Week 8 EOC: Creative Content

There are a number of ways to market chocolate. Some people choose to market it with other products such as flowers or fruit. For the nature of what my product is I’m going to do a few things for it creatively to make it stand out. The first thing I’ll do is to choose a demographic region that I’d like to tackle then make musical commercials to speak to those demographics. For instance, if I’m targeting the 28-35 age range, the music in different areas will be different across the spectrum. Meaning it will have a hip-hop feel in some areas and an old school or kind of popish type of feel to it. My musical commercials will be recorded by me and may include some outside help from my peers. I’ll also have pictures of what we can make your gift look like. For instance if you have a shoe and a hat that are worn together, I can show you how it will come in the package together. My pictures will be actual pictures, as well as, some photo shopped examples. All in all I think this is going to be a marketing idea. When coming up with the different ideas for the creative side of things one always wonders how these creative ideas are going to generate monetary means. Well “a company’s mission should not be stated as making more sales or profits—profits are only a reward for creating value for customers”: Armstrong & Kotler (2011). Marketing: An Introduction Publishing pg. 41. Now what this means to me is that, yes the ultimate goal is to make money from this product by having the creative ideas push the envelop to make people what to buy the product.

Final Project: Implementation Evaluation Control

“Many managers think that implementation is as important as, or even more important than, “doing the right things” (strategy). The fact is that both are critical to success, and companies can gain competitive advantages through effective implementation. 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.” The implementation of Fresh Fits Chocolates will be very aggressive into the marketplace. No we will not take the route of trying to start out with a celebrity backing us. Like every successful company the starting implementation will start with an aggressive street team attack. We will have to get flyers and business cards out. We will get our radio spots played at a pace where it would be impossible for Fresh Fits to not cross your mind when you’re thinking about purchasing your next gift. A “customer’s evaluation of the difference between all the benefits and all the costs of a market offering relative to those of competing offers.” With us knowing this concept we at Fresh Fits Chocolates understand that in the beginning that it will be an uphill battle to gain the type of customer support that we desire to attain. But that will not stop us from constantly doing everything in our power to make Fresh Fits a household name for an outstanding product, excellent customer service, and an overall great experience with Fresh Fits Chocolates. The control of the success of the company ultimately lies with how we push the product and how the customers accept it. So yes our implementation will be very aggressive but not in a way to scare off any customers.

Final Project: Price

The price of whatever goods or services you sale to the public will always be up for debate unless it’s a price that they agree with. I’ve asked around and even did a little research myself about what the price would be for Fresh Fits Chocolate. “For most purchases, consumers don’t have all the skill or information they need to figure out whether they are paying a good price. They don’t have the time, ability, or inclination to research different brands or stores, compare prices”. So with that being said, I’ve decided to charge a price that is fair yet still competitive in the market place. For Fresh Fits Chocolates the price will be $25 for just the hat, $27 for just the shoe, $65 for both, and $75 for both in a customized box. “Other companies deemphasize price and use other marketing mix tools to create nonprice positions. Often, the best strategy is not to charge the lowest price but rather to differentiate the marketing offer to make it worth a higher price.” Though I’m not basing what I charge for my product by what any other company charges for their product I do still feel that we need to be in a position as to where if it was Fresh Fits or another company for the great gift that we’d come out on top. “Setting the price steps between various products in a product line based on cost differences between the products, customer evaluations of different features, and competitors’ prices.” Here are Fresh Fits we want our customers to not only love the product that they get, but also know that with every gift they give or even if they keep it for them selves that they’re getting a atop notch product that’s definitely worth the price that they paid.

Final Project: Promotion

Promotions are an essential part of any businesses success. Most offer promotions during the holidays and most offer them during other special times of the month or year. Some do promotions in collaboration with other companies and some don’t do much promoting at all. But along with Distribution, here at Fresh Fits Chocolates the way we promote the product will be another key things that will either make or break how successful we can be. “Consumer promotions must usually be advertised and can add excitement and pulling power to ads. Trade and sales force promotions support the firm’s personal selling process.” “Sales promotion plays an important role in the total promotion mix. To use it well, the marketer must define the sales promotion objectives, select the best tools, design the sales promotion program, implement the program, and evaluate the results. Moreover, sales promotion must be coordinated carefully with other promotion mix elements within the overall integrated marketing communications program.” Now at Fresh Fits Chocolates is obvious that we’ll do a lot of promotions around the holidays. But we also will do a ton of promotions around the times of March Madness, The Super Bowl, The World Series, The NBA Playoffs, The NHL Finals, and any other big sporting event. We’ll do this because it will drive sales in those areas for whatever teams are doing well at those times. I’m sure the fans of the teams will love to have either a great gift of chocolate sculptured in their favorite teams hat. Besides, is there really a better way for a woman to tell her man that she loves him? Think about that for a second then answer with authority….NO THERE ISN’T! “The length of the promotion is also important. If the sales promotion period is too short, many prospects (who may not be buying during that time) will miss it. If the promotion runs too long, the deal will lose some of its “act now” force.”

http://soundcloud.com/los28215/fresh-fits-chocolate-radio

Final Project: Distribution

Distribution, distribution, distribution, this will be one of the biggest parts of our product push that will either make or break how Fresh Fits Chocolates succeeds or fails. There are a few different ways that we can distribute Fresh Fits. We could partner up with a known brand that’s out there now to try and get their customers as well. We could make our product exclusive to certain places or we could be the type of company that has our product everywhere. Thinking about this makes it impossible to not see millions of dollars in profit. Yes I want Fresh Fits Chocolates to be a household name, so in that we will definitely do some intensive distribution, which is defined as “stocking the product in as many outlets as possible.” In order to garner the customers internationally we will do some exclusive distribution. “Exclusive distribution is often found in the distribution of luxury brands and brands. Exclusive distribution also enhances the brand’s image and allows for higher markups.” By doing exclusive distribution internationally we will be able to gage whether we can and should raise our price or go in a totally different route with the product as a whole. This will in tune help us as a company to get a strong hold of what’s going out monetarily and what’s coming in as our profits build up.

Final Project: Product

Fresh Fits Chocolate, what is it? That’s a question that’s on the minds of millions. It’s more than just a piece of chocolate. It’s more than just a cool name. Fresh Fits Chocolate is the brainchild of none other than Carlos D. Summers. Established in 2012, Fresh Fits is a company that will take any hat and shoe combination and sculpt it in chocolate so that you can present your loved ones with that “out of the box” gift. Fresh Fits was conceived on the idea of men being tired of getting the same gifts for Christmas, Father’s day, Anniversaries, and Birthdays. Sports are a very vital part to the average man’s life. We use only the best dark chocolate at Fresh Fits Chocolates to promote that you can indulge in chocolate and still be healthy about it. Its our hope that Fresh Fits Chocolate will bring about a change in the marketplace for giving the healthy consumers that option, as well as, being that “out of the box gift” that keeps on giving. We would like to become somewhat of a convenience product. “Convenience products are consumer products and services that customers usually buy frequently, immediately, and with a minimum of comparison and buying effort. Examples include laundry detergent, candy, magazines, and fast food. Convenience products are usually low priced, and marketers place them in many locations to make them readily available when customers need them.” We don’t want to become a shopping product because a “shopping products are less frequently purchased consumer products and services that customers compare carefully on suitability, quality, price, and style. When buying shopping products and services, consumers spend much time and effort in gathering information and making comparisons. Examples include furniture, clothing, used cars, major appliances, and hotel and airline services. Shopping products marketers usually distribute their products through fewer outlets but provide deeper sales support to help customers in their comparison efforts.”

Final Project: Target Market Strategy

“A marketing strategy consists of specific strategies for target markets, positioning, the marketing mix, and marketing expenditure levels. It outlines how the company intends to create value for target customers in order to capture value in return. In this section, the planner explains how each strategy responds to the threats, opportunities, and critical issues spelled out earlier in the plan.” With every product that comes out, there’s a marketing strategy that goes with it. Notice that there are a lot of products that come out every year and only a few get picked up. Well that’s because of how the companies chose to market them. Meaning, every demographic isn’t going to respond to certain products the same way. What that tells us here at Fresh Fits Chocolates is that we need to maintain our set target of woman that buy gifts for guys. That would be wives, mothers, and girlfriends. So what we would do promotion wise is to make sure that we are in all of the tabloids that this target reads. Get on shoe sites, have our flyers in beauty salons, and even at the front of grocery stores. We could also take that a step further and target men as well, like fathers and husbands mostly. We’d go at them by getting our flyers in barbershops, shoe stores, hardware stores, drug stores, and any other place that men frequent. One of the goals of this company is to become a household name. We can’t make that happen if we aren’t effectively getting the word out in the marketplace about Fresh Fits Chocolates and what they are meant for. And of course we wouldn’t just stop at being a household name here in the states, oh no this marketing would also be international. We would be able to use the exact same promotion and marketing material for this because “an international marketing strategy for uses basically the same marketing strategy and mix in all the company’s international markets.”

Final Project: Situation or SWOT Analysis

My SWOT analysis is “an overall evaluation of the company’s strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T).” When I think about all of the other companies out there that do chocolate in any way it makes me think harder about this very thing. See I could tell myself over and over again that my company is going to be the best and that there will be no competition. But I know I’d be selling myself a dream that won’t be true. “Strengths include internal capabilities, resources, positive situational factors that may help the company to serve its customers and achieve its objectives. Weaknesses include internal limitations and negative situational factors that may interfere with the company’s performance. Opportunities are favorable factors or trends in the external environment that the company may be able to exploit to its advantage. And threats are unfavorable external factors or trends that may present challenges to performance.” So with that being said what will the strengths (S) of Fresh Fits Chocolates be? Well the strengths would have to start out with our advertising and marketing. In order to assure ourselves that we have constant customers we have to knock the advertising and marketing out of the park. We can’t have any loose ends or uncertainties within ourselves. We have to know for fact that we did everything we possibly could to make sure that we knocked our advertising and marketing out of the park. Another strength will be our QUALITY product. Basically if we put out an inferior product that garners the “thank you’s” and the jaw dropping responses that our customers want to get when this gift is given then we need to make sure that we are making Fresh Fits with superior dark chocolate. We need to make sure that we are always checking our product over and over again while its being made up and before it gets shipped out. What will our weaknesses (W) be? To be I’m pretty sure that our weakness might be the fact that other companies could possibly undercut us in the pricing of the product. There my be a time in which we are getting so many orders that we can’t fulfill them in a timely fashion. We may get hit by the recession and might not get as many customers as we envision ourselves getting. What will our opportunities (O) be? Like every company out there, yes we would like to make a huge profit. But at Fresh Fits our opportunities would come in different ways than most expect. We will always keep our eyes on what’s going on in the marketplace as well as in the communities to see where we can make changes to improve our product. Also we will be working in different neighborhoods to help us get new ideas and better opportunities as it goes with the growth of the company. And finally what will our Threats (T) be? That’s a fairly simple one. Our threats will be other companies. Once Fresh Fits takes off like its suppose too other companies are going to see that and want to copy what it is we do. Meaning they’ll start trying to get into the niche as us. So we will have to make sure that we continue to put out an inferior product and excel in customer service to ensure we don’t lose any of our customers.

Final Project: Objectives

Fresh Fits Chocolates has a few objectives that we feel we need to accomplish in order for this company to be successful. We have advertising, marketing, and the overall company objectives. An advertising objective is “a specific communication task to be accomplished with a specific target audience during a specific period of time. Advertising objectives can be classified by primary purpose—whether the aim is to inform, persuade, or remind.” Our advertising objective will be accomplished by doing just that. We have to insure that we are constantly pushing the envelop on advertising and marketing, because they fall hand and hand. We have to challenge what’s already out there with other chocolate companies. Yes we are in competition but realistically when we push as hard as we should on the advertising and marketing aspect there should be no competition. Our overall company objectives are to become a household name as well as in the first year make back what we put out. In year two we plan to gain a tremendous profit from the gaining popularity of our product. “This broad mission leads to a hierarchy of objectives, including business objectives and marketing objectives.”

Final Project: Business Mission Statement

Fresh Fit Chocolates

The mission of Fresh Fit Chocolates is to bring a new form of chocolate goodness to the world. Not only will it be something that’s a great gift but, one won’t have to worry if they over indulge when eating them, because we make our chocolates with the healthy consumer in mind. Because “mission statements should be market oriented and defined in terms of satisfying basic customer needs.” At Fresh Fit Chocolates we plan to make our chocolates with dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is healthy for you in a sense that it helps manage you blood sugar, is rich in antioxidants, and it’s good for your heart. Now we all know that dark chocolate is a mood changer, so you’ll also get that good feeling while eating Fresh Fit Chocolates.

(Kotler)

EOC Week 7: THE PITCH

Gifts, gifts, gifts, most of us have trouble buying them. Every woman loves buying gifts and wants to buy that perfect gift for their male counterpart. No we don’t like to be given ties, cigars, colognes, or electronics all the time. Men love it when their lady gives them a gift that’s totally out of this world, you know a straight out of the box type of idea or thought. Men love to be given gifts that show they you pay attention to the things we like. Men like hats, most men even like shoes and they pay very close attention to the shoe to make sure it’s stylish and catches the eye all of the time. So I bet you’re wondering what kind of gift would incorporate hats and shoes and are made out of chocolate? Fresh Fits Chocolate is the name and it’s here to be that gift that you can get your guy to leave him speechless. Think about it if your guy came home with a gift of some of your favorite things made out of chocolate I’m sure you would amazed to know that he paid enough attention to you to know that you’d love it in chocolate form. Fresh Fits come in all sorts of varieties. You can customize them to fit your guy to the tee. You can have the shoes made as a replica of their favorite shoe and you can have the hat made to show their team spirit in whatever sport it is that they follow. Yes, this idea is so out of the box that it’s insane to think that a man would like it, but guess what, we do! So for that special someone, show them how much you care and Fresh Fit it out.

Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

With the economy, buyer habits, wants, needs, demands, and the world constantly changing, one has to know and understand that buying power of consumers will change. In todays society there is a huge want for apple products. It’s understandable why because they do put out some awesome products that do work very well. But there are four main factors that influence consumer buying and those are cultural, social, personal, and psychological influences. “Human behavior is largely learned. Growing up in a society, a child learns basic values, perceptions, wants, and behaviors from the family and other important institutions.” Growing up there were things I bought and didn’t buy based on my culture or environment. Even at a young age you’re somewhat bread to buy like your family does or how your peers do. Meaning that you’re more than likely going to end up buying something because you saw your friend with it or its something that your family has been buying for a long time. Now of course in order to buy things you have to have a job so you can pay for those things you buy. Well some companies today use a not so cool or reliable way to determine if they’d like to hire you. Facebook is a huge social media network that people are on. On Facebook people post things that can be very personal and revealing. More companies are trying to tap Facebook Inc.'s 750-million-plus user base to find new employees, threatening traditional job boards and competing with LinkedIn Corp., which has dominated the online professional networking arena. I don’t agree with companies hiring or not hiring people off of with they may do on a social media site. I mean in some cases it may be understandable. But in other cases its just not.