Marketing Strategy

PROBLEM:

A 2021 study showed that about 23% of college students strongly agreed they aware of on-campus mental health resources and its location.(Elflein, John) The Women's Services & Resources is a great mental health resource for BYUH students. Their services offer the necessary help needed to address particular life issues that becomes an obstacle towards graduation. However, as they have been recently established in BYUH, the majority of students are unaware of the WSR, its services, and why it is important. With the aim of reaching a larger target audience and spreading awareness, the WSR has been using social media by creating and sharing consistent content. However, the problem was that the WSR's lack of brand awareness was causing not enough traffic from its target audience. 

SOLUTION:

As social media publishes fast-paced output of millions of different content per day, the most effective way for any brand to increase awareness is by utilizing social media marketing tools and formulating a strategic plan on delivering its content. A useful tool that the WSR could use in their social media is by enabling time-sensitive push notifications. This will allow them to reach out to their audience anywhere online and send them important reminders or even a simple message.  It would also help to understand what the target audience is interested in and what forms of content such as posts, reels, or stories would capture their attention the most. An effective method of answering these questions is by directly collecting raw data via interview or survey about consumer preferences. 

RESULTS:

After a quick interview with a sample of the single women in BYUH, the results found the majority preferred reels over posts and stories. The reason being that reels have a much more captivating presence where that they can engage and indulge in content without having to read as much. They also commented that stories were also a fun medium for posting content, except most stories are easy to scroll past if it seems too boring. They suggested that by including some form of interaction into the stories such as polls or "add yours" stickers would create a connection in a sense they where they feel your content is relatable and is meant for them. 

PROBLEM: 

A great reputation gives businesses a competitive advantage on its rivals and success in winning over customers. I participated in the 2021 Virtual Business Professional (VBP) project where university students across the world are assigned a team and required to conduct research on a specific company while virtually communicating.  Our research focused on the online presence of Amazon; a globally successful company with a well known reputation of e-commerce. The only question to that was determining if Amazon's credibility was from a reputation that built-in or bolted-on.

SOLUTION:

As a team, we discussed different ideas of what makes an online reputation built-in rather than bolted-on. 

We came to conclusion that a built-in reputation fosters from the alignment of a company's vision and mission, and the execution of their services. The project in a nutshell was the collection and analysis all relevant data about Amazon from its beginning to the present. We agreed that focusing our data on the company's vision and mission statement, operation process, and performance against its competitors was crucial in the analysis of its reputation. This would allow us to understand what Amazon claims they value and whether or not they carry out their operations accordingly. 

RESULTS:

The results found Amazon's mission to be the most costumer-centric company worldwide, operated by the best employers, and creating a safe work environment. Their mission is strengthened by four main principles; customer obsession over competitor focus, operational excellence, passion for invention, and long-term thinking. These principles was indeed supported by the analysis of their company performance. As the first to establish an online bookstore, they accomplished their vision to become an "everything" store where they catered to the their customers wants so they could purchase anything and everything. Even as the analysis proved Amazon's strong online presence and reputation, the company focused more on exceptional customer experience by providing products and services at their best convenience, rather than gaining more customers for larger sales. In that, there is validation that Amazon's success is derived from a built-in reputation. As a result, they will continue to be an ever-growing company with faithful customers. 

PROBLEM:

My family owns a small motel in the island of Tonga where I use to spend some of my free time as a front desk receptionist. My duties would include the handling of reservations and payment.  A problem that we tried to avoid as much as possible was double-bookings which is an event where 2 parties are booked at the same time during a full house. Unfortunately, these cases are sometimes inevitable. During a busy summer in 2018, I was sent around 11pm to handle a double booking reservation between two parties due to a system error. As the summer is a really busy time in Tonga, it is rare to find availabilities in any of the accommodations. With two extremely upset guests, my problem was to figure out which guest would stay and how to send the other guest away with minimal consequences.

SOLUTION:

To solve this, I began to contact every accommodation in hopes of finding at least one availability. This guest was at the verge of creating a scene and began threats about spreading their bad experience online which would have been really bad for our business. As stressful as the situation was, I decided to keep calm, continue hunting, while kindly offer my apologies and some form of compensation.

RESULTS:

Within about 20 minutes, I finally found a hotel that had an availability for the night. Without hesitation, I arranged a pickup which I insisted the motel would cover on their part as an apology. I also explained to the guest, who had calmed down, that because they had paid us already, we would just pay the differences between the rate of our motel and the other. In the end, the guest mentioned that they were only so frustrated because they were concerned of being stranded in a foreign place. They also expressed their gratitude for my patience and composed manner and that they would recommend our motel for the friendly hospitality.  As a result, both parties were able to be situated in an accommodation without any consequences.

PROBLEM:

I once worked at a food truck operated in Kahuku, Hawaii, that specializes in serving taro, a root vegetable and a stable starch in Polynesian cultures. According to the study, U.S. Food Truck Services Market Size & Share Report, "The U.S. food truck services market size was valued at USD 1.16 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.4% from 2022 to 2030." With this insight, the food truck had great potential to be successful in the future. Their menu at the time consisted of delicious hot lunch plates and a few other items. Sales began to start off really well and consistent until eventually our regulars purchased less frequently. As business sales continued to decline, we thought of ways to lure old and new costumers into our business such as special deals and discounts. The sales begin to improve but unfortunately, it was only a temporary solution to the problem. 

SOLUTION:

This problem brought me to think about the concept of the sales funnel and what to do in such situations. We had to develop a return path for the customers that have fallen out of our sales funnel. After thorough thinking and planning, we felt the best solution was to update our menu and get creative in the way we served our food. The truck then introduced its exciting new items: Taro burgers and fries with beef patties and taro patties as a vegan friendly option. We also included dessert options for the many customers who sought a sweet taro treat but were disappointed to find we did not serve any. With the new menu ready, it was published on our social media pages. 

RESULTS:

The first couple days did not generate the results we anticipated. I had not seen as much of the old customers and prospectors did not seem so impressed with a burger, especially since they're common. It did not help that we were next to a restaurant that sold burgers either. A customer then approached the truck and asked what made our burgers different from the others in which I responded that they were made with taro which is a game changer. The customer decided to give it a try and after a few minutes of receiving his meal, he returned and complemented how good the burger was. Afterwards a few other customers lined up to try and new menu and came back with the same satisfaction in which I asked if they could kindly leave an online review. As the reviews continued to grow, the truck began to gain more sales every day, even from the previous costumers that had used to be regulars. They loved the new menu and would recommend it to new hungry customers wandering around the area looking a place to eat.