Tuesday's class focused on market segmentation. We were each given a different market segment and asked to draw up an ad to target our specific group. As discussed in my previous blog post, there are many different ways to segment a market including based on age, geography, income, gender, family life cycle, psychographic factors, etc.
One aspect of segmentation that we discussed in class was the Affordable Care Act. This act requires people to have some type of health insurance and to pay a fine if they are not enrolled in any program. We discussed how students just out of college who don't necessarily need healthcare and can no longer stay on their parent's plans often opt out of this program. They would rather pay the fee than pay for healthcare because it is seen as an unnecessary product for them and paying the fine is cheaper. However, an elderly person will pay for the healthcare because they feel they need it in order to continue to live a happy, prosperous life. This is an example of age segmentation because the potential market to sell healthcare is large in the elderly population, but much smaller in young adults.
Additionally in class we were tasked with coming up with a research model for Phone Soap. Phone Soap is a company that created a UV cleaning case for cell phones that also charges the phone at the same time. Phone Soap had two potential markets: the consumer market, or the business market. In general their goal was to sell to consumers; however, they had a large potential untapped market in selling to hospitals and other healthcare facilities.
Chapter 7 discusses extensively some concepts that are extremely important for Phone Soap's owners to understand. For example, it is important for them to understand that the demand for their product will probably fluctuate. It will be high at first as a new product and then dip down. However, as one of the Sharks mentioned, the demand could keep going up and down behind different targeted marketing strategies and pushes. Additionally, it is important for them to understand how customers will evaluate their product. They will base their evaluation on quality, service, and price. This way, Phone Soap can focus on creating the best quality product with the highest degree of service for the lowest price in order to appeal to consumers.
Thursday's class was specifically focused on our Smart Projects. Each group presented their final three concept solutions that included the product and a logo. I found Thursday's class to be extremely productive. The feedback that each group provided to the others allowed us all to think about things we might not have thought of on our own. Additionally, it gave us an opportunity to more critically analyze our product and really think about what would work and what wouldn't.
In general, our smart project is coming along nicely. We have decided on a final concept and are looking forward to putting all of our thoughts together into actually creating a physical product for the expo. Additionally, we are excited about the opportunity to work with a senior "marketing consultant" in order to gain insights into aspects of the marketing world and mind that we might not otherwise have.
That's all for this week!
-Kristen
Kristen, I really like how you tied important concepts from chapter 7 into our class discussion of Phone Soap. I especially like how brought in the concept of fluctuating demand. I think another problem with the demand for Phone Soap as a business product, that you did not mention, is the fact that businesses purchase their supplies in large quantities. This could lead to fluctuating demand for Phone Soap as a business product because once an organization has Phone Soap, they will not need to repurchase, therefore Phone Soap has to create demand all over again.
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