Marketing Mix to Inform Business Decisions that Support Organizational Objectives Paper

Description

Scenario

You work in the marketing department of Acadia Park Equipment Co., a seller of high-quality outdoor products, and your manager needs your help. Presently, your company only sells products, but it is interested in expanding to also sell services. It would like to begin by offering repair of hiking and camping gear as a service. You have been tasked with creating a brief marketing mix analysis for this service with an emphasis on the four Ps of marketing. First, read a bit more about the company you work for:

Acadia Park Equipment Co.
- Slogan: Your adventure, your world.
- Company History: Acadia Park Equipment Co. was founded by a brother and sister who were inspired by their love of the outdoors. They decided to start Acadia Outdoor Equipment Co. in response to all of the overpriced outdoor products in the big-box retail stores, and they sought to create high-quality products at a price anyone could afford. The companys mission is to spread the love and appreciation of the outdoors to all its customers and beyond.
- Vision: As Acadia Park Equipment Co. moves toward its goal of making it affordable for outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy nature, we will support organizations whose main efforts involve research to continue environmental preservation efforts. We regularly encourage employees to engage in preservation and clean-up efforts to help the environment.
- Primary Customer Demographic: Adventure-seeking adults ages 18 to 40. The company has multiple locations throughout the United States and relies on the Outdoor Foundations Outdoor Participation Report for critical demographic information.

Now that you have an understanding of the company, it is important to keep in mind how the history, vision, and demographic of Acadia Park Equipment Co. will be a part of the marketing mix analysis that you create. While you evaluate the four Ps of marketing in the proposed service of repairing hiking and camping gear, your manager would like you to pay particular attention to pricing structures; the role of advertising, public relations, social, and traditional media within the marketing mix; and the critical differences between marketing a product and marketing a service.

Directions

You will create a concise marketing mix analysis for your manager to help her determine the best way to market the new service that Acadia Park Equipment Co. wants to offer. Specifically, you must include the following sections in your marketing mix analysis:

Introduction: Briefly explain the importance of applying the marketing mix in marketing a new product or service to customers. Answer the following question:
- Why should Acadia Park Equipment Co. apply the marketing mix to this new service?
Product: In this section, you will focus on the product itself, which in this case is the new service of reparing hiking and camping gear. You will need to answer the following questions in this section:
- What is the problem this new service is trying to solve?
- How would you conduct market research to determine whether it is in demand for the market?
- What is the difference between a product and a service? How would a company strategize differently when marketing and selling a tangible product versus an intangible service?
Place: In this section, you will discuss placement and how the service will be distributed to the customer. Answer the following questions:
- Where would you recommend Acadia Park Equipment Co. market its new service?
- What is the difference between how you sell a service (marketing) versus the methods you use to sell it (sales)? How would you recommend Acadia Park Equipment Co. approach each of these?
Price: In this section, you will propose potential pricing structures for the new service. Remember that here price refers to the actual cost by the customer rather than the cost to the company. Complete the following:
- Propose two separate pricing structures for this service, and discuss the pros and cons of each.
Promotion: Promotion addresses the marketing communication strategies and techniques. In this section, you will describe how each of the following could be used to promote the new service: advertising, public relations, social media, and traditional media. Complete the following:
- Propose one method to blend digital and traditional marketing strategies to attract new customers. For example, will you advertise with flyers and create a social media campaign?