Target Marketing Strategy

"The company must first decide who it will serve. It does this by dividing the market into segments of customers (market segmentation) and selecting which segments it will go after (target marketing). "(Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Pg. 9) As our company was deciding to who we should appeal to, they brought up behavioral segmentation which "divides buyers into segments based on their knowledge, attitudes, uses, or responses to a product" ("(Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Pg. 147), the reason being is that our vodka won't appeal to everyone, especially if has the word hemp in it. Most of society when they hear the word hemp, they automatically think of the marijuana. People who use marijuana know that and people who eat healthy know that there are beneficial effects to hemp seeds. Then there are those people where this product will just interest them enough to have them buy it because it's so trivial and witty. "The company must also decide how it will serve targeted customers—how it will differentiate and position itself in the marketplace." (Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Pg. 9) We will serve our customers in such a way that will differentiate us and our position from the other companies and it's in the vodka itself. Distilling vodka with hemp seeds is still brand new to the vodka market. It's an untapped resource waiting to be discovered. This is really a special product that has been crafted. "Specialty products are consumer products and services with unique characteristics or brand identification for which a significant group of buyers is willing to make a special purchase effort." (Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Pg. 211)

Situation/SWOT Analysis

"Strengths include internal capabilities, resources, positive situational factors that may help the company to serve its customers and achieve its objectives." (Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Pg. 55) Our strengths would be how close we work with each of our suppliers, independent wholesalers/retailers and the select liquor stores we stock our products on their shelves. We have the ability to create buzz with this innovative brand of vodka that we have produced. Also our strong presence in creating social events at our distillery for people to come out to try out our vodka. Also we offer tours of our distillery and give them the rundown on what we use to make our vodka with and the history behind it. We also have a little bistro where people have the opportunity to eat a wide range of dishes made with some of the ingredients we use in our vodka. We offer all this to keep our customer values and customer relationships high. "Weaknesses include internal limitations and negative situational factors that may interfere with the company’s performance." (Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Pg. 55) Our greatest strength is also one of our greatest weaknesses among being advocates for hemp because majority of society associate hemp with marijuana. The idea of vodka distilled with hemp seeds might not catch on. "Opportunities are favorable factors or trends in the external environment that the company may be able to exploit to its advantage." (Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Pg. 55) Some opportunities that we can take advantage in the market is the ability to educate people about the uses of hemp. As stated before, people associate marijuana with hemp, so therefor we can put little pamphlets on our bottles and give information about hemp."And threats are unfavorable external factors or trends that may present challenges to performance." (Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Pg. 55) Threats that our company faces is the changing ever economy around us and in the British Columbia since we import our hemp seeds from there. We also face more companies jumping onto the hemp seed bandwagon and start making there own, making it a tougher market to compete in. 

Objectives

Here at Play Hard Vodka we have one goal and that is comprised of many more smaller objectives. The first objective that we have is to ensure that we produce one of the finest, most innovative vodkas in the market today. Our company has done some research in this field and have found out that there is only one other company that has produced a vodka distilled with hemp seeds. There may be a lot of vodkas out there, but this is a whole new level to the game. "Most companies today are networked companies, relying heavily on partnerships with other firms." (Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Pg. 20) Our next objective that pushes us towards our goal is to keep customer values high and customer relationships high. We have been working hard with our suppliers to ensure that we can provide you with the best quality ingredients for a good price so then we can pass our product that we make to you the customer at an affordable price. "Customer value is the key ingredient in the marketer’s formula for success."(Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Pg. 47) Since we use hemp seeds to distill our vodka, we want to also educate our customers on the beneficial effects that hemp can have on the world today. From being used as textiles, to being used in different kinds of paper. We are advocates of the hemp industry that used to drive our nation when we first started.

Business Mission Statement

"A mission statement is a statement of the organization’s purpose—what it wants to accomplish in the larger environment. "(Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Pg. 39) Here at Play Hard Vodka were all about working hard so you can play hard. Play Hard is just a slick term for letting loose and having fun. Everyone needs a little fun in there life, am I right? From the waters from the depths of the Pacific Ocean, to the hemp seeds we import from the British of Columbia to filtering it with our Herkimer Diamonds.We loosen up inhibitions and encourage you to explore. It's time for you to come out and play!"Mission statements should be meaningful and specific yet motivating."(Kotler, Gary Armstrong and Philip. Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Pg. 41)

Week 8 EOC: The Pitch

Imagine you're at a huge Electronic Dance Music (EDM) Festival. The huge crowd moving their bodies in time with the pulsating music that they are getting lost in. All the crazy and neon lights going on in the background of the DJ as he's searching for the next song to go into or waiting to drop the bass so everyone goes into a mini frenzy. At Play Hard Vodka that's what we like to do. Play Hard is just another saying for loosening inhibitions and having fun no matter what. It's all about the good times that you are having with your friends or random people that you just met. We will bring you around the globe on an exciting adventure, going 3000ft. beneath the Pacific Ocean to source our deep mineral ocean water which contains minerals such as magnesium, calcium and potassium. It is then desalinated through reverse osmosis so it keeps in the minerals. Then we zoom over to the British Columbia, Canada to import our hemp seeds, yes we said it, HEMP SEEDS. We distill our vodka out of hemp seeds, then mix it with our deep mineral ocean water, then we filter it of Heirkimer Diamond, which isn't a diamond at all, but the hardest quartz in the world. We Work Hard, so YOU CAN PLAY HARD.

Week 7 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

The way that companies are looking for people to fill the empty spaces isn't through job boards anymore, but on social networking sites, like Facebook, Twitter and Craigslist. Can this new way of looking for potential employees a good or bad move on the part of the companies. One reason why companies are doing this is because it saves them at least hundreds of dollars of posting to a job board somewhere. "Some recruiters say they have all but eliminated their spending on job boards, which can charge a few hundred dollars per job posting, depending on volume." (Wall Street Journal article dated August 8, 2011, Recruiters Troll Facebook for Candidates they like.) So saving a few hundreds of dollars per posting is a good upside, but this new program called "brand ambassadors" could cause some trouble. A brand ambassador is a person that the company picks to represent them in a variety of events to help talk about their company. They are given full training, including product and company knowledge. It's not easy to become one of these people since you have to apply and be up to their standards. "Marketers select their brand ambassadors very carefully, based on customers’ devotion to a brand and the size of their social circles."(Marketing: An Introduction. Armstrong/Kotler pg. 143). Why would they worry about the size of your social circle? Oh yeah, it's part of their marketing strategy, the more people the ambassador knows, the more people he can talk to about the company and get them hooked. If one ambassador gets 10 people hooked, those 10 people will get 10 more hooked and so on and so on. It's a never ending chain reaction. Sounds to me like they are using you to get to your inner most circle of friends. But these representatives aren't doing this for free, but they do get paid in vouchers and gift cards for their work. This could cause some huge problems. "some view the practice as underhanded or deceptive." (Marketing: An Introduction. Armstrong/Kotler pg. 143). "Others worry that brand ambassadors will be perceived as hucksters who promote products because they get free stuff—or, worse, as annoying evangelists best avoided." (Marketing: An Introduction. Armstrong/Kotler pg. 143)

Week 6 EOC: Me x 3

 

There are some things in the world that define me as me. I would like to say that my different types of Domo hats is one of them. No matter what season or where I'm going, I will always be wearing a Domo hat. I've always had a thing for Japanese things and ever since I laid my eyes on Domo, I became a huge fan. With his mouth always open looking like he is about to yell something and his arms raised in excitement, even if it's only over something small. I get excited quite easily over things I love and end up yelling and raising my arms in excitement.

When I was in the 6th grade, I had no idea how much the saxophone would become part of my life. At first I didn't like playing the saxophone, all the practicing of endless hours to get better, and most of all lugging around this huge case that held this hunk of metal. As time went on my saxophone started to grow on me. Now I'm playing saxophone for a band named Chug-A-Luv. Seeing a saxophone in a rock band is something you don't see everyday of you life; it's interesting and new. This saxophone is definitely one of the items that defines me. 

My HTC Radar has only been a part of my life for about 5-6 months and it is definitely something that defines me. A small, white, and skinny smartphone that runs Microsoft Windows 7.5. Not many people out there have a phone running Windows Mobile, because everyone else either has an android phone or the iPhone. I love the idea of personalizing your home screen with live tiles of your closest friends. Being able to personalize your home screen with your closest friends defines who I am because I do like being around my closest friends and having a good time.