Marketing strategy for are chosen product

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In this assignment we were asked to deliver a marketing strategy for are chosen product I chose to produce a marketing strategy for an improved, however existing Nike trainer. In order to produce a marketing strategy for an improved Nike Trainer I was required to collect a range of primary and secondary sources. The main primary source that is going to be used for my marketing research is a questionnaire that is going to have direct feedback from existing Nike customers.

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The main secondary sources I will be using in this assignment to help me with my marketing strategy will be the use of the internet, mintel keynote from the city library and CD ROMs.

When coming up with an original strategy to increase the sale and revenue produced from Nike trainers the source of information is absolutely essential.

There are two types of sources that need to be observed and taken into account when deciding a strategy for marketing a product.

The first type of source is a Primary source. A primary source is source that has been retrieved by the company/business directly from the customer an example of a primary source is a questionnaire, the advantages of primary sources are the fact that they are up to date and can give you significant and valid feedback on what customers want and need in a product or a service which is the aim of marketing departments all across the globe in all businesses whether they be small shops or large corporations.

However, the disadvantage of primary sources is the fact that due to the manor in which they have to be collected the validity of the information may not be 100% accurate and in some cases may not be accurate at all. With this in mind it would be foolish for any business to develop a marketing strategy for a product solely based on the information retrieved through primary sources. Another disadvantage of primary sources is the cost of some methods of retrieving information such as conducting questionnaires. The reason for the high cost is because people have to be employed in order to conduct the questionnaires and large companies like Nike are likely to conduct questionnaires in wider geographical areas as opposed to smaller ones for they are bound to want feedback of a larger scale which is consequently time consuming and again a disadvantage.

The second type of source is a Secondary source. A secondary source is information that already exists. When any business is undergoing market research the first type of source they ought to analyze is the secondary source that is already available. Secondary research is often referred to as (Desk) research for fieldwork is not required at all. Examples of some secondary sources are government and commercial publications also retail audits and directories are other good examples of secondary sources. The advantages of retrieving secondary data when planning to market a new product is the cost of retrieving the data which is substantially lower than retrieving primary data, in addition the retrieval of secondary data is also much faster than primary data and is also much more accessible and the choice of statistical information is wide.

The disadvantages of the use of secondary data when marketing a product in some cases the data given by a different range of sources can be out of date and therefore the validity of the source suffers and in some cases can be considered useless. Another disadvantage of secondary data is to do with the reliability of the information for in some cases the secondary data retrieved by companies planning to market a product or service is not specific enough to go by when planning a marketing strategy, this applies to figures used in the data and the geographical coverage meaning the areas which data had been retrieved.

After choosing a product that I was going to market (Nike) the next step was retrieving information relevant in helping me to develop an original marketing strategy for an existing Nike trainer. It was essential that I used a range of primary and secondary sources, I am going to discuss the different sources I used to me help me with my marketing strategy I am going to include the advantages and disadvantages of the data, the validity of the data and if it was of any use to me and my final marketing strategy.

The first source of information I used was my advanced business book. The advanced business book that I used is packed with information on marketing and marketing strategies; the book gives you information on how companies like Nike achieve success in marketing and the type of strategies that are used by companies like Nike.

There are many advantages of using the advanced business book as a source of information to help develop a strategy for marketing a product. One significant advantage of the book is that it gives you an idea of what kinds of strategies work for companies such as Nike which I feel is important because when experimenting with a totally original marketing strategy the chances of this strategy being a unsuccessful is much higher than using a strategy that has already been tested and successful, for this reason I feel that the advanced business book is significant in helping develop strategies for marketing.

As with any source there are disadvantages to the advanced business book in assisting the development of a successful marketing strategy for Nike. The first notable disadvantage of the advanced business book is the fact that it was produced in the year 2000 and as we are in the year 2002/2003 this source is out of date in terms of the market, for the business market changes every month and even more rapidly for companies such as Nike for there market is based on trends and fashion which change everyday. Another disadvantage of the source is the fact that only definitions and examples are given throughout the text and there are no real facts and figures that are relevant to Nike's economic position.

After analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the advanced business book I've come to the conclusion on its level of validity in helping me to come up with a marketing strategy for Nike. The advanced business book gave me a large amount of foundational information about marketing strategies itself e.g. the actual definition of "marketing" and " marketing strategies" which I feel is highly significant, for without this knowledge all other information is totally irrelevant. Although the source is negligent to facts and figures on Nike's sales, revenue etc. the advanced business textbook was very helpful and informative and in assisting me on the choice of strategy this source was for me highly valid.

The second source of information I used to help me with my market planning was Mintel/Keynote; this is a monthly journal containing reports on consumer markets such as Nike.

One advantage of Mintel is the fact that it provides information on the latest market share reports. This is an advantage because as I had previously mentioned in this assignment markets such as Nike change everyday as the market is based on trends and fashion which change regularly and the knock on affect of that is the fact that companies like Nike are effected by these regular changes and will either have an increasing market and clientele or a declining one. In addition, mintel gives information on rival companies, for Nike this would be companies such as Reebok, Adidas and Puma. Mintel give information on how well they are doing which is a reflection of their recent performance in the stock market.

This is a big advantage for it prevents you from adopting marketing strategies that already being used by rival companies, an example of this would be if Puma had a distinctive trainer being sold to a particular market e.g. 15-16 year olds and Nike produced a more or less counterfeit of the trainer Nike would suffer in sales. However, if Nike took the information it would give them an idea of what the people want and developed a trainer like puma's with the same image however with originality Nike would be likely to see sales of their product "shoot to the roof". Another advantage of this source of information is the fact that it is easily accessible and is reliable and factual, in addition this source is up to date.

The disadvantages of the Mintel/Keynote is the fact that not all aspects of a companies financial status is given, in addition we are only given a limited amount of information about a company. Another disadvantage of the of the mintel is the fact that the language used throughout it can some times be difficult to comprehend which for some people is a great disadvantage for especially if their understanding of English is not particularly high.

After weighing up the advantages and disadvantage of the Mintel/Keynote I have come to the conclusion that the level of validity is extremely high, due to the facts given and the fact that it always gives the latest developments, facts and figures for different companies including competitors and for Nike this was Adidas, Reebok and Puma. As a whole this source was very useful in helping me with my marketing strategy and was highly valid.

Another source that was used to help me with my marketing strategy for a new Nike trainer were newspapers/business magazines.

The advantages of using this source in helping me develop a marketing strategy is the fact that with some of the magazines the annual reports of companies such as Nike is published in it which give some vital statistics about Nike's profits. These statistics give you an idea of where Nike's previous success came from which then help you to develop a strategy to match or exceed previous success. Another advantage of magazines is the fact that to a certain extent it gives you feedback on what the public want and what the latest trends and fashions are to give you an idea of what kind of strategy will be suitable at the particular time e.g. if the trend for a certain time was plain trainers without much designs and colors it would be illogical for Nike to develop a new design of trainers with fancy designs and different colors, this is the main reason why Newspapers/Magazines are an advantage for they keep you in touched with the latest fashions and trends and they are very opinionative and give you views from a consumers point of view.

One of the disadvantages of general publications such as newspapers and magazines is that there is a lack of factual information in most of them and in most of them only general information about certain products are provided in the text. Another disadvantage of general publications is the facts that some of these sources have biased opinions or have been paid by certain companies to make good reviews of their products and can give deceive readers into believing that a particular product is fashionable.

The validity of this source is not particularly high, however it is still very useful and informative and my theory on sources is that no matter what a source contains no source is useless. Out of all the other sources I used to assist my marketing strategy this source was the least valid, I think the reason for this is that the source is full of general information that can only be taken lightly, however depending on the magazine you may find some exclusive factual information that you will find hard retrieving from any where else. All in all I feel that this source has a reasonable amount of validity and was of help to me when planning my market strategy.

The last secondary source I used to assist me was the Internet. The Internet sites I entered were of Nike, Puma, Reebok, Adidas, Footlocker, JD Sports and First Sport. All the Internet sites I entered explained the history of the company, where the company is looking to head in the future and how to shop online for sports gear.

One advantage of the internet is the fact that it is online so there is never a time that you can go on the internet and receive information on a product e.g. Nike that is outdated for they have people working on the web 24/7 to give you all the latest detail, another advantage of the internet that was helpful to my strategy was that you could look into rival websites e.g. Adidas and look at there latest product (trainers) and future products to give you ideas for market strategy. In addition, the Internet gives a lot of factual information about the company such as annual reports of the company's sales and revenue of previous years below is an example of this

We divide our global business into four regions: the United States, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Americas. While each region increased revenue in FY '01, most of our growth came from outside the United States, a reality we have been stating (and nurturing) for several years. Fiscal 2001 saw NIKE brand revenues outside the United States grow by 19 percent in constant dollars, but only ten percent in real dollars. - From www.Nike.com

Internet websites also give you information about some of the most successful trainers in terms of sales and give you information on how many units of the certain item were sold.

A disadvantage of the internet as a source in assisting you with a marketing strategy is the fact that the websites that you go on e.g. Puma would have been developed by Puma and everything that is presented on the website has been presented because Puma want you to see it meaning that the website is biased and only has one point of view, therefore everything written about a certain company on there own website has a likeliness of being false.

Although there are some important disadvantages of this source in comparison to the advantages of the source they are not much, therefore this source is highly valid and highly useful to in assisting with the planning of my marketing strategy for Nike.

The first primary source I used to help me in planning my marketing strategy was a questionnaire. I developed a questionnaire filled with questions relevant to my marketing strategy and got 100 people to fill them out for me. After collecting the results I applied them to my final marketing strategy.

One of the advantages of a questionnaire in helping with a strategy is that you get instant feedback from potential customers

After long deliberation on a marketing strategy I eventually developed an original idea.

The strategy I chose to market a Nike trainer was simplicity in addition to customization.

After long observation of different people with different footwear I looked at the stereotypical pair of Nike trainers that are usually very colorful and have Nike symbols (ticks) all around the trainer and thought to myself as a teenager, how refreshing a pair of exclusive Nike trainers would be with no tick, simple colors with however the same shape as a pair of (Nike Air Max 90's) an existing pair of Nike trainers which is already highly popular. I then asked my self if the product were to be available in stores to purchase would I buy a pair and the answer was yes; therefore I then constructed a questionnaire with the same questions I asked myself for other people to answer.

On top of the Idea of simplifying an existing pair of Nike's I came up with another of giving customers the opportunity of customizing/personalizing their trainers with text for an additional, however small charge. Again I asked myself if this were to be available would I take advantage of it and again the answer was yes.

The main reason why my marketing strategy was to simplify the Nike trainer was because I wanted to make a Nike trainer that is not stereotypical, however still have the qualities of other Nike trainer. Another reason why I chose this strategy was because I was aiming for a market of people from the ages of 16-20 who feel they are too old for footwear that draw attention to them just like the stereotypical Nike trainers do. Another reason why I chose this marketing strategy is because everybody likes gradual change. If you notice the idea is to keep the shape of the Nike trainer the same as an already popular existing Nike trainer for I felt if I included the change of the shape that not much people would be interested in the product.

The additional strategy was to make the availability of personalization. The reason I chose this as a strategy to market the Nike trainer is because whilst I was in the process of observation I was not only looking at peoples footwear I was also analyzing their clothing and the representation of their clothing. Although before observing it was not noticeable I noticed a lot of people had items of their clothing personalized with their names, nicknames etc. and it came to me that it would be a good idea if there availability of trainers that were personalized. And because so many people have items of their clothing personalized that if available a considerate amount of people would be willing to pay to have their Nike trainers customized.

My original idea for a marketing idea was a complete contrast to my present marketing strategy. The strategy I originally came up with was to do with making the accessibility of more colors of Nike trainers, however I did not adopt this idea after a long observation of the types of trainers that are already being worn which are of many different colors, therefore it would have been senseless of me to adopt this idea for it simply lacked originality.