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!!!