Week 2

SMART PROJECTS

Starting off the second week, we got into the true grit of the Honors Marketing class. We had combined with the Honors Engineering class to be able to start off our Smart Projects. After coming to a consensus, we had 8 groups of all different bugs that would be able to be made into products.

When it came down to it my group was grateful enough to have 2 engineers and 3 business majors to be able to design a product that would be able to help students to not forget their keys in their dorm rooms or even in their houses.

Throughout the semester with the Smart Project we are to develop the product while also developing it's brand and by the end be able to market it to the point where people would potentially want to buy it from us after seeing the display during the Engineering Expo.

CHAPTER 4

Aside from the smart project we also looked at Chapter 4 of the textbook. This chapter primarily focused on the marketing environment. This concept is about how the environment in which the consumers are in is constantly changing and so in turn businesses much change their marketing mix to stay alive in the competitive atmosphere. The chapter focused on the many factors that will affect the business categorizing them into different segments.

Each different factor affects the business as a whole and they must come up with different ways to combat it or else their business will initially fail.

Some of the factors talked about in the book that are mainly seen today are:

Social Factors
One of biggest social factor out there today is social media. Social media is used on a variety of platforms to help out businesses. Whether it be searching for consumer trends, having an ad out on different websites, being able to reach a broader range of customers, or anything. Social media has been growing rapidly the past few years and businesses are adjusting to the factor and benefitting greatly from it.

Demographic Factors
These days products are usually designed for certain audiences. Businesses need to be aware of the population because the basis of any market is the people; they choose what to buy in the end. When companies create a new product they have to be aware of who the majority of the population is. Do they want to gear it towards teens or towards adults? And specifically which teens or adults, tweens? The Baby boomers? Being aware of the demographic helps businesses know what the market is like and be able to optimize their sales.

Economic Factors
The economy is the key to any business. Its a constant struggle trying to find out if there will be a recession to come soon or if the inflation rate will rise. Businesses are constantly monitoring the economy to make sure their products are priced correctly and if they're located in the right area that will cater to their ideal clientele. More expensive stores will want to know that the household median income is around $52,000, so that they will know that they may have to drop prices to cater to that income or they may have to move elsewhere to an area where the median income is higher.

 These are just some of the environmental factors that businesses may face, there are many more factors such as technological factors and political and legal factors that may come into play for certain businesses. Having these factors just means the businesses have to adjust like Shell Oil Company which created their own Idea Factory that helps them face these factors and be a more innovated company.

Week 1

This first Week we had the honor of learning about the brand Kalyx, a Sports Bra company. They were a struggling company that went to Shark Tank for help. However, while there the views from the investors weren't the best, and when it came down to it the Kalyx didn't know how to answer the question of, "How in the world are you going to compete?"


To compete, Kalyx needs to create some sort of competitive advantage for themselves. They are going up against large companies with huge brands such as Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, and Champion. They need something to set themselves apart from these big names and create their own personal brand.

Some ways to do this as explained in the MKTG 10 textbook is:

Cost Efficiency
To be cost efficient Kalyx needs to cut back on production costs, labor costs, to be able to profit more. Also if they receive cheaper assets for their product it will then help them in the long run.

Product Differentiation
For product differentiation to occur in Kaylx they need to be different from their competition in some sense. They cannot just offer the lowest price they need to improve their product to a certain extent to be able to wow the consumers.

Niche
Being Niche is when the target market is very segmented and the product is very differentiated. Kaylx's market is too large with woman and not differentiated enough to be niche. It would benefit them more to be cost efficient or differentiated.

Going on to what we learned in the book and class it was more or less a basic introduction to what marketing is along with the purpose of business. We were introduced to Peter Drucker who was an author that wrote about the philosophies of business. The one quote that stuck with me was him saying that the purpose of business is to "create and keep a customer." For me that is key to maintaining a good business.



However through the book there were marketing management philosophies that also spoke to how to keep a good thriving business. The philosophies were production orientation, sales orientation, market orientation, and societal marketing orientation. All looked at what or whom the focus of the business should be, whether it is the internal capabilities, the desires of the marketplace, the customers needs, or what the business whats to produce. The different philosophies help the business to choose what they want to do and be able to better themselves. Marketing also helps to do this.

Marketing was defined as an activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients partners and society at large (Lamb, Hair & McDaniel). Marketing helps businesses to grow. By developing marketing plans, businesses create objectives to be able to achieve their goals and be a successful business. The week focuses primarily on marketing and the basis on how it benefits a business and why we should study it.










Lamb, Charles W.; Hair, Joe F.; McDaniel, Carl. MKTG (New, Engaging Titles from 4LTR Press) (Page 2). South-Western College Pub. Kindle Edition.

Welcome

Hello, my name is Janell Lewis. I am currently enrolled in Western New England University as a sophomore Sports Management, Arts & Entertainment Management dual major. During this semester I am apart of the Honors Marketing Class where I will continually post blog posts about what I have learned each week.

Before I post about Marketing however, I want to give a brief bio about myself. As I have said before I am a student at WNE (Go G-Bears!), While the school is in Springfield, MA, I am from just outside Philadelphia, PA in a town called Plymouth Meeting. Coming to WNE was a slight change but nothing too different than what I was used to.

Here at school I am involved in different clubs such as being a member of the Woman's Lacrosse team, a DJ for the radio station WNEK, and also a member of the Sports Management Association. By being involved with these I hope to one day get a job somewhere, preferably on the west coast where it is warmer, where I can work both in sports and also concerts.

This blog will focus more on Marketing concepts and the keys of what is talked about throughout the semester in HONB 200.