EOC: Week 10: What are the benefits vs the features?

Some people might get the product benefits and product features somewhat mixed up are think they both have the same meaning but they really don’t. “Each is a feature-a factual statement about the product or service being promoted. But features aren't what entice customers to buy. That's where benefits come in. A benefit answers the question, ‘what’s in it for me?’”  (http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/34942) For example with cars nowadays, the feature might be better gas mileage or hybrid but the benefit of having this feature would that it would save you some money on gas and also help out the environment and the ‘Green Movement’. As of Koot’s Brüt Vodka, one of the many features it has is that is has been purified and filtered so that it has less impurities in it but the benefit of this feature is that this lowers the chance of hangover so you can have a better time/experience. “Customers typically are not interested in the features of your product or service, at least not directly. When you think about the cell phone industry, for example, telling people that you have a high resolution camera is one thing, but the reason why they would be interested in such a camera phone is because it is able to take good quality pictures. That’s the benefit.” (http://biznik.com/articles/sales-101-features-vs-benefits) Koot’s Brüt Vodka is also made from a premium Scottish Rye (Benefit), but this rye has a very distinctive and enjoyable taste that is adds to this unique brand of Vodka (Feature). “Always, always, always and always know what your consumer wants! Because you can never state the benefit that resonate with them if you don’t even know what they want!” (http://www.megabizflakes.com/essential-marketing-tip-features-vs-benefits) We here at Koot’s Brüt Vodka know that nobody enjoys hangovers and everybody enjoys a nice smooth vodka experience.

EOC Week 9: Three Great Mission Statements

I found a few good mission statements throughout my fellow classmates but its unfortunate that some are behind and didnt post yet. The top three posts have to be from Sportivo Vodka by Michele Brown, Slender Vodka by Christine McCall, and Every Man’s Vodka by Kaide Cron. They all were different but had great content and provided what was need in a good mission statement.

I like Sportivo Vodka because of how she described the "Spunky", that is such cool word and it just livened up the mission statement right from the beginning. I like how she already has goals and a target market infused in her statement and I can see the confidence in this mission statement as well. This has great content and kind of makes me jealous. Next would have to be Every Man’s Vodka by Kaide Cron. She was straight to the point in her mission statement: “Every Man’s Vodka is selling the experience of using this product with your buddies but getting a stronger, longer buzz than a beer without looking like a sissy drinking a mixed drink.” That’s just an awesome choice of words and kind of makes me want to grab a bottle of Every Man’s Vodka. I also loved how she was all about the experience of the vodka and not the look or the flavor or any other fancy doo-hickie; straight to the point and full of great content. Last but not least has to be Slender Vodka by Christine McCall. Her mission statement was real short but sweet I think; it did the job and a well job done.  Not so sure about the name because it seems a little too plain but that’s not my purpose of the post. She did a good job and I do have some good competition in this group of Vodka companies.

Implementation Evaluation Control

“Marketing implementation is the process that turns marketing plans into marketing actions in order to accomplish strategic marketing objectives. Whereas marketing planning addresses the what and why of marketing activities, implementation addresses the who, where, when, and how.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 3 Chapter 2) It takes a lot of planning and strategy to properly launch a marketing plan to an actual business and make progress in implementation. I believe my plan is pretty good, needs a little adjustment but everything can be improved on but for an initial staging of a market plan, it has great potential. We would need to strict market control which is the process of evaluating the results of your marketing strategies and correcting any error; in which I’m pretty sure we will have error but that’s not a bad thing. Sometimes we can’t see our flaws at first and then fix them when they arise such as pricing or maybe we might to change our distribution planning around more to correlate to our promotion methods. There is always room for improvement. 

Price

Pricing is probably the most important issue that needs to be addressed. You don't go over price your product and loose customers or cut yourself short; you need to understand and capture customer value. “Customer value-based pricing uses buyers’ perceptions of value, not the seller’s cost, as the key to pricing.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 6 Chapter 9) If your customer doesn’t see the value in your product then they aren’t going to buy it unless it’s at bargain pricing, that’s why you have to pricing it accordingly or improve it so can raise pricing if needed. Competition also factors in a lot when you have to decide on how you are going to set it properly. “Setting prices based on competitors’ strategies, prices, costs, and market offerings.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 16 Chapter 9) But this also comes back to customer value, if you customer sees the value in your product, they’ll purchase it even if it might be a little above your competitions pricing. Everything in your marketing plan goes into your pricing such as target markets and the product itself in production/distribution/promotion. Since we are a relatively new business we need to get proper market penetration as well and there’s a pricing strategy for that as well. Market-Penetration Strategy is “Setting a low price for a new product in order to attract a large number of buyers and a large market share.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 27 Chapter 9) This is a very important factor and is a good way to push ourselves into the market and a beginning.

Koot’s Brüt Vodka will probably begin with a price at about 18 bucks for a 750ml bottle, which is about 2 dollars cheaper than Smirnoff because they are our biggest competitor. When consumers begin to purchase our products are develop a value for this product, we can bring it up to the 20 dollar mark right along with Smirnoff. 

Promotion

I actually have quite a few ideas for promotion our product and business but before I jump into my ideas, I think it'll be best to lay down some foundation and better understanding on promotion. There are a few different strategies on how to promote yourself such as the Push or Pull Promotion Strategies. "A promotion strategy that calls for using the sales force and trade promotion to push the product through channels. The producer promotes the product to channel members who in turn promote it to final consumers." (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 16 Chapter 12) Then there is Pull Promotion which is a little different but I’ll explain after this quote. “Using a pull strategy, the producer directs its marketing activities (primarily advertising and consumer promotion) toward final consumers to induce them to buy the product.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 16 Chapter 12) Basically, in a Push Promotion the producers would push their product onto the retailers then they would push the product onto the consumer. With a Pull Promotion, Productions would cut out the middle man; promoting directly to the consumer which would cause a demand through the channels in which it is being sold. There are various mediums you could promote a product such as advertisements.

Now that we’ve established a common ground on promotion, I think it’s about time a share my ideas with you.  Ultimately, my goal with the business is to sponsor a music tour or venue; much like the Jagermeister Tour. That’s my goal but first we would have to start out with standard air time and radio commercials then move on up to TV commercials. When we begin to start a following we could then promote our product through night clubs by giving deals such as, if you buy 2 bottles you can bring 2 friends in free of club entrance fee; something in that sort of field of promotion. It’s always good to dream big and work towards a greater goal such as a music tour because that would probably be our best strategy on promoting Koot’s Brüt Vodka.

Distribution

Now that we understand what products I’ll be production and providing, I believe it’s time to discuss distribution. We all would just love to distribute our product everywhere and not care and think that you will get the best chance of profit but that isn’t so true, especially with exclusive/luxurious product or specialty product such as alcohol. We could take various distribution routes such as intensive distribution which simply means stocking your product in as many outlets and stores as possible but I don’t think that’ll suit my business. We have a little bit tighter target market to just throw ourselves out there. Then there is exclusive distribution which is “Giving a limited number of dealers the exclusive right to distribute the company’s products in their territories.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 26 Chapter 10) We are classy kind of beverage but aren’t a 1000 dollar exclusive drink or product such as Rolex. We want a selective distribution that’ll give us freedoms but also maintain order. Selective Distribution: “The use of more than one, but fewer than all, of the intermediaries who are willing to carry the company’s products.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 26 Chapter 10) This is what I believe will be best to advance our business properly and create new and greater opportunities. 

Product

When it comes to the term ‘Product’ with Koot’s Brüt Vodka, we have it off pretty easy since we have a very small menu or line of product. But when it comes to figuring out how to organize our products, we use a technique called Product Mix or Portfolio. A “Product mix (or product portfolio) is the set of all product lines and items that a particular seller offers for sale.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 22 Chapter 7) For example would be a company like Sony which has which a few portfolios such as Sony Electronics and Sony Pictures Entertainment but here at Koot’s we don’t have to worry about furthering ourselves in that direction because our market doesn’t call for that.

The product mix breaks down into three sub-categories which are length, depth, and width. All three of these will help organize ourselves in production and determine what we need to be successful in the production of our product. “Product mix length refers to the total number of items the company carries within its product lines.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 23 Chapter 7) Basically referring to how many product lines your company produces. Fortunately, we provide only one product which is just Vodka. “Product mix depth refers to the number of versions offered of each product in the line.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 23 Chapter 7) We at Koot’s have just one type of Vodka at the moment but are looking into opening up a new line of pre-mixed drinks. “Product mix width refers to the number of different product lines the company carries.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 23 Chapter 7) Last but not least, Product mix “Consistency of the product mix refers to how closely related the various product lines are in end use, production requirements, distribution channels, or some other way.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 23 Chapter 7) All of these are quite simple for our line of work since we provided a simple and straight forward product of Vodka with now flavored line and such that will drown out our prestigious natural flavors. Koot’s Brüt Vodka is simple but a luxurious vodka that isn’t drowned down by the glitz and glam that other brands might push onto the market.

Target Market Strategy

When Target Market comes into practice, it may become quite complex are hard to achieve the correct market for your business. Every company has a very specific target market they tend to stick to, to bring to highest chance of profit, promotion, and customer value. But before I go any further with Target Market Strategy, I must explain what this means so we can demonstrate our market. “Market targeting involves evaluating each market segment’s attractiveness and selecting one or more segments to enter. A company should target segments in which it can profitably generate the greatest customer value and sustain it over time.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 24 Chapter 2) Another great point that I must throw out there to keep you thinking would be: “In target marketing, the issue is not really who is targeted but rather how and for what." (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 34 Chapter 6) Now that we understand what Target Market is, we can put this together to create our Target Market Strategy.

Koot’s market consists obviously individuals who are at least at the drinking age of 21 and range to mid-40s. Its not only with 'who' our target is but where and how.We want the people who still out to clubs time to time and are willing to try new things. We are targeting clubs since our Vodka isn’t weakened by additive and fruity flavors; it is easy to mix into drinks or just shots. Koot's Brüt Vodka is greatest appreciated with others you enjoy so that you can achieve a great experience. We target individuals who life time customers and not short sales. We strive for good and longtime relations between customers and ourselves. 

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis, which I like to call 'Say What?" is actually quite easy to understand and develop but I still should explain what this acronym stands for and represent. Basically SWOT stands for: "An overall evaluation of the company’s strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T)." (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 6 Chapter 2) Understanding and assessing each of these is very important to better yourself for future advancement. To go more indepth, here is a definition that my clear up any questions that you might have: "Strengths include internal capabilities, resources, positive situational factors that may help the company to serve its customers and achieve its objectives. Weaknesses include internal limitations and negative situational factors that may interfere with the company’s performance. Opportunities are favorable factors or trends in the external environment that the company may be able to exploit to its advantage. And threats are unfavorable external factors or trends that may present challenges to performance.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 6 Chapter 2) Now that we’ve cleared the air and got a full analysis of SWOT, I think it’s about time that Koot’s Brüt Vodka provides our SWOT Analysis.

Our strengths here at Koot’s must be that we have such a fine product and great are here to prosper of customer relations but since we are a relatively new business, we are weak in being a well-known product and we have to work for product promotion and advertisement to further promote ourselves and get rid of this weakness. As in Opportunities, I believe we have a great chance because we are sold across most liquor stores across America and soon to be international as well as the club scene. We also sponsor a few concerts and venues in Las Vegas which will create great future opportunities. Last but not least would be our threats: One of our main threats is competition which will always be there. Another threat would be that our product doesn’t appeal to the market as well as other competing brands so we have to be on our A game at all times and looking for new ways to improve ourselves.   

Objectives

Now that I've constructed a thorough Mission Statement, it is now time to compile together a group of objectives that Koot's Brüt Vodka will strictly abide to so that we can create the best relations and experiences for our loyal customers. We are here to provide an experience more than just an alcoholic beverage.

But before we decide to jump in our objectives, I think its best that the term 'Objectives', is defined and completely understood for our potential customers, returning customers, employees, and whomever our business may concern. 

I going to break this down to two main objective categories that I believe will greatly improve this company. First would have to be our Advertising objectives: “An advertising objective is a specific communication task to be accomplished with a specific target audience during a specific period of time.” (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Armstrong/Kotler-pg. 19 Chapter 12) Advertising objectives alone breaks down into 3 sub-categories of informative, persuasive, and reminder advertising which I’ll get into in a moment but these all build on each other to create a greater costumer relation. “Informative advertising is used heavily when introducing a new product category. In this case, the objective is to build primary demand.” (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Armstrong/Kotler-pg. 19 Chapter 12)  This is basically just to get our product out there in the open. Then there is Persuasive objectives, that deal the increase of competition and our market has high and strong competition so it’s important to persuade and made our product stand our more than the rest. Last of the advertising objectives would be ‘Reminder’ advertising which is here to maintain costumer relations and reminding them of future products they may want. “Reminder advertising is important for mature products—it helps to maintain customer relationships and keep consumers thinking about the product.” (Marketing: An Introduction for Education Management Corporation, Armstrong/Kotler-pg. 20 Chapter 12)

The other main objective that we at Koot’s Brüt Vodka stand by is Strategic Market Objectives. “Strategic objectives focuses on winning additional market share, overtaking key competitors on product quality or customer service or product innovation, achieving lower overall costs than rivals, boosting the company’s reputation with customers, winning a stronger foothold in international markets, exercising technological leadership, gaining a sustainable competitive advantage, and capturing attractive growth opportunities.” (http://mystrategicplan.com/resources/objectives-and-goal-setting/) This is nails it straight on and we strive for the best.

Now that we understand what objectives are and what we look forward to, I believe its time we unveil Koot’s Brüt Vodka Objectives:

      We here at Koot’s strive for the unmost quality of Vodkas and the best relations a business can achieve. We always put our customers first and always will aim to create great relations between us. Last but not least, We crave returning customers and will create great opportunities an benefits for loyal friends here at Koot’s Brüt Vodka. 

Business Mission Statement

In developing a mission statement that specifically applying to such a unique company like Koot’s Brüt Vodka; one must know and understand what a legitimate mission statement composes. “A mission statement is a statement of the organization’s purposes—what it wants to accomplish in the larger environment. A clear mission statement acts as an 'invisible hand' that guides people in the organization”. (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 5 Chapter 2) Basically, your mission statement must state your purpose and position as a business. Sounds simple and yet work is still put into this to get your point across as a striving and unique company.

The mission statement is actually built for both customers and employees of our company so that our employees know what goal they are working for and what the customers expect from our company. “Mission statements should be meaningful and specific yet motivating. They should emphasize the company’s strengths in the marketplace. Too often, mission statements are written for public relations purposes and lack specific, workable guidelines.” (Marketing: An Introduction, Armstrong & Kotler, Page 6 Chapter 2) So companies choose to have a mission statement that goes on and for pages and pages. Others keep it short and simple and yet still fill in all the cracks that a mission statement should be composed of. It is important to have the mission statement openly available and easy to find for your customers and employee so that it’ll show commitment to your market and company itself.

Now that we understand a true mission statement, this the one I have developed for Koot’s Brüt Vodka:
            We are committed to producing and providing the finest vodkas of the highest value to our customers. We are dedicated on improving and maintaining the relations between our customers and employees; and most of all, providing a supreme experience and vodka.

Week 8: Creative Content

For Koot’s Brüt Vodka creative content/Advertising/Commercial, I’m thinking about making 2 different radio commercials. These commercials are geared for men and women between the ages of 21 and 35; the party animals that prefer classy drinks. One commercial aimed at men with the fast energetic speaker and the random punchy sound effects that you find in a lot of radio commercials or maybe just a short funny guy story, I don’t want the commercial to be over the top. The other commercial will be made to appeal women with a slow and soothing deep voice describing the product along with ambient sounds of a club or scenery and people mingling chatter. They are both are not going to be longer than 30 seconds each, the second one made for the female audience will be about 15seconds. I want to keep these commercial simple and to the point, kind of like my product: No flavoring, no additive. It’s just great vodka. Possibly develop a short slogan or theme for the product as well because those usually do well in advertisements. The first commercial directed for men will have a quick story of 2 individuals arguing over something at a party (A male and a female) and a narrating voice will interrupt their conversation and they freak out thinking its god and the narrator will tell them about Koot’s Brüt Vodka. As for the women’s voice, I want to intentionally make it a man trying to make a women’s voice to get a little laugh out of it. This might sound a little dull at the moment but this is just the beginning of the creative content process. I am also thinking about creating a unique green bottle through Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator. When I have the radio commercials playing through the YouTube video, I’ll have pictures of my vodka brand throughout the clip. I am also trying to keep my options open right now so I can add or change this plan around to suite the market appropriately.

EOC Week 7: The Pitch

Koot’s Brüt Vodka is a premium and silky smooth vodka based from the great land of Scotland. Brüt is all specially handcrafted from finest grains to give it the best flavor possible.  Made from the waters of Loch Awe and distilled 4 times in the richest whole berry Scottish Rye to provide that full and crisp flavor of Whiskey without the harshness completely smooth. Loch Awe surrounded by the prestigious ruins of castles and is the water supply for main local villages throughout Brut and Argyll, Scotland. This vodka is unfiltered to keep in the Brüt flavors of the Scottish Rye and doesn’t have any additive flavors for the complete and authentic experience of Vodka. With 80 proof, this vodka is meant to be enjoyed for its natural sweet taste and is at a reasonable and affordable price. Whether if it is for the gentlemen who enjoy straight shots of vodka or the lady who enjoys her mixed drinks. Everybody can savor the genuine rye flavor of this premium vodka.  Experience the beauties of Scotland from a bottle of Koot’s Brüt Vodka.