Week 14 Journal

Social Media

Social networking can be described as a network or community of people that have common interests. Social networking can be face to face however it is most popular online. Social Networking sites such a facebook, twitter and myspace allow users to stay in contact with each other without being face to face. This creates large scale communities with a range of interests whether it is for networking for personal reasons or business.

Social networking has become one of the most influential ways to advertise and promote business activities. This is evident in the breast cancer campaign "I like it on..." the campaign allowed any facebook user to write a status "I like it on..." the couch, the floor, the kitchen table etc. The users are actually writing about where they like to put their hand bag/purse however the sexual connotations are a successful marketing ploy. The campaign is to raise awareness for breast cancer and is successful at capturing a large audience.

http://mashable.com/2010/10/06/i-like-it-on-facebook/

Twitter uses similar marketing activities however it allows celebrities to advertise themselves. Twitter was also a marketing tool used in the past election with many politicians writing posts to gain votes.



A recent episode of futurama comments on the use of social media, the paraody "twitcher" was created with a virus that could control users minds. The episode comments on how the social media captures such a large audience and is generally used for nonsensical humorous videos.

I personally do not use twitter, however i do read tweets when they are posted on other websites. E.g. Pete Vs Toby is a clothing label that posts lots of interesting things on their blog about their designs, other creative activities and also shows their twitter posts. I think twitter is a really useful tool for anyone who has anything worth promoting or anything worth talking about. I wouldn't recommend an average joe to join twitter as no one will want to read your tweets.

References

Transport London "Do the Test", viewed September 14, 2010. http://www.dothetest.co.uk/basketball.html

"Good Morning Pluto" Insight 51 Campaign, viewed September 16, 2010. http://www.insight51.com/Campaign_Archive/2007/Good_Morning_Pluto/Good_Morning_Pluto.php,

Popular Business Trends, Trendhunter Business, viewed September 21, 2010. http://www.trendhunter.com/popular/category/business-trends

Internet trends: marketing research and predictions, Trendspotting Blog, viewed September 21, 2010. http://www.trendsspotting.com/blog/

Fredrickson, C 2009, Trends to Watch - All of eMarketer's 2010 Predictions, weblog, viewed September 21, 2010. http://www.emarketer.com/blog/index.php/trends-watch-emarketers-2010-predictions/

Eat, the real food company, viewed September 18, 2010. http://www.eat.co.uk/index.html

NSFW. A hunter shoots a bear 2010, Tippex Experience, online video, viewed October 18, 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ba1BqJ4S2M

The W3C Markup Validation Service, viewed October 20, 2010. http://validator.w3.org/

Parr, B 2010, “I Like It On” Facebook Breast Cancer Campaign Goes Viral , weblog, viewed November 13, 2010. http://mashable.com/2010/10/06/i-like-it-on-facebook/

What is Social Networking?, viewed November 13, 2010. http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/

Pete Vs Toby, weblog, viewed November 13, 2010. http://blog.peteversustoby.com/

Abdusalaam al-Hindi 2010, "Futurama Satirizes the Apple iPhone", weblog, viewed November 13, 2010. http://abdusalaam.blogspot.com/2010/07/futurama-satirizes-apple-iphone.html

Glossary

Strategic orientations: businesses need to bring varying methods and levels of strategic thought and application.

Strategic vision: a long term perspective; the focus needs to be on the future in both strategy development and the supporting analysis.

Strategic opportunism: strategies that make sense today. The premise is that the market is so dynamic and uncertain that it is not always feasible to aim at a specific future target.

Aaker, DA and Mills, MK 2005, Strategic Market Management: Pacific
Rim Edition, Wiley. pp 5.

Strategic position: specifies how the business it to be perceived relative to its competitors and market by customers, employees and partners. It should differentiate the company from its competitors, and resonate with customers. It should also drive strategic initiatives and the culture and values of the organisation, as well as communication programs.

Aaker, DA and Mills, MK 2005, Strategic Market Management: Pacific
Rim Edition, Wiley. pp 46.

External analysis: involves an examination of the elements external to an organisation that are critical for marketing strategy. The analysis should be purposeful, focusing on the identification of opportunities, threats, trends, strategic uncertainties and strategic choice.

Aaker, DA and Mills, MK 2005, Strategic Market Management: Pacific
Rim Edition, Wiley. pp 50.

Internal analysis: includes a performance appraisal and an examination of organisational strengths, weaknesses, problems, constraints and strategic options, as these relate to product and/or marketing strategy.

Aaker, DA and Mills, MK 2005, Strategic Market Management: Pacific
Rim Edition, Wiley. pp 63.

Trend: An inclination in a particular direction; A tendency; A fad or fashion style; A line drawn on a graph that approximates the trend of a number of disparate points; To have a particular direction; to run; to stretch; to tend; To cause to turn; to bend.

Wiktionary, "Trend", viewed October 14, 2010. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/trend

Differentiation strategy: in which a product offering is different from that of one or more competitors in a way that is valued by the customers. The value added should affect customer choice and ultimate satisfaction.

Aaker, DA and Mills, MK 2005, Strategic Market Management: Pacific
Rim Edition, Wiley. pp 198.

Value: 1. relative worth, merit, or importance. 2. the worth of something in terms of the amount of other things for which it can be exchanged or in terms of some medium of exchange. 3. values, Sociology . the ideals, customs, institutions, etc., of a society toward which the people of the group have an affective regard. These values may be positive, as cleanliness, freedom, or education, or negative, as cruelty, crime, or blasphemy.

Dictionary.com, "Value", viewed November 3, 2010. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/value

Brand equity: a set of assests and liabilities linked to a brand's name and symbol that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or that firm's customers.

Aaker, DA and Mills, MK 2005, Strategic Market Management: Pacific
Rim Edition, Wiley. pp 210.

Week 13 Journal

Individual and group reflection performance

Individual performance: This semester I have under gone some quite serious medical complications, however a part from missing some lectures and tutes I feel I have performed to the best abilities I could. Although having a small extension for the audit I was sure to make sure my group had all the sufficient information they needed on the days organised by the group.

It was hard at times communicating with my group without seeing them face to face, however I think we managed.

As mentioned before, our group tried to divide the work of the promotion activity and marketing audit to suit the strengths of each person in the group. I do feel under appreciated in terms of my design strengths when other group members would re-do work i had done (facebook invites and posters for the promotion). However, this is something that does occur in group work from time to time when working with strong personalities.

As a group, I think we managed to produce a well presented marketing audit and a successful promotional activity. The stress of not being provided with much information at the start of the semester for the audit project made the assignment seem harder than what it was, I think this also due to the high standard of work and expectations by group members also.

Week 12 Journal

Group Audit Performance Reflection.

I think our group worked well in putting together our audit. We split the categories up with each others strengths and weaknesses in mind. For example, I am a graphic design student so I was assigned to the branding part of the assignment, as well as creating other graphical elements for our promotional activity.

There was a definite leader in our group, Karan. I think it is important to have a group leader in assignments such as this just so there is one person who is a representative of the group and a person who can collect everyone's work and put it together into one document.

However this being said, I think Karan may have become a bit too controlling, for example, when I would design the invite for our promotional activity or create posters, he would end up creating and using his own. I understand that he is a very studious person and he has a very clear idea what he wanted things to look like however, I wish he would have considered using my invitations and posters that we agreed was my job to make.

Apart from group members strong personalities, we managed to work together well, organizing meetings with UCU staff to get information and group meetings to put together our finished document.


What does it mean to be reflective and why.
Reflection is to evaluate a previous activity. It is important to be reflective to improve future activities by looking at what might not have been successful or what could be improved. It can also help indicate to a business what is already successful/profitable and help businesses strategise how they can use these strengths to become more competitive.

Week 11 Journal

Promotional Activity



Project: UC Refectory Food Court - UC Eat!
Group: Anne Andrew, Claire Bradbury, Chandima Atulugamage , Karandeep Narula
Date: Wednesday, 27 October, 2010
Time: 12:30pm - 2:30pm
Venue: UC Concourse, in front of building 1
Description:
1. Game: Aim and Win (Dart Game) - Vouchers given as prizes
2. Food Sampling: will be run by the kitchen staff.






(CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE)

Our promotional activity was a darts game where players could win free coffee and muffin vouchers for the refectory.

The player was given three darts to throw at a board covered in Stone Fest flyers. Behind some flyers were free coffee/muffin vouchers. If the player hit a flyer with a voucher behind, they won!

The concept of the game was easy to play and easy to win. We were supplied a large number of vouchers so we could frequently refresh the board with new vouchers.

To advertise the promotion activity before the date, we set a an event group on facebook and invited all our friends that attend the University.

UCU supplied us with a large UC Eat! banner that we placed at the bottom of the board to reinforce that the activity was to promote the new refectory. The side walls of the game also included images of the new refectory layout and plans. It would have been better to have these displayed more so in a way that participants could take a good look and understand the extent of the renovations of the eatery. As a group we felt like there needed to be a few more posters with quick slogans that would grab peoples' interest, so whilst we started our promotion activity, Karan went and printed off some small A4 posters that we stuck around the game booth.

We also supplied a sheets that participants could fill out after they had played the game. The sheet asked for simple information such as their name, rate the activity from 1 to 10, and any other additional comments. From the information gathered on the sheets, it is evident that the promotional activity was successful as all participants highly enjoyed the activity.

As a group I think we worked rather well, with all of us engaging with participants, talking about the new refectory, giving darts to players, and refreshing the board with new vouchers.

From the criticism given to us by Diane about our posture, I feel although we didn't act in a professional manner, we acted in a way that appealed to our promotional activity's target market. Because it was Stone Week, everyone was in a relaxed and friendly mood and I feel that we reciprocated this. If we were performing this promotional activity in a corporate conference setting, our posture and manners would obviously been more professional. I think our friendly-laid back attitude is what let some more hesitant players participate (with some encouragement).

Overall I think our promotional activity was a success as we captured a large audience and managed to give away all vouchers whilst spreading the word about the new refectory.

Week 10 Journal

1. What is reflection and why is it important in business and when planning marketing.
Reflection is a process of careful consideration and evaluating the effects of a process or action. It is important in business and when planning marketing in order to determine whether a marketing activity is successful or not, and to what degree was it successful. Reflection/ evaluation can also help create or improve new marketing strategies .


Week 10 Blog
The business.gov website has easy navigation with most aspects of a well functioning website. The search bar is positioned in the top right corner which allows users to quickly search for specific inquiries. The sites navigation is positioned on the left hand side of the page. It is more usual that a website has the navigation across the top of the page, however the site works well with the links running down the page. The right hand side of the page also provides useful links such as popular link, social media links, and related pages.The site also provides a site map for easy navigation.

I also checked the website in the W3C accessibility checker and it was approved, showing that the website has successfully completed all aspects that allows it to be disability friendly. These aspects are evident in the small text in the top right hand corner where users can change the size of the text on the site. (http://validator.w3.org/)

Promotion Ideas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ba1BqJ4S2M



This Tippex ad was on the Gruen Transfer a while ago however i think it is one of the most successful viral promotional activities i have seen. It allows users to be interactive with the video as it allows users to type anything that the hunter will do e.g. hunter hugs a bear, hunter fights a bear, hunter kisses a bear, hunter serenades a bear.... pretty much anything, and the hunter will do it.

The most effective part of the ad is when the hunter reaches outside of the youtube clip and grabs the white out product. The visual is strong and startling to the viewer which is stimulating attention grabbing.



I think something like this would be awesome for UC Eat! as it targets a young market segment that is computer literate and is a market segment that would enjoy the amusement of the clip, particularly to create a quick study break, which could also promote the eatery.

Week 9 Journal

Read the online case article “Applying global trends: A look at China’s auto industry” Discuss in small groups what are the impacting factors that can impact on business. Student should apply these to their own live case project. Strategically and operationally. Write this up in your journal and make comments.

1. Establish the reference frame
"right frame of reference - a specific problem statement and a clear sense of the industry context for long term shifts."

The UC Refectory could use this by asking questions such as how much of the market share will competitors such as Sizzles and Mizzuna capture in the future? How will this reflect the refectory in terms of profitability?

Because the refectory is re-branding itself it may take time to create consumer loyalty which will make the business think carefully about competing on aspects such as price and value.

2. Expand the solution space
"broaden the potential solution space by challenging conventional wisdom through the lens of global trends."

UC refectory needs to keep an eye on trends. This can be done by gathering data on information such as regulations, macroeconomics and demands.

3. Define scenarios
"quadrant crunching allows planners to generate extreme but plausible scenarios quickly by reversing their underlying assumptions to arrive at a number of different potential states of the world."

By creating scenarios, UC refectory will be able to work with any potential trends. E.g. if sales are down due to the GFC the refectory could already have a number of potential strategies to help them overcome the problem in the case of the GFC, the refectory may introduce marketing strategies such as new customer loyalty programs, discounts etc.

4. Quantify industry impact
"Delphi technique: systematic forecasting method"
keeping an eye of profitability and finances are an important part of trend watching and business success.


Discuss how you will evaluate and measure the success of your promotional activity and how will you use this in improving you recommendations and plan :

In order to evaluate our promotional activity we will be providing a quick survey sheet that will allow participants to quickly rate the activity. This information will be useful as it will help us rate the success of the activity, as well as give us an indication of how many people we get to participate.

The survey will have a space for comments and suggestions which will be useful for future promotional activities.


Week 9 Blog
The business and marketing plan templates provided on the business.gov are a good source of information for anyone who is creating a new business or is expanding an existing business. These templates compared to others found on the internet are more informative with links and explanations about what is exactly needed in order to complete each section of the plan successfully.

In terms of the live case study, the marketing plan will be very useful in order to see what information we need as the UC Refectory does not currently have a marketing plan.

Week 7 Journal

UC Refectory Branding: UC Eat!

The Refectory has just undergone brand maintenance to improve brand image, experience and quality. This brand maintenance saw the Refectory have a redesign of their logo.

The new Refectory logo has created a fresh new look for the business that will help give the Refectory a competitive advantage over other campus restaurants. The UC Eat! logo is a sub brand of the UC Life! brand. The other brands include: UC Live!(Live music, festivals and other events), UC Events! (Academic functions) and UC Fit! (UC gym)

The idea of this sub branding is that consumers will know that these campus activities are all related and run by the UCU. It helps build consumer relationships and create the idea that "everything I need is at the University." (i.e. all retail, events, fitness and food outlets)

The new logo has been treated to look modern without dating quickly. The spot colours have been chosen to look youthful and fresh, with secondary colours to be used to differentiate particular outlets.

Self Progress:
Throughout this blog and through the weekly activities and lectures I have been able to look at what needs to be included in our audit. Personally, this assignment has been hard work to relate my live case study as we really haven't been provided with the information we need. However we have been able to get small amounts of information from UCU and where we do not have information we can suggest or assume information to the business.

The business.gov website has been very useful with the templates and checklists offered and I can see how useful these tools would be in the workforce to be able to complete and audit.

I can imagine the work that would have to undergo a marketing audit in the workforce would be hard but a vital part of any businesses marketing and promotional operations.

Week 7 Blog

I was once again unable to get to a computer for sunday, however here is my response to the Business Consultation site.

The site was created to supply information about policies and regulations that may affect business owners and their particular field of business.
The site is not as successful as other elements of the business.gov site. When I searched words into the search field, no results ever appeared. However, when I clicked into the advanced search I was able to see the agencies and topics the consultation site related to. I think the site would be more successful if the users could see the list of options (agencies and topics) first, rather than searching for options that come up negative.

Eat.

http://www.eat.co.uk/index.html, Viewed September 18, 2010

A food store in England that uses a similar colour scheme to the UC eat! branding.
I don't think brown is a very successful colour for food branding, however i think the way Eat. has used brown in its logo and packaging creates a recyclable/ sustainable feel about the business.

I think UC Eat! could follow a similar approach.



iPhone App:creative promotional tool for the Eat. company

This iPhone App allows users to:
* Find the closest Eat. cafe closest to the user, where ever they are
* See the entire Eat. menu, as well as all the nutritional information for each menu choice
* Receive Soup of the Day alerts
* Receive special offers

Week 6 Journal

IKEA Case Study Questions

1. Describe what is meant by a SWOT analysis.
A SWOT analysis is a strategic tool that helps a company to reach its goals by focusing on its key issues.
“Identification and evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses inside a firm and the opportunities and threats in its external environment.”

2. Explain the differences between internal and external factors.
Internal factors describe the factors that occur within the business that the company can change easily. These include finance of the business, marketing and manufacturing processes. External factors are factors that the business cannot control. These factors can include economical, government or social changes in society.

3. Analyse ways in which IKEA has managed to minimize threats to its business.
IKEA has used various strategies to minimize threats. These go under three different categories: Social trends, market forces and economic factors.

IKEA has created a strong system to interact with customers creating customer satisfaction with an online help guide. Not only is this good interaction and follow-up for customers but also it is environmentally friendly and sustainable.

In terms of market forces, IKEA has a large market share internationally, which makes it hard for small companies to emerge.

IKEA’s economic factors include their affordable prices that appeal to those with tight financial situations, however the products also appeal to people who are financially stable and who have an eye for interior design.

4. Discuss the contribution of SWOT analysis to IKEA’s business growth.
The SWOT analysis is the basis on IKEA’s success and control of business activity. To improve business activity IKEA has assessed its external and competitive environments. This has allowed the company to find new opportunities to reduce threats. It also looks at its strengths and weaknesses to help them overcome weaknesses and improve their strengths.


3 Trend Sites



http://www.emarketer.com/blog/index.php/trends-watch-emarketers-2010-predictions/

This is actually a marketing blog, however it had lots of useful information on trends and predictions in terms of e-marketing so I thought I would include it in my 3 Trend Sites.

The article covers predictions and trends about ecommerce, social media, ad targeting and privacy, and search queries.



http://www.trendsspotting.com/blog/

Trends Spotting is a site and blog dedicated to marketing trends. Some of these trends include consumer trends, online, video and mobile trends, technology trends, and social media trends.



http://www.trendhunter.com/popular/category/business-trends

TrendHunter is a trend site that has a large range of trends ranging from fashion, technology, pop culture, art and design, advertising, business, environmental and social trends.

The trends have then be categorized into sections such as new, top 20, top lists, pro trends an must see. Trends have also been sorted into how recent

Week 6 Blog
I was unable to post this on facebook as I was not near a computer on sunday, however here is my response:

The three top items that would suit my live case study; UC Refectory, would be:
1. Marketing plan template
2. Growing a business checklist
3. Promoting your business

1. Marketing plan template

The marketing plan template provided on the business.gov website compared to the templates provided on external searches (such as google) was alot more comprehensive then the ones provided on Google. The business.gov template provides information about how to complete the template with helpful links to extra information. The ones that came up from the external search were basic with not much information.

2. Growing a business checklist

The checklist on business.gov is a good in depth checklist, however the search results for external checklists also had good ideas.I think it would be useful for businesses to use both internal and external information to compare different tactic in order to grow a business.

3. Promoting your business

The information provided on business.gov is simple and easy, however it is not very creative. I think once again the use of both google and business.gov would be successful in order for a business to find creative promotional ideas.

Insight Promotions

"Good Morning Pluto" Insight 51 Campaign, http://www.insight51.com/Campaign_Archive/2007/Good_Morning_Pluto/Good_Morning_Pluto.php, Viewed September 16, 2010.

Insight 51 is a surf/skate/street brand that uses strong promotional media to promote the brand and their seasonal campaigns.

The brand is also well known for their strong creative and design ethos which is illustrated in their successful photographic posters. The posters are always playful and strong images appealing to youth and adults. Because these posters are so strong, they become a very viral visual method to promote the brand, with the images being blogged about across the globe.

I think using provoking images that attract viewers attention is a very successful way to promote a brand, as it can be used on the web and in print to reduce promoting costs.

Week 5 Journal

http://www.dothetest.co.uk/basketball.html



This promotional Youtube clip is one of the most successful in my mind. The viral campaign is for the “Look out for cyclists” campaign by the Transport for London.

It is effective in captivating the audience by asking them to participate by asking the viewer the question: “How many passes does the team in white make?” involving the viewer makes the clip interactive and captivating, which gains viewers attention and interest.

When the clip reveals the answer (13), viewers get a sense of satisfaction that they paid attention and were successful. However, when the clip then says: “Did you see the moon walking bear?” viewers may feel intrigued if there actually is a bear because when focusing on the white teams passes it is not noticeable.

In the second part of the clip when it replays and the viewers’ look for the bear he is present and moon walking.

The clip then goes to a slide where it says:
“It’s easy to miss something your not looking for.”

“Look out for cyclists.”

This message and use of the effect on viewers is successful in captivating the audience whilst providing a strong message that everyone who watches will understand. The user involvement and trickery used in the clip makes users want to show and test their friends’ reactions.

This awareness test is one of three Youtube clips created to raise awareness for cyclists.

ANSOFF Matrix: applied to UC Refectory

Product development
• New refectory
• New food

Diversification

Market development
• New product packaging


Market penetration
• Increasing existing customer usage of the Refectory
• Maintaining/ increasing customer market share. This could be achieved by using competitive pricing strategies and sales promotions


Week 5 Blog Response

“Both checklists are easily accessible, with the choice to preview the checklists before downloading the documents.

The information on each checklist is divided into appropriate sections. For example in the starting your business checklist information is sorted into different groups under the headings: Before you start a business, when you start, when you buy a business and running a business. Each section has comprehensive questions that users must answer in order to start their business.

Each checklist has links for advice and support, providing links to websites and phone numbers that a user may need in order to start/grow a business.

In terms of my live case study (UCU Refectory) the growing a business checklist would be useful as they are currently re-branding and growing the business.”

Week 4 Journal

PESTEL Analysis

Political: Immigration laws for international students
Economical: GFC can effect the amount of money people are willing to spend, could also greater effect the number of international students that will come over
Social: International Students
Technological:
Environmental: Sustainability, use of packaging and promotion
Legal: OHS, employee wages/shifts, use of music, laws and regulations


SWOT Analysis

Strengths:
• Will be positioned in the new Refectory
• New food
Weaknesses:
• Will be another Asian restaurant
Opportunities:
• To provide competitive prices
• To provide quality food
Threats:
• Other campus restaurants
• Belconnen Food Court

Chapter 4 Questions p84

1. Why is it so important for marketers to conduct environmental analysis?
It is important for marketers to conduct environmental analysis to determine external environmental trends and events that may have the potential to affect the marketing strategy, directly or indirectly.

2. Which of the five areas of environmental analysis is the most significant for marketing strategy? The least significant?
I think one of the most significant areas of environmental analysis for marketing strategy is culture. If the consumers are not willing to purchase a product because it is against their lifestyles and beliefs, there is nothing the marketing strategy can do to change this. I think the least significant could be technology. Because the marketing world is adaptable to technology change all the time, the only people it is really affecting is those creating new technology.

3. What two criteria are most important in determining whether a strategic uncertainty should be monitored and analysed?
The two criteria that are most important in determining whether a strategic uncertainty should be monitored and analysed are its impact and immediacy.

The impact of a strategic uncertainty includes: (from p. 79)
• The extent to which it involves trends and events that will have an impact on existing or potential products or brands
• The importance of the involved products/ brands
• The number of involved product/ brands

The immediacy of a strategic uncertainty relates to:
• The probability that the involved trends or events will occur
• The time frame of the trends or events
• The reaction time likely to be available, compared with the time required to develop and implement appropriate strategy

4. Why is it important to involve product and/or line managers in the conduct of scenario analysis?
It is important to involve line/ production managers in the conduct of an analysis because if they are involved in the development and testing of new strategies it allows the manager to help change mind-sets, challenge assumptions, create innovative options and legitimize new directions.

Week 4 Blog Response

“The events calendar is a simple and effective tool.

The layout is basic which allows for easy use with simple headings, which affords for easy navigation.

The search tool is an important aspect of the calendar that is also easy to use allowing users to search for particular events based on the date, location and topic of the event.

Once an event has been chosen the user is redirected to a new page, which allows them to easily select which seminar they wish to attend, and for how many people by submitting a simple form. I think this is an effective way of monitoring events as well as encouraging users to come to the seminars.”

Week 3 Journal

Marketing Planning Checklist 2 A answer these questions in relation to your Group Live Case Study Project

In relation to my group’s case study, UCU Refectory, it is hard to answer the questions as they have provided us with minimal information, however I will try to answer in terms of recommending what they should do.

1. Were the appropriate personnel & stakeholders involved in planning? Who are they?
The personnel who is involved planning is the UCU personnel, the stakeholders include the UC staff and students as well as outside customers.In terms of planning, the UCU staff have been the only stakeholders involved, as it was a last minute decision to re-do the refectory.

2. How would you plan this?
I would have interviewed staff and students to see what they would like to have done to the refectory to include these stakeholders into the planning process. This could be done in the form of a simple survey of a sample of students/staff.

3. How was progress measured?
Progressed could be measured in different ways in terms of time managementand the financial budget ( for the restoration, new branding, and promotion).

4. Were suitable metrics and measurement intervals selected for measuring progress?
No

5. Were planning decisions made after investigating multiple options to address opportunities, threat and competitive situations?
No

6. Were marketing metrics, forecasts, schedules, budgets and implementation responsibilities clearly delineated, realistic coordinated and communicated effectively?
The scheduled finish date for the refectory is in November, however i am not sure if this information has been communicated to the University.

7. How can the marketing planning and implementation be managed better in the future and improved?
To have a plan before starting major changes within the UCU business. Use suitable metrics and sampling methods to see what they should be altering, instead of altering what they (the UCU staff) thinks should be done.

Marketing Planning Checklist 2 B

1. What constitutes good marketing research?
Good marketing research is a large range of different research secondary and primary.

The most successful way to conduct this research is by following the Marketing Research Process.

Characteristics of good marketing research include: Scientific method, research creativity, multiple methods, interdependence, value and cost of information, healthy skepticism and ethical marketing.

2. What are good metrics for measuring marketing productivity?
There are two categories for marketing metrics; these are External and Internal metrics.

External metrics include: market share, relative price, number of complaints, customer satisfaction, distribution, total number of customers and loyalty.

Internal metrics include: awareness of goals, commitment to goals, active support, resource adequacy, staffing levels, desire to learn, willingness to change, freedom to fall and autonomy.

Each of these metrics has their own measuring system, whether it is qualitative or quantitive.

3. How can marketers assess their return on investment of marketing expenditures?
Profitability, market share, loss leading.

4. How can companies more accurately measure and forecast demand?
Companies can measure forecast demand in a range of ways including: surveying buyers’ intentions, sales trends, composite of sales force opinions, expert opinions, past-sales analysis and market-test method.

5. Do they follow the Marketing Research Process: Strategic Issues and Considerations
· Problem identification
· Formulate research objectives
· Determine sources and types of data
· Research design
· Data Collection
· Data Analysis
· Results presentation

No, as it was a last minute decision, there was no market research implemented before re-doing the refectory.


Week 3 Blog Response

“I think the grant finder is successful with its easy layout, use of buttons and functions such as dragging favorites to quickly bookmark particular grants that the user is interested in. The tabs are relevant to what the users are looking for, as well as having an extensive search bar.

I don't think there were any grants that would suit the UCU events project.
However, the Canberra Business Development Fund seems most suited to this project than the others as our project meets the fund criteria.”

* Since this blog our group has changed to the UCU Operations – Food Court project.

Week 2 Journal

1. What does it mean to: Evaluate, Audit, Review & Measure. And are they the same?
Definitions
(Dictionary.com, viewed 2.9.2010, http://dictionary.reference.com)

Evaluate: to determine or set the value or amount of; appraise: to evaluate property
Audit: an official examination and verification of accounts and records, esp. of financial accounts.
Review: a critical article or report, as in a periodical, on a book, play, recital, or the like; critique; evaluation
Measure: any standard of comparison, estimation, or judgment.

I think that the terms Evaluate, Audit, Review and Measure have small differences however they are all means to assess and record information.

2. Complete the Essential Marketing Planning Checklist No. 1
a) What sources of information will you need to evaluate the business?
The company’s previous marketing plan and strategic plans, annual reports to see if their previous strategies are being met, and how successful the current plans are working.

b) What political changes, economic issues, socio-cultural changes, technology trends, legal issues and ecological considerations are likely to influence your evaluation and planning?
Issues that will effect our evaluation and planning for the UCU Operations – Food Court would include economic issues such as the GFC. Socio-cultural issues such as what types of people are we marketing to? UC is a very culturally diverse university and it is important that we market to everyone. Another important social issue is obesity. It is important that the Food Court is marketed in a way that it supports healthy eating. Ecological issues that are current at the moment are sustainability issues, it is important in the fast food industry that everything is environmentally friendly.

c) If the business is in more than one country or has international connections, what regional and international issues must be considered?
I think because the university has international students issues such as communication should be considered to make sure that the Food Court tailors to all students and staff.

d) What kind of insights could similar organizations failures tell you?
I can’t think of any particular failures for organizations such as this, however looking at trends from other Food Court situations it is evident that healthy choice styles are emerging and are being successful over small deep fried filled food courts. Modern layouts are also successful, that represent clean and fresh environments.

e) Who are the organizations broad public’s or stakeholder’s and how important will it be to get buy in from them?
The organizations public’s and stakeholder’s include the students and staff of UC, as well as guests that visit the university.

Business.gov Marketing Plan Format Review

The Business.gov Marketing Plan template is a very descriptive template with advice and support for users. It describes how the template should be used, what the user needs to do in terms of research and preparation to make a marketing plan.

Each section is very simple and easy to read whilst being thorough and descriptive. For Example, each page illustrates to the user what needs to be on each page with an explanation of why the information should be included. If the user needs more help on a particular part of the template, there is a “More Information” section for each question that includes a link to more information.

I think this is a very good marketing plan template, there are many more on the internet that people can download, however this template has a lot more additional information that others do not include.

Mind Map

A mind map of all topics associated with Marketing Management and Planning