Ch. 7 Business Marketing

Martha Stewart has established a business relationship with many we'll know retail companies such as Home Depot, Macy's, and JC Penny's. This Strategic Alliance allows Martha Stewart the brand expand and connect with consumers from different Target Markets. Home Depot consumer generally caters to a home improvement consumer, building contractors, and home owners. Home Depot also has an extensive gardening consumer market, an area Martha Stewart is an expert in. Lighting fixtures and the Martha Stewart indoor painting products allows the Home Depot consumer to connect with the MS brand on another level.

Facebook, Twitter, and Pintrest  are just a few online business relationships Martha Stewart uses in order to stay on top of the Business to Business trend needed to stay connect with online shoppers, bloggers, and the internet market. A strong Relationship Commitment is important because it builds a level of Trust and Expansion needed to grow a brand. Although Business to Business is essential to expand a brand, Martha Stewart lost business due to the relationship between similar domestic retails stores like JC Penny and Macy's store . Price & Place can affect business relationships and business will be compromised because of they're competitors.

A high Demand for a product is the number one goal for a marketing team. The brand should be a noticeable by color, logo, or image.A well known logo leads consumers over to the product with the recognizable brand. Relationship marketing needs to be established with manufactures as well as retail chains. How one manufactures their products is important and product safety and durability will help the consumer to choose the product they can trust.

Once Home Depot and Macy's develop a contract with a brand like Martha Stewart, they fill the role as the consumer. Home Depot will buy the products they've agreed to sell in their stores. A brand with a strong following can boost consumer traffic and will increase financial gain. Today a bad reputation and can spread like wild fire, information can travel to the worlds most remote places, especially through the World Wide Web. An Evaluative Criteria is a tool Businesses use in order to evaluate a product. In this case the Business to Business relationship in this case is IBM who creates the Evaluation System for Home Depot.

Quality, Service, Price, are important factors to evaluate, for the Martha Stewart brand the Kiosk System JC Penny are scheduled to implement will allow the consumer to fill out a survey and rate the products, quality, quantity, and over all experience shopping for Martha Stewart Product at JC Penny.


Martha Stewart Omni Media empire  is a corporation that will continue to thrive and increase value with the extensive marketing and advertising campaigns surrounding the brand. A Global Empire is on the rise.

CH. 8 Segmenting and Targeting Markets

                                                Martha Stewart & Thailand Target Segment 

                             A great dinner in Bangkok

                                  http://www.themarthablog.com/2010/01/a-great-dinner-in-bangkok.html

Market Segments is defined as "a subgroup of people or organizations sharing one or more characteristics that cause them to have similar product needs" according to the MKTG Text Book. This marketing procedure is an important step in the marketing process because it supplies the organization with specific information about the people, places, personalities, and the pay checks they use to purchase products and services, this is some of the Demographic Segmentation that companies use to connect with consumers. What are they purchasing? Where are they purchasing? Who's is making the purchase, and Why? Organizations can compile this information and cater to the public with specific marketing campaigns targeting their needs.

Segment "Families "

Segments are based on Geography, Age, Sex, Ethnicity, Culture, Religion and many others characteristics. Many characteristics are combined and considered in order to tailor a product or service to a specific group in a particular area of the world. Martha Stewart most recently began to distribute her magazine to countries like Thailand, "A Land of a thousand Smiles" . The magazine offers many articles on Gardening, Home Decorating,   Cooking, and Entertaining, that should include Martha Stewart's original creative innovations while adding Thailand's customs, food, and characteristics in order to produce a segment that will work and expand.

Warm Weather & Beaches year round

There are almost 70 million people in Thailand, Family is central to the Thai life.  Martha Stewart's products are directed to homes, family, and celebrating everyday life with the people that are important in their lives. The country has a northern mountainous region and a southern tropical beach coast line. Martha Stewart incorporates many American traditions and holiday traditions and foods with a combination of ingredients and foods typically served in Thailand. When marketing a product or service in a country like Thailand the Geographic Segment is important and critical in order to connect the products or service to the Temperature, Terrain, and  Climate. Thailand is accustom to have 85 degree weather year round, warm and cozy concepts can be over whelming and will stick out in a country that's hot and humid.

                                                       Buddhist Monks sitting in Prayer 


 The majority of the people in Thailand are spiritual Buddhist. The segment is one of the most important and sensitive segments a marketing manager will have to incorporate when marketing a product or service. For Martha Stewart her Christmas, Easter, and Religious magazine issues can offend or insult the people of Thailand or non Christian Catholic countries.

When marketing to a group with specific demographics, marketing managers are required to research extensively if they plan on expanding their brand and attracting new consumers in a domestic or global market.  

Ch. 11 Developing and Managing Products

Developing Products takes a great deal of research, information, and money. A company is as good as their products, which means if your company cannot develop products that are appealing, innovative, functional to the worldwide public, chances are your company will not have a future. A New Product takes a long time to produce, some products can take years in the making. There are many stages in the new product development process beginning with an Idea. A New Product Strategy consists of looking at objectives of the marketing department, the business unit, and the corporations. Each department is a puzzle piece needed to produce a new product. Each unit is an important component adding valuable structure needed to launch a new product.

Although the Idea is the first step in the production process, all ideas must be filtered and Screened in order to concentrate and produce the ideas that coincide with the company's existing product lines and concepts. Martha Stewart produced cook books and a catering service, two ideas that compliment one another. Along with her catering concepts her event decorating style became a signature aspect for her clients. A Concept Test consists of a screening stage outlining the new product's over all positive and negative attributes. Martha Stewart added a line of cookware and cooking utensils to her product line following the success of her cookbook and catering business. Because she is considered a professional innovative caterer and baker, a functional cookware line incorporates materials, and cooking utensils developed to make the process easier.

Martha Stewart's Product Lines & Extensions

• Home Furniture & Decor - Bed Linens, Curtains, Shades, Towels, Rugs,  Pillows, Chairs, Desks   Extensions- Martha Stewart Line of Office Organization Furniture and organizers
• Cookware & Bakeware- Baking Pans, Measuring Utensils, Cutlery, Plate Sets, Serving Platters, Cookware Pans Extensions- Cake Art Cartridge and Baking Videos
• Home Improvement Products- Paint, Stencils, Faucets, Patterning Brushes 

Ch. 18 Social Media and Marketing

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In today's world communication happens in the blink of an eye. From one second to the another information is traveling at the speed of  light across the world. The World Wide Web is the most popular form of communication capturing the attention of everyone from the Pope (twitter ) to President Obama (Facebook). Interests and opinion are voiced and posted on several websites describing, explaining, and dissecting products, services, and specialty items. Social media sites are a haven for Marketers, with the right marketing plan an organization can expand and advertise their products & services to a world wide audience.

             

Martha Stewart Verified account

@MarthaStewart

curious,inquisitive,experimental entrepreneur who cares about the world we live in

Katonah, NY · themarthablog.com

• 5,498TWEETS
• 7,733FOLLOWING
• 2,878,957FOLLOWERS

Consumer's spend more time browsing websites and engaging in conversation on the web than they watch television. Marketers can obtain valuable information researching websites, blogs, and postings. Martha Stewart writes a blog on her website called Living Blog informing her fans and customers on current events, trips, and recipes. She also has guest writers contribute to her blog and entries of blog post, pictures, and videos from fellow crafters displaying their version of table settings, cake decorations, and inspiring pictures. This can be considered a Corporate blog, promoting the company and it's brand, however, many of the posts Martha Stewart posts writes interacting through this website can also be considered a Non-Corporate Blog because it's authentic from herself not a marketing team.



Marketers can utilize social websites to collect information and devise a marketing plan based on trends, comments, posts, blogs coming directly from consumers and their expectations. Positive and Negative comments are important to analyze and consider. Implementing changes in products based
on consumers comments can help a brand correct their products or services negative aspects. Once consumers see modified results with a product or service they will be inclined to continue a loyal relationship with the brand. Marketers should listen to the consumers and consider their needs.

                                


Social Networking information needs to be monitored daily in order for the company to successfully market their brand on the internet. Information can have an devastating impact on a brand if negative information and comments surface without an intervention plan. Below is a website link acknowledging 5 Habit of a successful online marketing campaign. Review Sites such as Social Media Examiner can be helpful to Marketing Groups as they research information on popular websites and marketing plans.


 

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/5-habits-of-successful-content-marketers-new-research/

Having two million followers and over eight hundred thousand likes is an incredible amount of Earned Media from fans, loyal customers and first time consumers enlightened by the Martha Stewart Brand. Martha Stewart Living Website represents an Owned Media along with posts, blogs and comments. Martha Stewart's magazine, TV Shows, and published books are Paid Media for and from the Company to continue expanding her brand.

Martha Stewart is connected to many social media outlets and one thing is for sure she has mastered the art of marketing on the internet.  

Ch. 10 Product Concepts

Worldwide Recognition 

Martha Stewart debuting her home organization line in CANADA

Global brand names like Martha Stewart are successful because the name is associated with products that are trusted. Consumers are drawn towards brand names because they attribute them with quality products. Quality, loyalty, and durability are just a few words used to describe a product that people will continue to buy.


The key to becoming a recognizable brand name is having a good introductory product line that can be distinguished from the existing market. For Martha Stewart, she began branding herself as the face of the company through cookbooks and event crafting. Consumers were impressed by her ability to construct an entire event from decor to food by using creative items such as pine cones, pumpkins, and flowers, things you can find in-expensively to create settings. She also incorporated food & drinks arranged on platters and serving dishes that visually appeared to be food decor.
Her recipes for an event continue to carry the theme and color of the events she was having. Martha Stewart began her career as a home maker who had a creative edge for homemaking. Consumers could relate to her and her products.

Martha Stewart's product line consisted of recipe books, and cookware. She began to create a Product Mix including specialty serving dishes, bakeware, and cooking tools to help create the signature Martha Stewart appearance. Her unsought products became popular due to her successful product lines. She expanded her product mix width to include an extensive line of home decor, curtains, bed linens, pillow, wall paint, organizers, and picture frames. Her image defines her products, they exude clean, elegant, natural images that are new interesting in the home decor market.

From soup to nuts, an expression emphasizing having everything needed, or covering all the basics, is the definition of celebrating an event for Martha Stewart. Her product line covers all the essentials needed in order to capture her image or decorating concepts. Her blue trademark symbol is recognized by consumers and is considered a personal stamp of guarantee.

Below are just some images of products created by Martha Stewart:
Cookbooks, Paint, Room Organizers, Yarn, Jewelry, and Smoothies!!!!

Product Line & Product Line Extensions 

                                                       

                                               
                                               

CH. 17 Personal Selling and Sales Management

Happy Shopper

The art of Selling, to a consumer, is based on the relationship between the company and the consumers individual demographics, specifically their interactions with the company's products and services. In order to successfully sell products and services to consumers, the sales person has to build a relationship with the buyer. One form of selling is called Relationship selling, for example: Martha Stewart has carefully spent 15 years teaching her consumers how to incorporate more meaningful, functional, beautiful lives with her line of products and services. Consumers want to enrich their lives, and the lives of their family and friends, therefore Martha Stewart designs her products and services as an intricate need to celebrate special moments. She establishes connections, a special bond between consumers and all the happy celebrations in their lives.

The Martha Stewart company can build successful relationships with the potential buyers by collecting consumer information. Consumer information contains valuable details about each consumer that can help the company with future product developments. When a consumer interacts with a company's associate, the consumer is in need of guidance or assistance purchasing or inquiring about the products or services. This is an important opportunity to gain information about the buyer and how they view the company's products and services. More importantly, the consumer at times is interested in the over all experience they will receive rather than just the products and services. As the company continues to gather buyers purchasing information the need to capture the important data pertaining to sales process leading to closing the sale is called Knowledge Management. This process compiles consumer information and records it in order to learn about the relationship between the consume and sales associate.

Consumers leave information in various places in a store or on-line. When consumers create registries, complete warranty, or inquiring for a product's information they are leaving Touch Points.  Touch Points are all areas of a company that consumers have had contact with. Information Kiosks, price scanners, and on-line commentary are additional Touch Points used to gather useful information. JC Penny is developing a new kiosks system exclusively for Martha Stewart products, this will enable her company to directly educate consumers about her products, and consumers will gain valuable design information as we'll as in-store product quantities and availability. Please click on the link below for more information. 

Martha Stewart Products will be sold in small Kiosk machines featured above in JC Penny

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2013/03/02/Store-within-a-store-concept-goes-to-court/UPI-36211362239481/

Technology can offer innovation and details on how a company can research their target market by connecting and establishing a Pre-approach "homework" on all consumers interacting with their company. The sales team in JC Penny should be trained to offer product knowledge to ensure and secure the consumer buying process is happening. A sales associate should engage the consumer in a conversations and suggest items pertaining to the consumers present desire. To further explain this, imagine a consumer entering the store and their main concern is a house warming gift for their niece, a sales associate should approach the consumer and ask if any assistance is needed. Once the consumer admits to needing assistance, the sales associate should be open to listening to the consumers present need, more over what they are looking for. The sales associate should under stand the need and proceed to the items closely relating to that product line, or event. The sales associate can quickly begin Negotiating with the potential buyer and entice them by in-store sales, rebates, and coupons to seal the deal.

Martha Stewarts product line, at first, captures consumers with her creative innovative design , however, without a great sales team, products and services will not sell themselves. As a young retail associate for Speedo, I was asked to educate myself on the product line, materials, and durability of the products. Speedo's consumers were active people, swimming, running, and biking. It was my job to inform myself and to stay connected in order to successfully complete a sale and increase profit for the company. 

Ch. 16 Advertising, Public Relations, and Sales Promotion

Advertisements surround our daily routines, as consumers we are unaware of every product sold to us because Ad placements are blended strategically in our visual and audio environment. In order for a company to successfully promote a product, the advertising appeals have to be identified and marketed exactly how the consumer wants and needs the product to be. This type of advertisement is called Product Advertising, this also includes Pioneering Advertisement, Competitive Advertisement,  and Comparative Advertisement.

• Martha Stewart's advertising team has to incorporate Pioneering Advertisements to promote new products. New cookware sets and bed linings with an increase in threading will be the highlighted features in Pioneering Advertisements. Consumer are interested in making good decisions especially with new product lines. They need to be able to differentiate between competitive brands.
  
   
• Competitive Advertisements are used to highlight and promote branding. Martha Stewart is a household brand in constant need of continuous branding to ensure the company's longevity. Brand recognition will resonate with the consumers and their primary groups. This form of advertising will assist in building a loyal consumer relationship. Another benefit for consumers are contest and sweepstakes, Martha Stewart promotes entrepreneurship with her Made in America contest and by having sweepstakes contests.
  
   
• Comparative Advertising allows the brand Martha Stewart to promote their products over the competing name brands such as Jaclyn Smith's line of home decor and Target's Threshold Brand. Martha Stewart's clean lined patterns and bold contrasting colors are innovated selections used to enticed the consumer into thinking about decor in a new way. 

Creative Decisions in Advertising  for a advertising product campaign consists of a common theme, slogan, and set of advertising appeals assist with generating a product that consumers will recognize.  "Sharing the good things everyday" is one of Martha Stewart's slogans, this slogan describes the products Martha Stewart creates such as bake ware sets for cupcakes and cakes, and beautiful glass display jars to showcase the baked goods and treats for family and friends. The picture below illustrates the creative beauty for a holiday display. This advertisement can be delivered around the hoildays to like Christmas time creating an advertising appeal and product placement. 

A advertisement has to run on a Media Schedule, just as I mentioned above product placement is key when promoting a product. The Media Mix should include several platforms of advertisements. Some of the platforms consists of Internet Ads, Television Commercials, and Direct Marketing like the Home Shopping Network. A Star product should continue to receive advertisement publicity in order to continue to generate a large profit for the company.

Martha Stewart is a successful house hold name due to a combination of intelligent marketing, creative strategic advertisement, and naturally home good products.  

Ch. 14 - Marketing Channels and Retailing

Martha Stewart has developed contracts with many major Chain Stores such as Home Depot, Michaels, Kmart, JC Penny, Macys in order to expand and cater to consumers in different demographics. This marketing process is also know as a Intensive Distribution aim at maximum market coverage. Lines of Home Decor, Cookware & Utensils, Crafting Decor & Supplies has allowed her to market her products in stores with a large customer following. By carefully choosing the 6 P's (The 4 P's in a Marketing Mix Product, Place, Promotion, Price & Presentation, Personnel) Martha Stewart Products will attract different customer in each Retail store.

My recent trip to Michael's Crafting Store in Forest Hills helped me to understand the importance of marketing in a Retail Chain Store.   Defining a Target Market in Michael's should be based on Creative Crafting, this group of consumers are interested in creating, decorating, and designing. The consumer is self sufficient and requires some instruction, materials, and tools to explore their creative talents. This consumers also wants to be able to create, decorate, and design for all occasions from Weddings, Birthdays, and Holidays.

Silk Screening Window Shades

Martha Stewart also has an How-to Silk Screening video available on her website. Please click on the link below to watch the video. 

http://www.marthastewart.com/252993/how-silk-screen

Michaels supplies all of the Martha Stewart tools

you will need in order to successfully craft and silk screen. 

The Merchandise Type and Density displayed in The Martha Stewart aisle in Michaels allows the consumer to quickly survey the materials and tools they will need in order to successfully create their project. If the consumer is unable to understand or find a particular product or tool The  Michaels sales associate is well trained in crafting since the majority of their items are crafting related. The Personnel is essential should be an informative product asset in order to have a productive business. The Level of Service provided in a retail store such as Michaels allows the consumer to feel comfortable and have a familiar shopping experience in the future. Michaels also rewards their consumers every week with an instore coupon worth 40% off any one regular price item, which save the consumer money. This coupon is can be used in addition to their many other coupons available only for that week. 

Martha Stewart Company has many different forms of production, she has Global Channels in China where she manufactures some of her products. Many of her products are also manufactured  in the United States where she continues to influence entrepreneurs to promote Made in America items.    

http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/2746300730001/martha-stewart-on-american-made/