Fluent Essays

This post should be 200-300 words in length. Before beginning please read the attached word docs "The Marketing Mix" and "business_idea_v2".The idea is to expand and refine on what was written in the previous weeks because they will be part of a final marketing strategy at the end of the course. Please take the critiques and comments into consideration when developing the answer. If you are engaging in research, be sure to cite in the body of the post and add a reference list in APA format Discussion: Societal Marketing Customers have high expectations about companies and brands they prefer. Stakeholders presume an organization will consider what is best for society when selling its products and services alongside what will benefit earnings. Today, societal marketing is on the rise as more companies consider the value proposition of their image beyond features and benefits of a product or service. Societal marketing takes into account issues such as the environment, fair trade, and the overall betterment of society. Part A) This should be 200-300 words in length. If you are engaging in research, be sure to cite in the body of the post and add a reference list in APA format DISCUSSION POST (Before beginning please read the attached word docs "The Marketing Mix" and "business_idea_v2") Organizations often require managers to write short articles for newsletter or blog publication. Becoming comfortable writing this style of commentary for a general audience is important in an era in which media can be authored by anyone. The focus of your work will be social responsibility of your chosen company "Perfect Foods Restaurant". This is a public relations-style article. Today’s consumers of media want quick, informative, and exciting information. It can be written in 1st or 3rd person. This should be 200-300 words in length. If you are engaging in research, be sure to cite in the body of the post and add a reference list in APA format Part B) Critique the posting below. Ask questions or provide advice that will improve it. Each reply should be one paragraph in length (or about 75 words) and must be substantive in nature. Do not simply say “I agree” or “That is great.” Specify why and be detailed in your explanation. You may use research in your responses, but it is not required. Hi Class, When it comes to selling a product, we learned in the first module that knowing your target demographic goes a long way. After you know who you want to talk to, you must know the message you want to send them in the military; we call this the BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front). Most advertisements are not afforded the luxury of being a long drawn out production, so they must focus on getting key points out there as fast as possible. For my type of venue, benefit selling would be the best way to advertise. Benefit selling is when you focus on the feature that helps to improve customer satisfaction (James, 2020).Below is my take on what a quick social media advertisement would look like for my business. Seoul Foods, a place for all tastes, enjoy authentic Korean cuisine from kalbi to kimchi; or keep it southern with classic favorites like country fried steak and cornbread. Here at Seoul Foods, we have something for everyone, whether you want to have a social night out with friends or a nice quiet night with that special someone. Give us a try; our food is sure to touch your soul. James, G. (2020) How to Sell: Value, Benefits, or Features? Retrieved from https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/how-to-sell-val... Part C) Critique the post below. Ask questions or provide advice that will improve it. Each reply should be one paragraph in length (or about 75 words) and must be substantive in nature. Do not simply say “I agree” or “That is great.” Specify why and be detailed in your explanation. You may use research in your responses, but it is not required. Hello, While it is important to operate a company in a manner that it is profitable, we at Sophies Sausage Co. food truck believe that it is equally important to be ethically, socially, and environmentally conscious (Marketing, n.d.).There are some questions that a business can ask themselves to see if they are contributing to society like; what role is played in the community, what impact do you have on the environment, and is there a diverse workforce? (The Marketing Journal, n.d.).We strive to source all of our ingredients from local farmers and businesses.Small businesses depend on the local community to survive and it is a good, sustainable practice (Opportunity, 2020).Sourcing food locally fosters community pride and it benefits the planet because of the decreased environmental footprint (Opportunity, 2020). It is also important to have a positive impact in our community (Marketing, n.d.).A good social and networking opportunities is to meet with local businesses or farmers in the community and discussing a plan to collect donations, which can go towards local or national charities.When we support local businesses it shows that we care about our local community, that we are actively involved with current and potential customers, and it shows that we respect other business owners by supporting them (NH Staff, 2018).What steps can we all take to make our community a better place to live in? Please check out those word docs before starting. This project is a cumulative assignment. Thanks! Running Head: MARKETING PLAN FOR A LOCAL RESTAURANT 1 MARKETING PLAN FOR A LOCAL RESTAURANT 6 Week 1 posting I’ve always wanted to open a restaurant, and I believe Perfect Foods Restaurant can be the local restaurant that will be established within my grandparents local community. My grandparents and I share a common love of traditional American cuisine, and Perfect Foods transcends a typical American traditional restaurant that puts real heart into customer service. It will also bring back the real memories for traditional American cuisine through unique presentation. My choice to operate within my grandparents community, and those like it, is to serve the inherent needs of the older population. I believe one of those needs is to share the real traditional food memories with their grandchildren in a safe, family focused environment. The three possible target customer profiles for Perfect Foods Restaurant include thinkers, believers, and survivors. Thinkers are important group of target market because they enjoy historical perspective and will find it more engaging to taste the traditional American cuisine as a reminder of the American traditions. Believers on the other hand, are a potential target market for the restaurant due to their character of wanting friendly communities. The traditional foods offered by the Perfect Food restaurant will be a perfect match for them as it provides a platform for connecting with other members of the community (Sun & Morrison, 2007). Survivors will form the most significant target market for the Perfect Food Restaurant because this type of consumers are the oldest and the traditional foods will provide a framework of evoking old memories to them. The traditional food will help them rewind old memories allowing them to engage and come together (Lee, Cho &Ahn, 2012). Many restaurants offer contemporary foods that the old population find unappealing. In this case, Perfect Food will try to target older population which is the most neglected market segment. The restaurant will mostly use television, radio, and social media as a way to connect with the target market. Although this population is not commonly found in the social media platforms, their grandchildren and their children will likely get the information and pass the information to them. The older population mostly relies on television as a way of receiving information as such as they are more likely to get television advertisement regarding the traditional foods offered by Perfect Food Restaurant. References Lee, T. J., Cho, H., &Ahn, T. H. (2012).Senior citizen satisfaction with restaurant service quality. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 21(2), 215-226. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19368623.2010.520822 Strategic Business Insights. (n.d.). VALS™ | VALS™ types | SBI. Strategic Business Insights (SBI). Retrieved from http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes.shtml Sun, Y. H. C., & Morrison, A. M. (2007). Senior citizens and their dining-out traits: Implications for restaurants. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 26(2), 376-394. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2006.03.003 Additional questions/feedback since the Week 1 posting was written: 1) Hello, thank you for your post. I enjoy food myself and several kinds of food. Because America is considered and has been called the melting pot. I am curious as what specific food items would be on your menu. In the south traditional might include black-eye peas, coleslaw, cornbread and other food commonly called soul-food in the southwest the food items deemed traditional have Mexican or Indian roots. Still other areas carry the traditions of settlers from other countries such as Munster, Texas has a lot of traditional food that most would classify as German. Some people would call hamburgers and hotdogs as all American. For that matter you could even throw in apple pie and ice cream. So, could you expand more on what you are calling typical American traditional restaurant food? i) Hi, thanks for the reply. To me typical traditional restaurant food of America includes burgers, deep-dish pizza, drop biscuits and sausage gravy, tacos, etc. The involvement of traditional food like coleslaw, black eye peas, and cornbread is a good idea because they are mostly liked by traditional people especially those belonging to Mexican and Indian roots. Along with this, I will also focus on seafood, barbeque, fried chicken, pecan pie, shrimp, and grits, to have a large variety of food options. In desserts, I will include pastries, peach cobbler, and Maria mole, along with ice cream and apple pie. 2) Hello, thank you for the post. Looking forward to seeing what 'traditional cuisine' translates to in the way of the nature of the food and service. Targeting the elderly is an exciting idea....in terms of restaurants, it is often neglected. In Ohio, two chains....Bob Evans and O'Charley.....tend to cater to the elderly more than others. Week 2 posting Perfect Foods Restaurant will provide traditional American food to the elderly consumers in the community. The goal is to provide them the real traditional memories, and the restaurant will compete with other food chains like KFC. The products of KFC are promoted through social media, print media, and television advertisements. Social media ads catch my attention all the time because I am an active user of different social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, etc. An effective social media platform is likely the way many brands get maximum exposure to their targeted consumer demographics (Celentano, 2019). While television watching and print media reading habits have changed over the decades I believe advertisements on those platforms to still be an effective way to attract those who aren’t as active on social media. My parents and I are fond of eating fried chicken, and the advertisements that appear during our internet television binge nights catch our attention all the time. KFC advertisements on websites where we read our news can also be a great way of attracting consumers because the products that company is highlighting at that time uses attractive colors and appropriate images that invoke memories of delicious food. Recent advertisements for KFC’s combo deals were so attractive that it persuaded me stop what I was doing and find the nearest store to my home so that I could buy the meal. The memories that I had while enjoying the food were so strong that it literally interrupted my day, and I was ok with it. Yes, I will buy the product because it reminds me of past happiness. Additional questions/feedback since the Week 2 posting was written: 1) Hello! I get the concept to trying to get elderly people to go out to eat more via food relating to their memories, but I am not sure why it just has to be marketed toward elderly people. I feel like this would be a hard sell in terms of financing because all ages of people eat food. Of course, you would want the restaurant to have a clear age group, but elderly people sometimes have a lack of transport and some do not like to leave their homes because of movement issues. If you opened this in a place like L.A. where people tend to stay in good shape, it might work. But I feel that you might consider proposing this to an assisted living facility or a place that provides condo communities for older people. Some of those places have dining options on site. Or, you might want to work on expanding the age range of your intended customer. 2) Hi! I am more likely to see a social media ad than I am a television ad as I use streaming services and social media way more than I spend watching live TV. However, TV and radio media ads are not dead and Colling(2017) gives good reasons for why companies are still buying TV and radio ads. Honestly, quite a few of the television ads make their way to streaming services for some of the streamed content that has certain licensing requirements to be available to the viewers. The print media you mention is an evolving form of advertising. While magazines and newspapers do still exist the way these platforms sell advertising includes their digital media presence as well as their print (Lisk, 2016). The KFC ad you describe is effectively called nostalgia advertising and it works mainly on Millenials craving those old familiar memories (Craft, 2019). 3) Hello! Many people associate food with their emotions. The motivation to eat is not merely driven by a desire for nutrients and satiety.Emotional, and psychological processes play an important role as well. Emotional states affect when people eat, how much they eat, and which food items they choose to consume. Just like your mentioned, you see a commercial of KFC and you associate food with a feeling. this can addressed in Maslow's theory of needs and it is also a tool for marketing and appealing to potential customers emotions and encourage them to buy a product 4) Hi! The nature of the proposed restaurant could be more clearly explained. Based on the selection of KFC, can it be assumed you will focus on a quick-serve, carry-out operation? The Marketing Mix: Promotion You will continue to work on the charge you chose for the marketing plan by conducting SWOT analysis. In this module, we will also focus on promotion. This includes all areas of promotion: advertising, sales promotion, public relations, publicity, and personal selling. By way of introduction, here is a thought-provoking e-mail from 2003 found on the internet: “Advertising is all around us and people like to comment and/or complain about it all the time. But now two quick questions: First, in the U.S., how do you think total spending on advertising compares with what's spent on sales-force-related activities? Do you think, all told, marketers spend more on sales or advertising? “Unless you said total spending on sales is 8 to 10 times greater than total spending on advertising, you would be wrong. Obviously, the proportions differ by company and product line, but, overall, sales-related expenses are many times greater than all that advertising we talk about. Also, don't fail to recognize the relative importance of all forms of sales promotion as compared to paid media advertising. Even the firms that you most often see advertising on television are now, on average, spending as much on various forms of sales promotion as they are on all forms of paid advertising combined. “One final point: Different companies, selling directly competing brands, may use very different promotional mixes. Some rely more on advertising while others rely on cents off deals and coupons. Still others give promotional allowances to retailers, expecting them to provide the actual promotional effort. They may use different advertising appeals (speed vs. safety for cars), different media mixes (TV vs. magazines), and also spend very different percentages of their total sales on promotion. This happens, of course, because there is no obviously ‘best way’ to promote cars or cosmetics. What everyone attempts to do, however, is to develop a promotional program that they believe will encourage the firm's intended target market to buy its product.” In the module, you will examine a traditional promotional mix: • Advertising (including TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, and billboards) • Personal Selling • Sales Promotion • Public Relations • Publicity You will also examine up-and-coming electronic media such as cell phone & Web page advertising. Promotion, which sometimes is thought of as the “sizzle” or the “showbiz” in the marketing mix, is also often confused with the whole of marketing, so let’s give it its due. A lot of attention is properly given to the creative side of this activity, particularly in advertising. The ability to evoke an emotional response—to portray a powerful or memorable image, to come up with “the big idea”—is equivalent to a home run in baseball. We are often impressed by what artists and copywriters come up with. But that experience has occasionally been chastened by disconnects with marketing strategies—the failure to consider audience targets and salient attributes, and, most importantly, to set and reflect objectives. So, without discounting the value of “home runs,” we want to stress the importance of marketing “small ball,” the equivalent of pitches in the strike zone, solid defense, getting on base, and intelligent base running. Therefore, we have to start any discussion of promotion strategy with a reminder of the importance of keeping the overall game plan in mind: how our customers are segmented, the targets we want to reach, and the positioning points that are most important in those customers’ buying decisions. Next, within the framework of those basics, we want to identify our objectives, both in terms of an overall campaign and for each specific element of that campaign. While some efforts are clearly intended to increase sales (such as a price promotion for the holiday season), we sometimes want simply to inform an audience about some competitive attribute or only to build brand awareness in a promising segment. MBA reasoning about what does or doesn’t constitute an effective promotion often turns on the concept of ROI (return on investment): the profit that can be attributed to a specific investment. However, that calculation often depends on some indirect relationship that connects net sales revenues to the achievement of a non-monetary objective. Accordingly we need to be sensitive to (1) the prospect that a direct measurement may be impossible and (2) the need to at least estimate the impact of, say, knowledge about a brand’s qualities to the likelihood of purchase. Another issue to stress is the importance of integrating marketing communications efforts. You’ll note that "promotion” includes personal selling, public relations, and sales promotion as well as advertising. As we determine which of these is best suited in terms of cost/effectiveness to carry a message, we also want to ensure consistency in the messages conveyed through each approach. For example, a heavy-duty price promotion is not consistent with a brand position based on some non-price attribute. Finally, a comprehensive understanding of promotion will encompass the various agents involved in delivering messages effectively—adequate training for the sales force and credible advertising media. And, as we become increasingly dependent on the Internet and social media, control of the message becomes more important than when we could simply depend on internally generated reports and Nielsen indices to tell us how we were doing. In conclusion, strategic management of promotion involves right-brain activities, to be sure, but don’t overlook the left-brain contributions required to win ball games.