I wasn’t able to
open the recording this week but its finally come, the end of the semester. I
thought that it flew by and I learned a lot. I think that I learned more about
running a business and marketing then all of my classes so far. I thought that it
was interesting actually being given a company to market. I learned about
timing of decisions as well as when a good time to alter things such as pricing
or sales force or advertising budget. I would have never thought that all of
this altering of a marketing plan or strategy would take place. However, it was
done over the course of ten years so if I think about how much times have changed
over the past ten years, I can see how this is relevant. That might have been
the most important thing that I took out of the Pharmasim experience. There are
infinite amount of changes that could occur in the market at any time. Some can
propel a product to success and another can decline it.
For this week
for my advice memo I named the critical success factors for Allstar as included
symptom relief, relationships with channels, relationships with doctors, brand
awareness, and sales force. In other words, what the customer wants most is for
their symptoms to be treated, first and foremost. They first need to be
convinced that the product will help them and the context of the advertising
message should always be evaluated for improvement. Once the customer tries the
product and experiences its effectiveness they can become loyal customers.
Loyal customers will build up the brand awareness of a product and be able to
pass on the word to friends and family to try it. Dispersing the product
throughout the right channels is very important too as well as maintaining
shelf space in comparison with competitors. Once channels see that the Allstar
product lines are successful, they are more likely to sell the product within
their channel. Providing the product to them as a discounted package will allow
the company to build relationships with each channel. In other words, it will
be easier to distribute Allstar products throughout the channels with a
positive working relationship. This positive relationship can also be built up
with recommendations from doctors. Doctors need to hear the health benefits and
how Allstar products will be able to benefit them as well as their patients in
the long run. If a doctor prescribes a product and a patient is satisfied, this
will reflect well upon the doctor who will now have a trusting relationship
with Allstar. At the same time, sales force is a major success factor. Having
the appropriate amount of employees in certain sectors is crucial. For example,
doctors are educated about products from the detailers so the right amount of
detailers is important. Too many or too few might end up hurting the
relationship with the doctor. Too few employees may also make production slower
and less effective. Too many employees may consume a large amount of the budget
that could be allocated more effectively.
I also stayed
consistent with my teams marketing plan and recommended that the next market to
go into should be the allergy market. This is because the market is small with
a growth rate of only 5.3%, however the market penetration is 47.1%. At the
same time, the usage rate is high and the price rivalry is low with most of the
products priced the same. There are also only two barriers for entry with only
one substitute. Most importantly, channel access is easy and customers are
fairly familiar with the market.
Lastly, my
advice for the assembly of the marketing team was that the team must be able to
bounce back and remain innovative in order to continue with push the company
forward rather than crumbling under the pressure. In other words, this team
must be able to constantly be making decisions, either to correct a mistake or
to improve the product. The new management team must be able to work off every member’s
strengths. Everyone should be able to bounce ideas off of each other and should
be able to learn new aspects of the business that were unknown before. There
needs to be research done to determine how to innovate. There are always
changing in the market and so management teams but be able to adapt.
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