EOC: Week 10: What are the benefits vs the features?

“Marketing is too important to be left only to the marketing department.” Marketing entails processes that focus on delivering value and benefits to customers, not just selling goods, services, and/or ideas. It uses communication, distribution, and pricing strategies to provide customers and other stakeholders with the goods, services, ideas, values, and benefits they desire when and where they want them. " pg 2.

The main benefit of our product is that it incorporates the great taste of an exquisite chocolate blended with a great coffee lattee flavor blend for a smooth blend. Some of the benefits will be you wont have to look for different or various taste of coffee in these chocolates as various coffee taste will be featured. 

The relationship between benefits and the sacrifice necessary to obtain those benefits is known as customer value. The relationship between benefits and the sacrifice necessary to obtain those benefits is known as customer value.

  A market-oriented organization recognizes that different customer groups want different features or benefits

EOC Week 9: Creative Content

My creative content will consist of me designing the actual look of the candy and detailing the process which I have taken to incorporate the entire products .I have come up with a package wrap and a design for the morsel. The packaging will be a be a gold/bronze color. The actual candy will be in the design of a coffee cup with a swirl of creme at the top to for the latte look. I will be making a 45- 1 minute audio commercial , where I introduce a regular coffee drinker in a coffee shop to my new treat.

target marketing stategy

With this product I found that I would have to do a lots of research about the two different kinds of products and consumers.The groups of people that like chocolate and the group of people who are everyday coffee lovers as well.  When putting a product out there I have learned that you need to know and understand the various demographics and markets. So with this product our target area would of course be the group that obviously likes and enjoys to eat chocolate and drink coffee. I had to talk to chocolate lovers and inquire about how they would feel about a coffee infused chocolate morsel. I asked 20 people and to my surprise 14 of them were very supportive of the product. So I feel putting the product into production would be a go  "In an ideal world, you would use market research to find out what your customers want and then design products to suit them". http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/marketing-strategy/product-development. 

"The strategic plan defines the company’s overall mission and objectives". pg 49. With that being said our strategic plan is to market the people that we mostly relate to first. 

I will also be focusing on partnering with coffee houses and small stores as I produce on a smaller scale for profit versus losses margin to produce on a bigger platform. Eventually I would like to partner with a couple major distributors for a major push. Companies like Hershey and the Folgers brand would be the ideal partners.  Promotion will consist of going into these markets and introducing the product to customers as tasters and to have a price thats very reasonable for consumers.,I want the customers to feel like they are being treated to a great product without spending a lot.  royalty for a low price. Just because the price is low does not always mean that the quality of the product is not good because this product will trick you. Which is the reason why the price is so low. You are getting something great for an affordable price, you can not beat that. I think this is a great strategy also known as the 4 Ps. "Guided by marketing strategy, the company designs an integrated marketing mix made up of factors under its control—product, price, place, and promotion (the four Ps)".  2 page 49.

Week 7 EOC: The Pitch

The worlds fascination with chocolate , coffee and latte flavor all rolled into one delicious morsel. The need for 
this combination of these is to satisfy the chocolate lovers desire while adding a taste of coffee and latte cream to make the taste blend to give you that complete satisfaction. The market is wide open for my product because these are loved on any continent in the world. Although the Asian market is not known for their love of chocolate , their love of coffee and lattes are increasing as they are catching up with the rest of the world . My primary target will be every age group from youths to seniors. There is no particular demographic we are shooting for just the worlds market. Our biggest competitor is Dove candies and their advantage is their years of putting out great product. Our goal is to bring the finest combination of these at the cheapest rate possible.Distribution will be done via all media outlets as well as major and small scale businesses. In a two-way conversation such as a sales pitch given by a sales representative to a potential client, reception is normally high.

Finally,a special offer or a strong closing sales pitch may be used to obtain purchase action 288 a special offer or a strong closing sales pitch may be used to obtain purchase action. pg 268

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Implementation evaluation control

Implementation activities may involve detailed job assignments, activity descriptions, time lines, budgets, and lots of communication." pg 28 Once my plan is finalized , I would do a  study with a focus group to get the positive and negative feed back on  what and how I am going to sale this product. I think I would need to test this product in a controlled environment to get the purest results from customers to see if it is actually good or bad. A focus groups of people that will  give me their honest opinions What I am actually looking for when testing is the consumers reaction to the fused morsel and their opinions of the two taste together . I want to know if its to rich, meaning is it to chocolate heavy or coffee heavy. I want to know if they would buy this with their coffee or would like it with another beverage like a lighter mocha latte or maybe even just milk. I also would like to know would they enjoy it as just a snack while craving one or the other.  I want to see all of the different responses from various age groups and ethnic backgrounds. A taste test of the product is the only way I would feel absolutely certain before going into mass scale production."Four common reasons for failing to achieve a marketing objective are unrealistic marketing objectives, inappropriate marketing strategies in the plan, poor implementation." pg 29

Price

  " It is hard to design a place strategy, decide on a promotion campaign, or set a price without knowing the product to be marketed". pg 27 When pricing a product we must understand the market and todays economy with any business venture.  "Price is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue". pg 275. I would like to package my product to be initially sold at 1.99 for a box of 8 morsels. I do understand that a majority of my customers will be adults and in todays market a standard candy bar is in the rang of $.99 to $1.59. With coffee drinkers getting younger and younger I know this is a great price for an a great product and most youth have $2.00 in their piggy banks , we want to capitalize on that. Always setting our prices at one rate on the packaging so the vendors can’t change our rates and the only increases will happen as each economical demographic changes. If the economy tanks we plan to stay within a price range that every consumer can afford. Should the economy sky rocket we want to maintain a fair price conducive to the market as well as understanding we are trying to continue to grow as a business. Because they say many companies do not handle pricing well I feel like I wouldn't have to do much price adjusting because the prices are reasonable. "Lower-income consumers are price sensitive, but they will pay for products if they deliver a benefit that is worth the money." pg 7  







 

Distribution

"Many consumer products pass through a distribution system that includes the producer, one or more wholesalers, and a retailer."pg 3
Knowledge of where  to distribute a product and knowing the market is vital. With the market chocolate market expected to have a 5.32% increase globally from 2016-2020 according to Global Chocolate Markets research,http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/research-and-markets---global-chocolate-market-cagr-growth-of-532-by-2020---trends-technologies--opportunities-report-201Its imperative that I line up all my vendors.  I would like to start on a small scale maybe 10 vendors in each of the 50 states focusing on primary target areas. Downtown metropolitan areas, malls, rural America.  Chocolate is a worldwide flavor but coffee isn’t thats why its important to infuse the two to create a worldwide morsel that once the product starts to generate a substantial name and people enjoy the acquired taste, we can move forward with potentially distributing international. America is number one in the world for coffee consumption , where Norway is number one for chocolate consumption. The United States barely cracks the top 10. Hopefully by distributing this great product domestic initially, we will be able to gain ground on foreign soil by introducing them too our product 
 It uses communication, distribution, and pricing strategies to provide customers and other stakeholders with the goods, services, ideas, values, and benefits they
 desire when and where they want them. pg 3

Promotion

 Promotion for the product starts with hands on survey studies , taste test and internet and radio. More people these days use their phone as main computer. Placing adds on various site to promote the brand is mandatory as well and will be key for the launch. To promote an item a great promotion and advertising pitch goes together. Handing out free samples at malls, stores , coffee shops will be implemented as well. Consumers like to try a products before they purchase them. Television advertising is a must. Although its not as huge as it once was with the success of the internet and societies use of that median, we would still advertise a visual commercial as well. I would use radio and every advertising resource available, newspaper ,magazine as well. My biggest promotional tool is gonna be word of mouth which is free. When theres a great product and its new , a general conversation or having that great package presentation is key also. . "Sales promotion effects are often short-lived, however, and often are not as effective as advertising or personal selling in building long-run brand preference and customer relationships" pg 383. Utilizing all of my resources I would not have to resort to sales or many discount tactics because the price is so reasonable and when you have great product , advertising and prices, retailers usually get behind the product and promote within as well. "A unique blend of product, place (distribution), promotion, and pricing strategies designed to produce mutually satisfying exchanges with a target market." pg27

Product

"The heart of the marketing mix, the starting point, is the product offering and product strategy." pg27 Chocolatte by Tonesway is a morsel created to satisfy the chocolate lovers craving and the coffee drinkers taste. It blends the finest cocoa solids, cocoa butter, sugars, and milk fused with coffee. The richness of the West African chocolates fused with a Colombian dark roasted coffee bean abstract for the smooth flavor.    Unlike any other morsel we’ve combined the purest form of chocolate with a pure coffee abstract to embody a richness that will satisfy purist of both. The morsel comes in a package of 8. Each morsel 3/8ths of an inch thick and 4 inches in length, and 4 inches wide. The product will be sealed in a gold color light mix of aluminum and paper wrapping with a Chocolatte by Tonesway copywritten logo paper advertising a coffee cup and 2 chocolate morsel pieces.The wrapper itself will be a light brown color  around it for accessible sliding in case you don’t want to eat them all at 1 time. Total length of the entire bar is 4 inches but you can break each piece off individually and each morsel will have a small coffee cup in the middle. Once you get that first taste you will want more especially after you embody the richness of both together. Because of our everyday low price of $1.99 chocolate and coffee lovers will pay attention to the product and want to try it because of its unique blend. "Price is what a buyer must give up in order to obtain a product." pg 28

Marketing Mix

With this product I found that I would have to do a lot of research about the two different kinds of products . The groups of people that like chocolate and the group that likes coffee. When putting a product out there I have learned that you need to know and understand the group of people you are talking to. So with this product our target area would of course be the group that obviously likes and enjoys both.  "In an ideal world, you would use market research to find out what your customers want and then design products to suit them". http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/marketing-strategy/product-development. 
"The strategic plan defines the company’s overall mission and objectives". (Book) chapter. 2 pg 49. My strategic plan is to market the people that  are lovers of both but since its a new market and a joint flavor I can speak with various age groups , demographics and ethnicities about the morsel.   

I will also be focusing on the Place I will b selling this product.  From researching for the right stores to searching to the right vendors. I feel like we have a great Product so that is not really a strategy. Promotion, in these areas will make a big difference and our everyday price is just unbeatable. I want the customers to feel like royalty for a low price. Just because the price is low does not always mean that the quality of the product is not good because this product will trick you. Which is the reason why the price is so low. You are getting something great for an affordable price, you can not beat that. I think this is a great strategy also known as the 4 Ps. "Guided by marketing strategy, the company designs an integrated marketing mix made up of factors under its control—product, price, place, and promotion (the four Ps)". (book) chapter 2 page 49.

SWOT

A situation analysis is sometimes referred to as a SWOT analysis pg23

I’ve identified my products strength, I am able to identify some of my weaknesses as well. Although I won’t be able to identify them all until after production. I feel going into production the actual strength will be the morsel in itself. Their are similar products but none in this type of production. Your gonna combine 2 elements to create a great product.  The actual morsel itself is  different from any other. I’ll have the purest form of chocolate blended with a well roasted pinch of coffee. The pricing will be incomparable. Weakness for this product is going to be experience and just launching the campaign. I think how well we advertise will determine our products longevity because the partners Im going to align myself with will produce the best chocolates and roasted coffee beans based on their years of already manufacturing their products individually. Some opportunities we offer is that it can be found at a local grocery store, a coffee shop, a newspaper stand. Valuing my customers opinions because at the end of it all they are the ones consuming the product.  "using the internet as a marketing tool".http://pestleanalysis.com/swot-analysis-examples/. With these opportunities I feel like there is no way we can lose. The only threats are other manufacturers eventually catching up to our product and  being able to produce and distribute on a larger scale in a shorter period. "Stronger brand name of competitors" http://pestleanalysis.com/swot-analysis-examples/. "

Developing a strong relationship with retailers and vendors or even the competition will be mandatory as a loyal foundation can lead to a long and prosperous relationship. "Performing a SWOT analysis allows firms to identify their competitive advantage." pg23

Business Mission Statement

A mission statement is a key tool that can be as important as your business plan. It captures, in a few succinct sentences, the essence of your business's goals and the philosophies underlying www.entrepreneur.com/article/65230. 

With this  product we embrace change. We understand that some people may just love to eat great tasting chocolate and that is understood. We figure if you're going to want to eat a good tasting chocolate with a hint of a coffee taste then our product is for all. Tonesway Chocolatte combines the great taste of chocolate with a splash of a coffee latte taste for a smooth blend. Often chocolate is mixed with other flavors and fruits but our blend is catered to the coffee and chocolate lover combining the best of both worlds.  When customers see our boxes of candies in coffee shops and stores,the immediate attraction will be or gold and bronze boxes with the coffee emblem embedded in the candies. Our mission is to draw the attention from each and every customer that sees the product and wants to try it. Chocolate has often been used as a substitute for coffee lovers when they are on the go. Continuing that trend is what our goal is and expanding it to various coffee houses and coffee lovers is our goal. We are not trying to replace the coffee or chocolate markets just blend the two world to satisfy lovers of both who are looking for the ultimate chocolate/coffee satisfaction. "The foundation of any marketing plan is the firms mission statement, which answers the question , "What business are we in?"pg 21 The firms mission statement establishes boundaries for all subsequent decisions, objectives and strategies". pg 21

Week 4 EOC: there's an app for that

Often in todays times we refer to our phones for everything. They've become so part of todays culture, that I don't think  this generation would know what to do without them. Software developers continue to create software compatible applications with these phones today, that a computer is actually just a novelty when you can do everything from creating an exercise program to running a corporation literally from the palm of your hand. Although I'm thankful for technologies gifts, its also a curse. Im often guilty of this myself , but I find it very annoying when I'm taking care of business in a professional setting and someone gets a text or their phone rings. Even though I get emergencies happen "blah blah, "Im from an era where you found other ways to contact. If I could develop an app for today, it would be called Blaqout. Its sole purpose would be to kill the phones incoming and outgoing messages and calls, for that moment. I would require you to take courses for the application and for it to be used in a professional or academic settings only. That way criminals or vagrants don't end up with these services and use them for their malicious purposes.

© Maurice Jermon

Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

Growing up a  kid of Generation X a lot of those terms were correct . We were fortunate to catch the economy with its ups up and and downs. "It was the first generation of latchkey children—products of dual-career households or, in roughly half of the cases, of divorced or separated parents". Although the latter often lead to failure single home moms were a norm, and was not shun upon as generation x children were part of an era where society was changing drastically from clothing to technology to food , and risk versus reward taking was at an all time high. During was know as The Recession, I was not affected. I was in the military and although our pay did not increase, the economy for us was steady. Just by not having to pay an absurb insurance bill for a family held the entire Armed Forces over, Although they increased by a couple of dollars the military carried a certain insurance company for years and they had to honor their contractual obligations., otherwise we'd have been belly up as well. Our generation was just a generation built on patience and respect. These are some of the major intangibles that other generations lacked or just didnt care to include. We often thought for tomorrow , yesterday. "Gen Xers constitute forty-five percent of households with children". "My generation is the generation you can retire, divorce, have a second life and career,with average life expectancy at an all-time high of 77.4 years."
© Maurice Jermon

Week 3 EOC: Making Money for Good

"Gilead Sciences is a leading pharmaceutical giant out of Foster , California, with 8000 employees. http://beta.fortune.com/fortune500/gilead-sciences-86. Shareholders donated 3.5 billion to various charities. http://fortune.com/2016/06/22/fortune-500-most-charitable-companies/".  According to Fortune.com this place them number 1 amongst companies who give back to charities. Although they are not known for sharing the companies they make their donations and try to keep them anonymous.
"They didnt want to provide information on a donation in 2015 for a grant to a foundation in India to the non-profit Liver Foundation build a health facility in Kokalta , India". "It is said their humanities specialize in HIV/AID and Liver disease work."
© Maurice Jermon

Objective

"The latter types of losses can sometimes be significantly greater than the cost of the promotion itself. Therefore, retail managers should design their promotional activities carefully, with gaining new customers being the primary objective." pg 267 The  objectives for my product is to introduce a new chocolate and coffee blend mix to fuse them for lovers of both. To find input my strategies as well as those of customers and my experienced partners and share with the world a great morsel at a low price. First we must know what our target market and demographic is. I want to know who we are selling our product to. We have to establish a huge online presence as well via advertising and have a well put together product for consumers to enjoy. Chocolatte by Tonesway objectives are to see what the customers like and how often will they consume the product and where. My goal is to leave no corner unturned and take the valuable opinions of th buying public and implement them in our process.  Theres an old slogan that says the customer is always right our slogan is to make the customer always want. Eliminating right or wrong is our goal, merely satisfaction is our aim. By fulfilling the demands of the buying customer they feel more comfortable in purchasing the brand.  Micro environment is similar to micro management , except your actually giving the people what they want , not just overseeing that the product gets out. I seen that having a firm company who markets the suppliers, and team up with "intermediaries who help the company promote, sale, and distribute.”pg 69, Market and target competition, who understand and know their demands and be prepared to see what share of this market is available. Then recognize its the consumer who has the buying power."An advertising objective identifies the specific communication task that a campaign should accomplish for a specified target audience during a specified period." pg 301

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

The BGC was hired by a global video game company to develop a global strategy for expanding beyond entertainment related services. They had to develop a fact based strategy over the course of four monthsla.bcg.com/work/expansion/default.aspx. Video game makers market their products around little kids and the tv shows they watch and also through there parents. they figure if they can get he child to want it most parents test things out before giving it to the child and the parents get hooked on the game or system before the child does."Through a recent survey of UK families, the channel found that 75% of parents they surveyed now play video games with their children, and that children aged 10 or undertake most of their gaming recommendations from their parents http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/23/16-trends-that-will-change-the-games-industry.

Michael Pachter quoted, "Growth in the 'traditional gamer market' could require leaving traditional consoles behind." http://www.latinpost.com/articles/81272/20150923/ps4-xbox-one-wii-u-lifetime-sales-predicted.htm. With Playstation 4 by sony being a number one seller it has been predicted to sale around 120 to 130 units or more in a lifetime also by Michael Pachter video game analyst. coming behind sony is Nintendo with the Wii U which has been predicted to sale around 20 million units and in my opinion i do think that is big because this is where it all started. 

I personally love the fact that video games where invented but to see the different styles from along time ago till now is unexplainable. I think it is very interesting that there are so may different ways you make one product redevelop.It makes me wonder if the consoles and games had the software back then that it does now how different would it be now or if they would still be making them.
© Maurice Jermon

Week 1 EOC: Great Customer Service

"Regardless of what customers may actually be looking for, this is what they will find at these stores—and they have been so long-lived because what they produce has matched up with customer expectations." During a down time of 3o days after a 15 month deployment . I was stationed at Ft. Leonardwood, Mo , about 69 miles east of the Lake of The Ozarks shopping Outlets. I took my son on a shopping spree. upon us arriving, we began shopping like crazy! The customer service reps in every store were very friendly and very knowledgeable of their jobs. We once left one store heading into a neighboring store, the customer service representatives secured our belongings to be sure we were comfortable as we continued shopping. At the time the country was on high alert so we as Military were asked to keep a low profile unless asked about our credentials. Maybe it was the walk , talk or haircut , but a sales rep asked. Not only did we get the daily discount , but an added one as well. They also identified the store we had already patronized who honored military as well and would refund our discount.  As a customer this left a very refreshing feeling in my soul knowing there are still, workers , managers and superiors who take pride in the old saying the customer is always right. That the goal is to market the product for distribution to all demographics.
© Maurice Jermon

Week 1 EOC: My Voice

I'm Maurice Jermon. I grew up in a family who worked in the music industry. whether they were performers, artist , vocalist to studio and sound engineering , I've always been around it. Since my retirement from The US Army , I've found that passion again for working in the music field on the production side to some aspect. I currently manage rap artist Noon Zealous in all aspects of the production and consultation of producers for his music and brand. During my military career I worked in various studios throughout the world as a sound engineer assistant. Upon retirement I've taken the initiative to take an interest in completing the task of assisting a young artist in his career plight. I currently work with a slew of industry producers from trap to pop to Grammy Award winners. As head of my own company, Tonesway Management I've taken a more hands on approach learning new methods about engineering , business and marketing as well. I have established my company by being economical and providing a great atmosphere for other artist , producers and engineers to work. I look forward to continuing our growth as we welcome new challenges in the near future.
© Maurice Jermon