Rice Life, LLC Marketing Strategy Marketing Leadership Team: Business Summary: Company Name: Rice Life, LLC Marketing Leadership Team: Rhonda Branham Office Location: 187 Lawrence Road 525, Hoxie, Arkansas 72433 Mission Statement: The Rice Life is about taking pride in small towns and our farming heritage and knowing what it means to work hard, stay humble and true to our roots and values. SWOT Analysis: Strengths 1. A unique niche market (Rice farming clothing apparel) Weaknesses 1. Lack of website functionality and management 2. Online presence 3. Small town feel and appeal 4. Owner leadership and industry knowledge 2. Unclear branding and undefined target market 3. Lack of internal corporate organization and support 5. Emotional buy Opportunities 1. Branded apparel other than t-shirts 4. Minimal production capacity Threats 1. Legal action from the “Salt Life” brand for infringement 2. Customizable product and co-branding 3. Shipping contract to lower cost and improve timing 2. Low barriers to entry create high competition 4. Amazon marketplace 3. Current competitors 5. Increase Brand awareness through online marketing campaign (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc.) 4. The decline of “brick and mortar stores” 6. Expansion into other rice-producing countries 5. Lack of willing investors Strengths: In elaboration to its strengths, Rice Life is in an untouched market, since there is no other brand with an online presence that sells rice farming apparel. When a potential consumer searches for rice farming clothing using a search engine like Google, Rice Life is the second result that appears. The first result is Turnrows apparel, a clothing store that features merchandise such as graphic tees and hats geared toward farmers. According to Economic Times, having a niche business leads to high margins since there are not that many businesses like theirs (“Definition of Niche Marketing”). In addition to this niche market, the company also has its own website, largely followed Facebook page, minimal Instagram account, Snapchat account, and Pinterest account. Since Rice Life is a small business, it is very crucial for it to have a web presence considering 67% of retail purchasing is completed online in the US per Statista ("Number of digital shoppers in the U.S. 2021 | Statistic", 2018). According to Forbes, a great way to differentiate your business and leverage your positioning in the market is to connect more with your customers online (“Newtek - The Small Business Authority”, 2013). This helps build a relationship with customers and make them feel appreciated. Rice Life website is also connected to their Facebook and Instagram page. This gives potential consumers the opportunity to connect and communicate with the company. Another big strength that Rice Life boasts is its owner and sole leader, Mrs. Rhonda Branham. As we learned in our discussion with Rhonda, she has a sales background and very outgoing, fun personality (R. Branham, personal communication, September 11, 2018). This is a great advantage in approaching potential vendors, attending conventions and trade shows, and the general practice of being the face of her company in the male-dominated farming industry. Also, Rhonda has an innate creativity that allows her to come up with every t-shirt slogan and design she uses. This is a very valuable strength. Additionally, Rhonda has a connection to the rice farming industry through family, so she does have some insight into the industry. Rhonda also stated during our conversation that she feels a competitive advantage of the company is the emotional buy created by the strong ties people feel within the farming industry. We recently discussed in class that emotions can be a great form of positioning for a company or product (Positioning: How Advertising Shapes Perception. n.d.). Weaknesses: During the interview with Rhonda Branham, several critical weaknesses were discovered. The Rice Life brand does not currently have a highly functioning or well-managed website. The webpage is seldom updated or refreshed. The current site is difficult to navigate and does not have sufficient text content for search engine optimization, or SEO. There is also the question of “Who is Rice Life?” The website and facebook do not clearly show if Rice Life is focused on rice farming, hunting, or the outdoors in general. The lack of corporate organization, even in a small business, is a big deal. When researching Rice Life on the Arkansas Secretary of State website, it was discovered that the company is not current with their registration with the state. Items such as this can be detrimental. Rice Life has limited production capacity and runs small batches often. This type of production only increases cost. If larger batches could be run more often then Rice Life would see an increase in profit per unit. Opportunities: Opportunities are unlimited for Rhonda and the Rice Life brand with the correct marketing strategy and proper execution. In the future, and after defining the target market, Rice Life could brand other clothing and novelty items such as gifts, accessories, and children’s clothing to further satisfy their customers. The company could also offer customized and co-branded products. If Rice Life was able to offer customized products at a premium, it would increase the brand worth. Rhonda mentioned in her discussion that she has had some opportunities to cobrand her t-shirts with farms, but there are many ways to take advantage of this opportunity further by promoting it on her website as an option (R. Branham, personal communication, September 11, 2018). Taking advantage of the Amazon marketplace is key for Rice Life in the future. It would open the brand to an unprecedented amount of customers. Once sales volume increases, Rice Life could also approach shipping companies to negotiate reduced freight cost. An agreement with a company such as FedEx, UPS, or USPS would be a major stepping stone for Rice Life. An opportunity to help push Rice Life’s brand forward would be to increase their social media presence. An article written earlier this year titled “Marketing Budget Trends: 5 Key Points”, specifically addresses budgeting for social media marketing (2018). In an August 2009 survey, social media marketing took up about 3.5% of a company’s total budget. In the latest study conducted in early 2018, that number has grown to about 12% ("Marketing Budget Trends: 5 Key Points", 2018). This means if Rice Life’s starting budget was $1,000, Rhonda should set aside about $120 to allocate to marketing on the various social media platforms. She could pay to place ads on social media or pay a part-time employee that is more experienced with promoting a brand across social media. The chart listed below listed as Figure 1 is from Marketing Charts and it illustrates where Gen Z and Millennial consumers are first being introduced to a product. As you can see, social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook score first with Gen Z consumers, and second with Millennials. (continued below) Figure 1 Once a company has carved out a budget for social media marketing, the leaders must then decide which social media platforms to target. According to “How Businesses Use Social Media: 2017 Report” on Smart Insights, Facebook ranks first as the social media platform that businesses value, followed by LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, as can be seen by Figure 2 (Mangles, 2017). For Rice Life’s branding purposes, we would suggest using Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram because of the opportunity for consumer interaction. (continued below) Figure 2 Finally, a big opportunity for Rice Life is the potential for expansion into other states and countries. Rice Life sells online to many states, but the name is mostly known in the southern United States. However, some of the designs could be popular in northern states as well, which would increase sales. Rhonda mentioned during our discussion in class that she has had some interest from rice farmers in other countries (R. Branham, personal communication, September 11, 2018) . There is certainly a big opportunity to capitalize on this interest and fulfill one of her long term goals of creating global brand recognition. Threats: Rice Life faces several potential threats externally. The first being the similarities between Rice Life and Salt Life. Rhonda has said herself that Salt Life was her inspiration for creating Rice Life, and she has used similar styling in the brand logo (R. Branham, personal communication, September 11, 2018). There is the potential that Salt Life could claim copyright infringement and sue Rice Life on this basis. A separate but similar threat is the entrance of new competitors. The clothing industry has a high ease of entry threshold. Rhonda’s short timeline from idea to execution is an example of the ease of entry into the clothing category. A potential competitor does not have to purchase equipment, have a workspace, large storage, or materials up front to be a threat. Also, the clothing industry is not a government-regulated industry, meaning there are no licensing requirements or government intervention needed to start a small clothing business from your home. In addition to potential new competitors, Rice Life has several strong competitors in the market currently. Rhonda mentioned during her discussion that she views Turnrows, Mossy Oak, Southern Marsh, and Drake as direct competitors (R. Branham, personal communication, September 11, 2018). These companies would be competitors in the larger industry of outdoors, farming, and hunting apparel, not within the smaller target market of rice farmers. There are some potential barriers to entry that may challenge Rice Life, which can lead to a highly competitive market. The first barrier to entry is the relaxed governmental policies surrounding starting a clothing line. The clothing industry is not a government-regulated industry, meaning there are no licensing requirements or government intervention needed to start a small clothing business from your home. Once a company’s operation grows and if the leaders decide to open a manufacturing plant, there will be some regulatory and legal requirements the company must abide by, but for Rice Life, these do not apply at this time. Another barrier to entry is the low startup costs, depending on how big or small a company’s operation is. Since Rice Life has started small as a one-man operation, Rhonda outsources her operations, from buying the shirts to graphic design work, to having them screen printed. From the class discussion with Rhonda in September, we gathered that she buys her shirts wholesale from a shirt company and prints her screens and designs for a total cost anywhere from $5.49 to $12.49 depending on the size and complexity of the print design (R. Branham, personal communication, September 11, 2018). This proves it is not necessary to purchase equipment, work space, storage, and materials on the front-end before the first sale is made. Additionally, the decline of “brick and mortar” stores is a threat to Rice Life. Rhonda mentioned that the Rice Life apparel is placed in several small stores (R. Branham, personal communication, September 11, 2018). As the brand grows, it may be more efficient and costeffective to locate the product solely online. If the Rice Life brand can overcome this threat they may also be able to overcome the last threat of the lack of willing investors. Investors want to see that their investment will create a return on their monies. This is usually not the case in the competitive environment of clothing retail. And as of now, Rice Life does not show that. References Definition of Niche Marketing | What is Niche Marketing? Niche Marketing Meaning. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/definition/niche-marketing Learning Seed. (n.d.) Positioning: How Advertising Shapes Perception. Mangles, C. (2017, September 25). How Businesses Use Social Media: 2017 Report. Retrieved September 16, 2017, from http://www.smartinsights.com Marketing Budget Trends: 5 Key Points. (2018, March 7). Retrieved September 16, 2018, from http://marketingcharts.com Most Gen Z Shoppers Say They Often Discover Products on Social Media. (2018, September 5). Retrieved September 16, 2018, from http://www.marketingcharts.com Newtek - The Small Business Authority. (2013, November 26). How Much Is Online Presence Helping Small Business? Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/thesba/2013/11/25/how-much-is-online-presence-helpingsmall-business/#15b7be8f2cb6 Number of digital shoppers in the U.S. 2021 | Statistic. (2018). Retrieved October 14, 2018, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/183755/number-of-us-internet-shoppers-since 2009/ Business Initiatives – DUE OCTOBER 23 NOT LIMITED TO THESE NUMBER OF INITIATIVES/MARKETS/PERSONAS [Company name] has the ambitious goal of [overarching company goal]. To help the business do that, our marketing team will pursue the following initiatives in [current year]: Initiative 1 Description: [Example: Over the next 12 months, we’ll work on building a blog property that becomes a go-to resource for our customers’ burning questions -- and our number-one source of leads month over month.] Goal of initiative: [Example: To increase our website’s rank on Google and create critical top-ofthe-funnel marketing content that helps our sales team start more conversations with prospects.] Metrics to measure success: [Example: 50,000 organic page views per month / 10 content downloads per month] Initiative 2 Description: Goal of initiative: Metrics to measure success: Initiative 3 Description: Goal of initiative: Metrics to measure success: Target Market Industries In [current year], we’re targeting the following industries where we’ll sell our product and reach out to customers: [Industry 1] This includes [sub-industries where your business might target more specific segments of your audience]. [Example: Industry 1: Food and Beverage. This includes bar & grills, breweries, steakhouses, etc.] [Industry 2] This includes [sub-industries where your business might target more specific segments of your audience]. [Example: Industry 2: Human Resources. This includes recruitment, people operations, etc.] Buyer Personas Within our target market(s), we’ve identified the following buyer personas to represent our ideal customers: [Buyer Persona 1] [Buyer Persona 1] is [age range] years old. S/he works in [job title or industry name] for a living and spends his/her free time [describe lifestyle, family size, etc.]. Ultimately, [Buyer Persona 1] wants [personal or professional challenge(s) that your business will try to solve]. [Buyer Persona 2] [Buyer Persona 1] is [age range] years old. S/he works in [job title or industry name] for a living and spends his/her free time [describe lifestyle, family size, etc.]. Ultimately, [Buyer Persona 1] wants [personal or professional challenge(s) that your business will try to solve]. Competitive Analysis Within our target market(s), we expect to compete with the following companies: [Company 1] Products we compete with: [This competitor’s product/service, what it does, and what it might do better than yours] Other ways we compete: [Example: This competitor has a blog that ranks highly on Google for many of the same keywords we would like to write content on] [Company 2] Products we compete with: Other ways we compete: [Company 3] Products we compete with: Other ways we compete: [Company 4] Products we compete with: Other ways we compete:
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