Management

Please your help as soon as possible. Due February 1st

This week, you have been hired as a market researcher to complete an exploratory study the innovative market sectors:

· Games, apps, and social media

· Use research results from previous Homework (Anticipated consumer behaviors/Anticipated consumer needs)

Choose only one innovative market sector, and using the Plunket Research Online Database, the class textbook, and at least one article from a marketing journal, complete the following:

1. Summary of the market analysis and anticipated consumer needs

2. Competitive forces

3. Create a prototype of one potential product or service using the “Layers of the Product” (Salomon et al., 2017, p. 236)

· Use images, designs, or blueprints

4. Outline potential market and marketing challenges

5. Present your results to the classroom as a 10-minute audiovisual deliverable with slides (e.g., narrated PowerPoint, visual Voice Thread, Kaltura, Camtasia, etc.)

6. View the presentations of two class peers and synthetize your critical perspectives on the research results. What you learned? What you confirmed? What additional marketing consequences have these results for the future of that specific industry market?

One of the major goals of marketing is to study markets facts, industry tendencies and equally important consumption behaviors to enable an organization to produce goods and services that create value for diverse consumers. Therefore, having been hired as a market researcher to complete an exploratory study brief on the innovative market sector of games, apps and social media, the paper will analyze consumer behaviors, anticipated consumer behaviors, anticipate consumer needs, research goals and also in this perspective I will also explain how I would conduct primary research for this product.

According to (Plunkett 2017) research , Global Social media ad spending has more than doubled from 16 billion in 2014 to almost 31 billion in 2016 which clearly portrays how much advertising and target marketing is done through social media platforms like facebook, Instagram, youtube etc. Social media, as well as device powered applications, have affected consumer behaviors. For instance, before the days of online shopping people had to travel to the store, and spend long hours in lines just to make a simple purchase. However, with the power of social media (online shopping) through such platforms as Twitter or Facebook among others, people can make orders from anywhere. For example with the help of mobile enhanced applications, it easy to purchase products. In this case, the power of social media greatly controls the way consumers shop. Nowa day’s consumers would rather conduct research on a product than buy a product they know little about (Ashley, & Tuten, 2015). On the other hand, consumers have become fond of reading what other people have posted on social media. As a result, social media generally trust their family or friends to an extent they would even trust a stranger opinion about a product. Similarly, shopping decision is as well affected by social media in the sense that consumers have figured another approach of researching about a product using their devices to reinforce their decisions. Therefore as consumer behavior changes so does sales and marketing strategies. Business is forced to market their product differently in a way that makes their brands more personal and in a way that communicates with their consumers more personal.

Organizations are nowadays better equipped to handle more consumers’ issues with the assistance of social media because the process is faster and enables instant feedback (Ashley, & Tuten, 2015). One of the best things about social media is that it allows companies to turn negative situations into positive ones. This is an approach that has been used by many companies to counterattack such negative circumstances such as Delta Airlines that use twitter as a tool to communicate with a large number of people. Therefore with the current trends in social media as well as other device powered applications, consumers are highly connected to such changes. Just to mention, today we are experiencing the world ever connection between brands and consumers. In this perspective, consumers are willing to share their personal accomplishments on social media which literally explains anticipated consumer needs.

From the selection methods described by Solomon et al. (2016) to collect data, surveying public would be the most appropriate method to conduct primary research for this product. Based on the facts that among those who are using social media, people aged 25-34 would be the most likely to distribute their surveys via social media. At the same time, they are very likely to encourage other respondents to share their surveys within social media networks. Further assuming that the rest would not be willing to share their survey through social media, I would create a special platform in various areas to collect information. It would also be reasonable to utilize social media itself to conduct primary research. For instance, we would create an online platform to enable public participation. However, in order to have a comprehensive research, I would also conduct interviews with various groups in the society based on their willingness to share their views online.

References

Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015). Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), 15-27.

Sim, J. (1998). Collecting and analysing qualitative data: issues raised by the focus group. Journal of advanced nursing, 28(2), 345-352.

Plunkett, Jack W., Plunkett, M. B., Steinberg, J. S., Faulk, J., & Snider, I. J. (2017). Social Media Generates $31 Billion in Global Online and Mobile Ad Revenues. Games, Apps & Social Media Retrieved January 28, 2018, from http://www.plunkettresearchonline.com.

Running head: MARKETING

MARKETING
2

One of the major goals of marketing is to study markets facts, industry tendencies and equally important consumption behaviors to enable an organization to produce goods and services that create value for diverse consumers. Therefore, having been hired as a market researcher to complete an exploratory study brief on the innovative market sector of games, apps and social media, the paper will analyze consumer behaviors, anticipated consumer behaviors, anticipate consumer needs, research goals and also in this perspective I will also explain how I would conduct primary research for this product.

According to (Plunkett 2017) research , Global Social media ad spending has more than doubled from 16 billion in 2014 to almost 31 billion in 2016 which clearly portrays how much advertising and target marketing is done through social media platforms like facebook, Instagram, youtube etc. Social media, as well as device powered applications, have affected consumer behaviors. For instance, before the days of online shopping people had to travel to the store, and spend long hours in lines just to make a simple purchase. However, with the power of social media (online shopping) through such platforms as Twitter or Facebook among others, people can make orders from anywhere. For example with the help of mobile enhanced applications, it easy to purchase products. In this case, the power of social media greatly controls the way consumers shop. Nowa day’s consumers would rather conduct research on a product than buy a product they know little about (Ashley, & Tuten, 2015). On the other hand, consumers have become fond of reading what other people have posted on social media. As a result, social media generally trust their family or friends to an extent they would even trust a stranger opinion about a product. Similarly, shopping decision is as well affected by social media in the sense that consumers have figured another approach of researching about a product using their devices to reinforce their decisions. Therefore as consumer behavior changes so does sales and marketing strategies. Business is forced to market their product differently in a way that makes their brands more personal and in a way that communicates with their consumers more personal.

Organizations are nowadays better equipped to handle more consumers’ issues with the assistance of social media because the process is faster and enables instant feedback (Ashley, & Tuten, 2015). One of the best things about social media is that it allows companies to turn negative situations into positive ones. This is an approach that has been used by many companies to counterattack such negative circumstances such as Delta Airlines that use twitter as a tool to communicate with a large number of people. Therefore with the current trends in social media as well as other device powered applications, consumers are highly connected to such changes. Just to mention, today we are experiencing the world ever connection between brands and consumers. In this perspective, consumers are willing to share their personal accomplishments on social media which literally explains anticipated consumer needs.

From the selection methods described by Solomon et al. (2016) to collect data, surveying public would be the most appropriate method to conduct primary research for this product. Based on the facts that among those who are using social media, people aged 25-34 would be the most likely to distribute their surveys via social media. At the same time, they are very likely to encourage other respondents to share their surveys within social media networks. Further assuming that the rest would not be willing to share their survey through social media, I would create a special platform in various areas to collect information. It would also be reasonable to utilize social media itself to conduct primary research. For instance, we would create an online platform to enable public participation. However, in order to have a comprehensive research, I would also conduct interviews with various groups in the society based on their willingness to share their views online.

References

Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015). Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), 15-27.

Sim, J. (1998). Collecting and analysing qualitative data: issues raised by the focus group. Journal of advanced nursing, 28(2), 345-352.

Plunkett, Jack W., Plunkett, M. B., Steinberg, J. S., Faulk, J., & Snider, I. J. (2017). Social Media Generates $31 Billion in Global Online and Mobile Ad Revenues. Games, Apps & Social Media Retrieved January 28, 2018, from

http://www.plunkettresearchonline.com

.

Layers of the Product” (Salomon et al., 2017, p. 236)

8.1 BUILD A BETTER MOUSETRAP—AND ADD VALUE OBJECTIVE EXPLAIN HOW VALUE IS DERIVED THROUGH DIFFERENT PRODUCT LAYERS.

(PP. 234–237)

“Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.” Although we’ve all heard that adage, the truth is that just ​because a product is better there is no guarantee it will succeed. For decades, the Woodstream Corp. built Victor brand wooden mousetraps. Then the company decided to build a better one. Woodstream’s product-​development people researched the eating, crawling, and nesting habits of mice (hey, it’s a living). They built prototypes of different mousetraps to come up with the best possible design and tested them in homes. Then the company unveiled the sleek-​looking “Little Champ,” a black plastic miniature inverted bathtub with a hole. When the mouse went in and ate the bait, a spring snapped upward—and the mouse was history. Sounds like a great new product (unless you’re a mouse), but the Little Champ failed. Woodstream studied mouse habits, not consumer preferences. The company later discovered that husbands set the trap at night, but in the morning it was the wives who disposed of the “present” they found waiting for them. Unfortunately, many of them thought the Little Champ looked too expensive to throw away, so they felt they should empty the trap for reuse. This was a task most women weren’t willing to do; they wanted a trap they could happily toss into the garbage.1 Woodstream’s failure in the “rat race” underscores the importance of creating products that provide the benefits people want rather than just new gizmos that sound like a good idea. It also tells us that any number of products, from low-tech cheese to high-tech traps, potentially deliver these benefits. Despite Victor’s claim to be the “World’s Leader in Rodent Control Solutions,” in this case cheese and a shoe box could snuff out a mouse as well as a high-tech trap. We need to take a close look at how products successfully trap consumers’ dollars when they provide value. In Chapter 1, we saw that the value proposition is the consumer’s perception of the benefits he or she will receive if he or she buys a good or service. So the marketer’s task is twofold: first, to create a better value than what’s out there already and, second, to convince customers that this is true. As we defined it in Chapter 1, a product is a tangible good, service, idea, or some combination of these that satisfies consumer or business customer needs through the exchange process; it is a bundle of attributes, including features, functions, benefits, and uses as well as its brand and packaging. attributes Include features, functions, benefits, and uses of a product. Marketers view products as a bundle of attributes that includes the packaging, brand name, benefits, and supporting features in addition to a physical good. Products can be physical goods, services, ideas, people, or places. A good is a tangible product, something that we can see, touch, smell, hear, taste, or possess. It may take the form of a pack of yummy cookies, a shiny new iPad, a house, a part used in production of that Tesla electric sports car you’d like to buy, or a chic but pricey Coach handbag. In contrast, intangible products—services, ideas, people, and places—are products that we can’t always see, touch, taste, smell, or possess. We’ll talk more about intangible products in Chapter 12. good A tangible product that we can see, touch, smell, hear, or taste. Welcome to Part 3 of this book, “Develop the Value Proposition for the Customer.” The key word here is develop, and a large part of the marketer’s role in developing the value proposition is to create and market products innovatively. In this chapter, we’ll first examine what a product is and see how marketers classify consumer and business-to-business (B2B) products. Then we’ll go on to look at new products, how marketers develop new products, and how markets accept them (or not). More broadly speaking, Parts 3 and 4 of the book take you systematically through all of the elements of the marketing mix’s four Ps: product and price in Part 3 and distribution (“place”) and promotion in Part 4. As you learned in Chapter 7, developing and executing a great marketing mix is the heart and soul of positioning strategy. And the place to start is with your product—as an old saying in marketing goes, “If the product ain’t right, the rest don’t matter.” Layers of the Product Concept No doubt you’ve heard someone say, “It’s the thought, not the gift, that counts.” Sometimes that’s just an excuse for a lame present, but more broadly it means that the gift is a sign or symbol that the gift giver has remembered you. When we evaluate a gift, we may consider the following: Was it presented with a flourish? Was it wrapped in special paper? Was it obviously a “regift”—something the gift giver had received as a gift for himself or herself but wanted to pass on to you (like last year’s fruitcake)? These dimensions are a part of the total gift you receive in addition to the actual goodie in the box. Like a gift, a product is everything that a customer receives in an exchange. As Figure 8.1 shows, we distinguish among three distinct layers of the product—the core product, the actual product, and the augmented product. When they develop product strategies, marketers need to consider how to satisfy customers’ wants and needs at each of these three layers—that is, how they can create value. Let’s consider each layer in turn. Figure 8.1 SnapshotLayers of the Product A product is everything a customer receives—the basic benefits, the physical product and its packaging, and the “extras” that come with the product. The Core Product The core product consists of all the benefits the product will provide for consumers or business customers. As we noted in Chapter 1, a benefit is an outcome that the customer receives from owning or using a product. Wise old marketers (and some young ones, too) will tell you, “A marketer may make and sell a half-inch drill bit, but a customer buys a half-inch hole.” This tried-and-true saying reminds us that people buy the core product, in this case, the ability to make a hole. If a new product, such as a laser, comes along that provides that outcome in a better way or more cheaply, the drill-bit maker has a problem. The moral of this story? Marketing is about supplying benefits, not attributes. And benefits are the foundation of any value proposition. core product All the benefits the product will provide for consumers or business customers. Many products actually provide multiple benefits. For example, the primary benefit of a car is transportation—all cars (in good repair) offer the ability to travel from point A to point B. But products also provide customized benefits—benefits customers receive because manufacturers add “bells and whistles” to win them over. Some drivers simply want economical transportation, others appreciate an environmentally friendly hybrid car, and still others want a top-of-the-line, all-terrain vehicle or perhaps a hot sports car that will be the envy of their friends. And some just like the expandable cup holder’s ability to accommodate everything from your Red Bull to a Big Gulp! The Actual Product The second layer—the actual product—is the physical good or the delivered service that supplies the desired benefit. For example, when you buy a washing machine, the core product is the ability to get clothes clean, but the actual product is a large, square metal apparatus. When you get a medical exam, the core service is maintaining your health, but the actual one is a lot of annoying poking and prodding. The actual product also includes the unique features of the product, such as its appearance or styling, the package, and the brand name. Samsung makes a wide range of flat-screen TVs in dozens of sizes from low-end low-price to other models that might cause you to mortgage your house. But in the end, all offer the same core benefit of enabling you to catch Sheldon Cooper’s antics on the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory. actual product The physical good or the delivered service that supplies the desired benefit. The Augmented Product Finally, marketers offer customers an augmented product—the actual product plus other supporting features, such as a warranty, credit, delivery, installation, and repair service after the sale. Marketers know that adding these supporting features to a product is an effective way for a company to stand out from the crowd. augmented product The actual product plus other supporting features such as a warranty, credit, delivery, installation, and repair service after the sale. This diet dessert offers the value proposition of good taste without the extra calories. Nestle Dreyer’s Ice Cream Co. For example, Apple truly revolutionized the music industry when it created its iTunes Store, which enabled consumers to download titles directly to their digital music and video libraries. It also conveniently saves you the trouble of correctly inserting, labeling, and sorting the new music. This innovation no doubt dealt a blow to firms that manufactured stands designed to hold hundreds of CDs. Apple’s augmented product (convenience, extensive selection, and ease of use) pays off handsomely for the company in sales and profits, and customers adore the fact that you can do it all on your device of choice. As streaming services for music such as Spotify and Tidal have gained in popularity, Apple adapted to the change in consumer preferences by creating Apple Music. Apple Music offers users the ability to access an extensive collection of songs for a monthly fee as opposed to purchasing songs or albums individually.2 One high profile benefit to attract users is the release of exclusive content from artists such as first-to-market singles by popular rapper Drake.3