Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Promotion

“The most basic type is a corporate (or brand) Web site. These sites are designed to build customer goodwill, collect customer feedback, and supplement other sales channels, rather than to sell the company’s products directly.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, p464). A website is a must for any business in the modern world. The website will be stylized after Paris in the late 1800s, using muted earth tones with splashes of vibrant colors. It will feature links to where the product is sold, and will highlight a new establishment at least once a month, if not every week, to bring awareness to those bars. Another idea is to have promotions at the highlighted bar (once a month) where we have representatives go out and have samples and hype up the product (similar to the Bud Girls, etc…). There will be a blog updated monthly with coverage of the event, and also highlighting a part of France’s past to help enforce the atmosphere created by the product of being part of the history of France. Many marketers are now tapping into blogs as a medium for reaching carefully targeted consumers. For example, Wal-Mart created the ElevenMoms network, a community of influential mommy-bloggers who were already blogging about money-saving ideas.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, p462). There will be a Facebook page that will link back to the blog and to the website. There we will invite people to document themselves with the snacks, pictures and/or YouTube videos, which we can publish on the website in our customer satisfaction section.

Distribution

In its quest to create customer value, the firm needs to look beyond its own internal value chain and into the value chains of its suppliers, distributors, and, ultimately, its customers.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, p48)  To help facilitate delivery of the Phileas Fogg snacks, I would seek a partnership with a company that has an existing distribution network set up. Some various ideas would be with a beer company, soft drink company, or another similar company that makes regular deliveries to the different bars. This could be done on a city or regional scale. The bulk packaging will be designed to bring attention to the product if it is in view of the customer, but yet easy to transport. “Increasingly in today’s marketplace, competition no longer takes place between individual competitors. Rather, it takes place between the entire value delivery networks created by these competitors.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, p49)



Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Implementation Evaluation Control

Marketing implementation is the process that turns marketing plans into marketing actions in order to accomplish strategic marketing objectives.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, p53). The first part of implementation would be to find a place that can make the snacks at a reasonable cost while maintaining the quality we desire. Next would be to map out the various bars we want to target in our starting city for a trial run. One firm can have essentially the same strategy as another, yet win in the marketplace through faster or better execution. Still, implementation is difficult—it is often easier to think up good marketing strategies than it is to carry them out.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, p56) Once our trial run is finished, then comes the push to a greater area, which will involve more metropolitan areas, regionally first, then nationwide.

Price

"Price is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue; all other elements represent costs. Price is also one of the most flexible marketing mix elements." (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, p275) I plan on the price-point of my product to be $4.99 for 3oz. The target market is the up-scale higher end luxury bar. In a place where customers will routinely spend $15-20 on a drink, and not even worry about the price, I don’t want the value of my product to seem like it is just a cheap snack and not worth the customer’s time and money. "In the end, the customer will decide whether a product’s price is right. Pricing decisions, like other marketing mix decisions, must start with customer value." (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, p275) I also want to insure that even though the customer doesn’t mind paying $20 for a drink, that I don’t price my snacks at too high of a level. There is a limit for how much people will pay for snacks, even at high-end bars.

Distribution

 In its quest to create customer value, the firm needs to look beyond its own internal value chain and into the value chains of its suppliers, distributors, and, ultimately, its customers.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, p48)  To help facilitate delivery of the Phileas Fogg snacks, I would seek a partnership with a company that has an existing distribution network set up. Some various ideas would be with a beer company, soft drink company, or another similar company that makes regular deliveries to the different bars. This could be done on a city or regional scale. The bulk packaging will be designed to bring attention to the product if it is in view of the customer, but yet easy to transport. “Increasingly in today’s marketplace, competition no longer takes place between individual competitors. Rather, it takes place between the entire value delivery networks created by these competitors.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, p49)