MKT 205 Project

Michele Allen
Marilyn Deen
February 19, 2021

PRODUCT

“healthy” carob (chocolate substitute) bar

PERSONA

Sandra, 44

DEMOGRAPHICS

Location: Sandra and spouse owns a single-family home in the suburbs, specifically Arcadia, California 91007.

Marital Status: Sandra is married with 1-2 children teenage or older.

Occupation and Income: Sandra holds a white collar positions (managerial, technical, and legal) with an average
net income of $56,000.

Education Level: Sandra has a Bachelor's Degree or higher.

PSYCHOGRAPHICS

Hobbies and Interests: Sandra enjoys yoga, travel, reading, theater, and museums.

Wants and Preferences: Sandra and her family have a sweet tooth. She wants snacks that satisfy their want for
chocolate but has healthy benefits. (Goldman, 2018) She also wants to be able to purchase them online with fast
and free shipping.

Personal and Professional Goals: Sandra wants to live a sophisticated, exclusive lifestyle while being
environmentally aware.

Shopping Habits and Preferences: Sandra tries to shop all natural products at trendy online stores so she can
spend her time with her kids instead of going to different stores.

Lifestyle: Persona enjoys eating organic foods, drinking imported wine, visiting museums, art galleries, and movie
theaters, drives luxury imports, and travels.

PROMOTION

FIRST MARKETING CHANNEL

Description of first marketing channel: A marketing channel I would use for Sandra is social media. People around
Sandra's age are using both older and newer social media platforms. It would be most beneficial to advertise not
only in Facebook groups that are geared towards healthy eating, but also on Instagram promoting to her specific
demographic.(Tanner & Raymond, 2020)
Why this channel is appropriate for this persona: Social media is the most appropriate communication channel
because Sandra's generation grew up with the technology we have today and uses it almost as much as older
millennials do. Her generations still use Facebook and Pintrest but also access Instagram. By promoting ads on
Instagram to her specific demographic and advertising in popular Facebook groups geared towards healthy living it
raises the chances of Sandra seeing the ads and wanting to purchase our healthy carob bars.

SECOND MARKETING CHANNEL

Description of second marketing channel: Affiliate marketing is another marketing channel to be used. With the
technical lifestyle Sandra has, she is following people on Instagram, Twitter, and on YouTube that live healthy
lifestyles and promote items that they use or feel are excellent products. By creating an affiliate marketing
program, the reach of our healthy carob bars will reach much farther.(Enfroy, 2021)

Why this channel is appropriate for this persona: The affiliate marketing program ties in well with the Social
Media marketing. Sandra is on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube looking at healthy cooking recipes and lifestyle
tips. Searches on the sites usually list the most popular posts and creators first, making them the most likely for her
to check out. Because of their popularity, consumers trust their input of products more.

PRICE

PRICING FACTOR: COMPETITOR PRICING

Competitor pricing: Competitor pricing is the pricing factor that takes into consideration the prices the competitor
has in place. This is the most relyable pricing factor to gain and maintain loyal customers. With everything available
online, it is easy for customers to compare items and prices to help make their decision. (Tanner & Raymond,
2020)

How pricing factor is used to determine pricing: The competitors prices can affect the pricing of your product in
many ways. If your item is priced considerably higher than your competitor then people will be less likely to
purchase yours. When your price is much lower than that of the competitor, the consumer may feel that it is an
inferior item. This pricing factor may narrow the profit margin, but it is the safest route to take to get the product
out there. (Lovering, 2019)

PRICING STRATEGY: PENETRATION

General advantages and drawbacks of penetration pricing strategy: Penetration pricing strategy sets the initial
price low to attract customers to quickly build a customer base. The main advantages of this pricing strategy is that
is creates brand loyalty and get customers to switch from competitors. There are a number of drawbacks to
Penetration pricing. Customers will expect the price to stay low. The low price may lead customers to think the
product is poor quality. (Corporate Finance Institute, 2020)

Specific advantages and drawbacks of penetration pricing strategy: Using penetration pricing, Sandra will be
more receptive to trying our new Healthy Carob Bars. She will either be drawn in on her own seeing the benefits of
the product combined with the low price or by word of mouth from a friend or family member that tells her about
the decreased price. She will expect the price to stay low but, hopefully, the quality of the product will keep her
coming back and she will see the value of the bars.
PLACE

CHANGES IN THE MARKETPLACE

Change in the marketplace: With the Covid-19 pandemic there is a need to adjust our marketing strategies to be
aligned with the needs of our consumers. Our consumers want our products but also want to be safe. We want our
customers to know that our distribution process is safe, sanitary, and have contactless delivery.

How the change addresses the distribution of products to my persona: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, most of
our consumers are quarantined at home. This narrows down the marketing and distribution options available to
us. The number of consumers that shop for wellness items online due to Covid has gone up by 84% and snacks has
gone up 129%. (Statista, 2020) This means that online distribution is the most viable option at this time.

DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL

Potential distribution channel and why it is appropriate for my product and persona: The recommended
distribution channel for our healthy carob bar is online distribution. Our persona, Sandra, does go online to
research items, look at health blogs/videos/posts, and to shop in general. Also, with the pandemic, she is unable to
get out to the stores to make purchases. After seeing some of our affiliate marketing online, she can go to our
website to make a purchase and have the bars sent directly to her house with out having to take time out of her
day or risk exposure to the virus.

PRODUCT

How product should be marketed in relation to meeting the needs and wants of my persona: The healthy carob
bar should be marketed as a healthy alternative for chocolate cravings. The healthy carob bar is full of fiber and
antioxidants. There is very little fat and sugar in the healthy carob bar along with no caffeine or gluten. (Goldman,
2018) The healthy carob bar tastes like chocolate with none of the guilt.

How bringing this product to the marketplace helps support and build the Chocolate Bliss brand: By bringing the
healthy carob bar to the marketplace, it will help expand the product lines of Chocolate Bliss. Since the beginning
of quarantine, 40% of people are snacking more and 25% are eating more chocolate. (Devenyns, 2020) Bringing the
carob bars to the Chocolate Bliss brand will help our consumers feel not as guilty with their snacking and receive a
health benefit from it as well.

EVALUATION

How to evaluate the effectiveness of the marketing plan: In order to get the clearest understanding of the
effectiveness of our marketing plan we will implement both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods.
By using both forms of data collection we will have not only the numbers showing how it is impacting sales but the
reasons why.

Two quantitative data collection tools I could use to evaluate the marketing plan:

The first quantitative data collection tool that we will use is the quantitative survey. The quantitative survey will
provide us with answers as far as how often does the consumer purchase our bars compared to the competition
and how much they are willing to spend on the product. This will help us on the numbers side to help aim the
product marketing to be impactful to the consumer.

The second quantitative data collection tool that we will use is in person interviews. These interviews will ask the
same questions as the first tool but in person rather than being emailed to the consumer. The in person interviews
can be completed a bit faster than the emailed survey. Also, there is a higher chance of the consumer completing
the interview since it is harder for someone to say no to a person. (Vilela, 2020)

Two qualitative data collection tools I could use to evaluate the marketing plan:

The first qualitative data collection we will use are focus groups. This will allow us to do a group interview with the
consumers to get real time feedback on the marketing of our products. We will provide them with the marketing
we have out or plan on putting out and ask them what they think of it, would they buy the product, why or why
not, and what they would prefer to see.

The other qualitative data collection we will use is observation. We will observe a group of consumers (almost like
a focus group) review our marketing (commercials) and take note of any reactions they have during the viewing.
(Blog, 2020)
 REFERENCES

Blog, F. (2020, February 20). Quantitative vs Qualitative Observation: 15 Key Differences.

FormPlus. https://www.formpl.us/blog/quantitative-qualitative-observation

Corporate Finance Institute. (2020, July 6). Penetration Pricing.

https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/strategy/penetration-pricing/

Devenyns, J. (2020, May 1). As snack time becomes anytime, sales skyrocket. Food Dive.

https://www.fooddive.com/news/as-snack-time-becomes-anytime-sales-

skyrocket/577174/#:%7E:text=The%20increase%20in%20snacking%20is%20not%20a

%20unique%20trend%20resulting,figures%20have%20continued%20to%20climb.

Enfroy, A. (2021, January 27). Affiliate Marketing in 2021: What It Is and How You Can Get

Started. The BigCommerce Blog. https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/affiliate-

marketing/#how-does-affiliate-marketing-work

Goldman, R. (2018, September 29). The Benefits of Carob. Healthline.

https://www.healthline.com/health/5-best-things-about-carob

Lovering, C. (2019, January 25). Competitive Pricing Strategy. Small Business - Chron.Com.

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/competitive-pricing-strategy-59220.html

Statista. (2020, December 1). Growth in U.S. consumers mostly purchasing online due to

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customers-purchasing-category-most-all-online/

Tanner, J., & Raymond, M. A. (2020). Applied marketing strategies. Soomo Learning.

https://www.webtexts.com
Tapestry Segmentation—Esri Demographics | Documentation. (2020). ArcGIS.

https://doc.arcgis.com/en/esri-demographics/data/tapestry-segmentation.htm

Vilela, H. (2020, October 12). New Quantitative Research Questions in Online Surveys.

Alchemer. https://www.alchemer.com/resources/blog/new-ways-to-ask-quantitative-

research-questions-in-online-surveys/