Competency
In this project, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following competency:
Explain how marketing decisions are made to target the consumer
Scenario
You work in the marketing department at Java Been, a busy café that is open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. and primarily serves coffee and simple café-style food. Java Been is considering expanding to open multiple locations, but wants to first make sure that its flagship café is successful enough to support this expansion. Your manager has asked you to take a look at your two main customer segments and determine what types of marketing collateral you can add to further support the success of Java Been’s flagship café. The goal of adding marketing collateral is twofold: to attract additional customers in each segment and to encourage loyalty among existing customers in each segment. First, read a bit more about the company where you work:
Java Been
Slogan: “Atmosphere. Company. Coffee.”
Company History: Founded just under three years ago, Java Been is now a bustling café. With its high ceilings and “found space” appeal, the cafe has come to host exhibitions, meetings, and local bands. It has become an integral part of the arts revival community that has taken root in the old factory mill buildings along the river.
Vision: The owners take pride in their community, striving to provide a creative space with gourmet coffee, tantalizing baked goods, and music to inspire the artist’s soul.
Primary Customer Demographic: Throughout the day, self-employed and remote workers enjoy a focused space away from home to get in a few productive hours. At night, the space comes alive with artists, student study groups, and everyday people just looking to enjoy a cultured night on the town.
You have been asked to research the daytime customers (self-employed and remote workers), as well as the evening customers (artists, student study groups, and people looking to enjoy a cultured night on the town), and conduct a target consumer analysis and make a recommendation for marketing collateral. In order to have a better understanding of your target customers, you will need to choose a location for the flagship Java Been café. You may be interested in choosing somewhere you live or have lived, but you are welcome to select any location. Once you select the location, two possible tools to help you understand the target demographic include the U.S. Census and the U.S. Census International Data Base, but there are other tools available as well.
After you have completed your marketing research on the two segments, your manager has asked you to come up with potential avenues of proposed marketing collateral. You may choose from the following examples: social media post, brochure, audio/visual, event-based marketing, celebrity endorsement, blog, biographies of founders, press release, or your own idea. It is important to your manager that you take into account brand ideals, cultural considerations, persuasion techniques, and marketing strategies along with your target customer research when writing your proposal for marketing collateral.
Directions
You will be submitting one document, a consumer analysis for marketing collateral, to your manager with an introduction, daytime target consumer analysis, evening target consumer analysis, and conclusion. Keep in mind that traditional marketing collateral used to mean print and other forms of media that support the sales process, but now it has evolved to mean both online and offline media and messages to customers. Within your analysis, you will make recommendations for marketing decisions based on your research. Specifically, your manager wants you to include the following:
Introduction: You want to begin your analysis with a brief overview of the consumer buying process to set the stage for your recommendations. Begin by describing the stages of the consumer buying process and explaining how they relate to marketing collateral.
Target Consumer Analysis: In this section, you will need to write two complete analyses, one for each customer segment. Each analysis must include the following sections:
Market Research: Describe each customer segment including its needs, interests/activities, and attitudes/values. Recall from the scenario that you should be selecting a location for the Java Been café. This will help you better describe each customer segment. As stated in the scenario, two possible tools to help you understand the target demographic include the U.S. Census and the U.S. Census International Data Base, but there are other tools available as well. Be sure to identify the location that you chose.
Cultural Considerations: Explain the cultural considerations you have to take into account when making marketing collateral recommendations for each customer segment. For instance, how might you approach one segment differently from the other based on their cultural backgrounds?
Brand Ideals: Connect the brand ideals of Java Been to each customer segment. In order to do this, answer the following question:
Why does the company vision and history attract each customer segment?
Persuasion Techniques: Discuss at least one principle of psychology or persuasion technique that would be successful for each customer segment and cite sources to support your claims. This critical step will help your manager decide how to message each segment.
Recommendations: Select one type of marketing collateral that you could recommend for each customer segment and defend your choice. You may choose from the following examples: social media post, brochure, audio/visual, event-based marketing, celebrity endorsement, blog, biographies of founders, press release, or your own idea.
Conclusion: Conclude your analysis with a brief summary of each of your marketing collateral recommendations. In this brief proposal, explain how you came to each decision by citing your consumer research and additional resources as appropriate.
What to Submit
Every project has a deliverable or deliverables, which are the files that must be submitted before your project can be assessed. For this project, you must submit the following:
Consumer Analysis for Marketing Collateral
You will analyze two customer segments and recommend marketing collateral for each one. Your research will support your decision, and you should focus on cultural considerations, persuasion techniques, and brand ideals in your 1,250–1,750 word analysis.
Project must contain these points:
1) Describes the stages of the consumer buying process and explains how they relate to marketing collateral
2) Describes the needs, interests/activities, and attitudes/values of each customer segment, identifying chosen location
3) Explains the necessary cultural considerations to make effective marketing decisions for each customer segment
4) Explains how brand ideals are used to attract target consumers
5) Identifies and describes at least one principle of psychology or persuasion technique per customer segment, citing sources to support selection
6) Selects one type of marketing collateral for each customer segment, defending the decision with evidence from consumer analysis
7) Clearly conveys meaning with correct grammar, sentence structure, and spelling; shows understanding of audience and purpose