Benefits vs Features

So in my food truck, some of the features it has are food and music. Many different places have that. But one of the benefits of my food truck would be that along with that you get live entertainment.  The entertainment isn’t someone that is an entertainer. The entertainment comes from people just wanting to perform in front of a crowd. And the customer doesn’t need to pay for the entertainment. It’s free. People like getting stuff for free and the fact that they get a free show while they eat is a benefit that they can enjoy. Another benefit of my food truck is that people get to find other people with similar interest as them. Someone could be watching a performer and they might have the same talent as them and they want to go and talk to them and get to know them. And with that’ll bring a lot of people together. “A powerful form of segmentation is to group buyers according to the different benefits that they seek from the product. Benefit segmentation requires finding the major benefits people look for in the product class, the kinds of people who look for each benefit.” (Marketing: An Introduction, pg. 182)

Week 8 EOC: My Creative Content

For my creative content I will be making a video. The video will be made up of a few different parts that show the different things that my food truck has to offer. The first part of the video will be pictures of food that will be served at the food truck.  It will be a couple of them just to let people know what kind of food the people can expect to get when they go to the food truck. The next part of the video will be pictures of people together. It will like friends together having fun and smiling and all that just to show that people like being together and like to have fun. The final part will be clips of people doing their talent. There will be different clips of people dancing, singing, rapping and anything else that incorporates music. I will use footage to show that my food truck is for people that love doing these things and love sharing it with other people. All these clips will be stripped of audio and a song will be used over all the video. I will try to make the video at least 30 seconds long and use short little clips to get the message about the food truck through.

Implementation Evaluation Control

“Managing the marketing process requires the four marketing management functions—analysis, planning, implementation, and control. The company first develops companywide strategic plans and then translates them into marketing and other plans for each division, product, and brand. Through implementation, the company turns the plans into actions. Control consists of measuring and evaluating the results of marketing activities and taking corrective action where needed. Finally, marketing analysis provides information and evaluations needed for all of the other marketing activities.” (Marketing: An Introduction. pg. 55) Through hard work and determination, my food truck is determined to get out there and get recognition. It will start small and maybe slow but with the experience it will offer it will most likely get the attention of many people. The first few weeks of it’s operation will be mostly to find out what to improve on and with that to build on it and become better. Hopefully with that it will be a one of a kind experience that people would want to come to again and again.

Link to video for my food truck: http://youtu.be/mFwPYo2tD1Q

Price

“Although costs are an important consideration in setting prices, cost-based pricing is often product driven. The company designs what it considers to be a good product, adds up the costs of making the product, and sets a price that covers costs plus a target profit.” (Marketing: An Introduction. pg. 276). “Recent economic events have caused a fundamental shift in consumer attitudes toward price and quality. In response, many companies have changed their pricing approaches to bring them into line with changing economic conditions and consumer price perceptions. More and more, marketers have adopted good-value pricing strategies—offering just the right combination of quality and good service at a fair price” (Marketing: An Introduction. pg. 277)

Entrees

·         Beef Brisket Sliced                   $ 2.99

• Cube Steak                              $ 4.99
• Meat Loaf`                               $ 3.99
• Pork Tenderloin                        $ 2.99
• Fried Catfish                             $ 4.99
• Chicken Links                          $ 1.99
• Fried Chicken Breast                $ 1.99
• Fried Chicken Wings                $ 0.99
• Short Ribs                                $ 4.99
• Smothered Chicken Wings        $ 1.99
• Smothered Chicken Breast       $ 2.99
• Smothered Chicken Thigh         $ 3.99

Side Dishes

• Fried Rice                    $1.99
• White Rice                   $1.99
• Lima Beans                  $1.99
• Mashed Potatoes          $1.99
• Corn                            $ 0.99
• Black eyed Peas           $ 0.99
• Mac and Cheese          $ 0.99
• Sauerkraut                    $ 0.99
• Corn Bread Slice          $ 0.99

Desserts

• Pound Cake                 $2.99
• Cheesecake                  $1.99
• Peach Cobbler             $1.99
• Ice Cream                    $ 0.99
• Milkshake                    $2.99
• Sweet Potato Pie          $3.99

Salads

• Caesar Salad                $3.99
• Potato Salad                 $3.99
• Chicken Salad              $3.99

Drinks

• Soda                $1.99
• Juice                 $1.99
• Iced Tea           $1.99
• Lemonade        $1.99
• Water               $0.99

Combo Meals

• Any entrée or salad with 2 sides, drink and dessert        $ 9.99

Promotion

"Sales promotion tools are used by most organizations, including manufacturers, distributors, retailers, and not-for-profit institutions. They are targeted toward final buyers (consumer promotions), retailers and wholesalers (trade promotions), business customers (business promotions), and members of the sales force (sales force promotions)." (Marketing: An Introduction. pg. 432)

The following are the promotions my food truck will have:

• Any person that performs is given a complementary drink and something off the menu (excluding a combo meal)
• Stamp cards get stamped after every purchase and after 5 purchases the 6^th one is half off.
• Special discounts offered to anyone who is in a rap battle or dance off.

“Sales promotion objectives vary widely. Sellers may use consumer promotions to urge short-term customer buying or to enhance customer brand involvement” (Marketing: An Introduction. pg. 432)

Distribution

"The extreme form of this practice is exclusive distribution, in which the producer gives only a limited number of dealers the exclusive right to distribute its products in their territories. Exclusive distribution is often found in the distribution of luxury brands and brands.” (Marketing: An Introduction. pg. 324) The distribution of my food truck would be around neighborhoods with the black community. I would maybe get to partner up with local stores. Like a barber shop that needs business and a mini mart that would be around the corner where people might pass by. Also, with a local church that might have people who would want to buy something to eat after it is over. And have something fun for people to do after it. “Between intensive and exclusive distribution lies selective distribution—the use of more than one, but fewer than all, of the intermediaries who are willing to carry a company’s products. Most television, furniture, and home appliance brands are distributed in this manner." (Marketing: An Introduction. Pg. 324)

Product

An organization with several product lines has a product mix. A product mix (or product portfolio) consists of all the product lines and items that a particular seller offers for sale. (Marketing: An Introduction. pg. 220). My food truck has a good list of food for offer. It has entrees, side dishes, desserts, salads, drinks, and combo meals. “A company’s product mix has four important dimensions: width, length, depth, and consistency. Product mix width refers to the number of different product lines the company carries. Product mix length refers to the total number of items the company carries within its product lines. Product mix depth refers to the number of versions offered of each product in the line. Finally, the consistency of the product mix refers to how closely related the various product lines are in end use, production requirements, distribution channels, or some other way.

Entrees

• Beef Brisket Sliced
• Cube Steak
• Meat Loaf
• Pork Tenderloin
• Fried Catfish
• Chicken Links
• Fried Chicken Breast
• Fried Chicken Wings
• Short Ribs
• Smothered Chicken Wings
• Smothered Chicken Breast
• Smothered Chicken Thigh

Side Dishes

• Fried Rice
• White Rice
• Lima Beans
• Mashed Potatoes
• Corn
• Black eyed Peas
• Mac and Cheese
• Sauerkraut
• Corn Bread Slice

Desserts

• Pound Cake
• Cheesecake
• Peach Cobbler
• Ice Cream
• Milkshake
• Sweet Potato Pie

Salads

• Caesar Salad
• Potato Salad
• Chicken Salad

Drinks

• Soda
• Juice
• Iced Tea
• Lemonade
• Water

Combo Meals

• Any entrée or salad with 2 sides, drink and dessert.

Target Marketing Startegy

There is no single way to segment a market. A marketer has to try different segmentation variables, alone and in combination, to find the best way to view the market structure. (Marketing: An Introduction. pg 177) My food trick will have two different segments. They are demographics and behavioral. It will only have these two because these two are what the food truck needs to find it’s target market. These two segments can separate the market but still keep it pretty simple in trying to find customers. “Market segmentation involves dividing a market into smaller segments of buyers with distinct needs, characteristics, or behaviors that might require separate marketing strategies or mixes.” (Marketing: An Introduction. pg. 175).

Demographics:

• Age - All ages (13-30 preferred for entertainment)
• Gender - Male and Female
• Race: Primarily Black

Behavioral:

• Occasions: Regular Occasions
• Benefits: Quality, Entertainment, Convenient
• Loyalty Status: Medium to Strong
• Attitude Toward Product: Enthusiastic and Positive

These segments of the food truck are all that is important are needed to find their customers the food truck wants.

SWOT Analysis

“Managing the marketing function begins with a complete analysis of the company’s situation. The marketer should conduct a SWOT analysis, by which it evaluates the company’s overall strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T). Strengths include internal capabilities, resources, positive situational factors that may help the company to serve its customers and achieve its objectives. Weaknesses include internal limitations and negative situational factors that may interfere with the company’s performance. Opportunities are favorable factors or trends in the external environment that the company may be able to exploit to its advantage. And threats are unfavorable external factors or trends that may present challenges to performance.” (Marketing: An Introduction. pg. 55)
Strengths:

·        Having a DJ to work the sound system.

·        A cook that knows how to serve soul food.

Weaknesses

·        Not charging for the entertainment.

·        No security to keep crowd under control.

Opportunities

·         Getting noticed by a local radio station and promoted through them.

Threats

·        People that are offended by what some performers might say and take action against the food truck.

·        Fights breaking out due to a large crowd.

Objectives

One objective of the Feed Your Soul Food Truck is to provide quality soul food and food service. It tries to achieve that by having on the food menu soul food that is served and delivered quickly. The food is taken directly to the customer so that it saves the customer the trouble of having to walk through a crowd of people. This could be pleasing to the customer as they don’t have to be bothered by it. Another objective of the food truck is to provide a one of a kind eating experience by bringing people together with the power of music. It tries to achieve this by having music being played at every stop from a sound system built into the truck and having people perform in front of the truck and attract people themselves. When a person is drawn to the food truck by the performer and the music they could have the same interest as the performer and it could cause the person to talk to the person and get to know them. Or the person can just by a spectator and they could they could find themselves liking the performance as much as another spectator.  “The company needs to turn its mission into detailed supporting objectives for each level of management. Each manager should have objectives and be responsible for reaching them.” (Marketing: An Introduction, pg. 41)

Business Mission Statement

Here at the Feed Your Soul Food Truck we hope to offer great food and food service and a one of a kind eating experience by bring people together with the power of music. We serve quality soul food for one and all. Along with food we also offer an open mic and an open floor for anyone wanting to participate in any activity involving music (i.e. rapping, dancing.). Our customers are mostly from the black community. We are looking more for the younger crowd of the black community because younger people like coming together and expressing themselves how they can and we allow that through our services. What our consumers value is good food, good service, good entertainment and a sense of unity. We give that to them by having great food and food service and great live entertainment and by bringing people together to show what they are capable of. The entertainment is raw and comes from people who have a great talent that might not be seen too often. As a result, a person’s performance is more passionate and may come with mistakes, but this makes for much more real performance and that’s exactly what we want to be delivered. “An organization exists to accomplish something, and this purpose should be clearly stated. Forging a sound mission begins with the following questions: What is our business? Who is the customer? What do consumers value? What should our business be?” (Marketing: An Introduction, pg.39).  When it comes to bringing people together, we at Feed Your Soul Food Truck try to accomplish this with two things almost every human being loves, music and food. “Some companies—such as Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, Timberland, and others—are practicing “caring capitalism,” setting themselves apart by being civic-minded and responsible. They are building social responsibility and action into their company value and mission statements. For example, when it comes to environmental responsibility, outdoor gear marketer Patagonia is “committed to the core.” (Marketing: An Introduction, pg. 29).  

EOC Week 7 - Marketing Plan

Feed Your Soul Food Truck

Here at the Feed Your Soul Food Truck we offer fine soul food. We have chicken wings, peach cobbler, pork ribs, fried chicken and much more. We believe that our food should not only fill you up but also make you feel good. We also offer something for customers that feel a need to express themselves or just want to show off a talent or their artistic side. We know that people like having a little entertainment during a meal. So in the truck we have a DJ and sound system. At every stop a mic and a mat are set up right in front of the truck and anyone can approach it and show their talent be it poetry, singing, rapping or dance. It is somewhat like an open mic night at a café but here we offer it people who might not ever go to a café. With that people are encouraged to come up and show off their talent. In doing so the person gets a complementary drink and something of their choice from the menu (excluding combo meals). There are also weekly sign ups for rap battles and dance offs for anyone wanting to participate in them. We know that music touches the hearts of many people and that they use it as a way to express themselves and we provide that for anyone wanting to find an audience or find people with similar interests. We might be a food truck but what we strive to do is let the love of music bring people together. We want people to come not just for food but for entertainment or to be entertainment, to meet new people and find people with similar interests. We believe that expressing oneself through a talent is a way to feed their soul and make a person feel better about themselves.

EOC Week 6: Me x 3 products I Use

When people first buy a product, they usually buy something that think that they’ll like. If they like it, they’ll stick with it and keep on buying it and not want anything besides that product. The reason for that is because they want to stay loyal to the product because it satisfies them. I also have this loyalty to certain products. One of the products that I would pick over another is the iPod. The reason I would pick the iPod over another product similar to it is because it was the first mp3 player I ever got. It was the only one mp3 player I knew about the time I first got one and since then I haven’t bothered to try any of the other ones because I know pretty much everything about the iPod along with iTunes. And since that’s pretty much everything that is needed to operate an iPod, I’m happy with that. Another product that I’m loyal to is the iPad. Although I haven’t yet bought one, I’m saving up to buy one and I know I don’t want anything else. I’ve gotten to use one and mess around with it. It’s not much different from the iPod Touch and I already know how to use that one so the iPad is already sold for me. To me nothing else can compare to it. And another product that I am loyal to is the Xbox 360. It’s like the complete opposite to the iPod and iPad, with the iPod and iPad being from Apple and the Xbox being Microsoft, but I’m really satisfied with the Xbox. It has games I like and some good features. Most of the games and features are included in the other game systems but with the Xbox I just feel like I’m getting the most out of it. It wasn’t cheap to buy but also not too expensive and it comes with everything I could want, so it’s like perfect for me.

EOC Week 5: Social Networks and Job Hunting

Everyone now a days has a Facebook and job companies now this.  Companies are starting to use Facebook as a way to recruit new employees. “More companies are trying to tap Facebook Inc.'s 750-million-plus user base to find new employees, threatening traditional job boards and competing with LinkedIn Corp., which has dominated the online professional networking arena.” (Recruiters Troll Facebook for Candidates They Like, Wall Street Journal.) When a company finds a person to recruit and the person is interested, the company starts to recruit people that the recruited person might know. After carefully finding a someone they might want to recruit, the company might then make a brand ambassador out of that person. Companies are careful about picking these people. “Marketers select their brand ambassadors very carefully, based on customers’ devotion to a brand and the size of their social circles. They sometimes search blogs and online social networks to identify individuals who are already functioning as brand advocates.” (Marketing: An Introduction, pg. 143).  After the company has their brand ambassador they then let them  go and talk to people they know about the brand they are working for.  And they do this through different ways. It could be in person or through blogs, social networks, and so on. “The ambassadors then tap into friends, family, groups, and broader audiences through personal conversations, blogs, live events, and online social media.” (.” (Marketing: An Introduction, pg. 143).  This is a really effective way to recruit people to work for a company or to buy products from them. Looking for future employees through social networks is still pretty low. About 1% of employees are hired  through Facebook. But if the trend continues Facebook can rival the traditional job hiring by 2012. “Facebook hires account for less than 1% of the total hires companies are making, according to Jobs2Web, which

helps companies track the sources of candidates and hires.

But if current growth trends continue, Facebook could rival traditional job boards in 2012” (Recruiters Troll Facebook for Candidates They Like, Wall Street Journal.).

EOC Week 4: Consumer vs Business Marketing

EOC Week 4: Consumer vs Business Marketing

There are many differences in marketing and many different consumers. Take for example a single person buying a computer compared to a business buying a whole stock of them. A well known company that does this is GE. Many people buy GE products that are used around the house. “For more than 130 years, we’ve packed our homes with GE products—from good ol’ GE lightbulbs to refrigerators, ranges, clothes washers and dryers, microwave ovens, dishwashers, coffee makers, room air conditioners, and hundreds of other products bearing the familiar script GE logo.” (Marketing : An Introduction. pg 158). Along with these products, GE also sells to many different commercial and industrial customers. But the products it sells to these customers are completely different to what people would buy for their houses. ”Beyond light bulbs and electronics, GE sells everything from medical imaging technologies, water processing systems, and security solutions to power generation equipment, aircraft engines, and diesel locomotives.” (Marketing : An Introduction. pg 158). Though the products might be different the thing that GE wants to do is sell the product. Selling an aircraft engine to a company is still the same as trying to sell a refrigerator to a single person. But that’s similarity that a single customer and a company share. When it comes down to it, GE would rather lose a single person who decides to buy a fridge that’s only a couple hundred dollars than to lose a company that wants to buy  airplane engines that will cost millions of dollars in losses. “Whereas it might be disappointing when a refrigerator buyer chooses a competing brand, losing a single sale to a large business customer can mean the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in business.” (Marketing : An Introduction. pg 158). And that’s something GE wouldn’t want.

Week 3 EOC Demographics - MINE

The demographic  group I belong to is the Millennials.  The Millennials are the 83 million children of the baby boomers born between 1977 and 2000. The group consists of several age groups inside itself such as: tweens, teens, and young adults. Millennials are the first age group to grow up with technology and are fluent in using it. “One thing that all of the Millennials have in common is their utter fluency and comfort with digital technology. They don’t just embrace technology, it’s a way of life.” (Marketing: An Introduction, pg. 17). And well this is true for me. I know how to use pretty much everything that has to do with technology nowadays. I use it every day whether I notice it or not. It’s just something I grew up with so it’s not something that I can ignore if I’ve been around it my whole life. It’s important to keep up with all the technology because it helps with everyday life. “The Millennials were the first generation to grow up in a world filled with computers, cellphones, satellite TV, iPods, and online social networks.”(Marketing: An Introduction, pg. 17). All this technology is very useful even for people born in a different age group. Knowing how to use these devices can make a lot of things easier. Being able to find information about something you want to purchase from you’re phone is pretty useful.  “Millennials are bombarded with marketing messages coming at them from all directions. And rather than having mass marketing messages pushed at them, they prefer to seek out information and engage in two-way brand conversations.” (Marketing: An Introduction, pg. 17).  

Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

In the video game market, most of the home consoles like the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii are losing sales due to people waiting for the price to drop. On the other hand, the games that appear to be the star in this decline is not even a game system, they’re the downloadable games on the smart phones. “In 2009 smartphone games accounted for 19% of the total money spent on portable games, with portable game devices like the Nintendo DS accounting for the remainder.” (http://socialtimes.com/smartphone-growth-in-mobile-gaming-continues_b59052). This is mostly because the games are inexpensive and because people like to be able to keep busy while they might be waiting for something and they always have their phones with them. The cash cow in this is the Xbox 360. Although it’s sales are in decline, people are still playing Xbox Live and able to play with people all over the world. “Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE service and Kinect have both helped Microsoft maintain a solid lead in the U.S. console market.” (http://www.winrumors.com/microsoft-parades-its-impressive-xbox-360-stats-ahead-of-e3/). T he only downside is that people need to pay to play online which is where the Xbox would get most of it’s money. The question mark in this is the Wii. People are still playing it and are still buying games for it but it’s not certain where it might go from there. The PS3 is the dog in all this. It’s sales are below both the Xbox and the Wii. It’s price is higher which would probably keep most people from buying it. And it’s live network work isn’t as good as Xbox Live, even though it’s free. “There are lot of issues on the PSN now and then and we hear a lot of people moan about it. In other words, PSN is one of the features that is unpopular among the PS3 gamers. Yes, of course it’s free but the price of free that makes everyone considering to buy this console.” (http://www.ps3crunch.net/5-reasons-not-ps3.html).

Week 1 EOC Great Customer Service

A time when I remember when I had great customer service was when I went to Walmart to buy a video game. I went and bought my game and everything and when I got to the car I opened it up and was shocked to see what was inside. The game wasn’t there. It was some bootleg, scratched up, burned CD that had nothing to do with the game. I was like “What?!” I was mad because I had paid for the game and it was completely sealed in a wrapper and everything and there wasn’t even a game inside of the box. So after I saw that I got my receipt and went back into the store. I went up to the cashier that sold me the game and showed her what was inside the box. She was just as shocked as I was. She asked me if it was wrapped when I got it and I told her it was. From there she didn’t know what to do because she was new and didn’t really know what to do so she called her manager. I was mad but not so much at her because she was new and didn’t really know what to do. So when her manager got there I told him what happened. He also asked me if it was wrapped when I bought it and I told him it was. He then told me that usually when the game is opened outside the store that it they don’t know if it was switched on purpose and can’t really do anything about it. But since I had only taken like 5 minutes to go and come back and show them the game that he would get me a new one. So he should me great customer service right there when he believed me when I told him that I hadn’t switched it on purpose. And getting me a replacement for the game.

Week 1 EOC My Voice

Since a young age, I had an interest in music. I knew I wanted to do something involving music with my life. As I grew older I started took interest in the more technical side of music. I would wonder how CDs were recorded or how things were layered on tracks. I took interest in learning how to play electric guitar and attempted to learn more about how all the different sounds and effects that are able to be played on it. I got to get more in depth with audio when my dad bought a sound system and allowed me to use it. I would mess around with it here and there and would sometimes use if for live sound when for parties and meetings I would go to. From that little experience I had I was able to get some friends together and form a band. In that band I was able to use a get familiar with a lot more equipment I wasn’t familiar with. With that I was able to go into a recording studio. There I was able to meet someone that already knew all about the audio field. Being in that recording studio made me  realized that learning audio would be the perfect way to incorporate music with something I want to do in life.