Week 14 - Smart Porjects

Week 14

Tuesday

On Tuesday, we had a meeting with Professor Spotts. This meeting took the place of our regularly scheduled class as they have in the past. The main focus of this meeting was our brand strategy memo. We discussed our brand strategy memo in length and went over the ways we could change it and to improve it. We also discussed how the rest of the project would come together. We were given templates to create business cards for the expo. We were also assigned to edit our brand strategy memo. Lastly, we were assigned to create a fact sheet about our project on the given template. We were also made aware that everyone on our team must memorize the value proposition of our product as well as our pitch once it is finalized. We have since completed our business cards for each student along with having each student memorize the value proposition. Our pitch will also be completed and people will be familiarized with it for the expo next Thursday.

Thursday

On Thursday, we had a group meeting with the engineers in Sleith. During this class time we began by teaching the engineers something about business and they taught us something about engineering. This gave us the opportunity to understand the other side of our product a bit better. We taught they engineers about the value proposition, our target market, and our brand strategy. They seemed to struggle with it but I think they got a basic understanding of our side of the project in this way. They taught us about the basic wiring of our product and the names of some of the components of the product. This helped both us and the engineers have a better understanding of the other side of the project. This can help us to come together as one and not make it such a two sided project. It helps to make it one collective project that we all understand. Thursday in class we also went over our pitch that has been created. Each of us is familiarizing ourselves with the pitch so that we could all recite it if needed at the expo next Thursday. 

Smart Project

Other things that we must complete for our smart project includes a fact sheet. We will complete that at our meeting we are having later tonight (Thursday). We must also all memorize our pitch in the case that it needs to be delivered by more than one person at the expo. We also need to think about the setup we will display at the expo. All of these things will need to be addressed at our meeting tonight.

Week 13 - Chapter 15, 16, & 17 and Smart Projects

Week 13

Tuesday

     On Tuesday, much of our class was dedicated to a discussion of Chapter 15 in our textbook. Chapter 15 is about marketing communications. In class, one thing we discussed was the promotional mix. The promotional mix, as defined by our book, is the combination of promotional tools - including advertising, public relations, personal selling, sales promotion, and social media - used to reach the target market and fulfill the organization's overall goals. The promotional mix is important in relation to the target market. Using the proper mix is essential in order to reach the target market of a product. For our smart project, this could be very helpful. In order to reach our full target market, our promotional mix needs to be done correctly. On Tuesday in class we also discussed the difference between publicity and advertising. Publicity is public information about a company or product that appears in the mass media as a news item. Advertising on the other hand, is impersonal, one-way mass communication about a company or product that is paid for by a marketer. So, advertising is paid for and is intended by the company. Publicity may not be wanted or intended by the company. Publicity could be either good or bad. It is also not paid for by the company or any marketer. Finally, Tuesday we discussed the AIDA model. The AIDA model stands for attention, interest, desire, and action. It is used to outline the process for achieving promotional goals. This could be very helpful for us with our project in order to track our promotional progress.

Thursday

     On Thursday,  we had another joint class with the engineers due to a dead animal smell in our normal classroom. During this class period we went over our posters that we had created. We were given advice on how to make our posters better and more professional. We also learned about the elevator pitch that we have been assigned to create. We must define who we are (10-15 seconds), describe what we do (45-60 seconds), and state what we would like from the potential investor (10-15 seconds). Everyone on our team must memorize the pitch so that we can communicate it on the final day if we need to. It is important for everyone to know it so that if our best speaker is bust with another person, someone else can pitch to a different person. Some tips we were given include speaking clearly, not rushing, and containing enthusiasm. Also, it is best to not be boring, use emotions, be memorable, and to have facts ready in that case that follow up questions are presented to us. 

Chapters 15, 16, & 17

     Chapters 15, 16, and 17 have been either topics of discussion of assigned to us to read for this week. Chapter 15 was mentioned earlier with the AIDA model, promotional mix, and publicity vs. advertising. Chapter 16 is all about advertising and promotions. Advertising, as defined by our book is one-way mass communication about a product or organization that is paid for by a marketer. Advertising could be useful for our Smart Project. It is likely that the type of advertising we would use would be pioneering advertising. Pioneering advertising is a form of advertising designed to stimulate primary demand for a new product or product category. Our product is certainly a new product that does not have a direct competitor in our product category. It would be helpful for us to use this kind of advertising strategy in order to stimulate demand for our new product category. An advertising appeal is a reason for a person to buy a product. Some common advertising appeals include profit, health, and pleasure. Chapter 17 is largely about selling and sales management. Personal selling, a term mentioned in Chapter 15, is a purchase situation involving a personal, paid-for communication between two people in an attempt to influence each other. Steps in the selling process can be seen in the chart on the left. The textbook has some steps slightly differently than shown here, but the overall process is the same. These steps should be considered throughout the remainder of our smart project in order to keep selling and how we would sell in mind.

Week 12 - Smart Projects

Week 12

Monday

     We did not have our regularly scheduled class on Tuesday. We had a meeting with Professor Spotts on Monday. The meeting was arranged in order to discuss our Smart Projects and the progress we have made. In our meeting we discovered that we were a bit behind in the process. We were a bit slow to collect our data because it was difficult for us given we are not 21. Our customer would most likely be bars or nightclubs. We are not able to survey bars or nightclubs on our own. So, we had difficulty working with our marketing consulting, Sam, and organizing a time we could bring her to bars and nightclubs. However, between Monday and Thursday we made a considerable amount of ground up and had all of the components to have a worthwhile group meeting on Thursday. We analyzed our data that we did have from patrons and gained a lot of knowledge about our customer. We have a better understanding now of our target market and the behaviors that they exhibit.

Thursday

     On Thursday, we had a joint class with the engineers. We accomplished a lot in this class period. We took the data that we collected and analyzed and used it to make the engineers in our group aware of what the data meant for our product. We also discussed the before during and after of the experience involved in our product. The before includes deciding to go out and the aspects involved in that. The during is the actual act of drinking and the risks involved in that. The after includes the way in which people get home from where they drink, and the risks involved in that. We also discussed the value proposition of our product. This includes how our product solves the painpoints of the customers. It also shows the specific benefits of our product and also tells our consumers why they should buy from us and not our competitors. We also discussed our buyer personas and our customer discovery. The discussions we had helped us to get a better idea of our customer of our product and how they behave.

Chapter 16

     Chapter 16 was not directly assigned to us, however it was the next assignment on the syllabus. So, chapter 16 is largely about advertising and promotions. Advertising, as defined by our book is one-way mass communication about a product or organization that is paid for by a marketer. Advertising could be useful for our Smart Project. It is likely that the type of advertising we would use would be pioneering advertising. Pioneering advertising is a form of advertising designed to stimulate primary demand for a new product or product category. Our product is certainly a new product that does not have a direct competitor in our product category. It would be helpful for us to use this kind of advertising strategy in order to stimulate demand for our new product category. An advertising appeal is a reason for a person to buy a product. Common advertising appeals can be shown here on the right.

Week 11- Distribution and Products

Week 11

Tuesday

     On Tuesday, we talked a lot about supply chains and distribution channels. We talked about Fresh Patch again and discussed their supply chain. The distribution chain is different than the supply chain. The supply chain is the process by which you gain the supplies for your product. The distribution chain also includes the delivery of the product to the consumer. The distribution chain for Fresh Patch starts with an order on their website. Next Andrew receives that order. He then places an order with the producer of the grass in Ventura, California. The producer then ships the product to the consumer. By implementing an east coast distribution center, Andrew could shift his costs from shipping to the distribution center. On Tuesday we also talked about offshoring and nearshoring from chapter 13. Offshoring is the outsourcing of a business process from one country to another for the purpose of gaining economic advantage. Nearshoring is the transfer of an offshored activity from a distant to a nearby country. Both of these tactics are helpful to better the logistics of a company. Logistics is one of the most important aspects of a distribution channel and a successful company. One company that has succeeded because of good logistics is Walmart. Logistics is also a reason Amazon is so successful. It is easier for companies to sell their product through Amazon than it is through their own website. Amazon takes care of the shipping aspect of their business.

Thursday

     On Thursday we talked a lot about product types and where they can be found. We discussed how a Rolex or a Jaguar is a specialty product, a television or a suit is a shopping product, Twinkies are a convenience product, and a septic tank service is an unsought product. Specialty products are a particular item for which consumer search extensively and are very reluctant to accept substitutes. Shopping products are products that require comparison shopping because its usually more expensive than a convenience product. A convenience product is a cheap product that requires little shopping effort. An unsought product is a product that is unknown to the potential buyer or a known product they are not actively seeking. On Thursday we also discussed the intensity of distributions. Intensive includes products that are available everywhere. Selective includes products that are available in select places, such as televisions and suits. Exclusive includes products such as a the Rolex or Jaguar that are only available in very few stores. We also discussed the communication process that is mentioned in Chapter 15. An example of this process is shown in the model above. The sender would be a marketing manager or advertising manager. This advertisement is an encoded message. The channel for this message is media, salespeople, or stores. The decoding of the message is how the receiver perceives the message. The receiver is a customer, viewer, or client. Noise is something that affects the message. This could be something such as other advertisements or news articles that distract from the message. The feedback channel includes market research, sales results, and changes in market shares. This is then adjusted, recycled, and done again.

Smart Project

     For our Smart Project we are currently in the process of collecting data. We will then begin compiling the data as guided from the handout. Our discussions this week can related to our project in some ways. Our product, if we sold it to consumers would likely be a specialty product. It is not an item that is related to many others and so consumers who buy it would be looking specifically for it and not something else. Logistics would not really apply to our product. Our product would most likely be sold to businesses rather than consumers. We are having a joint meeting for our Smart Projects next Thursday, the 13th.