Marketing Mix

"True marketing "Delights" the customer." (Mr. Pinto, week 8)  "Advertising affects consumers' daily lives, informing them about products and services and influencing their attitudes, beliefs, and ultimately their purchases. ...Though advertising cannot change consumers' deeply rooted values and attitudes, advertising my succeed in transforming a person's negative attitude toward a product into a positive one." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 228, chapt. 15)
"The term marketing mix refers to a unique blend of product, place (distribution), promotion, and pricing strategies (often referred to as the four Ps) designed to produce mutually satisfying exchanges with a target market." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 24, chapt.2)

Product strategies: Our product is a fragrance made from all natural, organic ingredients, bottled in a reusable metal flask, inlaid with a brush metal design which will change seasonally, making it collector's item. The package is a wooden box with a simple graphic engraving. The box, which is also reusable, is strong enough to protect its contents. Our fragrance has a customer satisfaction guarantee.

"We buy things not only for what they do (benefits) but also for what they mean to us (status, quality, or reputation). (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg. 25, chapt. 2) People who buy our product align themselves with our socially responsible business and our commitment to environmental sustainability.

Place (distribution) strategies: With our target market in mind, the baby boomers who are always looking for time-saving devices, we will be implementing "Online retailing, or e-tailing, is a type of shopping available to consumers with personal computers and access to the Internet. Over 70 percent of Americans have Internet access at home or at work." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 201, chapt. 13)
"Opening an e-commerce site on the Internet immediately puts a company in the international marketplace. Sophisticated language translation software can make any site accessible to people around the world. Global shippers such as UPS, FedEx, and DHL help solve international e-commerce distribution complexities. Currency conversion software allows companies to post prices in U.S. dollars, then ask their customers what currency they wish to use for payment." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 60, chapt. 4)

Our company will also use just-in-time manufacturing. "Borrowed from the Japanese just-in-time production (JIT), sometimes called lean production, requires manufacturers to work closely with suppliers and transportation providers to get necessary items to the assembly line or factory floor at the precise time they are needed for production." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 185, chapt. 11) Using this method, our ingredients will always be fresh, and we will always have product available without having too much stock on hand sitting in a warehouse. "JIT means supplying customers with products in just a few days, or even a few hours, rather than weeks... JIT means lower costs, shorter lead times, and products that more closely meet the consumer's needs." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 185, chapt. 12)

Our promotional strategy will use the promotional mix which employs "several ingredients--which may include advertising, public relations, sales promotion, and personal selling--to reach our target market." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 211, chapt 14) We will advertise in appropriate magazines using inserts of samples of our fragrance. We will use billboards, television and transit cards. All advertisements will be simple, leading the potential customer to our interactive website. Our public relations will help us to maintain a positive image and also to educate the public about the company's goals and objectives about sustainability, producing a green, natural product, and to introduce new products, and help support the sales effort.

We will use the "modern views of personal selling which emphasize the relationship that develops between a sales person and a buyer. ...With relationship selling, the objective is to build long-term branded relationships with consumers/buyers, so the focus is on building mutual trust between the buyer and seller through the delivery of anticipated, long-term, value-added benefits to the buyer." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 251-252, chapt. 16) Using the internet chat room ability and the phone, our trained personnel will be empowered to be problem solvers for their customers as they strive to build long term relationships.

Pricing Strategies: "When a purchase decision involves great uncertainty, consumers tend to rely on a high price as a predictor of good quality. Reliance on price as an indicator of quality seems to occur for all products, but it reveals itself more strongly for some items than for others. ..In the absence of other information, people typically assume that prices are higher because the products contain better materials, because they are made more carefully, or, in the case of professional services, because the provider has more expertise." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg275, chapt 17) Keeping in mind the competitiveness of the fragrance industry and that consumers see price as an indicator of quality, we will use status quo pricing which "seeks to maintain existing prices or to meet the competitions' prices. Our fragrance will sell for $78 for a 4oz flask.

Winds Of Freedom