Heidi Fallon, Haley White & Julia Damato

Professor Meng

MRKT-280

1st, May 2020

Marketing Plan

In order to broaden our appeal and connect better with our target audience, our idea to

improve the Ghost Lifestyle brand is to introduce a smartphone app, so that customers will be

able to access the benefits of the brand whenever they please. In today’s world, younger

audiences are all about being “on the go” and convenience, and the smartphone app offers just

that. Almost, if not all of the customers in Ghost Lifestyle’s target audience owns a smartphone

and uses it on a daily basis, making the idea of an app perfectly appropriate and ideal. With a

majority of other online stores offering applications with bonus features for their customers, it is

no question that the Ghost Lifestyle brand should follow suit.

The potential design for our Ghost Lifestyle phone app will be based around a fitness app

that is linked to all of Ghost Lifestyle’s website features. Not only will all of the features of the

website be included in the app, but many extra features will be exclusively available as well.

Besides offering the Ghost Lifestyle store and purchasing, the app will provide workout

inspiration along with step-by-step instructions for workout routines. The app will suggest diet

plans, nutritional tips and even recipes, which will incorporate their widely recognized protein

powders. On top of this, users will have access to a fitness tracker that the app will provide so

that they can add what they eat and how much they workout. If the user decides to enter his or
her weight, age, and other demographic information that the app will ask for, the user can enjoy

an even more customized and tailor-made fitness experience.

These features will help Ghost Lifestyle clients reach their best potential and further

exhibit the company’s model of “being a legend” by joining Ghost Lifestyle. The phone

application will be more than just fitness related, and will be connected to Ghost’s loyalty

program as well. Their loyalty program states, “Be Rewarded for Doing the Stuff You Already

Do” and the app will help users track points to shop for products and merchandise (GHOST).

Along with workout and loyalty program features, the smart phone application will be linked to

the brands’ social media accounts, such as Instagram and YouTube, so users can get a more

personal experience and be sure to stay connected and up to date with the brand. This feature is

similar to their section on the website that links social media influencers with a protein pack

bundle to promote the brands’ products.

Our Ghost Lifestyle app will be different from the various other fitness tracker apps

because it will be directly correlated with a brand that clients are already consuming. The app

will simply be another addition to the brand that consumers are already enjoying. Similar fitness

apps offer simple workout tracking and post inspirational fitness plans, whereas our Ghost app

will collectively bring everything together that the brand stands for and incorporate the multiple

features their website displays (Stassen). The app not only offers everything that customers

already love about the brand, but it also goes above and beyond what other online shopping apps

provide. For example, the Nike, Under Armour, and other fitness related apps do not offer fitness

tracking, while fitness tracker apps such as MyFitnessPal do not include shopping. The Ghost

Lifestyle adds all of these benefits into one convenient app. To maintain the brand identity that

Ghost Lifestyle displays on their website and multiple social media platforms, the app will be
sleek yet vibrant to keep with their theme (Forrester). To reach as many people as possible, the

app will be accessible to any smart phone user regardless of the processing system, meaning that

both Apple and Android users will be able to enjoy the benefits of the app. Through embodying

everything that the Ghost Lifestyle website displays, as well as a fitness tracker feature to keep

the product differentiated from competing fitness phone applications, all smart phone users will

find this product easy to use and full of helpful and fun tips to ‘Be a Legend, and join Ghost’

(GHOST).

A SWOT analysis is strategic planning technique compiling a company’s strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The main goal of SWOT is to help the organization

develop a clear understanding of all the factors that influence business decisions. Since Ghost

Lifestyle is a new and upcoming brand, it is ever more essential for them to perform this analysis

before taking company action. Some strengths that Ghost Lifestyle presents are their unique and

bold flavors. Ghost has attracted many of their customers just from the colorful packaging

designs while still providing a quality product. Their peculiar flavors like sour Warheads or

Chips Ahoy has helped them to catch consumer’s attention and differentiate from the basic

protein powder flavors of vanilla or chocolate. These qualities separate them from their

competitors which is a major strength. Some weaknesses that Ghost Lifestyle may encounter is

that they are currently only online. This is quite challenging for a new brand, but not uncommon.

Before Ghost can enter brick and mortar store shelves, they must obtain high profits through

their online sales. Also, the fitness sector of the business world is extremely competitive and

often hard to enter. Most fitness fanatics swear by a specific brand for all of their protein powder

and workout supplement needs, so being a new company Ghost must attract customer’s attention

directly; this is where opportunities come into play.

 Ghost Lifestyle has reached an underserved sector of the fitness market which is a huge

opportunity to undertake. Their brand known for having crazy flavors is a specific product that

the market has not seen. There are few competitors specializing in the same flavors and therefore

Ghost has claimed an emerging need for this product. They have created these wild flavors by

partnering with very well-known brands already like Chips Ahoy and Sour patch to help them

execute their flavors. These brand connections are great opportunities for Ghost Lifestyle to

expand their brand. Using their YouTube channel and various social media platforms, Ghost

Lifestyle has run with the opportunity to use their social media fame to their advantage in

product promotion. Their loyalty program is also a great way to get customers reactions and

thoughts on their products while gaining even more opportunities through text message and

email notifications about their products and promotions. Lastly are the threats to the company.

With Ghost Lifestyle essentially creating a market for wild workout supplement flavors there is a

great chance that there will be emerging competitors. Brands beginning to specialize in similar

flavors will change the regulatory environment and Ghost will have to adapt. Their only online

presence can also be an easier platform to receive negative comments and media attention that

may persuade a consumer to change their attitudes to the product and lose their brand loyalty.

Overall, Ghost Lifestyle’s SWOT analysis can help them specify their business ventures while

identifying their internal and external environment. A SWOT analysis can often answer the

questions that generate meaningful information to multiple categories in the firm’s environment.

To further promote our Ghost Lifestyle phone app we will incorporate Robert Ciadini’s

“Science of Persuasion” to create a social influence on potential users. Ciadini mentioned

multiple different strategies that are very valuable to persuading people to believe and support

your ideas and he broke it down into six main rules he called, The Guide to Human Behavior.
These tips can be applied ethically in the business world to help brand yourself and promote the

firm's goods or services to increase profit. The first tip is reciprocity. This term shows how

people are obligated to give back to people that have given to them. This ties in with our idea to

have our app linked to Ghost Lifestyle’s loyalty program. Users can build up points to get credits

to use on Ghost’s website. Since we are profiting from them using the app and shopping from

Ghost, we are able give back and reciprocate their actions. Next is scarcity, this term refers to

consumers wanting more and more even if there are no means possible. Consumers will always

want the greatest basket of goods, coined in economic terms. By creating a Ghost Lifestyle app

this helps consumers get even more from Ghost with not only products but also a service that

maximizes their ability to get involved in the Ghost Lifestyle family as stated on their website.

The next term Ciadini mentioned is authority, this means that consumers are more likely to

follow knowledgeable and creditable leaders. This is why we can plan to link our app to various

social media outlets that will clearly depict social media influencers who are using Ghost

Lifestyle and have reached their fitness goals. Allowing app users to have easy access to the

various influencers that may have introduced them to Ghost initially is a great way to keep

consumers coming back for more.

The fourth term is consistency, consumer’s preference things previously done or said to

remain constant with their ideologies. From a fitness aspect our app will track workout activity

and help users reach their goals by creating a consistent workout plans. These workout plans will

be sent as daily phone notifications so there is consistency with when users are working out and

also when they are using the Ghost Lifestyle app and bringing more attention to the brand daily.

The fifth term is liking; this just generally refers to how people are more likely to say ‘yes’ if

they enjoy it. Ciadini broke it down even further into three points, consumers like people similar
to them, people that have complimented them or those that cooperate toward a mutual goal.

Since users of the app have most likely already been using the products, to ensure users are

feeling connected our Ghost Lifestyle app will also feature an interactive aspect where all users

of the app can communicate and share their fitness journeys and tips/tricks. This aspect will help

ensure users are ‘liking’ the service. Lastly is the consensus term, consumers look for actions and

behaviors of others and use data to make a decision. Along with the multiple other features of

our Ghost Lifestyle app, showing the fitness journeys of other users will help show the

satisfaction of Ghost Lifestyle app users and influence others to join to have the same results!

Overall, Robert Ciadinis’s “Science of Persuasion” helped to show how we could incorporate

influential tactics into promoting our Ghost Lifestyle App.

While we are very confident that including an app with a wide range of features is a

marketing plan that will lead to great success for our company, it is important that we conduct a

lot of research in order to ensure that we are making the right decision. A lot of our research will

be done in the form of surveys given to customers, as well as members of the public. We have

come up with strategies so that customers are able to take these surveys. Customers purchase our

products online only, because right now, that is the only way in which we sell all of our products.

Currently, they are not available in stores. When customers purchase any of our Ghost Lifestyle

products, we will ask that they provide their email addresses when checking out. This question

will be asked when they also provide their address, phone number, and other shipping

information. Text updates and emails will be sent with order confirmation so that customers can

track their orders and see their estimated arrivals. However, with their contact information,

surveys will also be sent out. In exchange for their feedback, customers will be offered loyalty

points, but if they are not loyalty members, we will offer another type of compensation.
 In addition to sending out surveys to customers, we also think that it would be a good

idea to send out surveys to individuals who may have nothing to do with our products. Feedback

from people who are not associated with our products will be useful to us, because our app is

open to all people and not just our customers. Our app is free and thousands of those who use our

app may only use it for its features like fitness tracking, workout videos, recipes, and more,

without using the shopping part of our app, or owning any of our products. This means that

feedback from noncustomers is important. However, the feedback should not be random. Instead,

we should be giving out surveys to our target market, as their feedback will be the most relevant.

We will visit college campuses and hand out our surveys or find online databases with college

students’ email addresses and send them out via email. In order to incentivize students to take

our online surveys, we will enter them into a raffle. The winner will win a $10 gift card for our

website. Not only will this result in many survey responses, but the winner will also most likely

buy one of Ghosts’ products and therefore raise awareness of our brand.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, we want to provide our customers more opportunities

to stay active at home. Being home during quarantine some people may have trouble motivating

themselves to work out, so on our app we want to provide plenty of different workouts for our

customers to choose from. We have partnered with Chloe Ting, a Youtuber that has struck the

internet with workouts such as the 2-week shred challenge, get snatched during quarantine, and

her full body blast workout. She has provided a blog for her viewers to keep them motivated, and

also has started a Tik Tok account for her viewers. Chloe Ting will be the voice behind our

exercise videos that our subscribers can listen to when they run, bike, or just do a circuit to build

muscle and tone throughout the body. Partnering with high profile social media users who have a

lot of followers is a genius marketing idea, because it helps to bring awareness to our brand.
With social media so prevalent in today’s society, anything that goes “viral” immediately spreads

like wildfire and attracts the attention of thousands, if not millions of viewers. Social media is an

incredibly effective advertising tool that saves money, because it is free to use. The app is also

incredibly easy to use and is able to be constantly updated.

The pandemic is causing so much of the population to stay home and stay inside. Ghost

Lifestyle wants our public to keep up with what we preach, which is staying fit. It is easy for

people to become unmotivated in this upsetting time, so we want to lighten the spirits of our

customers by providing the most. Many other apps like ours are providing options for free, apps

like Peleton, Class Pass, and Nike Training Club. What they are not doing is advertising the

options they are providing as must as the Ghost app is trying to do. Our app will be advertised

through our social media, the QR codes we print onto our labels, and our website. Another issue

that has been occurring during this pandemic is the issue of loneliness and isolation. Our target

market of younger people is one that is not used to being alone and craves social interaction and

attention. This is why Ghost Lifestyle will implement another feature that will help to lift the

spirits, which will be an online forum to post and chat. Ghost Lifestyle users will now be able to

create a profile with a username that will allow them to interact with other members of the Ghost

community.

This feature is something that has been wildly popular with other fitness apps, such as

MyFitnessPal and MyPlate, whose forums are flooded with new posts and updates every day.

We can judge based on past success that implementing this strategy into our app will not be a

risk, but a benefit that will only modernize and strengthen our online presence. Users who do

choose to share their journeys with one another will be protected. All members will not be able

to chat privately with one another and will be discouraged from sharing personal information
such as their location and contact information. There will also be age restrictions on who can

participate in the public forum, as we do not believe that those under 16 should be exposed to

online forums, nor will those under 16 even have a need for our product. Loneliness is something

that is incredibly present right now, especially in a time where more people are living alone now

than ever before. It has also taken billions of people by surprise, and unexpected changes can

heighten anxiety in all age groups.

According to an article from The New Yorker, “The novel coronavirus has swept the

globe at a time when more people are living alone than ever before in human history.” (Wright).

Effects of loneliness can become physical, and so it is important that we as a fitness and healthy

lifestyle company do not ignore this. “In 2015, Julianne Holt-Lunstad, a neuroscientist and

psychologist at Brigham Young University, published an analysis of seventy studies, involving

3.4 million people, examining the impact of social isolation, loneliness, and living alone. The

results were notable in light of today’s pandemic. The review found that loneliness increased the

rate of early death by twenty-six per cent; social isolation led to an increased rate of mortality of

twenty-nine per cent, and living alone by thirty-two per cent—no matter the subject’s age,

gender, location, or culture.” (Wright). Based on this study, loneliness over time can have

devastating effects. When users are able to post progress photos, give one another tips, share

recipes and protein drink mix combinations, and more, it will help so many people across the

world with being lonely. It will also serve as inspiration to stay on track, as there is nothing more

motivating than sharing your journey with somebody who is going through the same thing. This

is why this feature will last well beyond this pandemic and will become a permanent part of our

app.
 Our goal is to bring awareness to the Ghost Lifestyle brand through the fitness app and to

provide a healthier lifestyle for our clients. We want to increase the usage of our app by

advertising it to college students. Students at universities and colleges across the country tend to

struggle with exercise and healthy eating. These students are moving to a campus where they get

to pick their meals, and campus dining halls don’t always provide the best options. People have

always been aware of the “freshman fifteen”- which occurs when a first-year student begins

college and starts gaining weight, due to unhealthy campus food, alcohol, stress, and lack of

exercise. The Ghost app works hand in hand with the product, providing fun and motivational

ways to stay healthy and active. All Ghost Lifestyle products will advertise the app with QR

codes on the protein powder bottles and the tags of the merchandise. Ghost Lifestyle is creating a

routine for their customers, and to jumpstart that routine, the Ghost Lifestyle app will provide a

starting point and then build up the relationship with the user, so that they stay healthy,

motivated, and on top of their fitness aspirations.

Standing out and being unique as an app is the key part of our marketing plan.

Differentiating ourselves from our competition is always what has made us stand out in the

crowd of various other fitness related services, apps, and products. Besides all of our unique

features, partnerships, and services as listed above, another aspect that we are choosing to

incorporate which will set us apart is limited to no ads. While apps like MyFitnessPal, C25K,

and more include distracting and constant advertisements, we are working to make sure that the

Ghost Lifestyle app will not include these advertisements. Many of our customers are busy,

working younger people who do not have time to wait around for advertisements to pass, and are

not interested in what they have to say. Because a lot of customers are quickly logging in what

they eat in between work breaks or are doing quick workouts early in the morning, it is
especially important that they are not wasting time exiting out of advertisements. Ghost Lifestyle

is able to get away with little to no advertisements because of the fact that we have revenue

coming in from customers buying our products. It is also important to note that most of our app

users are also buying our products and vice versa, so revenue and ultimately profit is always

going to be coming in.

Apps that do not feature shopping or other in app purchases of great value do not have

the advantage of being able to get away with no advertisements, since ads are typically one of

their only ways to make a profit. And shopping apps that do not include our unique features such

as meal and fitness tracking and workout plans are not going to be used nearly as much or for as

long of a time in a single sitting. For example, when somebody is using a shopping app like

Nike, they are not going to be on it every single day, because it is unreasonable to believe that

somebody is going to order expensive fitness clothing on a regular basis. However, it is perfectly

reasonable to assume that our app will be used on a regular basis, if not a daily basis, because of

its usefulness to daily life. Those who are committed to attaining a healthy lifestyle will be eating

and workout out every day and will therefore be using the app every day to track these efforts.

Daily use and brand loyalty is another reason why we are confident that our brand will

remain in the “growth” and then “maturity” stage of the product life cycle for many years. The

energy drink industry in general has seen increased sales and market share for their products, and

we are confident that there will be consistent demand for years to come. Over the past decade,

there has been an increased emphasis on fitness and a healthy lifestyle, and this has only been

exacerbated by social media. Fitness apps have also become much more popular and utilize the

most up to date technology and innovation that is available worldwide. Certain products that we

provide, such as unorthodox flavors, may lose popularity because the classic flavors tend to be
just that, which is classic. If this starts to occur, we will focus on adding new flavors that are

relevant to the current time. One of the perks of adding crazy flavors that relate to current

products is that we will never run out of ideas, because other industries will be doing some of the

work for us. For example, we have flavors such as Welch’s and Swedish fish, which are already

on the market. When these flavors become less popular, we will partner up with another brand

that is more new and popular. This means that we have no limits on how far we can expand with

our flavors, and an endless pool of products that are already popular on the market. Another

factor that may put us into decline is price. However, as our company inevitably expands and

becomes more popular, we will generate more revenue. This means that eventually, we may have

investors of larger importance invest stock into our company, we will attain more profit, and

become more of a global brand. With all of the profit from our growth, we will be able to lower

our prices for our loyal customers.

Another important aspect of our brand is social awareness. We will be partnering with

various charity organizations that have a relation to our brand of fitness and a healthy lifestyle.

One of the organizations that we have our eye on is Feeding America. They provide healthy

meals to those in need. In fact, on their website, it states, “Feeding people facing hunger is about

more than simply providing food. It’s about providing wellness, nourishment and strength.

That’s why it’s our mission to provide the most nutritious food possible to improve people’s

health and well-being.” (Feeding America). Partnering with charitable organizations will

definitely boost the reputation of our brand and will spread awareness. Many companies around

the world partner with charitable organizations and have a cause; we believe that we should

follow suit. All in all, our marketing plan to ensure the success and growth of Ghost Lifestyle is
extensive and sustainable. The detailed steps we will take in our marketing plan will grow the

Ghost Lifestyle business for many years to come.

 Sources

https ://www. Newyorker.com /news / our-columnists / how- loneliness- from-

coronavirus- isolation- takes- its- own- toll

https :// small business. chron. com/ product- life- cycle- stage- energy-drinks-81662

.html

https :// www. ghost lifestyle . Com/ collections/ supplements

https :/ / www. Feedingamerica .org/ our- work /our- approach/ meet -nutritional- needs