has been conducting construction and renovation services for governmental departments in the Region of Peel and its surrounding municipalities for the past three years. Although the company is relatively small in comparison to its competitors, KSAL is committed to providing quality services that will not only satisfy its direct client, the governmental institutions, but also all other stakeholders whom are affected by its services (such as local populations). Through costumer satisfaction and consistency in the services rendered, KSAL aims to achieve customer retention and recognition, and as a result, become a leader in the construction industry.  The major findings indicate that KSAL’s present reputation within their target audience is extremely positive. KSAL’s success in satisfying its current clients provides the perfect opportunity for the company to grow and gain competitive advantage. Even though KSAL is smaller than its competitors, if it implements the right strategies such as building a strong online presence (SEO, press releases, and the company webpage) while also increasing their brand management within the market, KSAL can in fact, easily grow to its competitors’ level and/or even gain measurable advantage. With this, KSAL can create a strong reputation that will be the foundation for an expansion of its services.  Based on the analysis of KSAL’s current operations, target market, competitive environment, and business objectives this plan proposes a marketing strategy to support the company’s growth and overall success mission.

** I. SITUATION ANALYSIS **
In order to assist KSAL in fulfilling its mission and carry on its services, we will analyze KSAL in the following categories:

** 1.1: Current Issues **
The main current issue for KSAL is that it does not have any online presence or any form of marketing initiative in place. Overall, KSAL’s brand image is inappropriately managed.  The company’s online presence is either very poorly executed or almost nonexistent, and not having full control over what information is yielded with the company becomes a critical issue for its success. KSAL does not implement basic web strategies such as Search Engine Optimization, and as a consequence when KSAL is typed into a search engine, the name search correlates it with highly inappropriate and irrelevant results.  This lack of brand management, both online and offline negatively affects the company’s brand image and reputation, making it inferior in relation to its other competitors. This is aggravated by the fact that KSAL does not have a company website, which makes it difficult for a user to search for information about the company itself.

** 1.2: Target Market **
KSAL’s target market is comprised of the Region of Peel and the Provincial government. However, their next commercial objective is to also target the Federal and Provincial sector. KSAL seeks to establish a relationship with these prospective clients in order to guarantee long-term contracts. KSAL main objective is to take charge in more of the governments’ projects, while still maintaining their current projects with the Region of Peel.  According to our research, we have found that the Mississauga and Peel Region has both initiated and conducted several construction projects for these regions this year. These projects mainly include renovations for the downtown civic square, libraries, pools, roads, sidewalks and the city centre transit. The funding for all of these projects is received from the Infrastructure Stimulus Fund (ISF), and it consists of a total of 1.85 billion.  For municipal projects, both the federal and provincial government each contribute to approximately one-third of the required costs, while the municipalities cover the remaining expenses. The majority of their projects focus on the renovation of existing assets such as water, wastewater, public transit, highways, roads, culture, parks and trails. Moreover, the Mississauga/Peel Region has also invested in the recreational infrastructure investment project. In here, the Canadian and Ontario governments have invested over $380 million and are expected to be done in a two-year period. This being said, KSAL would have a major advantage if they can get in touch with the Canadian government about future commercial objectives due to the fact that the Canadian and provincial government funds several programs that range from renovations to new construction projects. These projects precisely fit with KSAL’s service description and commercial goals.

** 1.3: Marketing Mix **
** A. Product/ services: ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Currently all of KSAL’s projects are geographically based in the municipalities and districts of the Peel Region. Their services are mainly focused on small-scaled constructions and renovation projects, such as the development and maintenance of a specific GO Transit infrastructure, restroom pavilions, the construction and placement of wind turbines, and any other general construction related modifications.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** B. Price: ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> KSAL service’s prices ranges from $50,000 to $1.5 million Canadian dollars. The prices are set according to the size of the project and also the budget that is given by the client.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** C. Placement: ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The company’s services are currently available for the Region of Peel municipalities, cities and districts.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** D. Promotion: ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> KSAL currently has no specific or concrete marketing strategy or advertising campaign. The company basically uses word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing as their only promotional tool. However, as the company has increased the amount of work present in the Peel Region and the provincial sector within the past years, it has also found itself to increase the flow of their projects through free publicity (spontaneous promotions through secondary sources such as free press releases).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** 1.4: Macro Analysis **
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In order to implement an effective marketing strategy, we analyzed 4 macro-factors that KSAL’s management cannot control, but nonetheless influence its Marketing Mix (service, price, placement and promotion). The analysis of these factors sets the basis for contingency planning, which is crucial to ensure the company will meet the expected goals and objectives, while minimizing the exposure to risks

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** A. Political/Legal Influences ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> KSAL’s main focus is to maintain business relations with the government. Therefore political considerations such as which party is in power and who is the current prime minister, directly affects the relationships KSAL will have with its client(s). For this, KSAL has to be informed of the particulars of each party and candidate’s position in order to establish a good and long-lasting relationship with the customer. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The political scenario also influences the regulatory system and any variations that might occur within it. The current party in charge is responsible for creating, modifying or maintaining regulations for construction. KSAL’s management needs to be aware of all the happenings on that environment since it might affect services, prices and even the placement of such service. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Also, attentiveness to legal factors might avoid unnecessary costs and legal fees. Therefore, it is very important to be aware of any particular legal requirements for government construction – if there are any regulations that apply only to government constructions and not to regular constructing, KSAL needs to follow them.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** B. Economy ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Again due to the nature of its main client (the government), KSAL is extremely dependent on the municipal, provincial and national macro-economic situation. The general economic scenario influences the budget that is allocated yearly to construction and renovation/maintenance initiatives. Thus, if the economy is doing well, KSAL has more chances of getting service contracts. On the other hand, if Canada is facing an economic downturn (even as a reflex of an international crisis), there will be a reduced budget for construction, which might affect KSAL’s profits for that period.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** C. Geographical Issues ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Natural disasters and extreme weather conditions directly affect the construction industry. These events can delay deadlines and increase budgets on a very short notice. KSAL needs to prepare for that by creating contingency strategies and possibly including considerations for them in the contract signed with the client.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** D. Competition ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The competitive environment in which KSAL operates is intense. In this particular stream of the industry, there are many competitors and just one client. Also, the Canadian governmental institutions only have a limited budget to allocate to construction initiatives, and therefore they will most likely opt for the lowest price offered by a company to perform a service. KSAL needs to ensure that their services are priced competitively and their quality is standard in order for the government to view them as superiors to their competitors. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> According to KSAL, Alpiza, HN Construction and John Pace are its main competitors. Although these firms provide the same services as KSAL, one of the greatest disadvantages is that these firms are larger both financially and also in size. As a result, these competitors have been able to execute more projects than KSAL. However, once KSAL establishes an online corporate identity, they will obtain advantage in relation to their competitors because after a thorough research, we concluded that these competitors currently have very weak, or close to none, online presence; none of them own a corporate website.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** II. STRATEGIC ANALYSIS **
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For this section of our marketing plan, we analyzed how KSAL is placed in relation to its competition. In order to fully understand how the company operates strategically, we conducted a SWOT analysis and applied Porter’s 5 forces model of the industry. The insights provided by these assessments were utilized to substantiate KSAL’s marketing plan and objectives as well as point out key factors that will lead it to success

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** 2.1: Porter’s 5 Force Model **
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** A. Bargaining Power of Suppliers ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The bargaining power of KSAL’s suppliers is low. Even though KSAL usually buys its construction material from the same suppliers, there are several suppliers interested in making deals. The company can benefit form this low supplier power by efficiently bargaining prices with suppliers, and as a result lower the costs incurred in their projects and maximizing the end-profits.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** B. Bargaining Power of Costumers ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Since there are very few government institutions in relation to the vast amount of construction companies willing to serve them, the bargaining power of customers is high in the industry. This can be prejudicial for KSAL’s operations since they might have to lower their prices to meet the client’s expectations, reducing the company’s bottom-line profits.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** C. Threat of New Entrants ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The threat of new entrants in this sector is high. The governmental construction sector is highly profitable, especially in a growing economy such as Canada’s. Therefore there are many new companies interested in rendering services to this extremely limited market niche. As a result, it is extremely important for KSAL to establish its presence as a preferred contractor before the market becomes saturated with other companies.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** D. Threat of Substitutes ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> There is no threat of substitutes for KSAL’s services. This force does not really apply to KSAL’s operations since construction and remodeling cannot be substituted by other activities. The only possible substitution would be by same services rendered by competitors.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** E. Competitive Rivalry ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Competitive rivalry is high in the industry sector KSAL operates in. The bargaining power of clients and the threat of new entrants is high. There are currently about 5 big companies that compete for the same contracts that KSAL is interested in. KSAL is smaller than most companies it competes with, making it even more of a struggle to sign new contracts with its clients. In this circumstance it is crucial for KSAL to have a competitive pricing but also go beyond that, implementing a strategy that will differentiate it from its competition, regardless of its size.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** 2.2: SWOT Analysis **
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** A. Strength ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The strength that our online marketing strategy has is that we can incorporate sufficient and relevant background information about the company into our marketing strategy and transmit it to the customer. For this, we have recollected and organized bodies of information about the services KSAL offers, as well as previous projects that they have participated in. Even though KSAL is considered to be a new company in the sector, they have a strong corporate structure with an adequate amount of past projects to gain a competitive advantage.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** B. Weakness ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The weakness that KSAL experiences is the challenge of communicating our online marketing strategy to the intended target market, which in this case is the federal and provincial government in Canada. We must develop an actual pitch and tactic as to how we are going to get the Federal and Provincial governments to notice our company and read more about the services that we provide.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** C. Opportunities ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The Canadian government has been consistent and stable in terms of political action and economic growth, therefore, there are opportunities to expand their financial budget on fostering new projects as well as expanding on previous projects. Establishing an online identity along with a strong brand awareness, is an opportunity for KSAL, as because the firms that are competing against them currently do not have any visible e-marketing strategies. Therefore, we must take this factor into consideration and execute our online marketing strategy right away. Moreover, as individuals and the government are increasingly participating more on the web, our online marketing strategy gains an advantage because of the growing number people using the Internet.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** D. Threats ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Once this online marketing campaign surfaces the Internet, every user will be able to see it. This means that the competitors that KSAL has will notice our strategy, and begin to execute their own online marketing strategy. This will pose a threat because the target market (the Federal and provincial government) will then be able to examine the options they have on the web, which will cause KSAL to lose their competitive advantage of having an online presence earlier than other contracting firms. Hence, it is important for us to execute the online marketing strategy now before other companies realize the advantages of having an online brand identity.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** 2.3: Conclusions **
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">From the two models, we conclude that KSAL has a lot of potential and opportunities to grow within its industry. The company’s weakness is mostly its size, which is keeping it from tackling its opportunities of expansions. In order to solve this paradigm, we suggest that KSAL focuses on its strength, which is quality and consistency of services, while also focus on its brand management. Promotion and brand awareness is also important because the company faces a fierce competition and needs to create strategies that will differentiate KSAL from its from competitors. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> In the following section we will outline the marketing objectives that were generated based on the strategic analysis of KSAL’s operations.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> ** III. MARKETING OBJECTIVES **
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">KSAL’s long-term goal is to expand its operations to render services to the Canadian Federal Government. However, in order to achieve that goal, the company first needs to reach substantial and steady revenue within its current target market. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The objective of the proposed marketing plan is to create a strong and positive corporate brand image that will support the //business expansion// objective. For this, a well constructed online and offline presence will collaborate towards establishing relations and communications with the governmental divisions. A strong brand will differentiate KSAL from competitors, increasing its revenues while also putting them position to begin services with the Federal government. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Once all the promotional and branding activities are in place, after a one-year period at the most, all governmental departments of the Peel region and the Provincial Government should be aware of KSAL’s services. In order to measure how well they will meet these objectives KSAL should:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** A. Conduct a before and after survey: ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 0in;">Before the finalized implementation of the online presence and new branding, KSAL should survey its current target market and determine how well the brand is know within it. A simple question and answer along the lines of “do you know what KSAL General Contracting is? Are you aware of its services?’ would suffice. After the corporate website is fully implemented and the new branding is adopted, the same survey should be conducted once more and the answers of both, the before and after, surveys should be compared. If the plan was effectively implemented, the awareness will have increased.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 0in;">** B. Traffic monitoring ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; margin-left: 0in;"> KSAL should monitor the user traffic to its website not only in terms of volume but also in terms of quality. The company can use IP tracking tools to determine if the website is drawing traffic from governmental computers. Furthermore, an increase in traffic in general can also be seen as a positive sign that the branding was effective since government workers might be accessing the website from their own devices and remote locations. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The key indicators in an operational level of a successful marketing strategy, after one year, will be: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">1. Customer retention (more services with current governmental sectors. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> 2. Referral of the company to larger governmental sectors such as the Federal Government of Canada <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> 3. Increase in bottom line profit <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">With the finalized implementation of this plan, as a result of increase in brand awareness and positive differentiation from competitors through the promotional efforts, the objective is to increase by 50% (2 additional services) the number of services rendered to the current target market by the end of the first year and get at least one service from the Federal Government. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The long-term, and ongoing goal is to establish a brand presence that is consistent with KSAL’s mission to commit to quality services and customer satisfaction. Furthermore, in the long run, the increase in services to the Federal department will help the company grow and reach the same financial and operational level as its competitors. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Throughout the implementation of this marketing plan, KSAL’s management should monitor costumers’ satisfaction with current services, their awareness of online presence (monitoring traffic to the website) and if possible, inquiry clients on their overall perception of KSAL as a business and brand.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** IV. MARKETI **** NG STRATEGY **
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">KSAL’s success is highly dependent on its differentiation of competition and brand management. Therefore, as concluded in the previous sections, it is crucial for the company to allocate part of their budget to the following marketing activities: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> ** A. Logo and Visual Identity (Appendix A) ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> First, the Company needs to create a strong brand image by creating a logo and adopting a consistent visual identity (color scheme). This will create the basis of branding and corporate identity to be used in any other promotional initiative by KSAL, while also. It facilitating its recognition by the target market.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** B. Corporate website (Appendix B) ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Second the company needs to apply the new brand image to an online presence by creating a corporate website. With a consistent brand image offline, this step is fundamental to differentiate KSAL from its competitors, as none of them have an online presence. Also, a website will also make information to its client much more accessible.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** C. Adapt Print Documentation (Appendix C) ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Third KSAL needs to implement the new branding to its existing print documentation (press releases and informative brochure) and make it available on their website as an interactive downloadable Portable Document Files (.pdf extension). This standardization will further contribute to the branding initiative and professionalism.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** D. Online Portfolio (Appendix D) ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Fourth, an online portfolio of KSAL’s previous services to the government will be uploaded to the corporate website. By showcasing their previous successes, KSAL’s digital portfolio will serve as proof of their quality and service.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** E. Search Engine Optimization (Appendix E) ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Lastly, KSAL needs to manage its online presence through efficient use of Search Engine Optimization techniques. Searches with keywords related to government and municipalities of Peel constructions will yield KSAL’s website. In order for this strategy to be implemented successfully, the company needs to be findable by clients online and have its reputation managed appropriately. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> All the images of the proposed strategies, as well as a description of the SEO implementation are included in this Marketing Plan in the Appendix section.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//*Disclaimer: All the photographs included in the documents are merely placeholders. KSAL should hire a professional photographer (included as part of the estimated costs) and substitute the placeholders with its own images.//

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** V. BUDGET **
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> The main costs for this marketing plan implementation would be: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">1. Graphic designer: $2500 (at a $25 hourly rate) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> 2. Domain name registration: $10 per year <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> 3. Web hosting: $120 ($10 per month) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> 4. Printing: $800 for informative brochures and $150 for press releases <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;"> 5. Web Expert for SEO/PPC services: $1250 (at a $25 hourly rate)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Total estimated cost: **$4830**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Considering that in the past 3 years, KSAL earned an average bottom line profit of $2,252,333.33, an investment of $5000 into managing its branding strategies would be viable. More than that, it would be a small investment compared to the outstanding benefits it might bring to the company in both short and long terms.

= APPENDIXES: = = = <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** A. Logo and Visual Identity (Appendix A) **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** B. Corporate website (Appendix B) ** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> ** ﻿ **

@http://amyluong.com/ksal


 * <span style="color: #31849b; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">D. Online Portfolio (Appendix D) **

<span style="color: #365f91; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">