EcoMarketing: Marketing Strategy, Product DevelopmentIn order to compete in the EU and US markets, knowledge of how these large markets work and a committed team who is willing and able to make use of that knowledge is needed. This is where EcoFacilitation and our partners come in. Marketing is a social and managerial function associated with the process of researching, developing, promoting, selling, and distributing a product, service, or intellectual property. Operative marketing involves the processes of market research, new product development, product life cycle management, pricing, channel management and promotion. We have at our disposal people with extensive experience in branding and marketing successful products at an international level. Product Development and Marketing Key concepts and the facilitation that EcoFacilitation provides for its joint venture partners: 1) Market Research and Product Development from defining a product concept, to defining product requirements, to developing the product, through product launch and the ongoing management of the product post launch. We are responsible for doing market research and writing a product requirements specification document for our food engineering facilitators to develop the product based on it. New product development is the complete process of bringing a new product to market. There are two parallel aspects to this process: one involves product engineering, the other marketing analysis. EcoFacilitation facilitates both. Before a product is launched, it must first go through the alpha, beta and gamma tests. Alpha Test: Pre-production product testing to find and eliminate the most obvious production deficiencies, in a production setting in the companies regular operations, although in some cases it may be done in controlled settings with lead customers. In our case with stores, wholesalers and organizations (i.e. like schools) known and affiliated with EcoFacilitation. Beta Test: An external test of pre-production products. The purpose is to test the product with the consumer for certain areas; overall acceptance, flavor preferences and packaging. It is more controlled tests than the Alpha test in selected markets before sale to the general market. Gamma Test: A product use test in which we measure the extent to which our meets the needs of the market, it solves the problems(s) targeted during development, and leaves the customer satisfied. 2) Market Research and Strategy namely to ascertain the 4 P's (Product / Price / Promotion / Positioning i.e. "Placement") Market research is broader in scope and examines all aspects of a business environment. It asks questions about competitors, market structure, government regulations, economic trends, technological advances, and numerous other factors that make up the potential business environment. A good marketing strategy should integrate marketing goals, policies, and action sequences (tactics) into a cohesive whole. The objective of a marketing strategy is to provide a foundation from which a tactical plan is developed. A marketing strategy serves as the foundation of a marketing plan. A marketing plan contains a list of specific actions required to successfully implement a specific marketing strategy. 3) Marketing Management and Brand Management Marketing Management: Identifying the level, timing, and composition of consumer demand in a manner that will achieve the desired objectives. Brand Management: Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand. It seeks to increase the product's perceived value to the customer and thereby increase brand franchise and brand equity. A brand is a symbolic embodiment of all the information connected to a company, product or service. A brand serves to create associations and expectations among products made by a producer and often includes an explicit logo, fonts, color schemes, symbols, which may be developed to represent implicit values, ideas, and even personality. A good brand name should:
Participatory Branding Although many of the strategies we will use to market products will be tried and tested, there are new, leading edge forms of marketing that more directly engage the public, making them a part of the branding process and allowing them to help shape the image of the brand in question. This, of course, leads to a more democratic view of a company, and rightly so. 4) Promotional Programs, Interactive Advertising and Direct Customer and Retail Contact Promotion involves disseminating information about a product, product line, brand, or company. The specification of these four variables creates a promotional mix or promotional plan: Advertising - Sales - Sales promotion - Publicity and public relations. Direct Contact Marketing - Direct marketing involves the planned recording, analysis and tracking of individual customers' (business-to-business or consumer) responses and transactions for the purpose of developing and prolonging mutually profitable customer relationships. Direct marketing sends its messages (and product samples) directly to its intended recipients, using "addressable" media such as mail and email. Direct marketing seeks a response and it is this response on which we base our future actions, or contact strategy, on. Direct marketing effectiveness can be measured directly and is based on statistical probability. Interactive Advertising is the use of interactive media to promote and/or influence the buying decisions of the consumer or a retailer in an online and offline environment. Interactive advertising can utilise mediums such as the Internet, mobile devices (WAP and SMS), as well as kiosk-based terminals. Interactive advertising affords the marketer the ability to engage the consumer in a direct and personal way, enabling a sophisticated and dimensional dialogue, which can affect a potential customer's buying decisions particularly in an e-commerce environment. Perhaps one of the most effective implementations of interactive advertising is so-called Viral Marketing. This technique uses images, texts, web links, Flash animations, audio/video clips etc., passed from user to user chain letter-style, via email. Building Our Brands We have participation by international marketing and advertising individuals who presently do this for Fortune 500 companies, and will be doing it at a dramatically reduced rate for us. Everyone "owns" the brand, the ad campaign, the distribution network itself and the systems that make it work. Integrated Marketing One very important lesson we have learned from the struggling organic industry: it is absolutely essential to commercialize new production methods, and consumers need to be able to appreciate what they are paying for. Therefore, we must MASS ADVERTISE the value of ethically produced and healthier food production methods, and use ‘state of the art’ marketing methods to sell the new "ethically produced and healthier foods". Therefore, we need to create a recognizable brand that represents these values. Now that we have gone over the different components of EcoFacilitation, we can begin looking at the development process for joint venture formation. |
