Week 8 : The adventure

The adventure...

It all started when I was traveling through Ethiopia to Uganda for an international business meeting when my Jeep broke down. It stopped in a small town in Ethiopia. I decided to just stay the night there as my jeep was getting fixed so I could start back on my journey to my business meeting in the morning.
I decided to stop that night and get a room. I checked my bags into the hotel. I saw that the hotel had an upscale lounge in it and I decided to stop I to relax and have a drink after long day of traveling.
I put my bags in the room, changed my clothes and proceeded to the lounge. As I entered the lounge I can tell it was for people who had a lot of money, the ambiance was perfect. There were plush couches with designer odd shaped tables. The lounge was futuristic in design.
I walked over to the bar instead of a table sat down and ordered a drink. I then looked over to my left and saw the most beautiful woman that I could have ever seen in my life. She was wearing a white silk gown with silver accessories to match eating a snack and drinking a glass of wine.
She then walked up to me and ordered me a drink and a snack as well.
"Hey there lover boy she says as she sits next to me at the bar. "You look like you needed a drink and a snack." Actually I do and I am very tired. The bar tender lays the drink and snack down in front of me and another drink for her. We were having a pleasant conversation when I felt a tap on my shoulder and a guy say," What are you doing talking to my woman? I can tell you are not from this town because if you were you would have known this already." I turned around and stood up." Excuse me sure but I don't see a ring on the young woman's finger so she is actually a free agent. He drew back as if he was going to hit but I punched him first. Grabbed the woman by her hand and we dashed out of the lounge. By this time, all the men in bar as running after us. And her now ex-boyfriend kept yelling, "Get them !"As we were exiting the hotel I reached into my pants, lit and threw a stick of dynamite between the hotel doors. I ran to a car that was sitting across the street broke the window, jumped in the car, broke the steering column and started the car. "Hop in!!" I told the young woman. She then got into the passenger side. As I was driving off I saw her ex lover running after the car. It just do happened that he made it out of the hotel before it blew up. "Stop him he yelled, he has stolen my car too. As I drove away I looked in the rearview mirror and saw a man pull up beside him and he jumped in. They chased us until they ran into traffic as we sped through a red light and across train tracks right before the train was about to cross.

Implementation Evaluation Control

When you have implementation evaluation control it means several things. "The company should analyze its markets and marketing environment to find attractive opportunities and identify environmental threats. It should analyze company strengths and weaknesses as well as current and possible marketing actions to determine which opportunities it can best pursue."
page 56 Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler. An with tis concept you can determine if you are doing everything you can to get to your target audience.


Another great element/concept is: "Marketing control :   

The process of measuring and evaluating the results of marketing strategies and plans and taking corrective action to ensure that objectives are achieved." page 58 Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong and Kotler. If you can control the market that you are trying to target you will be able to dominate it. You have to make sure that your product is in your consumers hands by advertising to the specific market you are trying to reach in order to control the market. Wal-Mart is a great example of implementation evaluation control.

Marketing Mix: Price

You have to have the right price for the right product. That is why I will be selling my snack Sophistique'  at $6. I want the price to be right for the product and want people to purchase it without breaking the bank. I have to affect the right market and my target audience. "It consists of the firm’s marketing mix, the set of marketing tools the firm uses to implement its marketing strategy". page 13 Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong & Kotler. 

Also you can get to consumers by making a product that offers quality, value, and with the right price you cant go wrong. Sophistique is being offered at $6 at exclusive upscale lounges,  bars and pubs across the country  so I can reach my audience the best way. Consumers not only want a great price but they want to feel important and making a consumer feel important along with the price adds to the value.
"Setting the right price is one of the marketer’s most difficult tasks. A host of factors come into play. But finding and implementing the right price strategy is critical to success." page 275 Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong & Kotler.

Marketing Mix: Promotion

Promoting a product is used in many different way. You can advertise a product  through different ways. The way I would promote my audience is through social media sites, billboards and television. I will also show my commercials to certain demographics that I want to use my products and will also tell others about it. "The promotion mix is the marketer’s bag of tools for communicating with customers and other stakeholders. All of these tools must be carefully coordinated under the concept of integrated marketing communications in order to deliver a clear and compelling message." page 377 Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong & Kotler.

When you promote it means:" activities that communicate the merits of the product and persuade target customers to buy it". page 54 Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong & Kotler. Promoting can be expensive and that is why using social media is actually cost the less. The more people click on or talk about your product the more you can get free publicity and get the name out there. With my product I plan on using Facebook and YouTube to make sure that when you click or search for certain things my product is recognize. I can even do like Jimmy Fallon and create my own media buzz by making a video that will get people talking about my product.

Marketing Mix: Distribution

There is a lot to distribution and you have to make sure you think smart about it when distributing your product. When you try to distribute a product you have to look for the most effect way to do so. You may have ti create business relationships with other companies in order to get the product out where you need to go. It is very important to make sure you are also making a relationship with distributing companies that may help you to decrease cost.  "Many critics charge that the American marketing system causes prices to be higher than they would be under more “sensible” systems. Such high prices are hard to swallow, especially when the economy takes a downturn. Critics point to three factors—high costs of distribution, high advertising and promotion costs, and excessive markups".  page 513 Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong and Kotler.

"Physical distribution firms help the company to stock and move goods from their points of origin to their destinations. Marketing services agencies are the marketing research firms, advertising agencies, media firms, and marketing consulting firms that help the company target and promote its products to the right markets". page 69 Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong and Kotler.

 

Marketing Mix: Product

Marketing Strategy: Target Marketing Strategy

"If the company has selected its target market and positioning carefully, then its marketing mix strategy, including price, will be fairly straightforward. Some companies position their products on price and then tailor other marketing mix decisions to the prices they want to charge". page 304 Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler.

 "Standardized global marketing,     

An international marketing strategy for using basically the same marketing strategy and mix in all the company’s international markets". page 495 Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong/Kotler.

Final Project: Situation Or SWOT Analysis

You have to create a SWAT analysis which means: "An overall evaluation of the company’s strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T).on page 55 Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong and Kotler. My SWOT analysis will show my Strength which is the value that a customer will get in my snack, my weakness:  which would be what I can do to improve the product and what I need to work, my opportunities would be what can I add to my product, and my threat would be a product that is targeting the same demographic than myself and doing a better job at delivering value and quality than myself. My strength I can capitalize on. "Strengths include internal capabilities, resources, positive situational factors that may help the company to serve its customers and achieve its objectives. page 55 Marketing: An Introduction Armstrong /Kotler. When you know you have strengths it is good to make sure that you are ready to take on the market without fear and hitting it head on and that is what I plan to do with my product. I will shows my strengths by presenting value and quality for my customer base.

Final Project: Objectives

When I create my management team I will make sure that they understand my objectives. It is important that there is clarity when you are trying to reach a goal, "Top management sets the company’s mission, objectives, broad strategies, and policies. Marketing managers make decisions within the strategies and plans made by top management." page 67 Marketing: An introduction, Armstrong & Kotler.
My objective with Sophistique' is to deliver a product that has value. I want my customers to love the way it taste and recommend it to others and the best way to do that is to create objectives and goals, implementing my idea form my packaging to the distribution and how it is looked at by consumers is very important.
There are many types of research including marketing research.  "A marketing research project might have one of three types of objectives." page 107 Marketing: An introduction, Armstrong & Kotler. The research objective is very important to have. The one I will use for my product is "Descriptive research :  Marketing research to better describe marketing problems, situations, or markets, such as the market potential for a product or the demographics and attitudes of consumers." page 107 Marketing: An introduction, Armstrong & Kotler.  With research you can identify how to combat problems with your product and what consumers really think about it and the best thing I will do is implent it into my business because the consumers voice matters to me

Final Project: Business Mission Statement

The mission statement reflects what the companies intent is. It also helps to guide the company in pursuing what it has set out to do. If a company has no mission statement it doesn't have a way to know where the company s going and how its future will turn out. For instance, Wal-Mart mission statement is "Save money. Live better", and with statement alone that attracts customers' all over the world to shop there and they actually carry this out by trying their best to have the cheapest products on the market and that is why they are so successful.
" A mission statement is a statement of the organization’s purpose—what it wants to accomplish in the larger environment. A clear mission statement acts as an “invisible hand” that guides people in the organization."  page 39 Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong and Kotler.

Also one important thing that I have found is that "Guided by the company’s mission statement and objectives, management now must plan its creating a business portfolio: —the collection of businesses and products that make up the company. page 43 Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong and Kotler. So the business portfolio is one thing that will make or break a business. With the business portfolio you have to show your work to convince investors to believe in your business. the mission statement and business portfolio go hand in hand to create a successful business.

Week 7 EOC: The Pitch

I have a very great snack that is called  Sophistiqué. It consists of a pretzel with a cheese dip that will have your taste buds in a frenzy. You can eat this at the bar with a glass of wine or at the bar or having a party with important guests in your home. Sophitique' is produced by Phileas Fogg foods. The snack is for adults who want to unwind. Every adult in America deserves to relax, drink, and enjoy life after a day of hard work.
 Not many people have traveled to Ethiopia and experienced the good things that Ethiopia has to offer. The pretzels' taste derives from a dish named kit Fu in Ethiopia that is served not only among family but also friends and business partners. It is something that takes your breath away.

When you are in the bar or lounge enjoying yourself, this would be the snack to get. It comes with a story that will allow you to make conversation and meet new people that you wouldn't have known before. The story that backs the product is a story of a lifetime. It is a romance that can never be forgotten and that is one element that makes this product so interesting.

Week 6: EOC: Me Times 3

My sixty inch TV is something that describes me because I love to have nice things. I love to shop and watch TV in my leisure time among other things. I work hard for what I have. I came from nothing when I moved to Las Vegas. I only had a two suitcases, a pillow, two pairs of shoes and a comforter. For months I struggled and this is one thing that shows that I overcame the obstacles that tried to conquer me in the beginning.

This is a picture of my diary cover. I chose to put this on my blog because I love to write about everything I have been through and the day I have had. I love to write because it is very therapeutic for me. I also like writing a diary because I can go back and read  about situations that have happened to me and how far I have come from the time I wrote about it. It also helps me to come up with better ways to handle things and how much I have grown as a person.

I have a picture of a set of pots and pans I have purchased because I love to cook. Cooking is one of my favorite things to do. I just recently took an interest in making  different kinds of food from scratch. Cooking also saves money in the end. Eating out can be so expensive and I want to cook also so if one day I decide to start a family I will be able to cook for them. Cooking is an art. I believe you have to be in tune with specific dish you are making. I  also feel you have to like it in order to make the dish come out the best, it helps to bring out my creative side.  have a picture of my set of pots and pans because I love to cook. Cooking is one of my favorite things to do. I just recently took an interest in making different food. Cooking also saves money on the end. Eating out can be so expensive and I want to cook also so if one day I decide to make a family I will be able to cook.

Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

       

Social Networking is one of the efficient ways to stay in contact with friends and family. Not only do people rely on social networking to stay connected with the ones they love but also with retailers. In the past you would look for a job by driving around to different business establishments picking up paper applications and turning them in. Things have changed a lot over the last ten years. You can't apply for a job anymore unless you have the Internet and a computer. Social networking has opened a new avenue on finding jobs such as Facebook. A lot of businesses advertise jobs on Facebook because they know a lot of people use Facebook to stay connected and will see the add. They target people that they think fit into the job description the best.

       But according to The wall street Journal LinkedIn is beating out Facebook hires has accumulated up to a whopping 1% , figure that. I believe it is because Facebook is associated with fun and LinkedIn is associated with business. You can gain more business contacts than social friends on LinkedIn. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner isn't worried. The feedback he has been getting states" our customers prefer to keep their business life and family life separate." I believe that is how things should be mixing business with pleasure isn't always good. "Facebook's use as a job-recruitment tool remains small, but its appeal may be growing," says the wall street journal. It may be growing but I don't think it will get as big as linked in I believe what CEO Jeff Weiner says. To me, comparing Facebook to LinkedIn is like comparing apples and bananas, they may both be fruit but they  are still different in a lot of ways.

       Companies such as JetBlue not only look for employees through social networking, they look for brand ambassadors too. A brand ambassador is someone who gets free products and discounts in exchange for promoting a company's products and/or services. “Marketers select their brand ambassadors very carefully, based on customers’ devotion to a brand and the size of their social circles.” So not only being a brand promoters is beneficial to the person promoting it can possibly lead to a job in the future, you never know. My have things changed, everything is surrounded by social networking and companies are now honing in on this aspect because the internet and web sites such as linked and Facebook aren't going anywhere any time soon.