Marketing strategy of Cold Stone Creamery

Posted by Zander Henry on Aug-22-2018

1. The vision of Cold Stone Creamery

The vision of Cold Stone Creamery is to be the leading quality service and product provider for customers. Being the best and the leading player means that Cold Stone Creamery marketing strategy and operations focus on:

• Providing high quality of products and services
• Providing value to customers
• Concentrate on building customer experience

2. The mission of Cold Stone Creamery

Cold Stone Creamery marketing strategy is grounded in its mission. The mission for Cold Stone Creamery is to be the favorite brand of the customers. This mission is essential for the marketing strategy of Cold Stone Creamery as it focuses on all operations and marketing activities in the direction of:

• Consumer centrism
• Using research to understand and influence consumers

3. Brand Equity of Cold Stone Creamery

Understanding and knowing the brand equity is vital for directing and giving meaning to the marketing strategy of Cold Stone Creamery. The knowledge of brand equity will help in shaping Cold Stone Creamery marketing strategy effectively – thereby facilitating the growth of business for Cold Stone Creamery.

3.1. Brand awareness

• Cold Stone Creamery has high brand awareness because of international operations
• The company focuses on higher budget allocation in the country of origin
• Each market for Cold Stone Creamery has modified marketing and strategic directives and plans

3.2. Brand association

• Cold Stone Creamery is directly associated with the brand name and product category
• Cold Stone Creamery has a broad product portfolio
• Cold Stone Creamery is associated with promising and delivering quality and innovative products
• Cold Stone Creamery is also associated with excellent customer service

3.3. Brand loyalty

• Cold Stone Creamery has been successful at gaining high consumer loyalty because of unique and influential marketing strategy
• Cold Stone Creamery has a global customer base
• Cold Stone Creamery keeps adding value addition to the products and product portfolio to keep consumers engaged

3.4. Brand asset

• Cold Stone Creamery has a substantial brand value
• Cold Stone Creamery also enjoys the high financial worth
• Cold Stone Creamery focuses on building a reliable and robust employee base

3.5. Brand element

• Cold Stone Creamery uses the brand element as a means of competitive advantage
• Uses adaptability in product, services, and marketing to meet different cultural demands

4. Situational Analysis of Cold Stone Creamery

The situational analysis will help in developing the marketing strategy of Cold Stone Creamery by conducting a thorough market analysis. This market analysis will aid in understanding the compatibility between external opportunities and other factors, and internal strengths – to be used to maximize the marketing influence of Cold Stone Creamery.

4.1. SWOT

4.1.1. Strengths

Cold Stone Creamery marketing strategy can benefit from the following internal advantages:

• Strong brand image
• Global distribution network
• Investment in market research
• Innovation

4.1.2. Weakness

Cold Stone Creamery faces challenges in marketing strategy because of the following weakness:

• Slow organizational processes
• High product prices

4.1.3. Opportunity

Cold Stone Creamery has the following possibilities of business growth:

• Green lifestyles
• Regional expansion
• Diversification

4.1.4. Threats

Cold Stone Creamery faces business threats because of the following factors:

• Increased competition
• Increased imitation

4.2. PESTEL

4.2.1. Political

• Cold Stone Creamery operates I markets with political stability
• Cold Stone Creamery has funding support from the government for small businesses

4.2.2. Economic

• Cold Stone Creamery enjoys high sales because of higher GDP
• Lower interest rates make business expansion and loaning easier for Cold Stone Creamery
• Low inflation strengthens the financial position of Cold Stone Creamery

4.2.3. Social

• Higher education and awareness increases sales of Cold Stone Creamery predict
• Cold Stone Creamery focuses on understanding consumers and fulfilling their demands through its offerings

4.2.4. Environmental

• Cold Stone Creamery has an active CSR program
• Cold Stone Creamery ensures environmental safety in all its operations

4.2.5. Legal

• Cold Stone Creamery is aware of local and global laws of business and human resource management
• Cold Stone Creamery abides by all statutes – especially labour law, discrimination law, and employee safety laws

4.3. Porter’s Five Forces

4.3.1. Threat of substitutes

• High risk of replacements
• Substitutes offer similar products at low prices

4.3.2. The threat of new entrants

• New entrants need high financial investment
• New entrants need updated technology for keeping par with industry progress

4.3.3. Bargaining power of buyers

• Sales made to end consumer directly
• Stocking of products at retailers, as well as own-controlled retail outlets

4.3.4. Bargaining power of suppliers

• Multiple suppliers of raw materials
• Suppliers are chosen after careful inspection, and through contracts

4.3.5. Industry rivalry

• High industry rivalry
• Players offer similar products
• Players compete through marketing to influence consumers

5. Marketing Objectives for Cold Stone Creamery: The Marketing Strategy of Cold Stone Creamery

Cold Stone Creamery marketing strategy has the following objectives for the current financial year:

5.1. Increased market penetration

• Increase top of mind recall for Cold Stone Creamery brand and products by 30%
• Increase sales for Cold Stone Creamery by 40% by the third quarter of the financial year
• Achieve a trial rate for new products of 10% during the first quarter of the launch
• Increase consumption rate of existing products by 45% during the current financial year

5.2. Enhanced brand recognition

• Increase top of mind recall by 65% during the current fiscal year
• Increase brand recognition by 80% during the first two quarters of the current financial year

5.3. Increased use of digital marketing

• Acquire 25,000 new online customers during the financial year
• Increase website traffic through using blogging and email tactics effectively by 505 during the first two quarters of the year
• Acquire 65,000 likes on the official Facebook page of Cold Stone Creamery during the first quarter of the financial year

5.4. Retail Growth

• Contract with five more leading supermarkets in the first quarter of the year to stock product at eye level shelving
• Contract with two leading online retail sites – eBay and Amazon – to stock our products, and increase accessibility for consumers globally by the second quarter of the financial year

6. Segmentation of Cold Stone Creamery

Cold Stone Creamery marketing strategy uses different means of segmentation to reach an increase in market penetration.

6.1. Demographic segmentation

6.1.1. Age

Cold Stone Creamery has consumers of age groups

• 20-45 years
• 45-60 years

6.1.2. Gender

• Cold Stone Creamery has a broad product portfolio for both males and females

6.1.3. Life-cycle stage

Consumers for Cold Stone Creamery, according to the marketing strategy, are in the following various life cycle stages:

• Single students
• Single graduates
• Single people living at home/not living at home
• Young couples without children
• Married couples with one to four children – all at home
• Married couples with one or two children in college
• Old married couples with an empty nest

6.1.4. Occupation

The marketing strategy devises the following occupations for Cold Stone Creamery consumers:

• Professionals
• Students
• House makers

6.2. Psychographic segmentation

6.2.1. Social class

• Cold Stone Creamery focuses on segments of middle-upper and upper social classes

6.2.2. Lifestyle

Cold Stone Creamery consumer segments have the following lifestyle characteristics:

• They aspire towards a better and higher living standard
• They want to be successful – professionally and socially
• They are not hesitant to try new things, products and services in life
• They are confident in their behaviour and attitude
• They are mainstreamers in their fields

6.3. Geographic segmentation

6.3.1. Region

• Cold Stone Creamery has operations spread across the western developed countries such as America, the united kingdom, and the Netherlands
• It also has operations in emerging markets such as Brazil, India, and China

6.3.2. Density

• The focus of Cold Stone Creamery remains on the urban part of the population

6.4. Behavioural segmentation

6.4.1. Personality

The marketing strategy defines personality characteristics for the consumers of the brand of Cold Stone Creamery, such as:

• Determined
• Confident
• Ambitious
• Hardworking

6.4.2. Usage frequency

• The consumer segments for Cold Stone Creamery are regular and frequent users of the product

6.4.3. Benefits sought

• Consumers seek functional benefits
• The focus, however, is more on the emotional benefits reaped from the consumption of the brand

6.4.4. Degree of loyalty

• Consumers are very loyal
• Have an emotional attachment with the brand

7. Targeting of Cold Stone Creamery Positioning of Cold Stone Creamery

The marketing strategy of Cold Stone Creamery targets consumer groups based on segmentation as follows:

7.1. Target market

• The target market for Cold Stone Creamery is from middle to upper class
• The target market is ambitious and desires to purchase high-end consumer products
• This target market also seeks affordability
• To meet target market expectations, the Cold Stone Creamery focuses on quality control

7.2. Mass marketing

• The marketing strategy of Cold Stone Creamery focuses on mass marketing
• This also requires unique marketing designs and product promotion programs
• Cold Stone Creamery makes use of one strategy to influence all segments

7.3. Undifferentiated marketing strategy

• Cold Stone Creamery does not differentiate between market segments
• It uses a single marketing strategy to target all segments and consumer groups
• Based on this, Cold Stone Creamery also created the marketing mix under the marketing strategy as a singular one for the whole market – regardless of the segmentation divides.

7.4. Focus on quality

• Cold Stone Creamery has created, developed, and maintained a brand that satisfies all consumers under the undifferentiated marketing strategy and mass marketing
• No compromise on quality has been made in the broad product portfolio
• To ensure the influence of a single marketing strategy, the Cold Stone Creamery has also adopted a consumer-centric approach in its overall marketing strategy and operations as well
• This was used for targeting strategy as well as for maintaining growth

8. Company Competitive Advantage in the marketing strategy of Cold Stone Creamery

The marketing strategy of Cold Stone Creamery stands out from the clutter and competition. Cold Stone Creamery has also achieved a sustainable competitive advantage in its marketing strategy. This is because of the following factors that Cold Stone Creamery has utilized:

8.1. Cost-effectiveness

• Cold Stone Creamery focuses on reaching consumers effectively rather than grandeur
• Cold Stone Creamery focuses on developing an integrated marketing approach
• The use of digital marketing efficiently and expertly has helped the company reach a wider audience at a lower cost
• Cold Stone Creamery has in-house copywriters for marketing campaigns which also helps in controlling costs
• Cold Stone Creamery also focuses efforts on ground activities – which are less expensive than commercial marketing tactics

8.2. Innovation

• Cold Stone Creamery has stayed updated with latest developments in marketing research and marketing knowledge
• Cold Stone Creamery makes use of new and innovative tactics to reach its target consumers
• Cold Stone Creamery also employs top of the field marketers to facilitate its marketing strategy and promotional campaigns
• Each marketing campaign launched by Cold Stone Creamery is effective catchier and more influential than the previous one

8.3. Strong market research and consumer understanding grounded

• Cold Stone Creamery marketing strategy is strongly grounded in consumer and market research
• Cold Stone Creamery makes informed marketing campaigns and goals based on consumers’ behavioural feedback
• Cold Stone Creamery also incorporates consumer feedback in its marketing strategy
• Cold Stone Creamery marketing strategy is based on market trends, and consumer needs and wants

8.4. Making effective use of emotional appeals

• Consumers’ emotional needs strongly influence all marketing objectives and marketing goals set by Cold Stone Creamery
• In addition to fulfilling functional needs, Cold Stone Creamery also tries to fulfil the emotional and psychological needs of the consumer
• Cold Stone Creamery tries to build a strong emotional bond with the consumer, which also results in high consumer loyalty

9. Distribution Strategy of Cold Stone Creamery

Cold Stone Creamery marketing strategy highlights the use of the following distribution strategy to maximize reach and accessibility for consumers.

9.1. Intensive distribution strategy

• Cold Stone Creamery makes use of intensive distribution strategy because it is mass marketing
• Cold Stone Creamery’s marketing strategy is based on undifferentiated segments, and thus an intensive distribution strategy allows high penetration and reaches in the overall market
• With the use of the intensive distribution, Cold Stone Creamery tries to maximise its coverage of the markets where it's present
• For achieving the intensive strategy, the company uses hardcore 360-degree integrated marketing strategy and campaign to reach all consumers, across all segments in the market.

9.2. Direct distribution strategy

• Cold Stone Creamery uses direct distribution country of origin as well as in locations where it has subsidiary operations
• The Cold Stone Creamery also makes use of modern retailing channels
• Also, Cold Stone Creamery makes use of e-commerce and makes a sale through online retailers, as well as through the company website
• Direct distributions have allowed Cold Stone Creamery to increase market penetration and accessibility for consumers

9.3. Indirect distribution strategy

• This strategy is largely used for offshore operations where the Cold Stone Creamery does not have a subsidiary
• In these offshore locations, Cold Stone Creamery largely works through the export model
• This makes use of several intermediaries in between, before the product by Cold Stone Creamery reaches the target consumers
• Intermediaries for Cold Stone Creamery include not only the end retail outlets, but also sales agents, retail agents, and distribution agents in offshore locations

9.4. Selective distribution strategy

• For some products of its portfolio which are premium in nature, Cold Stone Creamery makes use of selective distribution channel
• Cold Stone Creamery has maintained a few outlets in the country of origin, and in selected offshore markets for these products
• These placements and locations are chosen based on the niche market that Cold Stone Creamery has for its premium products
• These locations, placements, and marketing strategy helps make the company’s product selectively, but readily accessible for its niche target audience

10. Competition Analysis in the marketing strategy of Cold Stone Creamery

The industry in which Cold Stone Creamery operates is very responsive to market and consumer trends. Cold Stone Creamery, therefore, needs to be vigilant in its market strategy towards competition – to make sure that it maintains its competitive advantage.

10.1. Strategic Group Analysis

• Cold Stone Creamery competes with direct and close competition based on quality and price
• Consumers choose between different companies from the industry based on their functional offering
• Consumers have progressively evolved to strengthen loyalty and form an emotional bond with products that they consume
• Cold Stone Creamery also competes, thereby, with close competition for building stronger brand image, increasing consume loyalty, and for forming strong emotional ties with the consumer

10.2. Industry rivalry

• Cold Stone Creamery experiences high industry rivalry
• The barriers to entry for the industry are low, and new entrants gain easy access in the industry
• The number of local as well as global players is increasing

11. Marketing mix of Cold Stone Creamery

The marketing mix for Cold Stone Creamery as per the marketing strategy is the following:

11.1. Product

• Cold Stone Creamery has a broad product portfolio
• Cold Stone Creamery provides mass marketed products for all segments across the market undifferentiated
• Cold Stone Creamery also provides some selected, premium products to niche customer groups
• All products in the portfolio consistently maintain high quality
• All products are tailored to meet consumer specifications, demands and needs across different regional markets
• The Cold Stone Creamery maintains a high focus on innovation in products and introduces new products frequently to keep the consumers engaged

11.2. Place

• Cold Stone Creamery wants to have a close, emotional and personal relationship with its consumers
• The company maintains high control in its distribution strategies – especially through direct distribution strategy
• The company has a presence in leading supermarkets
• The Cold Stone Creamery also has company-operated stores in malls, and otherwise to make products accessible to consumers easily
• Cold Stone Creamery also makes use of e-commerce to increase penetration and sales

11.3. Price

• The Cold Stone Creamery prices its products so that its target consumers can afford it easily
• Cold Stone Creamery uses relative pricing strategy for its products
• The price of Cold Stone Creamery’s products include not only the high quality raw materials and value additions but also the enhanced customer experience they deliver
• The company’s pricing strategy allows it to enjoy stable revenue and profit growth

11.4. Promotion

• The Cold Stone Creamery has a high budget allocated towards marketing activities
• The Cold Stone Creamery invests substantially in digital marketing activities to reap high and effective results
• Use of digital marketing has also allowed Cold Stone Creamery marketing strategy to cap costs and expenses
• Cold Stone Creamery also takes part in direct consumer engagement through on-ground activities where the company initiates trials
• Cold Stone Creamery also invests in traditional media channels to reach maximum consumers in the market

11.5. People

• Cold Stone Creamery has a large workforce across different companies
• This workforce is continually trained to become experts in their respective fields of operations
• Cold Stone Creamery hires without discrimination
• Cold Stone Creamery ensures that its employees remain motivated through building an inspirational and creative organizational culture
• Cold Stone Creamery focuses on also building and maintaining organizational commitment and loyalty in its employees

11.6. Process

• All activities at Cold Stone Creamery - from raw material procurement to the final sale to the end consumer - undergo systematic processes
• The processes at Cold Stone Creamery are well defined, and well communicated to all employees
• All employees are trained to follow the processes internally to ensure consistently high quality as well as timely production and deliveries
• The systematic processes also ensure a smooth running of operations at the Cold Stone Creamery

11.7. Physical evidence

• The physical evidence for Cold Stone Creamery includes the company logo, company store designs, and the product packaging
• Satisfied and excited customers in the retail spaces of Cold Stone Creamery, as well as during product consumption create a bubbling and an inviting atmosphere
• The e-commerce website for retail by Cold Stone Creamery is also designed with a friendly customer interface to allow maximum interaction with the brand
• The store designs created by Cold Stone Creamery for its retail space allow consumers maximum interaction with the products directly.

12. Promotional tactics for the marketing strategy of Cold Stone Creamery

12.1. Digital marketing

• The company uses social media for reaching consumers effectively
• The Cold Stone Creamery interacts with the consumers directly, and engages with them, answers their queries and takes their feedback
• The company also shares information and build relationships with consumers through digital marketing
• Cold Stone Creamery also makes use of blogging, emails, and content creations as a means of digital marketing

12.2. Conventional marketing

• The company uses a 360-degree approach in its marketing strategy
• This means that the company makes use of traditional marketing channels as well – such as TV, magazine adverts, and out of house placements

12.3. Influencers

• For direct, on-ground engagement, the company uses influencers
• Influencers interact with consumers directly, or through their channels of communication as a means of content creation and endorsing the Cold Stone Creamery brand

13. Monitoring and evaluation of the marketing strategy of Cold Stone Creamery

13.1. Changes in sales

• Cold Stone Creamery regularly tracks its sales to identify the effectiveness of its marketing strategy
• Increase in sales reflect the success of marketing strategy of Cold Stone Creamery
• Sometimes, Cold Stone Creamery experiences increase ins ae after some time of the launch of the marketing promotions

13.2. Surveys and focus groups

• Cold Stone Creamery frequently conducts focus groups and surveys to identify its brand worth
• These methods also help the company identify brand value, brand recall, and brand recognition
• Focus groups allow Cold Stone Creamery to gather feedback on its marketing strategy and helps it understand consumers better

13.3. ROI

• Effectiveness of marketing strategy of Cold Stone Creamery can also be seen through the revenue and profit growth
• Return on investment allows Cold Stone Creamery to effective gauge the effect and influence of the marketing strategy, and measure its success

13.4. Attainment of marketing objectives

• All marketing objectives set by Cold Stone Creamery are SMART
• The quantitative set against each of the marketing objective can facilitate attainment evaluation for the overall marketing strategy
• Successful and timely attainment of these marketing objectives highlight the success of the marketing strategy of Cold Stone Creamery