Implementation Evaluation Control

Implementation
From the very start, Relinquish will launch its website for promotional advertising. There will also be taste testing sessions at the Relinquish farm with a tour of the facility. This will instill in the customer that we only use organic ingredients and everything about the product is under strict quality assurance to ensure the finest is only found in Relinquish. We will also encourage our customers to visit our website to post their thoughts about our beverage. In about a year's time, we hope to expand to other parts of the country with a chance to go global.

Evaluation
We value our customers and so a good way to evaluate how well Relinquish is doing is to use Customer Relationship Management. We will be focusing on the forum/blogger section of the website to establish relations with our customers and gather information on what it is they are seeking and what we can improve on. Initially, we would like to keep the market for Relinquish in a small area to help establish our name and customer relations. "Instead of scattering messages far and wide across the spectrum of mass media (the shotgun approach), CRM marketers now are homing in on ways to effectively communicate with each individual customer (the rifle approach)." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 293).

Control
A marketing audit will be completed for monitoring our market plan. Managers of the company will be meeting once a month to complete a thorough evaluation of Relinquish and determine the best route to raise profits, establish and maintain customer relations and extend our marketing reach.

Marketing Mix

Product

Relinquish wants to stand out from the rest of the vodka world, capture the customer's eye and actually be appealing enough for them to make them want to purchase this specific vodka. Relinquish will be sold in a clear green bottle with mint leaves surrounding the neck of the bottle. The mint leaves on the neck has a strong aroma of mint emanating from the leaf. The bottle will have a green tint because it has been known that green is soothing to the eye. The minty aroma with the soothing green will help the customer realize the potential calming effects that Relinquish has to offer. Since our ingredients are organic, we want our bottles to also be earth friendly. Our bottles will be made from recyclable products. Once Relinquish launches off, we will be releasing another line of herbal alcoholic drinks. Our beverages will still hold the trademark of the minty leaf, we will just be adding fruits to our drinks and hope to that loyal customers will see that our new drinks will still hold the same high quality that Relinquish has. "A package differentiates a product from competing products and may associate a new product with a family of other products from the same manufacturer." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 140).

Distribution
We are going to be placing Relinquish in the local convenience stores. Because of the target audience chosen, we do not want people to go very far to make their alcoholic purchases. Relinquish will not be placed in just any local convenience store. It will be placed in stores of the upper middle-class neighborhoods to preserve the image we want to make. "Selective distribution strategies often hinge on a manufacturer's desire to maintain a superior product image so as to be able to charge a premium price." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 181). Since Relinquish is made from organic herbs grown on our very own farm, Relinquish will be made in the farms of California with a distribution plant right next to the farm. Our bottles will be made from the local recyclable processing center and brought to the plant. To start, Relinquish will be distributed all over California and the outer areas of Nevada and Arizona.

Promotion
To promote Relinquish, we will be making a 30 second commercial to air during the prime tv air times. This time slot will probably be the times when most families sit down to relax. We will also be starting a website promoting Relinquish where we will show pictures of the farm to show how our organic ingredients are grown. We will also be having a forum/blogger section on the website where customers can interact with each other and share their thoughts on Relinquish and also share recipe ideas they have come up with using our drink. "The rise of blogging has created a completely new way for marketers to manage their image, connect with consumers, and generate interest in and desire for their companies' products." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 217). Having a blogger section shows that we are a company interested in establishing consumer relations and keeping their loyalty.


Price
Relinquish will be sold in local convenience stores in the upper middle class neighborhoods. We will be starting at a price of $20 for 750 milliliters. From research, this price seems to be the rate for a bottle that is 750 milliliters. Since Relinquish is up and coming, we will stick with status quo pricing since "These industries typically have fewer price wars than those with direct price competition." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 264).

Target Market Strategy

Our initial target market is to aim at the middle-aged, hard working men and women and possibly attract the health conscious women, and hopefully extend our market to the early twenties, college student mix. We would like to initially promote Relinquish in its own display in the front of the alcohol section of local convenience stores. We are in the mind set that the tired men and women would not want to travel very far from their homes to get an alcoholic beverage, therefore a local convenience store would be a prime location.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths
"The notion of competitive advantage means that a successful firm will stake out a position unique in some manner from its rivals" (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 21). Relinquish holds great pride in the fact that its ingredients are organically grown on our own soil, where we can personally oversee production from planting the seeds in the very beginning to the very end where our vodka is poured in the bottle. Our customers can rest at ease knowing quality assurance is our top priority.

Weaknesses
Because our pitch is centered around organic herbs that will relieve the body and mind of everyday stress, we feel that Relinquish will be isolated to a target audience of middle-aged, environment friendly and health conscious women. Despite the fact that "The majority of Americans today define themselves as middle class, regardless of their actual income or educational attainment" (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 71), we may only be reaching a small percentage of Americans. We need to ensure our marketing plan will be more appealing to other age groups of different classes, backgrounds, and sex.

Opportunities
Opportunities may lie with other businesses who specialize in the herbal supplemented alcoholic beverages. We can form alliances with those businesses to dominate in the herbal world of alcohol. "Business marketers form strategic alliances to leverage what they have (technology, financial resources, access to markets) by combining these assets with those of other firms. Some alliances are formed with competitors to achieve increased productivity and lower costs for all participants." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, Pg 86). Forming an alliance will broaden our market and give more choices for our customers.

Threats
People may be wondering why they should choose an alcoholic beverage to relax with as opposed to the usual spirit-free ginseng cooler. Everyday fruit drinks infused with herbal supplements hold a stronger purchasing power as they are more commonly seen in the local convenience stores. After all, many people may not see a need for alcohol in their drink to relax. We need to make Relinquish appealing to those who are just relaxing and having a nice drink amongst friends at a bar or at someone's house. A way to find out if people will choose Relinquish over a herbal drink is to do a survey. "Good information can help an organization maximize sales and efficiently use scarce company resources." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, Pg 113).

Objectives

R&R Inc. aims to place Relinquish in the top 10 Most Wanted Vodka Flavors and become the leader in herbal and self-revitalizing vodka. We strive for a 30% increase in repeat customer satisfaction and expand the target audience to reach the younger generation, more specifically the 21-30 age group.

We want our customers to be pleased and glad that they chose to purchase our product. Since Relinquish may appeal more to the middle-aged, hard working group of individuals and perhaps women as well, we want to make Relinquish more appealing to a younger aged group. According to Lamb Hair McDaniel in the MKTG book "Over time, managers must alter the marketing mix because of changes in the environment in which consumers, live, work, and make purchasing decisions"(page 32). We need to stay on top of the ever changing market to be the the lead seller of the herbal vodka and to broaden our horizons to reach the college students bracket and those just starting the job market.

EOC Week 10

The Social Media vs. Relinquish

To help build Relinquish, I would design a website that would promote the vodka first. After getting the word out on Relinquish, then I would add more to the website such as facts about how the vodka was made, pictures of the farm showing how it is organically grown and processed to the very end of how it is bottled. I would probably post pictures of some smiling employees that show they are happy to work there. These kinds of pictures would show the company more as a family rather than a come to work, do your work and go home kind of job. I would also add some interesting fun facts about vodka and the herbs used to create it. Once the website has launched and the word on Relinquish grows even more, I would add a forums section on the website for potential customers to read about what present and loyal customers have to say about the vodka. By having the forum be under our control, we would be able to personally moderate the interactions and comments left by customers and be able to instantly defend our product if someone did not agree to the standards Relinquish holds. When Relinquish grows even more, we would start a Facebook because most of America is on Facebook, and customers would find and learn the name Relinquish more easily, as well as friends spreading the word to their friends. As for defending the name Relinquish on Facebook, we would first make sure that our vodka has built its name and potential to be able to stand on its own and be able to bounce back from the smallest comment to even a lawsuit. Also, we would be counting on loyal customers to help defend the name through posts and blogs.

EOC Week 9

Expensive But Worth It

I could always blog about my truck and say how expensive it is, but everyone expects an expensive vehicle. What I am going to write about is my 10 year anniversary ring from my husband. It was not so much as a surprise gift, but he wanted to make sure that when he dropped the money on it that I actually liked it.. so we went ring shopping together. At first, I was thinking of going to visit the regular jewelry stores found around the malls, but my husband had a different idea. He drove me to Caesar's Palace and we visited the big named jewelry stores that I never imagined I would ever shop at. A few hours later, I made a decision at Tiffany's. I chose the band and a shape for the diamond. It was my husband who chose the size of the diamond. The price of the anniversary ring I had pictured in my mind went double the price by the time we had finished at Tiffany's. I could not believe what just happened, nor could I believe it through the remainder of the week until the ring was done being resized and engraved. When we were finally able to pick up the ring, I still couldn't believe it. It was the most gorgeous piece of jewelry I had ever owned (and it had better be considering the price). What is more to it, is that I love the meaning in what it represents. My husband knew it was our 10 year anniversary. This is a big milestone we reached in our marriage and he wanted make sure it was special for me by not purchasing the usual anniversary gifts. He also purchased something that will not wilt, be forgotten in the closet, or be destroyed in any manner. He wanted to make sure it will last forever.

Business Mission Statement

We at R&R Inc. want our customers to feel relaxed and experience the soothing taste that Relinquish has to offer. Not only does Relinquish help reduce stress levels with the flavor of green tea, the minty after taste keeps you feeling refreshed to further help keep the edge off of things.

"If a company has identified its best customers, then it should make every effort to maintain and increase their loyalty. When a company retains an additional 5 percent of its customers each year, profits will increase by as much as 25 percent." (MKTG, Lamb Hair McDaniel, pg 302). We strive to build and maintain relationships with new and current customers. That is why at R&R Inc., we pride ourselves with using only organically grown, high quality herbs grown on our very own farms. Eliminating the middle man ensures we can provide the best ingredients for our vodka. All natural ingredients ensures you can experience the stress-free environment Relinquish is willing to offer.