Marketing... isn't your like Mama's famous recipe, it's changed.

Explaining the Macro Marketing concepts to my manager.



This is a challenge in itself. Not only is my manager behind the times, I'm not sure he is aware of marketing at all. With this said this would be my plan.

Macro Marketing- the way marketing processes within a society or industry affect and are affected by systems and the society in which they function.
Wow, that's heavy stuff!



First, I would explain what consumer behavior is and how it has shifted, and what that means for marketing. I would paint a picture of today's consumer and their wants, needs and influence over any market. Consumers are in charge. This information hopefully, will enlighten my manager to see that Marketers are now, not only focused on creating a market for their product/business but also developing a customer and trying to retain them. Consumers have influenced all lines of business and with the creation of social media marketers are now able to competing across market lines.

The most dramatic change in marketing in the past years has been the invasion of social media. The second concept I would explain would be the power of social media and how it effects marketing. In today's world social media is the hub of communications and marketing is or has caught on. Marketers have to be savvy and use social media to advertise to, communicate with and research its costumers. I would emphasize that social media is responsible for the consumer being in charge and how business changed to embrace this change. Marketers have now figured out that social media has leveled the playing field. Marketers can reach all ends of the world however, this flat playing filed has also allowed for more competition. This is where creating a customer comes in to play and marketing to them.


Staying up with the times. The last concept I would explain would be like the times business should change. Marketers need to forecast to stay ahead and relevant. The most important concept in business is to remain on top and Marketers have the responsibility to keep its products on top. They need to find a way to stay ahead of the game.
 In summary these key concepts of making a customer and marketing to them with the help of social media will hopefully keep the company making money. The idea of staying ahead through research and forecasting will allow for chances to be taken and battles in the market to be won. *********************************************************************

Schools out for summer!!!


What a long journey this semester turned out to be. I can't say that it was always fun, nor, can I say it was always unpleasant. It was more like a rock in my shoe, cutting into the bottom of my foot and once removed sudden relief. HA HA!



As we say goodbye, I'm wondering, what am I going to do with the hours I used to spend preparing for lectuers, blog and multiple Pharmasim projects? I know!!!! I'll have a life again. No wait, I was wrong we merly have a few days before the next round of graduate classes begin. Oh, it was nice to dream for a moment.



Taking what we've learn and applying it!! What a concept. You mean we actully might use this information someday? Yes! Finally I paid for something that may come in handy down the road.

I will admit this was a challenging course but isn't that what an M.B.A program should offer? I learn several things about myself during this roadtrip called Marketing 640. I can handle anything if I make a timeline/outline for my life and also if I apply myself greatness can be achieved. Well maybe not greatness but I haven't failed out of the program yet.





OH  YEA, THAT'S ALL FOLKS

Hind sight is 20/20

I think I can see !!!!!!!!!!! My hind sight vision is 20/20 professor!

The process:
AH HA, it all makes sense now!  I can't imagine trying to complete this project if I didn't pay attention every week.  Each week's lesson correlated to every assignment and every Pharmasim period.   I think the information provided to us was delivered in a nice flow, building upon itself to ultimately help us complete Pharmasim.













Likes and Dislike- Hmmmm,  do I dare say I didn't like anything for risk of a lower grade.  What the HAY, I'm not scared of you (Harlan) !!! just kidding.


Good vs. Evil
Likes- I really liked the flow of the class as each topic corresponded with a project of move in Pharmasim.  This was a great way for me to not only learn about these marketing strategies in class and readings but to also experience them and learn from those experiences.  Pharmasim ended up being a really fun experience after the intimidation level subsided.  Our first and second Pharmasim lectures were rough though and I thought I was in over my head. But sticking with it Pharmasim became a game and a challenge.  One of the best things I liked about the process was the 'Team" Pharmasim.  I really like to bounce ideas off people and my group really worked well together.

Dislikes- None! HA HA HA.  Okay, I guess I will be honest.  I felt very rushed and stressed these past five weeks. Between full time work, regular homework assignments and our projects I've been a very unpleasant person to be around.  My apologies to my family and friends for my behavior.  I'm not sure how this could have been avoided since we needed to keep learning the information to continue to play Pharamsim.




OH the incidents!!! What a fantastic way to challenge us and to see if we were paying attention in class.  I must say that my group really didn't have to discuss the solutions very long.  We all were on the same page in regards to keeping Allstar honest and  respected by our consumers.

    


Social media incident: At some point we were faced with bad comments on our website and had several options on how to deal with the problem.  Our group chose to be committed to our customers showing them we cared so we chose the option that states we would check our site often and deal with issues immediately.




After changing the Allround forumulation we had to figure out what to do with the existing stock.  We chose the option to sell it to a competitor at a loss.  This was the only option that was ethical. We all agreed that taking a hit was in this case a good thing if it meant we would be able to stand behind our decision and keep Allstar and  Allround in a positive light.  This decision if brought into the media would not have any damaging effects on our company.



Most important decisions:

So many key decisions have been made in these past few weeks that 'm not sure I can narrow down the most important.  If I had to choose one I would say it was keeping Allround affordable.  Allround has had the market share for all 8  periods now and I believe its success is due to the fact that we offer great promotional deals on top of a great price.  Keeping a close eye on the market/competitors helped us decided when and by how much to raise the price.  I think that Allstar has been very consistent with its pricing and consumers love a bargain.


     


Most important lesson

Most important lesson I learnt over the semester is how much team work is key.  Without an equally dedicated team I think that these past few weeks would have been awful.  This particular project is meant for many minds to collaborate on.  Being a good team member is as equally important.  Being present in every conversation and decision has been awesome and has made me feel that together we have made it work.

"The Matrics or is it Metrics?"

Pharmasim's Metrics vs. The Matrix



Q: How are we in "Pharmasim land" measuring our Marketing success?
A:  By whatever grade the professor give us!

 Each business and company are different and require their own metrics to measure their marketing successes. A great place to start in Pharmasim when developing a metrics is to develop a marketing strategy. Once, a marketing strategy is in place a metrics to measure the strategies success can be developed and also set into place.
One of our current marketing strategy for Pharmasim is to maintain the market share for Allround. The marketing strategy is set into motion by the advertising , sales and promotion decisions that are made for Allround.
Making sure the marketing goals are in line with the marketing decisions  the metrics portfolio can be developed. Measuring market share can have several measurements that can make up a metrics such as: overall units sold, units sold per channel, customer satisfaction, and recommendations from physicians and pharmasits.
Now that the metrics has been established, data should be collected and reviewed. The data will tell if the marketing strategy was successful or not. Adjustments to how the product is sold, promoted and advertised can be made to align your product with the marketing strategy .

Sooooooooooo How'd we do?

Taking a look at my classmates blog's
Marty's Blog- In the last few posts I found to be interesting. There were personal stories and achievements in Marty's topics. I felt a change in his writing as the reader I got to know a little about who he is. As for his earlier posts I found them to be a hard read, fact filled and to the point. This is just a personal preference on what I like to read. I am looking forward to see how his Pharmasim does and the end of the simulation as Marty has the inside track on number crunching and graph making!  I think you should do the PH.D program!!!

 Marcin's Blog- This is a fun read. Front is small which makes it hard to see. I'm no critic so I'll say no more about it. Once again I wish that pharmasim groups blogged about there experiences and thought process. I think Marcin's use of illustrations keeps the heavy academic discussion light. I enjoy reading his blog.

Justin's Blog- Can you say sports fan!! What a refreshing twist to the marketing world. You can always count on Junstin to use sports to explain a topic. I confess, if I'm struggling with a topic I skim this blog to maybe find a relative point made in sports language. He makes tough and sometimes thick topics fun.  Thanks Justin for thinking outside the box!!

Do these ring a bell? I bet they do. Now that we have turned in our Situational Analysis we are all familiar with these key words.

How are my fellow pharmasim teams doing?

Meeting again with my team after our personal situational analysis projects were turned in was a fun filled meeting. The high stress we were feeling before we turned in our assignments was gone and it was time to focus on our next project the MINI MARKETING PLAN.  Was this really "mini"? Hmmmmm, maybe not.

In this meeting we began to pool our ideas and come up with our marketing strategy. Working off of the outline we quickly came up with our strategy. I believe we all had the same thoughts. Because all great minds think alike.

After a few days of working on the plan via email we finally were able to skype and hash out our thoughts and finalize our paper. Turned it in with time to spare. GO TEAM!

With the mini marketing plan on its way to be judged, evaluated and hopefully loved by the professor we decided to keep on keeping on. We fired that bad boy called Pharmasim up and began to make our moves. I may sound like I have confidence now but believe me when we are making these moves my heart is racing.

Mindy, Christein and I all agreed that this part of the course is our favorite. Instant gratification. We introduced a new product and moved/re allocated some money here and there. I guess I don't want to say too much. Long story short we worked well again as a team working through every aspect of the plan.

Our biggest triumph to date is that our utilization capacity is 100% . YAY for the new building!! Well maybe this isn't the biggest triumph but it sure did make us scream!!!



"Hello out there!!!!"

As we move through to period 4-6 it has been nice to hear about other Pharmasim stories.






Dave Griffin's blog pulled in outside stories and tied them into Marketing strategies used in Pharmasim. He although didn't talk specifically about his Pharmasim groups progress or decision choices it was still an enlighten experience with Dilbert and all. I suspect Dave wants to keep all of his Pharmasim secrets to himself. ha ha ha.  His blog is a nice easy, conversational read with plenty of humor.

Alexis blog- I love pink!!!!!! She like myself really enjoy round 1. Her Pharmasim experience with a team as seem explains is going well stating its nice to have input from others. Alexis has discovered that team play of Pharmasim has some differences than individual play. She describe her teams current strategy for the maneuvers through periods 1-3 as following the market update and adjusting to the needs on the report. I must agree without that report my team would have been lost.

Kenny's Blog talked about the good old struggle of push vs pull strategies. He makes references to the automotive world as they try to use push and pull strategies to maintain customers as well as gain new ones. I would have like to have heard about his experiences in the Pharmasim world and how he and his team planned on using either the push or pull strategy in their marketing plans. 




As time moves on I can not wait to hear about every one's experiences. I tried to give a fair account of our period 1-3 thoughts and decision. I must say that I didn't want to give out too much detail for the sake of the presentation at the end of the semester. I suspect that was what most other classmates thought as well.

Progress posting. I really like to see how the rest of the class is doing in Pharamsim. I like how the groups are labeled so that names are left out.


Looking out the Window!!!



Drucker's therpry on looking out the window will play a huge role in Pharmasim. As we have just completed out situational analysis I can appreciate Drucker's idea of keeping an eye on the market, competition and other external factors.
All to often companies get caught up in the internal aspect of their companies and Drucker stresses the importance of stopping and looking out the window.  As for making predictions in Pharmasim I don't think I'm that good of a marketer yet however, being able to see outside reports on the competition and gaining information from surveys provided my marketing group with the tools Drucker's says are imperative to a successful business and market share.

On your mark, get set, PHARMASIM!!!!!!!

AND WE"RE OFF

What an fun experience working in a group has been this week. I can honestly say that working through the pharmasim project with Mindy and Christine has been a pleasant experience. I must say, it is nice to work with others that have practiced with the pharmasim scenario during the past 6 weeks. Having practiced we are able to draw upon our past experiences which has helped us come up with strategies to complete periods  1-3.
                                                            
Step 1- With our nerves fluttering about we logged into pharmasim. Having become familiar with the scenario during our own time we jumped right into discussion. What was our plan? As we discussed the case the plan appeared. We didn't want to make too many decisions early on so we kept it simple. We focused on creating awareness and listening to the consumer and their buying habits. We did this by creating a website and changing our message to include: minimized side effects.  We also made some changes to our Advertising budget as well as reallocated our Promotion and Sales force as it related to the Market reports we studied. After our decision were made and we had a three person unanimous vote Christine hit the advance button..........SUSPENSE
.

Step 2- Seeing a slight gain in the stock price made us all scream. What an amazing feeling of teamwork. We had made a plan and planned/allocated accordingly and it seemed to pay off. This was a confidence booster. Maybe all of our preparation and studying was paying off. Did I speak too soon? In reality our first period success made the second period scary. This period we decided to move around our sales force again. We decided to take out the alcohol in Allround and decided to sell the unused batch to jobber at a loss. We made this decision mainly because it was more important to us to be a positive business and try to be transparent. We had made a net profit from the past period so it made sense to take a loss if it meant we remained an ethical business. Taking out the alcohol meant that we could now change our message that Allround doesn't cause drowsiness which was one of the concerns with non users. In this period we began to buy reports. We wanted to see where others were allocating there sales force and we wanted to check on our price as it compared to others in the market. We left our price alone and decided to move around our sales force to compete with others. Once again we all held our breath as Christine hit the advance button.

Step 3- AHHHHHHH!!! I couldn't look. Did we loose? Glancing at our stock price we screamed again!! This was an interesting period since we got to select a potential line extension that did not represent cannibalism. Allround being a multi purpose over the counter (OTC) medicine meant that most anything we introduced would take a bite out of Allround sales. We decided to do a conjoint analysis to help us figure out which one made the most sense. Children's cold was our choice. We also bought a promotional report to compare our promotion with our competitors.


Who knows what the future will bring. We are having fun and applying material from the course in a way that allows us to discuss, learn and laugh.
                                                                           
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When you're on top don't talk about anyone else.

This was a topic discussed in Thursday's nights lecture that my pharmasim actually discussed. When deciding how to advertise we didn't want to spend too much time comparing with others. We knew we had the highest market share and we thought that talking about the competition would give them recognition.

Band's like Coca- Cola, Apple and Southwest are great examples of this thought process.


                                           

 Tom Woolfe writes in his article: "Know Your Competition, But Don't Trash Them". http://www.woolfmedia.com/wordpress/2011/07/know-your-competition-but-dont-trash-them/

"The rule is to learn from your competition, but never mention them. As Machiavelli once wrote, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer,” so you need to keep a close eye on where the competition are appearing, what they are saying, and who is following them. That task has become much easier in the era of the web and social media, so follow their followers and keep your eyes and ears open. But whatever you do don’t mention them by name in your own press or marketing material – why give them the free publicity? And why undermine your own authority and assumed leadership by pointing to the other guy and saying, in essence, “But we’re better than they are…”."

The above mentioned brands are particular when it comes to advertising. They are the leaders in their markets and take that into consideration when choosing their message. Just like Tom Woolfe suggests in his article these brands do not mention their competition.
Mentioning the competition not only gives them free publicity it allows your customers to learn about other products. Yes, out mothers taught us to share however, sharing in the business world isn't appreciated.
                                                      

Happy Birthday World Wide Web!!!!!!!

April 2013 marked the 20th anniversary of the World Wide Web.

I can't even remember what life was like with out it. Since it inception it has changed the world. Some say it started "The Online Revolution".  Currently there are approximately 2,405,518,376 Internet users in the world, that's more than a 566.4% increase since 2000! (http://dashburst.com/infographic/online-revolution-internet-changed-world/ ) As the use of the internet progresses and changes with technology, our world changes as well. Marketers have seen this change and have taken advantage.

Over the past few years as social media has become a major driving force in the world in regards to communication Marketers seized the opportunity to place their products on numerous sites.

What is new in 2013 is that Marketers are learning that it might be beneficial to stick with certain websites instead of multiple. The advantage of data collection is that it allows Marketers to focus on where their target consumers "hang outs". Knowing which social media avenues your target frequents is a better use of your budget.  Personalized marketing is the new wave to marketing.


$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Pricing, Pricing, Pricing $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

This is an area that could make or break you.

Picking the right pricing strategy is important. There are several pricing strategies to consider; New product, EDLP everyday low price), High/Low and Status quo. Knowing your consumer and their buying habits helps.
New product pricing focuses on getting into the market and obtaining sales and profit. This type of pricing will help the product gain recognition and will allow for consumers to try it and hopefully become loyal consumers.
EDLP- The Walmarts and Targets of the world allow for their consumers to get their product everyday for the same price. This offers convenience to their consumer.
High/Low- This strategy uses coupons and sales to allow the consumer the perception of a "deal". Unlike the EDLP pricing strategy the High/low does not offer the sale everyday.
Status Quo- A pricing strategy focused on maintaining market share. This method is set in place to stay competitive with the competition but not created to beat them.

NMC Modle- Net Marketing Contribution Model

NMC= MDxMSxSPxCDxM%-ME

The outcome that every Marketer wants to display to the CEO is one that demonstrates that the marketing process is responsible for a positive new income.
The NMC model is a way to show how the marketing has contributed to the overall net income.
Pricing objectives play a major role in this model. Market share MS) demonstrates the % of units sold compared to competitors in the market. Pricing, promoting and selling competitively play an either positive or negative role on the MS. Sales Price SP) the price of your product plays a role in the overall net contribution. If your product is priced high then it won't sell and if it is priced to low it won't sell.

Drucker and the Correct Price:

According to Drucker the Marketer should select a price that the consumer wants to spend rather than what the supplier wants to sell.
Drucker suggests to think backwards when it comes to pricing. He explains that you first should come up with the price of the product then come up with the cost to produce it. An interesting thought!!!

Pharmasim:
 As the week ends we will begin our team play. I have been spending more and more time on Pharmasim to be ready for our upcoming mission.

This week I focused on pricing. I introduced a new product as well as kept my original. Marketing reports kept stating that the Accountants thought my pricing was to low. When comparing my Allround price to competitors I thought I was consistent. I then tried to increase the price to see what would happen to my market share. It turned out that even though I increased the price I maintained if not gained some market share. I attribute this to increased promotion and advertising and a solid target market and  plan.

My new product Allright isn't doing so great. I introduced a 4 hour allergy medicine with a non  drowsy formula. I first wasn't advertising and comparing this product correctly. After changing my comparisons to a 4 hour allergy medicine without non drowsy effect I saw an increase in my market share. After advancing to the next period my new product was still at the bottom in regards to market share. I then decided to put some money behind the product and increase the price much like I did with Allround. Can't wait to see what this does for the brand and company as a whole.

This weeks prompt asked us to figure out how we would implement the pricing strategies into Pharmasim.

When looking around our main page I thought that Promotion and Advertising decisions would play a huge role in the High/Low objective. If we priced Allround relatively high then we could offer customer coupons and wholesaler discounts.

EDLP could be implemented in either the original price being low or again offering reduced prices to wholesalers.

In order to maintain Status Quo in the Pharmasim world the Pricing report as well as the Manufacturing Sales report would be able to help maintain a competitive market share. Observing what your closest competitor is doing would help you price your product close to theirs.

Introducing a new product in Pharmasim is always interesting. There are several reports that can help in pricing. Cross sectional analysis is a great way to see how your product matches up with competitors. Knowing what your product is and who is your target market will allow you to narrow in on your competitor is the market. Once you figure out your competition you can figure out how to beat them.

Always remembering to keep Druckers perfect price in your thoughts and pricing strategy.

Demand and Value

Targets Neiman Marcaus
               
In discussion this week the idea of assimilating or associating brands together was brought up.  I think that this was and is an innovative way to reach outside target markets and also differentiating from competition. The example of target and Neiman Marcus demonstrates the unique opportunities aligning two different businesses can have. Target closes in on standing apart from its competitors by appearing to have a higher end product while Neiman Marcus gains exposure to a part of the market it does not target.

I wonder what the outcome would be if these companies followed in Target and Neiman Marcus's shoes:
McDonald's and Chef Ramsey's Restaurant



Period 4: Pharamsim

This week we were asked to look at and evaluate the market demand and marker value of potential new line extensions. These extensions are a 4 hour children's cold liquid, a 12 hr multi capsule and a 4 hr cold liquid.

Allround is an over the counter cold medicine produced by Allstar brands.

The Brand Purchased Report  identifies 545.8 million units of over the counter remedies were sold.
The target market focuses on young and mature families.

4 hour children's cold liquid-
Benefits of launching a children's cold medicine would be increased market share. Competition in this particular niche of the market is Coldcure. According to the Brand Formulation report Coldcure is the only brand manufacturing an over the counter child's cold remedy. Of the 545.8 total units sold Coldcure sold 50.6million $5.59 which was 9.3% of the total units sold. The Brand share for Coldcure for young families is  24.6% and mature families was 9.0%. It appears that yes, there is room in this market for additional cold remedies for children.

Purchases Survey Details for Coldcure hide details
	Market units purchased: 545.8 Coldcure units purchased: 50.6 Pct of Market Brand Share Pct of Brand Cold 74.0% 12.5% 99.8% Cough 14.9% 0.2% 0.2% Allergy 11.2% 0.0% 0.0% Young Singles 14.5% 0.0% 0.0% Young Family 26.8% 24.6% 71.1% Mature Family 29.7% 9.0% 28.9% Empty Nester 14.8% 0.0% 0.0% Retired 14.2% 0.0% 0.0%

12 Hour multi capsule- This product is has a great opportunity to take over the market because of its longevity however, allround already has a 4 hour multi liquid and this would be an introduction of the same product. Unless, they can advertise it like a luxury brand as was discussed in this weeks lecture. Allround has sold 124.7 million units at $5.29. And has the largest market share.

Purchases Survey Details for Allround hide details
	Market units purchased: 545.8 Allround units purchased: 124.7 Pct of Market Brand Share Pct of Brand Cold 74.0% 23.5% 76.2% Cough 14.9% 35.3% 23.0% Allergy 11.2% 1.7% 0.8% Young Singles 14.5% 20.9% 13.2% Young Family 26.8% 19.7% 23.1% Mature Family 29.7% 21.6% 28.1% Empty Nester 14.8% 22.2% 14.3% Retired 14.2% 34.1% 21.2%

	4 Hour cold liquid- This product much like the 12 hr multi cap will be pose an a threat to the all ready existing 4 hr multi liquid by Allround.  Allround multi can and is used as a cold remedy and it would be introducing the same product into the market by the same brand. No Not to mention there are several other brands that produce the same product. Coughcure and End produce 4 hour cold liquid. End sold 50 million units at $4.79 and Coughcure sold 35.2 million units at $7.09.
	When analyzing the market demand and value for a extension line for Allround. I would say that the best possible addition would be the 4 hour children's cold liquid. This product has the most room for growth and market capture.