Competitors
My company needs to know and be aware of their competitors. They keep within the time of my company as they have released the new beanie bears which are the new range of the toy market, which is a good method of keeping in front of the other companies and competitors.
- My competitor’s effects the price of the product, the product will have an introductory price which will help promote the product and be able to get the customers attention with the cheap prices and this will help overcome the other competitors, keeping ahead of them. This is the pricing strategy that I will be using.
- Promoting by posting and advertising will be expensive but in the long run the company will make a much huge profit over the competitors because this is my strategy and it is what I will be doing. They can do this by giving a new meaning to the product, for example loacozade fizz drink to loacozade sport’s healthy drink and teddies to beanie bears. The toy market is a very big market. The bears are only in a small area in that market to expand the market my company will improve their promotion ideas for the product promotion, as I will need to advertise so that it the product will become appealing, I will do this by using advertisement techniques.
- The place of the product will be around the other companies as they can be more competitive around them and they will be able to keep ahead of them. This would be in City centres and near big toyshops where my product will be also.
- The product will have to be appealing this can be done through advertising and making. The product look more appealing which is why I have to researcher into the product and look at other products I will also look at how other companies are promoting their products and get some guidance and suggestions from them.
Communication
Communication with customers is important as this is where they find out all their information on what they customers want by asking them and talking to them this means they will need good people talkers and effective communication with the customer. The company needs to satisfy their customer they do this by efficiently communicating; they need to understand the 4p’s to be able to do this.
- Price of the product is important to the customers, to find out what type of prices the customers want they need to be able to communicate with customers to find what they want. I will ask the customers what sort of prices they would like and then I would work around that information that I have gathered.
- Promotion is any other way of communicating with the customers. It tells the customer through advertising about the product and what’s on offer; it is a good way of communicating but sometimes it dose not always aims at all the different types of people. So from all the research I found I would look at the customer’s needs and try to sell the product more efficiently.
- The product should be placed in popular commutative areas so that when people see it they can tell other people about it and the product will soon become popular and the staff should know all about the products. So if the customers are asked about the product they can let the customers know any thing they need to. The product packaging will have all the information that a customer would need to keep the customers happy their will also be web site address and telephone numbers which could help the customer find out more information.
- The product information is always needed to inform customer about the product this information can also be displayed on adverts where they can be briefly describe the product details. There are questionnaires which are another way of communicating, they can be asking about the product through the questionnaires and they can find out about what customers want.
Co-ordinate the functions of the company
To achieve the marketing aims the function of the company has to be functional, the product needs to be producing, selling, advertising and distributing their products this is what makes the company profit.
- The Price of the product is decided by the department of my company the departments needs to work together to find a good price that works with my pricing strategy which is penetration pricing, it would keep the customers happy and be making them profit at the same time. As my strategy is penetration marketing the product will be introduced with an interdictor price which means a low price and then the price will slowly rise.
- The Promotion of the product is done by the advertising department for this to work they need to communicant not with the entire departments to find out the product information the price and the place of where the product will be displayed this research will help develop the advertisement. The advertising will work around the 4p’s and advertised perfectly.
- The Place of the product depends on the price so the department needs to communicate with the price department to find a perfect place were the product will sell well and have a good advertisement promotion.
-
The Product will be made based on what customers want and what customers needs are so this is why the product will need to have a lot of researcher on what sort of product the customers are looking for. I will do this by working with the department of my company and using pervious research methods and using them in the new modern ages to find this information. I will do a questionnaire, which I will ask, people with question like “Q: what kind of use will this product have? A gift, toy, coloration, other” these kind of question will help me fit my product to the customer needs.
Being aware of constraints on the marketing activities
This is based on the PLEST analysis and the political and legal environment of the business is affected. The marketing penetration strategy will need to follow the rules, regulations, legal issue and the law to be able to make my company and business perform properly and to stay on the safe side of the law.
- This principle of marketing affects the price of my product as there are certain laws and rules which prevent other companies form trading unfairly so that the public can get fair prices and will not get ripped off. The price can not be to highs for the customer and not to low for the company so that they can make profit. So I will have to consider my prices before pricing the product. I will also have to talk to the fair trade union in the UK of the governmentally department to make sure that the prices are fair before going a head with the pricing and advertising the product at that price.
- The Promotion of the product has also got certain rules of which it has to obey. The promotion and advertising have to be truthful about the product i.e. if I say it is the softest teddy in the word I would have to do research to make sure that it is true before saying or advertising the product as the softies in the world and not lying which could lead to court cases. My advertising will need to be looked at very carefully and made sure that the advertising dose not say some thing that is not true or is saying any bad comments that they may find upsetting to others way of life.
- The Place of my product has rules the distribution of my product will be that I am going to allow other toy companies to sell my product. So they company will need to sing a contract agreeing rules and regulations on the price and place and the types of promotion that they my company would like the other company to agree with on the contract. This is what I will be doing in order to find the right place for my product.
- The Product also has to stay with in the copy right and the health and safety laws. This is because they have to register the company name and the product so that other companies can not copy their products and ideas. The health and safety laws have a product security plan which means the product has to be checked for health and safety issue in case the product is dangerous for children etc.
PART 2
The marketing strategy I am using is marketing penetration, marketing and market reaches is affecting my choice of marketing strategy. The principles of marketing are: customer needs, competitors, communication, Co-ordinate the functions of the company and Aware of constraints.
The marketing activities of these principles are important to company marketing and they do have an affect on the way the company works. The principles of marketing also have to work with they way I am using the 4p’s so that they company can function. The marketing tools that I would use are the Boston matrix, Ansoff matrix, life cycle, SWOT and slept analysis. These affect the 4p’s, as they are apart of the company. The research I found is affecting the company, as the research is what the customers needs. This means they will have to go the way the customers want meaning customers needs come first they will be looked at and the company will have to adjust to what the customers needs are. I need to find reliable information on marketing, customers and competitors are the best people to ask, I will have to understand the difference between primary and secondary researcher and find other sources of information on customers and competitors. Primary research is collection of new information, for example, market surveys, telephone questionnaires and research in direct contact with customers and secondary research involves accessing data that has already be collected in the past and is available to all, for example, economic trends and customer preferences information.
My marketing actives are based on the 4P’s and all the 4p’s are based on my marketing strategy. My pricing strategy, which is penetration pricing, is based on my marketing strategy, which is also penetration marketing. This marketing and pricing strategy means that the product that I am selling is to be introduced at an introductory price to bring it to the customer’s attention to the product so that they become interested into the product. Then I will start to upper the price and also introduce more products. They will also have higher prices and this will improve my profit. The promotion that I will use is also based on my marketing strategy, marketing penetration means that the promotion of the product will be huge.
The kind of advertisement that I will use is posters, TV ads, going to local primary and secondary schools and giving little free teddies for examples and hopefully this will encourage the kids to force their parents to buy them a Steiff bear. I will also go to big toy functions to promote my product, these types of advertisements will sell my product. The packaging of the product will also have to be applying, is I will make it look like good quality as well as being good quality. The place of the product will be placed in other stores at the entrances of stores and near till points. This will make the product more applying and the product will be more noticed. This is the way I would want it to sell. The product will be transformed so that it is what customer would expect and it will be adjusted to their needs. The product is unique so this means that each customer would get what they want and this will help me sell my product.
These 4ps which I have worked out of what I am going to do for each of them is going to work and the strategy will also be able to work with the product. All the research would affect the strategy but I will work around and through it to enable my product to sell at its best abilities. My company will be able to achieve and work with the marketing principles. If it dose not work with the marketing strategy I will have to use a different strategy, which would be product development, strategy this will change the whole view of what I have been doing and have said in this report and I will have a whole different opinion on the strategy of my product.
The 5 different marketing tools (models) of preparation for the product before marketing the product, the product was looked at in different ways such as the Ansoff matrix, Boston matrix, life cycle, swot analysis and the slept analysis. I looked at all of these and found that the strategy from the Ansoff matrix will help the development of the product life cycle, the swot and slept are all working with the strategy and the product fits into them all. The swot analysis helps me develop the strengths and weakness of the company, the opportunities and threats that the company may have can be developed. The slept analysis helps improve the political and legal environment , economic environment, social environment and the technological environment these can help develop and improve the company needs and it can work with the company to develop the needs of the business.
The life cycle shows that the product is developing and that it has maturity but is starting to decline but my strategy will enable it to be improved and keep it at the maturity level. The Boston matrix which is the only one which I have nit looked into with more detail I would say that my product fits into the problem child area this is because it is an product with low shares in a high going market. It absorbs most money as you attempt to increase market shares. These tools have helped describe my product in its marketing strategy.
PART 3 & 4
The marketing mix is 4p’s and the 4p’s for Steiff bears products are the following 4p strategies are the strategies that I am using for the company of my product. The 4p[s that I am talking about are prices, promotion, place and product. The price will be pricing penetration the same as my marketing strategy. They will be linked throughout my strategies, which is penetration. This marketing strategy and pricing strategy mean that product that I am selling is to be introduced at an introductory price which would get the customers attention to the product because of its cheap price. Penetration pricing is when a product is released and to get good sale the price is introduced at a low price and then after a few months when the customers have become interested and we have court their attention the price gradually rises. So they become attracted to the products then I will start to increased the price and also introduce with more products. The price and promotion will higher my company profit and its popularity.
The price will be put around a fairly low price like £19.99 and then when it become more popular I will upper the price to the original price, which is £29.99 as the customer are interested in the product and they will know that it is good quality. So customer will be willing to pay more. The more I sell the more popular and profit I will be getting so you can see why I have chose this strategy for my product. The reason I am using this strategy as it the same as my marking strategy and that I know that it will make the company more well know and popular so that it will make more and more profit in the further. The promotion will work with my marketing and pricing strategy.
The promotion will be linked with the other strategy e.g. the advertising department will need to link to the pricing department because if my product is cheap then the advertisement needs to be advertising the right price and the development will follow. I will advertise on TV as I think this is a good idea because almost everyone owns and watches TV, the adverts will be shown during children TV hours so that it is advertised to the right ordinances. I will try and aim the advertisement at all types of customer. Leaflets will be handed out in city centres with discounts on the products up to 10% off, radio messages which would have a celebrity’s voice to promote the product which would catch ever ones attention, and posters with a celebrity holding a Steiff bear. This would be a good idea as it would attract more customers and the idea of a celebrity promoting the bear will boost the productivity of my product. The reason in am using these methods as they will attract more customer and keep the customer interested on my product, it will improve the profits of the company and I think that they promotion will cost a lot but the incomes will cover it in the long term.
The place of my product will be decided by functioning with my marketing and price strategy. Through my research I found that the company is not distributed in the right areas there are only five to six small stores around the UK. The others are world wide whoever the company is more popular. This is also why I chose my marketing strategy to distribute my products to the big competitive stores in the city centres where it will get some sort of recognition with the customer. I decided to changes the place that the Steiff bears companies was located because they were not in the right places they need to be in a busy town centre. Where Steiff bears are, usually there is no rivalry outlet, this is because they are not very competitive with their small store. This is why I think that they should open outlets where there is other big toy competitive store are. To find the right place to place my product I will have to link to the pricing department, which will help me find the right place to put in the stores.
My marketing and pricing strategy will work because I would have the right product to aim at all customers. I will target different customers such as different age groups 10-13 years as that age group like teddies as toys and for 30-59 as this group would be interested in collecting them. So I am advertising my products to attracting more customers in that age group. I will have prices shown with my products so customers know the prices of my bears. To market the right product I will have to link to the research department and find out what sort of bears that the customers would like and then develop the products so that so that it is what customers wants. The reason why I am doing this as it is an excellent idea and I think that it will work along with my marketing, pricing, promotion and the places of my product. The product will work with the strategy and will be a success. I have described my bear in task 4 part 1 product.
PART 5
I used all the appropriate models and tools to evaluate the success of my marketing strategy.
The Ansoff matrix table helped me chose a marketing strategy for my product, the strategy is marketing penetration strategy it helped me by allowing me to look at my product and the market it is in. (A diagram of this can be found on Task 2 page 1).
The product is an existing product in an existing market this is marketing penetration. If it were a new product in an old market it would be called product development. To find the positions of my product in the Ansoff matrix table I first looked at the product and found that it is an existing product and that it dose have a market which means it is in an existing market. This shows the strategy, which would be best for my product. The marketing strategy picked was the right one showing that it is a reliable tool and that this marketing strategy for my product, which is Steiff Bear Company, will help to develop the company name, reputation and image.
In the Boston matrix I found that my product is a problem child product, which means it, has low shares and a high growth in market this means my product will cost more as the market shares are increased.
The SWOT analysis gave me the strengths and weakness of the company these are the main tools as it is the good and bad point of my company. Strengths: stiff bears are known to last, this is because of their good quality. The bears have lived thorough generations of families and this has made them collectable and valuable, which is why they are so expensive. The bears are made for individual people they are not mass-produced this is what makes them unique. It has a high-class image that is aimed at the rich and upper class customers. This is a good influence on Steiff bears. Weaknesses; advertising is a weakness that the company have they need to tried to improve their promotion strategy their products as this is the weak area of their company. The brand is not well known with the public, which is because they have not advertised their product or their brand name in the UK. The product is also very costly and expensive as it is a collector’s product and it has become pricier throughout all these years of production. This is a bad influence on Steiff bears. (A diagram of this can be found on Task 3 page 1)
The slept analysis is also a good tool to use for my product as it has all the items that would influences the product and my marking strategy. This analysis has external influence to my marketing strategy. These influences are important as they influences externally which mean they get aimed at external customers so the influences need to be controlled. The influences are important as they are apart of the business as a whole and they can not succeed without them. The slept analysis is the part that is the political environment and legal environment, economic environment, social environment and technological environment. (A diagram of this can be found on Task 3 page 3)
The life cycle of my product says that it is has just about passed the growing level and it has entered the maturity level and that it may start to decline. This tool shows the success and decline of the product and how high it went before declining. (A diagram of this can be found on Task 4 page 1)
These strategies have helped me realise that my product which is using the marketing penetration to upper the popularity of the company, the Boston matrix which tells me that my product is a problem child product meaning that it has low shares and high growth in the market. The SWOT and SLEPT analysis are both also influencing my product as they are an important part of developing it and they apply to the succession of my product influences internally and externally. I think that my product will be a success as the strategy that I have used are telling me that my product will do well in the market as I have said. The idea that I have, I think may work if I promote the product at the time of the year and when there is some competition and when the toy market is at it biggest and greasiest point of the year. The right time to do this would be during the end of the summer which is closer to Christmas so when Christmas dose come the prices will be increased and new product will be introduced at the increased price and every one will want one for Christmas. The strategy is made up from the tools, the 4P’s and the principles of marketing. This all put tougher give me my marketing business plan for my product and shows how it will become successful.
PART 6
Evaluation
The making tools that I have used I found that they where reliable as I used them and compared them with my product so that I could find where my product is in the market and at what position of the life cycle level. This will helped me improve my product so that it will stay at the high level of maturity and will not decline to the lower level of declining.
The Ansoff matrix helped me find and place my product in the right market and pick the right strategy for my product. I am using an existing product in an existing market, making my product strategy to be marketing penetration strategy. This is an advantage and the strength of this tool is that it will directly show you the right strategy for the product.
The Boston matrix helped me discover that my product was a problem child product as it has a low share worldwide and it has high growth in the toy market, which means that the market is getting bigger. It also absorbs the most amount of money as attempting to increase its shares and market growth. This tool has shown the capabilities of the market shares and market growth that the product has. This is reliable and an advantage to use for, my product and it work along with my strategy.
The reliability of SWOT analysis is reliable as I found the strengths, weakness, threats and the opportunities that my product has to develop to be able to overcome them. They show all the advantages and disadvantage of my product which helps me stay on the right track for my product so that it can get the right promotion and stay ahead of competitors. My product is a base on these things, as I need to know what the best for my product is and what shot of approach I would have to develop my product and to attract the customer to the product.
The SLEPT analysis is reliable but there are certain things which influences the way my product grows externally meaning how it grows with the customers. The influences helped me find ways of working around the problems of the analysis and I have the support of the reliability of the slept analysis. The economic situation in the UK affects my product selling, fashion trends; modern standee, traditional ways and the latest technology can also influence my product, as they are apart of the analysis. I will need to look into and find to any problems that I might have with this analysis.
The reliability of the tools and models are very reliable as I have tried them and I have found that they are all working with my strategies that I have chosen for my product. My marketing strategy has direction of what to do next with my product and how to improve the advertising of my product. The tools tell me what my product is an existing product in an existing market. It is a good quality product and it has poor advertising, they have an opportunity to promote their brand, they also have competitors, rules and regulation. These tools are what make my products sell and I think that they are reliable and I would trust them all.
PART 7
I have used all the right tools and modals in all right ways so that my product can be blanched out and is clearly shown how the marketing mix and my marketing strategy works with the tools and models that I am using. I have clearly out lined the links between each marketing mix and strategy.
Their are certain tools that affect my strategy like the Boston matrix which told me that my product was a problem child and that it take a lot of money to get it up to a high level of achievement. So my strategy needs to spend money on advertisement which means I will be loosing a lot of money.
This is why I have to find the best advertising method so that I will not have to spend a lot of money on advertising and I can use it for higher market shares. But the advertising may help this as customers may become interested fast and start putting their own money in to the company raising the shares and improving the company which mean that I would get more money for advertising.
Bibliography:
Lead lessons – Maria Angle
Pervious course works – task 2 and task 3
Text book – business advanced