Discussion Questions Week 5 - Essay Example

Week 5 Discussion Questions The Florida Department of Citrus maintains the ability to cast negative publi against the company and could do considerable public relations damage for their attacks. The Sunshine brand is walking a fine line between ethical behavior and appropriate product positioning tactics. If a product contains only a small percentage of fruit and it is marketed as a fruit juice, it cannot necessarily be considered valid. Consider the following consumer: Looking for healthy drinking alternatives, the consumer performs research to decide what items would best serve their buying needs.

They select fruit juice. Passing the grocery shelves to explore options, the consumer sees fruit juice on the Sunshine label and picks up the bottle only to realize in the post-purchase situation that the product did not fulfill their needs. The ethical problem in this situation is one of being misled and the company should reconsider new positioning tactics which are low cost and easy to incorporate. Instead of focusing on the product’s attributes, a new positioning tactic should be decided which focuses less on the product and more on quality.

Rather than calling Sunshine a fruit juice, it could be marketed as a quality fruit juice substitute to undo any negative public relations damage done by the consumer and government groups. In this situation it was probably not an intentional deception, however the company does maintain the responsibility to be as truthful as possible to avoid losing customers and reputation. Technology impacts marketing in a variety of ways, including how quickly the marketing message can be received by the consumer as well as how many consumers can be reached.

For example, in a form of mass advertising, e-mail and mobile handset devices can target willing buyers who have already shown an interest in the product by signing up for auto promotional alerts. Those consumers who might have visited the company’s website can receive exclusive coupons, as another positioning strategy, to build loyalty in a way that the bricks-and-mortar sales environment could not. Technology also impacts methods and activities of distribution, as new software programs designed to enhance internal warehousing functions can minimize labor costs associated in the supply chain or any other number of cost reductions.

More efficient external partners can minimize the risks and costs of marketing. This is an important improvement when marketing budget is on the line. From a business to business view, technology such as the VoIP, or voice over Internet protocol, transmits phone conversations over the Web, avoiding the need for phone calls. This would give a marketing executive great flexibility on business when all they have is their laptop on the plane. This would be a business enhancement of technology making it easier for everyone within the marketing organization to conduct business in real-time.

It is also less costly for a company who might be paying the large mobile telephone invoices associated with a large number of off-site marketing employees.