Please read chapter 8 about marketing research.
Select one research method that can be adopted by Mike Decker or any other creative entrepreneur and explain what data can be collected and how can the research data be utilized to support marketing decision making. Read the other comments and try to be original.
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One research method that I feel Mike's company would benefit from is an open-ended customer questionnaire. He could ask questions that identify overall favored designs, suggestions for new designs and new incorporations, any suggestions for improvement, customer buying tendencies, etc. In order to encourage the customer filling it out, we could count the submitted survey as a raffle entry, or the customer could receive a discount or a free gift.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a blog would be a really good idea for Crua, which we have definitely covered. Since he's an independent artist, it would allow him to gain followers of all his artistic pursuits, so if he expands his product depth, fans could trail him. It would also provide a further backstory behind each piece, and create hype for upcoming pieces with "work in progress" entries. Fans could comment and interact with Mike directly, and gain insight to his process.
ReplyDeleteI ALSO agree with the blog. I think in order for Crua Stone to be successful i that we should do a survey. Which a researcher interacts with people to obtain facts, opinions and attitudes. This is the most popular technique for gathering primary data. With conducting a survey we can find out the average age for buying hemp necklaces, what type of sex it sells to the most, what general income it attracts too...ect. To start off, i think that we should take a general survey in class.
ReplyDeleteI think using the internet is key for any business or person looking to get a quick start on making money. On average, if people don't know what being presented to them, they most likely turn to the internet. Attacking all of the aspect of the internet is the way of future. Blog, Twitter, Linkedin, Etsy, Facebook are some of the more common sources of marketing. With these outlets, Mike can see how people react to his product/test the market/build the necessary hype to ensure the product success.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone have said. Sending surveys, interacting with customers, blogging, or even looking at other people's facebook,twitter, blogs and etc would be beneficial for a company or even Mike Decker's stones. By sending surveys and interacting at potential customers, we are able to gather data. By researching for people's interests through facebook, twitter, blogs, and etc, we could be able to shape Mike's stones into objects of what people are attracted to.
ReplyDeleteObviously, everyone can agree that blogging can be effective in hyping up new merchandise and collecting opinions about the product and or service. Plus it creates a fan base by doing so. A private open-ended question at the end of the customers shopping experience can help gather information that other wise would have not been collected and can be reviewed by Mike instantly. A program that tracks the customers movement throughout the web store can be beneficial in obtaining a sense of the items that catch attention but do not sell or vice versa. Perhaps that might be the scanner based research solution to the idea prior to this one. At Mikes level of entrepreneurship I would imagine that blogging and social media would be the best and most efficient way to collect information about his consumers. I also thought about a small questionnaire that could be mailed to the customer along with their purchase and a prepaid stamp but that could potentially be money wasted, ok... so maybe its not such a great idea:) but still! Whats up with an online focus group?? Could we help Mike put one together? Collect a few people to give their honest opinion?
ReplyDeleteWell what everyone has posted is good and all but how can we tie it all together? well first Mike will need a website blog twitter linked in so on and so forth. Yet what we can do to tie it all together as a common new age marketing trick is the mailing list. By creating a "Pre-Pop" Email Subscription offer we can start to see who is looking at our stuff and now we will have their emails... Additionally each time someone purchases the stone we can log their email addresses and follow up with them by creating an automated send out message when we ship them the product. Additionally we can offer limited time offer stones and maybe even D.I.Y. Manuals Mike can start to E-Publish and charge for additional fees if they want the full PDF version.... The "Pre-pop" can be customized to have any information that you want like Personality Name, Age, Sex, or just the email... its really a neat concept
ReplyDeleteAdditionally check out Flavitt.com its a new alternative to google. it can search multiple browsers without leaving the page... so no more millions of tabs while searching... I feel it might be a good idea to make your S.E.O. higher on this site when they release the search algirhythms (SP?) I can see it taking off once they get an art director on board!
I agree with the Alex the most. Since the target market for the majority is a younger group, there needs to be a way to tie all of it together. Yes you need the open-ended customer questionnaire, or survey, and the internet. However most kids don't like just questioners, there needs to be a fun and integrated way using social media to make this possible. I again agree with alex, emailing the consumer after a purchase or survey (the survey would give you some discount on your first purchase) is a good strategy. However, you don't want to bog the consumer down with email so they don't view your emails as an annoyance or "junk mail". And again to alex flavitt is a great idea, but on the flip side how many people use this site due to them being more comfortable or familiar with other products such as google, especially when it comes to our target audience. The best way for this product to take of i think is word of mouth, and social media tied in with surveys/promotional material.
ReplyDeleteFor a young entrepreneur I believe that experimentation plays a vital role in market research. The thing with surveys is that sometimes people's perception of the purchase/store alters slightly from then to the time they take the survey. Personally, I either over think the experience and forget about certain details, or I just don't care at all so I cross stuff off and hand it in. Experimenting certainly requires a level of risk-taking however, most businesses that are highly successful today have taken a series of risks. Whether it's slightly changing the pricing, the advertising, or completing rebranding the product, you'll get something out of it you never realized or thought of before. Just like they say: You won't know til you try.
ReplyDeleteI would also agree that blogging/internet research would probably be the best bet for Mike or any small business starting out. I think that there are endless possibilities for a small business on the internet and it really is a sure fire way to get off the map. I think a combination of available internet outlets for his products would be best, like having a twitter, facebook, blogger, and etsy page all linked back to eachother. That really gives the consumer a multitude of ways to reach Mike and his work as well as getting it out to their friends and other potential buyers. I think a nice way to break into his target market would be a paid ad on facebook. While some people rarely click on them, I've actually found a few of my "suggested advertisements" linked me to my now favorite sites to shop.
ReplyDeleteOnce the Etsy site is up and functioning, I think that the Facebook page would be a great thing to push.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Google analytics is something that I had talked to Casey about that I believe would be greatly beneficial to really finding out what kind of designs the users are most intrigued by. Once we have such information, Mike will be able to then either duplicate such stones, or as a class we can pick out what is most successful in each layout. We could also link the Etsy page to a personal web page showing process work to what goes into each design. Sketches? Photos of Mike working? The weather or surf report for Florida? Who knows. The user will than be able to get more engaged/intrigued once they are aware of what exactly goes into their custom stones.
I agree that blogging and internet resources are the best option for someone with a small business and just starting out. Linking one networking site to another is an easy way to get information to people and in different ways. When a potential customer is unsure most go to their computer for information and resources. There are so many different networking sites that can be linked to a blog focused just on Mike's creations. On top of that sooo many people have their own personal blogs were they posts images and links to things they have found and loved.
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