Distribution

The distribution process is extremely important in the marketing process. Where you distribute, how you distribute, how many channels, are all important factors in determining the success of your product. The following video shows a marketing warehouse for Netflix, where the producers of the DVDs send them to the Netflix warehouse, are process at the Netflix warehouse, and then are shipped via Netflix to individual stores etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8HROe4t8S4

Pricing

Prestige Pricing is one of the major pricing techniques in marketing. Prestige pricing is "Setting higher-than-average prices to suggest status and prestige to the consumer." Buying an item that has been priced prestigiously suggests that what you are  really getting, besides the product itself, is a sense of luxury and status. Although the product probably has great attributes, it is usually priced extremely high for what is being offered. An example of this is in this pair of shoes priced at $3,000,000 for purchase. What makes them so special? Is it the satin? Is it the diamonds? The saphire? The rubies? Nope. Although these materials are expensive, they're not worth 3 MILLION dollars. These shoes were designed around a pair of earrings that has been incorporated on top of the shoes. The earrings were worn by movie legend Rita Hayworth. The prestige of wearing such shoes is put in the price. The shoes were worn by celebrity Kathleen York to the Oscars. It created such a flurry over the price of the shoes, that imitation versions were soon spotted everywhere.

Marketing Services

Sometimes marketing deals with marketing something completely intangible, not a product, but a service. Services can be anything from a haircut, oil change, airlight flight, concert experience, massage, cooking classes, to a vacation getaway. Here I have included a video for a destination get away to Las Vegas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-_TW2YG6Wc&feature=channel

The marketing for Las Vegas is effective in this video because it exemplifies everything Vegas is by showing the complete opposites, bland, dull, boring places. This opposite marketing technique effectively shows exactly how "what happens here, stays here" in Vegas. This phrase is well-known to most TV-watching individuals. The phrase has been around for a while. This commercial has no need to explain itself by showing the things that could happen there and then stay there. Instead, it leaves it all to the imagination! The Las Vegas commercial is a perfect example of marketing an intangible object. The vacation getaway to Las Vegas isn't a specific product. No specific restaurants, clothing stores, or destination are mentioned within the Las Vegas Commercial. The intangible service is the fact that Las Vegas will benefit as a whole with more tourism there.

Managing Product Lines

Managing product lines in any business of products or services requires a great deal of time, effort, thought, and expenses. Realizing which products to include, how to extend the product line, which items to erase, etc. are all very important factors of managing product lines. Sometimes, when dealing with product lines, you have to deal with product lines that were projected to be a success, and were not. Here I will discuss a specific product line that failed:

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  Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen: known for their role in Full House as children and eventually in many other roles in straight-to-movie videos as children, have made quite the name for themselves. As most celebrities have done admist fame and fortune, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen have tried to extend their name into product lines outside of their own knowledge. The twins have created product lines of make-up, hair products, teen clothing, and have now moved onto room decor for teens.
  
  
  
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  It is clear that their make-up line has done poorly from their original projection. The intent was to make the line popular to high end retailers, though the product ended up in the hands of Wal-Mart with the title "Mary-Kate and Ashley: real fashion for real girls". The products, so difficult to even find online, are not high end and have reported poor sales.
  
  
  
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  In this instance, what should be done is remove the product line completely. Although, Mary-Kate and Ashley have decided to keep the product line in Wal-Mart stores and directed attention to a new product line of high-end fashion (prestigious product lines) called "The Row". The high end pricing is definately not "real fashion for real girls" but instead "upscale fashion to upscale women". This product line has reported great sales. The prestigious pricing has caught consumer attention and actually brought in revenue for the pair.
  
  
  

Creating New Innovative Products

Innovative products are products that are new, previously unthought of, and bring a new benefit to consumers.
While searching for an example of an innovative product on the market, I came across this creative idea for consumers to allow their pets a view of their neighbors' yards, the street around them, or just beyond what they've ever been able to see in their own backyard before.

This product is a window to be put in a fence. I will analyze some of the primary factors of this product:
Core Product: View for your pet
Emobenefits: Better protection in your neighborhood as your pet can ward off introders faster, being an innovating member of the neighborhood
Actual Product: Window in a fence
Augmented Product: delivery and installment
Classification: Specialty product (provides unique benefit to buyer), Innovation (new product), Continous innovation (add window to fence, does not require great strides of new learning)

Target Marketing at its Best!

Target markets are the market segments on which an organization focuses its marketing plan and toward which it directs its marketing efforts. To exemplify this definition, I have found a perfect example of target marketing of a product. There is a specific energy drink called "Go Girl" which I found about a year ago on a Safeway shelf. I immediately was drawn to the energy drink based on the bright pink color. After grabbing the drink, I began my information search. I read the product details only to find out that there were only 5 calories, no sugar, super- citramax (a mild herbal appetite suppresant), and part of the proceeds are donated to breast cancer research. Even the flavor of the drink was named "Beautiful Energy". Everything about this drink is targeted towards women! And more specifically, it is targeted towards women looking to maintain their health, not add extra calories, and promote the health of other women worldwide (by part of the proceeds being donated to breast cancer research).

I have also included the website which includes two other flavors, lots of promotional strategies targeted towards women, and the full detailed nutritional facts of the product. Target marketing at its best: Go Girl Energy Drink. http://www.gogirlenergy.com/

Business to Business Marketing

Business-to-business (B2B) describes commerce transactions between businesses, such as between a manufacturer and a wholesaler, or between a wholesaler and a retailer. Business- to- business marketing is more specifically the marketing techniques used to promote products and services from one business to another for sale of large quantities of the product or service.

http://www.b2bcomp.com/

The above website is an example of business to business commerce, and business to business marketing. The website is devoted to selling computers and computer supplies to other businesses. They generally sell their products in bulk to accomodate for large business needs. The website is actually set up specifically for registered business entities. Once registered, the user is allowed to surf the website and determine the best deals and products of computers and computer supplies for their own bnusiness needs.