Target Market Strategy

All companies should have a marketing strategy and the marketing strategy should include a target market strategy. Our facial wash will be targeting men ages 18-45. Our marketing strategy will be achieved by creating value for our target customers. We will do this by using the concept of segmentation, targeting, differentiation and positioning. We will use segmentation to divide the total market into smaller segments. We will use targeting to select the segment or segments to enter. We will use differentiation to differentiate the market offering to create superior customer value. We will use positioning to position the market offering in the minds of target customers. We will evaluate the needs and behaviors our clients value. We will make our product attractive to men. We will differentiate our customer service from the service of our competitors and we will locate our product strategically. We will start  local by listening to analysts that say "By all means go global, but the first thing you have to do is win on the ground. You have to go local". (Armstrong & Kotler (2011)Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing, pg 495). We will also listen to another analyst that says "You need to respect local culture and become a part of it". (Armstrong & Kotler (2011)Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing, pg 495) A global brand must "engage with consumers in a way that feels local to them". (Armstrong & Kotler (2011)Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing, pg 495). According to this advice we will go local before we even think about going global.  Our strategy to target men is using sex to show that face wash is appealing. I think that we can try to position some facial wash as a cross sell at automotive stores right next to the hand wash. A lot of mechanics faces get dirty when they're working on cars and I feel that if marketed with the right signage this could be effective. I have attached an idea of what this may look like.

 

Targeting is not only about who we are serving but how we will serve them. the Ritz Carlton shares the idea of “The Ritz-Carlton Experience”—one that “enlivens the senses, instills a sense of well-being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests.” (Armstrong & Kotler (2011)Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing, pg 193) It is going to be our job to provide a similar idea in that we want our customer to have the sense that if they use our product they will have a clean fresh face. Targeting also has to do with how a product is positioned. We want to place our product in our customers minds relative to our competing products. “Products are created in the factory, but brands are created in the mind,” (Armstrong & Kotler (2011)Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing, pg 193) We are going to place our product in our male customers minds by using the slogan "Because she won't kiss anything that isn't Clean & Clear. This slogan will give our target customer something catchy that will be embedded in their minds.

SWOT Analysis

Our company will need to complete a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis analyzes a companies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths are internal capabilities that may help a company reach its objectives. Weaknesses are internal limitations that may interfere with a company's ability to achieve its objectives. Opportunities are external factors that the company may be able to exploit to its advantage. Threats are current and emerging external factors that may challenge the company's performance. Some of our companies strengths will be that everyone needs to wash there face. Some of our companies weaknesses will be the challenge of getting a man to purchase the product on their own as opposed to a woman purchasing it for them. Our opportunities are that by gearing the sale of this product towards men we will be increasing our consumers buying power. We will now be catering to more than one type of individual. One of our threats will be our competition but I think our biggest threat will be ourselves. We are going to have to plan correctly in order for us to sell our product effectively. I think that internally we will need to focus our goal of having excellent customer service. To obtain this goal we will need to build a great repoire between ownership, mangers an employees. I think we should follow a customer service model as the model followed by Lexus “treat each customer as we would a guest in our own home” and “go to any lengths to serve them better.” (Armstrong & Kotler (2011)Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing, pg 218)  We should not only go to any lengths to serve our customers but our employees as well. I think we should follow a service plan like the one followed by HP. It promises “HP Total Care—expert help for every stage of your computer’s life. From choosing it, to configuring it, to protecting it, to tuning it up—all the way to recycling it.” (Armstrong & Kotler (2011)Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing, pg 219) I think we should provide our client with a service that allows them to learn proper facial care techniques and also allows them to provide feedback for what they want from Clean and Clear facial wash.

Objectives

Every company has objectives. An objective is an end that can be reasonably achieved within an expected time frame and with available resources. An objective usually includes many individual goals and are basic tools that underlie all planning and strategic activities. The main objective of our facial wash is to sell it to men between the ages of 18-45. Our objective is to have men want to think about our product when they are out shopping. Our advertising objective is going to be to prove that by washing your face woman will be more attracted to you. We are going to use the advertising objective that sex sells. Our challenge is how we can sell facial wash to men. We are going to achieve this challenge by setting research objectives. We will use exploratory, descriptive and causal research. Exploratory research is marketing research that gathers preliminary information that will help define problems and suggest hypotheses. Descriptive research is marketing research that better describes marketing problems, situations, or markets, such as the market potential for a product or the demographic and attitudes of consumers. Causal research is marketing research to test hypotheses about cause and effect relationships. We will try to set a high research objective like the objectives set by the company Kohler who claim to develop products that embrace the "essence of gracious living". (Armstrong & Kotler (2011)Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing, pg 43)   The next objective we will set will be an advertising objective.An advertising objective is designed to persuade, inform or remind. We will set an advertising goal such as the one used by Dunkin Donuts "In a recent national blind taste test," proclaimed the ads, "more Americans preferred the taste of Dunkin donuts coffee over Starbucks. It's just more proof it's all about the coffee(not the couches or music)." (Armstrong & Kotler (2011)Marketing: An Introduction, 10th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing, pg 387) Our objective will be to create a catch phrase that will stick with men. We can create a catchy jingle that will stick in our target markets head so they will be thinking about the product when they are shopping.

Business Mission Statement

The mission for our product facial wash is to sell to men between the ages of 18-45.  We want to be able to sell our product to men. We want men to be able to go to the store and want to buy this product for themselves without being embarrassed. They will no longer need their woman to buy it for them. The market for facial wash right now is just geared towards woman. In fact woman are the individuals that most products are geared too because they are the individuals that shop the most. “A brand, product, or service is more than just a physical thing. Humans that connect with the brand add meaning and value to it.”  (Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10^th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing pg,118) We are going to try and connect with men the best we can to prove that facial wash is not just a woman’s product. We are going to use the power that woman have over men to show them that by washing their face woman will attract to them more than a man with a dirty face. We will take a similar path that Nike took. There goal was to "to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world." (Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10^th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing pg, 43) Our goal will be to bring a clean face to every person in the world. A dirty face will become a thing of the past for men. Women will be a lot happier that they can share their facial wash with their man.  “Successfully managing the customer experience is the ultimate goal,” (Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10^th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing pg,47). Our statement will be "Because She Won't Kiss Anything that is not Clean and Clear." I think in the end our ultimate goal is the same as Cold Stone Creamery “to make people happy around the world by selling the highest quality, most creative experience with passion, excellence, and innovation.” (Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction, 10^th Ed. Prentice Hall Publishing pg,47). After all isn't this what it is really about? To make the customer happy by providing them with high quality and offering the most creative buying experience with passion, excellence and innovation.

Develop Pitch

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&biw=1680&bih=857&gbv=2&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=clena+nd+clear+facial+wash&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

The product I have chosen to develop and gear towards men is facial wash. This product is considered to be a very feminine product and is geared towards the sale of woman. Most manly men will just use a bar of soap to wash their face. They may also just use water if soap is not available. If the option for them was in the shower to use woman’s facial wash or nothing at all then they would choose nothing at all. What I intend to do is to market this product so men will want to go out and buy it for themselves. I think it is time for men to go out into the world with a cleaner face.  I think that their cleaner face will attract them more to woman. It will also eliminate the amount of pimples that men will get because they will be exfoliating their pores. The marketing of this product is going to revolutionize the way men buy facial wash. I feel that my ideas to market facial wash will increase sales largely to men. I’m going to create a commercial that will show men that the facial wash will attract them to woman. I’m going to use a dream sequence where a man is sleeping and he has something on his face but has no idea that he does.  The dream will be a nightmare. The man will be walking down the street or somewhere in public past multiple beautiful women. When he walks passed these woman they will point and chuckle and run away. In the dream he will look in a mirror and realize he has a lot of pimples on his face. He will suddenly wake up and run over to his sink to wash his face. He will do this in a hurry. The last scene will be him and a couple of beautiful woman by his side. He will have a huge smile and the woman will be caressing his face.

EOC WEEK 6: 9 APS

There are many different applications offered for smart phones. There are good applications, bad applications and some good applications that can be even greater. I think that three of the best applications for the smart phone are the weather application, the game applications and the voice command application. The weather application is fantastic. It gives me quick access to weather anywhere in the world. It is an excellent source for when I’m traveling. Game applications are fantastic. Having games at my finger tips allows me to expand my mind, pass time and have fun all in one sitting. The voice command applications are exciting. I can talk to my phone and it just does the work for me without me even having to press a button. Three of the worst smart phone applications are the application that allows you to pee on your phone to see if you have an STD, the noisemaker applications and it can be argued that any application is bad. The application that allows you to pee on your smart phone to check and see if you have an STD is ridiculous. Why the hell would I want my phone to smell like urine? The noisemaker applications are a waste. Do we really need our phones to make ridiculous noises for us? Can we not be creative and make our own noises. The last argument I have is that phone applications in general are bad because they are making Americans even lazier than they already are. They are also a great way for criminals to access or phones. Three smart applications that I would think are a good idea are a remote control application, an application that turns on your lights and an application that starts your car. Now I know I just said that applications make people lazier but wouldn’t it be cool to change the channels from your phone, start your car and use it to turn your lights on and off when you come into the house? Here are some interesting quotes I found from people regarding smart phone applications "People nowadays want everything to be at their fingertips, and if companies are not finding ways to provide these tools [they] will soon see drop-off from their customers," says Jennifer Shaheen, a small business technology consultant in White Plains, N.Y. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125071635069144197.html)" People dump all kinds of apps onto their smart phones". (http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/technology/10-things-app-developers-wont-tell-you/?page=2) “The FBI’s Cyber Division recently began working on a number of cases based on tips about malicious programs in app stores. The cases involve apps designed to compromise banking on cell phones, as well as mobile “malware” used for espionage by foreign nations. To protect its own operations, the FBI bars its employees from downloading apps on FBI-issued smart phones.” (http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/security/smartphone-apps-they-may-not-be-what-they-claim/4027) You can see from this blog that smart phone applications have advantages and disadvantages too.

WEEK 5 EOC: BEST AND WORST SUPERBOWL COMMERCIALS

What did you think of the Superbowl commercials this year? I frankly thought they were horrible. The Superbowl is the biggest stage for advertising but this year the advertising felt flat. In past years I typically would wait for the game to come back on before taking a bathroom break. This year though, I found myself taking a break during the actual commercials. I’m thinking the pressure of presenting the best commercial idea to a record number of viewers is really getting to the advertisers. The worst commercial I saw this year was the commercial for Doritos where the dog was running towards the Dorito. I’m not sure what Doritos were trying to accomplish here? The Doritos ad was part of the Doritos Crash the Superbowl contest. This contest picks the top commercial submissions from amateur filmmakers. As a filmmaker myself I was a little embarrassed it was picked. I see where they were coming from to be funny but it just didn’t make me laugh. They could have come up with a more original idea than the guy taunting the dog with a chip. How long could it have taken for this individual to come up with this concept? Maybe I’m just looking at it from a filmmaker’s perspective. I think I should partially be sensitive to the fact that it may have reached out to children, but then again do they want to buy the Doritos or the dog? The one commercial that did stand out was the Darth Vader Volkswagen commercial. This commercial was excellent. I felt they did a great job because the commercial was geared towards everyone. It reached out to kids and adults. They did a great job building up the suspense of what the advertisement was going to be. The idea of using the kid dressed up as Darth Vader failing at using the force and then having the child succeed really pulls on people’s heart strings. The effectiveness of pulling on the heart strings allows Volkswagen to build an emotional bond with their customers.