Introduction
A new product comes or enters the market as the result of the innovative steps in the new product development process. Here, the new product developed is a brand of noodle called the Hot Nodle. The product is a delicious one with a variety of proteins and nutrients added to it to enrich its appeal. The noodle was developed as a result of various brainstorming exercises carried out.
Mission Statement
Our product is a branded noodle called Hot Nodle which can be used by people irrespective of age group. The mission statements of our organization are:
- We are much delighted in making an ideal noodle and exhibiting considerate and cooperative services within minutes
- To be a global provider of noodles with reasonable pricing and to make it available to the needy irrespective of place.
- An excellent organization to work with; which offers a tremendous growth opportunity for employees, job satisfaction and security with performance rewards and enough fun at work.
- To be an organization with a focus on profitability and esteemed services with due respect to the values of shareholders and stakeholders.
Objectives
“The objective will ensure that a company knows what its strategies are expected to accomplish and when a particular strategy has accomplished its purpose, in other words without objectives strategy decisions will take place in vacuum” (McDonald, 2007, p.275).
The main objectives of the firm for the first year of operations are
Product /Organizational goals
- The marketing objective of Hot Nodle includes; focus on differentiation strategy in the market
- To have an excellent position in the market in terms of price and quality.
- To make the product a synonym for noodles by concentrating in the rural market.
- To publicize the product by using the facility of sponsorship.
Profitability Goals
- Keeping provisions costs less than 35% of revenue.
- To manage employee labor cost among 25-29% of total revenue.
- Stay as a quality organization with excellent food and service.
- To make an annual profit of between $500,000 and $1,000,000
- To provide special discount to increase the overall profitability.
Sales Goals
- Averaging sales between $1,000,000-1,400,000 per year.
- Enlarge the marketing and advertising in neighbouring countries.
- Achieve 10% return on investment to investors
- To achieve a 60% of target annually
Identify the Target Market
There are three main steps involved in identifying the target market. They are: understanding why the customer needs to buy our product and how it is beneficial to them. The second step comprises of overall market segmentation and the final step is to conduct market research.
Demographic Profile
The demographic factors have to be considered before marketing the product. The main constraints are age, gender, social class, income, and population.
Our product is Hot Nodle which is a noodle prepared within seconds. Our product is used among the people of any age group. “Incorporating demographic variables in brand choice models is conceptually appealing and has numerous managerial benefits. Retailers and brand managers can be assessing by demographic variations in demand and marketing mix response in order to implement micromarketing strategies” (Kalyanam & Putler, 1997, para.2). The gender-wise promotion becomes easy. It is used equally by male and female. But, females are the main customer as they find it easy to cook.
The social classes in the US are divided into affluent and upper middle class. So, the product finds it easy to be marketed. Hot Nodle is priced much reasonable and at an affordable price. So, the buying behavior analysis gives a good feedback from the social class. The income and the population are much advantageous to the product marketing.
Market Research
A market research is conducted to identify various purchase power of the customers, their preferences, tastes and the attitudes. The research can be conducted by data analysis.
Questionnaire
Questionnaire is the method of data collection which is effective to identify the preferences, attitudes and the hiring attitude of the individual researchers, and the organizations in getting the adequate information. A questionnaire consists of a series of questions, given to the chosen respondents for getting the data.
In questionnaire method, two categories of questions called open ended and closed questions are involved. Open ended questions are expected to obtain descriptive answers. Closed questions can be replied with a single or small phrase. The questionnaire can be distributed to the respondents from various locations including the super stores and the outlets.
Survey Method
The survey method is a much efficient method in identifying the customer needs, wants and the purchase behavior and the purchase power parity. The survey can be conducted by analyzing various behaviors that they exhibit in the market including the social, cultural and the psychological needs.
Competitor Analysis
The competitor analysis is the activity which has to be conducted during the setting up of the market plan. The competitor analysis helps the organization in many ways. The understanding of the competitors helps in understanding their performance and takes advantage of the same to make our product a success than the competitor’s product.
The major competitors in the US noodles market are Macaroni, spaghetti, and vermicelli. They have been into the market for many years and had establishes themselves.
Various trends in the noodle market are, increase in the production facility of 1% per year and good growth achievement in the economic sector. The total competence of the US marketplace is found to have come up of 1,880,892 tons in 2009 which leads to a growth of 8.9% in comparison to previous year.
The product of our company is different as it has a lot of differences. Before, noodles had a problem and were considered as junk food and it was said that they had no fibers in it. But, our product has been specially designed as to meet the nutritive and the health content and it consist of wheat added to it. The packaging also is quite different as they are provided both in aluminum foils and in reusable containers. The noodles have also been in a special shape, making them easy to cook.
Product/Specific Features
The product which we launched is a noodle that contains several nutritive, protein and healthy content. The product is to be made available at a reasonable cost and it has to be made available to people of various economic statuses.
The product is an innovative one, which is the result of several outcomes from the brainstorming ideas. The main concept during the launch of the product was the concentration on the new product development which is an innovative one. “Innovation works in business only when it creates a benefit. That benefit could be a cost savings or efficiency that benefits the producer or distributor, or a cost savings or anything else that benefits the customer” (Berry, 2010, para.1).
Certain features that make the product innovative include the shape of the noodle. Usually, the shape of noodle is long and entwined together, which need, to be broken into pieces. But, Hot Nodle is in the broken form which helps in easy cooking.
The packaging is done in plastic containers, which can be re-used and all the information about the product including the web address for any feedback is mentioned on the label.
The free offer of the sauce packages, ketch-up etc are provided to make the product tastier and attractive. The sauces as an additional taste maker have not been used previously and therefore, this is a new product and offers a variety to the consumers.
Core Strategy of the Product
The mission statement of the company offers the product at a reasonable cost and also provides numerous job opportunities to the job seekers. The product can be prepared within a minute. This makes it an ‘On Demand’ product in the market. The objectives of Hot Nodle help to attain the product, organizational and sales volumes of the company. The core strategy developed by the company is to attract the customers through the method so as to earn the profit. “The core strategy is about finding the fundamental purpose of the organization and getting everybody and everything lined up to support that purpose” (The core strategy: Creating clarity of purpose, 2008, para.1).
The organization’s core strategy is to guide by means of substance and become more widespread in the target market. It also promotes the company in the same disciplines at the same time as producers will permit the company to achieve superior reliability and credibility as we compete against superior and bigger organizations.
Some of the Main Objectives of Marketing Communication are
- To gain better knowledge about the policy of promotion and marketing communication management process.
- To build up a financial and original explanation for marketing communication.
- To understand the requirements of creating the marketing communication
- To implement the policy of marketing communication in a right and official way.
The rational approach in choosing the elements is much complementary to each other, and they are used to make the precise decisions where the products become much advantageous for the person.
The choice of the product is restricted to certain criteria and they include mainly the demographic features, financial constraints and the psychological aspects in taking the decision for buying the product. The product decision mainly includes the product features, design usability and the extra benefits incurred while getting the product. The product Hot Nodle is designed in such a manner as to suit the variety of the needs, tastes and preferences of the customers.
The main reason of the rejection of the product is the misconception that the product and its contents do not contain any nutritive value and also that it is not good for health.
The research is conducted using questionnaire and the survey method shows that the majority of the respondents liked the product, at times they have complained about the non-availability of the required flavor in the market and for increasing the tastes of the noodles by the addition of any complementary agent. These were given as suggestions in the research. The price of the product was also a major factor found in the survey.
The rational of the product Hot Noodle is designed in such a way as to meet the major requirements of the customers and to make a product a customized one.
As the product matures, as in the stage of the product life cycle, various innovations have to be incorporated so as to avoid the decline stage. In effect, the product has to be innovative. And that we can add vegetables into it and make them colorful. We can also extend the product to soupy noodles where the 2-in-one system is incorporated in them. It can also make the product enriched with certain flavors. They can launch the product in containers by giving a scoop with it. The Hot Nodle can also be marketed along with potato chips named as Hot Chip which can be used as a side dish with it.
The core strategy of the product is the business and the marketing strategies. Various strategies of them include conveying the idea based on the core strategy, which mainly deals with the product launch in the market, product development process, operational excellence, customer relationship and the product leadership in the market.
The main messages to be conveyed in building up marketing and sales values to the firm are to emphasize on the strengths, make the face-to-face and direct selling effective, so that it generates good results in the marketing of products. The messages conveyed should be precise and specific.
The way of communicating to the target market is through internet and print media, which are considered as effective ways of communication. Internet is a useful tool in marketing communication, where the communication can be conducted through web sites, direct mail and web advertising.
The mission of the pricing of the product, Hot Nodle increases the earnings in a business. The main objective of the pricing of this product we consider includes the profit maximization by a lower costs and increasing the quantity of the product to sell. The other objectives include survival and the recover of the input in the business.
The pricing objectives of the firm are set at the starting stage of the discussion of the organization.” There are several different “Objectives” a company may orient themselves towards in order to obtain a profitable business situation” (Pricing objectives, 2001, para.1).
The main pricing objectives of Hot Nodle company are:
- To achieve the sales by 80% monthly
- To maximize the profit in long term operation.
- To increase the market share by 3% per year.
- To achieve the return of 40% in the first year of operation commencement.
- To maximize the monetary sales associated with the products.
- To position the product in accordance with the competitor product in terms of rate.
The Pricing Strategy
“One of the most difficult, yet important, issues you must decide as an entrepreneur is how much to charge for your product or service. While there is no one single right way to determine your pricing strategy, fortunately there are some guidelines that will help you with your decision” (Allen, 2010, para.1). To establish the marketing strategy and perform the analysis, research and the segmentation, to take up a good marketing mix decisions and to identify the demand curve of the product and to plot the product quality at its edge. The cost incurred in each and every operations and the process are calculated. The fixed cost and the variable cost are to be identified and to fix the price after the analysis of the environmental and the legal factors.
Channels of Distribution
The distribution channels are having a decisive role in marketing and sales. The channels include all the factors related to marketing from the manufacturing to the end customers. It is clearly said about the distribution channels as “all the organizations through which a product must pass between its point of production and consumption” (Distribution: The nature of distribution channels, n.d, para.2).The distribution is much vital in the Hot Nodle as “Distribution provides a number of opportunities for the marketer that may normally be associated with other elements of the marketing mix” (Perner, 2008, para.14).
For our product Hot Nodle, to reach the customer there will be quite a few channels of distribution. There should be an association between the manufacture and utilization. Some of the channels include some mediators who can control the business through their knowledge in the market. As this is a fast moving consumer product, there will be some demand in the market if the product is familiar to the customers. The most important factors depend on the effectiveness of supply overheads. All these channels need only profit and the customers need it in an affordable price. So, it is important to understand the market and the cost effectiveness through these channels. There are some elements to consider before distribution. It is important to study which one will be the most effective channel, how many mediators at each stage and types of the mediators. We have to study the market segregation and the life cycle of the product. There should be a proper manufacturer and distributor relationship and have to know deeply about the intermediaries.
There will be various types of intermediaries. E-commerce technology and the internet are prominent intermediaries with low cost of entry and the product will reach the wider consumers. Another one is retailers who were having a strong relationship with the customers. There will be many varieties of products which will help the customers to select and buy. The wholesalers sell a large amount of products to retailers and they will sell it to the customers. Some of them will be having their own marketing techniques and they will have the product storage space conveniences also. Agents are also having some role in this as they are mainly based on the commission. But, this will be more expensive than others and is difficult to motivate the business.
The distribution channel chosen for the product, Hot Nodle is the shortest one. It is very important to sell the food products as fast as possible. This will make the product healthier. The distribution channel for Hot Nodle is through retailers. First the Hot Nodle manufactured will reach the retailers and they will segregate the market and will help in reaching the targeted customers. This is the safest way of distribution of Hot Nodle. This will find the exact customers to make improvements in the product quality by studying the response of the consumers. This will reduce some of the intermediary cost and can reach the customers with an affordable rate. It is recommended to provide the selective distribution method, in which the product marketing and selling can make far effective. By this, we can select the retailers who can meet our targets and can be provided training with the product. The foremost thing that will enable a better channel of distribution is the co-operation and trust between the producer and the mediators, thereby being loyal to the customers.As the product has to face a lot of competition, internet and the B2C technology is planned to be implemented in the distribution channel.
Customer Relationship Management
Customer relationship management is a well-established and a standard mode of approach for organizing and fostering a company’s relations with its consumers and its trade forecasts. Customer’s satisfaction has a wide role in Customer Relationship Management. “The change from the profit orientation of a business to customer centric unit has lead to the surge of CRM inculcation in the modern business scenario” (CRM white paper, 2010, para.1).
Customer Relationship Management has a very wide role in selling the Hot Noodles. They are using different ways to sell the product. The company’s main aim is to make a good relationship to the customer and the marketer. The Hot Noodles Company has a great role in marketing. Customer is the king of market and so the marketer must adopt idea to sell the product. The CRM in marketing is an area that has legged considerably in the CRM software world. Customer Relationship Management is useful for all the customers and CRM tools are effective in marketer. There are different way to interact with the customer and the marketer. The marketer provides a lot of free service to interact the customers. They are e-mail, toll free number, face to face contact to the marketer and the customer, advertisement campaign, online video game for children etc. The Hot Nodle Company has large number of competitor in the market. So, the company adopts new technology to sell the product and they are mainly concentrating on customer satisfaction as the customers decide the life time of the product.
The Role of Technology that will be Used to Support CRM
CRM is a set of strategies, process and metrics, organizational culture and technology solutions. “CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It is a process or methodology used to learn more about customers’ needs and behaviors in order to develop stronger relationships with them. There are many technological components to CRM, but thinking about CRM in primarily technological terms is a mistake” (Customer relationship management tutorial: What is CRM? 2010, para.1).The technology in CRM is used in an organization only if the new technology or software improves the customer services and customer relationship.
The Various services in CRM by using technologies are:
- Call centers.
- Consulting services.
- Customer training services.
- Feedback services (e-mail, toll-free numbers).
Internet has revolutionized a tremendous growth of CRM. It has virtually taken the information system with in the reach of customers. It is accessible through call centers, internet and mobile.
Technological Approaches in CRM Involves
- The use of database of customers.
- Data mining, collecting the information about the prospective customers.
- One to one marketing.
- By using technology, the organization can keep record of customers.
- These historic information help the organization to target the specific consumers and meet their need.
- These services will increases the firms value in the minds of consumers and loyalty towards the organization will increases.
Here the product is Hot Nodle, a delicious and healthier noodle. For improving the customer relation the ‘Hot nodle’ is using the following new technologies-
- E-mails for feed back and support.
- Toll-free numbers for the enquiry.
- Online game for the children.
- Websites creation.
Conclusion
Various discussions made in the above sessions shows the important constraints like the mission, marketing mix and the strategy are much vital for the product to be in the market and the methods by which proper research carried are useful for the success of the product in the market.
References
Allen, S. (2010). Pricing strategy: How much should you charge for your product or service? Web.
Berry, T. (2010). How to market an innovative product. Web.
CRM white paper. (2010). Daffodil. Web.
Customer relationship management tutorial: What is CRM? (2010). Knowledge Hills. Web.
Distribution: The nature of distribution channels. (n.d.). Tutor2u. Web.
Kalyanam, k., & Putler, D. S. (1997). Incorporating demographic variables in brand choice models: An indivisible alternatives framework. Marketing Science. Web.
McDonald, M. (2007). Marketing plans: How to prepare them, how to use them. Butterworth-Heinemann, p.275. Web.
Perner, L. (2008). Channels of distribution: Distribution opportunities. USC Marshall. Web.
Pricing objectives. (2001). Witiger. Web.
The core strategy: Creating clarity of purpose. (2008). The Public Strategies Group. Web.