Investigating Business Essay

In this section, I will give a detailed explanation of the marketing mix and why it is used in businesses. I will be giving a detailed analysis’ of the Product, Pricing, Place and Promotions. This section is based on about how I found my target market and then fulfilling their wants and needs. Marketing Mix Marketing mix: ‘Provides a recipe for effective marketing’: tutor2u. net Marketing is the term used to describe a range of activities within a business that are designed to keep existing customers and to gain new ones. The ‘marketing cycle’ begins with the objectives of the business, which feed into marketing objectives. Next comes, Market analysis, involving the business looking at its position in the market and the ways it can best take advantage. Market research will be used to fid out which groups can best be targeted, and how. Market planning will include how, when and where to target markets. It includes test produces and test marketing. A marketing mix needs to be developed so that a successful balance of price, product, promotion and distribution is achieved. The marketing mix: Product The product refers to the different range of products supplied by a business. A product can be either a good or a service. It is just one part of the marketing mix and will only be successful if properly combined with marketing. Good market researchers will identify where new products are needed or existing products can expand. The product lifecycle The product lifestyle shows the stages that a product goes through from development to decline. There are five stages to the life of a product and they are development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. The first stage is development. This is where the product is being developed it will not be growing as it is currently not on the market yet. Nobody will know what it is as it hasn’t yet been launched. The launch stage also known as the introduction is the second stage. This is where the product will begin to grow little by little. As it is a new product no body knows about it and therefore on a product lifecycle chart, it starts off at the very bottom, with no sales. The producer will need to create brand awareness so people know that the product exists. Brand awareness could be an objective set by the company. Brand awareness could be achieved in many different ways such as advertising in the local paper or on national T.  V. depending where the product will be sold in my case it will be sold locally so it will be most likely to be advertised in a local paper. When the consumers are more aware of the product they are most likely to buy it, as, sales will go up and the product then goes into its next stage of growth. Once, the product comes to the end of the decline stage then it is likely that the company will stop producing it, as they will eventually make a loss instead of a profit. However, not all products will reach the declining stage. The product lifestyle can be shown on a graph to the left. Currently, my product is at the development stage. I am currently finding out my customers need and wants through market research such as field and desk research, I am developing my product around what they want, this is important as they are buying it. If my product is successful it will evolve through the product lifecycle. As my product is a new product and not yet on the market I will need to do a lot of advertising to create brand awareness, through carrying this out successfully it will mean my product will get a good head start in the launch stage. When it becomes more popular I will the advertise in different ways such as television advertising, as this was the most effective way of advertising (results from questionnaire), with advertising in this way my product will be known nationally instead of originally locally. The marketing mix: Price Price is one of the elements of the marketing mix. The marketing mix term is used to refer to the balance between these different elements. Businesses need to get the mix right and in order to do this they need to decide on a price that is appropriate to the product. Most times, all prices determine by the interaction of supply and demand. In some countries, buyers and sellers still bargain until both are satisfied with the price. The auction process such as eBay mirrors this. However, this process can be time consuming and the seller usually sets the price and the buyer shows their acceptance of this by buying at that price. Price will vary according to the circumstances. Normally, if you start a new business you will have to research the market very carefully, examining competitors’ pricing very carefully. What will customers buy on price, example, buy the cheapest? The numbers of pricing strategies which can be used are the choice of pricing strategies that will depend to some extent on the long term objectives of the business- how it wishes to position itself in the marketplace, or how important its financial needs are. The examples of long term objectives are: * Making a profit * Pricing to keep the competitors out of the market * Pricing which positions the company at the luxury end of the market * Pricing to maximise sales and make the business a market leader. Commonly prices are based on the marketing needs of the business. There are often temporary price strategies used to achieve a particular short-term target, called tactical pricing. Promotional pricing is designed to increase sales quickly. This can be done using low prices or discounts, special offers or (buy one get one free. ) The marketing mix: Promotion Promotion involves telling the customers that a product exists, and attempting to persuade them to buy it. It is important to remember that this is just one part of the marketing mix; it is linked to other parts. Promotion is usually divided into advertising and sales promotion. Using different media such as TV, newspapers and magazines, posters, the internet and sponsorship are one of the different techniques of communication. Large businesses have the advantage of resources in promoting products to a mass market. Though, small businesses can make can make variety of promotional techniques in a local area or niche market and achieve good communication with the target market. One of the best promotional tools of a small business is a well-designed website. Place  Place is often referred to the fourth ‘P’ of the marketing mix. It has two key parts to it. Firstly, it is the market where goods and services are sold. This may be physical ‘place’ like a shop, market or trading floor, or it may have no physical existence but be the a market that exists on the phone or, increasingly, in cyberspace. The place where something is sold does not have to be solid; it just refers to the place where the transaction occurs. Secondly, ‘place’ refers to the transaction occurs. Secondly, ‘place’ refers the efficient distribution of goods. Most retail outlets can take many different forms. For example vending machines is a retail outlet, as is a department store. They are categorised by the type of range of goods or services they sell, and their geographical range and position. Multiples provide a brand identify for all of their sites. My product From carrying out primary and secondary research I have been able to choose exactly what my final product is. In carrying out field and desk research it enabled me to find out exactly who my target market is, how to segment the market and finding out and full filling my customers’ needs and wants. This is one of my four objectives. As my product is a new product it is currently at the introduction/launch pad, as nobody knows about it so far, but it will work its way along the graph. My product is a 3D indoor stimulating ride. As analyzed in my questionnaire a large group of the target market would like to see something different introduced in the theme park. This stimulator will include features that no other stimulator has ever included. As mentioned before, this ride is based on a classic book and film, Alice in Wonderland. Firstly the 3D stimulator will be one of the tallest stimulators in the world. The ride will be 395 feet high (beating Las Vegas Stratocasters record. ) with the speed of 150mph. As this is a suspense/vertical drop ride, people will be expecting to be entering a normal looking 3D stimulator ride but as the ride begins, they will be in for a shock. The ride will begin with a small voice of Alice speaking to the rabbit. After, the 3D screen will appear with the clip of Alice following the Rabbit. The ride will shake as it follows the motion of Alice’s footstep. As Alice’s follows the rabbit she will then see a small bottle labelled â€Å"drink me. † After Alice drinks the content from the bottle, the screen will switch off, a puff of white smoke will appear and a distorted nursery rhyme will be heard. The 3D stimulators will then shake vigorously and tilt forward. Flashing images of Alice’s face will appear from the screen with psychedelic patterns and colours. The stimulator will then spin around at a speed of 60mph for 40 seconds and unexpectedly stop. Then The ride will tilt even more and there will be an opening right below the people on the ride. This opening will have a slight cold breeze and will be pitch black. The ride will then drop down vertically from 395 feet, and that will be the end of the ride. This is the poster to my product: Safety As this ride will have a lot of dangers, safety is essential. Firstly, as the people will enter the simulator ride they will have to abide by the height restrictions (min. 1. 4m) anyone under that height will not be permitted onto the ride. Any pregnant women, people suffering from high blood pressure, heart problems or any other serious conditions, won’t be allowed on the ride. Seatbelts must be double checked before the ride begins. If any accidents occur during the rides i. e. vomiting then the ride will automatically stop and medical help will come straight away. Also, there will be paramedics in the area if any accident occurs. Branding From conducting my questionnaire in my primary research, it showed me that most people would prefer a scary themed ride, but I needed further information in how I was going to present the merchandises to the target markets. However from my secondary research it showed that most people would like a horror theme vertical drop ride. I decided to link the horror themed ride (chosen by the target market) with the other most popular choice, the 3D stimulator and combined the two together. For the merchandisers, I’ve decide to use Alice in terror land doll key chains, similar to the slasher film, Chucky the killer Doll. The features will include a sensor. The dolls eyes will follow you’re movement. This will also include a mini torch.