EOC Week 10: What are the Benefits v.s. The Features

In regards to chocolate, well, what is there to say? It's just chocolate. there isn't much you can do to change it. What you can do, however, is change the lifestyle that revolves around it. They key is to find a problem and solve it...just with chocolate. For my product, Instant Moo, It serves the simple purpose of giving kids a chocolaty fix on the go. However, it is more then that. It's key feature is that it doesn't spoil, and it is pack with nutrients. This gives my company a distinct competitive advantage. The feature of my product is the fact that it is simple to use and make, even a child could do it. 

Week 9 EOC:Social Media

EOC how will you use social media to promote product, 3 quotes

In today's modern world everyone uses social media to not only communicate with the world, but also to learn about new and unique products that they normally would have no idea about. Social media is beginning to be for business owners, as the book states "the widespread use of social media have accelerated the shift in power from manufacturers and retailers to consumers and business users"(MKTG 9th edition pg 6) Therefore, as a businesses owner I plan to have visual ads that will promote my product, and hopefully capture the interest of my target market. Secondly, I plan use social media to offer special offers to my followers. For example I will give out random discount codes and special coupons that is exclusive to social media followers. Finally I will use social media to post surveys to see exactly what my customers want, like new flavors, or a different packaging.

EOC Week 8:Creative Content

In order to market my product Instant Moo my marketing will be visual ads marketed towards children around the age of 5-12 years old. The visual ads are aimed towards them because if kids desire a product, they will more often then not make their parents buy it. However, my marketing will not ignore the parents. It will be aimed towards them in regard of their children's health. My product will be packed with nutrients and convenience that parents want, while having the flavor that children want. My packaging will be small, and easy to carry around with bright vibrant colors that will attract the eye. This is so it is convenient for parents, while fun for children. 

• Visual ads
• Aimed towards children 5-12 years old going to a brick and mortar school
• Make kids desire the product so parents buy it
• Commercial?? (possibly if I have time)
• Package design, smaller packets, bright colors

Implementation Evaluation Control

Now that I have everything planed out, It is time to make Instant Moo happen! first things first, I will need to be able to produce the product. Simply enough, I will stat making it out of my kitchen. After that I can start to worry about where to sell it. My idea Is to both make a website where people will able to buy it across America, while also trying to get my product into a small local store. This way I can start building a small, loyal fan base that will help spread the word about my product. After a while, when sales starts to go up, I will try to get into a bigger wholesale store, like wholefoods. If I am able to get in, I will have them produced massively in a bigger factory in America so that I can better supply my buyers on a much larger scale, and also make the product cheaper to produce, making my profit margins go up.

Marketing Mix: Price

Price is an extremely tricky thing, as the book states,  "A high-quality product that is available only at a high price will not be perceived as a good value, nor will bare-bones service or low-quality goods selling for a low price."(MKTG 9th Edition, Pg 6)  This is very true. people will not buy a product, no matter how good it is, for a ridiculously high  price, nor will they buy an extremely cheap product. So you have to meet your customers somewhere in the middle, where you make profits, and they get a good deal. With my product I believe that that is in the $2.99 price range for a pack of 6. I believe this is a fair price for the value you are getting, while not being absolutely ridiculous. 

Marketing Mix: Promotion

Promotion for my product will mainly be through word of mouth and social media. Especially at the beginning I will not be able to afford to buy ads, or even commercials. So I will have to promote the product via free outlets. For example, I will have multiple social media outlets, that will hopefully be used to push my product forward.

Marketing Mix: Distribution

TBC

Marketing Mix: Product

"firms that succeed in competitive markets have a clear understanding that they must first determine what customers want and then produce it, rather than focus on what company management thinks should be produced and hope that the product is something customers want."

Target Market Strategy

"A target market is a group of people or organizations for which an organization designs, implements, and maintains a marketing mix intended to meet the need of that group, resulting in mutually satisfying exchanges."(MKTG 9th edition, pg. 48) Target markets are a crucial role to any business. by having a target market, and providing them with what they need you are able to have a competitive advantage, which is"...a set of unique features of a company and its products that are perceived by the target market as significant and superior to those of the competition"(MKTG 9th edition,pg 23) The target market for my particular product will be parents with small children.  My product provides kids with something they desire, along with giving them some of the vital nutrients that they need in order to grow up happy. I believe that my product is best suited for this market due to the nature of the product as well as the fact that the only people who will really need chocolate milk on a instantaneous and regular basis is parents with small children.

Business Situation or SWOT Analysis

For this next section I will make a SWOT analysis of my bushiness. What is that? Well, according to the book its a company's "internal strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) and also examine external opportunities (O) and threats (T)." To start, I will examine the company's Strengths and weaknesses. According the the book "When examining internal strengths and weaknesses, the marketing manager should focus on organizational resources such as production costs, marketing skills, financial resources, company or brand image, employee capabilities, and available technology." Strengths Instant Moo has is low production costs, and employee capabilities. The product is fairly easy to make, and doesn't require much. It's mostly just powerized milk, cocoa powder, and sugar, mixed with vitamins and minerals. After that, there isn't much needed besides mixing it together and packaging it. The weeknesses of my company mainly false on brand recognition. It's a new brand, that has major competition from brands like Nesquik. However, the company differs from them by the fact that it is mixed with water, not milk. Opportunities my company could possibly have is be implimented in either convenience store, or possilbly schools.  Threats would be from bigger company's stealing my idea, and producing it on a scale I cannot compete with. 

Buissness Objectives

Marketing and business objectives go hand in hand, this can be seen through the very definition of the marketing concept which is "the idea that the social and economic justification for an organization's existence is the satisfaction of customer wants and needs while meeting organizational objectives" (MKTG, 9th Edition, 5)  This would stand to reason that

Business Mission Statement

According to the book, my mission statement "should focus on the market or markets the organization is attempting to serve rather than on the good or service offered."(MKTG, 9th Edition, 21) and establish  "...boundaries for all subsequent decisions, objectives, and strategies."(MKTG, 9th Edition, 21).  Based off of this, My businesses mission statement is as follows. Here at Instant Moo our number one priority is your children! We understand their want, nay, need for instant chocolate gratification, why is why we provide that need at instantaneous speed. However, we also understand parents need for healthy children. This is why we also make it our duty to pack as much nutrients as a child needs into our products.  These nutrients include protein, carbohydrates, calcium, Vitamins A&C, and many more. We know your children's health and happiness is important to you, and it is important to us as well. You can trust Instant Moo to provide kids with all they need to promote a happy and healthy lifestyle!!

Week 7 EOC:The Pitch

What do children want more often then not? Chocolate milk. And who would blame them? It's liquid chocolate! However, parents are unable to take this chocolatey delight with them everywhere because of one simple fact, chocolate milk spoils, easily. To solve this I am introducing Instant Moo! Instant Moo is a powderized chocolate milk that can be made instantly by just adding cold water. It's easy to store and bring anywhere without the need for refrigeration. Now your children can have what they crave at anytime of the day!

Week 6 EOC: Me x3

The first thing that defines me has got to be my singer sewing machine. This cheap piece of machinery is my connection to creation.  It allows me to make whatever my skill sets allows, while simultaneously allowing me to learn and improve on what I need to know. Without it I would be unable  to do what I love.








Secondly, What defines me is my kitchen aid mixer. It's an older model that has been used to make many delicious delights. It allows me o make whatever treats I'm craving. I'm honestly shocked that it hasn't worn out from the many years of use and abuse that I have put it through.   It is one of my most prized possessions, and I love it to death. The day it breaks, I might actually cry.








Finally, the last object defines me is my half of a heart necklace that my boyfriend, Erik, and I got from hot topic. The tiny heart half reads player two and connects with his. I love this thing a lot, and it symbolizes our connection, while also demonstrating my gamer side. Mine is worn and very loved, as I hardly am seen without it on.

Week 5 EOC: This Is What Has My Interest

The article "Is This Start-Up Creating The Future Of Fashion With Zika-Proof Apparel?" Captures my interest because it proves that fashion can have more benefit to the world then just looking pretty. It can be used to benefit society, to help save life's, and make living just a bit more manageable. This is an important concept to me personally because I would like my company to also benefit society as much as possible. I refuse to let my company be completely money driven, and I want to do everything in my power to have my clothes change ordinary peoples life for the better. This article is prove that that is not only possible, but is happening now.

Secondly, the article"Research Finds Out Why People Love to Use Fashion Shopping Apps" captured my interest because as we move into the new world it is important to understand what your target market wants. And currently the new generation is turning away from computers and the internet, and towards phones and apps. So when trying to reach consumers you have to be able to adapt how you market and sell your clothing.

Finally the article "What 3D Printing Means for Fashion" captures my interest because as we move into the new age of technology, we are also able to progress our understanding of what fashion can be and look like. For example, as the article demonstrates the use of 3d printing is bing use in the fashion industry to develop forms and garments we could only ever dream of. It allows us to expand our understanding of how garment can look, flow, even feel. And by using this we are able to expand our creations.

Week 4 EOC: My New App

So, heres the scenario, You go to send a text to someone, think you hit send and close your phone. No big deal right? Well, heres the problem, you didn't send that text. It's just sitting there, saved as a draft, why you sit there angry that the person that you swear you sent a text to hasn't texted you back yet. Well my app idea, "You Should Send That," works to solve this problem. The app would be able to access your phones texts, and text drafts, and alerts you if a text remains as a draft after two minutes of inactivity on your phone. This is helpful because humans are very forgetful, and a lot of the tim the texts we need to send are important, and have to be sent asap. They cannot simply be waiting in drafts, until you realize your mistake and send a text two hours later then you originally intended to. I would want the app to be free, as I see no need for people to pay for something that simply just reminds them of something the majority of people have done a least once.

Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

"Millennials may be the most tech-savvy generation yet, spending more time surfing the Web and on social media than they do watching television, listening to radio, or reading newspapers, but they still use and value traditional media. Gen Yers expect brands to be on social media. Two-thirds say a brand being on social media shows it cares about their generation, and fifty-six percent think social media sites are a great way to find out what's new with brands they like. That may be why sixty-four percent have liked a brand on Facebook and follow an average of ten brands or companies.31 Younger Millennials who shop online for apparel rely mainly on price. They also look for positive brand reviews. They typically visit their primary apparel web site forty-two times a year and make seven purchases a year,"(MKTG, 9th Edition) Personally, I believe most of this definition doesn't describe me. While I am tech savvy, I don't spend all my time on social media, nor do I believe I can connect to brands via social media. I personally enjoy hearing about products from people via word of mouth. I like going into stores and discovering at my own leisure. However, I do look for price a lot, and I also value other peoples opinions when making a decision on what products to buy. As a fashion major, I like to create my own look, instead of making purchases from a different brand. I like to make my own personal style, something that cant be described, or taken from me. 

Week 3 EOC: Making Money for Good

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group Model

Following the wake of the recession in 2009, the video game market has steadily began to recover and fall back into its normal ways, with consoles such as Ps4's and X Box Ones dominate the market.  These two stars  controlling the market nearly unchallenged , leaving smaller start up consoles such as the Steam Machine in the dust. "Both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One sold over a million consoles their first day on the market in 2013. After just over seven months on store shelves, Microsoft was up to about 5.5 million Xbox One sales and the PS4 had racked up 10.2 million worldwide sales."(http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/06/its-time-to-declare-valves-steam-machines-doa/, Kyle Orland)  Of course this doesn't mean that they can't be challenged from time to time by cash cows such as the Wii, and Nintendo. Their current product Pokémon Go is currently dominating the vast majority of phones world wide,  making the company go up by "25% Monday, adding $7 billion to its market cap in the process. Gamers may be hunting Pokémon on their mobile devices, but investors are hunting another sort of fictional creature altogether: the miraculous turnaround company, that can spin straw into gold overnight." (http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2016/07/11/will-pokemon-go-be-the-nintendo-cash-cow-investors-are-hoping-for/#7b3a315f5926, Erik Kain) of course only time will tell if Nintendo will be able to take down, or at least get on the same level as Sony or Microsoft. However, there is a new competitor in the market, VR Consoles, namely the Oculus Rift, Palmer Luckey had this to say, “Pre-orders are going much better than I ever could have possibly expected,” said Luckey. “There are a lot of people who are getting into virtual reality that I think are not even necessarily the gamers who have been waiting; they’re just hearing about it now or hearing about it recently and they’re convinced enough to pre-order. Hopefully they’re convinced enough to actually use it.” ( http://www.roadtovr.com/founder-oculus-rift-pre-orders-going-much-better-than-expected-sales/, Ben Lang) This question mark in the market can throw a wench into the world of video game consoles, and completely shift the market. 

Week 1 EOC: Great Customer Service

What makes good customer service/satisfaction? Well according to the textbook MKTG, 9th Edition, good customer service/satisfaction is "The customers' evaluation of a good or service in terms of whether that good or service has met their needs and expectations is called customer satisfaction."(MKTG, 9th Edition pg 8) Which seems simple enough. However this is sadly not the case most of the time. Fortunately though, there are rare occasions when stores give phenomenal customer service. For example, I was once in Forever 21 looking for a particular top. I approached a sales associate who was immediately helpful and looked it up for me. Unfortunately, the top had been discontinued. However, my experience didn't end there. The sales associate then proceeded to help me find a top that was in an incredibly similar style, along with and entire outfit to go with it. The outfit included accessories, shoe, shorts, and even some makeup. She was extremely knowable when she talked, and she was confident while assisting me with all of my needs.ass This not only left me with a very enjoyable shopping experience, but it also allowed the store to make more money. This is due to the fact that I was persuaded into buying more product then I was originally intending to, which increases the sales of the store. It is of my personal opinion that good customer service not only benefits the customer, but the store as well. It is about meeting the customer's needs above and beyond what they even knew they wanted, while simultaneously benefiting the store in a positive, proactive way. This is because even though it is "customer" service, maintaining the store always has to be a number one priority. Without the store, there would be no customers, so it is a very delicate balance to keep.