Global Marketing Course Project
Instructions:
You will be creating marketing plan for King Ranch, as they consider becoming a resort destination. There are four parts to the Global Marketing Course Project.
Review the current state
Create the future state point of view that you believe is best for them
Customer Journey of aspirational customers
Recap
This project is designed to apply what you have learned to a real-life project. There are times where you will use your imagination to create the customer buying journey.
Your goal is to present the above three parts using the knowledge and framework that you have gained through this course. The fourth part is a recap of your learning from doing the project.
You will be graded upon:
75% Content:
Utilization of framework / learnings of course work applied.
Applying what you learned.
Clarity / Articulation of position.
What you are saying makes sense.
Understanding of the coursework to arrive at a clearly communicated position for the consumer.
If I was your client, would I value what you have put together for me to decide.
25% Presentation
Level of work, i.e., grammar, spelling, completion
Company Brief
King Ranch and the Running W
Since the advent and popularity of Yellowstone, the Kieberg family is looking to create a portion of King Ranch as a destination.
King Ranch as you will learn has over 800,000 acres of land, a working ranch, hunting destination, and bird conservancy. The ranch boasts over 80 hunting cabins, each situated with over 140 acres each. It also is home to the legacy quarter horse bloodlines that create yet another revenue stream outside the farming and ranching.
King Ranch has over 370 species of birds, many rare or even endangered. Not only is the nestled in the migratory patterns of many species, but the size of the ranch can touch the Texas plains to the coastal boarders of Southeast Texas making it home to many different birds.
The ranch can easily house the state of Rhode Island inside its borders and still have land to spare.
Many may be familiar with the brand due to the agreement with Ford Motor Company, for the prestigious King Ranch F-150.
Similar to the Ralph Lauren’s Double RL Ranch, King Ranch settled a town, aptly named Kingsville, that was homesteaded primarily by the workers, cattle handlers, and support teams of King Ranch.
The Keiberg’s have hired you to help them think through their brand, customer experience, and how they will connect to their most valuable aspirational guests as they consider moving from a working ranch to a destination.
Part I: The Current State
What are points of leverage, points of concern with the following attributes of King Ranch as a destination given their current state.
Place: King Ranch boasts of over 800000 acres of land, and there are other specifics associated with the land. King Ranch has itself a working ranch, and it is considered as a hunting destination and a bird conservancy destination. The place is also considered to be home to the legacy quarter horse bloodlines that lead to the enhances the revenue stream of King Ranch.
Product: The place boasts for hosting over 370 bird species, with some being rare and others being endangered species. The main reason for this is that the size of the ranch touches the Texas plains to Southeast Texas’ coastal borders and as a result, this attracts many birds making it home to these birds. Aside from being a home to these birds thus making it a suitable tourist destination, King Ranch has a diverse range of activities that are suitable for the tourists including fishing, ecotourism, hunting and history tours among others.
People: The staff at King ranch play crucial roles in ensuring that the tourist destination satisfies the clients. The staff, local guides and community members are friendly and have some element of cultural diversity, thus this makes customers to be more satisfied.
Process: King Ranch has a transparent process when it comes to booking, planning and this transparency is highly appreciated by the tourists.
Physical Evidence: Physical evidence including the modern world facilities, the art works as well as the presence of tour guides offers a sense of appeal on the sides of customers as well as investors.
Given your research what is King Ranch’s ‘Grander Why’?
King Ranch is globally known for the production of cattle and other agricultural activities. More specifically, it is considered to be the birthplace of Quarter Horse, and other productions include cotton, grains as well as brush control among others. From the research, I would say that King Ranch’s Grander why is to create a more sustainable land use in addition to implementing strategies that could aid in overall conservation of natural resources practices. The ranch has trained its staff to ensure that their practices and activities that they engage in are sustainable, and as a result, building more productive communities and positive interactions between staff, community and customers.
Given their “Why” do see the idea of becoming a destination congruent or incongruent to that core belief? What do you think should be kept top of mind as they start this journey?
Currently what is their Brand Positioning or Customer Experience Position? Will this become problematic, or will it support and drive their future vision?
Currently, King Ranch is considered as a major agribusiness with much interest in cattle ranching, farming sugarcane, turfgrass, luxury retail goods and recreational hunting. There is a lot of diversification reflected on King Ranch’s branch positioning. This may bring about a lot of problems with reference to their future vision especially that relating to being a tourist attraction destination.
As you did your research, what words or phrases did you see come up repeatedly? What does this tell you about them or their culture?
During the research, one word that I saw came out more repeatedly was “sustainability.” This shows that King Ranch is all about developing a sustainable environment. King Ranch promotes sustainability among all the staff, by ensuring that its products and services align with their sustainability goals, including their agricultural activities that are considered to be highly sustainable.
Research their current marketing and customer experience.
Do they engage in social media? What was your reaction to what they are currently doing?
King Ranch has Facebook presence, and they post a lot of activities taking place as well as updating on upcoming events.
Reach out to them regarding a tour or information. How do they present themselves? Was your experience aligned to how they evoke online? How about other channels?
Yes, their feedback was appropriate for the question I asked. Their social media administrator has a lot of knowledge regarding some of the activities taking place at King Ranch. Also, the administrator provided the required guidance and even directed me to the website to understand some of the rates.
Part II: The Future State
King Ranch has plans for 350-room hotel, as well as renovating / refurbishing 40 of the remote hunting cabins. 15 cabins on the King Ranch property will be relocated around an 18-hole golf course. Golf course will be a Fazio designed course and is planned to have dining and pro shop. The resort complex will also include spa and full workout facilities, adult pool, children’s pool, fine dining, casual dining, and poolside grill.
Customer Segmentation:
What do you believe will be the top four aspirational customer segments / personas?
The top four aspirational customer segments will include
Age
Profession
Gender
Personality
What do you believe each of the four personas are looking for or seeking? (Do not name attributes of the resort, i.e., pool, golf course, or hunting.)
Age: Older adults will be looking for a comfortable environment that they can invest in to improve their memories of life while on the other hand, parents will be looking for an environment where their children can gain best experiences regarding life.
Profession: The working class persons will be seeking for a place where they can hold conferences and even do team building.
Gender: Both genders would be looking for satisfaction
Personality: Classifies outgoing persons
Given what you know about the culture and what you have uncovered during Part 1, what are some of the cultural attributes that would appeal to each of the four customer segments?
Some of the cultural attributes include;
Diversification of various products and services
Language used
Common history of King Ranch
Traditions of King Ranch and surrounding communities
What are the products and services that are either planned or that are currently apart of King Ranch will be attractive to each customer segment?
The main products and services include the ranch itself, hunting activities, all of which are fit for all the market segments identified at King Ranch.
Brand promise: Positioning
Looking at what you believe to be King Ranch’s why, the customer segmentation and what they are seeking, articulate what you believe should be their brand promise or brand positioning.
Their brand promise or brand positioning would be to satisfy their customers, by showcasing their unique products and services, in addition to providing them with sufficient and quality services while on the other hand, having the end goal of remaining sustainable and advocates of environmental protection and conservation.
Inspiration: Internal Discipline
Given what you have learned about the history and legacy of King Ranch, thinking about the Brand Promise, as well as what the aspirational customer segments, how should King Ranch team members connect with customers? What is the feel or attitude they should exemplify? Give an example of how you might achieve that?
King Ranch can ensure that the team members connect with their customers in a number of ways. First, King Ranch’s management should ensure that the employees are aware of the guiding principles. By so doing, the employees would be able to serve the customers in a highly competitive manner, thus bringing them closer to the institution. Also, employees should be handled with diversity, with the team trained on how to have a more diverse workplace. These can be achieved through training, as well as benchmarking in various firms that have turned out successful along this line.
Differentiator: Innovation
Competitive Landscape
What would be King Ranch’s direct competitors?
Knott’s Berry Ranch
MFA Incorporated
Second Chance Ranch
What other competitors could King Ranch experience?
King ranch could also experience competitors from other agricultural institutions, rather than just competitors from the tourism sector.
SWOT
Given King Ranch’s competitive landscape what would be:
Their strengths?
Quality of facility and services offered at King Ranch
Business reputation of King Ranch Family
Location of the facility
Their weaknesses?
Inappropriate and insufficient marketing
Large overhead costs
Climate
What are some opportunities?
Close proximity to large market segment
Increase in popularity
Increased number of consumers due to favorable rates
What are some of the threats?
Stiff competition from companies in tourism industry
Market not ready to consume King Ranch’s products and services
Poor economy as a result of the pandemic.
Part III- Customer Journey
Choose the top two customer segments that you believe King Ranch should focus on.
Label the customer segment: Age and Gender
For each stage in the buying journey share what you believe that core customer is thinking about or doing
Then share what you think is most valuable for King Ranch to communicate to them based upon the stage they are at in the buying journey.
| Customer Segment: | ||||
| What are they thinking or doing at this point of the customer journey | What is the messaging King Ranch should communicate to this segment given where they are in the journey | What are they thinking or doing at this point of the customer journey | What is the messaging King Ranch should communicate to this segment given where they are in the journey | |
| Unaware to Aware (Point of Inspiration) | They feel disconnected and as a result, require some place that they can relax and feel more comfortable | King ranch can ensure that the customers understand what they offer, and that whatever is being offered can solve their problems | King Ranch needs consumers’ feedback to ensure that they understand various points of improvement and what they need to do to better serve their customers. | King Ranch should communicate about how effectively it can help consumers regain their happiness by providing them with a friendly environment. |
| Aware to Research | Information regarding the institution’s abilities | The various facilities that clients can enjoy | Training employees on how to ensure a positive client interaction at all time | How the facility is planning to have a positive brand position in the market |
| Research to Validate | Pros and cons of the facility | What the clients should expect | Offers to attract consumers | Why and how King Ranch is different |
| Validate to Purchase | Key areas of weaknesses and turn off points for the client | Information regarding turn off points for clients | Feedback on turn off points | How to better improve |
| Prior to Stay | Information regarding some of the things that they should note regarding the facility | What they will love within the facility | What clients believe is a turn off | How to better improve the facility’s services |
| Post Stay
|
Feedback regarding their stay, what they liked and what did not make them happy | Their feedback through surveys | Feedback analysis | Using feedback to better improve |
Part IV- Recap
What was your biggest learning in doing this project on King Ranch?
The biggest learning in doing this project is understanding the current state of King Ranch and the strategies put in place to ensure that the goals and objectives of the facility are well accomplished.
Why do you believe we go through the above process (current state, future state, and customer journey) that we did in analyzing King Ranch?
We go through the above process to understand the current position of King Ranch, understanding some of the changes that have been made to overcome challenges that could be encountered as well as analyzing how the current position of the facility could help in ensuring that it achieves its future vision.
What risks could incur if an organization if they don’t take the above methodology / approach to positioning?
If organizations do not take the above methodology, then they could face a lot of challenges and difficulties in trying to balance between current organizational situation and future vision. Organizations become successful if they are able to create a long-lasting balance between their current market position and their future position. This provides employees with a framework that they can follow to ensure that they accomplish organization goals and in addition, align all their practices with the future vision of their institution.