Case Study: Our Perfect Wedding Essay

Claire has done a reasonably good job about target markets for her new web based business, and understands the relevant needs quite well. But for the marketing mix, she as fallen short because it’s not clear whether this business involves one strategy or several strategies. For example, a marketing mix that appeals to engaged couples would not be the same as a marketing mix that appeals to the companies that pay for web pages. Claire’s target markets are engaged couples /newlyweds (for gift registry); companies that target newlyweds with both goods and services (with the advertising of web pages); and friends and family of the couple to be married (whom the advertisers want to reach). Claire has done a reasonably good job about target markets for her new web based business, and understands the relevant needs quite well. But for the marketing mix, she has fallen short because it’s not clear whether this business involves one strategy or several strategies. For example, a marketing mix that appeals to engaged couples would not be the same as a marketing mix that appeals to the companies that pay for web pages. Claire’s target markets are engaged couples /newlyweds (for gift registry); companies that target newlyweds with both goods and services (with the advertising of web pages); and friends and family of the couple to be married (whom the advertisers want to reach). What may or may not be obvious at first is that there is little about this business that requires that it be focused only on customers or advertisers in the same city or metro area. To the contrary, gift-givers who are inclined to get on the internet to check a wedding registry might be equally willing to order gifts from distant companies (advertisers), especially if the company provides special services such as gift wrap, personalized gift cards, and delivery direct to the recipient. Even for local customers, there may be a number of mail order, catalog, and specialty retailers in distant locations who are interested in reaching this target market. Simply focusing on retailers or service providers in the local area to generate website listings and advertising revenue may not make sense. Similarly, there is little reason that the registry service should be limited to local couples-a user of the Internet usually doesn’t know or care whether the base operation for a website is nearby or far away. To the extent that there are advantages of localizing aspects of the service, Claire could potentially set up a segmented approach in which different parts of the website were designed to appeal to people from different areas. As a start, for example, she might think about retailers or advertisers who have facilities or base operations in her own area but who also are targeting customers in other places. Let’s think about the marketing mix that Claire offers for each of these target markets. For each group: What is the specific product (and what are its benefits)? What is the price of obtaining those benefits? How are the benefits promoted? And (to a lesser extent) what is Claire’s role in the place arrangements between the advertisers and their customers? How does her current geographic focus come into play? The benefits for engaged couples seem pretty clear. The $20 price to register is not a big investment if it saves time and leads to the desired gifts rather than things that are not of interest. So, it is unlikely that price sensitivity should be big concerns unless other services appear that will provide the service (and/or other superior benefits) for free. This is certainly a possibility because revenue from advertisers could pay for the services provided if enough advertisers and customers can be attracted. If the couple doesn’t know about the service and doesn’t know to look for it, they won’t sign up. There is also some evidence for this diagnosis because the main flurry of activity came after Claire finally got some attention with publicity. That attention and interest simply wasn’t forthcoming from her limited advertising. Claire should work harder to get more publicity. There also seems to be a very important role for word-of-mouth referrals here. For example, there is no explicit discussion in the case about how friends and family of the couples are supposed to learn about the website, but it would certainly make sense to develop ideas that could be shared with the registered couples about how to inform gift givers about the website, what it is supposed to do, and how it is supposed to work. Furthermore, the relationship with couples who do sign up needs to be a close one, even if for only a short time period. Most couples are not going to be repeat customers but on the other hand, couples who are about to get married often know others who are at the same life stage; especially the among the younger first time married. Claire needs to think about how to stimulate word-of-mouth referrals so that people who do sign up help to bring in additional customers. Since she doesn’t have a lot of money, one way to do this is to think in terms of marginal revenue from new customers and what it might cost her to acquire a customer. It might be better and cheaper to offer couples who recommend the service to a friend a $5 or $10 â€Å"rebate† on the $20 fee, or perhaps she could enter them in a bi-monthly drawing for some more substantial prize like a honeymoon trip. So far, Claire has not done a particularly good job of giving advertisers a reason to buy into her service. She is basically selling a professional service to them, but most of them can’t evaluate it in advance and they are unclear about its benefits. The comparison with the cost of a Yellow Pages ad is interesting because it provides a sort of reference price for the advertiser. Yet, the advertiser probably sees some sort of Yellow Pages listing as a must buy. Perhaps this sort of website advertising will become a must buy, but probably not until more of these companies target customers who think of the web as â€Å"the place† to look for this sort of information. Claire is also being a bit production-oriented in the way she is thinking about her product. She designs web pages in her other job, and so she is thinking about potential advertisers who need a web page. But companies that already have a good web page might be more interested in something else, like a banner ad or button ad at her website that would allow a net surfer to click over to get their existing message. Companies that have already invested in a website know that they face the same problem that Claire does–they want to attract people to the site. So, for them the value of banner ads (perhaps at a lower cost, or even with the fee based on the number of click-through from Claire’s website) might be easier to see. Claire also might think about the pricing arrangement for advertisers. She currently bundles the price of the on-time service of preparing the web page and the ongoing online web page. She might want to charge separately for the preparation of the web page and/or allow customers to have something more elaborate than a single page. Claire’s service in many ways operates with the same approach as a magazine attracting an audience and advertisers who want to reach that audience. Yet, most companies that sell advertising media time and space rely on personal selling and/or offer incentives to advertising agencies or others that refer business. Claire hasn’t done much personal selling to advertisers, even after her direct response mailing didn’t work. The case offers several hints why she didn’t like the job she had doing personal selling, and she is busy doing other things. It is likely that if she is going to need to get help if the personal selling parts of her promotion blend is going to be handled well. Since she doesn’t have a big budget, she might think about trying to find someone who would sell advertising space on her website on a straight commission basis. That way, she would not have much expense until she had revenues. Of course, the salesperson would still need to have a good story to tell, and that might depend on having a way to better establish the link between the advertiser’s sales and visits to the websites. For example, if Claire could convince advertisers to offer a small discount to customers who purchased because of the website she might be more successful in getting customers to tell the advertisers that â€Å"I am an OurPerfectWedding. com† customer. The case also portrays her as a doer not as a planner, which is in part true. She had an idea but doesn’t have a detailed plan for what needs to be done. Rather, she hasn’t yet really made the investment of time and money to give her idea a chance to work. She’s a doer when it comes to some things but has not really been a dedicated doer when it comes to getting this business started. She probably wouldn’t have the time to do that unless she gave up her full-time job or really cut back on her social life. While it is not hard to think about different things that Claire could do, what is perhaps more relevant is what is she willing to do.