Mkt 571: Price and Channel Strategy Assignment

Mkt 571: Price and Channel Strategy Assignment
Assignment Steps  Construct a minimum 700-word plan for setting price and a distribution model (place/distribution) in Microsoft® Word. This plan should address at least three elements (from the Price and Place/Distribution list below) of the Price and Place/Distribution section of the marketing plan. Price and Place/Distribution: Distribution Strategies Channels, Mass, Selective, Exclusive Positioning within channels Dynamic/Static Pricing Strategies Channel tactics (Pricing) Daily pricing, promotion pricing, List pricing Note: Charts/graphs/tables do not count toward the word count. The plan will be a continuation of your global or multi-regional business you chose in Week 1. This will be incorporated into your overall marketing plan for Week 6. Cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed references. Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines. Individual Assignment: Price and Channel Strategy Purpose of Assignment This assignment is designed to help students analyze and understand how price setting and go to market (distribution) are interrelated and affects the profitability and growth of the business. The assignment is to build a pricing strategy that incorporates channel power and is part of the overall marketing plan. It has been designed to be a short overview on purpose: The concepts of pricing and distribution are complex and a general understanding is what should be absorbed in one week of study. Grading Guide Content Met Partially Met Not Met Comments: Student’s plan for setting price and a distribution model (place/distribution) addresses at least three elements from the Price and Place/Distribution list provided here: Price and Place/Distribution: Distribution Strategies Channels, Mass, Selective, Exclusive Positioning within channels Dynamic/Static Pricing Strategies Channel tactics (Pricing) Daily pricing, promotion pricing, List pricing   The plan is a minimum of 700 words in length. Note: Charts/graphs/tables do not count toward the word count. Total Available Total Earned #/7 Writing Guidelines Met Partially Met Not Met Comments: The paper—including tables and graphs, headings, title page, and reference page—is consistent with APA formatting guidelines and meets course-level requirements. Intellectual property is recognized with in-text citations and a reference page. Paragraph and sentence transitions are present, logical, and maintain the flow throughout the paper. Sentences are complete, clear, and concise. Rules of grammar and usage are followed including spelling and punctuation. Total Available Total Earned   #/3
Mkt 571: Price and Channel Strategy Assignment
Memo To: , Senior Vice President (SVP) Marketing Department FROM: Analyst Date: SUBJECT: Marketing Strategies to Improve the Company’s Revenue Earnings Thank you in advance for reading this memo that identifies what I have reviewed based on our company collected data and financials. From my analysis, I see that we have experienced some changes in the revenue earnings from 2015 and Quarter’s One and Two from 2016 financial year, this could be based on the strategic operations adopted. There was a general improvement in the company’s financial performance; there were areas that had a noticeable decrease in revenues; this could be possibly due to management not releasing the funds to finances promptly for implementation of strategic plan. In the review, I noticed three major areas showing increased revenues were the Domestic in our Global Breakout area, Expand in the Customer Rank area and Commercial in our Customer Class area. Please see the table below this provides a full view of what the Revenue Earnings were in both quarter’s one and two as well as the comparison and increase from 2015 vs. 2016. Revenue Earnings Qtr. 1, 2016 Revenue Earnings Qtr. 2, 2016 Revenue Earnings 2015 vs. 2016 Domestic $12,085,137 $6,145,978 + $1,930,466 Expand $7,634,424 $4,017,070 + $1,282,340 Commercial $7,195.592 $3,719,525 + $1,130,973  (University of Phoenix, 2017, p. Spreadsheet). The increase in revenue was due to the growth made by our marketing and advertisement teams and their incredible strategic planning for improvement. In my analysis, I also found some areas where the services sector was lower on the revenue earnings in the last quarter of 2015 as well as the first two-quarters in 2016. It is important that changes are made to ensure there is productivity from all the sectors. My recommendation in this area would be to allocate additional funds to their financing and operations to attempt and correct some of their losses; this is similar to what we did with the other three identified, and we did very well. The overall analysis of the company revenue earnings shows that there has been a general increase in the last few years based on the data received and reviewed. It is clear that we rely on all of our customers for our products, but it is important to provide an expansion strategy and that we adopt as soon as possible to continue to help and venture into the foreign markets and reach a higher market share. If we adopt this expansion strategy, this will more than likely help increase our revenue as it has in the past two consecutive years. My analysis includes a review of the data of our domestic customers, they are our principal assets, and we seek to attract and retain more of the customers through a motivated workforce. The major objective of our marketing strategies is to increase our market outreach to domestic customers by enhancing their awareness of the existence of our products and services. We will need to conduct intensive marketing campaigns through online marketing and broadcasting advertising, and we will need to additionally explore marketing in the foreign countries to help increase opportunities to a much larger audience and attempt to excel from what other existing companies are providing and marketing. We need to focus on attracting new clients not so much the retention only of the existing customers. We will need to establish customer trust and royalty by the production of quality, affordable and after sale services in addition to our company considering changing the operations to ensure premium services and products to be differentiated in the industry. We need to hire and recruit employees in our production lines that are competent, properly trained, have knowledge of our company products as well as the goal and direction of the growth vision. Workers that can use their skills consistently and also increase our technological requirements for the recruits, this will provide us with the best of the best. Sincerely, Claudia Hernandez Claudia Hernandez, Analyst Part two Summary of a Company of Choice Facebook is an LLC, and Headquarters are located in Menlo Park, California according to Google; also, Facebook was founded in February 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and his four colleagues in Cambridge, MA (Google, 2017). The company operates in the social networking industry and has been one of the fastest growing enterprises in the industry. This company is a huge in the networking field/area. Facebook includes in-game social assess and targets social advertising. Facebook is key to facilitating social, online communication, social events, customer based marketing at finger tips as long as the consumer has a smartphone device, tablet, or a laptop with internet connectivity access. Facebook has also diversified its services and offers other customer-oriented features such as affordability, flexibility, and reliability. The company uses acquisitions as a strategy to counteract competition and increase its market presence. For instance, it has acquired various businesses in the social networking industry including PrivateCore, WhatApp Inc., Oculus VR and Instagram. Facebook had a total of 450 full-time employees in 2007, but the number increased drastically to 12,691 employees in December 2015(Griggs, CNN, 2014). Years ago, there was a social networking by the name of MySpace, which I used and in fact, I think that Facebook has surpassed anything MySpace ever had with social networking. References Google. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=what+city+are+the+headquaters+of+facebook&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#q=when+was+facebook+founded&* Griggs, CNN, B. (2014). What’s Oculus VR, and why did Facebook pay $2B for it?. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/26/tech/gaming-gadgets/oculus-vr-explainer/ University of Phoenix. (2017). Business Growth Overview. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, MKT/571 website. Individual Assignment: Researching Marketing Questions Purpose of Assignment This assignment is designed to help students analyze and interpret primary and/or secondary data and research. First, students will be provided with a marketing report that allows for preparing basic executive level data insights. Second, they will be allowed to pick a company and product or service. This assignment will help prepare students for the development of their marketing plan. Students will be creating a marketing plan (refer to Marketing Plan and Outline document) so they may want to choose a company and product or service that has data readily available or where they can use demographic/psychographic data to provide insights. Resources Required Week 1 Business Growth Overview Assignment Steps Part 1: Analyze the Week 1 Business Growth Overview dataset. This is a marketing report generated by an analyst for the Senior Vice President (SVP) of Marketing at a large corporation. The analyst is new and has provided summary data but no insights or commentary for the SVP. Construct a minimum 525-word memorandum for the SVP providing insights and commentary. The memorandum should include your analysis of the following: Major areas of increase and decrease in revenue or type and/or category of business Trends that are evident in terms of revenue or type and/or category of business Insights that would help formulate marketing strategies to either continue growth or reverse decline Additional analysis you (if you were SVP) would like to build a marketing goal and strategy or strategies (and why)  Part 2:  Select a global or multi-regional (does business in more than one country) company and one of its products or services that will serve as the basis for your marketing plan. You should obtain two years of annual reports as well as two years of 10K reports (provides a comprehensive overview of the company’s business and financial condition and includes audited financial statements) for your data source. Once you have selected your product or service, you must define the size and type of your selected company that provides the product or service (available from annual reports). This need not be elaborate but must include total number of employees, production volume, distribution methods, and so forth. Record this information in a summary document as outlined below.  Company and product selection is a critical part of this project. You must ensure your proposed company can implement the marketing methods discussed in Marketing Management.  Prepare a minimum 175-word summary document and send it to your instructor as a record of your selection. The summary document should include the following: Name of Company Location of Company Headquarters Name of Product or Service selected General description of company (number of employees, revenue, type of ownership, web page, etc.) General description of product or service Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines.  Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment. Grading Guide Content Met Partially Met Not Met Comments: Student analyzes the dataset and provides insight and commentary in the form of a memorandum. Student’s analysis includes major areas of increase and decrease in revenue or type and/or category of business. (1 Pt) .9  Major areas of increase in revenue identified and hy was discussed and did include table but images/graphs and details. Also, the SIC code and industry information should be included going forward. Did mention category of business as retail. Student’s analysis includes trends that are evident in terms of revenue or type and/or category of business. Student’s analysis includes insights that would help formulate marketing strategies to either continue growth or reverse decline. Student’s analysis includes additional analysis you (as SVP) would like (and why) to build a marketing goal and strategy or strategies. (1 Pt) Trends should be based over 3 to 5 year period and include forecasts that are evident in terms of revenue, customer satisfaction or other information such as units sold. Good personal insights identified that would help formulate marketing strategies to either continue growth or reverse decline. Additional analysis as SVP based on a marketing goal with strategies and why should be considered. Student selects a global or multi-regional (does business in more than one country) company and one of its products or services that will serve as the basis for your marketing plan. Includes associated 2 sets of 10K and annual reports. (1 Pt) The company is global and the service you selected is social netorking and should be adequate for developing the plan. Did utilize both sets of reports. Students prepares a summary document that includes but is not limited to: Name of Company Location of Company Headquarters Name of Product or Service selected General description of company (number of employees, revenue, type of ownership, web page, etc.) General description of product or service. (.5 Pt) .4 All elements of the summary are included. At graduate level, additional insight should be included such as total available market size, SIC code with industry that is serves. Also, mission statement should be identified. The memorandum is a minimum of 525 words in length. The summary document is a minimum 175 words in length. (.5 Pt) .5 The word count suffices for both the memo and summary with 666 and 217 within 10%. Total Available Total Earned 3.8/4 Writing Guidelines Met Partially Met Not Met Comments: The paper—including tables and graphs, headings, title page, and reference page—is consistent with APA formatting guidelines and meets course-level requirements. (.1 Pt) .1 Meets all criteria. Intellectual property is recognized with in-text citations and a reference page. (.25 Pt) .15 Includes no insight related to the various learning activities for week 1 such as the chapter readings with “quoted” cited and referenced information. See below for examples. Paragraph and sentence transitions are present, logical, and maintain the flow throughout the paper. Sentences are complete, clear, and concise. Rules of grammar and usage are followed including spelling and punctuation (.15 Pt) .15 Meets all criteria. Include both grammar and turn it in reports and within course guidelines. (.5 Pt) .5 Both reports included and within guidelines. Total Available Total Earned .9/1 Assignment Total # 5 4.2/5 Assignment submitted 1 day late resulting in .5 point deduction, thus 4.7 -.5 = 4.2/5 Additional comments: Good start to the weekly assignments. Going forward, be sure to include insight from the learning activities such as chapter readings, graphs/images to support analysis and identify and apply various marketing processes. See image below on how revenue can be analyzed from year to year by adding a new sheet and then using excel to generate year to year difference and percentage change which then enables analysis to be conducted. “Each business unit needs to define its specific mission within the broader company mission” (Kotler & Keller, 2014, p. 49). Strategic planning will have to be “implemented to manage the business as an investment portfolio, assess the market’s growth rate and the company’s position in that market, and establishing a strategy” (Kotler, P.T. & Keller, K.L., 2016 p 37). Reference Kotler, P. & Keller, K. (2014). Marketing management (15th Ed). Retrieved from the VitalSource Bookshelf.
Mkt 571: Price and Channel Strategy Assignment
Facebook Target Markets Among social media companies, Facebook stands out for its longevity and ability to monetize the significant data collected from its users. Facebook is currently the largest social media brand with a significant market share among young and middle-aged people. Facebook has several strengths that cement its strong industry position; one of these strengths is a strong brand image; over one billion people use Facebook’s services all over the world daily, this translates into a strong brand image. Facebook has been able to venture into greater profits because of the expansion of the brand image. Another key strength of is its enormous user base of more than 1.8 billion monthly active users; this makes the company the undisputed leader in social media and the preferred choice for advertisers. The significant number of monthly active users means Facebook is in a position to make billions in profits that it reinvests to improve its market position further and buy out the competition. Despite the fact, Facebook is the most successful company at engaging users and monitoring the data provided by users, several weaknesses, if not adequately addressed could signal the end of the enterprise. One of the weaknesses is low diversification of their core business. Facebook makes the bulk of its money from advertising on its social network site; this makes it overly dependent on the social networking site and vulnerable to changes in consumer preferences. The increase in popularity of applications such as Snapchat show that consumers are hungry for a different form of engagement; if Facebook fails to diversify, it will experience loss of market share to competitors (Malhotra, Birks, and Wills, 2013). Another weakness is that Facebook is a large company inadequate to compete with more nimble competitors who are capable of responding to consumer changes. In recent, years, Facebook has taken to buying rival companies such as Instagram and WhatsApp instead of innovating; Facebook’s lack of innovation is a major weakness that the company should address. As the biggest social media company in the world, there are plenty of opportunities for Facebook to improve its market position and innovate. One of the actions for Facebook is connecting the world’s last batch of nations and people not connected to the internet; among western countries, Facebook has achieved near market saturation, growth for the company now lies in connecting the world’s unconnected people. Facebook has several projects aimed at connecting the unconnected world including a solar-powered plane that beams the internet to unconnected towns. Another opportunity for Facebook is market diversification. Facebook is currently very profitable, and it generates considerable volumes of cash; the company should use its dominant market position to innovate and provide new experiences that the market desires and appreciates, this ensures the longevity of the enterprise. Fierce competition is one pertinent threat that Facebook faces. Companies such as Google have the resources, expertise, and initiative necessary to create a viable rival product that can take away market share from Facebook. Intense competition means that Facebook should always be on its toes or risk ceding market share to more nimble competitors such as Snapchat. Another threat that Facebook faces is market saturation in the United States of America and other western countries, the company risks becoming complacent and basking in its significant market share. It is necessary for Facebook to continue innovating so that it remains relevant and generates value for consumers (Babin & Zikmund, 2015). Several technological factors affect the operation of Facebook. One of the significant technological trends is the growth of mobile computing through devices such as smartphones, smartwatches, and an increasing array of connected devices. The increase in mobile computing presents opportunities and threats for Facebook, on the one hand, it presents the company with new ways of creating value for consumers while on the contrary mobile computing gives other companies the opportunity to outdo Facebook (Facebook). In its last financial report, Facebook reported over 1.8 billion monthly active users, which represents a seventeen percent increase from 2016. The Majority of Facebook’s users are adults between the ages of 25 to 39; this makes Facebook a coveted advertising platform by advertisers. Facebook’s financial report also shows that 76% of its female users and 66% of its male users are daily active users (Facebook). The demographic data about its users that Facebook provides shows that it attracts a coveted segment of the population; adults between the ages of 25 and 39 are more likely to have disposable income; this makes Facebook the chosen advertising platform for advertisers. The trends also show that Facebook is failing at attracting a younger crop of users below the age of 25. References Babin, & Zikmund. (2015). Exploring marketing research. Cengage Learning. Facebook. (n.d.). Facebook FORM 10-K. Retrieved from UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000132680116000043/fb-12312015x10k.htm Malhotra, Birks, & Wills. (2013). Essentials of marketing research. Pearson. Per the course guidelines, opening paragraph should have insight on what the assignment is to cover based on the description in the syllabus. Be sure to also mention also in the opening paragraph which of the 3 topics you will be covering. Per course guidelines, did have a conclusion summarizing key issues within the assignment. How does this differ then defining the target audience as outlined in the week 2 instructor presentation? Along with Maslow’s hierarchy of need which you mention below. Good insight from the resources provided. To define a target market, one must consider the following: • Identify its current or potential customer base • Identify the competition • Analyze the product or service and determine its benefits • Choose specific demographics that will maximize profitability Following these steps is one example of Consumer Analysis. Consumer Analysis is important to a firms business or marketing plan because it ultimately identifies its customers, performs research to determine the potential success of a product with those customers and specifies how the product will impact the target audience. In this course, as mentioned in week 1, all SWOT should include internal and external trends which is defined over a period of time with factual information and becomes a SWOTT analysis based on the template provided for the course. Individual Assignment: Understanding Target Markets Grading Report Purpose of Assignment To develop effective relationship marketing, a company must first understand its targeted consumers’ buying influences and behaviors. This week’s assignment is the first part of the development of a marketing plan. It provides the foundation of the marketing plan and introduces the student to a variety of diagrammatic tools for understanding a business. Assignment Steps  To develop effective relationship marketing, a company must first understand its targeted consumers’ buying influences and behaviors. In Week 2, create the Research section of your plan.  Create the research section of your marketing plan in minimum of 700 words. Include at least 3 elements of the Research List of Topics (see list below): Research List of Topics: Primary Research Secondary Research Consumer Analysis Customer Profile Continuous Consumer Monitoring & Research Environmental Scanning Identify Market, Economic, Technological, Regulatory, Legal, Social, and Ecological Forces Current Opportunities Potential Future Opportunities Current Threats Potential Future Threat Diagrams are not required but can be used to provide clarity and conciseness. Diagrams (and subsequent discussion) can include SWOT (emphasizes internal market–Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) TOWS (emphasizes the external market–Threats, Opportunities, Weakness, Strength), PEST (Political, Economical, Social, Technological), SOAR (Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, Results), and/or STEEP (Social, Technological, Environmental, Economical, Political). All diagram(s) should be in APA format and must include a subsequent discussion of the diagram(s) providing insight and clarity. Develop the first two parts of the Target Market section, which includes an overview of the demographics (age, income, family members, and birthdays) and psychographics (activities, interests, and opinions) analysis. This is not a detailed analysis but an overview (basic trends and insights from the data that is presented in annual reports and other SEC type filings). Explain the insights you have gained from your inspection and analysis of the demographic and psychographic information you have found.  This assignment will be incorporated into your overall marketing plan for Week 6. Cite a minimum of three peer-reviewed references. Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines.  Click the Assignment Files tab to submit your assignment. Grading Guide Content Met 1 Pt Partially Met .75 Pt Not Met 0 Pts Comments: Student creates the research section of his/her marketing plan and includes at least 3 elements of the research list of topics provided here: Research List of Topics Identify Ecological Forces Current Opportunities Potential Future Opportunities Any diagram(s) provided (not required) are in APA format and includes discussion providing insight and clarity.  Did apply specific research for 3 of these topics with some insightful content. Include illustrations such as graphs and tables to support your response related to the topics. What insight from the chapter readings should have been included to establish a baseline on what to focus on for each of these sections? A table of current with future opportunities is suggested going forward. Student develops the first two parts of the Target Market section, which includes an overview of the demographics (age, income, family members, and birthdays) and psychographics (activities, interests, and opinions) analysis. Did not include any details of the target audience profile with specific examples. Should include the additional sections of buyer behavior and geographic information as mentioned in the week 1 class. Should include data with narrow, focused and targeted ranges. See examples below. Student explains the insights he/she has gained from his/her inspection and analysis of the demographic and psychographic information he/she has found. Did have some analysis with knowledge gained from conducting this research. Should include benefits but should relate this to how it is meeting the wants/needs of the target audience or solving problem. The Research section is a minimum of 700 words in length. Had 775 words which is above the word count minimum. Be sure not to exceed by more than 10% of the assigned word count. Total Available Total Earned Writing Guidelines Met .25 Pts Partially Met .15 Pts Not Met 0 Pts Comments: The paper—including tables and graphs, headings, title page, and reference page—is consistent with APA formatting guidelines and meets course-level requirements. Met most criteria but should have more mages related the topics as shown in the chapter readings. Intellectual property is recognized with in-text citations and a reference page. Use 3 Peer review references. Did not include 3 additional referenced but were not 3 peer reviewed references. See examples below. Per the course guidelines, did include references “quoted” citations from chapter readings. Paragraph and sentence transitions are present, logical, and maintain the flow throughout the paper. Sentences are complete, clear, and concise. Paragraphs are concise and paper flows at a graduate’s level. Rules of grammar and usage are followed including spelling and punctuation. Included turn it in and grammar reports. Grammar issues within the report from the grammarility system with 2 critical and 4 issues. Try to reduce these to 0. Total Available Total Earned   .7/1 Assignment Total 3.7/5 Additional comments: Good job on the assignment. Remember to include turn it in and grammar reports when submitting your assignments. Make changes to your assignment based on these report such that the report results in less than 10 grammar issues and less than 5% similarity index. Additional Notes: Target Market is best analyzed by considering the following: Identify its current or potential customer base Identify the competition Analyze the product or service and determine its benefits Choose specific demographics that will maximize profitability Target Audience – is best analyzed by considering the following and see images below for additional details Subset of market Demographics Psychographics Geographic Buyer Behavior See slide in week 2 assignment feedback for additional details Gaining market insight is critical to the success of a product being marketed. According to Phillip Kotler and Kevin Keller, authors of Marketing Management 15 Edition, consumers make decisions based on their core values; it is what drives them to purchase a product. Kotler and Keller identify three theorists that help market researchers understand consumer behavior, also known as “motive” (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Motive is driven by a psychogenic need, or the need of belonging, recognition and self-esteem. Freud’s theory on motive suggests that consumers are driven by the unconscious mind. Market researchers can use specific projective techniques, such as word association, picture association to get a deeper sense to why a consumer would choose a certain product. (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Maslow’s theory suggests that individuals have a hierarchy of needs and that if a product or service can be targeted to a specific need, the more people it will affect. Lastly, they introduce Herzberg’s theory, which suggests that there are satisfiers and dissatisfiers that motivate a person to purchase a product. The absence of dissatisfiers is not enough to sell a product, so it is important to focus and highlight satisfiers (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Market researchers can conduct various studies to determine what motivates a person to purchase a certain product, and hone in on the factors that they believe will influence like customers. Environmental scanning is a review of external components that impact businesses and is a very important part of marketing research. The goal is to identify these factors and apply what is known as SWOT analysis. Each letter represents and area to consider and analyze: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. SWOT considers both internal and external analysis so that a company can direct and focus resources on the correct areas. Below is an example of a SWOT Matrix that depicts health care analysis on a chart (Harrison, 2010). Should include SWOTT per comment above. References 3 Peer reviewed Kotler, P.T. & Keller, K.L. (2016). Marketing management (15th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Chapters 5, 7, 8, 10. Example peer-reviewed cited references are below. Note the resource is form EBSCOhost University of Phoenix Student Library and include ISSN: 0965-254X Accession Number: 94451469 Aroean, L., Michaelidou, N. (February 2014) “A Taxonomy of mobile phone consumers: insights for marketing managers” Journal of Strategic Marketing 22 (1) p 73-89 Retrieved March 27, 2017, from EBSCOhost University of Phoenix Student Library ISSN: 0965-254X Accession Number: 94451469 Aroean, L., Michaelidou, N. (February 2014) “A Taxonomy of mobile phone consumers: insights for marketing managers” Diagram p 75 Journal of Strategic Marketing 22 (1) p 73-89 Retrieved March 27, 2017, from EBSCOhost University of Phoenix Student Library ISSN: 0965-254X Accession Number: 94451469 Burrows, C. S., & Weigel, F. K., (Jan-March 2016) “Mobile Phone Health Applications for the Federal Sector” U.S. Army Medical Department Journal p71-75 Retrieved March 27, 2017, from EBSCOhost University of Phoenix Student Library ISSN: 1524-0436 Accession Number: 113185435 Kotler, P.T. & Keller, K.L. (2016). “Marketing Management: Creating Long-term Loyalty Relationships” (15th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Retrieved March 27, 2017, from University of Phoenix Student Website Chapter 5 Week Two Reading Kotler, P.T. & Keller, K.L. (2016). “Marketing Management: Analyzing Business Markets” (15th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Retrieved March 27, 2017, from University of Phoenix Student Website Chapter 7 Week Two Reading Wagner, J. (June 2011) “Anytime/Anywhere—Playing Catch Up With The Mind of The Smartphone Consumer” International Journal of Mobile Marketing 6 (1) p28-53 Retrieved from EBSCOhost University of Phoenix Student Library ISSN: 1939-1161 Accession Number: 61262449 Wagner, J. (June 2011) “Anytime/Anywhere—Playing Catch Up With The Mind of The Smartphone Consumer” Diagram p 34 International Journal of Mobile Marketing 6 (1) p28-53 Retrieved from EBSCOhost University of Phoenix Student Library ISSN: 1939 1161 Accession Number: 61262449 Belief vs Attitude A belief is a descriptive thought that a person holds about something. Just as important as beliefs are attitudes. An attitude is a person’s enduring favorable or unfavorable evaluation, emotional feeling, and action tendencies toward some object or idea.
Mkt 571: Price and Channel Strategy Assignment
The product The company selected in the previous assignment is Facebook; Facebook is the largest social media company in the world with a database of over one billion people who actively share their life including their tastes. Given the amount of data that billions of users submit to Facebook, the company is in an excellent position to introduce a new kind of on-demand food service that leverages user information into a product that forecasts food demand in different locations and allows consumers to purchase on-demand food from the website. For instance, if Facebook notices a trend whereby users from New York are constantly posting about pizza it will include an option for New York users to purchase pizza directly from the website, order fulfilled by a third-party company such as Domino’s that has mastered the logistics of food delivery. Product lifecycle There are several elements to the product lifecycle of the product introduced by Facebook; the first stage of the product lifecycle is the initial stage. The priority of the company in the introduction stage is to create awareness about the product and alert consumers how they can benefit from the new product (Stark, 2015). The marketing and advertising strategy developed for the product is extremely significant in the introduction stage and includes product branding; here, the company creates a unique identifier for the product. Pricing, distribution, and promotion are also aspects of the introduction stage. If Facebook pulls of the product launch correctly, the product will seamlessly move to the growth stage. The growth stage is the second element in the product lifecycle. The aim of the company in the growth stage is to establish the product further and increase its market share. In their efforts to develop and growth of the profile of the product, the company fine-tunes the new product to increase its quality and ability to meet the needs of the customer. The company may also reduce the price of the product in order to take away market share from competitors (Baker, 2014). Distribution is also essential in the growth stage; a faulty distribution channel acts as a bottleneck in the growth of the product, for Facebook to truly unleash the potential of the new service, it must partner with companies that have mastered the art of food distribution such as Domino’s pizza. Another element of the product lifecycle is maturity, in the maturity stage, the product is no longer a novelty, and sales begin to decline as competition intensifies and customers tire of the new product (Baker, 2014). To achieve longevity, the company must launch new marketing strategies aimed at existing consumers, the intention of this marketing strategy is to defend market share. An example of a company that successfully uses marketing to keep sales momentum despite the product being decades old is Coca-Cola. A stellar advertising is key in maintaining market share dosing the maturity stage (Baker, 2014). Determining success or failure In assessing the launch of the new product, there are several ways to evaluate success or failure, one of the methods to evaluate success or failure is the number of consumers signing up to use the services, a large number of users indicates success while a low number of users indicates failure. Another metric that enables the company to determine success or failure is the conversion rate; this is the number of signed up users who start paying and using the service versus the number of users who sign up but do not pay for the service. A high conversion rate indicates success. User engagement is also an indicator of success; a company assesses user engagement by asking questions for example: Is the advertising increasing traffic to the product? How many users are clicking on the advertisements? The responses to these questions can determine success or failure depending on the focus and what the consumer wants. Media methods The print media method will focus on newspapers and magazines. Advertisement in the newspapers and magazines will contain Quick Response Codes that unlock special discounts if users scan them with their phones. The print media will help drive traffic to the product. The non-print media will focus on television advertisements. Creative advertisements that highlight the usefulness of ordering food from within the social network will create awareness about the product. The use of television for advertising enables the company to compete with other on demand food-delivery services that also use the same media. Push and Pull The marketing efforts used to create awareness about the new product use the push strategy. In the push strategy, the company promotes the product towards the consumer irrespective of demand (Chang, Chen, & Liu, 2014). The company encourages consumers to use the new service through exclusive discounts and aggressive marketing strategies. Advertising strategy The adverting strategy will focus on creating awareness of the novel new product and how it improves the consumer’s life, the print and television strategies will especially highlight the convenience of ordering food while browsing Facebook. When the consumers understand how the product can help them, they are in a better position to use the service. References Baker. (2014). Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan. Chang, Chen, & Liu. (2014). The push, pull and mooring effects in virtual migration for social networking sites. Information Systems Journal, 24(4), 323-346. Stark. (2015). Product Lifecycle Management. In Product lifecycle management (pp. 1-29). Springer International Publishing.