Week 10: Benefits vs. Features

Benefits are qualities that people look for that will enhance their way of living. With benefits will bring out the quality and instile value into the product. What people look for is the benefits. People ask themselves "how is this going to benefit me?" or "how will this benefit me in the near future?"
Features are things like textures and how the chip feels and tastes. Features are things that consumers will experience. If consumers have a bad experience then they will not put value into the product and will eventually spread the word to other future consumers. When someone has a bad experience thats where your network should take into place. Listen to what people are saying about the product and offer ways of changing their next experience.

Final Project: Mission Statement

Sofrito's mission is to be world's premier product company focused on convenient chips. We seek to produce financial rewards to investors as we provide opportunities for growth. In everthing we do we will strive for success whether its a fundraiser to a new business idea in the works.

Week 8 EOC: Creative Content

For my creative content I will be designing my own logo for the product. I think I am going to use a red and yellow color scheme since red makes people hungry and yellow intensifies the red. I want people to look at my product and begin to think about eating my product. Also the yellow will remind them of bananas which is one of my key ingredients for my product. My slogan will be "going bananas for bananas!" Hopefully once they read about my creation story they will understand what the slogan means. The bag will be made from the same materials a Doritos bag is made of. Although the color scheme is close to Doritos our red will be a more distinct red from the Doritos red. There will be a noticeable difference in the bag. We will have a family size bag for super markets such as Walmart and Kmart and single sizes for venues like 7-11 and many other convenience stores. The product will be placed in the chip isle but will be placed away from the Doritos nacho flavor to avoid confusion between the two. This will be pre-arranged with the store venues. The one thing we want to avoid is our customers having to decide which bag to take home. On the back of every bag we will place our contact information so that our customers can give us feedback and a website where they can go to to learn more about our product. There they can sign up for exclusive Newsletter which we will send out to inform our customers about new and exciting information about the product. The newsletter will feature information of upcoming new stuff and how our product has touched the lives of others.

 

Implementation Evaluation Control

Price

"The amount of money charged for a product or service, or the sum of the values that customers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service.(Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Edition 10)

Sofrito chips will be priced according to bag size and will marked at about the same price other chip products are priced at. For example, if a large family size bag of Cheetos are priced at $2.99 then our bag will also be priced at $2.99. We don't intend on short selling our product instead we will match it. what will set us apart will our chips. Consumers will love our chips and will pick our bag from the bunch. Our marketing team will ensure that our consumers are aware of our unique taste of chips. The minute they see our name they will forget about the price and will desire our bag for their snack craving. 

“Price; Marketing's Most Delicate "P"” (http://www.forbes.com/sites/keithlevy/2011/11/30/price-marketings-most-delicate-p/) I agree, the price is the toughest to determine. That is why we will be consistent with our competitors. There may be a time when we will do special promotion and price the product differently but that will only be during inflation times. 

Promotion

This will be our website. The domain will be Sofritos.com.

Link to page

Distribution

" Indirect distribution involves distributing your product by the use of an intermediary for example a manufacturer selling to a wholesaler and then on to the retailer."(http://www.learnmarketing.net/Place.htm)
In the beginning we will be selling product door to door just to get the word out that we are a new up and coming company and to introduce our chips to the community. We will first start in our home town and then move to neighboring cities. Once we have enough money we will invest in some billboards and television commercials. There will be a lot of ground to cover but we will be determined. One of our greatest tools will be the web. We will have a site where our consumers can subscribe to and will be able to order on line. On line orders will be big orders like a box of 25 bags of the product which is more then what a sales member can carry for one single order. We will also set up booths at every convention we can get into so that we can reach out to more customers and have them sign up to our website on the spot. Through our website we will send out special promotions and locations where we will be located to all of our subscribers. We will encourage subscribers to have their friends and families subscribe for exclusive discounts.
"To truly unlock the power of the internet, we need to make these important and valuable materials freely available online."(http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/01/09/400848/beyond-sopa-unlocking-the-power-of-the-internet-by-creating-a-digital-library-of-congress/?mobile=nc) Like stated before, the internet will our main tool. Door to door distribution will be the beginning. On line sales is phase two. Once we have a big enough market we will leave the direct distribution and focus on getting our products on the shelves.

Product

“Product: The product, service, or program includes both tangible and intangible elements. The tangible, of course, are those things that the customer can see, touch, feel, taste, or smell. The intangible include such things as the image of the offering ... which includes the image of the organization making the offering, the psychological aspects of pricing (high price to many customers is equated with high quality - and vice versa).”(https://people.creighton.edu/~shu02225/nps_c_05.html)

Our product will come in a bag that looks much like the other bags out in the chip isle. What will distinguish us will be our amazing flavor. Consumers will be reminded about our flavor the minute they lay eyes on our logo. Once they see our bag they will be immediately attracted and go for our bag. 

“Product means the goods-and-services combination the company offers to the target market”(http://www.marketingteacher.com/lesson-store/lesson-marketing-mix.html)

Our product will suite our consumers and investors. Future entrepreneurs will want to sell and have our product on their line of merchandise. 

Target Market Strategy

“Companies that try to be all things to all customers are sure to fail.”(http://www.inc.com/guides/201104/how-to-narrow-your-target-market.html).

In the beginning we will start off with door to door encounters. We will focus on sampling our product so that potential consumers will arise. We will carry a business card that will have all of our information and how to reach us information. The card will also feature our website where curious consumers may find out more information on our product. They will also be able to subscribe to our newsletter where we will have exclusive information about our chips and where they will be able to purchase them. Once we have a good established network from our door to door encounters we will start setting up booths where people can buy our product. At first the price will be low. We are going to maintain our focus on people trying our product. The price is just to cover for fees to have the booth and to cover for other fees. Most likely this will happen when theres a huge convention. We will try to reach out to a wider community and keep on handing out our website information. 

“If you don't know specifically which customers you are speaking to, you are actually speaking to no one”(http://www.inc.com/guides/201104/how-to-narrow-your-target-market.html)

We use social networks to get in touch with our consumers. Facebook and Twitter will be key tools in this phase. 

Situation or SWOT Analysis

“An overall evaluation of the company’s strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T).”(pg. 55, Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation)

 

Strengths:

I have all the skills to begin my marketing campaign. I will use my web and graphic skills to create all of my content. I will use social networks to provide the best customer service this company has to offer. Our associates will take customer feedback and use it to better our brand. We will “use social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs to share information, both good and bad.”(pg. 4 Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation) Once we have a strong connection with our consumers we will be able to expand our product even further with just our customer’s word of mouth.

Weaknesses:

We are a new product and with new products come with new challenges and obstacles. Some of these obstacles may be the Sofrito name itself. People might mistake it for being part of the Frito Lay family. Unless we get a partnership going on then we are not part or associated with Frito Lay. Even reaching out to the local community will tough. We will have to find a way to get investors to represent our product. With a clear mission statement and business plan I am sure we can get through our weaknesses.

Opportunities:

There are a lot of up and coming business that need their shelves filled with product. We will supply our first vendors straight from the source. There will be no middle man. We will put the price on the bag and it will be competitive with other chip brands. Our start up success will be determined by how determined we are to provide customers with Sofritos.

Threats:

Everyone is looking for a snack. We will stick out from the Frito Lay family and provide customers with the perfect snack. Our only downfall will be whether we stand out from the brand or not.

Objectives

"A statement of objectives is an important element of a business plan. It states clearly in one or two sentences what the new start-up enterprise is seeking to achieve."(http://www.completebusinessstartup.co.uk/starting-business/objectives.html)

Our main objective is to be the top pick when it comes to chips. We want consumers to have us in mind when delegating what they want to snack on while watching that sports game, that late night movie, or strong craving. To achieve this we will have a marketing team doing research on what our consumers like their chips with, when they are more likely to think about chips, and how our product can relate to our consumers. The relationship part is going to be the most challenging part of it all. Finding common ground with all our of consumers will be hard. Targeting will play a huge factor. Around holidays we will run special ads that will coincide with the holiday so that when the holiday comes around the consumer will be more likely to pick out our chips from the bunch.

"objectives are statements that describe what the project will accomplish, or the business value the project will achieve."(http://www.kidasa.com/information/articles/goals/index.html) We value our consumers so we will do whatever it takes to listen to their every want. We feel so confident in our chips that we will even go and offer a money back guarantee if the consumer does not like our chips. Subscribers to our mailing list will be offered special promotions on our website to merchandise and exclusive products. Social networking will also play an important factor in success. Facebook and twitter will be our main go to networks.

Business Mission Statement

Sofrito's mission is to be world's premier product company focused on convenient chips. We seek to produce financial rewards to investors as we provide opportunities for growth. In everthing we do we will strive for success whether its a fundraiser to a new business idea in the works. - Sofrito

"A mission statement is a key tool that can be as important as your business plan." (http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/65230#) It is supposed to capture what you business is all about in just a few words or sentences. My business statement states that I will provide the best chips in the world for our investors and consumers. "Your mission statement should reflect your business' special niche."(http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/65230#) My niche will be chips and investment opportunity. Our goal is to have Sofrito's on every shelf in the world! We will achieve that by finding investors and entrepreneurs who are open minded. Our company is based on the idea that we can give our customers the best customer service we can give them. We will have a website where fans can come to and post their feedback to us wether its good or bad we will take it and build upon it. We will establish a strong foundation with our consumers and will keep close contact as much as possible. Our goal is not to out sell the top brand, our goal is to be the top brand not by sales but by customer satisfaction.

Week 8 BOC: The Adventure

 At the time I was captive and held as a prisoner. The guards that worked for Fidel Castro used to throw bananas at me and insulted me by calling me a monkey. After a couple of weeks of being held captive I started to eat the bananas.I had to find new ways to eat them so that they wouldn't taste like bananas. I began by mushing them up. Still tasted like bananas. I also tried adding insects but that just made me sick. I then sliced them and let them sit in the sun. I noticed that they backed to a crisp. I took a bite out of one and it wasn't bad but it still tasted like a banana. One of the guards walked by and this guy was one of the kinder guards. You could tell he felt some sort of pity for me because every day he would walk by after all the other soldiers were done scolding me just to say "gooday". He was on his way to see Fidel Castro to see what was going on. Before he went up though he stopped because he noticed I was doing something out of the ordinary, I was eating something that didn’t look like a banana. He asked what it was and I told him it was a banana chip but that it was not ready yet. He heard a commotion coming from upstairs and on his way up he dropped a sofrito container. I reached for it through the bars and sprinkled it on my chip. It changed the flavor, I was in love with bananas again! Minutes after my moment of satisfaction an explosion knocked me over. I looked up to see that there was now a whole in the wall where I had the rest of my banana chips. My heart sank, I wanted to eat the rest of them. Not noticing what was going on I heard a voice. “Captain, we here to rescue you!”  I snapped back to reality and reached for the solder wearing an American uniform. I said “thank you, I was going bananas!”

Week 7: The Pitch

Cuba is my country of choice and my secret ingredient sofrito banana chips. Sofrito is a salty ingredient in Cuba and the saltyness makes the banana irresistible.  At the time I was captive and held as a prisoner. The guards that worked for Fidel Castro used to throw bananas at me and insulted me by calling me a monkey. After a couple of weeks of being held captive I started to eat the bananas.I had to find new ways to eat them so that they wouldn't taste like bananas. I began by mushing them up. Still tasted like bananas. I also tried adding insects but that just made me sick. I then sliced them and let them sit in the sun. I noticed that they backed to a crisp. I took a bite out of one and it wasn't bad but it still tasted like a banana. One of the guards walked by and this guy was one of the kinder guards. You could tell he felt some sort of pity for me because every day he would walk by after all the other soldiers were done scolding me just to say "gooday". He was on his way to see Fidel Castro to see what was going on. Before he went up though he stopped because he noticed I was doing something out of the ordinary, I was eating something that didn’t look like a banana. He asked what it was and I told him it was a banana chip but that it was not ready yet. He heard a commotion coming from upstairs and on his way up he dropped a sofrito container. I reached for it through the bars and sprinkled it on my chip. It changed the flavor, I was in love with bananas again! Minutes after my moment of satisfaction an explosion knocked me over. I looked up to see that there was now a whole in the wall where I had the rest of my banana chips. My heart sank, I wanted to eat the rest of them. Not noticing what was going on I heard a voice. “Captain, we here to rescue you!”  I snapped back to reality and reached for the solder wearing an American uniform. I said “thank you, I was going bananas!”

Week 6 EOC: Me X 3

Ever since this car came out in 2003 I always wished that I had it. For the longest time I completely forgot about the car but my parent always told me that one day I will have what ever I wanted. I had a nissan 240sx before and I blew the engine drifting it. At the beginning of the year I made up my mind to purchase a 350z. Ever since then I have never had a problem with my car. Instead of spending money to fix my car now I'm spending money to get upgrades. 

My phone goes wherever I go. Never am I not a phone call away. I know that other phones that are not from apple are potentially better but I chose to stick with my Iphone. Mainly because its easy to use, its what I am used to, and everyone has an IPhone which will play a big advantage when I start developing apps to run on Apple Apps. I know that there is a lot of other markets out there for apps but none are as big as the Apple Market. 

Las Vegas is where I live. Where I was born. Where I will always be. People are always surprised when I tell them that I was born and raised here and they wonder why I don't party like every single day. I usually tell them that I have school and work to attend to before I can party. I also work in the hospitality industry so that  means I am always catering to all the tourists that come to my home town to party every single night they are here.

I never thought I would ever defined myself with items and places but these are the things that are with me every single day of the week. My car takes me to places, my phone keeps in tacked with everyone  and Las Vegas is where my roots are. 

Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

"People love talking about things that make them happy—including their favorite products and brands.
 "(pg. 143, Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation) I know I do. When people ask me about my car I talk about it as if it were an extension of my arm. I know my car like the back of my hand and when people start to question things like mpg I can tell them an answer on the spot. If I could be a brand ambassador for Nissan I would take the job on the spot if it meant driving the latest Z. "Marketers select their brand ambassadors very carefully, based on customers’ devotion to a brand and the size of their social circles." (pg. 143, Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation). I consider myself to be very outspoken and I believe I could be a good brand ambassador. I work in the hospitality industry so I speak to a lot of people in one day that are travelling from all over the world. If talk to 10 guests and then those 10 guests try out the brand I am representing and like it then that means that they will do the same and tell others about it. Eventually my impact will make profit for the brand I am representing. "Facebook's use as a job-recruitment tool remains small, but its appeal may be growing." (Recruiters Troll Facebook for Candidates They Like) Facebook will succeed in the job recruiting spectrum. Everything they touch becomes a gold mine! Their main advantage is their "750-million-plus user base" which helps them make networks inside this social network we call Facebook. One day I may be looking for a job on Facebook on networks where only web developers belong to.

Week 4 EOC: B-B Marketing

Consumer buyer behavior refers "to the buying behavior of final consumers—individuals and households that buy goods and services for personal consumption” which combine to make up the consumer market (pg 136, Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation). Americans are always buying either on line or in person. Apple is a good example because they sell peer to peer and online and they are very successful. “Consumers make many buying decisions every day, and the buying decision is the focal point of the marketer’s effort” (pg137, Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation). I know make decision every day when I want to buy something. Especially when it’s something that costs a lot of money. Usually when making a big purchase I take time and once I make up my mind about the product I usually take one day to sleep on my decision. Usually I do buy the next day but when I don’t its because something last minute came up and impeded me from making my purchase. That day to sleep on my decision helps a lot especially when something unexpected comes up. Below is the stages that buyers like me go through:

(pg 138, Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation). Adoption and diffusion is when a buyer hears about a product and to putting the product into use in their mental state. Basically you hear about an IPod and you start to picture how the product will benefit you throughout you day. When a business is buying the process is a lot more different. Below is a graph to show a business buying decision process:

(pg 161, Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation). A business things about how it will benefit a wide variety of clients as supposed to when buying for yourself you make decisions for yourself and/or your family. The difference between business and consumer buying behaviors is the range of people the buying decision will appeal to.

Week 3 EOC: Making Money for Good

A lot of companies out there are in it to make profit. We rarely see companies putting effort to making the community a better place. Tough Mudder does both and all profits go to Wounded Warrior Project. Their vision is “To foster the most successful, well-adjusted generation of wounded service members in our nation's history.”( http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/mission.aspx). Together, Tough Mudder and WWP have raised more than “$3,722,708” and counting! (http://toughmudder.com/wounded-warrior-project/). “We host a team of Wounded Warriors in every Tough Mudder event, just to remind everyone what the definition of the word ‘bad-ass’ really means." http://toughmudder.com/wounded-warrior-project/). I say well done Tough Mudder. You have found a way to get us back in shape so that we can compete against ourselves out at your obstacles.

Week 3 EOC: My Demographics

“As one of the younger cities of the modern and dynamic Southwest, the City of Henderson is often referred to as the "Other Side of Southern Nevada". (http://www.cityofhenderson.com/economic_development/demographics.php)

Demographics here in Las Vegas and Henderson have always changed. I’ve never seen it change to where there its only a certain type of people but instead I see more diverse types of families moving out to the area. I’ve only been up to northern Nevada once and from what I saw there was not much diversity there. Everyone one seemed to click with one type of people. When I walked into MacDonald’s I felt as if everyone’s eyes were blaring at me. Las Vegas and Henderson welcomes everyone because everyone lives here.

“The Latino population is the fastest growing population in the United States, currently representing almost 12% of the total U.S. population.” (http://academic.udayton.edu/health/01status/elderly01a.htm)

Over the past couple of years I have see an increase of Latin American people here in the valley. Some families bigger then others but these families definitely stand out in the crowd. As more Latin families move in the more move to other parts of the valley. I know area code 89101 is densely populated by Mexicans and other Latin American groups. I am one of those kids that moved out of what we called “the hood” and now reside in Henderson, a much more better location then where I came from.

“powerful organizations such as Univision have organized campaigns like Libera tu voz -- Free your voice -- working with the coalition Ya es hora -- It's time -- to encourage registration of Latinos and their participation in different elections.”( http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jose-fernando-lopez/latino-demographics-gop_b_1939348.html) The Latin group is becoming more organized day by day. It takes a large organization like Univision to get things started though. Every demographic needs a leader figure.

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

“More than 200 million Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 systems were sold worldwide…and yet the gaming world has found itself teetering at the edge of a financial cliff.”(Totilo)

“teenagers who are experiencing problems may retreat into gaming, and that the gaming may, in turn, increase their depression and isolation”(Rabin)

“Where do you game? Are you playing your Xbox 360, Wii or PS3 less now that you have an iPhone, iPad or Android?”(Smith)

My Game Apps

Video games have always been something I stayed away from. Looking back at my child hood I remember being “depressed” and socially awkward when I left the controller (Rabin). And that was just the Play Station, if I had the Play Station 3 maybe things would have been different since there’s a lot more interactivity with other gamers. Even though I see and hear about gamers, the gaming “sales have dropped” (Totilo). Makes me wonder where game consoles are placed on the BCG (Boston Consultant Group)?

Play Station I would rank as a Star. Eventually it will be a dog but I believe it will be a Star for a long time. Its competitor the Xbox 360 is at a Dog level. I haven’t seen much activity from them after the Kinect. Wii is a dog, its going nowhere which is why Nintendo is coming out with something new. Apps on iphones and ipads are Stars and its competitors like Kindle are the question marks. Kindle just doesn’t have the audience to support it on a game apps level.  

I personally like my game apps on my phone. It is interesting how games try to get you to download other games with add but we all hate adds so we tend to ignore. Apps are the reason game consoles are dropping in sales. Who wouldn’t want something entertaining on the go where ever they go as long as they have good reception.

 Works Cited

Rabin, Ronni C. "Video Games and the Depressed Teenager." Well. The New York Times, 18 Jan. 2011. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. <http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/video-games-and-the-depressed-teenager/>.

Smith, Josh. "IPhone Games Are Taking Over Our Bedrooms." IPhone Games Are Taking Over Our Bedrooms. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. <http://www.gottabemobile.com/2012/03/22/iphone-games-are-taking-over-our-bedrooms/>.

Totilo, Chris Suellentrop And Stephen. "VIDEO GAMES; Video Game Retail Sales Decline Despite New Hits." The New York Times. The New York Times, 07 Oct. 2012. Web. 10 Oct. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/arts/video-games/video-game-retail-sales-decline-despite-new-hits.html?pagewanted=all>.

Week 1 EOC: Great Customer Service

"four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion"(pg. 13 Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation)

Apple has always done a good job marketing its product. From the first Iphone to the most current iphone it still amazes how Apple can sell (even sell out!) Iphones. Apple is one of those companies that has the 4 p’s down to the period.

When I was young, getting a cell phone was something I had to get for myself. I had to work a part time job to have a cell phone and at the same time go to school, high school. I went to a somewhat rich kid school. I had classes with kids whose parents took care of them and babied them all their life, in other words, more fortunate than me. Now I’m not ranking on my parents because they did support me whenever they could and I will say this, I wouldn’t be who I am today if it weren’t for them (I know, cliché isn’t it). When I got my first phone I about 16 and my service provider was T-mobile. Little did I know that T-mobile was not going to have the iphone we have today. Point being even though I had to work for my cell phone Apple still got my attention with the first ipod to the shuffle to Itough and on and on and on. Apple knows how to display their product. Apple knows how to price it to be competitive with other products out there. Apple knows where to place their add and commercial dollars to make good use of them. And they know how to promote their product. Now Im not going to say that Apple has the best to offer in the digital age but I have yet to be interested in anything else to even consider using.

Apple has embraced the power of the 4 p’s.

Week One EOC My Voice

So this is week one of my 7^th quarter. So far so good. Last 11 weeks I compiled all my classes on to 2 days. This quarter I have all my classes spread out throughout the week.

 I am a Web Student. I consider myself a beginner still because there’s still so much information out there that I have not seen or heard of yet. Since it is a web profession that means that everything is constantly upgrading! So how do I keep up with something that is constantly growing? That’s the question, I believe that once I got the grasp on something it has already become old technology and I need to move forward on to the next thing. Learning the principles and fundamentals is the key though. In order to be the one creating new Web ideas I have to fully grasp the principles and fundamentals so I can create a firm foundation for my podium. I want to one day stand on my podium and proudly say I am a Professional Web Developer.

Growing up I have surrounded myself with friends that I consider to be part of my extended family. Back in high school we created a car crew and out name was Khaos Drft. As we grew we also out grew our car hobby. I didn’t and now Khaos Drft is Khaos D and I will keep it alive as my Company name!