Services

There are many different service processes that are directed at 4 different mediums. One of these mediums is customers' bodies, another is customers' minds, another is customers' physical possessions, and the last is customers' intangible assets.
Customers' bodies include services such as hairstyling, transportation, or health clubs. This medium provides a physical experience for the consumer.
Customers' minds include services such as entertainment, sports, or edutainment. This is when customers experience mental stimulation.
Customers' physical possessions include care repair, dry cleaning, or lawn care.
Customers' intangible assets include banking, consulting, or counseling. This provides the customer with intangible services with intangible assets.
Intangible is when you can't feel, taste, hear, touch, or see a service. These cannot be inspected directly before purchase, they simply have to be experienced.
An intangible service is very hard to rate and describe since there is not much that you can see or hear or touch or taste with this.

Promotion

Being promoted is always a positive thing, whether it is in your job or in an organization. Promotion is the coordination of marketing communication efforts to influence attitudes or behavior. Promotion can be done in many ways. There are two different types of promotion, low control and high control. The higher the control, the more the promotion is known as a mass appeal. The lower the control, the more the promotion is referred to as personal appeals.
Within the mass appeals section, there are many different options. Advertising is the highest control option. This is a way to give off a dynamic image of how you want consumers to establish the brand identity. Sales promotion is also a mass appeal. This includes contests, coupons, and prizes. This is targeted so that it will build interest or encourage product purchase. Also, it could increase sales. Another mass appeal is public relations. Public relations is the communication of activities that create a positive image of a company and its products. These people who are in the public relations part of the company will work with media outlets to get the word out about the great product.
Personal appeals are much less controlling. Personal selling is the direct interaction between a company representative and a customer. This is a worker promoting their product to others who are around. Direct marketing is targeted directly to the consumers.
Along with these personal and mass appeals, word of mouth is a very strong promotional tactic. This is a very low control avenue of promotion because the company loses control of the promotion once the consumer experiences their product.

Zara

The store Zara has perfected the distribution of products. They believe in fast fashion. The store only has a limited amount of each shirt, jean, dress, ect. and they do not reorder if they product is bought as predicted. There is a constant exchange of information through all parts of Zara and their supply chains. All the activities necessary to turn raw material into goods or services and put in the hands of the consumer is a supply chain. The goal of a supply chain is to respond to changes in an efficient and effective manner.
In Zara, this quick response can be found. They have new items delivered at a certain time to each store. This is applied to perfect timing for the selling and restocking of materials. This type of shopping makes the consumers know that the product is only there for a limited time. This knowledge leads to visual merchandising in the store. This is the push to make the shopping experience enjoyable and beneficial.

Marketing Economics

Through my preparation for business school, I took many Economic classes. One of the main points of Econ was elasticity of demand. When I began to read about this in the marketing book, it surprised me to use such a boring subject in Econ in such an exciting way in Marketing. The price elasticity of demand is the measure tof the sensitivity of customers to changes in price. And example would be if the price changes by a certain percent, then the demand would change as a result. There is a specific formula to use: Price elasticity of demand = (percentage change in quantity demanded) / (percent change in price)
There are two different kinds of elasticity: inelastic and elastic. Inelastic demand is that the change in price has little or no effect on the quantity consumers are willing to buy. Elastic demand is that they change in price has a large effect on the change of demand.
When demand is elastic, change in price and revenues work in opposite direction. If the price increases, then the revenues decrease. If the price is decrease, then revenues increase. A good example would be gas. When price of gas increased, demand for gas reduced by a huge amount. When price decreased, then demand returned and possibly went up from the former demand before the price increase.
When demand is inelastic, such as in pizza, the demand remains the same or increase/decreases by small amounts depending on price change. I know that if I see a deal on pizza, it doesn't immediately cause me to want to buy the pizza, but an increase in price doesn't make much of a difference because I also may not know what prior prices were like.
There is also cross-elasticity of demand. This is when changes in the price of one product affect the demand for another item. When products are substitutes, (ex. hot dogs and hamburgers), and price of one increases, then the demand for the other increases. When two products are complements, (ex. hamburgers and condiments), and price of one increases, then the demand for that item decreases and also the demand for the complement item decreases.

Production Life Cycle

There are four stages in the production life cycle. The first is the introduction stage. This stag is the slow growth stage. The new product is introduced to the market and people are finally starting to realize its potential or failures. The length of time the introduction stage varies depending on the product. The acceptance and willingness to buy the product from the consumer is a huge factor in the success. Nearly 40% of all the new products in the introduction stage fail.


The next stage is the growth stage. This is where the product sales are increasing at a very fast pace. The product begins to expand throughout the country or even the world. Competitors start to appear during the growth stage. The initially high price of the new product may be reduced to meet the increasing competition.


The maturity stage is the third and longest stage in the product life cycle. The sales are peaking and the profit is narrowing. A good example of the maturity stage is the original iPhone. The iPhone has been modified to fit different markets and expand their expectations. They have produced the iPhone 3G, the iPhone 3GS, and now the new iPhone 4.


The decline stage occurs when the product is coming to the end of its life. The sales are decreasing and something needs to change. This is found with video stores, such as blockbuster. Also, the attendance to theaters is not found as highly with the new sites to watch movies, download movies, and Netflix has taken over many of the other product lines because of the flexibility.

Innovation

As we were learning about the diffusion of innovation, I could relate many people I know to the different groups. Innovators would by my friends from Microsoft, the ones that have all the new and awesome gadgets before they come out on the market. I feel as though my dad is an early adopter, he waits for everyone else to rate and review the product, then goes out and buys it. I would be in the early majority group. I usually will get the new gift after my dad points out the negatives and positives of the item. My grandma would be in the late majority. Just a few years ago I taught her how to email and text message. My boyfriend's mom would be in the laggards category. She is very smart and with the times, but she does not seem to take in the new and upcoming technology. She does not know how to text, isn't very tech-savvy with computers, and accidently changes her camera from pictures to video without knowing how to change it back.

Target Market

There are many segments of a target market that are necessary to keep in mind when marketing a product. Segmentation is the process of dividing this market into smaller pieces based on certain characteristics of the market. There is segment by demographics such as age. Demographics are the observable aspects that differ in population.
Age demographics are usually solved by generational marketing. This is the marketing of members of a similar generation that tend to share priorities. There is also a segment differentiation for gender. Women generally have different desires in needs then men, but they also can be similar. This similar need would be a target to a metrosexual person. Metrosexual is a straight, urban male who is keenly interested in fashion, home design, gourmet cooking, and personal care.
Segment by demographics also are segmented into different types of family life cycles. People of different family life cycles are unlikely to need the same products. Income and social class is another demographic. Distribution of wealth is of great interest to marketers because it determines which groups have the greatest buying power. Ethnicity is another very strong indicator of preferences. Marketers need to be aware of the differences in ethnicity so nobody is offend.
Place of residence is also a very important demographic to pay attention to. Geodemography is a segmentation technique that combines geography with demographics. Geocoding is customizing Web advertising so that people who log on in different places will see ad banners for local businesses. Another segment is psychographics. Psychographics is the use of psychological, sociological, and anthropological factors to construct market segments. Segment by behavior is a useful study to figure out what consumers want to DO with a product. Behavioral segmentation is a technique that divides consumers into segments on the bases of how they act toward, feel about, or sue a good or service.

Re-re-re- buy!!

A straight re-buy is a routine purchase of all the items that are necessary to business to business customer regularly needs. An example of a straight re-buy would be toilet paper. There would be no necessary thought going into the purchase and the need of the item.


A modified re-buy occurs when a buyer decides to look around and find someone else to buy the product for better prices, quality, and deliver times. The decision would require more time and effort than straight re-buys. An example would be like purchasing a printer from a certain company, but then being able to simply buy a printer a few years later from another company or another version of the printer from the same company.


A new-task buy is a first-time purchase. There is a lot of uncertainty and risk with this new purchase. There is no previous experience of this decision so there is no other details to look back on. An example would be an expensive textbook a teacher is requiring a student to buy.

Perception

Perception is the process by which people select, organize, and interpret information from the outside world. We receive this information from sensations (such as sight, touch, sound, smell, and taste). Perception of a product can either make or break a sale. Take for example food photography. Wouldn't you think that the food that is in the picture is the food that you will be eating? Well, this would only be true if you wanted motor oil on your pancakes or shoe polish on your steak... This substitution of the "real thing" with these tricky items is only because real food melts, wilts, falls apart, cools down, dries out, and in the end, it look unsavory.

Although these tricks do not add to the appeal of the dish, the sight could still cause your mouth to salivate, the smell could in turn make those pictures seem so real. The issues that come about with these photographs are exposure, attention, and interpretation. Exposure is the capability for the senses to respond to the sight or smell or sound. The stimulus will have to have a previous exposer to the sensory receptors. The attention is the extent to which we are aware of this stimulus and the reaction to the sensory receptors. If we were to look at a picture of a hamburger and think cardboard, glue, and toothpicks, this hamburger would not be appealing to us, but if we simply pay attention to the prior stimulus reaction we have had while enjoying a hamburger, this connection with the actual items in the picture will be ignored. The interpretation is the process of understanding the meaning of this connection.

Data Mining

Data mining is a term used for going through large amounts of information to find the information that is relevant to your marketing research. There are 5 steps in the Marketing Research Project. The first is to define the problem. This includes researching objectives and identifying possible marketing actions. The next step is to develop the marketing plan. The main objective is to point out constraints, realize what data is needed, and brainstorm how to collect the data. The third step is to collect relevant information with different researching techniques. This includes doing primary research (yourself), and secondary research (collecting information from another source). The fourth step is to develop what you have found through marketing research. Analyzing data and presenting findings are very important in this step. The last step is to take action. To take action, the marketing agency needs to identify action recommendations, implement action recommendations, and evaluate the results.

On Amazon.com, the company is constantly performing marketing research. Each time is sign in as my user, I see recommendations according to what I have ordered or looked at. This is a very pro-active type of marketing. This draws my attention to similar products as the others that I have considered.

The Bowflex Promise

Marketing plans set the tone and agenda for the product. This may include who the product is appealing to, how to have this person become aware of the product, and how to incorporate the marketing mix strategies.

Analyzing the marketing environment is one very important key to the marketing strategy. Take a look at the guy to the right. Who would not want to look and feel as confident as he does? This advertisement is targeting those who do not feel comfortable or happy about their bodies, and even those who usually are confident, may lose their confidence when they compare themselves to him. Bowflex would be the answer to solve all those insecurities. So now that the marketers have hit the spot for the consumers, they need to set objectives.

The marketers will look at the connection between the customer and the product. The objectives may be to have the person call their company, or investigate the product on the website. The marketers would then be encouraged to place a phone number or web address on the advertisement so the potential consumer can receive more information.

Now that they have selected a target market (young adults to middle/older aged men and women) they need to develop the marketing mix strategy. The first part to look at are the product strategies. These include the product design, packaging, branding, services, changes, and benefits the consumer will have when purchasing the product. Highlighting the magnificent changes after using the bowflex is critical. Their motto is "Lose weight, build muscles, and increase energy with just 20 minutes a day, 3 times a week." This is targeting those with busy lifestyles who are upset about their body appearance. Putting a male around the same age as those consumers who are being targeted with big muscles and time to work out is the ideal image for the customer.

Pricing strategies need to be analyzed very carefully. Looking at the eating habits of people who are always busy can lead to fast food restaurants or settling for the "not-so-healthy" option. Also, those who have a lower income may be more willing to spend a dollar on the dollar menu at McDonalds than $5.00 on a sandwich at a deli. Those people with lower incomes may not be able to afford the bowflex, but making the benefits stand out may cause the customer to consider saving a few dollars up to purchase one.

An intelligent promotional strategy would be to market the benefits in a health store or next to the vitamins in a drug store. This would target those who are considering changing the way they live their lives, and are taking steps in the right direction. Another place would be at a gym or next to the healthier foods in a store.

Distribution strategies need to be strategic. The decision to distribute through another company (such as a home-gym store) or sell through their own store. Both these decisions could be the correct or more beneficial choice, so providing each option may be the way to go.

Implementation and controlling the marketing plan needs to be firm and strict. This can either lead to success or ruin all the hard work that has gone into the product. Controlling would include looking at performance or the product, comparing the performance, and making changes to help boost the product's sales.

Dark Side

Marketing is about meeting, recognizing, and making apparent the needs of consumers. The best way to look at marketing is that the consumer may not think about this product, let alone think they want to have the same experience as the people in the advertisement, but once the ad becomes public, those who know need the product now know about it. The marketers identify and satisfy the needs of the consumer, even if the consumer is not aware of their need quite yet.

Forming a relationship with the product and the consumer is essential. The consumer must feel special. The feelings that every person in the advertisement should be their own feelings. They now can have anything they want because they have this product. But all marketing is not this cut dry, it is sometimes imposed on those who are vulnerable.

Some marketers will target the dark side of advertising such as terrorism, exploited people, illegal activities, addictive consumption, theft, and defacing of products. The above article is a prime example of targeting illegal activities and addictive consumption. Mainly the focus of drug addiction is emphasized here, but the women in this ad are obsessed and addicted to the clothing, not actual drugs, although they look as though they are beyond high. This shows that this clothing can satisfy an addiction, whether it be shopping or hard drugs.