...Assignment 2.1 Ford Analysis PSPR 6208 Strategic Marketing and Communications Fall 1 2013 1. Where would you put Ford in terms of competitive position? Why? By shifting their focus, developing a new marketing strategy and focusing on the Ford brand, Ford has dramatically enhanced their competitive position and turned things around for the company. In doing so, they strategically placed themselves back at the top in terms of competitive position. This was no small feat, especially considering the fact that they were in far worse shape than most car companies as recent as 2008 (Kotler & Armstrong pg 547). Ford with the assistance of new CEO Alan Mulally fought hard against bankruptcy and even harder to gain consumer trust in the company and the brand. This strategy has helped Ford to gain a competitive advantage, especially in terms of customer satisfaction. 2. Is Ford a market-centered company? How can it improve in this area? Considering the fact that Ford currently pays attention to both customers and competitors in designing the company’s marketing strategies, I would say they are definitely a market-centered company. This may not have always been the case, as is evident from reading the case study. At some point, Ford took its eye off the market, loosing focus, especially in regards to customer needs. I think that they were driven to shift their focus by several factors, top of mind being the dire economy. Moving forward, they will need to play...
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...Social Media Marketing BUS508: Contemporary Business November 30, 2013 What is Social Media Marketing? Why has Social Media Marketing become so popular? Is it now the most effective way to advertise and market? I have chosen to first define both marketing and social media. In my analysis it will allow you to fully grasp the importance and meaning of marketing and social media. My analysis will also allow you to easily determine why Social Media Marketing has become so popular among businesses. I’m a big believer in social media so I will display that throughout my paper. With technology in this day and age people always have the Internet in the palms of their hand and social media is always a button away. What is marketing? Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large (Boone & Kurtz, 2012). Without proper marketing strategies businesses would not be able to sell their goods and services. The most effective rule to consumers is to ensure that they always get what they want and always meet their needs before they ever surface. Marketing has always been part of business, from the earliest village traders to large 21st-century organizations producing and selling complex goods and services (Boone & Kurtz, 2012). How people market has now evolved and is now more on social media than ever. Social media is one of the...
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...CASE STUDY: MCDONALD’S Executive summary This case study looks to evaluate marketing within McDonald’s and will look into how it has affected McDonald’s in terms of its position within the market. Through research, a positive correlation has been revealed between how successful a company operates and how committed they are in terms of customer focus and its marketing strategy (Kloter and Armstrong, 2010). This study will demonstrate how McDonald’s marketing strategy has helped render the company a global success. This is shown through the SWOT analysis. This study has found that the pivotal ingredient in this company is the unique and effective marketing strategy. Also to be credited was that the strategy showed that there were areas which could potentially disrupt the current rate of success (in terms of monetary results) If they are not rectified. A recommendation could be to increase the amount of ‘Healthy foods’ McDonald’s currently offer, to do so McDonalds would need to invest more in their product segment of the marketing mix. Introduction In many cases a company does not become successful overnight. There are a number of key ingredients which need to be focused on, in order to achieve its potential. An important part of this is the ‘marketing strategy’. The majority of successful firms invest large sums of capital and time into tailoring their strategy focusing on the potential changes in customer levels, rivals and the environment (Bradley, 2005). McDonald’s currently...
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...Problem Statement Jeff Johnson, who saw that an informal Pacific style restaurant and bar on the site of a barrier island had potential for development. He then used his savings and some financial assistance from his family to build Jumpin’ Jeff’s Beach Bar on the barrier island. After Jumpin’ Jeff’s opening, Mr. Johnson soon realized that there are lots of challenges waiting for him, such as price setting, menu development, staffing issues, and cultural issues. Situation Analysis Since Jeff Johnson owns the land, Jumpin’ Jeff’s Beach Bar is the only one on this particular island. Mr. Johnson had chosen a good restaurant location, as he has a monopoly of business on the island. He can do whenever businesses he wants on the island. Mr. Johnson spent a lot of money on design elements, as every supplies and equipment is shipped from Florida. The restaurant was designed in a South Seas beach-hut style with shutters, which should be pretty eyes catching. The island itself is a barrier island, open on the eastern side to the Atlantic Ocean and the western side to the Haven. The other side of the Haven is a very small town, Kingsville, with two grocery stores, three churches, two resorts, two gift shops, and a small open-air market open on Tuesday and Saturday mornings. The Haven is popular in winter with cruising small boat sailors looking for a good anchorage in a sheltered harbor, amenities provided by the grocery stores and a place where they could order parts for their boats...
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...the effectiveness of their marketing strategies for TWO elements of the marketing mix. Microsoft Corporation Table of contents Microsoft corporation overview 3 Introduction 3 Marketing strategies and their effectiveness 4 Conclusion 5 Reference list 6 Appendix Financial Statements For Microsoft Corporation: annual data 7 Microsoft corporation overview Microsoft is a public multinational corporation founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico on April 4th, 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. Where know the head quarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA with Steve Ballmer (CEO), Brian Kevin Turner (COO), Bill Gates (Chairman), Ray Ozzie (CSA), Craig Mundie (CRSO) and approximately 89,000 employees. Introduction Microsoft became one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world. Its founder, Bill Gates, became one of the wealthiest people in the world. Microsoft products enjoy a market share of more than 90 percent of the operating systems business worldwide. Microsoft has continued to expand and to update its product offerings and in doing so, it continues to spur demand among software buyers for Microsoft's newest and best products. The company has successfully navigated through changes in technology, the rise and fall of competitors, the growth of the Internet, and the globalization of business. In order for this success, Microsoft implemented marketing strategies in the marketing mix of product and promotion...
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...Defining Marketing April 7, 2014 University of Phoenix Defining Marketing Marketing, in essence, is a company differentiating itself from its competitors. Organizations use marketing strategies to promote their product. Perreault, Cannon, and McCarthy define marketing as “the performance of activities that seek to accomplish an organization’s objectives by anticipating customer or client needs and directing a flow of need satisfying goods and services from producer to customer or client” (2011, p. 6). Companies must focus their resources on these products to increase sales and competitive advantage. According to Kotler and Keller, “Marketing is about identifying and meeting human and social needs” (2012, p. 5). Companies use marketing strategies to spark interest, promote, and educate the consumer. A dental company must continuously reinvent itself from a marketing standpoint. In a town with a population of over 117,000 people and over 40 dentists the demand for dentistry is always present, but so is the competition. It is important for a dental office to keep their name at the forefront of dentistry. It is vital that an organization not only creates an exceptional product or service, but also delivers what they promised. An organization is only as good as their consumers perceive them to be, so it is greatly important that their marketing begins in-house with their current patients. There is no more cost-effective way to market than word-of-mouth...
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...| A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE ON STRATEGIC CSR AS A TOOL FOR MARKETING AND BRAND DIFFERENTIATION | | | Mattias Norén, Niklas Nygård | 2014-01-16 | | “What are the underlying reasons for abusive Strategic CSR in marketing and brand differentiation, what are the consequences and are there any solutions?” Introduction to CSR For Corporate social responsibility(CSR) a lot of different definitions exists but the one we chose to use in this report was defined by (McWilliams, Siegel och Wright)) as “actions that appear to further some social good, beyond the interests of the firm and that which is required by law”. This definition defines a wide concept that contains everything from corporate environmental strategies, employee empowerment, health and benefit plans for employees and corporate philanthropy. The linking factor between these different implementations is that corporations and businesses should expand their responsibility beyond absolute necessity and their core stakeholders group. While CSR is very modern as a defined concept it is still based on a lot of old ideas. For example many companies in the late 1800s based its business on scientific betterment which often meant that employee benefits was taken a lot further than the requirements of the law (Barley och Kunda). Today CSR has evolved to something more than the initial idea of expanded responsibility and it’s used as a tool for companies to reach goals outside of areas normally connected to CSR...
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...The importance of marketing in Law Firms Introduction The importance of good and accurate marketing in the legal industry is growing as a response to the high competition among the industry and because of the innovations in technology. In the past, the common marketing practice among law firms to publicize their business and services depended exclusively on word of mouth. Over the years and due to the wide offering and competition among law firms, the above has radically changed and lawyers and law firms are now taking a more aggressive and proactive approach to market their firms and shopping their services within the market. Why should a law firm focus on efficient marketing strategies? Due to the fact that today lawyers live in a very competitive market place and clients are sophisticated, demanding and price sensitive, lawyers and law firms need to spend a great portion of their budget and time to think and determine the best way to provide upscale offering and services in order to get a competitive advantage and a wider market share. Creating value and offer a differentiated service and product are key factors for the law firms in order to get hired by clients. Every person that is part of the law firm should strive to offer a premium service sometimes in detriment of quantity. Since clients are price sensitive, having a better product than competitors create value and a competitive advantage for the law firm. Law firms should be selective when choosing work and clients...
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...gary a. sanchez * Blog * How I Can Help * Corporate * Small Business * About Me * subscribe via RSS Understand the Difference Between Strategy and Tactics to Unlock the Power of Your Social Media Marketing by garyasanchez “Strategy is doing the right things. Tactics is doing things right.” ~various attributions, including Peter Drucker and paraphrased from Sun Tzu I recently posted a series of slides from prominent social media thought-leaders as to why social media is not a retail marketing strategy. The point was not to diminish the potential value of social media or inbound marketing, for there are considerable benefits to be realized. Rather, my point was to assert that the use of social media and inbound marketing tactics can benefit tremendously by being used to support general marketing strategies and online content strategies. Starting your marketing efforts with well thought out strategies will help you manage limited resources, help you understand what’s driving success and failure, and accelerate success by unlocking the creativity that exists within your organization. Goals, strategies and tactics Before you can speak intelligently about the differences between strategies and tactics, you first need to start with the purpose of having strategies and tactics. The biggest reason is to help you achieve a goal. A goal is a specific result that your business needs to achieve in order to sustain itself, usually through revenue growth or expense...
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...McBride Financial Services Marketing Plan McBride Financial Services is a start-up regional company based away from Boise, Idaho and is working on becoming a premier mortgage lender. Their products and services target conventional, FHA, and VA loans for home acquiring or refinancing. As a new company, McBride Financial Services is planning to expand into its businesses into Montana, Wyoming, N . Dakota, and South Dakota with the use of effective marketing strategies. To effectively expand and turn into successful, McBride Financial will locate unique advertising means to capture its target audience and also to showcase its mortgage lending services. Some of the methods they will be employing are television, newspaper, billboard, and other ads. They will also utilize social media marketing campaigns on multiple outlets (such as Facebook, Twitter, and so forth). McBride Financial Services goal is to achieve early success and become the “preeminent provider of low cost mortgage services using state of the art technology in the five state area of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota” (McBride). To do so, McBride Financial will have to focus on: • Financially achieving break-even within six months of beginning its financial operations. • Becoming a profitable company within a year of starting business. • Utilizing technology to minimize costs and maximize efficiencies for its individual and business customers who are applying for and trying to obtain mortgages...
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...Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. What is Comcast Big Issue? Two major comcast marketing strengths are a. variety of services Why do you think that’s true? Comcast does more than phones – internet services and movies, for example. What company should do? Continue to build upon preexisting services to offer more. b. name recognition - nation’s largest cable provider, with over 21 million video subscribers Why do you think that’s true? Annual report demonstrates customer base. What company should do? Advertise and extend into areas it does not presently cover. Two major marketing weaknesses c. Low percentage of phone subscribers Why do you think that’s true? Annual report demonstrates that the bulk of customers are internet/cable. What company should do? Try to get these customers interested in phone services too. d. high franchise feeds. Why do you think that’s true? It’s a high cost to Comcast to rent other company’s lines. What company should do? Negotiate better line cost rental charges, perhaps by exchanging services. Two major marketing opportunities e. On demand movie services from Comcast Why do you think that’s true? It’s a new service that’s associated with cable. What company should do? Press greater marketing initiatives to advertise this service. f. combined phone/dsl packages that include Comcast...
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...In-Store Retail Marketing (trade promotion) is the lifeblood of the supermarket and for brands. These create Trial and Repeat Purchase AND create all important Impulse Sales. You know impulse, all of those items you purchased that were not on your shopping list! Pretzel Crisps VP of Marketing Perry Abbenante, for Pretzel Crisps knows retail marketing, he was the Senior Grocery Director at Whole Foods Market headquarters in Austin, Texas and was responsible for national buying and merchandising. Do you think he can tell us how to transition promotional ideas into Innovative Retail Marketing Strategies? You bet! Perry recently gave us advice on Winning New Product Launch Tips so know I want him to give us the secrets for great In-Store Promotions… not only strategy but some tactical examples of what he does with the Pretzel Crisps brand to drive sales at the point of purchase. Overall Retail Marketing Strategy and Tactics How Do You Get Penetration - Gaining New Shoppers To Buy The Product? Perry says "When you have a relatively new product, get placement or display outside of your normal department is a key strategy. In our Activation Markets, we get our staff on the ground to get placement outside of the deli where we are normally merchandised. This tactic helps to attract new people that have never seen your product." Frequency - Or Getting Existing Customers To Buy More Often Is The Lifeblood Of Consumer Foods. Give Us Some Examples Of How You Do This? "Pretzel...
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...McBride Financial Services Marketing Plan Faten Hamad BSA/310 February 21, 2011 Prakash Naidu McBride Financial Services Marketing Plan McBride Financial Services provides low cost mortgage keys for individuals. McBride Financial Services provides to retirees, experts, and families are thinking to buy whichever a recreational property or secondary or primary house. McBride Financial Services has decided to revamp its recent marketing plan so that they can contact customers is more probable to fit the profile of the kind of buyer that their services are created for. This paper will show up how McBride Financial Services can reach a gainful commerce during marketing and operations in addition to their target of breaking even monetarily. The kinds of media that could used within McBride’s marketing plans and their goals markets will be outline, and their growth of services to the web will also be covered in the following document. As with any marketing plan, research needs to be conducted and reviewed. This research will help McBride Financial Services to orient better their company toward the needs of the customers and could make decisions that will bring more customers to their individual branch offices. Determining where the company stands with its current customers is important because they can build on their current market strategies to reach new customers and excite current customers with new services. An easy method for McBride to undertake in research...
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...Cadbury to be part of responsible marketing pledge VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO said the company was com- Kellogg’s, General Mills, Mars, sist from advertising their prod- specific nutrition criteria or have Mumbai, 20 July mitted to being part of the Coca-Cola and PepsiCo — ucts to children below 12 years. been requested by or agreed by pledge and would transition its which made the pledge to pro- The India Pledge is said to the school administrator. C hocolate major Cadbury product marketing strategy to mote healthy dietary habits be part of the EU initiative. The Pledge also says that will join the group of children in accordance with among young children. Besides the no advertising these companies will commis- companies which yes- the policy. “The intent is def- Cadbury’s inclusion is in line clause, the India Pledge also sion an independent compli- terday pledged they would not initely there,” the spokesper- with parent company Kraft urges companies to desist from ance monitoring system to keep advertise their food & beverage son said. Foods’ policy of responsible ad- commercial communication re- an eye on the advertising com- products to children below 12 With this, Cadbury joins the vertising and marketing to chil- of the cause for sometime now. a signatory to the EU Pledge, lated to food and beverage prod- mitment made by them on TV, years. seven-member club — Hin- dren. The US-based food & bev- Kraft was one of the first which...
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...Final Project: Marketing Plan. Introduction to Marketing Professor University Of Phoenix In this final project we will be introducing a product or service that will be introduced in to the public. I have chosen a service for this assignment for the simple fact that it is a service that I am familiar with and feel rather confident that I will be able to develop an appropriate marketing plan. The service that I have chosen for this assignment would be an automotive repair shop. This automotive repair shop will have the ability to service any of your automotive need from oil changes to complete engine overhauls and every thing in between. The size of this automotive repair shop will be larger that other typical repair shops for the reason that will have the ability to repair any and every problem that any car on the road might have. The location of the automotive repair shop is located in a growing middle class community with out many competitors. The only competitors this repair shop has are miles away and do not have the tools nor the ability to perform particular and model specific repairs. These are just a few of the qualities this repair shop has over their leading competitors. The target market for this automotive repair shop is practically anybody who is looking for an affordable reliable automotive repair shop that is dedicated to doing the job right the very first time. What makes owning an automotive repair shop less risky than other types of businesses...
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