Write an Executive Summary for this Marketing Plan Write a Conclusion for this Marketing Plan Overview \& Mission Statement A. Vision or Mission. A mission statement is a long-term view or vision of what an area or business hopes to become. Mission statements provide direction, which is critical to the success of a business or area. When deciding on a mission, two important questions should be addressed: Who are our customers? And what is our core competency? Statements should be clear and enduring as well as inspirational. To answer those two important questions, Asheville's customers are its residents and visitors, and their core competencies are its two beautiful rivers and its location. It is Asheville's mission to maximize socioeconomic development while maintaining a secure, sustainable, and appealing environment for our residents and visitors to enjoy. Town Description. Asheville is a small city in North Carolina. It is currently home to approximately 15,399 residents. During the late nineteenth century through the twentieth century, Asheville was a center for manufacturing and textile mills. Today, the four biggest industries in Asheville are social assistance, health care, retail trade, and manufacturing. SWOT Analysis. Asheville has many strengths and opportunities as well as weaknesses and threats. Asheville's strengths are its location, economic growth, affordable housing, and its beautiful rivers. Some of its weaknesses are there are few places to shop, it is poorly maintained, and the poverty rate is 21.87%. The city of Asheville has endless opportunities, such as, industry growth and future employment Lastly, Asheville's biggest threats are crime, drugs, and poverty. Marketing Objectives, Strategies, Tactics, Marketing Research \& Target Markets A. Marketing Objectives, Strategies and Tactics. The overall marketing objective for Asheville, N.C would be to raise awareness of what the town has to offer. Two marketing strategies can be used to meet the overall marketing objective. The first marketing strategy will be to distinguish Asheville from its neighboring cities by identifying differences between products, businesses, residents, and visitors. The second marketing strategy will be to meet the requirements of businesses and consumers while concentrating on Asheville's' unique image. Two tactics implemented to execute the marketing objective and market strategies will be city surveys and property development. B. Marketing Research. Surveys are a beneficial marketing research tactic implemented to understand the interest of residents, business owners, and tourists. Marketing researchers frequently use surveys to gather primary information through phone, mail, online, social media, or personal interviews. To gauge whether these marketing efforts are effective, a variety of surveys will be sent out via postal mail and email to residents and businesses. In addition, for convenience, online surveys and social media surveys will be made available for tourists. C. Target Markets. The city of Asheville has three potential target markets. These target markets are foreseen to either move, visit, or start a business in the area. Demographic segmentation, psychographic segmentation, and geographic location are three examples of marketing segments used to describe the three potential target markets. 1. Target Market 1: The first target market would be families looking to move to a safe town with affordable housing, high quality schools, playgrounds, and parks. Demographic segmentation is an example of a marketing segment used to describe this target market. This type of segmentation categorizes customers and likely customers based on characteristics such as gender, age, education, income, family status and occupation. Asheville meets the needs of what families are looking for when it comes to education, family status and income. 2. Target Market 2: The second target market would be outdoor enthusiasts looking to visit Asheville for its beautiful walking trials, scenery, and rivers. Psychographic segmentation is an example of a marketing segment used to describe this target market. This type of segmentation divides one's customer base into divisions that influence purchasing behavior, such as social standing, lifestyle, beliefs, values, activities, and opinions. Those who live an outdoor lifestyle will thoroughly enjoy hiking Asheville's trails and kayaking and fishing its rivers. 3. Target Market 3: The third and final target market would be those looking to start a business in the manufacturing and textile industry in the Asheville area. Geographic location is an example of a marketing segment used to describe this target market. This type of segmentation is used to target goods or services at individuals who reside or shop in a specific area. Located in the southeast, Asheville has pro-business laws and an abundant amount of land, which is appealing to those looking to start a business in the manufacturing and textile industry. III. Digital Marketing, SocialMedia,, and Branding A. Digital Marketing. The areas of digital marketing media I will use are media-sharing sites and mobile marketing. Media-sharing sites allow users to share videos, photos, and podcasts with others, nationwide. Sharing Asheville's beautiful scenery and outdoor activities through snapshots, films, and podcasts are likely to attract outdoor enthusiasts. Mobile marketing has proven to be successful in attracting the attention of customers. One common mobile marketing tool is mobile advertisements. Mobile advertisements are a form of advertisements that appear on mobile devices. This mobile marketing tool is a quick and easy way to showcase what Ashville has to offer, such as its restaurants, retail stores, and upcoming festivals and events. B. Social Media. The areas of social media I will use are Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is free to use and the most popular social media platform in the world. Facebook is a great way to promote Asheville, it gives potential tourists a chance to interact with Asheville's residents as well as its members of city council through comments and messages. In addition, future tourists can view countless pictures and videos of this unique small town. Twitter, like Facebook is a free social media platform. Twitter is a great way to share information about upcoming events and newly opened restaurants and businesses in Asheville. C. Branding. I will brand Asheville, NC using a logo. A logo is a picture or drawing that a business, group, organization, or person uses to identify themselves, or who they are. Asheville's logo will include its name, Asheville, North Carolina, in addition to two ripple symbols, one on top of the other, above its name. The ripples will be light blue in color to symbolize Asheville's two beautiful rivers. To make the logo easy to read, I will use a standard font like Times New Roman and a dark green font color to represent Asheville's beautiful landscape. [V. Promotion, Implementation, and Evaluation A. Promotional Mix. A promotional mix is a mixture of promotional strategies used to promote a particular product. Asheville's promotional mix will consist of advertisements and public relations. Some advertisements that Asheville will use to target its audience are newspapers, magazines, and T.V commercials. Furthermore, all three of these advertisements can be used to showcase Asheville's beautiful rivers, walking trails, scenery, and small businesses. Lastly, to enhance its image, Asheville will use public relations. Some public relations tools that will be used are brochures, news releases, and blogs. These tools will help to attract tourists and bring light to Asheville's small-town atmosphere. B. Marketing Implementation. Marketing implementation is the process of carrying out marketing strategies. Through planning, marketing managers provide guidance and meaning for a company's marketing efforts and are ideally situated to carry out certain marketing plans. The city of Asheville plans to implement the following action items in the next four years. To maximize socioeconomic development while maintaining a secure, sustainable, and appealing environment for our residents, and visitors to enjoy, Asheville will invest in infrastructure, education, law enforcement, environmental protection, and renewable energy in 2023 and 2024. In 2025, Asheville will conduct a study to assess what makes it distinguishable from its neighboring cities by identifying differences between products, businesses, residents, and visitors. In 2026, Asheville will interview business owners and customers to better understand how to meet their requirements all while concentrating on Asheville's unique image. C. Performance Evaluations. Marketing managers must successfully evaluate marketing strategies to meet marketing objectives. To evaluate the performance of Asheville's marketing plan, the city's population rate will be assessed, and questionnaires will be sent to residents. Surveys and case studies will be used to collect data on the effectiveness of Asheville's marketing plan. The overall marketing objective for Asheville is to raise awareness of what the town has to offer. To monitor Asheville's marketing efforts to see if it's meeting its marketing objectives, Asheville will examine the number of viewers and followers it has on its social media platforms. Asheville's social media platforms can also be used to see if it is attracting its target markets. For example, outdoor enthusiasts visiting Asheville can post pictures and videos of Asheville's walking trails, rivers, and outdoor activities on Asheville's social media platforms