A marketing plan is essential for a business to help a manager realise what makes his/her business unique and how to make the public aware of the business (Botha, 2013). Crawfard (2013) added that a marketing plan will help a restaurant manager develop a product that is best suited to meet the desired target market.
Five questions were asked to survey students’ perceptions of their competencies in this area, as shown in Table 5.17.
Table 5.17: Students’ perceptions of their competencies in marketing skills
CPUT CUT All students
Question Frequency Percent Frequency Percent Frequency Percent
11.1: Do you know how to compile a marketing plan?
Yes 51 66% 10 59% 61 64%
No 26 34% 7 41% 34 36%
Total 77 100% 17 100% 94 100%
11.2: Do you know how to identify the target market?
Yes 71 92% 14 82% 85 90%
No 6 8% 3 18% 9 10%
Total 77 100% 17 100% 94 100%
11.3: Do you know how to implement strategies to attract the target market?
Yes 66 86% 15 88% 81 86%
No 11 14% 2 12% 13 14%
Total 77 100% 17 100% 94 100%
11.4: Do you know how to identify your competitors?
Yes 71 92% 13 76% 84 89%
No 6 8% 4 24% 10 11%
Total 77 100% 17 100% 94 100%
11.5: Do you know how to make the public aware of your business?
Yes 70 91% 11 65% 81 86%
No 7 9% 6 35% 14 14%
Total 77 100% 17 100% 94 100%
The first question asked in this theme was “Do you know how to compile a marketing plan? Results were varied: 41% of CUT students and 34% of CPUT students (36% overall) answered in the negative, but the majority (64% overall, comprised of 66% CPUT and 59% CUT students) were confident in compiling a marketing plan.
Pitching the plan to the correct target market is important to ensure that you market your business correctly (Hess, 2013). Van Tonder (2013) added that the type of target market will determine the type of marketing strategies to be implemented.
A healthy majority of students (90% overall, including 92% of CPUT and 82% of CUT students) felt confident in identifying a target market; only 10% overall did not. This indicates that both hotels schools provide sufficient training to engender confidence in the students to identify their target market. Having identified the market, the restaurant now has to identify and implement strategies to attract the target market (Hess, 2013). Van Tonder (2013) added that managers must make use of the most appropriate marketing tools to ensure that the time and money invested is effective, and generates a good return on the marketing investment.
Again the results were very positive: 86% of students overall felt confident in implementing strategies to attract the correct target market, while only 14% answered “no”. Eighty-six percent and 88% of CPUT and CUT students respectively answered in the affirmative. Therefore the findings strongly suggest that the training provided by both hotel schools is sufficient in equipping students to feel confident in implementing strategies to attract the correct target market.
Regarding competitor identification, Stone (2013) explained that competitors can enter the restaurant market at given time and it is vital to identify them. Innovation should be used constantly to ensure one’s restaurant proposition always stacks up favourably against the competition. Zanasi (2013) agreed that a restaurant has direct and indirect competitors, so the manager must know who they are to implements strategies to make the business’s products and services stand out. Knowledge of the competition will enable a manager to set the menu prices competitively and help the business respond to rival marketing campaigns (Moolman, 2013).
Students were again very positive in this area, with 89% responding affirmatively and only 11% responding in the negative. Thus the findings show that the training provided by both hotel schools does enable students to feel confident in identifying business competitors. Finally in this theme, on the question to making the public aware of one’s business, Moolman (2013) and Johnson (2013) agreed that making the public think favorably of your business is vital, and can be achieved through good word-of-mouth publicity and making use of the media and internet.
This question also resulted in a high positive response, with 86% of students feeling confident of making the public aware of a business; only 14% did not feel confident. While 91% of CPUT students responded affirmatively, 35% of CUT students did not consider themselves competent in this area. Overall however the researcher determined CPUT, and, to a lesser extent, CUT, provide training that is sufficient to ensuring the majority of students feel confident of their ability to make the public aware of their business.
5.2.7.1 Theme results and analysis
This theme resulted in a positive median response of 83%, the second highest so far (after Theme 3, Social skills).
Being able to compile an effective marketing plan is vital to making the public aware of a business and ensuring the effective execution of the restaurateur’s strategic planning Fryer (2013:5).
In compiling a marketing plan, a restaurateur should be able to identify his/her target market to ensure the correct marketing techniques are used and to identify other competitor restaurants (Da Silva, 2014:9).
Figure 5.7: Students’ levels of confidence in applying marketing skills
The results in Figure 5.7 clearly indicate that most students felt competent in applying marketing skills, such as compiling a marketing plan, identifying target markets and setting bench marks for a business. Considering this and the positive median response of 83% the researcher determined that both curricula provide sufficient training in preparing students to apply different marketing skills.
The researcher feels strongly that graduates should be able to demonstrate marketing skills such as being actively involved in social media and creating the motivation for free positive press. In addition, in her experience, the finer points of marketing and brand building are frequently ignored, such as employing staff with outgoing personality who buy into the business product, ensuring the restaurant is easily accessible, is located in an area that makes it easy for the business to promote itself, and has plenty of customer parking.