Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words:
Review Case Study 1, “Turner Test Prep Co,� which you can access in the Wk 4 Learning Activities folder.
In the case study, there’s little doubt that Jessica’s energy and eagerness will eventually propel her to success one day. In the meantime, Jessica shares a common dilemma experienced by all business types, sizes, and experience-related backgrounds: defining the ever-changing preferences and needs of consumer groups.
As an entrepreneur with minimal marketing skills, Jessica has reached out to her peers and those recently enrolled in graduate school for additional input about the premise of her Test Prep company. What are your thoughts regarding the preparation of a preliminary marketing plan?
Note: Case studies are located in the last section “Part 6: Cases� in the course textbook.
Due Day 7
Post 2 replies to classmates or your faculty member. Be constructive and professional.
Response 1:
I believe Jessica needs to focus on completely outlining her branding strategy and discover what would set her apart from her competitors. Is there something she can do different? An area or insight she could highlight? A price plan that she could offer her specific demographic? Learning these things would help Jessica find ways to shine against her competitors and eventually be able to offer the best product on the market.
In learning more about her product specifically, Jessica would be able to focus on her target market and how best to reach them with her product. Depending on the demographic, social media may be a great way to connect and get her product advertised. However she may need to evaluate specific age, gender and background of her market so she can determine where to best put her budgeted marketing and advertising funds. With Jessica lacking a strong background in marketing, she could take this opportunity to turn that weakness into a strength. She could reach out to her peers and see what has worked best for them with her specific demographic. She could also reach out to the community with surveys or newsletters to collect feedback on what it is these individuals are looking for. As she gathers this information, Jessica can adjust and tailor her plans and product to the specific target market and hopefully begin building a foundation of regular clientele.
Response 2:
I feel Jessica took a good amount of time to develop her market plan. I just feel she probably did not focus on the right areas within her market plan. It seems as though she was more focused on the content she would provide within her classroom. She tackled the product part of her business plan. I just do not feel she tackled the market dynamics, patterns, the demographics, target market needs, buying decisions, and etc. If she would have focused on the geographic segmentation of her business plan she would have focused more on her audience. This would help her with the marketing strategy and it would assist her with dividing the audience by location. This would assist her with better serving her target audience needs. Focusing more on the demographic segmentation would have allowed her insight into her target audience characteristics and determine what components customers are looking for in the services she is providing. Her brand would be more appealing to her customers and potential customers. This would identify the location, gender and income range of potential customers. Jessica also needed to clearly understand the psychographic segmentation of a business plan. This would have assisted her with understanding the customers needs and wants more and what they value and understand what exactly they are looking for (Langford,2019). If she would have a clear understanding in these areas, she would have known exactly the type of service her customers were looking for. She possibly would have identified the fact that having online classes may be successful. She saw in the end how her students were missing class but was listening to the material at home when it was convenient for them. She went into the business feeling having live sessions would be more successful.