The bigger and stronger the competition is, the better a small business’s marketing strategy needs to be.That being the case, Amilya Antonetti may need your help with a marketing strategy. Antonetti is starting a business to break into the $4.7 billion U.S. laundry detergent market, competing directly with the likes of Procter & Gamble. The niche of the detergent market that she is filling is hypoallergenic cleaning products, because her infant son had health problems aggravated by the chemicals in the standard brands. She started her company, called SoapWorks, after conducting market research, primarily from other mothers of infants, and finding that many other families faced similar problems. Her annual advertising budget is limited to $60,000 (about what her huge competitors spend on one 30-second prime-time network TV ad), so she had to find different ways to let people know what SoapWorks would do for them.

Source:  D.M. Osborne, “Taking on Procter & Gamble,” Inc., October 2000, 66-73.

Questions:

1. If you were in Amilya Antonetti’s place starting SoapWorks, what marketing strategy would you use to compete with Procter & Gamble and Clorox? How would you reach your target markets? How and where would you advertise? How would you use “word of mouth” to your advantage as a small business marketer?

2. One of the biggest challenges SoapWorks faced was getting its products on the shelves of grocery stores. By 1999, they were in 2,500 stores from California to Florida, and the company had revenues of $5 million. How would you create such a market penetration?

Address the above questions in a short paper.

Guidelines for Submission: Short papers should use double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. Sources should be cited according to a discipline-appropriate citation method. Page-length requirements: 1–2 pages