Target Market Strategy

For its ThisIsLife.com their is a wide variety of who is involved in the target market because everyone has a life story and like the book says on printed page 9 "The company must first decide who it will serve. It does this by dividing the market into segments of customers (market segmentation) and selecting which segments it will go after" . To be exact on who would be in the category of target market it would have to be the elderly. Even though a lot of the elderly isn't computer savvy as the young generation I still have faith they will find a way to be able to do this. I would say the depressed is a target audience but that would be wrong to say, I can only hope that people are sad come to my site to channel their emotions. Now because its hard to truly go after everyone it will be a challenge, and like the book says on printed page 9 "By trying to serve all customers, they may not serve any customers well. Instead, the company wants to select only customers that it can serve well and profitably." I will make it my mission to make sure everyone wants to be on my site. 

Situation or SWOT Analysis

Like any good marketing analysis this is ThisIsLife.com SWOT analysis, and by definition in the book printed page 55 "Managing the marketing function begins with a complete analysis of the company’s situation. The marketer should conduct a SWOT analysis, by which it evaluates the company’s overall strengths (S), weaknesses (W), opportunities (O), and threats (T)" We will follow those exact steps to be successful. 
Strengths
         - A positive format that allows people to make accounts and start channeling their feelings of anger, sadness, or any confusing feelings in a environment where you will feel comfortable and safe.
         - Be able to tell your life story in writing in a easy and fun way

Weaknesses 
        - The weaknesses for the project would be that people feel that they dont trust it
"Weaknesses include internal limitations and negative situational factors that may interfere with the company’s performance."
Opportunities
        - Being the best social network online
        - a safe alternative to cure depression instead of medication
"Opportunities are favorable factors or trends in the external environment that the company may be able to exploit to its advantage"
Threats
        - Having a cyber bully threaten any of the users
        - Having someone commit suicide because of someone being mean on the site
"Threats are unfavorable external factors or trends that may present challenges to performance"

Objectives

With every idea that is coming out for how to make a difference its easy to come up with a major idea that can do all that and more. From Kotler & Sons"Broad mission leads to a hierarchy of objectives, including business objectives and marketing objectives"The main objectives of ThisIsLife.com is to do exactly what the project is, make a difference in someones life. I've seen a lot of my close friends and even myself go through this and when you're at a low where nothing seems fun anymore, you need help. No one on this entire planet should feel this way and thats one of the main objectives of this site. The goal of this is to be able to let users channel their bad energy out in words and let people that are going through very similar things read and tell you how they are getting through this. I know that when i was going through depression it was hard for me to be able to talk about it because I was blind to think that other people might be going through the same thing. Another objective is to allow people talk about experiences of their life. Mainly for the elderly because their voice is rarely heard now a days and it shouldn't be that way. In the textbook of Kotler & Sons "This mission is then turned into detailed supporting objectives that guide the whole company" My uncle told me that when ever a elderly person tells you about their life, grab a pen and paper so you always remember what they said. I took that to heart and thats what drives me whenever I have the chance to talk about life with someone. Everyones life is important and deserves to be heard.

Business Mission Statement

In August 2012 I, Ryne Colquitt created ThisIsLife.com. From the textbook printed page 41"Mission statements should be meaningful and specific yet motivating. They should emphasize the company’s strengths in the marketplace. Too often, mission statements are written for public relations purposes and lack specific, workable guidelines" Our mission statement will serve to be on the same guidelines. This site is a different kind of social network and can be best described as the new way to get your life story told for a much larger audience then your family. The characteristics of the site is that for a more enjoyable experience only the people that want to read about your life are going to be the ones reading it. Our target audience are people from any age, but focused more upon the elderly because their voice is rarely heard now a days. For the workers of this site, we will make it our mission to make sure everyone that posts is comfortable when they are on the site, people that include themselves with bullying will have their account terminated as soon as possible. Users on ThisIsLife.com will also be able to post about incidents that have affected their life in a positive/negative way, the intention is that when the user posts they will feel less alone and know that other people are affected by almost the same things. ThisIsLife.com does not intend on focusing energy on making a profit, like the textbook says on printed page 41 " a company’s mission should not be stated as making more sales or profits—profits are only a reward for creating value for customers". ThisIsLife focuses more on the guidelines of allowing people to be more open with their lives in a comfortable environment. 

Week Seven EOC: The Pitch

My pitch idea is a Social network for everyday lives mainly focused towards the elderly to enjoy. The concept is for people to stay more connected with life situations. For the elderly they will be able to tell their life story more fluently and be more comfortable saying it. Getting their full meaning of life out their for people to read and enjoy. On your account you will be able to see how many views and comments people have made on your story. Now for terrible life experiences like 9/11, a loss of a family member, or anything that changed your life,  the site will be a able to track key words from your post and put you into a group of other people that have been through either the same thing or something very close to it. For the users they will make postings by logging into the account and making the posting, now to make sure that everyone is being honest the users will have to agree to the terms of use, basically saying that we would hope for you to tell the truth and certifying everything you state is about your life. Now that everyone on the site feels more comfortable and knows that their not alone in life we can make sure to decrease the percentage of depression or even the amount of suicides. In today's society their are many bullies on the internet, and on this site only the people that want to be their will make an account and talk freely how they choose. How I will receive funding is contacting a retirement home and talking about my idea and to see if they would back my business.

Week Six EOC: Me X 3

Week Five EOC: Super Bowl Commercial

The super bowl commercial I have chosen to talk about is the advertisement from the doritos commercial. Its date night and the boyfriend shows up to his girlfriends house to pick her up. She isnt ready yet and tells him to sit down and relax till shes done, as she walks away he gives her a quick look at her body. He goes to sit down next to his dates son; he is probably around the age of three. The boy is very protective of his mom and when the boyfriend trys to grab one of the kids doritos, the boy slaps him and says "put it back, rule one keep your hands off my mama, and rule two keep your hands off my doritos". The textbook states about from the chapter one "The marketing concept states that to be successful, a company must provide greater customer value and satisfaction than its competitors do. Thus, marketers must do more than simply adapt to the needs of target consumers." This advertisement is great because every kid that grew up with a single mom can really relate to this. It is very natural for the boy to be very protective of his mom, its even better when he lays down the law for his doritos. No kid is ever comfortable for a new man or woman to walk into the house and act like he already lives their. I can say when I saw this i could relate very much so, when i was little I found it very weird when my dad would start dating again and just seeing them would make me feel uncomfortable. Society teaches you that marriages are perfect and this commercial breaks that barrier and shows the side of the little boy. This is my favorite advertisement from the super bowl.