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American Intercontinental University Project Type: MKT 651 Unit 1 Individual Project Abstract Sof-A-Logue is a top social media company focused on dedicating it’s time to the way customers converse in the virtual and wireless world. Customers stay in touch by email, text, voice email and picture, which Sof-A-Louge aim to make a better experience. Introduction Sof-A-Logue is creating a new marketing plan which will help them to become more recognizable to new markets and customers. Facebook and LinkedIn are also social media companies which we will use to compare strategies.
Part 1: Brief Background of the Companies LinkedIn was started by Reid Hoffman in 2002. LinkedIn is about helping customers be more productive by making professional connections visible. As of November 3, 2011, LinkedIn operates the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with more than 135 million members in over 200 countries and territories (“Linkedin,” 2011). It is a valid and credible way to stay connected. LinkedIn also helps you create, extend and maintain a network of business advisor. Facebook was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and has more than 500 million active users (Richardson).
Facebook is an online networking site that gives people a way to share information in an easy and entertaining way. It allows customers to stay in touch and be able to communicate and interact with friends over photos, videos, messages, status updates and more in a unique new way. If Facebook were a country it would be the worlds largest. Part 1: Brief Background of the Industry Social Media is about people and is a revolution. Over 50% of the worlds population is under 30 years old. Social media affects our online and offline behavior.
People fall in love online, get divorced online and children are learning on ipads in school. Some universities have even stopped distributing E-mail accounts and using social media sites such as Facebook instead and eReaders have surpassed traditional book sales. With 93% of markerters using social media, Social media is a permanent fixture for the world and will only continue to evolve. Social media gives new ways for people to provide feedback, organization and promotion. It also means new opportunities to create and communicate with people that care.
Part 1: Describe the Strategies used by Each Company LinkedIn focuses on the professional aspect of connecting. It is also geared towards working professionals and the work they do. LinkedIn also allows customers share information with their friends and colleagues. Customers create an online profile that represents their professional experience, education and recommendations with connections to people they know and trust. Facebook has many distinct advantages such as exposure through friends of friends by viral marketing.
Customers create and online profile where users can share with family, friends and others around the world and show them who you are. Part 1: Compare and Contrast How Each Reaches its Market As a business owner customers using LinkedIn can use it to find potential clients, service providers, experts and recommended partners and business opportunities. A new member joins LinkedIn every second. LinkedIn can be used to post jobs and find qualified candidates and close business deals from connections made through the company.
As an individual, it can be used to find jobs, discover inside connections that can help land a job and get introduced to professionals. LinkedIn is similar to Facebook and Sof-A-Logue because customers are able to network and converse conveniently. LinkedIn differs because it focuses on a professional network. Facebook and LinkedIn require you to create a profile as well as allows you to see mutual connections. Facebook is great for helping customers market themselves or businesses. Most businesses have a Facebook Fan page such as Coca-Cola, AT&T, Walmart, etc.
Facebook has features such as friend finder which helps customers to find people through name, education, workplace and area. It also gives businesses free advertising and publicity through updates, creation of Fan Pages and applications. Facebook also allows users to keep track of events, join groups, network with people and buy things among the few. Facebook differs by the amount of information other users can view as well as the large amount of applications assessable through the company but is not allowed in China. Facebook is more for social networking while LinkedIn is geared more towards professional networking.
Facebook allows users create lists of professional friends so that they can get information to specific people. Both LinkedIn and Facebook can be used to job hunt. Part 2: Overview of a Marketing Strategy for a Sof-A-Louge. com A marketing strategy will help differentiate a business form other business in the same line of business. The best way to differentiate a business is to create a core message. By having a unique approach business can eliminate competition. Sof-A-Logue’s goals for the new year are to build their brand with a clear market value proposition and create plan’s product strategy.
They also want to develop customer profiles by using customer segmentation systems and position the company as the number one personal communications company by a new hybrid marketing campaign. The marketing team will present The Power of Less which focuses on eliminating anything not contributing to the success of the company. The marketing team will focus on simpler, clean and classic ads. Customers are bombarded with thousands of marketing materials daily (Keith, 2011). To make life easier for customers, Sof-A-Logue will create one new message that is clear and to the point allowing customers to remember it (Aziz, 2010).
Another strategy is The Slightly-Better Syndrome. The marketing team at Sof-A-Logue will create ads and campaings that are slightly better than the competitions using customer surveys and research. The Zero-risk free entry strategy will give customers the opportunity to experience the company and it’s benefits. Sof-A-logue will make access to their site cost free. Interviewing current customers will help to understand what the customers want and how to get their needs fulfilled. Part 2: Analysis of linkages to 4 Ps The Marketing consists of price, place, product and promotion.
The marketing mix helps you define the marketing elements for successfully positioning your market offer (“The marketing mix,” 2011). The price that Sof-A-Logue will not charge for their customers to create a profile. However the Book-logue and Read-a-logue will offer a low cost annual subscription rate. Consumers will be able to access Sof-A-Logue from anywhere because it will be accessible online, hence the sofa. The product will be the ease and convenience of communicating. Promotion will be done through word of mouth, email, press releases and advertising through various media outlets.
Sof-A-Logue will also engage in the community to build support for the brand by doing volunteer work and hosting community events. The company will also start a blog that will give information about social media and easy ways to communicate. The target market for Sof-A-Logue is, anyone with electronic communication access. The unique selling point is social media networking with capability to read books, listen to audio books in your car and have coupon access on your phone through the new down-loadable applications. Part 2: Overview of Social Media Communications Marketing Environment
The new word of mouth is social media. 45million people have phones with Internet capability. Social media is used in marketing to turning followers and friends of social networks into customers and brand lovers. Social media is about effectively using the right social networks to meaningfully connect customers to brands and business that they can feel confident about. This will turn customers into a free word of mouth advertising machine for brands. The goal is to drive people from social media back to the company’s website to meet long term connections.
In the past marketing and sales were done through mass communications (print, media, direct mail etc. ), voice to voice and face to face. Companies still use mass communications and face to face and voice to voice but we now have social media as another way to market ourselves and companies. Mass communications is able to be done online in todays day and age. Audiences have become harder to reach. Craig Davis said, “Audiences everywhere are tough. They don’t have time to be bored or browbeaten by orthodox, old-fashioned advertising. We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in & be what people are interested in. Part 2: Situational analysis for Sof-A-Logue’s current business goals Situational analysis comes from four basic parts: background, mission, internal and external analysis. Question to ask are: What’s going well already, Whats desirable and not happening, What’s happening but stopping progress, What’s not happening that you want to avoid? Sof-A-logue is comprised of 5,000 employees worldwide that has made close to 5 billion in revenue. The company is approaching its 10 year anniversary is focused on dedicating it’s time to the way customers converse in the virtual and wireless world.
In order for Sof-A-Logue to be successful and compete with Facebook and LinkedIn they must be unique, accessible and non-confusing. They must also make sure that their logo is recognizable and distinct and their message is clear and concise. Sof-A-Logue is launching two down-loadable applications for their ten year anniversary. Book-logue will be a free e-book application down-loadable on a cell phone, computer of electronic reading device. Read-a-logue is a free down-loadable audio app that will allow users to listen to audio books in their cars.
Lastly, Coupon-a-logue will be a low cost coupon scanning program that allows the user to download coupons on their cell phones. Sof-A-Logue will be aimed at the mass market. Conclusion With today’s changing technology, Sof-A-Logue must be cost-effective and versatile. Theie present success is proof that they are doing business right and just need to continue and move with the times. References Aziz, A. (2010). Best marketing strategies used by apple, microsoft, google & walmart [Web]. Retrieved from http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=wdmH7yqYUVk Keith, J. (2011, May 11). The power of less.
Retrieved from http://microbusiness. vistaprint. com/2011/the-power-of-less/ Linkedin. (2011). Retrieved from http://press. linkedin. com/about Mkt650 scenario. (n. d. ). Retrieved from https://mycampus. aiu-online. com/courses/MKT651/Assignment_Assets/mkt651_scenario. pdf Richardson, J. (n. d. ). Social media: An overview of facebook. Retrieved from http://successbeginstoday. org/wordpress/2010/03/social-media-an-overview-of-facebook/ The marketing mix and 4p. (2011, December 19). Retrieved from http://www. mindtools. com/pages/article/newSTR_94. htm