Q1. Discuss your use of marketing research to be used to gather information on present or potential customers. Which forms of marketing research would be best in gathering consumer information relating to the product/service? (Ch.4)
When trying understand the specifics of a certain market situation, such as the preferences and attitudes of a new consumer segment, focus groups would be valuable. Not only do they help in fast information collection, they also collect more data that could be applied elsewhere. Therefore, if Melaleuca’s company’s desire is to understand the general aspects of a customer segment, they would start with a survey, followed by an interview. In the survey, they would as if the participant is aware of Melaleuca, has used any of their products before, and what they used it for and thought about the effects. Melaleuca’s should only use a focus group to test the potential impact and weaknesses of a particular strategy before rolling it out. For instance, if the company has a new natural product to manage diabetes, a focus group can be used to understand which marketing and distribution strategies could work and if the potential customers could afford the medicine.
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Q2. Explain several external forces that affect your marketing planning and strategy. (Ch.4)
The forces that affect Melaleuca’s company’s marketing planning and strategy fall under three main categories: cultural, situational, and social factors. Culture, for instance, teaches individuals the values and acceptable preferences at different stages of their lives (Marshall & Johnston, 2014). As a result, consumers will perceive things differently and have different attitudes throughout their lives. It might be that the target customers have a culture of treating organically sourced and produced treatments.
Therefore, Melaleuca would find it easy to penetrate the market as its products are all natural. Situational factors like neighborhood and gender, on the other hand, affect the company’s marketing planning and strategy as they change from one customer demographic to another. Lastly, social factors like social class mediate an individual’s access to resource or whether they can afford a particular lifestyle. When creating a brand image, it must be one that aligns with the values of the customer demographics. For instance, if Melaleuca were to target their new diabetes treatment to low class and minority groups, the best image would be to gain the endorsement of an individual with whom the customers know and relate to. On the other hand, if their new product is a natural beauty cream and lotion, having it endorsed by a popular supermodel like Heidi Klum would be a sound strategy that takes advantage of external forces that affect a marketing planning and strategy.
When doing a market research, such as when determining the pricing strategy for a product soon to be released into the market, these external factors can be used to segment customer groups. Information obtained from the research can be used to target different groups with different messages when planning and implementing the marketing strategies.
Q3. Discuss the aspects of your customer relationship management (CRM) program. (Ch.5)
Customer relationship management (CRM) programs exist to improve Melaleuca’s company’s profitability, competitivity, and long-term survival by focusing on its customers. Therefore, their CRM program should be designed to maximize customer satisfaction and loyalty (Juanamasta et al., 2019). With these two objectives, the main aspects of the CRM program that help them achieve them lie in three pillars. First, Melaleuca’s company will have to acquire the right customers. During business operations, they will encounter all types of customer. Therefore, the second pillar is to retain the satisfied and loyal customers. These individuals are likely to return in the future or recommend the company’s services to the people they know. Lastly, they have to maximize the individual profitability of the customers.
For instance, if Melaleuca’s company has to maximize customer profitability, they must always offer their products and services at the right time and place. Furthermore, they ensure that all important customers (loyal, satisfied, profitable) experience a personal journey with us, where it is not about them giving us business, but us consistently and affordably meeting their needs.
Q4. Explain which consumer characteristics (personal, psychological, cultural, situational, social) matter most in the purchase decision. (Ch.6)
Melaleuca is a wellness company that sells natural products to cure and manage common medical problems, from eczema to brain supplements, natural treatments to help lose weight, performance pack (improves the cardio system, brain, memory, vision, and bone) and total health packs (to help improve the healthy functioning of 11 organs), and laundry products. All these are natural, thus making psychological attributes matter the most in the purchase decision. Different consumers will have different needs, which are often competing. Through motivation, they will be self-driven to fulfill their unmet needs, such as prompt a purchase decision (Khan et al., 2017). Additionally, the psychological attributes of attitude and perception consciously and subconsciously predispose the individual to responding in a particular manner. If they are environmentally conscious, they will prefer Melaleuca’s products because they are all natural. Furthermore, the response is consistent. Therefore, the psychological attributes are important to an outsider, such as a marker, as they can help them consistently sell their products and services with just the right message.
If Melaleuca’s company were to market their product or service in America, their approach and message would be different than if they were in Japan. Americans value freedom and hard work, thus giving Melaleuca’s company the opportunity to market their product as a self-reward for the effort put in. Japanese, however, value loyalty and reciprocity, thus giving them the opportunity to market their product as something that enables the people to give back. An advertisement showing a filial daughter gifting her parents Melaleuca’s natural health supplements as thanks for the years of love and support sell because it incorporates the country’s perception and attitudes towards parental piety.
Q5. Explain how the product/service is positioned in the market. Create a positioning statement for the product/service and explain its rationale. (Ch.7)
Positioning the product/service is done by first performing a gap analysis followed by creating a perceptual map of all the competitors. The market position for the product/service is then decided depending on the marketer’s objectives. Melaleuca is a wellness company that focus on selling natural products. Therefore, if the market is saturated with synthetic products for weight loss, allergy, and diabetes management, Melaleuca’s products can be positioned in the natural and organic products market with an additional focus on customer experience and CRM. The growing community of health-conscious customers will be more inclined to purchase Melaleuca’s health supplements and laundry products. As a result, a good positioning statement for Melaleuca would be: “natural products for natural people,” or “the future of health is natural, join us.”
References
Juanamasta, I. G., Wati, N. M. N., Hendrawati, E., Wahyuni, W., Pramudianti, M., Wisnujati, N. S., & Umanailo, M. C. B. (2019). The role of customer service through customer relationship management (Crm) to increase customer loyalty and good image. International Journal of Scientific and Technology Research , 8 (10), 2004-2007.
Khan, M. J., Chelliah, S., & Ahmed, S. (2017). Factors influencing destination image and visit intention among young women travellers: role of travel motivation, perceived risks, and travel constraints. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research , 22 (11), 1139-1155.
Marshall, W.G. & Johnston, W.M (2014). Marketing management . McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
